2A — THE OBSERVER
Daily
Planner
TODAY
Today is Sunday, Nov. 22,
the 327th day of 2020. There
are 39 days left in the year.
TODAY’S HIGHLIGHT IN
HISTORY:
On Nov. 22, 1963, John F.
Kennedy, the 35th President
of the United States, was
shot to death during a mo-
torcade in Dallas; Texas Gov.
John B. Connally, riding in
the same car as Kennedy,
was seriously wounded;
suspected gunman Lee Har-
vey Oswald was arrested.
Vice President Lyndon B.
Johnson was sworn in as
president.
ON THIS DATE:
In 1935, a flying boat,
the China Clipper, took off
from Alameda, California,
carrying more than 100,000
pieces of mail on the first
trans-Pacific airmail flight.
In 1943, President Franklin
D. Roosevelt, British Prime
Minister Winston Churchill
and Chinese leader Chiang
Kai-shek met to discuss mea-
sures for defeating Japan.
In 1961, Frank Robinson
of the Cincinnati Reds was
named Most Valuable Player
of the National League.
In 1965, the musical “Man
of La Mancha” opened on
Broadway.
In 1967, the UN Security
Council approved Resolution
242, which called for Israel
to withdraw from territories
it had captured the previous
June, and implicitly called
on adversaries to recognize
Israel’s right to exist.
In 1977, regular passenger
service between New York
and Europe on the super-
sonic Concorde began.
In 1980, death claimed
film star Mae West at age 87.
In 1990, British Prime
Minister Margaret Thatch-
er, having failed to win
reelection of the Conserva-
tive Party leadership on the
first ballot, announced she
would resign.
In 2014, a 12-year-old
Black boy, Tamir Rice, was
killed by police outside a
Cleveland recreation center
while holding a pellet gun.
A grand jury declined to
indict either the patrolman
who fired the fatal shot or a
training officer.
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Powerball: $179 million
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Win for Life: Nov. 18
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• 1 p.m.: 7–2-3-3; • 4 p.m.: 8-5-6-2;
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• 1 p.m.: 6-9-8-4; • 4 p.m.: 7-0-2-3;
• 7 p.m.: 4–5-9-4; • 10 p.m.: 1-3-4-9
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Adding more protection from predators
Wallowa County couple adds Kangal
shepherd guard dogs to their pack
By Bill Bradshaw
Wallowa County Chieftain
ALLEN CANYON — A
local couple recently upped
their animal defense with
a pair of Kangal shepherd
puppies to replace their
aging rottweilers.
“They’ll protect all the
animals and your children,”
said Jan Hileman, who with
husband, Benny, lives along
Allen Canyon Loop south-
east of Wallowa. “That’s
what they’re bred for.”
The rare guard dogs are
native to Turkey. Not so
much herding dogs, they’re
more to keep an eye on
their territory — and those
in it — and protect what’s
there.
“We’re griping about
cows getting killed, and I
think it’s time people find
out there is something
that can really help,” Jan
Hileman said.
The Hilemans have nine
dogs total — five they reg-
ularly let outside and four
that are more indoor dogs.
In addition to the two Kan-
gals, they have two rott-
weilers, a border collie, two
chihuahuas, a Boston ter-
rier “and a fuzzy dog” mutt,
Benny said.
Several are getting quite
old, and their days are
numbered.
Some may see having
such a large pack as a
problem, but the Hilemans
don’t.
“All of our dogs stay
here because we watch
them all the time,” Jan said.
“And they teach each other
things.”
“But somebody has to
be the pack leader, and I’ve
already done that with our
dogs,” Benny added.
He said they’ve both
been working with the Kan-
gals — two females that are
about 5 months old. They’ll
be advantageous to replace
the older rottweilers, “once
they get more grown up and
trained better,” he said. “I
have been trying to walk
them around the fence line
and teach them that that’s
the end.”
Benny said training
is important, as the Kan-
gals are more likely to stay
home than his rottweilers.
The Hilemans also said the
girls — Callie and Zahara
— have been relatively easy
to train.
“I put those dogs on a
lead and Callie backed up
on me a little, but Zahara
tromped right along. I
could’ve taken her to the
show ring,” Benny said. “I
stop; she sits down. Callie, I
have to tell her to sit down.
They’re really getting to
learn.”
Jan said the puppies do
come with challenges.
“They’re so stubborn,”
she said.
Kangals show a natural
instinct to survey the sur-
rounding area and watch for
anything alarming.
“It’s a natural instinct
that they stay right here
and protect their turf,”
she said. “Callie was sit-
ting here this morning just
looking over the valley.
They always, always know
what’s going on around
Bill Bradshaw/Wallowa County Chieftain
Kangal shepherds Callie, left, and Zahara show affection to rottweiler Reco while their
owners Jan, left, and Benny Hileman watch Wednesday, Oct. 28, 2020. The 5-month-old
Kangals are guard dogs the Hilemans recently got to protect their Allen Canyon Loop
home southeast of Wallowa.
them. … They notice
everything.”
They respond well to
affection, too.
“You have to love
them,” Jan said. “They’re
like children, you have to
keep their minds busy. I
went out and got a bunch
of big bones for them and
that helps.”
The Kangals’ ability as
guard dogs is as much in
their physique as in their
intelligence. A male can
grow to more than 170
pounds and, when on its
hind legs, it can rest its fore-
legs on the shoulders of a
tall man.
They also have the
record for the strongest bite.
By Dick Mason
The Observer
LA GRANDE — The
immediate budget picture
for the La Grande School
District looks solid despite
the recession Oregon is
recovering from.
La Grande School
District Superintendent
George Mendoza said
Wednesday, Nov. 18, the
district’s budget outlook
for the current academic
year is stable.
“Our budget will not
be reduced in any way,
there will be no cuts,
everything will remain
intact,” Mendoza said at a
school board meeting.
One reason the dis-
trict’s financial situation
looks good is that expenses
are down, due in part to
the COVID-19 pandemic.
School district budget
director Chris Panike
noted travel expenses are
almost nonexistent. There
is much less need for staff
travel in part because of
the pandemic, which has
dramatically reduced the
number of in-person meet-
ings across the state.
The La Grande School
District also has the a
strong cash carryover
from the 2019-20 school
year. This was made pos-
sible in part by savings the
school district enjoyed in
the spring of this year on
travel, busing and other
expenses in the immediate
months after the pandemic
started, Panike said.
Clouds may loom on
the horizon though for
the 2021-22 school year,
when Mendoza said a state
budget shortfall is pro-
jected because of declining
income tax revenue due
to the recession caused
by the pandemic. Such a
shortfall could result in
a reduced availability of
state funding for schools.
La Grande Rural Fire Protection District/Contributed Photo
Firefighters with the La Grande Rural Fire Protection District fight a blaze engulfing a semitrailer
Wednesday night, Nov. 18, 2020, on the eastbound side of Interstate 84 near the milepost 262
interchange with Highway 82. The fire district on its Facebook page reported it responded to
the fire a little before 10 p.m. and the contents of the trailer were difficult to extinguish, requir-
ing several hours of mop-up work. The emergency led to the closure of the eastbound lanes,
prompting drivers to seek alternate routes. The Oregon Department of Transportation, Oregon
State Police and the Union County Sheriff’s Office assisted at the scene.
Baker City trims manager list to two
BAKER CITY — Baker
City has trimmed the list of
city manager candidates from
three to two.
City councilors decided
during a special meeting
Tuesday night, Nov. 17, to
eliminate Scott McClure of
Monmouth from contention to
replace Fred Warner Jr., who is
retiring at the end of the year.
Councilors voted to have
Mayor Loran Joseph negotiate
Online sources say they
have a bite force measured
at 743 pounds per square
inch.
Their females won’t
grow that large, but they
should be large enough and
strong enough to ward off
any of the wolves, bears,
cougars or coyotes the Hile-
mans have seen on their
wooded property.
“We’ve had more than
our share of wolves on this
hill,” Benny said.
There was the time when
Jan finished showering,
looked out of the bathroom
window only to face a black
bear inches away.
“I don’t think he (Benny)
even believed me,” Jan said.
“No, I didn’t,” he
admitted.
Benny estimated it was
an older, 250-300-pound
bear that left its paw marks
on the outside wall of the
house.
“We’ve had other ani-
mals here. We just accept
it,” Jan said. “I used to walk
these mountains without
any guns.… I knew of a
former neighbor girl who
was mauled by a bear.”
Such encounters with
predators are the main
reason they got the Kangals.
“There are more wolves
now,” she said. “We just
killed several coyotes. That,
and our other dogs are get-
ting older.”
La Grande School District budget solid — for now
Semitrailer fire closes interchange
Baker City Herald
SaTuRday, NOVEmBER 21, 2020
LOCAL/REGION
with the two remaining candi-
dates — Jonathan Cannon of
Saluda, North Carolina, and
Steve Ashworth of Alpine,
Wyoming.
Joseph said councilors
rated one of the two higher,
but they were “so close” the
council would be comfort-
able offering the job to either.
He said he will try to reach a
tentative contract agreement
with the candidate who has an
edge and present that to the
council for its approval.
If that is unsuccessful,
Joseph said he would nego-
tiate with the other candidate.
He declined to identify the
frontrunner.
The council’s goal is to
approve an employment con-
tract with the new manager at
its Dec. 8 meeting, but Joseph
said he hopes to reach a pre-
liminary agreement before
then and to announce that
publicly.
On the plus side, Panike
said funding in several of
the state’s reserve funds is
solid. Money from these
could offset a loss of state
revenue in the 2021-23
biennium.
Falling enrollment also
could hurt the school dis-
trict financially. The dis-
trict’s enrollment as of the
Oct. 1 reporting date was
down 134 students from a
year ago.
This could cost the
school district $1.1 mil-
lion because the district
receives $8,600 per student
from the state.
Much of the enrollment
decline has been in kinder-
garten through third grade.
Panike said this may be
because more parents are
homeschooling younger
children or enrolling
them in online programs
because of the COVID-19
pandemic, which has
interrupted in-person
education.
Still, Panike said, the
district anticipates many
of these children returning
to school after the pan-
demic. That could create
a bulge in primary grade
enrollment, Mendoza
said, and a need for more
teachers and staff.
News Briefs
Seaside police chief accepts
job in Enterprise
ENTERPRISE — David Ham,
chief of police in Seaside, has accepted
an offer from the Enterprise City
Council to become the new police
chief here, according to a press release.
Ham has more than 25 years of law
enforcement experience, including six
years as chief in Seaside. He accepted
the position Friday, Nov.
13.
The position of chief
is becoming vacant after
Joel Fish, the current
chief, won the election to
become Wallowa County
Ham
sheriff. He takes his new
position in early January.
There were several candidates for
the chief position, the release stated.
After discussing the conditional offer
to Ham in executive session Monday,
Nov. 9, the council returned to the reg-
ular session to vote on making him an
offer.
This decision came after a three-
part hiring process, which included
an application scoring committee
and interviews by a panel consisting
of the council’s executive com-
mittee, law enforcement personnel
and multiple community leaders and
partners.
The Enterprise Police Committee
then made a recommendation to the
council, which finalized the decision.
“The city of Enterprise is con-
fident that Chief Ham’s experience
and dedication to law enforcement
will immensely benefit the Enter-
prise Police Department and the city
of Enterprise as a whole,” the release
stated.
Ham’s position in Seaside has him
supervising a larger department than
in Enterprise, where there are four
officers working with the chief. The
Seaside Police Department maintains a
minimum of two patrol units on duty,
24 hours a day. The patrol division
consists of three sergeants supervising
14 officers, according to its website.
Blue Mountain Translator
District adds new channel
LA GRANDE — The Blue Moun-
tain Translator District is broadcasting
a new channel on local airwaves and
in Portland.
Executive Director Alex McHaddad
said the project to get a channel on
the air began in March. The channel
broadcasts local government meet-
ings, educational shows and entertain-
ment and is open for local residents
and businesses to put their own shows
on the air.
The district has been broadcasting
meetings of the Elgin and La Grande
city councils, Union County commis-
sioners and La Grande School District
online since April, and those are avail-
able at www.bmtd.org. McHaddad said
the project to broadcast these public
meetings was due in part to the pan-
demic, which prevents gatherings in
person.
“The spirit behind local govern-
ment is the public has access to every-
thing that is going on,” McHaddad
said. “A lot of people here do have
internet access and can stream it on
Facebook, but not everyone does.”
Many of the district’s users are in
rural areas or can’t afford internet ser-
vice. When McHaddad found the Sin-
clair Broadcast Group had an open
subchannel, he said the district part-
nered with the company to broadcast
their new station across the Willamette
Valley and in Portland.
Viewers can access the channel
online at the district’s website or via
a TV antenna. While other translator
district channels have a service charge,
the new channel is free. If you already
have an antenna, you will need to
rescan to access channel 16.4.
— EO Media Group