LOCAL/REGION
2A — THE OBSERVER
TuESday, May 11, 2021
Today in Call issued for EOU Field House exterior art
History
The Observer
Today is Tuesday, May 11, the
131st day of 2021. There are 234
days left in the year.
TODAY’S HIGHLIGHT IN
HISTORY:
On May 11, 1935, the Rural
Electrification administration was
created as one of President Franklin
d. Roosevelt’s New deal programs.
ON THIS DATE:
In 1858, Minnesota became the
32nd state of the union.
In 1943, during World War II, u.S.
forces landed on the aleutian island
of attu, which was held by the
Japanese; the americans took the
island 19 days later.
In 1946, the first CaRE packages,
sent by a consortium of american
charities to provide relief to the
hungry of postwar Europe, arrived
at Le Havre, France.
In 1947, the B.F. Goodrich Com-
pany of akron, Ohio, announced the
development of a tubeless tire.
In 1953, a tornado devastated
Waco, Texas, claiming 114 lives.
In 1960, Israeli agents captured
Nazi war criminal adolf Eichmann in
Buenos aires, argentina.
In 1973, the espionage trial of
daniel Ellsberg and anthony Russo
in the “Pentagon Papers” case came
to an end as Judge William M.
Byrne dismissed all charges, citing
government misconduct.
In 1996, an atlanta-bound Va-
luJet dC-9 caught fire shortly after
takeoff from Miami and crashed
into the Florida Everglades, killing
all 110 people on board.
In 1997, IBM’s “deep Blue” com-
puter demolished an overwhelmed
Garry Kasparov, winning the six-
game chess re-match between man
and machine in New york.
In 1998, a French mint produced
the first coins of Europe’s single
currency, the euro.
In 2010, Conservative leader
david Cameron, at age 43, became
Britain’s youngest prime minister
in almost 200 years after Gordon
Brown stepped down and ended 13
years of Labour government.
Ten years ago: Former hedge
fund titan Raj Rajaratnam was
convicted by a federal jury in New
york in an insider-trading case of
five counts of conspiracy and nine
of securities fraud.
Five years ago: a white former
South Carolina police officer already
facing a state murder charge in the
shooting death of Black motorist
Walter Scott was indicted on federal
charges including depriving the vic-
tim of his civil rights. (Michael Slager
pleaded guilty to violating Scott’s
civil rights and was sentenced to 20
years in prison.)
LA GRANDE —
Eastern Oregon University
is looking for artwork for
the exterior of its new Field
House.
EOU, through the
Oregon Arts Commission’s
Art in Public Places Pro-
gram, seeks to commission
works for the $9 million
facility that is under con-
struction and has $71,000
for the exterior artwork.
According to a press release
from the university, the
budget covers artist fees,
fabrication, insurance, ship-
ping, travel, installation,
documentation and all other
project costs.
The call for artists for
the exterior art extends to
artists and artist teams in
Oregon, Washington and
Idaho. The solicitation and
selection process is to be
inclusive, encouraging a
diverse selection of artists
to apply, including artists
from communities of color,
women and LGBTQ+ art-
Eastern Oregon university/Contributed Image
a 2018 rendering of the Eastern Oregon university Field House gives an idea of what the facility will look like.
Construction of the building is underway, and EOu seeks artists to create exterior art for the facility. The deadline
for initial commission applications is Monday, May 17, 2021.
ists, the release stated.
The selection committee
seeks artwork that meets
these criteria:
• The art is freestanding
and not attached to the
building in any way.
• Work that integrates
environmental beauty and
Field House activities.
• Art that expresses
movement in an outdoor
environment and draws
attention to the Field House
from a distance.
The project is on a
tight timeline due to bond
funding deadlines. Footing
must be installed in fall
2021 and the artwork by
the end of March 2022,
according to EOU. The
application deadline is
Monday, May 17, at 5 p.m.
Capturing the value of Nez Perce stories
Hermiston psychiatric
hospital reopens as a
treatment facility
By JADE MCDOWELL
East Oregonian
Ellen Morris Bishop/For the Wallowa County Chieftain
Nez Perce elder allen Pinkham Sr. (left) talks about the importance of Nez Perce stories and place names in
understanding the landscape at Old Chief Joseph’s gravesite near Wallowa Lake on Sunday, May 2, 2021. The
group of interviewers (Preston amerman, Jane Fritz and filmmaker Haley Thompson, far right) are working
with the Josephy Center for arts and Culture to develop a project that will correlate Nez Perce stories with
scientific understanding of regional features.
Richland man walks out after two nights
By JAYSON JACOBY
Baker City Herald
BAKER CITY — Joe
Strus had never been so
happy to have a package of
hot dogs.
The buns were just a
bonus.
The meals he made
of those provisions were
among the few pleasant
parts of an otherwise
painful experience that
Strus, 63, of Richland, had
last week in the mountains
north of Keating Valley.
After the rocky edge
of a remote forest road
gave way beneath the
weight of his 2006 Dodge
three-quarter-ton flatbed
pickup around dusk on
Sunday, May 2, the truck
rolled once, landing on its
wheels near a small stream.
“My beautiful truck is
not so beautiful anymore,”
Strus said in a phone inter-
view Thursday afternoon,
May 6, about 48 hours
after, as he puts it, he got
“back to civilization.”
Strus was in somewhat
better condition than his
blue, four-door pickup,
with lingering soreness in
his back and neck.
“I hit pretty hard,” he
said, recounting his tumble
down the embankment.
It all started because
Strus, who moved to Baker
County around 2005,
wanted to go fishing at
Balm Creek Reservoir.
He had tried to reach the
reservoir some days before
from the west, via Medical
Springs, but was turned
back by snowdrifts. On
May 2 Strus decided to try
a different route, via For-
shey Meadow to the east.
He got close, but again was
foiled by snow.
Although he didn’t get a
chance to hook some trout,
Strus said he had a new
remote control predator
call and he figured he’d try
to summon a coyote.
He took Forest Road
7025, a route along Goose
Creek, several miles north
of Keating Valley, that he’d
never driven.
Three finalists will
receive an artist fee of $175
per artist/artist team to
attend a virtual interview
to discuss their past proj-
ects and artistic approach.
The committee will select
one artist/team for the con-
tract to create artwork
based on the discussion,
their past work and artwork
development process.
Travis ash/Contributed Photo
Joe Strus’ pickup landed upright after rolling off a remote road north of
Keating Valley on Sunday, May 2, 2021.
Strus acknowledged,
with the rueful chuckle of
a person who wonders later
what he was thinking at the
crucial moment, that his
judgment wasn’t sound.
When the road dete-
riorated into something
closer to a trail, and with
dark coming on besides,
Strus said he thought about
turning back.
“I should have turned
around,” he said. “But the
kid in me said go a little
farther.”
He did — just far
enough to reach the weak
spot in the road.
Strus said he felt one
rear wheel sink, and when
he pushed the acceler-
ator the front end of the
truck “reared up just like
a horse.” Then the truck
rolled in what seemed, he
said, “like slow motion.”
Strus said it looked as
though a burrowing animal
had dug into the bank,
weakening the road.
Whatever the cause, he
was stuck, at nightfall, in
the chilly mountains.
Strus said he wasn’t
especially worried.
Although his prized truck
sustained dents and a
couple of broken win-
dows, it was upright and
the engine ran fine. He
had most of a tank of a
gas. And, perhaps most
important, he had an
eight-pack of hot dogs and
a bottle of orange juice.
And two beers.
But before he took
stock of his situation, he
sat inside the cab and gave
himself a talking-to.
“I just was beating
myself up for making a bad
decision,” Strus said.
Besides the food, a
warm coat and some
camping gear, Strus had
his cellphone.
He didn’t have service
in the creek bottom, so he
climbed the nearest hill.
He was able to send a
text to his girlfriend, but he
never received a reply and
couldn’t be sure the mes-
sage had gone through.
When he tried to make
a phone call he got a mes-
sage that he could only
make a 9-1-1 call.
Strus said he decided
not to do that. He wasn’t in
any immediate danger, and
he figured if his girlfriend
didn’t get his message, and
nobody came looking for
him, he could walk out.
“I didn’t want to put
anybody else in harm’s
way to come out and look
for me,” Strus said.
During May 3, he
stayed close to the truck.
He gathered stones to
build a fire ring and kin-
dled a blaze to cook the
hot dogs.
After he finished the
orange juice he used the
container to get water
from the creek. Strus said
he wished he had a water
purifier, but he said the
stream was cold and clear.
Strus said he was glad
his pickup ran despite
rolling over. He started
the engine occasionally to
let the heater ward off the
nighttime chill.
An automated weather
station several miles to the
east recorded temperatures
as low as 30 degrees early
May 3.
“It really got cold,”
Strus said.
On the morning of
May 4, he considered his
situation.
He had eaten the last of
the hot dogs.
Strus said he con-
cluded either nobody was
searching for him, or they
didn’t know where to look.
He found a stout limb
to use as a walking stick
and, once the temperature
had warmed, he started
walking, retracing his
driving route.
He had covered about
two miles when he heard
the burble of a motor.
It was an ATV, ridden
by Brian Ratliff, a biologist
for the Oregon Department
of Fish and Wildlife who
was investigating the death
of a calf in the area.
Strus said he greeted
Ratliff with a question:
“You guys aren’t looking
for me, are you?”
Ratliff was not — Strus,
unable to get a text mes-
sage out, hadn’t been
reported missing.
Ratliff told Strus to
wait, then rode to a place
where he could text Baker
County Sheriff Travis Ash.
Strus said the sheriff,
whom he knows, arrived
less than an hour later and
drove him to Richland.
Strus said he learned
the Forest Service has now
installed signs warning
people not to try to drive
down the road where his
truck rolled.
He said he’s glad some-
thing positive came from
his predicament.
Strus said the afternoon
of May 6 that he and some
friends planned to try to
extricate his truck that day.
You can learn more
about the project at www.
oregonartscommission.org/
services/calls-art. You also
can contact Peg Butler, the
Oregon Arts Commission
project manager and non-
voting selection committee
chair at pegbutlerart@
gmail.com.
The EOU Field House
facility will provide inter-
collegiate practice and com-
petition space for EOU’s
track and field program as
well as other athletic pro-
grams, classroom and lab
space for the Health and
Human Performance Pro-
gram degree and space for
EOU’s Outdoor Adventure
Program.
When complete, the
building will include a
200-meter track allowing
for intercollegiate and
high school track meets in
the winter, rock-climbing
facilities, an OAP equip-
ment rental shop and the
HHP’s Movement
Education Center.
HERMISTON — The
former Aspen Springs Psy-
chiatric Hospital in Herm-
iston has reopened as a
secure residential treatment
facility.
The 16-bed hospital
closed in April, about seven
months after it opened. The
board of Lifeways, the com-
munity mental health pro-
vider that built the facility,
stated they could not find
the psychiatrists and psy-
chiatric nurses needed to
staff the building around the
clock.
Lifeways announced
Tuesday, May 4, that Aspen
Springs is now accepting
patients as a Class II
Secured Residential Treat-
ment Facility.
A psychiatric hospital
provides the highest level
of psychiatric care in the
state, caring for individ-
uals in the midst of an acute
mental health crisis. A
secure residential treatment
facility also treats patients
on an inpatient basis, but is
a step down on the level of
severity. Lifeways describes
it as a place for community
members ages 18 and older
“seeking safe, supervised,
short-term psychiatric
recovery and stabilization.”
Services provided will
include medication manage-
ment, individual and group
therapy, skills training and
“wraparound” support for
patients reintegrating back
into the community.
Former Aspen Springs
Psychiatric Hospital
patients can access their
records by contacting Julie
Hyslop, medical records
supervisor, at jhyslop@
lifeways.org or 702 Sunset
Drive in Ontario.
Regional News Briefs
Woman dies in ATV
accident near Ukiah
UKIAH — The Uma-
tilla County Sheriff’s Office
reported a 33-year-old
woman from Pendleton
died Saturday, May, 8, in
an all-terrain vehicle crash
near Ukiah.
The Umatilla County
Sheriff’s Dispatch Center
at about 3 p.m. received a
call reporting two people
injured in an ATV acci-
dent in the area of Hide-
away Springs Road east
of Ukiah, according to the
press release from the sher-
iff’s office.
Medics on scene con-
firmed that Jessica Whitney
Ice, the driver of the ATV,
had died. An ambulance
took a woman passenger
to Ukiah where an emer-
gency helicopter flew her to
Providence St. Mary Med-
ical Center in Walla Walla,
Washington.
The sheriff’s office did
not identify the victim but
reported she was in good
condition.
The Umatilla County
Sheriff’s Office also
reported Oregon State
Police are conducting a
crash reconstruction and the
investigation is ongoing.
Rolling slowdown in effect
May 12 near Boardman
BOARDMAN — The
Oregon Department of
Transportation announced
it is slowing traffic heading
east on Interstate 84 on
Wednesday, May 12, for
the removal of an overhead
variable message board.
The removal takes place
near milepost 191. ODOT
does not have a specific
time for when the rolling
slowdown will go into
effect. A second rolling
slowdown will take place
that evening as workers
erect the new sign.
ODOT also will close
one lane at the work site
to allow room for a crane,
and the state road agency is
closing eastbound exits at
mileposts 171, 178, 179, 180,
182 and 188 for up to 20
minutes during the rolling
slowdowns.
Umatilla dictionary now
on the web
MISSION — The Uma-
tilla language is now acces-
sible to anyone in the world
with an internet connection.
In a press release, the
Confederated Tribes of the
Umatilla Indian Reserva-
tion announced that the
Umatilla Language Dictio-
nary is now online.
The collaboration
between the CTUIR Lan-
guage Program and
Amazon Web Services
intends to educate tribal
members on their language
and raise awareness about
the tongue.
The prevalence of
the Umatilla language
has diminished over the
years as many of its fluent
speakers have died. The
CTUIR established a lan-
guage program in 1996
to preserve the language
by recording elders and
teaching the language to
tribal youths and adults.
“This is a gift to the
youth,” Noel Rude, the
dictionary’s author and a
former tribal linguist at the
Tamastslikt Cultural Insti-
tute near Pendleton, said
in a statement. “No matter
where they find themselves,
they will have access to
the beautiful words of their
elders. May this kindle their
curiosity! And may their
elders’ legacy never fade.”
The dictionary can be
accessed at dictionary.ctuir.
org.
— EO Media Group