2A — THE OBSERVER
Daily
Planner
TODAY
Today is Saturday, Nov.
14, the 319th day of 2020.
There are 47 days left in the
year.
TODAY’S HIGHLIGHT IN
HISTORY
On Nov. 14, 1970, a
chartered Southern Airways
DC-9 crashed while trying to
land in West Virginia, killing
all 75 people on board,
including the Marshall Uni-
versity football team and its
coaching staff.
ON THIS DATE
In 1851, Herman Melville’s
novel “Moby-Dick; Or, The
Whale” was published in
the United States, almost a
month after being released
in Britain.
In 1862, during the Civil
War, President Abraham
Lincoln gave the go-ahead
for Maj. Gen. Ambrose
Burnside’s plan to capture
the Confederate capital of
Richmond; the resulting Bat-
tle of Fredericksburg proved
a disaster for the Union.
In 1910, Eugene B. Ely
became the first aviator to
take off from a ship as his
Curtiss pusher rolled off a
sloping platform on the deck
of the scout cruiser USS
Birmingham off Hampton
Roads, Virginia.
In 1965, the U.S. Army’s
first major military operation
of the Vietnam War began
with the start of the five-day
Battle of Ia Drang. (The
fighting between American
troops and North Vietnam-
ese forces ended on Nov.
18 with both sides claiming
victory.)
In 1969, Apollo 12 blasted
off for the moon.
In 1972, the Dow Jones
Industrial Average closed
above the 1,000 level for the
first time, ending the day at
1,003.16.
In 1990, it was revealed
that the pop duo Milli Van-
illi (Rob Pilatus and Fabrice
Morvan) had done none of
the singing on their Gram-
my-winning debut album,
“Girl You Know It’s True.”
In 1996, Cardinal Joseph
Bernardin, the senior Roman
Catholic prelate in the
United States and leader
of Chicago’s 2.3 million
Catholics, died at his home
at age 68.
LOTTERY
Megabucks: $4.3 million
8-12-23-36-42-43
Mega Millions: $152 million
23-45-53-58-62—13 x5
Powerball: $149 million
13-15-17-45-63—PB-13 x2
Win for Life: Nov. 11
50-51-70-74
Pick 4: Nov. 12
• 1 p.m.: 5-2-2-6; • 4 p.m.: 5-8-9-6;
• 7 p.m.: 6-9-6-8; • 10 p.m.: 3-8-9-5
Pick 4: Nov. 11
• 1 p.m.: 6-7-5-8; • 4 p.m.: 3-9-3-4;
• 7 p.m.: 5-8-4-4; • 10 p.m.: 3-9-3-1
DELIVERY ISSUES?
If you have any problems
receiving your Observer,
please call 541-963-3161.
SaTuRday, NOVEmBER 14, 2020
LOCAL/REGION
Union couple building home from scratch
By Sabrina Thompson
The Observer
UNION — After living
in a small 900-square-
foot house for a few years,
Union couple Nick and Adri
Moncrief decided to go
after their dream home by
building it from the ground
up.
“This is our forever
home,” Adri Moncrief said.
“We are building this to
live in forever. It is really
our dream, and we wanted
this for our kids. This is a
dream for us.”
Adri Moncrief is 27
years old, and Nick Mon-
crief is 30. They have a
16-month-old daughter,
Saylor.
Adri Moncrief said
many people are surprised
by how young she and her
husband are and that they
are building their own
home. But, she said, now is
the right time for them to
do this and they are going
“pedal to metal” to finish
the house.
The new home will be
two stories with three bed-
rooms and two bathrooms,
a garage, a bonus room and
an office, plus patios in the
front and back of the house.
She said the project
would not be possible
Adri Moncrief/Contributed Photo
Nick Moncrief works Oct. 12, 2020, on the truss in his self-
built home in Union. Moncrief and his team of contractors
hope to finish the home by March 2021.
without the support of
family.
The land, just off
Highway 237 in Union,
has belonged to Adri Mon-
crief’s family since they
settled off the Oregon
Trail. Nick Moncrief, who
works as a general con-
tractor when not building
his own home, said his and
his wife’s family have a
background in construc-
tion, which has helped in
the project.
Nick Moncrief and the
team of contractors started
construction in August, first
laying down the foundation.
By November, Moncrief
and his team had put up the
framing and walls for the
home. The plan is to have
the home move-in ready by
March 2021.
There have been hur-
dles to building the home,
Nick Moncrief said, as
COVID-19 has made
accessing and ordering
materials difficult. For-
tunately, the construction
team ordered early enough
that a majority of the sup-
plies were at the site by the
time work started.
“I come out here and
work on the house and it’s
my job, but it is a little sur-
real at times,” he said. “I
have more pressure with it
being my own home. The
deadlines are on me. We
have our deadlines to meet
for the bank, and what we
hope to get done. But in the
end, I don’t have any fingers
to point if it’s not done by a
certain time.”
Adri Moncrief said the
best part about building the
house has been the con-
trol she has on every ele-
ment. While sometimes the
choices seemed daunting,
she said, having a particular
taste and idea in mind has
been helpful.
“I hear people say,
‘There are so many dif-
ferent options, how do you
even choose?’ and I totally
agree with that,” she said.
“But for me, I am a little
bit of a control freak and
deciding things feels good
to me. And I think we work
well as a team. We are both
very opinionated.”
Anyone can view the
home-building journey on
Instagram. Adri Moncrief
said using social media is
a great way to share what
is going on in her life, and
sometimes now she gets
objective feedback about
her ideas for the house.
“I started posting more
after I had my daughter,
Saylor, and I was home
with her,” she said. “I was
needing an adult outlet,
so I started sharing my
everyday life. So many
people do that now. I really
enjoyed it. It has been fun
to interact with people. And
then we started building
and it was heartwarming
and cool to see how
invested people were.”
Winter storm affects travel in Northeast Oregon
I-84 is closed for
second time this
month
The Observer
LA GRANDE — Friday
the 13th lived up to its rep-
utation when it came to the
weather.
The first major winter
storm of the season
descended on Northeast
Oregon on Friday, bringing
dangerous driving condi-
tions, road closures and
heavy snowfall in the
mountains.
The National Weather
Service issued a Winter
Storm Warning for Ore-
gon’s Blue Mountains on
Friday morning through
Saturday at 4 a.m. The
NWS predicted 8 to
20 inches of snowfall
to accumulate in areas
above 3,000 feet and
winds gusting up to 40
mph.
The NWS cautioned
drivers that “travel could
be very difficult to impos-
sible” Friday, and the
Oregon Department of Transportation/Contributed Photo
The first heavy winter storm of the season led to multiple semitrailers sliding off Inter-
state 84 the morning of Friday, Nov. 13, 2020, causing closures between Baker City and
Pendleton.
winter storm proved that
out.
The Oregon Department
of Transportation reported
about a dozen semitrailers
slid off the eastbound side
of Interstate 84 near North
Powder between mile-
posts 287 and 289. ODOT
shut down the eastbound
freeway from exit 216
near Pendleton to exit 302
at Baker City for several
hours.
Tom Strandberg,
spokesperson for ODOT,
said icy roads and high
winds made for poor road
conditions.
“Numerous slide-offs
indicate that folks are not
able to maintain control of
the vehicles on the road,
and that means it’s time for
us to close them until con-
ditions improve,” Strand-
berg said.
ODOT crews also are
using salt and sand and
other tools to help de-ice
the roads.
Strandberg advised
people to avoid driving as
much as possible until con-
ditions improve.
The state transporta-
tion department also closed
Highway 204 between
mileposts 10-40, about 11
miles east of the intersec-
tion with Highway 11, due
to high winds, heavy snow
and potential for down
trees.
NWS Friday morning
cautioned drivers to “keep
an extra flashlight, food,
and water in your vehicle
in case of an emergency.”
After the storm, La
Grande is likely to have
snow then a mix of snow
and rain Saturday. That
drops off to a chance of
rain Sunday, with the day-
time high near 45 and over-
night low of 31. Monday
looks to have a chance of
rain and high near 47.
Festival of Trees to go virtual
Search and rescue teams save injured hunter
Online auction will net winner the services of a tree decorator
UMATILLA COUNTY
— Three area search and
rescue teams worked ear-
lier this week in Umatilla
County to save an injured
hunter.
The Umatilla County
Sheriff’s Office on the
evening of Tuesday, Nov.
10, requested mutual
aid with the rescue of an
injured hunter, according
to Union County Search
and Rescue, which posted
about the event on its Face-
book page. Winter weather
prevent helicopters from
flying to the location, so a
team from Union County
responded and worked
through the night, cut-
ting an access trail to the
hunter, whom Umatilla
County Search and Rescue
personnel were tending to.
Early Wednesday, addi-
tional personnel from
the sheriff’s offices of
Union and Baker coun-
ties responded and assisted
the Umatilla County
team with evacuating the
hunter, which required
multiple rope systems due
to the steep and slippery
snow-covered terrain.
Union County Search
and Rescue did not dis-
close the location of the
rescue.
This was the second
time in the span of a few
days that Umatilla County
Search and Rescue was
looking for someone
missing in the mountains.
The first was less eventful.
By Dick Mason
The Observer
LA GRANDE — La
Grande’s annual Festival
of Trees began in 1987, the
same year 800,000 people
gathered at the Golden Gate
Bridge in San Francisco to
celebrate the span’s 50th
anniversary.
Such a gathering would
be impossible today during
the COVID-19 pandemic,
and so would a tradi-
tional Festival of Trees
event, which have regularly
attracted close to 1,000
people.
Yes fans of the annual
celebration can relax.
Soroptimist International
of La Grande is moving its
fundraiser online for 2020.
There will be no gala
or live auction, but people
will be able to purchase
Christmas baskets and
other holiday items to raise
money for the charitable
organization, which sup-
ports women and girls of
the community. The online
auction will run Dec. 6 at 1
pm. to Dec. 12. at 5 p.m.
“We had to think outside
the box due to COVID-19.
It is important that we are
sensitive to the restrictions
and health of our commu-
nity,” Soroptimist member
Shayla Rollins said in a
press release.
The Festival of Trees has
raised more than $600,000
for community projects
Dick Mason/The Observer, File
People check out Christmas trees Dec. 7, 2019, at the Blue
Mountain Conference Center, La Grande, during the annu-
al Festival of Trees. The fundraising event for 2020 willl be
virtual due to the coronavirus pandemic.
during its history, said Di
Lyn Larsen-Hill, also with
the group. A high per-
centage of the funds have
come from the auction of
decorated Christmas trees
at the festiva. No decorated
trees will be sold at this
year’s online auction. How-
ever, the services of a tree
decorator will be. The tree
decorator, a Soroptimist
International member, will
bring lights and ornaments
to the home of the winning
bidder and decorate their
Christmas tree.
Soroptimist International
of La Grande is modeling its
online auction after a suc-
cessful one the Soroptimist
chapter in Hamilton, Mon-
tana, did earlier this year,
Larsen-Hill said. The La
Grande chapter contracted
with Auctria, an online auc-
tion company, to create the
upcoming online auction.
Bidders need to register
for the online auction by
going to Charityauction.
bid/FestivalofTrees2020 or
www.auctria.com/auction/
FestivalofTrees2020.
Net profits will go toward
the La Grande Soropti-
mist EOU Scholarship and
Live Your Dream Awards
for 2021. Past Soroptimist
scholarship winners will be
featured in imbedded videos
throughout the online auc-
tion. For more information
call Rollins at 541-910-5511
or Larsen-Hill at
541-963-5341 or send
an email to Festivalof-
Trees2020@gmail.com.
EO Media Group
Union County Search and Rescue/Contributed Photo
Search and rescue team members transport an injured
hunter to safety on Wednesday, Nov. 11, 2020, in Uma-
tilla County.
The team located a
man and his grandson
after they were lost on the
Coyote Ridge Trailhead
outside of Weston for more
than 12 hours on Sunday,
according to a sheriff’s
office press release.
The search and rescue
team responded after
Umatilla County Dis-
patch received a call
around 7:40 p.m. Nov. 8
from Bruce Bryan, 64,
who reported he and his
17-year-old grandson, Jesse
Bryan, had been lost since
4 p.m. while elk hunting in
the area.
Volunteers Bob Car-
rell, Dottie Carrell and
Shari Mueller responded
to the trailhead and located
the hikers’ vehicle, the
release stated, while Sgt.
Dwight Johnson and
searchers Tom Phelan and
Scott Schuening drove to
Bingham Road and began
hiking toward the hunters.
“Phelan, Schuening and
Johnson hiked for approx-
imately four hours through
snow, washed out areas
from the spring floods,
fallen trees, thick brush
and waded across Coyote
Creek before locating the
hunters,” the release stated.
Searchers located the
Bryans around 3 a.m.
They were “cold and wet
but not injured,” according
to the release. Search and
rescue led the hikers back
to their vehicle, which
they reached at about
8:30 a.m. Monday.