2A — THE OBSERVER
Today in
History
Today is Saturday, March
13, the 72nd day of 2021.
There are 293 days left in
the year.
TODAY’S HIGHLIGHT IN
HISTORY:
On March 13, 1933, banks
in the U.S. began to reopen
after a “holiday” declared
by President Franklin D.
Roosevelt.
ON THIS DATE:
In 1781, the seventh
planet of the solar system,
Uranus, was discovered by
Sir William Herschel.
In 1862, President
Abraham Lincoln signed a
measure prohibiting Union
military officers from return-
ing fugitive slaves to their
owners.
In 1925, the Tennessee
General Assembly approved
a bill prohibiting the teaching
of the theory of evolution.
In 1947, the Lerner and
Loewe musical “Brigadoon,”
about a Scottish village
that magically reappears
once every hundred years,
opened on Broadway.
In 1969, the Apollo 9
astronauts splashed down,
ending a mission that in-
cluded the successful testing
of the Lunar Module.
In 2013, Jorge Bergoglio
of Argentina was elected
pope, choosing the name
Francis.
SaTuRday, MaRcH 13, 2021
LOCAL/REGION
Elgin High student recovering after crash
By DICK MASON
The Observer
ELGIN — The come-
back of Rylee Sandland,
an Elgin High School
freshman seriously injured
in a snowmobile crash in
early February, is picking
up speed.
Sandland, who was hos-
pitalized at St. Alphonsus
Medical Center in Boise,
Idaho, for a month after the
mishap, recently returned to
her home in Elgin.
“She is just so happy
to be back home,” said
Mandi Parsons, a teacher
at Stella Mayfield School
who is leading fundraising
efforts for Sandland and her
family.
Parsons said one of the
best parts of being back
for Sandland is having the
chance to see her friends
again. Parsons explained
that at St. Alphonsus only
her family could visit
because of COVID-19
restrictions.
Sandland suffered a
broken pelvis, a broken rib
and a punctured lung in
the crash, which occurred
east of Union in the Cath-
erine Creek area. An emer-
Mandi Parsons via Facebook
Elgin High School freshman Rylee Sandland sits with a
calf in this undated Facebook photo. Sandland suffered se-
rious injuries in early February 2021 in a snowmobile crash
and now is on the path to recovery.
gency helicopter flew the
teen from the crash site
to St. Alphonsus. Parsons
LG School Board gives
Mendoza high marks
said the helicopter made
a big difference in getting
Sandland rescued quickly.
If not for the air ambu-
lance, Parsons said, the sit-
uation would have been a
lot tougher.
She also said Sand-
land’s recovery is ahead of
schedule and doctors antici-
pate she will fully recover.
Sandland returned
home two weeks ago and
still faces significant chal-
lenges. The broken pelvis,
for example, prevents her
from walking. But Parsons
said Sandland is not letting
her health challenges get
her down.
“Her spirits are very
high,” the educator said.
“She always positive.”
Sandland, who loves
farm animals and horseback
riding, has been an active
member of Elgin High
School’s FFA chapter and
made friends with chapter
members soon after her
family moved to Elgin from
La Grande less than a year
ago.
“The students wel-
comed her as if she had
always been here,” said
Daniel Bolen, Elgin High
School’s agricultural sci-
ences teacher and FFA
chapter adviser.
Sandland’s personable
nature made it easier for her
to make quick connections.
“She is super caring and
sweet and thoughtful of
others,” Bolen said.
Parsons said Sandland,
15, has a special charisma
that reflects her Christian
faith.
“She has a wonderful
soul. Her smile lights up a
room,” Parsons said.
About $3,000 has been
raised to help Rylee Sand-
land and her family with
medical and other asso-
ciated expenses caused
by the snowmobile crash.
A big part of it has come
from the sale of sweat-
shirts Parsons designed.
All have the outline of a
heart and an illustration of
a girl riding a horse on the
left side and a snowmo-
bile on the right. Above the
heart are the words, “Rylee
Rides Again.”
The effort so far has
sold about 50 of the sweat-
shirts, which are still avail-
able via Parsons’ Face-
book page. People also can
donate to an account for
Sandland at any branch of
Community Bank.
$1.3 million grant will establish
homeless facility in Pendleton
By ANTONIO SIERRA
East Oregonian
By DICK MASON
The Observer
LA GRANDE —
Superintendent George
Mendoza again has
received a strong endorse-
ment from the La Grande
School Board.
The board
gave Mendoza
an overall
rating of 3.6
on a scale of
Mendoza 4 in Mendo-
za’s annual
performance review. The
evaluation was based on
nine performance stan-
dards and three goals that
are a part of the La Grande
School District’s strategic
plan. The board found that
Mendoza was “effective or
accomplished” in regard
to all nine performance
standards.
“You continue to meet
our expectations of a
superintendent,” said
School Board Chair Robin
Maille in a letter at a
March 10 meeting of the
La Grande School Board.
At the Wednesday
meeting Maille said the
board was impressed with
how Mendoza has guided
the school district in nav-
igating the COVID-19
pandemic, which has lim-
ited how much in-person
learning all Oregon
schools have been able to
provide over portions of
the past 12 months. The
board said Mendoza’s
efforts helped get schools
in this region reopened for
in-person instruction.
“Your leadership in the
district has been strong
and focused and influ-
enced decisions at both the
regional and state level for
better metrics and local
control to reopen schools,”
Maille said in the letter.
Mendoza received
praise for working dili-
gently with his adminis-
trative staff to communi-
cate with families and the
public about the Ready
Schools, Safe Learners
changes and how they
impact district opera-
tions and learning. Ready
Schools, Safe Learners is
a set of requirements the
Oregon Department of
Education created in part-
nership with the Oregon
Health Authority for
the operation of schools
during the COVID-19
pandemic.
Maille said the board
believes Mendoza has done
a good job of putting “the
right leaders in the right
roles” over the past year
to help the school district
operate well during the
pandemic.
The board also cred-
ited Mendoza for keeping
the school district on
strong financial footing
in an uncertain economic
environment and for how
he has reached out to
employees.
“District staff and
administrators feel valued,
appreciated and supported
by you,” Maille said.
Maille said the board
unanimously decided
to offer Mendoza a new
three-year contract, which
will be negotiated later.
Mendoza, who is com-
pleting his fourth year as
La Grande’s superinten-
dent, described his job as
tough but rewarding. He
said everything the school
district has accomplished
is a credit to its school
board and staff.
“I am thankful that I
get to work with a lot of
amazing people,” Mendoza
said.
Mendoza came to La
Grande from the Morrow
County School District,
where he was an assistant
superintendent.
He is a 1997 graduate
of Eastern Oregon Uni-
versity and a member of
its board of trustees.
Three Northeastern Oregon
hospitals make top 100 list
The Observer
LA GRANDE — Three
Northeast Oregon hos-
pitals received recogni-
tion as top critical access
hospitals.
The Chartis Group,
which provides compre-
hensive advisory services
and analytics to the health
care industry, recently
released its annual list of
Top 100 Critical Access
Hospitals. Grande Ronde
Hospital, La Grande,
Saint Alphonsus Medical
Center, Baker City, and
Wallowa Memorial Hos-
pital, Enterprise, made the
list.
Oregon has 25 crit-
ical access hospitals,
according to a press
release from Grande
Ronde Hospital, and the
three Northeast Oregon
hospitals are the only ones
in the state on the list for
2021. All three hospitals
also are regulars on the
list.
Grande Ronde reported
this is its fifth time
making the top 100 list
since its first time in
2011. Wallowa Memo-
rial Hospital reported it
has earned the designa-
tion eight out of the 11
years and five years con-
secutively. And Saint
Alphonsus made the list
for a fifth year in a row.
According to rural-
healthinfo.org, there are
1,350 critical access hos-
pitals nationwide in the
nation. The Chartis Group
listing, then, places the
trio of regional hospitals
in the top 7.4% of their
peers.
Jeremy Davis, Grande
Ronde’s CEO and pres-
ident, said in a press
release it was an honor
again to make the list.
“Our providers and
staff have been tremen-
dous advocates and it
takes a lot of consistent
hard work day in and day
out to earn this distinction
once again,” Davis said. “I
am honored to work with
a dedicated team of 750
people who understand
that a strong and indepen-
dent health care system is
crucial to sustaining the
quality of life we all enjoy
in our small community.
An honor like this, when
so many of our nation’s
small and rural hospitals
are closing, underscores
the importance of our con-
tinued strength and sup-
port. This is something
our entire community can
celebrate.”
Wallowa Memorial
Hospital CEO Larry Davy
in a press release credited
the hospital’s board, the
Wallowa Valley Health
Care Foundation and the
community.
Priscilla Lynn, Saint
Alphonsus president and
chief nursing officer,
expressed a similar senti-
ment in a press release.
“This is a direct result
of the daily dedication by
our colleagues, physicians
and clinicians to provide
quality, compassionate
care in our community,”
she said.
The Chartis Center for
Rural Health compiles the
annual program to recog-
nize performance among
the nation’s rural hospi-
tals based on the results
of the Hospital Strength
INDEX, which relies only
on public data and uses 36
indicators to assess rural
hospitals across eight area
of performance, including
market share, quality, out-
comes and cost.
PENDLETON —
Superficially, the future of
The Whiskey Inn doesn’t
look promising.
The former motel’s
sign featuring a cowboy
slumped against a post is
turned inside out. What-
ever visual evidence the
empty parking lot offers
is confirmed by a sign at
the entrance that states
the motel is “permanently
closed.”
But by the end of
March, the 35-room motel,
situated at 205 S.E. Dorion
Ave., will be reborn as a
facility that will serve the
unhoused, a first of its kind
in Eastern Oregon.
On Wednesday,
March 10, the Oregon
Community Founda-
tion announced it was
granting the Commu-
nity Action Program of
East Central Oregon a
$1.3 million grant to pur-
chase the former motel
and turn it into a facility
that will offer temporary
housing to local homeless
residents.
CAPECO CEO Paula
Hall said she was both
excited and a little over-
whelmed to receive the
grant, which the founda-
tion established as a part
of its Operation Turnkey
program.
“It’s going to be quite
the undertaking,” she said.
In the short term, Hall
said CAPECO plans to run
the building mainly as a
shelter for the unhoused,
a safe place where lodgers
could socially distance
themselves during the
COVID-19 pandemic.
Once Umatilla County
is able to get the pandemic
Ben Lonergan/East Oregonian
The former Whiskey Inn at 205 S.E. Dorion Ave., Pend-
leton, is getting another round of use. The Community
Action Program of East Central Oregon has purchased
the property with the help of a $1.3 million grant from
the Oregon Community Foundation to repurpose the site
into transitional housing for the homeless.
under control, Hall said the
building will retain some
rooms as a night-to-night
shelter while also dedi-
cating other rooms to tran-
sitional housing, a place
where the unhoused can
live for up to two years
while they search for per-
manent housing.
“This is not a forever
home,” she said.
Hall said CAPECO had
initially identified another
property for its project,
but when another non-
profit notified CAPECO
about The Whiskey Inn,
officials saw plenty to
like. Although it was
slightly more expensive
than their original target,
the building was in better
condition and its central
location put it within easy
walking distance of the
Umatilla County Court-
house, Lifeways and other
services.
Hall said CAPECO
also likes that the motel
is prominently featured in
a high-traffic area, which
officials expect will dis-
courage congregation
and illicit activity.
Hall knows the motel’s
location in the heart of
Pendleton will spark scru-
tiny from neighbors and
other residents who fear
the facility’s presence will
cause blight and illegal
activity.
But Hall said CAPECO
intends to continue to run
the building like a motel,
just with a shifting focus
away from tourists and
travelers and toward the
unhoused. She added
that the nonprofit will
work diligently to make
sure the building remains
unblighted and will form
a neighborhood com-
mittee to address concerns
from nearby residents and
businesses.
Hall said the new
facility will be a good
“first bite” at tackling the
region’s homelessness
issue, but leaders in the
community will need to
continue to address one of
the issue’s main roots: a
lack of affordable housing.
February colder than normal
The Observer
PENDLETON — With
piles of snow still melting
all around, it’s no sur-
prise to locals the National
Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration’s National
Weather Service in Pend-
leton reported tempera-
tures at La Grande aver-
aged colder than usual in
February.
The National Weather
Service in a press release
stated the average Feb-
ruary temperature here
was slightly colder than
normal. The average tem-
perature was 32.9 degrees,
which was 1.5 degrees
below normal.
High temperatures aver-
aged 40.5 degrees in Febu-
rary, 2.4 degrees below
normal for La Grande. The
warmest day was Feb. 1,
which reached 52 degrees.
The average low tempera-
ture was 25.3 degrees, 0.6
degrees below normal. The
lowest recorded tempera-
ture was 10 degrees on
Feb. 14.
Along with the late-
winter snowstorms, there
were 21 days in Febu-
rary with a low tempera-
ture below 32 degrees.
There were three days
when the high temperature
stayed below 32 degrees,
according to the release.
It also was a wetter
month than usual. Pre-
cipitation was 1.31 inches
above normal with a total
of 2.45 inches. Measurable
precipitation — at least .01
inch — was received on 17
days. The heaviest was 1.17
inches reported on Feb. 15.
The higher precipita-
tion during February con-
tributed to this year’s
tally so far of 3.60 inches,
which is 0.83 inches above
normal. Since October,
the water year precipita-
tion at La Grande has been
8.18 inches, the release
stated, which is 0.43 inches
above normal. The 30-year
normal precipitation is 1.46
inches.
Locals, however, might
disagree with the greatest
depth of snow reported by
NOAA: 4 inches on Feb.
26.
The outlook for March
from NOAA’s Climate
Prediction Center calls
for below normal tem-
peratures and near normal
precipitation. The press
release noted normal highs
for La Grande rise from
47 degrees at the start of
March to 55 degrees at
the end of March. Normal
lows rise from 28 degrees
to 33 degrees.