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About The Observer. (La Grande, Or.) 1968-current | View Entire Issue (Aug. 28, 2021)
LOCAL A2 — THE OBSERVER TODAY Today is Friday, Aug. 27, the 239th day of 2021. There are 126 days left in the year. TODAY’S HIGHLIGHT IN HISTORY On August 27, 1776, the Battle of Long Island began during the Revolutionary War as British troops attacked Amer- ican forces who ended up being forced to retreat two days later. On this date In 1859, Edwin L. Drake drilled the first successful oil well in the United States, at Titusville, Pa. In 1883, the island volcano Krakatoa erupted; the resulting tidal waves in Indonesia’s Sunda Strait claimed some 36,000 lives in Java and Sumatra. In 1949, a violent white mob prevented an outdoor concert headlined by Paul Robeson from taking place near Peek- skill, New York. (The concert was held eight days later.) In 1964, President Lyndon Baines Johnson accepted his party’s nomination for a term in his own right, telling the Dem- ocratic National Convention in Atlantic City, New Jersey, “Let us join together in giving every American the fullest life which he can hope for.” In 1967, Brian Epstein, man- ager of the Beatles, was found dead in his London flat from an accidental overdose of sleeping pills; he was 32. In 1979, British war hero Lord Louis Mountbatten and three other people were killed off the coast of Ireland in a boat explo- sion claimed by the Irish Repub- lican Army. In 1998, two suspects in the bombing of the U.S. Embassy in Kenya were brought to the United States to face charges. (Mohamed Rashed Daoud al-’Owhali and Mohammed Saddiq Odeh were convicted in 2001 of conspiring to carry out the bombing; both were sen- tenced to life in prison.) In 2001, Israeli helicopters fired a pair of rockets through office windows and killed senior PLO leader Mustafa Zibri. In 2005, people jammed free- ways and gas stations as they rushed to get out of the way of Hurricane Katrina, which was headed toward New Orleans. In 2006, a Comair CRJ-100 crashed after trying to take off from the wrong runway in Lex- ington, Ky., killing 49 people. In 2008, Barack Obama was nominated for president by the Democratic National Conven- tion in Denver. In 2009, mourners filed past the closed casket of the late Sen. Edward Kennedy at the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum in Boston. Jaycee Lee Dugard, kidnapped when she was 11, was reunited with her mother 18 years after her abduction in California. Ten years ago: Hurricane Irene, after striking Puerto Rico and the Bahamas, pushed up the U.S east coast, prompting evacuations in New York City and leaving major flood damage in Vermont. Five years ago: Republican Donald Trump warned of a “war on the American farmer,” telling a crowd that rival Hillary Clinton wanted “to shut down family farms” and implement anti-agri- culture policies; Trump’s speech came hours after Clinton received her first national secu- rity briefing as the Democratic presidential nominee. One year ago: Hurricane Laura roared ashore near Cam- eron, Louisiana, bringing 150 mile-an-hour winds, torren- tial rains and a storm surge as high as 15 feet; the storm, one of the strongest to strike the U.S., would leave more than 20 people dead in Louisiana and Texas. CORRECTION In the Page B1 story “High hopes,” published on Thursday, Aug. 25, the photo cutline mis- spelled the name of David Williamson. LOTTERY Wednesday, Aug. 25, 2021 Megabucks 3-9-33-34-35-47 Jackpot: $2.3 million Lucky Lines 4-8-12-13-18-22-28-30 Estimated jackpot: $69,000 Powerball 27-39-54-56-59 Powerball: 24 Power Play: 3 Jackpot: $322 million Win for Life 5-17-19-34 Pick 4 1 p.m.: 6-5-5-6 4 p.m.: 0-8-6-9 7 p.m.: 3-6-6-6 10 p.m.: 2-0-4-2 Thursday, Aug. 26, 2021 Lucky Lines 1-6-12-15-20-22-25-30 Jackpot: $70,000 Pick 4 1 p.m.: 7-2-5-7 4 p.m.: 0-1-4-9 7 p.m.: 0-1-6-2 10 p.m.: 3-5-9-5 SaTuRday, auguST 28, 2021 Nobody hurt in Thursday house fire La Grande schools to start year with fewer staff Blaze destroys front porch of Union home By DICK MASON The Observer UNION — There were no reported injuries Thursday, Aug. 26, during a structure fire in Union that destroyed the front porch of a two-story home. “We were very lucky. It could have been much worse,” said assistant Union Fire Chief Frank Maestas. “Any time someone does not get hurt it is a good thing. You can repair damage, but you cannot repair lives.” The homeowner’s girl- friend was in the home, on the 300 block of South College Street, when the fire was reported just after 7 a.m., but was able to escape. The interior of the house sustained minor damage from the blaze and there also was smoke damage, according to La Grande Rural Chief Craig Kretschmer. The cause of the blaze is under investigation. The owner of the home, Bob Copeland, wasn’t there when the fire was reported. He was in La Grande at work when he learned of the fire and COVID-19 leaves district shorthanded when school starts next week By DICK MASON The Observer dick Mason/The Observer La Grande and Union fire departments respond to a residential fire at 333 S. College St. in Union on Thursday, Aug. 26, 2021. It was the second house fire in two days in Union. rushed back to Union. He said he was relieved to see that nobody was injured and that his home was intact. “I thought it would be a lot worse,” Copeland said. A dog and four cats were in the house when the fire started. The dog and two of the cats escaped. The two other cats were found after the fire under a bed in the home alive and well, Copeland said. The home’s owner said on Friday, Aug. 27, that many people have come forward to provide support since the fire. “We have gotten a lot of help from the community,” Copeland said. In addition to the Union and La Grande rural fire departments, the La Grande Fire Depart- ment also responded to the blaze. People who want to make donations to assist the victims of the Wednesday fire may call 541-605-9072. This was the second house fire in Union in two days. A fire on Tuesday, Aug. 24, damaged an out- door patio area and sig- nificantly damaged a garage wall of a home on the 900 block of North First Street. The home- owner, who opened the door to see flames spewing out from an out- door barbecue cabana, also reported a propane tank exploding, sending the tank across the yard and setting fires in a field adjacent to the house. No one was injured in Tuesday’s fire. The cause of the blaze is under investigation. Pendleton man crashes motorcycle into traffic backed up from semi wreck that closed I-84 LA GRANDE — The La Grande School District will likely start the 2021- 2022 school year with as many as six faculty and staff members absent due to the COVID-19 pandemic. George Mendoza, super- intendent of the La Grande School District, told the school board at a work session Wednesday, Aug. 25, that the affected faculty and Mendoza staff mem- bers will not be able to work when school opens next week because they are either recovering from COVID-19 or have to be quarantined because of a possible recent exposure to the virus. School begins Monday, Aug. 30, for kindergarten through seventh grade and for freshmen, and on Aug. 31 for students in eighth grade and for sophomores, juniors and seniors. Safety mandates By PHIL WRIGHT East Oregonian PENDLETON — A Pendleton man suf- fered serious injuries Wednesday, Aug. 25, on the eastbound side of Inter- state 84 when he crashed his motorcycle into a pas- senger car that was stopped because of a semitrailer crash miles ahead. Oregon State Police reported a helicopter ambulance flew Stephen Chandler Peterson, 71, from the scene. OSP Lt. Karl Farber of the Pendleton Area Command said traffic on I-84 began backing up after a semitrailer full of 50-gallon barrels of apple juice concentrate crashed at 7:23 a.m. on the bridge at Meacham near milepost 238. The driver of the semi, a 28-year-old man from Tacoma, Washington, fell asleep, and the big rig hit an impact barrier in the road construction zone. Oregon department of Transportation/Contributed Photo A semi lays on its side after a crash on Interstate 84 Wednesday, Aug. 25, 2021. Oregon State Police said traffic on I-84 began back- ing up after a semitrailer full of 50-gallon barrels of apple juice con- centrate crashed on the bridge at Meacham near milepost 238. The driver overcorrected, Farber said, and the tractor trailer spun, flipped and got hung up on the bridge, stopping short of going off. But the real problem was the mass of apple juice concentrate. Farber said the sub- stance covered the surface of the bridge, making it slippery and sticky and a priority to clean up before traffic could again pass through safely. He said the concentrate was the main reason the closure lasted as long as it did. ODOT reported the freeway was open again at 5:08 p.m. “We knew we were going to be shut down a long time, so we closed at the 216 for access to ser- vices at Arrowhead (Truck Plaza),” he said. “We had a lot of traffic backing up on the freeway.” The traffic backed up to about milepost 213, about 3 miles east of Pend- leton, where at 11:43 a.m., Peterson and the Harley Davidson motorcycle he was operating crashed into a Toyota Avalon. The impact threw Peterson from the motor- cycle, according to a report from state police, which then collided with a semi- trailer on the shoulder of the freeway. Farber said Peterson was not able to recount what happened at the scene. Medics from the Umatilla Tribal Fire Department responded and stabilized him. State police shut down west- bound traffic near the crash so a Life Flight helicopter could land and fly him to a hospital. Farber said OSP did not know the destination, nor Peterson’s condition, but was following up on that. NEWS BRIEFS Pursuit in La Grande ends in arrest LA GRANDE — The La Grande Police Department arrested Brian David Smith, 34, after a pursuit near Riverside Park on Thursday, Aug. 26. Smith was arrested for driving with a suspended license, reck- less driving and attempting to elude a police officer. The pursuit began shortly after 9:30 a.m. on Albany Street in La Grande. When offi- cers attempted a traffic stop, Smith sped away on Cove Avenue, driving through several stop signs as he headed toward Island City. The pursuit ended when Smith parked his car at his residence on Robin Road near Fruitdale Lane. Smith was taken into custody after complying with officers on scene. The Union County Sheriff’s Office and the Oregon State Police aided the La Grande Police Department during the pursuit and arrest. La Grande resident reports malicious phone scam LA GRANDE — A phone scam involving stolen personal information from a fake Verizon official occurred in La Grande this past week. Charles McDaniel, of La Grande, said he got an email that appeared to be from Verizon, but the address was spelled one letter differently. The scam resulted in McDaniel’s account being hacked and used to buy a phone plan that was shipped to his residence. The scam account mailed a return label and urged him to ship the phone to a Florida location. After contacting the Oregon Department of Justice, the Florida number and email account were con- firmed as a scam. McDaniel said he knew of others in the area who were contacted by the same email address and phone number. According to a spokesperson at the Verizon store in La Grande, this is not a scam that is a common occurrence. The employee encour- aged anyone affected by the scam to reach out to the company’s fraud department in order to make a claim. Consumer complaints can be filed to the Oregon Department of Jus- tice at https://justice.oregon.gov/ consumercomplaints. Union County tallies 28 new COVID-19 cases in two days LA GRANDE — The Oregon Health Authority announced 13 new COVID-19 cases in Union County in its report from Thursday, Aug. 26, and 15 new cases Friday, Aug. 27. Wallowa County recorded eight new cases both days. Statewide, 2,057 new confirmed and presumptive cases were reported alongside nine new deaths from COVID-19. A one-day record of 3,207 cases were reported Friday, along with 20 new deaths. Union County’s case count stands at 529 for this month and 2,251 throughout the entire pandemic. Wal- lowa County’s total through August has reached 134, which contributes to a total of 373 cases since the pan- demic began. The amount of patients hospi- talized for COVID-19 in Oregon increased, with 1,098 patients cur- rently in hospitals due to the virus. There are 308 COVID-19 patients in ICU beds. ICU bed availability cur- rently stands at 40 beds available out of 663 in the state. For non-ICU beds, there are 305 available out of 4,279 total. City council eyes emergency status in COVID-19 spike LA GRANDE — The La Grande City Council meets 6 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 1, to consider declaring a state of emergency due to the spike in COVID-19 cases. The virtual meeting will be live streamed by EO Alive TV on its website and the city’s Facebook page. City council members will take the recent statewide mandates into consideration prior to voting on a state of emergency. If approved, the state of emergency would begin on Sept. 1, and last 60 days or until ter- minated by the city council. Under a state of emergency, the city can adopt procedures, measures and necessary actions in order to protect the health and safety of residents, property and infrastructure in La Grande. — The Observer Mendoza also told the school board the recent COVID-19 safety mandates required by the state have been made for one primary reason — the state wants to do everything possible to help school districts avoid again having to offer only online instruction. School districts were limited to distance learning in spring 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and in 2020-2021 many schools offered instruction only via online Comprehensive Dis- tance Learning classes for most of the year. CDL was not popular among many students and educators across the state. Mendoza also dis- cussed Gov. Kate Brown’s COVID-19 vaccine man- date that requires all teachers and staff to be vac- cinated by Oct. 18. Mendoza noted that two groups of people can be exempted, those who have sincere religious beliefs that prevent them from receiving a COVID-19 vac- cination and individuals who have a physical impair- ment that limits their ability to receive a COVID-19 vac- cination based on a speci- fied medical diagnosis. Estimated enrollment The La Grande School District’s estimated enroll- ment, as of Aug. 25, is 2,232 students, 15 fewer than it had in mid-Sep- tember 2020. The district’s estimated total of elementary school students is 980, with 411 at Central Elementary, 267 at Greenwood Elemen- tary, 258 at Island City Ele- mentary, 10 students in the Rising Stars program, and 34 in the La Grande Virtual Learning Academy, which is the district’s online edu- cation program. Estimated middle school level enrollment is 543. La Grande Middle School, has an estimated 157 sixth graders, 180 sev- enth graders and 169 eighth graders on campus, plus five in its Explore program and 32 LVLA students. The district estimates 709 high school students — 657 at La Grande High School and 52 at the La Grande Virtual Learning Academy. Estimates show 187 freshmen, 153 sopho- mores, 178 juniors and 139 seniors on campus.
