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off ’2
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PRES
BACK TO SCHOOL
Council
dismisses
recent B2H
objections
N co
ENTE
D BY
EO
ME
DIA
GR
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By NICK ROSENBERGER
East Oregonian
SALEM — The latest
objections to the Boardman
to Hemingway Transmis-
sion Line met their end last
week.
The Oregon Energy
Facility Siting Council at
its meeting Friday, Aug.
27, dismissed recent chal-
lenges to the 500 kilovolt
power line project — also
called B2H — that stretches
roughly 300 miles from
the Hemingway Substa-
tion southwest of Boise to
Boardman. Idaho Power
is the company behind the
project and claims the line
will help link the Pacifi c
Northwest with the Moun-
tain West regions and help
share power.
Oregon and Washington
use the most electricity in
the winter months while
Idaho and Montana use the
most in summer, according
to Idaho Power, and B2H
would allow the sharing of
power during each respec-
tive off -peak periods.
The B2H project fi rst
submitted its notice of
intent in 2010 and fi led
its complete application
in 2018. But the project
cuts through large swaths
of public and private land
and has hit snags with
issues surrounding own-
ership, accusations over
environmental regulations
and impacts on agricul-
ture. Landowners and envi-
ronmentalists alike have
objected to the project,
with the largest opposition
coming from the Stop B2H
Coalition, an organization
of “860 individuals and a
growing number of member
organizations,” according
to its website.
The council at the
meeting fi rst took on
the accusation from La
Grande’s Irene Gilbert,
who claimed the case’s
hearing offi cer, adminis-
trative law Judge Alison
Greene Webster, demon-
strated incompetence and
bias in her judgments. At
the Aug. 27 meeting, the
See, Council/Page A5
Quick
START
Alex Wittwer/The Observer
Rylee Weimar, right, and Landon Perry lead a group of freshmen students through orientation Monday, Aug. 30, 2021, at La Grande High School.
Tiger Ambassadors help
incoming freshmen adapt to
being a high school student
By DICK MASON
The Observer
LA GRANDE — Soph-
omore Norah Markham
will never forget how she
felt less than a year ago
during her freshman orien-
tation at La Grande High
School.
“Our fi rst day of school
was pretty crazy. I was a
little confused,” the LHS
honor student said.
The seeds were planted
that day for Markham to
become a Tiger Ambas-
sador. The ambassadors are
LHS sophomores, juniors
and seniors who help intro-
duce ninth graders to the
world of being high school
students during freshman
orientation. Markham
said she wanted to help
freshmen have a smooth
start at LHS.
“I wanted to use my
experience to help them,”
the sophomore said.
Markham was hard
at it Monday, Aug. 30,
when Tiger Ambassadors
gave freshmen tours of
the school, talked to them
about scheduling at LHS,
keys to succeeding and
having fun in high school.
Her fellow ambassa-
dors included sophomore
KaraAnn Akers, who had
similar fi rst-day expe-
riences when she was a
freshman at LHS.
“I remember I was super
stressed. I wanted to help
students feel less stressed
than I did,” she said.
Akers, Markham and
other Tiger Ambassa-
dors advised this year’s
freshmen that getting
involved in activities and
programs would make the
adjustment to high school
smoother.
“We encouraged them
to do things like become
a Tiger Ambassador,”
Markham said.
Tiger Ambassador Jesus
Escamilla, also a sopho-
more, said he welcomed
the chance to help guide
freshmen through their
fi rst day.
“I could relate with
them,” he said.
Escamilla looks upon
the experience as an
opportunity not only to
assist others but to develop
as a person.
“I needed to take on
more responsibility in my
life and this was a good
way to get started,” he
said. “It was nice to get out
of my comfort zone.”
A number of Tiger
Ambassadors, including
junior Giselle Sanchez,
talked to the incoming
freshmen at the front of
classrooms where teachers
normally stand. Sanchez
said this was a challenge
at fi rst because her audi-
ence of ninth graders was
not talkative initially. She
found the students became
more comfortable as the
session she led progressed.
“Once they got comfort-
able it was all smooth,” she
said.
The junior felt like
she was in the shoes of a
teacher during the session
she led: “I told one of my
teachers afterward, ‘Now
I know how you feel,’” she
said.
Sanchez is one of 40
Tiger Ambassadors, 35
of whom helped conduct
freshman orientation on
Aug. 30.
“I’m so proud of the
job they did. We could
Alex Wittwer/The Observer
La Grande High School student ambassador Fabian Lealponce
assists an incoming freshman during orientation at LHS on
Monday, Aug. 30, 2021.
not run freshman ori-
entation without them,”
said Tiger Ambassador
Director Stephanie Baxter,
who teaches freshman
and sophomore English at
LHS.
Members of the Tiger
Ambassadors work
throughout the school year.
They help put on school
events and welcome new
students coming after the
start of the school year.
The ambassadors also keep
tabs of the freshmen they
helped in small groups on
orientation day.
“They check on them to
see how they are doing,”
Baxter said.
Baxter said it is easy to
see that Tiger Ambassa-
dors like reaching out to
others.
“They are good people
who want to help,” she
said. “They enjoy it. They
are not doing it just to put
it on their resume.”
See, School/Page A5
Bicycle club promotes biking, safety
Wallowa
Mountains Bicycle
Club formed about
a year ago
By RONALD BOND
Wallowa County Chieftain
ENTERPRISE — The
president of a Wallowa
County bike club is getting
the word out about the new
nonprofi t, and also pro-
moting safety for a sport
increasing in popularity in
the region.
The Wallowa Moun-
tains Bicycle Club, which
was formed about a year
ago, gained its nonprofi t
status back in November
2020 and is awaiting its
501(c)(3) tax-exempt status,
club President Angela
Mart said.
“We want to let people
know that we are a legit-
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imate bicycle club here
in Wallowa County,”
Mart said. “It’s an all-in-
clusive bicycle club, so
it doesn’t matter if you
ride mountain bikes, road
bikes, BMX bikes, what-
ever type of bike. We
include everybody.”
The club was the brain-
child of Mart and Zeb
Burke, who started talking
about forming the club two
years ago.
“I started seeing that
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people who move here ride
bikes. We want to increase
the cycling opportuni-
ties in Wallowa County
for individuals and fami-
lies who live in Wallowa
County,” Mart said. “We
have goals, also, of doing
bike safety. We want to do
education for bike safety
in the county. We want to
get more kids riding bikes.
We want to get everybody
riding bikes. We want to
work with the Forest Ser-
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vice in improving the trails
that we have now in the
mountains … and pos-
sibly building more moun-
tain bike trails as well as
putting in some gravel
biking routes.”
Mart said the board will
be working with the U.S.
Forest Service on plan-
ning for putting in trails.
Currently, the only place
with trails, Mart said, is 18
See, Biking/Page A5
CONTACT US
541-963-3161
Issue 103
3 sections, 34 pages
La Grande, Oregon
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Online at lagrandeobserver.com