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About The Observer. (La Grande, Or.) 1968-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 23, 2021)
LOCAL A2 — THE OBSERVER TODAY On Oct. 23, 1973, President Richard Nixon agreed to turn over White House tape record- ings subpoenaed by the Water- gate special prosecutor to Judge John J. Sirica. In 1707, the first Parliament of Great Britain, created by the Acts of Union between England and Scotland, held its first meeting. In 1864, forces led by Union Maj. Gen. Samuel R. Curtis repelled Confederate Maj. Gen. Sterling Price’s army in the Civil War Battle of Westport in Missouri. In 1915, tens of thousands of women paraded up Fifth Avenue in New York City, demanding the right to vote. In 1944, the World War II Battle of Leyte Gulf began, resulting in a major Allied vic- tory against Japanese forces. In 1956, a student-sparked revolt against Hungary’s Com- munist rule began; as the rev- olution spread, Soviet forces started entering the country, and the uprising was put down within weeks. In 1983, 241 U.S. service members, most of them Marines, were killed in a sui- cide truck-bombing at Beirut International Airport in Leb- anon; a near-simultaneous attack on French forces killed 58 paratroopers. In 1987, the U.S. Senate rejected, 58-42, the Supreme Court nomination of Robert H. Bork. In 1989, 23 people were killed in an explosion at Phillips Petroleum Co.’s chemical com- plex in Pasadena, Texas. In 2001, the nation’s anthrax scare hit the White House with the discovery of a small concen- tration of spores at an offsite mail processing center. In 2009, President Barack Obama declared the swine flu outbreak a national emer- gency, giving his health chief the power to let hospitals move emergency rooms offsite to speed treatment and protect non-infected patients. In 2012, during a debate with Democratic rival Joe Donnelly, Indiana Republican Senate can- didate Richard Mourdock said that when a woman becomes pregnant during rape, “it is something that God intended to happen.” (Other Repub- lican candidates moved to dis- tance themselves from Mour- dock, who went on to lose the November election to Donnelly.) In 2014, officials announced that an emergency room doctor who’d recently returned to New York City after treating Ebola patients in West Africa tested positive for the virus, becoming the first case in the city and the fourth in the nation. (Dr. Craig Spencer later recovered.) Today’s Birthdays: Movie director Philip Kaufman is 85. Soccer great Pele is 81. R&B singer Barbara Ann Haw- kins (The Dixie Cups) is 78. Former ABC News investiga- tive reporter Brian Ross is 73. Actor Michael Rupert is 70. Movie director Ang Lee is 67. Jazz singer Dianne Reeves is 65. Country singer Dwight Yoakam is 65. Community activist Martin Luther King III is 64. Movie director Sam Raimi is 62. Paro- dist “Weird Al” Yankovic is 62. Rock musician Robert Trujillo (Metallica) is 57. Christian/jazz singer David Thomas (Take 6) is 55. Rock musician Brian Nevin (Big Head Todd and the Mon- sters) is 55. Actor Jon Huertas is 52. Movie director Chris Weitz is 52. CNN medical reporter Dr. Sanjay Gupta is 52. Blue- grass musician Eric Gibson (The Gibson Brothers) is 51. Country singer Jimmy Wayne is 49. Actor Vivian Bang is 48. Rock musi- cian Eric Bass (Shinedown) is 47. TV personality and host Cat Deeley is 45. Actor Ryan Reyn- olds is 45. Actor Saycon Seng- bloh is 44. Rock singer Matthew Shultz (Cage the Elephant) is 38. TV personality Meghan McCain is 37. R&B singer Miguel is 36. Actor Masiela Lusha is 36. Actor Emilia Clarke is 35. Actor Briana Evigan is 35. LOTTERY Wednesday, Oct. 20, 2021 Megabucks 8-10-21-22-31-36 Jackpot: $4.7 million Lucky Lines 4-7-11-14-18-22-26-31 Estimated jackpot: $16,000 Powerball 7-29-36-41-43 Powerball: 5 Power Play: 2 Jackpot: $86 million Win for Life 36-40-42-67 Pick 4 1 p.m.: 1-4-4-3 4 p.m.: 0-8-2-8 7 p.m.: 1-5-8-9 10 p.m.: 2-5-3-6 Thursday, Oct. 21, 2021 Lucky Lines 3-8-9-14-20-22-28-32 Jackpot: $17,000 Pick 4 1 p.m.: 6-0-6-9 4 p.m.: 5-7-1-4 7 p.m.: 9-7-5-5 10 p.m.: 9-6-4-5 SaTuRday, OcTOBER 23, 2021 Raising awareness of domestic violence By DAVIS CARBAUGH The Observer LA GRANDE — La Grande residents painted the town purple. Shelter From the Storm, a local nonprofit who pro- vides services to those impacted by domestic vio- lence, hosted a night walk and candlelight vigil in La Grande on Thursday, Oct. 21. Eastern Oregon University students and La Grande residents alike wore purple and took part in the event during a month dedicated to raising aware- ness of domestic violence. “We just hope people see us walking and get curious about the cause and either join in or follow up,” Shelter From the Storm Executive Director Jamie Landa said. “We hope it prompts awareness.” The roughly 40 individ- uals in attendance gath- ered outside Hoke Union Building at EOU to dis- tribute lights, candles, ribbons, wristbands and lanyards to those taking part. Many of the par- ticipants donned purple for the event, the color for domestic violence awareness. The advocates walked roughly a mile from the EOU campus to Max Square in downtown La Grande for a candle- light vigil. Some in atten- dance volunteered to read poems to honor victims of Walking tour of downtown La Grande, survey gather public input By DAVIS CARBAUGH The Observer Photos by alex Wittwer/The Observer Above, a small crowd gathers for the Light the Night Against Domestic Violence vigil at Max Square in La Grande on Thursday, Oct. 21, 2021. Below, Nichole Leal, left, and her daughter Lauren Leal hold candles during the gathering. domestic violence. Candles were lit as the group in a show of solidarity and sup- port for those impacted by sexual assault and interper- sonal violence. The Light the Night Against Domestic Violence was canceled last year due to COVID-19. With Thurs- day’s gathering and future efforts, organizers aim to continue to raise awareness of domestic violence and further the nonprofit’s mis- sion of serving victims in Union County. “This is something everyone on the staff put a lot of effort into, to make sure it went well,” Landa said. Shelter From the Storm had a reason for beginning the walk at Eastern Oregon University. “We always want the university to know we are here for EOU as well as La Grande,” Landa said. “Domestic violence affects everyone, not just one seg- ment of the population.” Required quarantine in LG schools cut to 10 days By DICK MASON The Observer LA GRANDE — The word “quarantine” is now a little less omi- nous-sounding to La Grande School District stu- dents and staff. The number of days La Grande School Dis- trict students and staff must be quarantined after close contact with someone who was COVID-19 positive or was suspected of being so has been reduced from 14 days to 10 days. The La Grande School District announced the four-day reduction on Thursday, Oct. 21, in a press release. The shorter quarantine period rule went into effect immedi- ately. The district made its shorter quarantine deci- sion in partnership with the Center for Human Development. Students and staff who are identified as a close contact are now able to return to school after 10 days if they have no COVID-19 symptoms during their quarantine period and they submit to a visual screening and tem- perature check at the main office on their return date before entering classrooms. What is the reason for this change? The local public health authority, which in Union Coun- ty’s case is CHD, deter- mines the length of quaran- tine and exclusion periods based on guidance from the Oregon Health Authority and on local context. Local factors for determining COVID-19 risk continue to be hospitalization rates, medical provider capacity, case counts, vaccination rates and overall commu- nity health. During the COVID-19 delta surge, case counts and hospitalizations peaked in Union County. Current data is indicating that local context is improving and so quarantine lengths are being relaxed for schools. If there is another spike in COVID-19 cases, these rules would likely change again, according to the press release. LGSD Superintendent George Mendoza said the change will help students. “We know students need consistent, quality classroom instruction for optimal learning, and teachers and staff need time with students,” he said. “We know quarantines are going to happen, but reducing that by four days is helpful.” Students who are vac- cinated and not exhib- iting symptoms or are con- firmed COVID-19 cases within the last 90 days are not required to quar- antine if they are identi- fied as a close contact. The La Grande School District said all students and fami- lies with individuals expe- riencing any COVID-19, flu or cold-like symptoms should stay home and not come to school. County trims maximum MERA camping limit By DICK MASON The Observer LA GRANDE — The maximum length of camping stays allowed at the Mount Emily Rec- reation Area near La Grande has been trimmed significantly. The Union County Board of Commissioners at its Wednesday, Oct. 20, meeting voted 3-0 to adopt a MERA camping ordi- Historic district aims to update standards nance that cuts the amount of time people can camp at MERA from 14 to five nights in a 30-night period. The camping ordinance took effect immediately. The vote followed a first reading of the ordinance on Oct. 6. Union County Parks Manager Sean Chambers told the board of commissioners the move was needed because people staying at a campsite for 14 days or longer often accu- mulate large amounts of trash. Chambers said the rubbish spreads throughout the campsite and is hard to manage. Chambers noted that the majority of people camping at MERA stay for far less than two weeks. Union County Com- missioner Paul Anderes said the new ordinance is “tailored for recreation- ists.’’ He said they are who MERA was created for, not individuals who essentially are campsite dwellers. The board of commis- sioners, in another action item, also voted to accept a $32,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Home- land Security to buy a backup energy generator for the La Grande/Union County Airport. The gen- erator will be used to power the airport’s fuel farm and offices when there is an outage. NEWS BRIEFS United Way of the Blue Mountains holds regional photo contest WALLA WALLA — United Way of the Blue Mountains is hosting a photo contest to commemorate the organization’s work across the region as it moves into a new office in Walla Walla, Washington. The photo competition is open now and will take entries until Friday, Nov. 19. The winners will have their photos displayed in the new Walla Walla office. The two categories of the con- test are focus areas and funding regions. The focus areas category are suc- cessful students cradle to career; disaster recovery; and healthy people and thriving communities. The funding regions section encompasses Columbia and Walla Walla coun- ties in Washington, as well as Baker, Morrow, Umatilla and Union coun- ties. United Way of the Blue Moun- tains supports local nonprofit orga- nizations and human services across the region. A selection committee at United Way of the Blue Mountains will select the winning photos. For full details, contact the United Way of the Blue Mountains office at 509-529-1183 or info@uwbluemt.org. To enter the contest, go to https:// woobox.com/xkusqw. Union County adds one death, 11 new COVID-19 cases on latest report SALEM — The Oregon Health Authority reported 1,407 new con- firmed and presumptive COVID-19 cases and 40 deaths in its latest report on Thursday, Oct. 21. Union County recorded one new COVID-19 death on the report, bringing the county’s total 50 since the start of the pan- demic. An 84-year-old woman from Union County died on Sept. 25. OHA reported that COVID-19 or SARS-CoV-2 was listed as a cause of death or significant contribution to death on the death certificate. Under- lying conditions are being confirmed. The update brings the state’s death toll to 4,275, while the total case count since the start of the pandemic is up to 356,061. There were 11 new cases reported in Union County on the report, while three cases were tallied in Wallowa County. The report brings the case total to 3,184 in Union County and 686 in Wallowa County since the start of the pandemic. The most recent breakthrough case report from OHA showed that 76.5% of the 6,446 COVID-19 cases from Oct. 10 through Oct. 16 were from unvaccinated individuals. There were a total of 1,977 breakthrough cases in the report. Across Oregon, there are cur- rently 567 patients hospitalized with COVID-19. There are 48 avail- able adult ICU beds out of 706 and 265 open adult non-ICU beds out of 4,115. The state’s seven-day running average of vaccine doses per day stands at 9,309. In the most recent report, OHA announced that it will be releasing a revamped disease severity dash- board, which will illustrate case demographics, disease severity and severity trends. — The Observer LA GRANDE — La Grande residents recently got the chance to have their voices heard in regard to the town’s historic district. Consultants from Peter Meijer Architect in Port- land, along with members of the La Grande Land- marks Commission, led a public walking tour through the historic district in downtown La Grande on Tuesday, Oct. 19. The event engaged public input on the upcoming standard amend- ments updates and allowed for feedback on the current state of the historic district. “We had a surprisingly great turnout,” said Peter Meijer Architect consul- tant Kristen Minor. “We started hearing some really useful comments and I fully expect to hear more in the coming months.” Roughly 25 individuals took part in the tour and engaged in a back-and-forth conversation with the con- sultants leading the way. The walk started at Max Square on Adams Avenue and weaved through other areas of the district on Jef- ferson Avenue and side streets. Minor and Tricia Forsi, the preservation consul- tants present at the tour, pointed out the various aspects of historic buildings in La Grande and the dif- ferent ways they contribute value to the district. Along the way, the consultants would stop to ask questions and collect feedback as those present expresse their thoughts and concerns. “The commercial dis- trict is so central to La Grande, so people feel very strongly,” Minor said. The standards for the his- toric district, which was cre- ated in 1999, have resulted in inconsistencies from one project to the next over the years. The aim of the newest standards update is to make the process as consistent and responsive as possible for future applicants and current business and prop- erty owners in the district. “This project is to set those parameters in the right way for this commu- nity,” Minor said during the tour. Tuesday’s walking tour initiated a three-month period of public input and information gathering prior to the amendment updates. Those standards will be drafted in the early months of 2022 and proposed before the public and city council in early spring. “Our goal is that we want community buy-in on whatever the outcome is,” La Grande Community Development Director Mike Boquist said. The Peter Meijer con- sultants and the Land- marks Commission con- tinue to seek public input. A survey regarding the stan- dards is available on the Landmarks Commission’s website through the end of October, with gift cards being awarded randomly to two people who take the survey. Access the survey at www.cityoflagrande.org/ landmarks-commission. The consultants will be following up with phone calls and reaching out to contractors, local busi- nesses, La Grande Main Street Downtown and other organizations. The survey information, as well as any other feedback received from the waking tour, will be a vital element in drafting the new standards.
