LOCAL
A2 — THE OBSERVER
TODAY
Today is Saturday, July 31, the
212th day of 2021. There are 153
days left in the year.
TODAY’S HIGHLIGHT
IN HISTORY
On July 31, 1991, President
George H.W. Bush and Soviet
President Mikhail S. Gorbachev
signed the Strategic Arms
Reduction Treaty in Moscow.
ON THIS DATE
In 1715, a fleet of Spanish
ships carrying gold, silver and
jewelry sank during a hurricane
off the east Florida coast; more
than 1,000 crew members died.
In 1777, during the Revo-
lutionary War, the Marquis
de Lafayette, a 19-year-old
French nobleman, was made a
major-general in the American
Continental Army.
In 1919, Germany’s Weimar
Constitution was adopted
by the republic’s National
Assembly.
In 1933, the radio series “Jack
Armstrong, the All-American
Boy,” made its debut on CBS
radio station WBBM in Chicago.
In 1945, Pierre Laval, pre-
mier of the pro-Nazi Vichy gov-
ernment, surrendered to U.S.
authorities in Austria; he was
turned over to France, which
later tried and executed him.
In 1954, Pakistan’s K2 was
conquered as two members of
an Italian expedition, Achille
Compagnoni and Lino Lacedelli,
reached the summit.
In 1964, country singer-song-
writer Jim Reeves, 40, and his
manager, Dean Manuel, were
killed when their plane crashed
in bad weather near Nashville.
In 1970, “The Huntley-Brin-
kley Report” came to an end
after nearly 14 years as co-an-
chor Chet Huntley signed off for
the last time; the broadcast was
renamed “NBC Nightly News.”
In 1971, Apollo 15 crew mem-
bers David Scott and James
Irwin became the first astro-
nauts to use a lunar rover on the
surface of the moon.
In 1972, Democratic
vice-presidential candidate
Thomas Eagleton withdrew
from the ticket with George
McGovern following disclosures
that Eagleton had once under-
gone psychiatric treatment.
In 2003, the Vatican launched
a global campaign against
gay marriages, warning Cath-
olic politicians that support of
same-sex unions was “gravely
immoral” and urging non-Cath-
olics to join the offensive.
In 2014, the death toll from
the worst recorded Ebola out-
break in history surpassed 700
in West Africa.
Ten years ago: President
Barack Obama and congres-
sional leaders announced an
agreement on emergency legis-
lation to avert the nation’s first-
ever financial default.
Five years ago: Pope Francis
told young people who had
flocked by the hundreds of
thousands to a Catholic jam-
boree near Krakow, Poland,
that they needed to “believe
in a new humanity” stronger
than evil, and cautioned against
concluding that one religion is
more violent than others.
One year ago: Mexico
became the country with the
third most COVID-19 deaths in
the world, behind the U.S. and
Brazil. Even as Florida reached
a new daily high in coronavirus
deaths, the imminent arrival of
Hurricane Isaias forced the clo-
sure of some outdoor testing
sites. With six Major League
teams sidelined by the pan-
demic, Commissioner Rob Man-
fred spoke about the impor-
tance of players following
the coronavirus protocols.
CORRECTION
In the Page B2 story
“Local financial adviser
honored with award,”
published Thursday,
July 29, a photo accom-
panying the story mis-
spelled the name of Gary
Anger.
LOTTERY
Wednesday, July 28, 2021
Megabucks
11-19-29-31-32-37
Jackpot: $1.1 million
Lucky Lines
1-5-9-13-17-23-26-29
Estimated jackpot: $41,000
Powerball
25-30-53-59-60
Powerball: 5
Power Play: 3
Jackpot: $199 million
Win for Life
29-55-65-70
Pick 4
1 p.m.: 9-3-8-3
4 p.m.: 6-9-7-2
7 p.m.: 3-1-5-2
10 p.m.: 8-1-0-0
Thursday, July 29, 2021
Lucky Lines
3-7-10-13-17-23-26-29
Jackpot: $42,000
Pick 4
1 p.m.: 4-8-8-4
4 p.m.: 5-0-6-4
7 p.m.: 3-1-0-8
10 p.m.: 0-8-3-1
SaTuRday, July 31, 2021
Deadline passes, petition fails
Medical marijuana
petition falls short
of necessary
signatures required
Pinkerton
excited to
step into
new role
By RONALD BOND
Wallowa County Chieftain
By DAVIS CARBAUGH
The Observer
LA GRANDE — For
weeks on end, petitioners
stationed themselves with
neon signs at local estab-
lishments around La
Grande.
Derik Drake, a med-
ical marijuana farmer from
Nyssa, organized a petition
to partially repeal Ordi-
nance 3228 banning mari-
juana farming and distribu-
tion in La Grande. Needing
1,331 signatures to get the
initiative on the November
ballot, Drake and his team
gathered 1,372 signa-
tures by the deadline on
Monday, July 26.
However, due to a size-
able portion of the signa-
tures coming from unreg-
istered voters and non-La
Grande residents, the peti-
tion came up well short of
the required total needed to
make the ballot.
“It was a few weeks of
volunteering in the hot,
smoky outdoors, but we
had a blast meeting and
engaging with the commu-
nity,” Drake said.
Although Drake gained
alex Wittwer/The Observer
Derik Drake, left, watches as Kevin McAllisters signs a petition to repeal Ordinance 3228, a city law
that prevents new medical marijuana dispensaries from opening, on Tuesday, July 20, 2021.
enough signatures, the
county clerk’s office looked
the results over carefully
in order to approve the
validity. The signatures
must be from La Grande
residents and any discrep-
ancy or repeated signature
can alter the official total.
Through the first 414 sig-
natures reviewed, nearly
two thirds of those indi-
viduals were turned down
since they were not regis-
tered to vote or residents of
La Grande.
“We knew then that
they weren’t going to make
it,” said Union County
Clerk Robin Church.
After inspecting the
first 414 signatures, the
county was able to deter-
mine that Drake would not
have enough signatures
needed to make the ballot,
even if all the remaining
signatures were valid.
The petitioners fre-
quented Safeway on
Adams Avenue and
Walmart on Island Avenue,
as well as local events like
Crazy Days and the La
Grande Farmers Market.
The goal of the petition
was to allow Drake to
take over as owner of the
medicinal marijuana dis-
pensary HWY 30. Ordi-
nance 3228 banned any
new dispensaries in 2015,
but HWY 30 was grand-
fathered in and allowed to
continue operations.
Looking to take over as
the new owner at the same
location, Drake would
technically be opening a
new dispensary by legal
terms. The partial repeal
would allow Drake to
take over operations at the
HWY 30 location and sell
medicinal marijuana in La
Grande.
Drake remains in the
court of appeals attempting
to overcome the legal
obstacles, while his law-
yers are attempting to
negotiate with the city of
La Grande.
Moderate air quality expected through weekend
Slight chance of
rain, thunderstorms
in forecast
By CARLOS FUENTES
The Observer
LA GRANDE — The
air quality forecast for
La Grande has improved,
with AQI levels expected
to remain in the moderate
category until Tuesday,
Aug. 3, according to the
air monitoring website
+IQAir.
The AQI is expected to
reach 74 on July 31, fol-
lowed by 58 on Aug. 1 and
53 on Aug. 2.
On Aug. 3, the AQI is
expected to lower to 27, in
the “good” category.
“What we’re expecting
most days is light winds
in the morning from the
southwest, and then it
alex Wittwer/The Observer, File
Hazy evening light lands over a field near Cove on Wednesday, July
28, 2021. Projections for air quality in the region, which was beset
by wildfire smoke from the Bootleg Fire, are expected to improve
over the weekend.
switches in the latter half
of the day to more winds
from the west and north-
west,” Ann Adams, a fore-
caster with the National
Weather Service in Pend-
leton, said.
Winds through the first
few days of August are
expected to stay light, gen-
erally under 10 miles per
hour, according to Adams.
Adams added that
smoke from the Bootleg
Fire and other fires in
northern California have
consistently entered the
valley due to wind moving
in the northeast direction.
In the forecast for the
last weekend of July, there
is a slight chance of rain
and thunderstorms, partic-
ularly on the evenings of
July 31 and Aug. 1.
The rain might help
keep some of the smoke to
a minimum, Adams said.
Temperatures are
expected to stay warm,
with an anticipated high of
92 degrees on July 31 and
highs between 80 and 90
degrees for the next sev-
eral days.
The potential light-
ning, combined with the
expected high heat of the
weekend, has prompted the
National Weather Service
to issue a Fire Weather
Warning for Saturday eve-
ning, when temperatures
are expected to reach a
high of 92 degrees.
NEWS BRIEFS
Elbow Creek Fire
now 57% contained
WALLOWA — The Elbow Creek
Fire is now 57% contained and the
22,955-acre wildfire has not spread
in the last 24 hours, according to a
Friday, July 30, press release.
There are 971 personnel sta-
tioned at the fire in northern Wallowa
County, stated the release. The 34
hand crews on site have fully transi-
tioned to mop-up operations.
The statement emphasized that
mop-up operations can require up to
300 feet of buffering work around the
edge of the fire to avoid wind trans-
port of burning embers.
A 10-person crew made prog-
ress along the bottom of the Grande
Ronde River Canyon on July 29,
using handheld infrared detection
monitors to put out hot spots.
On the north side of the fire, crews
continue to remove vegetation along
roads to minimize further spread.
Blown tire causes
rollover near Union
UNION — Emergency personnel
responded to a car rollover on Highway
203 between Union and Medical
Springs on Wednesday, July 28.
Liz Strou, of La Grande, was
driving alone toward Union when her
front left tire blew out around mile-
post 10, causing her to steer onto the
hill on the right of the road, before
the car slipped back down to the road
and rolled over.
“I kind of got it corrected, and
then something popped. I ended up
in the ditch on the hillside,” Strou
said. “Then I got it back up on the
road, and then it overcorrected and it
rolled two times.”
There were no other cars involved
in the accident, which occurred
alex Wittwer/The Observer
Emergency personnel respond to a vehicle rollover on Highway 203, north of Union, on
Wednesday, July 28, 2021. The driver lost control of the vehicle after one of the front tires
blew out when traveling toward Union.
around 11 a.m., although Strou stated
that there were several oncoming
cars. Strou had no major injuries.
According to Oregon State Police
Lt. Cmdr. Daniel Connor, who
responded to the scene, there has
been a rise in highway car accidents
in recent weeks.
“We’ve had a lot of accidents on
state route 237 recently, not so many
on 203,” Connor said. “The back-
roads have seen an increase here in
the La Grande area over recent weeks
for sure.”
Wallowa Memorial Hospital
receives donation for
orthopedic department
ENTERPRISE — Wallowa
Memorial Hospital has received a
major financial boost to help fund its
orthopedic surgery department.
The hospital received a $100,000
donation from the Wallowa Valley
Health Care Foundation to invest in
the new department, which is headed
by orthopedic surgeon Bradley
Smith, who joined the staff in June.
The donation was made during the
foundation’s June board meeting.
“For years, our goal was to build
our portfolio so we could make a
substantial gift when a need arose,”
Foundation Board President David
Smyth said in a press release.
“Bringing orthopedic surgery to the
county is something we are excited
to support.”
Smith became the first in-county
orthopedic surgeon in a decade when
he came to Wallowa County.
The money makes up about one-
third of the more than $300,000
needed to fund the new orthopedic
surgery department, according to
WMH Chief Nursing Officer Jenni
Word. The hospital will pay for the
remainder from its capital budget.
Equipment, including a range
of tools and instruments, an ortho-
pedic table and protective equip-
ment for support staff, is among what
is being supplemented for the new
department.
— EO Media Group
ENTERPRISE — Erika
Pinkerton is transitioning
to a bigger school district
after spending five years in
Enterprise.
She isn’t, however,
heading too far away.
Pinkerton, who has been
the superintendent of the
Enterprise School District
and the elementary school
principal, will take over as
the director of
student ser-
vices in the La
Grande School
District, she
announced
last week on
Pinkerton
the school dis-
trict’s Facebook page. Her
final day in the district will
be Aug. 30.
Part of the decision for
Pinkerton was the oppor-
tunity to gain experience
working in a larger school
district.
A primary role she will
have as the student services
director is being responsible
for providing leadership in
the development, imple-
mentation and coordination
of the district’s special edu-
cation, sections 504, and
mental health programs.
“Basically, I’ll be the
district resource for special
education teachers to con-
sult with,” she said. “Advo-
cating for students with
special needs, in addition to
building relationships with
families is a big part of this
job.”
She’ll replace Landon
Braden in the role. Braden,
interestingly, recently
became the high school
counselor at EHS.
“It’s a win-win for both
districts,” Pinkerton said.
She came to Enterprise
after serving as an elemen-
tary school principal in the
Winston-Dillard School
District, a role she held for
eight years.
The change, she said,
will allow her to affect a
group of students she has a
big heart for.
“This is an opportu-
nity for me to work closer
with children (with special
needs) and be able to give
back and serve in a positive
capacity,” she said.
She called the move,
though, bittersweet, as she
said she has been in Enter-
prise as the district made
several improvements.
Most recently, the district
received $4 million from
a school bond passed by
voters in November, a bond
that came with a $4 million
matching grant.
She also touted the dis-
trict’s position fiscally, work
done within the special edu-
cation program, moving
the district from a targeted
assisted Title I program to
a school-wide Title I pro-
gram, safety and security,
and technology, among
others.
“Bringing the district
into the 21st century was
huge. We moved from basi-
cally no technology to
1-on-1 technology,” she
said.
Also important, she
said, was “making sure
that equity was within our
school system, whether
realizing that we have
ramps that are not ADA
compliant, to making sure
all students were able to
access their curriculum.”
She said she struggled
with the decision to take the
new job because of the rela-
tionships she has built with
students, staff and parents
in Enterprise.
“When you gain that
trust, that’s when you can
be more progressive,” she
said. “Change is hard, but
the changes we made were
pretty impressive in five
years.”
The school board has
looked at hiring an interim
superintendent from a
pool of retired superinten-
dents before beginning the
search for a permanent hire,
Pinkerton said.