LOCAL/REGION
2A — THE OBSERVER
THURSDAY, MAY 13, 2021
TODAY IN Foundation prep underway for EOU Field House
HISTORY
By DICK MASON
The Observer
Today is Thursday, May 13, the
133rd day of 2021. There are 232
days left in the year.
TODAY’S HIGHLIGHT IN
HISTORY:
On May 13, 1607, English
colonists arrived by ship at the site
of what became the Jamestown
settlement in Virginia (the colonists
went ashore the next day).
ON THIS DATE:
In 1914, heavyweight boxing
champion Joe Louis was born in
Lafayette, Alabama.
In 1917, three children reported
seeing a vision of the Virgin Mary
near Fatima, Portugal; it was the
fi rst of six such apparitions that the
children claimed to have witnessed.
In 1940, in his fi rst speech as
British prime minister, Winston
Churchill told Parliament, “I have
nothing to off er but blood, toil,
tears and sweat.”
In 1958, Vice President Richard
Nixon and his wife, Pat, were spat
upon and their limousine battered
by rocks thrown by anti-U.S. dem-
onstrators in Caracas, Venezuela.
In 1961, actor Gary Cooper
died in Los Angeles six days after
turning 60.
In 1967, a vault fi re at Met-
ro-Goldwyn-Mayer in Culver City,
California, destroyed hundreds of
the studio’s early fi lms.
In 1985, a confrontation be-
tween Philadelphia authorities and
the group MOVE ended as police
dropped a bomb onto the group’s
row house, igniting a fi re that killed
11 people and destroyed 61 homes.
In 1994, President Bill Clinton
nominated federal appeals Judge
Stephen G. Breyer to the U.S. Su-
preme Court to replace retiring Jus-
tice Harry A. Blackmun; Breyer went
on to win Senate confi rmation.
In 2002, President George
W. Bush announced that he and
Russian President Vladimir Putin
would sign a treaty to shrink their
countries’ nuclear arsenals by
two-thirds.
LA GRANDE — The
$9 million Eastern Oregon
University Field House
under construction may
be less than a year from
completion.
“The building is sched-
uled to be completed in
April of 2022,” said John
Garlitz, EOU’s director of
planning and facilities.
Construction workers are
in the process of preparing
the site for the pouring of a
concrete foundation for the
future structure. Work on
the building’s exterior then
will start and should be fi n-
ished by early fall. Once
this is done, construction
workers will have the pro-
tection they need from the
weather to do the interior
work for the Field House,
Garlitz said.
Original plans called
for the concrete foundation
to be in place in 2020, but
a prolonged planning and
permitting process, Garlitz
said, prevented this. The
project’s contractor, Mike
Becker General Contractor,
however, was able to install
the underground utilities,
install drainage facilities,
complete grading of the site
and building pad and install
base rock on the site for
spring work. Mike Becker,
a Union County fi rm, now
is able to install the con-
crete footings and will
work throughout the spring,
summer and fall to enclose
the building, Garlitz said.
The structure will house
Alex Wittwer/The Observer
Tom Hall (left) and Mark Lowery on Friday, May 7, 2021, prepare the foundation at the site of the Eastern Oregon
University Field House, the $9 million multi-use compound that will allow the college’s track team to practice
indoors during the winter.
John Garlitz/Eastern Oregon University, Contributed Graphic
This 2021 rendering of the Eastern Oregon University Field House gives an idea of what the facility will look like.
Construction of the building is underway. John Garlitz, EOU’s director of planning and facilities, said the project
could be fi nished in April 2022.
a classroom for EOU’s
Health and Human Perfor-
mance program that will be
able to double as a lab. The
facility also will be the new
home of EOU’s Outdoor
Adventure program, now in
the Hoke Union Building,
Original designs for
the building called for it to
Enterprise puts hold on new Airbnbs
City council sets 90-day
moratorium on the
rentals, citing concerns
about affordable housing
By BILL BRADSHAW
Wallowa County Chieftain
ENTERPRISE — New Airbnbs
in Enterprise are on hold. The
city council during its meeting
Monday, May 10, approved a
90-day moratorium on any new
Airbnbs in town.
Despite some disagreement
between council members over
the rights of property owners,
the council unanimously
approved a resolution affi rming
the three-month ban with the
option to extend it for another
90 days.
City Administrator Lacey
McQuead said she reached
out to Airbnb owners to get
their input with only limited
response.
“The planning commis-
sion held a meeting. I sent out
nine invites to Airbnb owners
within the city of Enterprise,”
McQuead said. “There are 16
Airbnbs so that means seven
of them are not registered with
us. Out of the nine, one couple
showed up, but I did get some
input from some other Airbnb
owners. (Enterprise resident)
Stacy Green also attended the
planning commission meeting.
There was great conversation
between them — they happened
to be neighbors, so the one
she was concerned about had
someone attending.”
Still, McQuead seemed dis-
appointed more Airbnb owners
hadn’t responded.
“That was it,” she said. “Even
with all the advertising and invi-
tations to come to the Plan-
ning Commission meeting and
I invited them to come to this
meeting, as well. That was all
that we received.”
One of the main issues
seemed to be the availability of
aff ordable housing.
McQuead presented a letter
from the Northeast Oregon Eco-
nomic Development District that
she asked Mayor Ashley Sul-
livan to read into the record.
The letter was largely about
short-term vacation rentals in
residential zones and the eco-
nomic impact of them.
The NEOEDD recently con-
ducted a Community Needs
Assessment to assess the eco-
nomic impacts of the COVID-19
pandemic. Since January,
NEOEDD conducted more
than 70 interviews with a wide
variety of community leaders
and organizations.
“Like many other rural areas,
housing-related challenges are
widespread,” the assessment
stated.
Among the results of the
assessment were:
• More aff ordable housing is
needed for workforce and mod-
erate-income families and indi-
viduals. A lack exists due to
the conversion of residential
housing to tourism lodging by
absentee property owners and
second homeowners.
• Limited rental options are
available for tenants due to
them being priced out of units
because of increasing property
values.
The letter also cited the real-
dollar impacts.
• People working in low-
er-wage jobs … have been dis-
proportionately impacted by
the pandemic. The majority of
jobs in the region pay less than
$15 per hour, while two adults
working full time would each
need to earn at least $16.06
per hour to cover basic needs
in a household with one child,
$19.88 per hour for two children
and $23.09 an hour for three
children.
• Lack of aff ordable work-
force housing, an aging popu-
lation, the high cost of living
and underemployment have
negative eff ects on retaining a
workforce.
The letter stated that because
the city has zoning ordinances,
“education and outreach could
help spread understanding of
the permitting requirements
involved and the process by
which confl icts are addressed.”
The NEOEDD also urged
the city to review Hood River’s
example. That city recognized the
benefi ts both of visitor lodging
and the downside of converting
limited housing to visitor use.
McQuead said interest in
Airbnbs hasn’t subsided, and
concerns over where the Airbnb
owners would live was an issue.
have 88,300 gross square
feet, which would have
allowed for a 200-meter
track, making indoor track
meets a possibility. How-
ever, budget constraints
led to reducing the space
about 25%, which means a
smaller track.
The partial track will
provide a multipurpose
practice area for EOU’s
track and fi eld team, other
athletic programs and EOU
students.
EOU track and fi eld
coach Ben Welch said the
smaller building and track
still will be a big plus for
his team in the winter. He
explained the track team
conducts its winter prac-
tices in Quinn Colise-
um’s small gym, which has
4,545 square feet. But in
the Field House, he said,
his team will have access to
about 48,000 square feet for
practices.
He noted pole vaulters
will be able to practice
with a full approach, and
runners training for the
60-meter hurdles will be
able to run a full course
and then have 40 feet to
decelerate. Welch said pres-
ently those training for the
60-meter hurdles event,
which has fi ve hurdles, can
run only about 20 meters
while clearing two hurdles
before they have to slow
down and stop.
The Field House will be
open to all students and the
public. Tim Seydel, East-
ern’s vice president of uni-
versity advancement, said
the new building brings
another benefi t.
“Having a facility like
this will help us recruit stu-
dents,” Seydel said.
Cove City Council takes
stand against Gov. Brown
Resolution also seeks reparations for businesses
that were hurt by COVID-19 mandates
By DICK MASON
The Observer
COVE — The Cove City
Council is calling for Gov.
Kate Brown to rein in many
of her COVID-19 mandates.
The council on Tuesday,
May 4, passed Resolution
2021-3, endorsing eff orts
to get Brown to roll back
restrictions, which Cove
Mayor Sherry Haeger said are
becoming oppressive.
“We are in crisis — the sit-
uation has become an emer-
gency,” Haeger said. “There
is a state of emergency cre-
ated by the governor’s offi ce.”
Haeger said the city
council wants the people of
Cove to have the opportunity
to make logical decisions.
“We want a voice in deter-
mining how we rule our-
selves,” the mayor said. “We
want to make common sense
decisions instead of fol-
lowing Brown’s shutdown
orders, which don’t make
sense.”
Haeger said Brown’s man-
dates have hurt businesses
enormously, and she wants to
do everything she can to pre-
vent more businesses from
having to close.
The resolution the council
approved asks that businesses
receive reparations for their
losses.
The mayor said she
believes it is important busi-
nesses have more autonomy.
Haeger said business owners
should have the authority to
determine whether their cus-
tomers wear masks.
Resolution 2021-3 is
almost identical to what the
Baker City City Council
approved March 23. Haeger
signed the Cove resolution
on Tuesday, May 11, and will
send it to Brown later this
week.
The resolution’s summa-
tion sentence reads: “Resolu-
tion declaring an economic,
mental health and criminal
activity crisis due to the cur-
rent COVID-related state
emergency declaration and
relating OSHA mandates and
guidance.”
One of its fi nal para-
graphs contains a quote from
Thomas Jeff erson: “The spirit
of resistance to government
is so valuable on certain
instances that I wish it to be
always kept alive.”
In passing the resolution,
Haeger said, the Cove City
Council is becoming part of a
grassroots movement she hopes
other cities also will join.
Legislators Hansell & Levy to direct stimulus funds to fi re district
BY JADE MCDOWELL
East Oregonian
WESTON — Money
from the American Rescue
Plan could be a game
changer for East Umatilla
Fire & Rescue, according to
Fire Chief David Baty.
As money from the
federal stimulus package
comes to Oregon, state
senators are being given
$4 million to allocate to
a project in their district
and state representatives
are given $2 million. Baty
said Sen. Bill Hansell,
R-Athena, and Rep. Bobby
Levy, R-Echo, are on board
with allocating a portion of
their funds to build a new
fi re station for the district.
The money should be
enough to build the new
station in Weston without
going to taxpayers for more.
“It’s going to be close,
but I think if we keep a real
sharp pencil, we’ll be all
right,” Baty said.
The station would serve
Ben Lonergan/East Oregonian
East Umatilla Fire & Rescue Fire Chief David Baty explains issues with backing fi re trucks into the district’s Weston
fi re station on Wednesday, May 5, 2021. The primary issue is the steep angle of the driveway, which results in
stress and twisting on the vehicles’ chassis and has caused vehicles to scrape the concrete if not backed perfectly.
as headquarters for East
Umatilla Fire & Rescue,
which covers about 420
square miles in eastern
Umatilla County after three
smaller districts merged
in 2020. Baty said they
already have the land to
build it, a “shovel ready”
parcel by the intersection
of Bannister Road and Mill
Street. They also have a
design, which they modi-
fi ed slightly from Heppner’s
fi re station. It includes
a handful of offi ces, a
kitchen, storage space, a
few dorms for fi refi ghters
visiting from the Oregon
Department of Forestry and
other partners, and parking
for about eight rigs.
“We’re not trying to
make the Taj Mahal,” Baty
said. “We just want to make
it plain and simple.”
The district’s current
station is a hodgepodge
building, the oldest sec-
tion of which is now a cen-
tury old. In one part, old jail
cells hold storage items.
Baty says it’s embar-
rassing to show people
around the station, given
some of the accommoda-
tions. Firefi ghters don’t
have lockers to store their
gear in, for example.
Instead, they line them up
in a section of a wall alcove
behind a truck parking area.
Baty has tried to protect the
gear from the diesel fumes
as much as possible by
hanging clear plastic sheets
in front of them.
One of the biggest prob-
lems with the current
building is its location on a
steep hill. One of the bays is
extremely diffi cult to back
into, Baty said, showing
where a fi re truck has to
line up just right in order
to twist around a sharp,
banked turn. A bent railing
and some scraped-up areas
on the pole between garage
doors bear testament to how
diffi cult getting rigs into the
station can be — particu-
larly when it’s icy. It’s also
bad for the trucks.
“It twists the chassis,”
he said.
One thing Baty is proud
of is the people serving the
district.
Baty is the district’s
only paid fi refi ghter and
after a decades-long career
working with paid fi re-
fi ghters, he said it has
been humbling to come to
Weston and work alongside
a crew of volunteers.