LOCAL/REGION
2A — THE OBSERVER
SaTuRday, May 8, 2021
Today in Search for missing Idaho woman is May 8 and 9
History Umatilla County
Today is Saturday, May 8, the
128th day of 2021. There are 237
days left in the year.
TODAY’S HIGHLIGHT IN
HISTORY:
On May 8, 1984, the Soviet
union announced it would boycott
the upcoming Summer Olympic
Games in Los angeles.
Sheriff’s Office
asks nonresidents to
stay out of the
search area
ON THIS DATE:
The Observer
In 1541, Spanish explorer
Hernando de Soto reached the
Mississippi River.
In 1846, the first major battle
of the Mexican-american War was
fought at Palo alto, Texas; u.S. forces
led by Gen. Zachary Taylor were
able to beat back Mexican forces.
In 1886, atlanta pharmacist
John Pemberton began selling the
original version of Coca-Cola, which
he’d invented.
In 1915, Regret became the first
filly to win the Kentucky derby.
In 1945, President Harry S. Tru-
man announced on radio that Nazi
Germany’s forces had surrendered,
and that “the flags of freedom fly all
over Europe.”
In 1973, militant american
Indians who had held the South
dakota hamlet of Wounded Knee
for 10 weeks surrendered.
In 1978, david R. Berkowitz
pleaded guilty in a Brooklyn
courtroom to murder, attempted
murder and assault in connection
with the “Son of Sam” shootings
that claimed six lives and terrified
New yorkers.
In 1987, Gary Hart, dogged by
questions about his personal life,
including his relationship with
Miami model donna Rice, withdrew
from the race for the democratic
presidential nomination.
In 1996, South africa took
another step from apartheid to de-
mocracy by adopting a constitution
that guaranteed equal rights for
Blacks and whites.
Ten years ago: Relations
between Egypt’s Muslims and
Christians reached a new low after
overnight riots left 12 people dead
and a church burned. Fox television
announced that Paula abdul would
be one of the judges on “The X
Factor,” reuniting her with former
“american Idol” judge Simon Cowell
(however, abdul’s stint did not last
beyond the premiere season of the
new talent show).
MEACHAM — Uma-
tilla County Search and
Rescue and Oregon State
Police are coordinating a
multi-agency search Sat-
urday and Sunday, May 8-9,
near Meacham for Deborah
Hendrichs, the 56-year-old
woman from Star, Idaho,
who went missing in the
area on Jan. 11.
The search will concen-
trate on areas surrounding
the eastbound side of Inter-
state 84 near milepost
238, where her abandoned
vehicle was found after
correction
The children of Jason
Beck, a candidate for
Position 5 on the Imbler
School Board, attend
school in the Elgin
School District. The
Observer in the May 4
edition stated the wrong
school district in a story
that started on page 1A.
The Observer in one
instance in the same
article misspelled the
name of Imbler School
Board Position 5 candi-
date Lavar Bowles. The
Observer regrets the
errors.
Oregon State Police /Contributed Photo
umatilla County Search and Res-
cue, Oregon State Police and oth-
ers are searching Saturday and
Sunday, May 8-9, 2021, for debo-
rah Hendrichs of Star, Idaho, who
has been missing since Jan. 11,
after her car ran out of gas near
Meacham.
she was reported missing,
according to a press release
from the Umatilla County
Sheriff’s Office. Search
areas include portions along
I-84, Hancock Road, the
railroad and bridge and area
creeks, bodies of water and
wooded land. The objective
of this search is to locate
any remains of Hendrichs
or any items she may have
had with her at the time of
her disappearance.
“This will be a robust
search response with mul-
tiple agencies involved,”
the release stated. “Approx-
imately 90 personnel have
committed to assist in the
search, including pos-
sibly 10 K-9 teams, four
drones and about 35 ground
searchers. The actual
number will not be known
until participants check in
on Saturday morning.”
The sheriff’s office
also is asking the general
public to remain out of the
area unless they are resi-
dents and requesting that
hunters with spring turkey
or bear tags be aware there
are searchers in the area
and to choose an alternate
Personnel with the
Oregon Department of
Transportation and Union
Pacific Railroad have pro-
vided a liaison to ensure
safety of the search per-
sonnel because the area
includes the interstate and
railroad lines. ODOT also
provided the location for an
incident command post.
Union Pacific Railroad,
Cunningham Sheep Com-
pany and Hancock Timber
Resource Group have been
contacted and are coop-
erating with searchers
because these businesses
own a large portion of the
search area.
Sheriff’s Lt. Sterrin
Ward said the project
includes the development
of a website on this mission
at sterrinward.wixsite.com/
website. The website also is
where the mission will pro-
vide updates.
Young Union essay
Friends of Scouting Breakfast
writer a national finalist moves outdoors this year
By DICK MASON
The Observer
UNION — A first-
person narrative is propel-
ling a young Union essay
writer to first place finishes
she may never forget.
Sawyer
Shoemaker is a
national finalist
in the sixth-
grade division
of the 2021
Shoemaker Daughters of
the Amer-
ican Revolution Amer-
ican History Essay Con-
test after winning a trio of
competitions.
“This is so exciting,” the
student said.
Sawyer, 12, submitted
her essay Dec. 19, 2020, to
the regional Lone Pine Tree
Chapter of the DAR. The
essay only won state but
placed first at the district
level, making her a national
finalist.
“I was really surprised,”
said Sawyer, a homeschool
student who is the daughter
of Lance and Stephanie
Shoemaker.
The essay the sixth
grader wrote was a first-
person account of what
she believes, based on her
research, it would have
been like to have been at
the scene of the Boston
Massacre on March 5, 1770,
when British troops fired
upon colonists who were
harassing them, killing five.
One of the victims of the
shooting on King Street
in Boston was 17-year-old
Samuel Maverick, who died
the next morning.
Sawyer wrote about the
Boston Massacre, which
led to the American Revo-
lutionary War, through the
eyes of a fictitious char-
acter she placed at the
scene, 12-year-old Jane
Maverick. The shooting
would have been a family
tragedy for Jane because
she was Samuel Maver-
ick’s sister in Sawyer’s fic-
tional account.
Sawyer spent about 10
hours on her essay project.
“I spent a lot of time
doing research,” she said.
The sixth grader said
learning about the Amer-
ican Revolution through
her research has been
fascinating.
“It did not come about all
at once,” the student said.
“There was a lot of chaos.”
The DAR American His-
tory Essay Contest is for
students in grades five to
eight. There are separate
competitions for each grade
level reach year.
The national winners
will receive a certificate,
a medal and a monetary
award, according to the
DAR’s website.
The Observer
LA GRANDE — The
COVID-19 pandemic will
not get the best of the
annual Friends of Scouting
Breakfast.
The fundraiser for local
Boy Scouts, normally an
indoor event during the
first week of February,
will instead happen out-
doors on June 9, from 6:30-
7:45 a.m., at the pavilion
at La Grande’s River-
side Park. The breakfast
features eggs Benedict,
scrambled eggs and an
assortment of other items.
This year’s event will
follow the appropriate
COVID-19 restrictions
and guidelines in effect on
June 9.
Having the breakfast
outdoors makes it much
easier to meet COVID-19
social distancing rules,
said Eric Valentine, a
Boy Scout volunteer who
is helping organize the
breakfast.
Eagle Scouts Nate Bin-
gaman and Cole McLean
will share their leadership
experiences in scouting
at the breakfast. Those
attending will have the
opportunity to visit with
many of this year’s Eagle
Scouts and view their
project displays. Memo-
rabilia and photos from
Wyden talks mental health, farms and more at town hall
EO Media Group
PENDLETON — Mental
health issues and protec-
tions for family farms were
some of the starter topics
during a virtual town hall
Oregon Sen. Ron Wyden
held Sunday, May 2, for res-
idents of Umatilla, Union
and Wallowa counties.
The Democrat broached
the topic during the first
question of the day, asked
by Umatilla School Dis-
trict Superintendent Heidi
Sipe, about federal support
for students as the country
rethinks “nearly every
aspect of education” fol-
lowing the pandemic.
Wyden addressed stan-
dardized testing, saying
this year it seems best for
teachers to address learning
loss in the classroom rather
than taking time out for
standardized testing. He
said schools will need addi-
tional funding to help stu-
dents catch up after lost
learning opportunities,
and pointed out the Amer-
ican Rescue Plan includes
funding for schools to do
just that through summer
learning opportunities and
other strategies. He said he
is also concerned about stu-
dents’ mental health and
wanted to see funding to
adequately address those
needs.
“I am very troubled by
where we are with respect
to mental health services,
particularly for children,
(and for) seniors in rural
areas,” he said. “The mental
health claims as a result of
the pandemic have gone
through the stratosphere.”
hunt location during those
days. And locals living in
the area, especially near
Meacham Lake, should be
aware the search will use
four drones.
“The drones will not
be concentrating on occu-
pied areas or invading pri-
vacy of homes or curti-
lage,” according to the
press release. “They will
be concentrating on areas
away from occupied build-
ings and bodies of water.
Searchers on the ground
will also be staying away
from occupied homes
and curtilage, however if
a home appears to have
been vacant throughout
the winter or looks broken
into, they will notify the
land owner in an attempt
to eliminate any possibility
that she entered an unoccu-
pied residence or structure
seeking assistance.”
EO Media Group, File
Oregon Sen. Ron Wyden held a virtual town hall Sunday, May 2, 2021, for
residents of umatilla, union and Wallowa counties.
He revisited the topic
after a question by Uma-
tilla County Commissioner
George Murdock, who
said he was hearing from
police who want to “get out
of the mental health busi-
ness” and wanted to know
what Wyden was doing to
address that issue.
Wyden said he knows
police don’t want to be
forced into acting as mental
health counselors, but
mental health professionals
also don’t want to be forced
into acting as police. So he
has been pushing in the last
year for Congress to pass
the CAHOOTS Act, mod-
eled after a program started
in Eugene, that would fund
partnerships between law
enforcement and mental
health professionals to form
joint 24/7 crisis response
teams. One billion dol-
lars in seed money for a
CAHOOTS-like program
reimbursed through Med-
icaid was included in the
American Rescue Plan.
Wyden said the topic is
personal for him, because
the Wyden household spent
many years worried about
the safety of his brother,
who had schizophrenia and
was often wandering the
streets late at night.
Wallowa County Com-
missioner John Hillock
expressed his concerns with
President Joe Biden’s plan
to conserve 30% of U.S.
land by 2030. The federal
government already owns
59% of Wallowa County,
Hillock said, “a whopping
1.1 million beautiful acres.”
He asked the senator if he
would support a plan in
Biden’s project to create
community-owned forests
instead of federally-owned
forests that would achieve
the same goals but under
local control.
Wyden said he considers
this “a really innovative
idea,” and while Biden’s
plan has targets, it’s the nut
and bolts action to get there.
“In my view, any pro-
posal has got to have local
engagement,” Wyden said.
“Local involvement has got
to be at the front of it ... to
make sure communities are
engaged and are consulted
in a fair and transparent
way.”
Wyden continued, saying
he liked this idea of con-
verting private forestland
into a community forest
project. He said the USDA
already has the Community
Forest Program that can
help local governments get
grants to buy forestland.
And as chairman of the
Senate Finance Committee,
he said he would look into
this concept.
Amanda Hoey, CEO of
the Oregon Wheat Growers
League, asked what protec-
tions could be on the table
when it comes to estate and
capital gains taxes and to
ensure one generation of
Oregon farmers can pass
their farm and equipment to
the next.
Wyden said Biden has
not proposed changes to the
estate tax, but his proposed
changes to taxing capital
gains involves what hap-
pens when someone dies
and specifically exempts
family farms. And that pro-
posal, Wyden said, targets
billionaires who can pass on
massive wealth.
He said the larger issue
is the two taxes systems the
U.S. has — one for billion-
aires who can postpone and
put off taxes, and another
for working Americans
who pay taxes with every
paycheck. Wyden said he
would change that, and
keep family farms at the
forefront of that effort.
Eric Valentine/Contributed Photo
Chris Panike, right, speaks in February 2020 at the annual Friends of
Scouting Breakfast in La Grande after receiving the Gene Palmer Eagle
Within award on behalf of his wife, Linda Panike, a longtime scouting
volunteer. The 2021 event will take place outdoors on June 9 at the Riv-
erside Park Pavilion.
past scouting activities in
Union County also will be
exhibited.
The Friends of
Scouting Breakfast is
an annual fundraiser for
the Scouts BSA program
where businesses, civ-
ic-minded residents and
scouting families can sup-
port the scouting program
in the area.
The cost of the break-
fast is $25 per person.
People who are plan-
ning to attend should
RSVP by June 1 to let the
event organizers know
how many will be in their
group. To RSVP, call 541-
963-4650 and leave a mes-
sage or go online to www.
bsauc.org.
Contributors who
would rather mail a
check should make it
payable to Blue Mountain
Council and mail it to Jeff
Crews, PO Box 656,
La Grande 97850.
More fiber internet
options coming to
Wallowa County
By RONALD BOND
Wallowa County Chieftain
ENTERPRISE —
Enterprise residents will
have a high-speed internet
option in place by the end
of the summer.
The company that
bought out Frontier Com-
munications last year,
Ziply Fiber, recently
announced plans to extend
“gig-speed” fiber internet
to Enterprise, one of 22
markets it plans to get into
this year, according to a
press release.
Construction is
ongoing in and around
Enterprise, and com-
pany COO Brian Stading
said he anticipates Ziply
enabling some 1,300
homes and businesses in
the town with the fiber
optic option this year.
“This is a brand-new
move for Enterprise,” he
said. “We are currently
constructing (the net-
work). We have the pro-
cess going on to light up
businesses and homes in
Enterprise.”
Stading said part of
getting the fiber into Wal-
lowa County includes con-
necting the isolated area to
regions where the network
is already in place.
“We have to expand
our fiber backbone that
connects Enterprise to
other markets,” he said.
“We basically have to
expand our fiber network
into Enterprise and then
add additional equip-
ment that makes the fiber
work.”
The COO added there
are some fiber connec-
tions in place in the town,
and efforts are in place to
improve what is there too.
“We basically are
working on that as well,”
he said.
A 1-gig speed option
will be among those made
available once the fiber
is laid — one that is 10
times faster than Ziply’s
next-highest option of
100-megabyte service.
“Put it this way: It’s
a lot of speed,” Stading
said.
Stading said the hope
is for Ziply to be con-
nected to the entire town
by the end of the summer.
From there, the company
can look at its options on
potential expansion into
the rest of the county.
“Once we build out
Enterprise, it allows us
to look further out once
we are there and see what
makes sense,” Stading
said.
Ziply’s expansion is
adding a component Sta-
ding indicated is vital to
the area.
“Broadband is imper-
ative to people’s lives,”
he said. “We think that
(it) will hopefully pro-
vide a huge economic
benefit to Enterprise.”