FROM PAGE ONE
Saturday, May 1, 2021
COVE
Continued from Page 1A
Brown defends decision to increase COVID-19 restrictions
By SARA CLINE
years ahead, will be deter-
mining whether major
upgrades should be made
to the school or if a new one
should be built in its place.
The board also will look
at the best ways to plan for
future growth.
Lindsey has a bachelor’s
degree in civil engineering
from Virginia Tech and
a master’s degree in the
same field from Montana
State University. He and
his wife, Patty, have two
sons, both of whom attend
Cove High School.
Thew, Eastern Oregon
University’s head athletic
trainer, said he decided
to run for a position on
the school board because
he wants to help keep the
schools his children attend
strong. Thew and his wife,
Christina, are the parents
of a sixth-grade daughter
and a second-grade son in
the Cove School District.
Chris Thew grew up in
Cove and is a 2000 grad-
uate of Cove High School.
He has a bachelor’s degree
in physical education and
health from EOU and a
master’s degree in athletic
training from the Univer-
sity of Nebraska Omaha.
He compared being an
athletic trainer to being
a physical therapist, with
the big difference being he
spends more time treating
injuries when they initially
occur.
Thew taught sports
medicine, physical educa-
tion and health at Eisen-
hower High School in
Yakima, Washington, for
seven years before moving
with his family back to
Cove in 2019. He said
one of the best parts of
teaching athletic medicine
in high school is he was
able to inspire a number
of his students to pursue
careers in medical fields.
One of the reasons
Thew returned to Cove
was to raise his family. He
said he has been impressed
with the strong marks
Cove students have tradi-
tionally achieved on state
assessment tests.
Thew said that as a
school board member he
would work hard to help the
Cove School District main-
tain its strong career tech-
nical education programs.
He believes a school district
should equally meet the
needs of students preparing
to go college and those who
are not.
Positions 3 and 4 also
are up for election in the
Cove School District and
incumbents are candidates
for both. John Frisch, who
works in the agriculture
production field, is running
for reelection to Position
3, and Jamie Dickenson, a
clinic manager, is running
for reelection to Position 4.
Ballots for the May
18 election went out
Wednesday, April 28.
Voters can deposit ballots
at election drop boxes up
to 8 p.m. on election night.
If returning a ballot by
mail, send it several days in
advance of the election for
it to reach the county elec-
tions office in time to count.
tHE OBSErVEr — 5A
Associated Press/Report for America
PORTLAND — Gov. Kate
Brown defended her decision
Friday, April 30, to implement fur-
ther restrictions in one-third of
Oregon’s counties, saying for the
second week in a row the state
leads the nation with the fastest
growing infection rate and that she
is “gravely concerned” about hos-
pital capacity.
Restaurants in 15 counties
were required to close their indoor
dining Friday and capacity was
significantly reduced in gyms and
indoor entertainment spaces. The
restrictions have been criticized by
business owners and Republican
lawmakers.
“I was presented with data
showing two paths that Oregon
can take — one in which we took
no additional action and stood by
while more people die from this
disease,” Brown said during a news
conference Friday. “Or another that
would require a temporary tight-
ening of restrictions for certain
counties, but could save hundreds
of lives.
“I chose to save lives.”
This week, the Oregon Health
Authority reported that the state
recorded its fifth straight week
where cases have increases by 20%
more.
About 80% of the state’s staffed
adult ICU beds and 90% of the
state’s staffed adult non-ICU beds
are occupied, based on Oregon
Health Authority data provided.
Since the beginning of the
month, COVID-19 hospitalizations
have more than doubled. As of
Thursday, 339 people were hospi-
talized with the virus in Oregon.
Brown said COVID-19 data
over the past month has been
“eye opening” and last week she
announced that 15 counties —
Baker, Clackamas, Columbia,
Crook, Deschutes, Grant, Jackson,
Josephine, Klamath, Lane, Linn,
Marion, Multnomah, Polk and
Wasco — would be moved to the
“extreme risk” level.
But many have asked, at what
cost?
“The move by the Governor’s
Office is tone deaf and offensive to
tens of thousands of Oregonians
working in restaurants and bars
across our state attempting to pay
their bills. COVID-19 closures and
restrictions on indoor dining are
clobbering Oregon’s restaurants,
bars and hospitality sector,” Jason
Brandt, the President and CEO or
the Oregon Restaurant & Lodging
Association said this week.
Brandt said so far more than
1,000 restaurants and bars have
closed due to the pandemic
recession.
“The uncertainty and arbitrary
nature of targeting restaurants has
made it impossible for these local
businesses to plan during a time
when they’re already struggling to
survive,” Brandt said.
Earlier this week, the associ-
ation along with 80 county com-
missioners sent a letter to the gov-
ernor asking her to reconsider her
recent “approach to virus mitiga-
tion measures.”
Brown said the decision to
re-implement restrictions was
difficult, but necessary to give
time for more people to get vac-
cinated. In addition the gov-
ernor announced that $20 million
in relief funds is now available
for businesses impacted by the
“extreme risk” category.
TREES
“Economic relief is something
I can do, as your governor, to help
Oregonians impacted by this fourth
surge,” Brown said. “What I can’t
do is bring back someone’s life lost
to this virus.”
In addition, on Thursday Brown
extended the state’s COVID-19
emergency order until the end of
June. The declaration is the legal
underpinning for the executive
orders the governor has issued and
allows the orders to stay in effect.
Brown reviews and reevaluates
each of her emergency orders every
60 days, to determine whether
those orders should be continued,
modified or rescinded.
This week state Republican
lawmakers protested the gover-
nor’s declaration and increased
restriction on the Senate floor by
requiring bills be read in full before
final passage — a slowing tactic
that had been used by Republicans
in the House earlier this session
before an agreement was reached
between the two political parties.
Senate Republican Leader Fred
Girod of Lyons called on Demo-
crats to help the Legislature end the
governor’s emergency declaration.
PLANT A TREE
the city of La Grande will provide a tree to
plant in the right-of-way for just $40, and
the city’s Grow La Grande volunteers will
plant it for you. If you want to help
La Grande reach its gaol of plating 100 trees
a year, contact the urban Forestry division at
trees@cityoflagrande.org or call
541-663-1952 to request your tree.
If you want to learn more about Oregon
Heritage tress, visit oregontic.com/
oregon-heritage-trees/.
Continued from Page 1A
In contrast, the newest legacy
tree planted in La Grande came at
last year’s Arbor Day celebration
— a Hiroshima Peace tree planted
from the seeds of trees that sur-
vived the nuclear bombing in 1945.
Oregon holds the largest collec-
tion of such trees, and La Grande
has two of them. The newest peace
tree is in the greenway at River-
side Park.
Among other notable trees
is a massive silver maple along
Washington Avenue and Fir
Street. August Stange, the man
who once owned Stange Manor
on Walnut Street, planted the
tree, which now sits outside
La Grande’s First Presbyterian
Church.
Another set of noteworthy trees
is a known as Victory Way, Nor-
wegian maple trees planted in 1923
along Spruce Street, near Green-
wood Elementary School, in cele-
bration of the end of World War I.
Originally, there were nearly
250 trees, though construction
and road widening over the years
have reduced their numbers to just
under two dozen.
GUNS
Continued from Page 1A
law-abiding citizens,” Rep. Bobby
Levy, R-Echo, said in a press
release. “Meanwhile, the majority
party is ignoring the serious
mental health crisis among our
kids that only gets worse the
longer they are out of school. Sci-
ence supports getting kids back
to school. That’s what we should
be doing instead of passing leg-
islation that directly challenges
Supreme Court rulings and vio-
lates constitutional rights.”
Two Republicans were excused.
The vote took place after close
to three hours of debate.
The bill does not have an emer-
gency clause, which means that if
it becomes law, opponents have
90 days from the close of the 2021
session to obtain 74,680 voter sig-
natures to force a statewide elec-
tion. The number is set by the
Oregon Constitution, which spec-
ifies 4% of the votes cast for gov-
a pair of flowering pear trees in blossom sit outside an office building on Washington
avenue in downtown La Grande Friday, april 30, 2021. La Grande is a tree City uSa mem-
ber and aims to plant 100 trees a year.
Possibly the most photographed
tree in the area lies outside of
La Grande along Wallowa Lake
Highway north of the city. There,
motorists often stop and view the
lone maple tree standing in a field
in front of the Blue Mountains.
Travelers pull off to the side
of the road lining up a shot of the
massive tree as sun sets behind
it. Local homebuilder Stacey
Bowman of Mega Tiny Homes
said it is one of his favorites.
Gustafson said she hopes the
city will have a fully interactive
tree inventory for horticulturists
and hobbyists to peruse — a way to
see what trees are in the area, their
species names, and possibly even
their history in an ArcGIS map.
She said she is trying to complete
the project by next Arbor Day.
ernor in the most recent election,
in 2018.
Part of the revamped bill pro-
poses requirements for fire-
arms locks and storage already
written into a separate House
bill, which the House sent back to
committee.
Under the revamped bill, guns
must have trigger or cable locks,
be stored in a locked container
or in a gun room. An offense is a
Class C violation, which carries
a maximum fine of $500, unless
someone younger than 18 obtains
access, in which case it is a Class
A violation with a maximum fine
of $2,000. No jail time is imposed
for violations.
The bill also requires prompt
reporting of stolen firearms. Its
first sections are named in honor
of Cindy Yuille and Steve Forsyth,
who died on Dec. 11, 2012, in the
Clackamas Town Center shootings.
The assault-style weapon used to
kill them was found to have been
stolen.
demic.) Passenger boarding areas
and firearms shipments in luggage
are controlled by federal law.
Firearms bans would be
optional at Oregon Health & Sci-
ence University, seven state uni-
versities, 17 community college
districts and 197 school districts
if their governing boards impose
them on buildings and grounds
under their control. Notices of
bans must be clearly displayed on
buildings and grounds and posted
online. (Bans would not apply to
public sidewalks and streets.)
The revamped version of the
bill drops the option for cities,
counties and special districts to bar
firearms from their buildings and
grounds.
Offenses would be considered
Class A misdemeanors with max-
imum punishments of one year in
jail and a fine of $6,250.
The bill also would raise initial
filing fees for concealed-handgun
licenses from $50 to $100, and for
renewals, from $50 to $75.
alex Wittwer/The Observer
The other part of the revamped
bill narrows the scope of a fire-
arms ban included in the original
SB 554, which passed the Senate
March 25.
The changes still would bar
the estimated 300,000 holders
of Oregon concealed-handgun
licenses from bringing firearms
into some public places. State
courts, which often are in build-
ings maintained by counties,
already are off-limits to firearms.
Under the House version,
licensees would be barred from
bringing firearms into the Cap-
itol but not from other state build-
ings as originally proposed in the
Senate.
They would be barred from
bringing firearms into the pas-
senger terminal at the Portland air-
port, defined as one with annual
passenger traffic of more than one
million. (Eugene and Medford air-
ports had counts around one mil-
lion passengers annually prior to
the onset of the coronavirus pan-
Over the counter could be OK again
House bill would
end prescriptions
for pseudoephedrine
By PETER WONG
Oregon Capital Bureau
SALEM — Oregon no
longer would require a
prescription for medicines
containing ephedrine or
pseudoephedrine under a
bill that cleared the House.
House Bill 2648 went
to the Senate on a 54-4
vote on Wednesday,
April 28.
The requirement for a
prescription was written
into law in 2005, when
people were buying med-
icines containing pseu-
doephedrine — a pre-
cursor chemical — for use
in making methamphet-
amine, a powerful stimu-
lant that is illegal. Oregon
was the first state to do so.
“We had a meth-lab
problem and it was really
bad,” Rep. Bill Post, a
Republican from Keizer
and the bill’s floor man-
ager, said. “It worked.
Meth labs went way down
to almost nothing.”
The law made it harder
to obtain some medicines
commonly used for colds
and allergies.
But since then, meth-
amphetamine manu-
facturing has switched
from homegrown labs to
Mexico. Methamphet-
amine remains illegal,
although under a ballot
measure Oregon voters
passed last year, posses-
sion of small amounts is
no longer a crime.
Ephedrine is banned as
a performance-enhancing
drug by college sports and
some professional sports
leagues.
House Bill 2648 retains
some restrictions on
access to such medicines.
People can obtain them by
showing a photo identifi-
cation to establish age —
the minimum is 18 — and
receive them from behind
the store counter. In addi-
tion, purchases are tracked
by a system known as the
National Precursor Log
Exchange (NPLEx).
Mississippi, the only
other state that required
a prescription, recently
passed a similar bill.
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