2A — THE OBSERVER
Today in
History
Today is Tuesday, Jan. 26,
the 26th day of 2021. There
are 339 days left in the year.
TODAY’S HIGHLIGHT IN
HISTORY:
On Jan. 26, 2020, NBA
legend Kobe Bryant, his
13-year-old daughter and
seven others were killed
when their helicopter
plunged into a steep hillside
in dense morning fog in
Southern California; the
former Lakers star was 41.
ON THIS DATE:
In 1907, Congress passed
the Tillman Act, which pro-
hibited corporations from
making direct campaign
contributions to federal
election candidates.
In 1961, President John
F. Kennedy appointed Dr.
Janet G. Travell to be his per-
sonal physician; she was the
first woman to hold the job.
In 1962, the United States
launched Ranger 3 to land
scientific instruments on
the moon — but the probe
ended up missing its target
by more than 22,000 miles.
In 1988, the Andrew Lloyd
Webber musical “Phantom
of the Opera” opened at
Broadway’s Majestic Theater.
In 1992, Democratic
presidential candidate Bill
Clinton, appearing with
his wife, Hillary, on CBS’
“60 Minutes,” acknowl-
edged “causing pain in my
marriage,” but said past
problems were not relevant
to the campaign.
In 1993, Vaclav Havel
was elected president of
the newly formed Czech
Republic.
In 1994, a scare occurred
during a visit to Sydney,
Australia, by Britain’s Prince
Charles as college student
David Kang lunged at the
prince, firing two blank
shots from a starter’s pistol.
In 2005, a man parked
his SUV on railroad tracks
in Glendale, California,
setting off a crash of two
commuter trains that killed
11 people.
In 2009, Nadya Suleman
gave birth in California
to six boys and two girls;
criticism came after the
public learned that the
unemployed, single mother
had gotten pregnant with
the octuplets and six elder
children through in vitro
fertilization.
CORRECTION
The business story
that ran Thursday, Jan.
21, about 1917 Lumber
in Wallowa County con-
tained inaccurate infor-
mation. The business is
not the only lumberyard
in Wallowa County.
TuESday, JanuaRy 26, 2021
LOCAL/REGION
Volunteers offer time, resources to fix trail
Local group works to
improve Red Apple
Trail in MERA
By KALEB LAY
The Observer
LA GRANDE — A sec-
tion of trail in the Mount
Emily Recreation Area got
a facelift last week thanks
to the generosity of some
local outdoor enthusiasts.
Volunteers with the Blue
Mountain Singletrack Trails
Club chipped in their time
to improve a section of the
Red Apple Trail, notorious
for becoming swampy in
the spring months.
“There’s a section that
goes through a meadow,
and in the spring and the
fall, it’s just like a mud pit,”
said Sean Lerner, a member
of the club’s board of direc-
tors. “It’s been something
that’s on the list of things to
fix for a long time.”
Lerner said the Trails
Club had been considering
looking for grant money
to pay for the repairs until
a benefactor stepped in
to donate a load of gravel
toward the effort. After
that, all it took was people
willing to work to improve
the trail, and club members
Sean Lerner, Blue Mountain Singletrack Trails Club/Contributed Photo
Sean Lerner, Blue Mountain Singletrack Trails Club/Contributed Photo
Members of the Blue Mountain Singletrack Trails Club
work Tuesday, Jan. 19, 2021, to repair the Red Apple Trail
in the Mount Emily Recreation Area outside La Grande.
Blue Mountain Singletrack Trails Club member Mike Ri-
ley unloads gravel Tuesday, Jan. 19, 2021, for fellow club
members to make repairs to the Red Apple Trail.
stepped up to fill the role.
“One of our club mem-
bers, Mike Riley, who does
local excavation work,
offered to donate and
deliver like 12 or 13 yards
of gravel,” Lerner said.
“So he came and dropped
that off, and we had six of
us throughout the day and
throughout the morning
going in and moving wheel-
barrows and shaping the
new raised trailbed.”
Lerner said the Blue
Mountain Singletrack Trails
Club had some 150 mem-
it has also helped build
trails in the Anthony Lakes
area.
Lerner explained that
areas such as the Mount
Emily Recreation Area
were an asset to the com-
munity, both during and
outside of the COVID-19
pandemic.
“Especially now, during
the pandemic, we’ve seen
that we’re pretty lucky to
have places we can go and
do stuff in a way that’s
safe,” Lerner said. “Even
beyond that, we’re really
bers, many of whom were
families. He noted that
membership nearly doubled
in recent months, citing the
pandemic.
“Being outside really
took off this past year,” he
said.
The club, which Lerner
said was founded in 2007,
was responsible for the ini-
tial purchase of Mount
Emily Recreation Area
just north of La Grande.
The club also does much
of the non-motorized trail
building in MERA, though
lucky here to have such
access to outdoor recreation
that’s so close to town. It’s
pretty well proven that even
just going for a walk in
the woods is good for your
mental and physical health.”
Those interested in
learning more about the
Blue Mountain Singletrack
Trails Club, including a
spring work day when the
club encourages community
members to chip in to help
with trail repairs, can visit
the BMSTC website at
bluemountainstc.org.
Hurricane Creek Grange finishes flooring project
By BILL BRADSHAW
Wallowa County Chieftain
JOSEPH — After three
years of fundraising, the
Hurricane Creek Grange
near Joseph has had its new
hardwood floor installed,
according to a press release.
To make the $24,000
red oak project possible,
the grange held chili feeds,
dessert auctions, provided
lunches during Jingle
Thru Joseph and other fun
events to start a dedicated
fund for the flooring. In
addition, some of the com-
munity members made
individual contributions as
did some of our members.
The grange’s contractor,
Jeff Micka, waited patiently
while the grange applied
for grant monies to help
finish the amount needed.
The project ran into some
unexpected costs, part of
which was covered by a
matching grant program
offered by Oregon State
Hurricane Creek Grange/Contributed Photo
Bob Wadsworth salvages wood from the old red fir floor of the Hurricane Creek Grange
on Thursday, Dec. 10, 2020, in preparation to install a new, red oak floor that was com-
pleted around Christmastime.
Grange that had a limit of
$5,000.
The Hurricane Creek
Grange is now inviting
the public to a “dinner to
go” event Sunday, Jan. 31
from noon to 3 p.m. for
a suggested donation of
$10. Dinner will include
homemade savory beef pie,
refrigerated pickles and a
sweet pie for dessert. This
will be prepared and
packaged ready to take
home and enjoy to main-
tain the safety of the
community during the
COVID-19 pandemic.
Barbara McCormack,
public relations representa-
tive for the grange, said the
donations will go toward
future projects grange
members are looking ahead
to.
“We’re starting from
scratch with our fund-
raising,” she said. “We
hope you come see our new
flooring and plan to use it at
future events.”
The grange was con-
structed around 1927 and
the original 93-year-old
red fir flooring served well
for meetings, dances, ban-
quets, weddings, funerals
and many other functions.
But after repeated use and
necessary sanding and
restaining, the tongue-and-
groove wood had become
so thin it was splintering
and becoming unsafe,
according to the release.
Anyone with questions
can call McCormack at
541-605-8233.
Grant program would give $5,000 per month to Pendleton restaurants
By ANTONIO SIERRA
East Oregonian
PENDLETON — A pro-
posed grant program that
could provide Pendleton
restaurants with a series
of grants to help them stay
open during the COVID-19
shutdowns now has a name.
And a price tag.
Following up on a Jan.
12 presentation with Pend-
leton Economic Devel-
opment Director Steve
Chrisman, Cheri Rosen-
berg, the CEO of the Pend-
leton Chamber of Com-
merce, returned to city
council chambers on
Tuesday, Jan. 19, with
more details on what’s now
being called the “Save Our
Amazing Restaurants”
relief program. Under the
proposal, the city and its
urban renewal district
would spend $400,000 for
the program.
The program’s propo-
nents argue that it wouldn’t
just save a vital part of
Pendleton’s business and
tourism community, but
Ben Lonergan/East Oregonian
Osa Lange, Left, and Alexia Miller work the front count-
er at Great Pacific Wine & Coffee Co. In Pendleton on Fri-
day, Jan. 22, 2021. The city of Pendleton is considering a
grant program to help restaurants stay open during the
COVID-19 shutdown.
also avoid a significant
drop in property tax rev-
enue from the empty store-
fronts that would pop up
if restaurants closed down
permanently.
“That may seem like
a lot of money to some,
but the long-term costs of
failing to act now, in this
unprecedented time of
need, will almost assuredly
dwarf that figure over the
next decade,” a slide from
Rosenberg and Chrisman’s
slideshow states.
The program would pro-
vide eligible restaurants
with a monthly grant of up
to $5,000 for four months.
If a restaurant can’t stay
open during a lockdown,
the grant would turn into a
loan that would be forgiven
for each month it stays open
after reopening. Should a
restaurant reopen before
the four-month period is up,
they would be eligible for
an additional month to help
with reopening.
The majority of the
restaurants for the pro-
gram are inside the urban
renewal district, meaning
the Pendleton Development
Commission can use urban
renewal funds for the pro-
gram. But the proposal also
calls for using money from
the city’s community devel-
opment fund to offer grants
to seven restaurants outside
the district.
“If this isn’t the answer,
we’ll just keep working,”
Rosenberg said, calling the
grant program “a Band-Aid
on a gunshot wound.”
Five thousand dollars
is unlikely to cover all the
monthly expenses of most
Pendleton restaurants, but a
couple of longtime restau-
rateurs still saw a benefit to
the program.
Since the shutdown,
Prodigal Son Brewery
& Pub has dramatically
scaled back its operations,
now mostly operating as
a growler filling station
while it waits for the state’s
COVID-19 restrictions to
lift. Prodigal Son co-owner
Tim Guenther said that even
if the state began to loosen
restrictions, he would want
to wait until enough were
lifted that reopening would
make financial sense.
Guenther said the grant
program would help Prod-
igal Son pay the bills on the
fixed costs they need to be
able to meet.
Addison Schulberg, a
manager at the Great Pacific
Wine & Coffee Co., said
his restaurant isn’t pushing
for a full reopening, espe-
cially considering the health
risks of gathering crowds of
people together in an indoor
space during the pandemic.
But he added that Great
Pacific is still making an
effort to pay its staff as
much as possible despite a
cut in hours. Other costs,
like packaging, have gone
up as Great Pacific pro-
cesses more takeout orders.
Schulberg said the
money would go toward
making long-term improve-
ments that would help
the restaurant come back
stronger once it reopened.
Guenther is also looking
into using the down time
for improvements like
making some building ren-
ovations and revamping the
menu.
The members of the
council didn’t seem to have
any major objections to the
program. Councilor Kevin
Martin, the chairman of the
development commission,
said the commission would
hold a special meeting on
Tuesday, Jan. 26, instead
of workshop, meaning the
grant program could be
approved as soon as Jan. 26.
Baker City plans virtual meeting Wednesday to discuss transportation plan
Changes to 10th Street,
Hughes Lane and Cedar
Street part of proposal
By SAMANTHA O’CONNER
Baker City Herald
BAKER CITY — Baker City
has scheduled a virtual public
meeting for Wednesday, Jan. 27,
to discuss possible transportation
improvements to sections of 10th
Street, Hughes Lane and Cedar
Street.
The Northern Baker Transpor-
tation Improvement Plan started
last fall, and the city’s schedule
calls for work to be finished by
the fall of 2021.
The virtual meeting will run
6-7 p.m., with the online link
opening at 5:45 p.m. To join
the meeting, use the link on the
city’s website, www.bakercity.
com/2289/NBTIP
City officials are looking at
potential improvements designed
to improve driving, walking
and biking on sections of four
streets:
• 10th Street from Hughes
Lane to Broadway Street.
• Cedar Street from Hughes
Lane to Campbell Street.
• Hughes Lane from 10th
Street to Cedar Street.
• Pocahontas Road from 10th
Street to 17th Street/Chico Street.
“This area has seen an
increase in people walking and
biking, and the plan will seek
to improve facilities, safety and
connections for these users,”
according to a project overview
from the city. “The plan will also
address traffic safety and flow
and freight mobility.”
S. John Collins/Baker City Herald, File
Baker City officials are inviting residents to attend a virtual public
meeting Wednesday, Jan. 27, 2021, to discuss possible transportation
improvements to 10th Street.