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SATURDAY-MONDAY • November 14, 2020
EOU drops
Pierce name
from library
Good day to our valued subscriber Keith Gribling of La Grande
• $1.50
Freezing the spread
Governor restores
‘critical restrictions’
to stem virus rise;
police receive OK
to take action
University plans to
install display
explaining the history
of library’s name
By Sabrina Thompson
The Observer
LA GRANDE — Eastern
Oregon University’s Board of
Trustees unanimously agreed to
remove the name Pierce from the
university’s library.
The decision came Thursday
afternoon, Nov. 12, during the
board’s virtual meeting. Univer-
sity President Tom Inkso said a
new name is under consideration,
and there are plans for a display
acknowledging the history of the
library’s name.
Keegan Sanchez, president
of the Associated Students of
Eastern Oregon University, said
he sees the name change as nec-
essary and a way to refl ect the
modern values of the university.
“It is important to under-
stand where we came from as a
society,” Sanchez said. “Without
those conversations, we fail to
appreciate where we have come
from and what we have learned.”
The board during the meeting
heard comments from the public
and reviewed the fi nal report
from the Pierce Library Naming
Committee. The board agreed
the library’s namesake, former
Oregon Gov. Walter Pierce and
his wife Cornielia, do not rep-
resent the mission and diversity
within the university.
“The name is something
people take a great deal of pride
in, at the same time it is a name
that a great deal take concern
with,” said Tim Seydel, Univer-
sity vice president and naming
committee member.
Seydel said the name of the
library has been a topic of dis-
cussion and rumors for decades.
The report from the committee
found Walter Pierce had known
connections to the Ku Klux Klan
and supported racist and discrim-
inatory policies. While he and
his wife helped the advancement
of Eastern Oregon’s recognition
across the state, the report indi-
cated, their beliefs are not indica-
tive of what Eastern Oregon Uni-
versity strives to be for students.
“As I’ve observed the conver-
sations on our campus as a stu-
dent and as an administrator
now,” Insko said, “I think we can
fi nd a better balance between
the history of the naming of the
library and the legacy of Walter
and Cornelia Pierce, but do it a
way that is from a historical per-
spective rather than elevating his
name on the campus.”
Library faculty member Katie
See, Library/Page 5A
By Gary A. Warner
Oregon Capital Bureau
dining area because of the six-person
party limit under the pause. Assistant
manager Connor Bracken said to some
degree, the coming two-week freeze feels
“almost like getting kicked when you’re
down.”
While the freeze could well bottle-
neck a business as the holiday season gets
underway, he stressed Mamacita’s will
comply with the mandates. He also said
the establishment will push through and
credited the community for its support.
Merlyn Baker, head of food service
for The Landing Hotel, said on Thursday
the snowstorm hitting Northeast Oregon
this weekend will have a greater fi nancial
impact than the pause. He explained there
SALEM — Oregon will restrict or close
many businesses, curtail activities and put
a six-person limit on gatherings, including
Thanksgiving, under a statewide “Two-
Week Freeze” starting Wednesday, Nov. 18,
in an effort to stem rising COVID-19 infec-
tion rates
Gov. Kate Brown issued the mandates
via executive order Friday, Nov. 13.
“These risk reduction measures are crit-
ical,” Brown said.
The executive order comes as Oregon
reported 1,076 new cases, including 10 in
Union County and a day after a record-
smashing 1,122 cases statewide. The Oregon
Health Authority also reported seven more
deaths, raising the state’s death toll to 753.
The number of people hospitalized with
COVID-19 is 303, the fi rst time the state
has breached the 300-patient mark since
the pandemic crisis hit Oregon in February.
Without a drop in infection rates, medical
facilities will be strained beyond capacity.
“The last thing you want to hear is the
ambulance has no place to go,” Brown said.
“The dreaded winter surge is here.”
Despite enduring two previous spikes in
the spring and late summer, the current rise
may be more challenging.
“Like it or not, we might be facing the
roughest days of the pandemic,” Brown said.
Brown said she was telling individual
Oregonians to limit social events to six
people and she had ordered the Oregon
State Police to begin working with local law
enforcement to limit social gatherings and
use their discretion to enforce as citation,
fi ne or arrest of a Class C Misdemeanor.
Brown had said earlier this summer that
she would not be “the party police” and
send offi cers to private gatherings to enforce
limit. That’s no longer the policy, she said.
“Unfortunately, we have no other
option,” Brown said.
Currently, one infected person is
spreading the disease to 1.5 people.
See, Local/Page 5A
See, State/Page 5A
Phil Wright/The Observer
Tap That Growlers on Adams Avenue in downtown La Grande stays busy Thursday eve-
ning, Nov. 12, 2020. Come Nov. 18, however, all restaurants and bars in Oregon must cease
in-person dining for two weeks under new mandates Gov. Kate Brown issued to curb the
spread of COVID-19.
Restaurant owners prep for new limits
By Dick Mason, Sabrina Thompson
and Kaleb Lay
The Observer
LA GRANDE — The two-week pause
on social activities that went into effect
Wednesday, Nov. 11, is about to become a
two-week freeze.
Gov. Kate Brown on Friday, Nov.
13, announced a series of rollbacks
and restrictions to curb the rising tide
of COVID-19 cases, including lim-
iting restaurants and bars to takeout
only and closing all gyms and fi tness
establishments.
The Oregon Health Authority on
Thursday announced 1,122 news cases
statewide, a new one-day record for
Oregon, and Friday the OHA reported
another 1,076 new cases, driving the state
total to 54,937.
Union County’s case numbers have fol-
lowed the upturn. The public health arm
of the Center for Human Development,
La Grande, reported 10 new cases Friday,
increasing the county’s total to 574.
Mamacita’s International Grill in La
Grande already had closed its downstairs
INSIDE
For a breakdown of the new restrictions
that go into effect for two weeks beginning
Wednesday, Nov. 18, to help combat the rise of
COVID-19 cases, see Page 5A.
State roadwork funds put potholes in peril
By Kaleb Lay
The Observer
UNION COUNTY — In the
never-ending war to rid the world
of the scourge of potholes, sev-
eral Union County towns won
funds to take on the fi ght.
The Oregon Department of
Transportation awarded a total
of $370,000 to the cities of Cove,
Imbler, Elgin and North Powder,
all of which submitted requests
for project funding. The small
city governments plan to use the
money to address some of the
rougher roads under their respec-
tive purviews.
The funds were part of the
Keep Oregon Moving transpor-
tation funding package, a bill
the Oregon Legislature passed in
2017. The section of that package
that funds small cities awarded
a total of $5.2 million statewide
for 54 projects, according to an
ODOT press release.
“The Small City Allot-
ment Funds program is aimed
at helping smaller communities
around the state with their roads,
bridges and sidewalks,” said
Shelley Snow, ODOT strategic
communications coordinator.
INDEX
Classified ...... 2B
Comics .......... 5B
Crossword .... 2B
Dear Abby .... 6B
Kaleb Lay/The Observer
Potholes fi ll with water Friday morning, Nov. 13, 2020, on French
Street in Cove. The small town is set to resurface the street thanks to
a windfall of funding from the Oregon Department of Transportation.
“The $5 million annual alloca-
tion of state funds specifi cally
helps cities with population of
less than 5,000. One of the best
aspects of this program is that
there isn’t a match requirement;
sometimes those are hard to get
or impossible for smaller cities.”
A majority of Union Coun-
ty’s towns meet that requirement.
WEATHER
Horoscope .... 3B
Letters ........... 4A
Lottery........... 2A
Obituaries ..... 3A
TUESDAY
Opinion ......... 4A
Outdoors ...... 1B
State .............. 6A
Sudoku ......... 5B
PRESCRIBED BURNS
And as residents well know,
those towns have no shortage of
potholes to plug up.
The city of Cove received
$100,000 for a project to lay 2
inches of new asphalt over sec-
tions of French, Hill and Second
streets, an area just south of Cove
School.
“It’s a main corridor in town,”
Full forecast on the back of B section
Tonight
Sunday
36 LOW
46/35
Rain/snow
showers
Cloudy
said Dave Johnson, public works
director for Cove. “There’s a
lot of outside traffi c that travels
through there up to Moss
Springs.”
Imbler received $100,000 to
resurface a two-block section of
Railroad Avenue between Main
and Second streets, just east of
the town’s main thoroughfare.
According to Heather Berglund,
Imbler city recorder, that project
will join with another to improve
Lonepine Avenue.
“Initially it was a one-part
project,” Berglund said. “We
were trying to get Lonepine and
Railroad done as one. ... The
roads are pretty beat up, there’s
lots of potholes and wear and
tear.”
Berglund said the city hoped
work would start on the Lone-
pine section of the project this
spring, with the Railroad section
coming later in the summer.
To the north, the Elgin
received $100,000 to replace a
small bridge that spans a ditch on
North 11th Street at the Fresno
Street intersection. The funding
See, Roadwork/Page 5A
CONTACT US
541-963-3161
Issue 136
3 sections, 32 pages
La Grande, Oregon
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