INSIDE
NEW TANNING, SKULL CLEANING BUSINESS OPENING IN UNION |
BUSINESS & AG LIFE, B1
DEC EMB
202 1
WW W.G
OEA STE
RNO REG
ON.COM
e
Her h it t a s g
Lig
ER 1–8,
inate r s nights
illum
be
Decem
Page 8
Explore
Art s
show
nce
Experie
tmas
‘A Chris
Carol’
PA GE 4
Listen
ay
Holid ic
mus
PA GE S
9 & 18
PA GE 3
on/Go!
er Colt
December 2, 2021
e
Magazin
“The
ious.
delic
or
vably
other
belie
each
and un
ts of
egon
urced t copy-ca
nd. Or
ally so
w, Be
y no
Revie
sh, loc d clearl
is fre
- Yelp
ct an
food
850
IPAs.”
distin
97
NW
are
OR
g
,
As
kin
e ma
Grande
one els
La
ve •
$1.50
THURSDAY EDITION
OSU, EOU take collaboration a step further
Schools agree to strengthen ag
program, rangeland research
By SIERRA DAWN McCLAIN
Capital Press
LA GRANDE —
Oregon State Univer-
sity plans to strengthen its
partnership with Eastern
Oregon University and
expand opportunities for
Bear
injures
Sumpter
man
rangeland research, classes
and fi eld studies.
Offi cials say the soon-
to-be expanded agricul-
tural programs will likely
benefi t students and the
farming community, espe-
cially in the cattle and dairy
industries.
“We’re excited about
the show of support for the
program expansion,” said
Penny Diebel, associate pro-
fessor of applied economics
and director of the Eastern
Oregon Agriculture and
Natural Resource Program.
Since 1985, Oregon
State University has off ered
some classes and agricul-
tural majors to students at
Eastern Oregon University
in La Grande. The partner-
Noah Beckner
encounters bear on
Thanksgving night
By JAYSON JACOBY
By DICK MASON
Baker City Herald
The Observer
BAKER CITY — Noah
Beckner barely had time
to recognize the animal as
a black bear before it was
swatting a claw-tipped paw
at his head.
He ducked just in time.
The paw, as Beckner
puts it, “nicked” his face.
Beckner, 19, who lives in
Sumpter, said the encounter
with the bear in his front
yard, late on Thanksgiving,
left him with scratches on
his cheek and above one
eye, among other injuries.
Beckner said the
knuckle of the middle
fi nger on his right hand, the
one he used to punch the
bear in the eye, was still
sore.
So was his shoulder,
where the bear briefl y bit
him.
Beckner said he was
wearing multiple layers
of clothing, and the bear’s
teeth didn’t penetrate his
skin.
H
The incident happened
about 11 p.m. on Thanks-
giving, and Beckner said a
relative drove him to Saint
Alphonsus Medical Center,
Baker City.
time collaboration a step
further by reinvigorating
two programs: the Eastern
Oregon Agriculture and
Natural Resource Program
and the Eastern Oregon
Agriculture Research
Center in Union.
The Eastern Oregon
Agriculture and Nat-
ural Resource Program is
the joint-degree program
between OSU and EOU; the
Union Experiment Station
is where researchers study
rangeland ecology, livestock
systems, forage crops, forest
management and other
topics.
The two programs have
historically operated sep-
arately, with little interac-
tion or collaboration. Now,
OSU plans to build a strong
partnership between the
programs.
See, Schools/Page A5
Preserving history
Richard Roth
donates a lifetime
worth of clippings
to the new owners
of Hot Lake
‘It didn’t want to
fi ght me’
ship, which started with
one major, has grown and
changed through the years.
In recent years, students
have been able to dual-en-
roll in OSU and EOU for
some programs. This allows
students who prefer or need
to live in Eastern Oregon
to take in-person OSU
classes without moving to
Corvallis.
OSU and EOU are now
planning to take their long-
OT LAKE —
Gunshots in 1883
and stirring words
of patriotism in
1919 from one of
the United States’ most infl uen-
tial evangelists.
These are some of the
echoes being awakened from
La Grande’s and Hot Lake’s
past by author and historian
Richard “Dick” Roth, of Orting,
Washington.
Roth is the author of four
books dedicated to Hot Lake.
Although he lives in Washington,
he knows Hot Lake fi rsthand, for
he grew up there. His parents, the
late A.J. and Fern Roth, owned
Hot Lake from 1942 to 1974.
The historian is donating his
archive of newspaper and mag-
azine articles about Hot Lake
and Northeastern Oregon to Hot
Lake’s owners, Michael and
Tamarah Rysavy. The clippings
are in nine large three-ring note-
books, two of which are fi lled
with historic photos.
“What Dick has given us is
irreplaceable. We are blessed to
have all of this information,” said
Michael Rysavy, who purchased
The Lodge at Hot Lake with his
wife in 2020.
‘Dance of death’
The earliest piece Roth has
in his collection is from the June
27, 1868, edition of the Blue
Dick Mason/The Observer
Richard “Dick” Roth, left, has donated his collection of news clippings about Hot Lake to the owners of The Lodge at
Hot Lake Springs, Tamarah Rysavy, center, and her husband, Michael Rysavy. The three are shown reading some of the
historical articles on Nov. 20, 2021.
Mountain Times. Hot Lake was
mentioned in that edition in an
article about the Grande Ronde
Valley’s highlights.
Clippings from the 19th cen-
tury also include an article from
the March 9, 1883, edition of
The States Rights Democrat in
Albany, about a shooting that
took place at Hot Lake’s old
dance hall in March 1883, one
which ultimately claimed two
lives. Eighteen people were in
the hall at a dance when pistol
shots rang out and instantly
claimed the life of one Clay
Miller. Another man, Henry
Green, was also hit and died
three years later from the eff ects
of his wounds, according to a
later news article.
See, History/Page A5
The Lodge at Hot Lake Springs/Contributed Photo
This is Hot Lake and what was then its new building as it appeared in early
1903.
See, Bear/Page A7
Coho salmon run shatt ers record as steelhead numbers fl op
Less than 40K steelhead have made it
past the Lower Granite Dam this year
By ALEX WITTWER
EO Media Group
LOSTINE — A
record-shattering number
of coho has made the long
journey from their home
streams to the ocean and
back.
Nearly 24,000 coho
salmon have made passage
through the Lower Granite
Dam on the Snake River
— the last dam between
the ocean and the Grande
Ronde and Wallowa rivers.
The prior record, set
in 2014, saw 18,098 coho
make their way past the
Lower Granite Dam. In
recent years, those num-
bers have fl uctuated
between 1,449 and 8,178,
with 2020 seeing just 7,797
coho return to the Lower
Granite Dam. The run this
Coho salmon swarm Eagle Creek, a tributary of the Columbia River,
during the fall of 2009.
See, Salmon/Page A7
WEATHER
INDEX
Business ........B1
Classified ......B2
Comics ...........B5
Crossword ....B3
Rick Swart/Oregon Department of Fish & Wildlife, File
year marks a more than
300% increase from the
previous year.
Part of that return could
be attributed to the Nez
Perce Tribe’s monumental
work to reintroduce coho
to the Clearwater Basin in
the late 1990s, and recently
in the Lostine River in
2017. The tribe’s eff orts
returned the salmon to the
Lostine River after it was
bereft of the silvery fi sh for
more than 40 years.
Dear Abby ....B6
Horoscope ....B2
Lottery ...........A2
Obituaries .....A3
SATURDAY
Opinion .........A4
Spiritual Life A6
Sports ............A8
Weather ........B6
Full forecast on the back of B section
Tonight
Friday
35 LOW
51/40
Low clouds
Clouds and sun
HOLIDAY FARE FROM THE FIELD AND STREAM
CONTACT US
541-963-3161
Issue 141
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