INSIDE
UNION/COVE BOYS TEAM EARNS STATE CHAMPIONSHIP; LA GRANDE’S TUBBS WINS INDIVIDUAL TITLE | SPORTS, A7
$1.50
TUESDAY EDITION
November 9, 2021
Helping the war eff ort
VETERANS DAY
Due to the postal holiday, we
will not publish a paper on
Thursday, Nov. 11, but have
included comics for Nov. 11 in
today’s paper. We will publish
our next edition on Saturday,
Nov. 13.
Pilots for US Army were trained at Eastern Oregon in 1943 and 1944
DICK
MASON
Public
invited
to MERA
meeting
ANSWER MAN
L
Union County
hosting forest
management field
review Nov. 10
DICK MASON and
DAVIS CARBAUGH
The Observer
LA GRANDE — The
Union County Board of
Commissioners will take
public input on what could
be a major forest manage-
ment project at the Mount
Emily Recreation Area.
The meeting will serve as
a fi eld review for a potential
commercial timber harvest
plan that would take place
in the winter and spring
of 2022. The plan would
involve closing portions of
MERA for timber harvest in
the Red Apple area for the
primary purpose of reducing
fi re risk and improving
forest health.
Local residents can par-
ticipate and ask questions at
the Owsley Canyon Trail-
head at noon Wednesday,
Nov. 10.
“We want input,” Com-
missioner Paul Anderes said.
‘It needs to be
managed’
It has been about 15 years
since the Red Apple area
was logged.
“It needs to be man-
aged,” said Forrest Warren, a
member of the MERA advi-
sory committee.
Forest management
eff orts are needed to reduce
tree density and the build
up of fuels to cut the risk of
high-intensity fi res. Work
will involve the removal of
dead and diseased trees.
Warren said he believes
some healthy trees also
might have to be logged to
allow for the project to be
See, MERA/Page A5
EOU Library digital archives
Members of the Army Air Corps 354th Cadet Training Detachment take part in a physical exercise ses-
sion at Eastern Oregon University in 1943 or 1944. Eastern was then named Eastern Oregon College of
Education.
A GRANDE — Seven-
ty-eight years ago, Eastern
Oregon University was in
danger of becoming a World
War II casualty.
Then the U.S. Army Air
Corps fl ew to its rescue.
Eastern’s enrollment had plummeted
after nearly all of its male students left
school to join the military. Then known as
Eastern Oregon College of Education, the
university had 348 students when the war
started and fewer than 250 a year later. The
late Jack Evans, a La Grande historian, told
The Observer in a story published May 27,
2003, that state leaders began talking about
closing the campus.
That was when the recruiting prowess
of Eastern President Roben Maaske paid
dividends. Maaske was able to get the U.S.
Army Air Corps to open a training sta-
tion for future airmen at the university in
April 1943, according to Helen Moore, an
EOU student who wrote about the Army
Air Corps program at Eastern as part of her
senior thesis in 2003.
The addition of the program gave the
school a big boost fi nancially, bringing
in $250,000 during the 12 months it was
at Eastern. It also quieted talk of the state
closing the school.
“They couldn’t shut it down because
it was part of the war eff ort,” Evans said.
“They couldn’t in good conscience close it.”
The future pilots who received training in
La Grande were members of the Army Air
Corps 354th Cadet Training Detachment. It
was based in the old Sacajawea Hotel, which
was leased by the U.S. Army, and in a resi-
dence hall on campus, according to an Oct.
1, 1943, story in The Observer.
The cadets based at the Sacajawea Hotel
would march to campus each weekday in
formation, arriving and later leaving via
Eighth Street.
“They would sing songs that helped them
stay in marching time,” said Dory Fleshman,
of La Grande.
Fleshman, 95, grew up in La Grande and
met several of the young men because her
family had two or three cadets over to their
house for dinner each Sunday. Fleshman
said all families in La Grande were encour-
aged to do this to make the cadets, who were
See, War/Page A5
State to test for toxic ‘forever chemicals’
OHA, DEQ set to monitor 150 public
drinking water systems for PFAS
By ALEX WITTWER
EO Media Group
LA GRANDE — The
state of Oregon plans to
test 150 drinking water
systems across the state
for the presence of PFAS,
or per- and poly-fl uori-
nated substances.
PFAS are a family of
chemicals that do not
break down in the envi-
ronment or in human
bodies. These “forever
chemicals” are linked to
cancer, reduced fertility
in women and delayed
development in infants
and children, among other
adverse health eff ects.
The chemicals have been
used since the 1940s and
are found in thousands of
household and commercial
items, such as nonstick
pots and pans, waterproof
clothing and fi refi ghting
foam agents.
Of those 150 sites to
be tested, 17 are in North-
eastern Oregon, including
11 in Umatilla County
and two in Union County.
Baker, Grant, Morrow and
Wallowa counties each
have one testing site.
“We took a look at all
the small public water
systems, those that serve
fewer than 10,00 because
the big ones have already
Alex Wittwer/EO Media Group
been sampled, and we
Sacajawea Mobile Home Park, La Grande, seen here on Friday, Nov. 5, 2021, is one of 17 sites to
looked at places where
be sampled for potential PFAS contamination in Northeastern Oregon. The Oregon Department of
there might have been
Environmental Quality, in conjunction with Oregon Health Authority, is conducting a survey of 150
See, PFAS/Page A5 sites across the state for PFAS contamination in water supplies.
INDEX
WEATHER
Home & Living .....B1
Dear Abby ...........B10
Opinion ..................A4
Classifieds ..............B4
Horoscope .............B4
Sports .....................A7
Comics ....................B8
Lottery ....................A2
Sudoku ...................B8
Crossword .............B4
Obituaries ..............A3
Weather ...............B10
IN
Full forecast on the back of B section
Tonight
Wednesday
32 LOW
44/40
A shower early
Mostly cloudy
THE EVOLUTION OF HUMAN CONSCIOUSNESS
CONTACT US
541-963-3161
Issue132
2 sections, 20 pages
La Grande, Oregon
Email story ideas
to news@lagrande
observer.com.
More contact info
on Page 4A.
Online at lagrandeobserver.com