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In Outdoors & Rec
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SATURDAY– MONDAY • March 6, 2021
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Good day to our valued subscribers Becky and Jeff Weaver of La Grande
Dead air
EOU student radio may
go silent in 2021-22
By DICK MASON
The Observer
LA GRANDE — Eastern
Oregon University’s student-run
FM radio station, KEOL, may go
silent after the school year.
KEOL is receiving $33,481 in
2020-21 from the university’s Stu-
dent Fee Committee and asked for
$33,606 for 2021-22. But the com-
mittee voted not to fund KEOL in
2021-22.
“It was a very tough decision,”
said Keegan Sanchez, vice chair
of the Student Fee Committee and
Eastern’s student body president.
The Student Fee Committee,
which voted to defund KEOL
on Feb. 5, determines how much
money from student incidental
fees is go to 20 student organiza-
tions and programs on campus.
The student senate earlier this
week approved the recommen-
dations. They must next receive
the approval of EOU President
Tom Insko and the EOU Board of
Trustees.
Sanchez said the SFC had to
trim the money it allots to stu-
dent programs because declining
enrollment is reducing the
amount of incidental fee money.
This forced the committee to cut
funding for all but one of the pro-
grams and operations — referred
to as units — the fees pay for.
“Almost every unit took a hit,”
said Zachary Cahill, the chair of
the Student Fee Committee and
the director of fi nancial affairs for
EOU’s student government.
Units that received cuts
included athletics, which was
trimmed $31,000 to $513,000, and
the Hoke Union Building, which
was cut $7,500 to $304,000.
Cahill said the committee wanted
to cut more from the Hoke Union
Building’s budget but could not
because there are so many fi xed
operational costs, such heating,
plumbing and maintenance staff.
The building is the home site of
about 50 EOU clubs.
The SFC received requests
for $1.4 million in funding for
2021-22 but could allot only $1.2
million because of the projected
decline in incidental fee revenue.
A big portion of KEOL’s
budget covers the cost of paying
its two student employees, who
will receive a combined total of
about $20,000 in the 2020-21
school year, said Zachary Cahill,
the chair of the Student Fee Com-
mittee and the director of fi nan-
cial affairs for EOU’s student
government.The station also has
about four student disc jockeys
who work as volunteers.
Cahill said KEOL, based in
the Hoke Union Building, was
defunded in part because studies
indicate radio is a fading industry
See, Radio/Page 5A
Alex Wittwer/The Observer
Steve West on Thursday, March 4, 2021, looks toward a forest on the Ponderosa Ranch property he has been working to own. West has been
grooming the forest near La Grande for wildlife as part of the agreement that places 250 acres into a conservation easement in exchange
for the rock quarry on the property.
ROCK FIGHT:
ROUND
TWO
Ranch operator
counters arguments
against quarry
By PHIL WRIGHT
The Observer
U
NION COUNTY — Steve West
has a goal to own the Ponderosa
Ranch in the Mount Emily area
overlooking the Grande Ronde Valley.
But to accomplish that, he said, he needs
to get the OK from the Union County Plan-
ning Commission for a rock quarry with
railroad access at the bottom of Robb’s Hill
Road near Perry and about a couple of miles
from La Grande.
Plenty of locals, however, don’t want the
quarry, fearing it will produce numerous
negative effects, from noise and dust pollu-
tion to harming the nearby Grande Ronde
River. West, who produces the TV series
Steve’s Outdoor Adventures, said he has
been working diligently the past two years
to ensure that is not going to happen if the
quarry becomes reality.
“We’re going to have everything
there to not negatively impact the
valley,” West said. “This has been blown
Alex Wittwer/The Observer
Steve West, who manages the Ponderosa Ranch near La Grande, pauses in front of a thicket
of trees that were cut over the winter Thursday, March 4, 2021. West says the goal was to
thin the forest and make the area more appropriate for wildlife.
way out of proportion.”
West and others get to make their cases on
the quarry project to the planning commis-
sion during a public hearing Monday, March
8, at 7 p.m. via teleconference.
Keeping the ranch intact
West explained he is friends with Jim
Smejkal of Banks, who bought the ranch in
See, Quarry/Page 5A
Counties in ‘extreme’ risk receive grace period
Union County’s total number
of cases hits 1,305 as Wallowa,
Baker counties see more deaths
COVID-19 BY THE NUMBERS
• Union County: 1,303 cases; 19 deaths
• Wallowa County: 143 cases, 5 deaths
• Baker County: 666 cases, 9 deaths
• Oregon: 156,673 cases; 2,284 deaths
Source: Oregon Health Authority
By GARY A. WARNER
Oregon Capital Bureau
SALEM — Counties that might fall back
into the state’s most restrictive extreme risk
level for COVID-19 spread will be given
a two-week grace period on heightened
restrictions, Gov. Kate Brown announced
Thursday, March 4.
Brown said the state’s low overall infec-
tion rates and its steep trend downward since
the winter holidays allowed for “a bit more
time” for some state trouble spots. The state
INDEX
Classified ...... 2B
Comics .......... 5B
Crossword .... 2B
Dear Abby .... 6B
ranks 49th of the 50 states in new infec-
tions per 100,000 people — only Hawaii
scores better. With a positive test rate of
3.9%, Oregon is fi rmly on track for numbers
to continue downward statewide, and 1 mil-
lion vaccine shots have been administered to
residents.
The governor said she made the decision
to waive the restrictions “recognizing the
challenges businesses encounter when facing
WEATHER
Horoscope .... 3B
Letters ........... 4A
Lottery........... 3A
Obituaries ..... 3A
TUESDAY
Opinion ......... 4A
Outdoors ...... 1B
State .............. 8A
Sudoku ......... 5B
EARLY HEAD START
Full forecast on the back of B section
Tonight
Sunday
33 LOW
46/24
Mostly cloudy
A few showers
a switch back and forth between extreme risk
and other risk levels.”
The drop to the higher risk level meant
restaurants could offer limited indoor dining,
a key change during the cold, wet winter
months that have stretched into March.
Higher numbers would have required a
return to the tighter restrictions on businesses,
dining and activities. Brown’s message did
not include any changes to rules covering
counties already in the extreme risk level.
Brown had announced Feb. 23 that 10
counties had dropped out of the extreme
risk level, the highest of the four-tier rating
system that also includes high risk, moderate
and lower. The higher the risk level, the more
See, Cases/Page 5A
CONTACT US
541-963-3161
Issue 28
2 sections, 14 pages
La Grande, Oregon
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