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About The Observer. (La Grande, Or.) 1968-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 4, 2021)
INSIDE LOCAL CROSS-COUNTRY RUNNERS ARE READY FOR STATE CHAMPIONSHIPS | November 4, 2021 SPORTS, A7 THURSDAY EDITION NO VEMB ER 3–1 0, 20 21 WW INSIDE $1.50 M ret usic Mc urns Ken to The atr zie e EOU STUDENTS RETURN TO THE STAGE, IN PA GE Exp Fir lore art st Fri sho da GE ws y PA 4 W.GO EA ST ER NO RE GO N.C OM 8 Rea ‘Em d in Ore g ent G E onia 6 ns’ Ale x Jil Wittw lian er/ Th e sh Newm The ow an Ob is se , rig server t for ht, reh No v. 12 earse and s “A 13 ll Toge at Mc the r Ke nzie Now” wit Th eatre h he r fel . Liste Tun n e Nig ht smith G PA PA low E 16 EO U stu de nts . “T Th he fo eir od an IPAs is fr yo ne are esh, else dist loca lly mak inct 12 ing and sour 19 NW clea ced Was IPAs rly no and hing un .” - t be ton Ye copy lie Ave lp -cat va Re bl • La view s of y de Gra , Be each licio us nd nd . . Or othe e, OR eg r or on 97 Craft Live Beer Mu tio sic pub Seating eve webs nts (ch ite f eck ww w.s id Elgin man charged in dog death, assault on deputies ea be er. co m 85 0 Declaration from sheriff’s sergeant states Sanders said he sacrificed his dog By PHIL WRIGHT East Oregonian ELGIN — An Elgin man facing charges for killing his dog and assaulting Union County sheriff ’s deputies is back in jail. Deputies picked up Paul Kevin Sanders, 53, on Saturday, Oct. 30, on a warrant for missing his arraignment on Oct. 26. The arrest went down without inci- dent, according to the declara- tions sheriff ’s Cpl. Luke Stone- breaker and reserve deputy Brad Bell fi led in Union County Cir- cuit Court, which was an about- face from when the sheriff ’s offi ce arrested Sanders on Sept. 14 following a gruesome fi nding. Sheriff Cody Bowen said Sanders had killed his dog and set fi re to the dead animal. Sheriff ’s Sgt. Travis Schaad documented the arrest in a prob- able cause declaration he fi led with the circuit court on Sept. 15. According to the declara- tion, Schaad, two days earlier, responded to Sanders’ home on the 300 block of North 15th Street, Elgin. Sanders was suf- fering mental health issues, and the sheriff ’s offi ce received a report he killed his dog. Schaad reported a state trooper also responded to the home and saw someone dash into bushes, but a search did not turn up Sanders. But according to the document, Shadd and others did smell “what I believed to be burning hair and fl esh.” And a relative of Sanders stated he called her and said he had slit his dog’s throat and burned the animal as a sacrifi ce. Law enforcement also heard from an adjacent prop- erty owner, who reported that at about 4:30 p.m. that day he heard a dog in distress and real- ized the sounds came from Sanders’ property. ALASTINGIMPACT Olan Fulfer/Contributed Photo Olan Fulfer, center, demonstrates chess to a group of students at a combined school and orphanage outside of Arusha, Tanzania. Joseph educator Olan Fulfer recounts summer service trip to Tanzania He spent three weeks this summer in the eastern Africa city of Arusha, Tanzania, just west of towering Mount Kilimanjaro. The trip started as one where he would teach Tanza- nian students. But within just a few days there, he saw he would have an additional purpose above education. By RONALD BOND Wallowa County Chieftain JOSEPH — Olan Fulfer is driven by a desire to make sure those around him are taken care of. Fulfi lling that desire is part of what got Fulfer, who is a teacher and coach at Joseph Charter School, into educa- tion, saying he’ll do what is needed to make sure the basic needs of those under his tute- lage or watchful eye have their needs met. “That’s actually my main goal as a teacher here, why I got into teaching, was to pro- vide the basic foundations and make sure that every one of my students here, they’re going to have shoes, they’re going to have clothes, they’re not going to have to go through what I went through,” he said. “I want to be that adult I needed as a kid. That is why I am getting more passionate about doing that type of stuff .” An opportunity Olan Fulfer/Contributed Photo Olan Fulfer puts a hat from a new school uniform on a student in a school outside of Arusha, Tanzania. He not only wants to help anyone around him who is in need, but hopes to instill that willingness in others. That is part of what has driven class projects around the community he had led, including by having students engage in random acts of kindness. “The biggest thing I try to instill in the kids is being kind and helping others,” he said. “If we can make that a habit, then the world will be a better place.” Recently, Fulfer had an opportunity to take this desire halfway around the world. Fulfer typically spends his summers as a wildfi re fi re- fi ghter for the Oregon Depart- ment of Forestry, but in 2020, an injury prevented him from fi nishing the summer on the front lines. Not wanting to see the time lost or wasted, he decided to begin researching a possible Africa service trip. “My foot was defi nitely not ready, so I was like, ‘I got time, fi nally,’” he said. See, Impact/Page A5 See, Charges/Page A5 Union gym entry gets an upgrade Bond-funded project boosts lighting, access at high school gym By DICK MASON The Observer UNION — What a dif- ference a summer makes. The exterior of the main entry point of Union High School’s gym, once one of the darkest places on the school’s campus at night, is now almost radiant on nights there are activities in the building, following the completion of work done over the summer and early fall to completely refurbish the main entry to the gym. The work, funded with money from an $8 mil- lion bond package voters approved in 2019, involved the addition of a covered outdoor foyer leading into the gym building. The addi- tion features approximately 20 lights and showcases a painting of the school’s bobcat mascot. INDEX Busines & Ag ........B1 Classified ...............B2 Comics ....................B5 Crossword .............B2 Dear Abby .............B6 Prior to the renovation work the main entrance was dark even on evenings when activities were con- ducted in the gym. “If you held a candle out there it wouldn’t have made it brighter,” said Mendy Clark, the Union School District’s deputy clerk. Now, the entryway also illuminates the school’s See, Union/Page A5 WEATHER Horoscope .............B2 Local........................A2 Lottery ....................A2 Obituaries ..............A3 Opinion ..................A4 SATURDAY Records ..................A3 Spiritual Life..........A6 Sports .....................A7 State ..................... A10 Sudoku ...................B5 Dick Mason/The Observer The new indoor and outdoor foyer of Union High School’s gym is ac- cessible and ready for all on Thursday, Oct. 28, 2021. The exterior en- try, along with several other improvements to the high school, were made possible by an $8 million bond package approved in 2019. Full forecast on the back of B section Tonight Friday 40 LOW 53/40 Some clouds A shower TAMARACKS BRIGHTEN FORESTS IN AUTUMN CONTACT US 541-963-3161 Issue 130 3 sections, 36 pages La Grande, Oregon Email story ideas to news@lagrande observer.com. More contact info on Page 4A. Online at lagrandeobserver.com
