INSIDE
SPRING IN THE NORTHWEST: CRAPPIE, MORELS AND WHISTLER PIGS |
May 22, 2021
OUTDOORS & REC, 1B
WEEKEND EDITION
Foster care
$1.50
Graduating with tradition
Open homes
and hearts
Up all night
for a chance
at a Soul
Area families talk about
their experiences with
fostering children
By LISA BRITTON
EO Media Group
Editor’s Note
This is the second of a three-
part series on foster care needs in
Baker, Union and Wallowa coun-
ties. Next in the series: Learn
more about Every Child and
CASA of Eastern Oregon.
LA GRANDE — Rebecca and
Ken Foster were set to be mission-
aries in China with their children,
ages 3 and 1. They were going to
focus on orphan care.
“Plans suddenly changed,”
Rebecca said.
They found themselves in
La Grande, but the couple still
wanted to do something to
help children. Rebecca said she
remembers thinking, “Surely
there are children here we can
take care of.”
She brought up foster care to
Ken, who agreed.
That was in October 2003, and
two months later they had their
fi rst foster placement.
Their initial experience as a
foster family was hard.
“We were amateurs,” Ken said.
“We didn’t know anything
about trauma,” Rebecca added.
After that, she wasn’t sure
they could continue as a foster
family. Then she got a call about a
12-week-old baby boy.
“We prayed about it,” Ken said.
They said yes.
“That’s our son Mykail. Who
is now 17 years old,” Rebecca
said. “I’m so grateful we said
yes.”
This is their 17th year as a
foster family. They’ve fostered
more than 50 children — some
long-term, and some for just a few
hours for emergency care.
“We never did make it to
China,” Rebecca said with a
smile.
Her advice to anyone consid-
ering foster care is this: “You’ve
got to set aside everything you
think you know about parenting.
It’s not going to work with a
5-year-old who is traumatized and
scared.”
“You’ve got to be willing to
change and adapt,” Ken said.
Their entire family is involved.
When a call comes from the
Oregon Department of Human
Services about a foster child, they
call a family meeting.
“Our whole family is on
board,” Rebecca said.
Mykail, the boy who came to
them at just 12 weeks old as a
foster child, shrugs when asked
about his family.
Organizer aims for big
graduation party for
La Grande High seniors
By ALEX WITTWER
The Observer
with their families in a pageantry-fi lled
atmosphere.
Baxter said the drive-thru graduation
went so well he anticipated many of this
year’s seniors would request a similar one.
“I totally expected it,” Baxter said.
Instead, the school’s seniors opted for
tradition. One reason may be their desire to
be in one place at the same time. Baxter said
some seniors noted they have never all been
together at any point of the 2020-21 school
year.
About 150 students will be graduating,
and each will be allotted fi ve tickets they
can give to family and friends. Only those
with tickets can attend.
Cove, Elgin, Imbler, Powder Valley and
Union high schools also will have more
LA GRANDE — With graduation only a
short few weeks ahead, the La Grande High
School graduation party is looking to off set
some fears and leave grads feeling hopeful,
safe and possibly in a car.
“It’s making this pretty special,” said
Geoff rey Robinson, a La Grande High
School parent and one of the lead organizers
of the event to be held at the Union County
Fairgrounds.
The 2011 Kia Soul, which Legacy
Chrysler Jeep Dodge Ram of Island City
donated, comes on the heels of dozens of
other donations from businesses, organi-
zations and individuals for the graduation
party.
Robinson said graduation is a huge mile-
stone for seniors, and this can make youths
take chances and do risky things, such as
drinking and driving. The graduation party
is one way to help prevent that.
“Under the current circumstances, one
of the worst things that could happen would
be a tragedy on graduation night,” Robinson
said. “We’ve got enough on our plates. We
should give an opportunity to these kids to
be safe.”
Robinson referred to a statistic that
shows car crashes as the leading cause of
death among 15- to 19-year-old Americans.
It’s a statistic he said he hopes to avoid on
graduation night.
In doing so, he pledged to throw the big-
gest graduation party he could for the class
of 2021. Geoff rey, who was tapped for plan-
ning the party due to his daughter earning
valedictorian, said he hopes he has achieved
just that.
“The booster club and the school district
have both pitched in to take care of the facil-
ities and the food, and we also had the Safe
See, Familiar/Page 5A
See, Party/Page 5A
The Observer, File
While onlookers at Cove High School’s graduation Saturday morning, May 30, 2020, hold to social distanc-
ing measures, seniors hold to the tradition of tossing their caps into the air. Graduations for the class of
2021 will look more traditional as the coronavirus pandemic ebbs.
Ceremonies may look familiar
Elgin High School’s graduation
on May 26 is first in the county
BY DICK MASON
The Observer
UNION COUNTY — The poll results
surprised La Grande High School Principal
Brett Baxter.
The school surveyed seniors about
what type of graduation ceremony they
would like. The vast majority indicated
they wanted a traditional one in their gym,
Baxter said.
The students’ wishes will be granted
June 5 at at 10 a.m. when a traditional grad-
uation ceremony will start in the LHS gym.
The commencement ceremony will be pos-
sible because of Union County’s falling
COVID-19 infection rates, which now
has the county in the lower risk category,
meaning small crowds can gather indoors.
Holding a commencement ceremony
a year ago in a gym was off limits. Union
County had a higher infection rate and like
other counties was operating under more
stringent state COVID-19 safety restric-
tions. This forced all Union County high
schools to conduct vehicle-centric grad-
uation ceremonies. La Grande High held
a drive-thru commencement where stu-
dents received their diplomas in vehicles
HIGH SCHOOL GRADUATIONS
IN UNION COUNTY
Elgin High School: May 26, 7-8:15 p.m., school football
fi eld.
Imbler High School: May 28, 5 p.m., school gym.
Cove High School: May 29, 11 a.m., school football fi eld.
Union: June 5, 10 a.m., school football fi eld.
La Grande: June 5, 10 a.m., high school gym.
Powder Valley: June 5, 1 p.m., high school’s old gym.
‘He said he was going to kill me’
La Grande man
recounts terror at
deadly end of a
sawed-off shotgun
By PHIL WRIGHT
The Observer
See, Foster/Page 5A
LA GRANDE — Gary Hatch
said he was just turning off his
outside light Wednesday night,
May 19, when he heard a tapping
at the door. He lives on the 1700
block of Claire Street, a neigh-
borhood on La Grande’s east side
that he said tends to be quiet.
What he said happened next shat-
tered any solace.
He opened the door, and a
man with a sawed-off shotgun
burst through.
“When he came here, he just
busted the barrel against my fore-
hand and then lowered the barrel
to my chest,” Hatch recalled. “He
said he was going to kill me.”
Hatch, 59, said he has a
gun, but it was in his bedroom,
and nothing prepared him for
this encounter.
INDEX
Classified ...............2B
Comics ....................5B
Community...........3A
Crossword .............2B
Phil Wright/The Observer
Gary Hatch of La Grande on Thursday,
May 20, 2021, shows the bruise on his
forehead he said he received the night
before when Travis James Sprague, 24,
of Baker County, jammed the barrel of
a sawed-off shotgun against him.
“It had to be one of the scar-
iest moments of my life,” Hatch
said. “A sawed-off shotgun. And
I still have the bruise on my
forehead.”
The purple semicircle on
Hatch’s forehead was evident
WEATHER
Dear Abby .............6B
Horoscope .............4B
Lottery ....................3A
Obituaries ..............3A
TUESDAY
Opinion ..................4A
Outdoors ...............1B
Sports .....................6A
Sudoku ...................5B
the afternoon of May 20. Hatch
also said the man at the trigger
end of that shotgun was the same
man police had arrested a few
hours before in connection to a
May 19 shooting and break-in
just a block over on East Glacier
Street.
Police identifi ed that sus-
pect as Travis James Sprague,
24, of Baker County, who now is
in custody in the Baker County
Jail, Baker City. La Grande
police reported Sprague had a
Baker County warrant for his
arrest on numerous felonies,
including burglary and attempted
kidnapping.
Hatch said Sprague wanted
the keys to the car in his vehicle
port. But that car belongs to a
neighbor, Hatch said, so he didn’t
have any keys to give.
“It was bad, yeah,” he said.
Hatch said he saw Sprague’s
hand tremble as he held the
pistol grip of the shotgun, and
he feared one shaky fi nger could
end everything for him. So he
talked to the man holding his life
in the balance.
“I don’t know how I did it,”
Full forecast on the back of B section
Tonight
Sunday
38 LOW
64/41
Partly cloudy
A shower;
warmer
LA GRANDE WEIGHS HOUSING SOLUTIONS
Hatch said, “but I talked him
down.”
Sprague took off , he said, hus-
tled to the house next door and
dumped the shotgun in a trash
container.
Local police began looking for
Sprague after a 911 call May 19
at 8:56 p.m., according to a press
release from La Grande Police,
when a person in the 1700 block
of East Glacier Street reported
being shot at while standing in
front of their residence.
While offi cers were
responding, an additional 911 call
came from a separate residence
in the same block on Glacier.
The second caller reported the
suspect entered their residence
and held them at gunpoint while
demanding keys to their vehicle.
La Grande police offi cers
arrived within moments and con-
tacted the callers. Police named
Sprague as the suspect and said
neither 911 caller knew him.
“A multi-agency, comprehen-
sive search commenced imme-
diately,” the press release stated.
See, Terror/Page 5A
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Issue 59
3 sections, 44 pages
La Grande, Oregon
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