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.