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About The Observer. (La Grande, Or.) 1968-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 16, 2021)
INSIDE ZIPLY FIBER HELPING SMALL TOWNS GET IN THE INFORMATION FAST LANE | BUSINESS & AG LIFE, B1 $1.50 THURSDAY EDITION September 16, 2021 SE PT EM BE R 15 –22 , 20 21 WW W.GO EA ST ER NO RE GO N.C OM Lea Pa rn S inte for ky Ce d the nte GE Art r 4 s PA Rea Fo d w rmer te S bo ri ok s fi rs enato t r GE PA 6 Lis Je ten D nny the on’t a Sp nd urs G PA INSIDE SAGE CENTER EXCITEMENT AWAITS, IN E 12 ‘Fa n des -favo ig rit SA ener natio e’ GE giz n Ce es n Tam Th my Ma e the Chris lgesin is res SAGE tmas i/EO um Cente Light Media ing Sh Gro ma r in Bo ow ny wa up, activ ardma s the File n. itie on s an Now ly ev d sp fully en ecial reo t held even pene in 20 t pla d, the 20 at nning fac ilit . y PA County declares health care staffi ng emergency By DICK MASON The Observer Lane in Cove and fi nish at the bottom of the hill just before Jasper Street. Reese Delaney, a freshman at Cove High School, will be com- peting at the race coming off a trip to Akron, Ohio, for the All-American Soap Box Derby World Championships in July. He took part in three dif- ferent races against top competition. LA GRANDE — The Union County Board of Commissioners, in an eff ort to better position itself to deal with a looming crisis, passed a resolution declaring an emergency due to the likelihood the county will soon be suff ering a staffi ng shortage of health care and public safety workers. “This is a preemptive action and a preventive one,” Union County Com- missioner Paul Anderes said following the Wednesday, Sept. 15, vote at the Joseph Annex Building, La Grande. Nick Vora, Union Coun- ty’s emergency manager, said the declaration will get the attention of the state and put Union County in a better position to apply for assistance from the state if a shortage occurs. Union County is facing a possible shortage because of the toll the COVID-19 pandemic is taking on health care and emergency service workers, some of whom may have had to step down from their jobs. “The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has exhausted many providers of core public services, including fi rst responders, health care providers, emergency services, public health and public safety among others,” according to the resolution. The resolution goes on to state that Union County faces the possibility of losing many more health care and emergency ser- vice workers because of the state’s vaccination man- date. The resolution con- tends the mandates could cause people to leave their jobs. Vora said some rea- sons are that some will not be able to get vacci- nated for reasons such as health issues and religious beliefs. In other cases even those who are vaccinated will not be able to continue working because they don’t want to share information about their medical history with others, Vora told the the board of commissioners before the vote. Union County See, Derby/Page A5 See, Emergency/Page A5 Alex Wittwer/The Observer Oregon National Guard Spc. Renay Monohan sanitizes and cleans a procedure room on Tuesday, Sept. 14, 2021, in the surgicenter at Grande Ronde Hospital, La Grande. Monohan is a La Grande local and works as a health care medic as her regular job with the U.S. Forest Service. National Guard members have been activated at a number of hospitals in Eastern Oregon following a surge of COVID-19 infections and hospitalizations. Small contingent of citizen-soldiers have been activated to support local hospitals By ALEX WITTWER EO Media Group Alex Wittwer/The Observer National Guard Spc. Jacob Jensen dices up tomatoes Tuesday, Sept. 14, 2021, in the kitchen at Grande Ronde Hospital, La Grande. Jensen, a La Grande local who works as an electrical engineer, is among National Guard members who have been activated to support hospitals during the recent surge in COVID-19 cases. LA GRANDE — National Guard members have arrived at many Eastern Oregon hospitals as the COVID-19 pandemic reaches its apex in recent cases caused by the virulent delta variant. Saint Alphonsus Medical Center, Baker City, Wallowa Memorial Hospital, Enterprise, and Grande Ronde Hospital, La Grande, each have citizen-soldiers on site to help, in addition to the guard members already at Blue Mountain Hos- pital, John Day. At least 20 guard members were deployed to assist in operations at hospitals in nonclinical roles. The hospitals moved to fi ll in gaps with the National Guard soldiers, placing them in positions throughout the hospitals as ancillary support staff . Staff at the overburdened health care centers more than welcomed the added support for roles such as front door screeners, which clinical staff often had fi lled. “That helps us be able to deploy our clin- ical people back to clinical work,” said Priscilla Lynn, president and chief nursing offi cer at Saint Alphonsus Medical Center in Baker City. Freeing up resources for the health care staff improves effi ciency during a time when worker shortages abound across nearly every See, Guard/Page A5 Race day brings competitors from across region By DAVIS CARBAUGH The Observer COVE — The sound of soap box cars fl ying down the road will soon be heard again in Cove. Oregon Soap Box Der- by’s Region 1 season starts this month, with the fi rst local race taking place in Cove on Saturday, Sept. 18. The event includes stock, super stock and master’s divisions and concludes on Sept. 19. “We’ve already gotten a number of kids from out of the area and out of the state that have preregis- tered,” said Sam Delaney, one of the event orga- nizers with Oregon Soap Box Derby. “I’m hoping to get a number of those kids that raced last May back.” INDEX Business .................B1 Classified ...............B2 Comics ....................B5 Crossword .............B3 Dear Abby .............B6 The organization hosted a spring race near the conclusion of last season that drew roughly 20 contestants across a wide age range. According to Sam Delaney, he has 24 cars prepared for drivers to use who do not own their own soap box car. The race fee is $35 and each racer gets multiple runs across several bracket competitions. Compet- itors will race from the top of the hill on Haefer WEATHER Horoscope .............B3 Letters ....................A4 Lottery ....................A2 Obituaries ..............A3 Opinion ..................A4 SATURDAY Record ....................A3 Spiritual Life..........A6 Sports .....................A7 Sudoku ...................B5 8 Union County commissioners pass resolution asking vaccination mandate be withdrawn Lending a hand Soap box derby returns to Cove as fall season kicks off GE Full forecast on the back of B section Tonight Friday 41 LOW 76/51 Clouds breaking Mostly cloudy SUCCESSFUL SEPTEMBER GROUSE HUNT CONTACT US 541-963-3161 Issue 109 3 sections, 34 pages La Grande, Oregon Email story ideas to news@lagrande observer.com. More contact info on Page 4A. Online at lagrandeobserver.com
