2A — THE OBSERVER
TuESday, MaRcH 9, 2021
LOCAL/REGION
Today in EOU freezes undergraduate tuition for 2021-22
History
The Observer
Today is Tuesday, March
9, the 68th day of 2021. There
are 297 days left in the year.
TODAY’S HIGHLIGHT IN
HISTORY:
On March 9, 1841, the
U.S. Supreme Court ruled
7-1 in favor of a group of ille-
gally enslaved Africans who
were captured off the U.S.
coast after seizing control of
a Spanish schooner the jus-
tices ruled that the Africans
should be set free.
ON THIS DATE:
In 1916, more than 400
Mexican raiders led by
Pancho Villa attacked Co-
lumbus, New Mexico, killing
18 Americans. During the
First World War, Germany
declared war on Portugal.
In 1933, Congress, called
into special session by Pres-
ident Franklin D. Roosevelt,
began enacting New Deal
legislation.
In 1945, during World War
II, U.S. B-29 bombers began
launching incendiary bomb
attacks against Tokyo, result-
ing in an estimated 100,000
deaths.
In 1954, CBS newsman
Edward R. Murrow criti-
cally reviewed Wisconsin
Sen. Joseph R. McCarthy’s
anti-communism campaign
on “See It Now.”
In 1959, Mattel’s Barbie
doll made its public debut at
the American International
Toy Fair in New York.
In 1964, the U.S. Supreme
Court raised the standard
for public officials to prove
they’d been libeled in their
official capacity by news
organizations.
In 1976, a cable car in the
Italian ski resort of Cavalese
fell some 700 feet to the
ground when a supporting
line snapped, killing 43
people.
In 1987, Chrysler Corp.
announced it had agreed
to buy the financially ailing
American Motors Corp.
In 1989, the Senate
rejected President George
H.W. Bush’s nomination of
John Tower to be defense
secretary by a vote of 53-47.
(The next day, Bush tapped
Wyoming Rep. Dick Cheney,
who went on to win unani-
mous Senate approval.)
In 1990, Dr. Antonia
Novello was sworn in as
surgeon general, becoming
the first woman and the first
Hispanic to hold the job.
In 1997, gangsta rapper
The Notorious B.I.G. was
killed in a still-unsolved
drive-by shooting in Los
Angeles; he was 24.
In 2000, John McCain
suspended his presidential
campaign, conceding the
Republican nomination to
George W. Bush. Bill Bradley
ended his presidential bid,
conceding the Democratic
nomination to Vice President
Al Gore.
Ten years ago: After a trip
to the International Space
Station, shuttle Discovery
ended its career as the
most flown U.S. spaceship,
returning from orbit for the
last time. Illinois Gov. Pat
Quinn signed legislation
abolishing the death penalty
in his state and commuting
the sentences of all remain-
ing death row inmates.
LA GRANDE —
Eastern Oregon Univer-
sity announced it will not
raise tuition for current
undergraduate students in
2021-22.
The EOU Board of
Trustees in a special
meeting Friday, March 5,
voted unanimously in favor
of holding tuition flat for
all returning undergrad-
uate students, on-campus
and online, the university
reported in a press release.
Trustees will vote on grad-
uate tuition rates when they
reconvene in May for the
board’s regular meeting.
“This is something we
can do for our students
hardest hit by the pan-
demic,” said EOU President
Tom Insko. “As Oregon’s
Rural University, meeting
students where they are is
core to our mission and par-
ticularly this year we need
to do all we can to carry
out that mission and make
higher education as afford-
able as possible.”
The decision came ear-
lier than typical tuition
announcements, Insko
said, to provide greater cer-
tainty for students and an
extended opportunity for
prospective students to
make an informed decision.
Ben Lonergan/The Observer, File
Eastern Oregon University is not raising tuition for undergraduate students in 2021-22.
The EOU Board of Trustees voted Friday, March 5, 2021, in favor of holding tuition flat for
all returning undergraduate students, on-campus and online, the university announced.
National trends show many
students are taking more
time to decide whether to
invest in higher education
as the COVID-19 pandemic
stretches into its second year.
Nearly two-thirds of
EOU students are from low-
er-income households, iden-
tify as ethnically diverse,
hail from rural areas or are
the first in their families to
attend college, according
to the press release. Data
suggests students and fam-
ilies from these demo-
graphics have been the most
adversely impacted by the
effects of COVID-19.
EOU returned to
offering in-person classes
in fall 2020. In holding
tuition flat for 2021-22,
Insko said, the univer-
sity has again chosen the
more challenging path to
Big donation makes X-rays
possible at hospital’s clinic
The Observer
LA GRANDE —
The Grande Ronde Hos-
pital Foundation recently
received a big gift — in
fact, its biggest cash gift
ever.
The foundation in a
press release announced a
local couple, who want to
remain anonymous, gave
the foundation an invest-
ment fund of $101,646, the
largest non-real estate gift
in the 52-year history of the
foundation.
The couple gave the
donation after reading a
newsletter article from the
foundation about fund-
raising efforts for an X-ray
machine for the Grande
Ronde Hospital Urgent Care
in Island City.
“They were inspired to
help and chose to give the
investment account to the
foundation in its entirety,”
according to the foundation.
“To receive a gift of this
magnitude is humbling,”
hospital President and CEO
Jeremy Davis said in the
press release. “These funds
will improve access to cus-
tomer-friendly and con-
venient imaging services
within the comfort of our
Grande Ronde Hospital Foundation/Contributed Photo
A cash donation topping $100,000 made it possible for
Grande Ronde Hospital Urgent Care in Island City to in-
stall this new X-ray machine in February 2021. The gift is
the largest non-real estate gift in the 52-year history of the
Grande Ronde Hospital Foundation.
Urgent Care.”
The couple felt the new
urgent care location and
onsite X-ray services are
advantageous for county
residents as well as visi-
tors to the area. The donors
hope their gift encour-
ages others to give as well,
according to the foundation.
Foundation Manager
Patrick Flynn expressed
gratitude for “their amazing
gift.”
“Having imaging ser-
vices located within Urgent
Care is something that
Union County has never
had previously,” he said in
the release.
The clinic installed the
X-ray machine at the end
of February, and it should
go into service sometime in
March.
The Grande Ronde Hos-
pital Foundation has been
fundraising for patient
care equipment at Grande
Ronde Hospital since 1969
and has contributed more
than $4.8 million for hos-
pital projects.
For more information,
call 541-963-1431 or go to
www.grh.org/foundation.
serve its students.
“We’ve been having
robust conversations with
the university commu-
nity about this,” Insko
said. “This is a conscious
choice to forgo tuition rev-
enues that we would oth-
erwise receive in order to
prioritize our mission and
direct state investment
dollars to students when
they most need it.”
EOU also has split
online tuition into two tiers:
resident and non-resident.
Oregon undergraduates
will not see an increase in
online tuition this year, but
the new non-resident rate
will increase from $265 to
$305 per credit. The change
only applies to incoming
or new online students,
according to the press
release. Rates for existing
non-resident online students
will not increase.
Although tuition won’t
go up for on-campus or
online resident undergrad-
uate students, EOU expects
to increase on-campus fees
in 2021-22. Insko said the
university aims to keep
future tuition increases
minimal, no more than 1.5-
3.5% per year. Administra-
tors held discussions with
student leaders and internal
groups to garner feedback.
“This is going to take
sacrifice, but we are
choosing to take that con-
sidered risk and prioritize
students,” Insko said.
EOU and the state’s
other six public universi-
ties are working together
to request a $63 million
increase in the Public
University Support Fund,
bringing the total
allocation to $900 million.
Film festival celebrates
world’s beauty, wonder
The Observer
WALLA WALLA,
Wash. — The Blue
Mountain Land Trust
based in Walla Walla,
Washington, again has
partnered with the South
Yuba River Citizens
League to bring the Wild
& Scenic Film Festival
to the Blue Mountain
region.
Last year, because
of the pandemic, the
Land Trust canceled
its in-person presenta-
tion of the festival and
instead hosted the films
online. More than 3,400
guests views the films,
according to a press
release.
This year, the fes-
tival again will be online.
The premier presenta-
tion will be livestreamed
Thursday, April 1, begin-
ning at 6:30 p.m. During
the event, guests can
watch the films, chat with
other audience mem-
bers and vie to win door
prizes, all from the com-
fort of home. A recorded
version of the festival
will be available online
through April 6.
The Wild & Scenic
Film Festival celebrates
the beauty and wonder
of the natural world
and advocates for pro-
tecting it. The yearly
festival raises funds
that go directly to fos-
tering the science, advo-
cacy, activism and edu-
cation that are crucial to
keeping rivers healthy
and beautiful.
Among the films
at this year’s festival
are “Here We Stand,”
a film from Theresa
Baker and Save the Red-
woods League about
improving inclusivity in
the outdoors; “Common
Ground,” which shows
how water can bring
together the interests of
tribes, ranchers and gov-
ernment to work toward
a common goal; and “A
Message from the Future
of Paradise” reflecting on
the potential rebuilding
process of a community
destroyed by fire, pro-
viding a model for others.
To register for the film
festival, visit bmlt.org/
wild2021. Tickets start at
$20. Local dining pack-
ages are available in
Walla Walla, John Day
and Pendleton.
For more information,
contact Katy Rizzuti at
katy@bmlt.org.
Snowplow driver recounts experiences during harrowing blizzard
By JAYSON JACOBY
Baker City Herald
BAKER CITY —
Driving a snowplow is a
daunting task, particu-
larly when you can’t see the
plow.
The Oregon Department
of Transportation’s plow
drivers are of course accus-
tomed to nasty snowstorms.
But even they were “shaken
up,” as one driver put it, by
the ferocity of the blizzard
that bombarded the Blue
Mountains between Baker
City and Prairie City the
morning of Friday, Feb. 26.
“We’re used to the heavy
snowfall,” said Toby Gan-
gler, the coordinator at
ODOT’s maintenance sta-
tion at Austin Junction in
Grant County.
That station is near the
junction of Highways 26
and 7, about 50 miles south-
west of Baker City.
But it was the gusting
wind that made the storm
so noteworthy.
“It was unlike anything
we’ve seen,” Gangler said.
Gangler said John
Burke, a plow driver who’s
in his 25th winter working
the storm-prone Blue
Mountains, told him he
could remember only one
storm during his career
comparable to the recent
tempest.
For about two hours
starting around 7:30 a.m.
that day, the section of
Highway 7 from Austin
Junction to Sumpter Valley
was hit by a blizzard that
reduced visibility to, well,
basically zero, Gangler
said.
Burke radioed in an esti-
mate of “maybe 20 feet.”
Gangler, who later went
out in another plow to help
Burke, said, “You couldn’t
see the plow at the front of
your truck.”
Gangler’s crew is
responsible for about half of
Highway 7 — from Austin
Junction to the Sumpter
Valley Railroad crossing.
Often the worst sections
are the two mountain
passes, Larch Summit near
Sumpter Valley and Tipton
Summit about 8 miles from
Austin Junction.
But during Friday’s bliz-
zard the storm was most
fierce in Whitney Valley,
about 33 miles southwest of
Baker City, Gangler said.
On that stretch, where
the highway runs between
the meadows along the
North Fork of Burnt River
and Camp Creek, the wind
and snow created a whiteout
— a situation where the
lack of visual references
means drivers are, almost
literally, flying blind.
Conditions were sim-
ilarly atrocious from
Whitney Valley to around
Larch Summit, a distance
of about 5 miles, Gangler
said.
At times that morning,
Gangler said, the wind was
whipping the light, powdery
snow to the point the plows
were less effective than
usual because some of the
snow their blades pushed
along ended up back on the
road.
“We probably shouldn’t
have been out there,” he
said of the snowplow
drivers. “Much less the
traveling public.”
The conditions were
so dangerous that ODOT
issued a public notice
urging drivers to avoid
Highway 7 as well as High-
ways 245 (Dooley Moun-
tain) and 26.
Gangler said the wind
made it difficult to estimate
how much snow actually
fell during the storm, which
in places continued into
Saturday morning, Feb. 27.
“We might have had a
foot in one place and 5 feet
in another,” he said.
Fishtrap Fireside focuses on Women’s History Month
Wallowa County Chieftain
ENTERPRISE — Fish-
trap Fireside has a multi-
generational lineup to mark
Women’s History Month
in March, with work from
three Wallowa County
writers: Lynne Curry, Talia
Galvin and Janie Tippett.
It became available
online Friday, March 5, at
Fishtrap.org and on Fish-
trap’s YouTube Channel.
According to a press
release, Lynne Curry
moved to Joseph in 2001
with her husband,
Benjamin, and they
are the parents of
Molly, 15, and Cece,
12. Raised on the
New England coast,
Curry
Tippett
Galvin
Curry took up hiking
and sustainable agriculture.
and skiing in the
Her food essays have
Wallowa Mountains to
appeared in Tin House,
adapt to the region.
including the anthology
A former professional
cook, food influences much “Food & Booze: A Tin
House Literary Feast,
of her writing. She works
Eating Well” and “Leite’s
as a freelance journalist
Culinaria.” Curry is the
focused on small-scale
farming, animal welfare
author of the grassfed beef
cookbook, “Pure Beef,”
that features several local
ranching families. She is
working on a follow-up
book that explores the
range of pasture-raised
foods through narrative
nonfiction.
Talia Galvin lives in
Enterprise. Growing up,
Galvin visited here with
her Eastern Oregon-based
family many summers to
camp and explore, and then
returned as a young adult
to work for the U.S. Forest
Service as a ranger. Her
professional career includes
work in design, photog-
raphy and social sciences.
Beyond park ranger
blogging and college lit-
erary zines, her writing
often has been a practice
of personal reflection. Her
reading at Fishtrap Fireside
was a premiere of some
inner workings.
Janie Tippett was a col-
umnist for Agritimes NW
for 31 years, is the author
of “Four Lines a Day:
The Life and Times of an
Imnaha Ranch Woman.”
Her work has been pub-
lished in anthologies of
Western writers and is a
freelance writer. She is a
fourth-generation rancher,
mother of four, stepmother
to three, grandmother and
great-grandmother.
Tippett also is a photog-
rapher, outdoor enthusiast,
and a long-time Fishtrapper.
To learn more, visit
https://fishtrap.org/
fishtrap-fireside-2.