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THURSDAY • January 28, 2021
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COVID-19
LG City
Council sets
course for
coming year
Drop in
infections will
allow Oregon
to loosen
restrictions
Council members
question $400,000
for business park
amid pandemic
By GARY A. WARNER
Oregon Capital Bureau
graduates by the state. The other
three are now completing their
graduation requirements.
Elgin High School’s gradu-
ation rate also is up, bounding
from 75% in 2018-19 to 82.8%
in 2019-20. Elgin School Dis-
trict Superintendent Dianne
Greif credited the increase to the
ability of her staff members to
focus on helping students fi nish
graduation requirements despite
the enormous distractions the
COVID-19 pandemic caused.
The state required all Oregon
school districts to provide only
online instruction the fi nal three
months of the 2019-20 school
year due to the public health
crisis.
“Our staff stayed on top of it,”
Greif said.
Graduation rates in the
Cove and Imbler school dis-
tricts were down from 2018-19
but still topped the state average
of 82.6%. Imbler High School
had a graduation rate of 85.7%,
down from 100% in 2018-19,
and Cove High School had a rate
of 84.2%, down from 93.1% the
year before.
Cove School District Super-
intendent Earl Pettit said Cove’s
status as a charter school district
sometimes hurts it in terms of
SALEM — Falling COVID-19
infection rates will allow the state
to lift some restrictions on busi-
nesses and activities over the next
three weeks, the state’s top health
offi cial said Monday, Jan. 25.
Oregon Health Authority
Director Pat Allen told the Senate
Committee on Health Care that
the infection rate in Oregon had
dropped to 5.1% for the week of
Jan. 17, the lowest rate since late
October.
The rate has been steadily
dropping since the fi rst week of
January and has reached a point
where growth in the daily number
of cases is expected to stay rela-
tively fl at or drop further.
The rates means the state can
move more of the state’s 36 coun-
ties lower on the four-tier risk level
measures. The latest two-week rat-
ings will be released in the next
two days and will show some
counties dropping a level, while no
county’s risk level is on the rise.
“It’s the hard work of Orego-
nians,” Allen told the panel.
Allen said Oregon has the
fourth lowest infection rate and
the fi fth lowest death rate of the
50 states.
Allen said that if the trend
sustains for another two weeks,
several more counties will
move down the risk level scale,
including some with larger
populations.
Gov. Kate Brown is also
expected to make an announce-
ment this week to allow some
gyms and other indoor recreation
to operate again.
The lower rate of infection is
good news as the state continues
to struggle with obtaining enough
of the new Pfi zer and Moderna
vaccines to ramp up inoculations.
The two-shot vaccines are the key
to ending the pandemic that has
killed 420,000 people nationwide,
including 1,882 Oregonians.
“Our real challenge right now
is just fl at out not having enough
vaccine,” Allen said. The state has
received more than 492,000 doses
See, Rates/Page 5A
See, Loose/Page 5A
By KALEB LAY
The Observer
LA GRANDE — The city
council of La Grande held its
annual work retreat, which
this year took the form of two
nights of hours-long video con-
ferences, to discuss priorities
for the coming year.
The fi rst was a session
Monday night, Jan. 25, of the
council in its role as the Urban
Renewal Agency on economic
development that also touched
on COVID-19 relief. During
the second meeting Tuesday
evening, the council set the
city’s goals and priorities for
the future.
The council made no deci-
sions during the retreat, but La
Grande Mayor Steve Clements
said the meetings were key in
setting the council’s course for
the rest of 2021, and councilors
made their positions clear on
issues from pandemic response
and wildfi re preparedness to
downtown development.
COVID-19 response
and recovery
The city of La Grande
already allocated more than
$430,000 in funds toward
COVID-19 relief programs for
businesses, according to City
Manager Robert Strope, and
the council largely expressed
a reluctance to increase that
fi gure for the time being.
“Currently, we still have
quite a bit of money that’s
available for loans of up to
$10,000 apiece for businesses,
and we’re still seeing some
interest on those,” Strope said.
Strope explained he
expected the city’s role moving
forward to be geared more
toward serving as a “conduit
for information” about federal
COVID-19 relief and recovery
programs than as a provider of
its own such programs.
Councilor David Glabe said
he believed the council would
be wise to keep some funds
set aside to help businesses get
across the fi nish line.
“I like the idea that we’ve
got some money set aside to
help businesses, because I
think we have to realize that
we’re still fairly early on in
the winter,” Glabe said. “For
restaurants, as long as they’re
still having outdoor seating or
See, Retreat/Page 5A
Dick Mason/The Observer
Union High School students walk across the school’s campus on Jan. 26, 2021. Union High School had
a 100% graduation rate in 2019-20.
GRAD RATES RISE
Union, North Powder districts reach 100%; Cove, Imbler see rates drop
By DICK MASON
LOCAL HIGH SCHOOL
GRADUATION RATES
The Observer
UNION COUNTY — The
COVID-19 pandemic is not
proving to be an albatross overall
for Union County high schools
in terms of graduation rates,
according to the Oregon Depart-
ment of Education.
The ODE’s annual gradua-
tion report of Jan. 21 paints a
bright picture for Union County
high schools. It indicates gradu-
ation rates for 2019-20 increased
or were at 100% in four of its
six public high schools and
above the state average in all six
districts.
Leading the way are Powder
Valley and Union high schools,
which each had 100% gradua-
tion rates. Powder Valley’s rate
was perfect for the second year
in a row.
“We are extremely proud,”
said North Powder School Dis-
trict Superintendent Lance
Dixon.
Union School District Super-
intendent Carter Wells said the
Union High School’s perfect
graduation rate refl ects tireless
diligence by his staff.
“Our teachers work before
and after school with students
who need assistance to make
sure that they understand the
content being taught in class,”
Union
Powder Valley
La Grande High School
Imbler
Cove
Elgin High School
100%
100%
89.4%
85.7%
84.2%
82.8%
Wells said. “They make sure our
students make it to the fi nish
line.”
La Grande High School had
the biggest increase among
Union County’s high schools,
jumping 9.5% to 89.4%. LHS
Principal Brett Baxter said the
increase was due to his staff’s
laser focus on helping students
get to commencement.
“This just shows that we
never give up,” Baxter said. “We
pull out all the stops.”
So many opportunities for
help are available to LHS stu-
dents that Baxter said for a stu-
dent not to receive a diploma,
one almost has “to choose not to
graduate.”
The principal said at the end
of the 2019-20 school year, LHS
had seven seniors who had not
met graduation requirements.
Four of those students completed
their necessary course work by
the August deadline, allowing
them to be counted as 2020
Gyms can partially reopen
under new COVID-19 rule
Local fitness centers weigh in on what it means as
Union County remains in extreme risk category
By GARY A. WARNER
Oregon Capital Bureau
SALEM — Gyms can reopen
under tight guidelines to control
COVID-19 infections, Gov. Kate
Brown announced Tuesday, Jan
26.
The new rules for “indoor
recreation” were included in an
update of county risk levels.
Brown’s announcement means
Mountain Valley Fitness &
Health, La Grande, will be able
to open again starting Jan. 29,
said its executive director, Shayla
Hewitt.
Hewitt said on Jan. 27 she
started getting calls from mem-
bers not long after Brown’s
announcement, and the calls are
continuing to come in. She said
INDEX
Business ....... 1B
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Comics .......... 7B
Crossword .... 4B
Dear Abby .... 8B
Horoscope .... 4B
Letters ........... 4A
Lottery........... 3A
SATURDAY
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Obituaries ..... 3A
Opinion ......... 4A
State .............. 7A
anyone who wants to exercise at
Mountain Valley should call and
make an appointment.
Hewitt said Brown’s announce-
ment surprised her because Union
County still is in the extreme risk
category for COVID-19. Moun-
tain Valley Fitness & Health is
part of a center at 2519 Cove Ave.
that includes Mountain Valley
Therapy, which has been able to
operate while fi tness gyms have
been closed.
There was little movement
among counties from their risk
levels two weeks ago. Nearly all of
the state’s most populous counties
were among the 26 that remained
in the extreme risk category.
See, Gyms/Page 5A
WEATHER
The Observer, File
Mike Wood, a La Grande resident and certifi ed personal trainer
at Mountain Valley Fitness & Health, demonstrates the use of a leg
press machine in June 2017. Starting Jan. 29, 2021, gyms in Oregon
will be allowed to reopen under tight guidelines to control the spread
of COVID-19.
Full forecast on the back of B section
Tonight
Friday
33 LOW
40/29
Cloudy, a shower
Rather cloudy
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Issue 12
3 sections, 24 pages
La Grande, Oregon
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