LOCAL
A2 — THE OBSERVER
TODAY
Today is Thursday, July 1, the
182nd day of 2021. There are
183 days left in the year.
TODAY’S HIGHLIGHT
IN HISTORY:
On July 1, 2015, after more
than a half-century of hostility,
the United States and Cuba
declared they would reopen
embassies in each other’s capi-
tals, marking a historic full res-
toration of diplomatic relations
between the Cold War foes.
ON THIS DATE:
In 1863, the pivotal,
three-day Civil War Battle of
Gettysburg, resulting in a Union
victory, began in Pennsylvania.
In 1867, Canada became a
self-governing dominion of
Great Britain as the British North
America Act took effect.
In 1903, the first Tour de
France began. (It ended on
July 19; the winner was Mau-
rice Garin.)
In 1944, delegates from 44
countries began meeting at
Bretton Woods, New Hamp-
shire, where they agreed to
establish the International Mon-
etary Fund and the World Bank.
In 1946, the United States
exploded a 20-kiloton atomic
bomb near Bikini Atoll in the
Pacific.
In 1962, the African nations
of Burundi and Rwanda became
independent of Belgium.
In 1963, the U.S. Post Office
inaugurated its five-digit ZIP
codes.
In 1966, the Medicare fed-
eral insurance program went
into effect.
In 1973, the Drug Enforce-
ment Administration was
established.
In 1991, President George
H.W. Bush nominated federal
appeals court judge Clarence
Thomas to the Supreme Court,
beginning an ultimately suc-
cessful confirmation process
marked by allegations of sexual
harassment. Actor Michael
Landon, 54, died in Malibu,
California.
In 1997, Hong Kong reverted
to Chinese rule after 156 years
as a British colony.
In 2019, 15-year-old Coco
Gauff, the youngest player to
qualify at Wimbledon in the
professional era, defeated
39-year-old Venus Williams in
the first round, 6-4, 6-4. Los
Angeles Angels pitcher Tyler
Skaggs, 27, was found dead
in his room at the Texas hotel
where the team was staying;
the medical examiner found
that Skaggs had a toxic mix of
alcohol and the painkillers fen-
tanyl and oxycodone in his
body.
Ten years ago: Leon Panetta
took over as U.S. secretary of
defense after 2-1/2 years as
director of the CIA. Six weeks
after ex-California Gov. Arnold
Schwarzenegger revealed
that he’d fathered a child
with a member of his house-
hold staff, Maria Shriver filed
divorce papers seeking to end
their 25-year marriage. The
NBA locked out its players, a
long-expected move that put
the 2011-12 season in jeopardy.
(The lockout ended in Dec. 2011
with the adoption of a new col-
lective bargaining agreement.)
Five years ago: New laws tar-
geting abortion took effect in
about one-fifth of the states,
initiating another wave of
restrictions just days after the
U.S. Supreme Court struck
down a Texas measure that
had led to the closing of sev-
eral clinics.
One year ago: The mayor
of Richmond, Virginia, which
was the Confederate capital,
ordered the removal of all Con-
federate statues from city land;
hours later, crews removed
a statue of Gen. Stonewall
Jackson. Police in Seattle forc-
ibly cleared the city’s “occu-
pied” protest zone under orders
from the mayor after two recent
fatal shootings in the area.
Police in San Francisco said they
would stop releasing the mug
shots of people who’d been
arrested unless they posed a
threat to the public; they said
it was part of an effort to stop
perpetuating racial stereotypes.
LOTTERY
Monday, June 28, 2021
Megabucks
06-15-16-18-20-44
Estimated jackpot: $4.7 million
Lucky Lines
04-08-11-13-18-21-28-29
Estimated jackpot: $11,000
Win for Life
45-58-72-74
Pick 4
1 p.m.: 5-3-1-8
4 p.m.: 9-9-0-8
7 p.m.: 1-7-1-7
10 p.m.: 8-9-4-9
Tuesday, June 29, 2021
Mega Millions
07-38-50-52-69
Mega Ball: 21
Megaplier: 3
Estimated jackpot: $72 million
Lucky Lines
01-05-11-15-20-22-25-31
Estimated jackpot: $12,000
Pick 4
1 p.m.: 0-7-6-7
4 p.m.: 6-4-7-8
7 p.m.: 7-2-0-9
10 p.m.: 9-1-3-1
THuRSday, July 1, 2021
SAR trains at Salt Creek Summit
The Observer
ENTERPRISE —
Search and Rescue team
members from Wallowa,
Union, Baker and Umatilla
counties honed their skills
in the Salt Creek Summit
area of Wallowa County.
About 60 SAR volun-
teers and instructors from
the four counties partic-
ipated June 24-27 in the
multi-day training, which
was hosted by Wallowa
County Search and Rescue
volunteers.
“Our numbers were
down a little from what we
expected, but it’s a little
late in the season,” Paige
Sully, the event coordinator
for WCSAR, said. “But all
in all I think it was great.”
Training included swift-
water rescue, tactical fast
tracking, advanced inci-
dent command, hasty-team
and K-9 land searches, res-
cuing injured hikers from
remote locations and coor-
dination with Civil Air
Patrol aircraft.
“It was a very good
training,” said Jim
Akenson, who serves as
a WCSAR incident com-
mander and participated
in the Incident Command
training. “It was funda-
mental and advanced all
rolled into one. As an inci-
dent commander, it’s good
to see more and more
people coming on who
can take leadership roles.
Everybody I observed did
really well.”
June 26 was devoted
to classes, most with
hands-on field experience.
Tactical tracking, taught
by Clifford Pease and Leon
Kershaw, proved one of the
more popular classes. Both
men track wanted suspects
and escaped prisoners for
the Umatilla County Sher-
iff’s Office and other law
enforcement agencies.
Their “fast tracking” tech-
niques have allowed them
to follow and apprehend
escaped convicts more than
40 miles in three days.
“It’s important to pay
Full-service health
care returns in 2022
By RONALD BOND
Wallowa County Chieftain
Traci Murray/Contributed Photo
Wallowa County Search and Rescue swiftwater team member Kyle Bratcher waits for a rescue line
during the swiftwater class in the pond near Salt Creek Summit on Saturday, June 26, 2021.
Traci Murray/Contributed Photo
Wallowa County Search and Rescue packing instructor Jim Aken-
son, center, shows WCSAR volunteers Mike Musia, left, and John
Shull the fine points of packing a mule in the EOSAR packing class
on Friday, June 25, 2021.
attention to the small
things that people leave
along their path, including
actual tracks as well as
bent twigs, scuffs and other
(signs),” Pease said. “It’s
often possible to deter-
mine a general path and
send a team ahead along
that line to pick up (tracks)
farther ahead and close the
time-distance gap. You can
find the lost person quicker
that way.”
The trackers also
worked with Wallowa
County’s two tracking K-9
teams — Heather Howard
and her dog, Gracie, and
Edward “Vern” Vernarsky
and his dog, Trooper.
“I really thought the
tracking class was great,”
said Holly Akenson,
WCSAR K-9 team leader.
“There were a lot of really
good on-the-ground
things.”
Swiftwater rescue
training, led by a team
of instructors from Wal-
lowa County, took place
in the pond near Salt
Creek Summit. SAR vol-
unteers fine-tuned skills
that included accurately
throwing rescue ropes.
SAR hasty, medical and
K-9 teams coordinated by
incident command and
SAR members from mul-
tiple counties spread out in
a mock search and rescue
exercise on June 27 in the
Salt Creek Summit area.
Civil Air Patrol brought in
two aircraft — one from
Boise and another from
Redmond — to aid in
searching for several “lost
hikers,” some of whom
were “injured.” The search
and rescue efforts were
all successful within the
three hours allotted for the
exercise.
“Learning to work with
and practicing with our
neighboring counties for
mutual aid just makes us
more ready when we have a
big search and we all need
to work together. This way
we all know each other,
we’ve worked together, and
I think that’s really benefi-
cial,” Akenson said.
A ‘major step in the right direction’
Oregon higher ed leaders see funding
as a plus for colleges, universities
By MEERAH POWELL
Oregon Public Broadcasting
SALEM — Oregon’s
public universities and
community colleges will
receive the full amounts
of funding they requested
from the state.
The passage of a higher
education budget bill as
the Oregon Legislature
wrapped up its work over
the weekend gives the
New clinic
to open in
Wallowa
public universities $900
million and the community
colleges about $703 mil-
lion for the upcoming two-
year budget period. Those
funds will be distributed
to the individual institu-
tions by the state’s Higher
Education Coordinating
Commission.
“As Oregon moves
forward out of the pan-
demic, wildfire devasta-
tion and impact on the
economy, our 17 commu-
nity colleges stand ready
to support students,” Cam
Preus, executive director
of the Oregon Community
College Association, said
in a statement.
Along with meeting the
institutions’ full budget
requests, Oregon higher
education also saw some
other advancements this
legislative session —
including bills focused on
the success of underrepre-
sented students.
“The 2021 session was
a much needed bright spot
for Oregon’s public uni-
versity students,” said
Tom Insko, president of
Eastern Oregon University
and chair of the Oregon
Council of Presidents.
Insko said in a state-
ment that the Legislature
not only made investments
into university operations
and financial aid programs,
but also pushed forward
policies including “basic
needs navigators, stream-
lined transfer of credits and
a task force to look at how
best to serve underrepre-
sented students.”
NEWS BRIEFS
ODF urges caution
over the holiday weekend
LA GRANDE — As the weather
heats up around the region, fire
managers are concerned about the
potential for human-caused fires,
according to a press release from the
Oregon Department of Forestry.
Fuel conditions have reached
levels that firefighters do not nor-
mally contend with until much later
in the summer. The measurements
that firefighters use to estimate fire
potential are setting records for this
time of year, the release said. With
these record-setting conditions, ODF
is urging extreme caution when
heading out over the Fourth of July
weekend.
“Our measurements of fire danger
are currently setting new records.
This is significant given the time
of year,” said Logan McCrae, La
Grande Unit forester. “Our charts
are showing conditions more
aligned with what we expect to see
in August. It is very dry out there.
It looks like it could be a long fire
season for our folks, and we need
help from everyone to set a pace that
we can keep up with.”
The fuel conditions combined
with a nationwide draw on fire-
fighting resources have fire managers
worried about additional starts. The
weather forecast for this weekend
calls for continued hot and dry condi-
tions with a high probability of light-
ning later in the week and throughout
the weekend causing additional
worry.
“There’s a good chance we
will already be fighting fire due to
the lightning that is forecasted,”
McCrae said. “At this point, we need
everyone to be extra cautious as they
head out to camp or enjoy the woods
this weekend. Leaving the fireworks
home, avoiding parking in tall grass,
and carrying a few firefighting tools
with you are all recommended.”
Baker City mayor
running for governor
BAKER CITY — Baker City
Mayor Kerry McQuisten is aiming
for a much higher political office —
Oregon governor.
McQuisten, 49, who
is a Republican, has
announced a gubernato-
rial campaign for 2022.
Oregon’s current gov-
ernor, Democrat Kate
McQuisten Brown, can’t run in 2022
due to term limits.
On her campaign website —
kerrymcquisten.com — McQuisten
writes: “Campaigns always claim
that change is needed. This time, it
couldn’t be more true! Oregonians
need a leader who will get our chil-
dren back in school, fight for med-
ical freedoms, protect our individual
constitutional rights, prevent crim-
inals from burning and destroying
our once-flourishing cities, remind
Oregonians of their inherent pio-
neer spirit, and prevent the kind of
rule we’ve seen from ever happening
again.”
McQuisten was elected to the
Baker City Council in November
2020.
Her fellow councilors elected her
as mayor in January 2021 (in Baker
City’s form of government, elected
councilors, not voters, choose the
mayor).
Liberty Theatre wins
Wildhorse grant
LA GRANDE — The Wildhorse
Foundation has awarded a $10,000
grant to the Liberty Theatre Founda-
tion to complete the theater’s sound
and light system.
The grant, the fourth the Liberty
has received from Wildhorse but first
for the sound system, provides the
funding necessary to complete the
system, according to Ashley O’Toole,
chairman of the Liberty Foundation.
“We’re extremely grateful to the
Wildhorse Foundation,’’ O’Toole
said. “They have come to our aid pre-
viously and have really helped us on
the path to completing the historic
theater’s renovation. We thank them
for their continued support, and for
the continued partnership.’’
Work on the renovation has been
progressing significantly this year.
O’Toole said they are hoping to have
the bulk of renovations completed by
the end of the year.
— The Observer
WALLOWA — For the
first time in a decade, res-
idents of Wallowa will
have access to a full-ser-
vice medical clinic in their
hometown.
Wallowa Memorial Hos-
pital and Clinics has pur-
chased the building at 701
W. Highway 82 in Wal-
lowa — formerly the home
of Fox Archery — and will
convert it into Wallowa
Memorial Medical Clinic
— Wallowa, which it hopes
to have fully operational by
early 2022.
“The people of Wal-
lowa deserve to have a pre-
mier clinic that does not
require an hour round-trip
trek to garner health care
services,” WMH CEO
Larry Davy said in a press
release. “We have received
numerous requests to build
in Wallowa over the past
10 years, and we have
been looking for the per-
fect location for quite some
time.”
WMH recently pur-
chased the former Olive
Branch Family Health
Clinic in Wallowa, but has
a need for more space.
“It’s a very small one-
room space, so we’re not
able to have more than
one provider,” Wallowa
Memorial Communications
Director Brooke Pace told
the Chieftain. “It makes it
very limited — the number
of patients we can see
in that facility. This will
allow us to have multiple
providers, be open more
days a week, and provide
the primary care needs the
community of Wallowa
needs.”
In addition to being
more-frequently open —
the new clinic will be open
five days a week — Pace
said part of what defines
the new clinic as a full-ser-
vice location is “we will
also have behavioral health
services more regularly
available, increased vac-
cine capability, and we are
also exploring ways to pro-
vide pharmacy services to
the area.”
In the press release,
both Davy and Ron Fox,
the former owner of the
archery business that once
called that building home,
cited the added travel as
one of the detriments of not
having a clinic in town.
“We have a lot of elderly
folks here and sometimes
it is hard for them to get a
ride in to see their doctor,”
Fox said. “In emergency
situations, it can take
an hour or so to get into
Enterprise. “My family
has had to use the hospital
several times and it sure
would have been nice to
have a clinic close.”
Pace pointed to the
building’s accessibility,
space for parking and the
ability to add on at a later
date as what appealed to
Wallowa Memorial about
the location.
Pace said it’s too early
to tell what modifications
will need to be made to
the building or how much
room it will have.
“We’re still in the
design phases to see how
many exam rooms we
will be able to put there,”
she said. “We just started
working with the architect
last week.”
The building is 3,250
square feet, and was pur-
chased for $175,000, Pace
said. She added that an
evaluation is being done
on the building to see if
the size will be enough or
if there will be a need for
immediate expansion. The
amount approved for pur-
chase and remodel of the
building was $1.1 million,
Pace said.
Once the new building
is up and running, the cur-
rent location the clinic is
operating temporarily out
of will be closed.