INSIDE
SHARK FISHING IS NOT FOR THE WEAK — OR TIMID |
July 24, 2021
Signers
want
initiative
on ballot
Petition wants to
change law banning
marijuana farming
and distribution in
La Grande
By DAVIS CARBAUGH
The Observer
LA GRANDE — A
medicinal marijuana farmer
is leading the charge to
bring back a medical mar-
ijuana dispensary to La
Grande.
Derik Drake, owner
of Flower of Life Farms,
Nyssa, is aiming to par-
tially repeal Ordinance
3228 banning marijuana
farming and distribution in
La Grande in order to take
over as owner of HWY 30
Cannabis. Drake hopes to
gain 1,315 signatures by
Monday, July 26, in order
to put the initiative on the
city ballot in November.
Drake and his team
have frequented local shop-
ping centers, events and
the downtown area in order
to advertise and garner
support.
“We’re working at it
from every angle,” he
said. “We’re just trying to
keep things moving in a
positive direction in this
community.”
In 2015, the city of La
Grande adopted Ordi-
nance 3228 banning med-
ical marijuana processing
sites, medical marijuana
dispensaries, recreational
marijuana producers, rec-
reational marijuana proces-
sors, recreational marijuana
wholesalers and recre-
ational marijuana retailers.
Despite the ban, HWY
30 Cannabis on Adams
Avenue was grandfathered
in as a result of being
opened prior to the ordi-
nance, which allowed the
shop to continue operating
as the only medical mari-
juana dispensary in the city.
As a local medical mar-
ijuana farmer, Drake sold
his product to HWY 30
Cannabis for years and
looked to take over the
business as owner Rona
Lindsey started planning
her retirement. However,
OUTDOORS & REC, B1
WEEKEND EDITION
$1.50
Too close for comfort
Fighting Elbow Creek Fire is personal for Jeff Weer, who calls Lostine home
By BILL BRADSHAW
Wallowa County Chieftain
PROMISE — Fighting a
wildfi re is no easy task, but
it becomes more meaningful
when it’s in your own back-
yard. That’s what Jeff Weer said
from the front line of the Elbow
Creek Fire near Promise on
Thursday, July 22.
“It’s hard work, it’s smokey,
it’s fun. I wouldn’t do this job if
I didn’t enjoy doing it,” he said
at the Bar-B Ranch staging area
south of Promise. “I just enjoy
being out in the fi eld. I enjoy the
camaraderie of the crews and
the folks involved.”
His wife, Maria, is fully sup-
portive of her husband’s passion
for fi ghting wildfi re.
“I think that I am proud to
see him be able to help our
community in this way,” she
said. “I know fi ghting fi res is
his passion and he’s in his ele-
ment. He’s happy he can make a
diff erence.”
The couple have a ranch near
Lostine, making it somewhat
convenient for Weer to make it
to work each day.
“I live here locally. I can go
home and sleep in my own bed
— it’s a 15-minute drive from
my house to the fi re camp,” he
said. “So I’m fortunate to be
able to have done that. There’s
several nights I did stay up
here.”
But even when he’s sent to
fi res elsewhere, it’s still part of
his passion.
“I’m happy to be here. A lot
of times we get sent to other
places, other parts of the state or
the country to fi ght fi re,” Weer
said. “I wasn’t born and raised
in Wallowa County but I’ve
lived here (and worked) for the
U.S. Forest Service working on
my 17th year. It’s all been here
in this district.”
There since the outbreak
Weer is an engine captain
with the U.S. Forest Service.
On the Elbow Creek Fire he’s
the supervisor trainee on Divi-
sion Tango. He’s been on the
fi re since it was fi rst reported a
week ago.
Bill Bradshaw/Wallowa County Chieftain
Jeff Weer, supervisor trainee for the Division Tango of the Elbow Creek Fire, talks about battling the blaze Thursday, July
22, 2021, from the Bar-B Ranch staging area near Promise. He’s been on the fi re since its initial outbreak a week earlier.
Ben Lonergan/East Oregonian
A fi re line, cut with a bulldozer, crosses the forest fl oor near Promise on Thurs-
day, July 22, 2021, as fi re crews work to stop the spread of the Elbow Creek Fire.
“My sole focus is on Division
Tango,” he said, but added that
his concern also is tying in with
neighboring divisions — Mike
and Whiskey. “We’ve had our
rough patches, but we’re holding
our own.”
He has a good grasp on the
progress.
“We’ve got people down
there, we’ve got an indirect
dozer line in, meaning it’s not
tied in against the fi re line,
against the black,” he said.
“There’s unburned material
between the dozer line and the
black and we’re trying to keep
it from jumping over the dozer
line. We’re trying to get that line
tighter and get crews in there
to put that line tight against the
black.”
His approximately 120 fi re-
fi ghters are hard at it.
“They use normal wildland
fi refi ghting tools — pulaskis,
shovels — and putting in hose
lays,” he said. “We have big
tanks of water at the top of a
drainage and run hoses down to
the bottom of the drainage …
and we branch other hoses off
of it and take it out in the woods
and try to get a mop-up … 25
feet around the entire perimeter
of our division. We’re working
on that slowly but surely.”
Brett Deedon, a trainee
public information offi cer with
the state Fire Marshal’s Offi ce,
said there are about 1,000 fi re-
fi ghters on the entire fi re.
“And that’s continuing to
See, Fire/Page A5
‘Music was her passion’
Family, local musicians remember Anita Pipes, an
original member of Grande Ronde Symphony Orchestra
See, Petition/Page A5
By DICK MASON
The Observer
Patty Sandoz/Contributed Photo
Anita Pipes — shown at her electric keyboard with her friend
Pam Moore, of La Grande — began taking piano lessons at the
age of 88.
INDEX
Classified ...............B2
Comics ....................B5
Crossword .............B2
Dear Abby .............B6
LA GRANDE — Anita
Pipes, a woman with deep
La Grande roots who
recently died at age 104,
was on a path to local music
history in the 1920s when
she traveled on a horse
between Island City and
La Grande to take violin
lessons.
The skills Pipes devel-
oped with the help of those
violin lessons eventually
led her to become an orig-
inal member of Grande
Ronde Symphony Orchestra
in 1951.
She was proud to be a
WEATHER
Horoscope .............B3
Lottery ....................A2
Obituaries ..............A3
Opinion ..................A4
TUESDAY
Outdoors & Rec ...B1
Records ..................A3
Sports .....................A6
Sudoku ...................B5
founding member of the
symphony and enjoyed
playing for it, said Jean
Conklin of Pasco, Wash-
ington, one of Pipes’ two
daughters.
“It gave her a natural
outlet for expressing her
talent,” Conklin added
that her mother stopped
riding horses in the 1940s
but never stopped learning
or playing musical instru-
ments while following an
inspiring life path.
Pipes, who died at a
care facility in Kennewick,
Washington, on June 25,
was a quintessential lifelong
learner. She taught herself
to play the autoharp at age
Full forecast on the back of B section
Tonight
Sunday
61 LOW
95/62
Clear
Sunny and warm
SANDWICHES: A MEAL IN ONE HAND
67 and started taking piano
lessons when she was 88,
all while retaining a love for
playing the violin.
“Music was her passion,”
said Conklin of her mother,
who attended Island City
Elementary School and was
a La Grande High School
graduate.
Staying connected
to the symphony
Pipes’ musical talent
allowed her to become
the Grande Ronde Sym-
phony Orchestra’s con-
cert mistress, a prestigious
See, Pipes/Page A5
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Issue 86
2 sections, 12 pages
La Grande, Oregon
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