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OREGON HAS ITS FIRST DOSES OF THE PAXLOVID TREATMENT FOR COVID-19 |
January 15, 2022
STATE, A6
WEEKEND EDITION
$1.50
EDUCATION
Voters to
decide on
La Grande
school bond
School board passes a
resolution for the bond
with a unanimous vote
By DICK MASON
The Observer
LA GRANDE — The La
Grande School District will have
a bond issue on the May pri-
mary ballot for the construction
of a new academic and athletic
center.
The La Grande School Board
unanimously passed a resolution
on Wednesday, Jan. 12, that will
give voters a chance to approve
or reject a $4.845 million bond
for the facility.
“I’m optimistic that we will
be able to pass the bond. There
are always a lot of improvements
that can be made in school dis-
trict facilities and this would go
a long way toward helping us
address our needs,” said Robin
Maille, chair of the La Grande
School Board.
Passage of the proposed
$4.845 million bond would not
raise the total school taxes paid
by property owners, district offi -
cials said, because of the recent
refi nancing of the 20-year $31.5
million bond voters approved in
2014 for capital construction and
maintenance.
Money from the bond would
pay for the construction of a
multi-use academic and ath-
letic center next to the La
Grande Middle School, where
the Annex building is now. The
new building would include two
gyms and two classrooms that
would be used for a variety of
classes, including health, science
and technology courses.
The building would be a
pre-engineered metal struc-
ture that would be available
for public use and would meet
Americans with Disabilities Act
standards, which the current
Annex building does not.
The aging Annex building,
which has a gym and is about 10
feet north of La Grande Middle
School, along with the school
district’s adjacent maintenance,
facilities and grounds struc-
ture — built in 1911 — would
both be torn down if the bond is
approved. The district’s mainte-
nance, facilities and grounds ser-
vices would likely be moved to
a 10,500-square-foot structure
Alex Wittwer/The Observer, File
Riley Martin throws out hay to feed his cattle at the Martin family cattle ranch in North Powder on Monday, April 5, 2021. Martin, along with his father,
Curtis Martin, are among several ranchers who are former skeptics of the Biden administration. That skepticism was eased by the Biden administration’s
initiative, announced on Jan. 3, 2022, to increase competition in the meat processing industry.
Meat of the matter
Ranchers optimistic about attention to lack of competition in meatpacking
By JAYSON JACOBY
Baker City Herald
NORTH POWDER — Curtis Martin
doesn’t expect a problem that was decades
in the making to be solved by a single
announcement from the White House,
even one that comes with a billion-dollar
pledge.
But Martin, a North Powder cattle
rancher and past president of the Oregon
Cattlemen’s Association, is nonetheless
encouraged by the Biden administration’s
eff ort to increase competition in the meat-
packing industry that is dominated by
four corporations.
“I think it’s wonderful,” Martin said
of the administration’s recent announce-
ment that it would divert $1 billion from
the 2021 American Rescue Plan Act to
address problems in the meat processing
system and try to encourage the construc-
tion of smaller, regional meat processing
operations and, potentially, curb a recent
rise in beef, pork and poultry prices at the
retail level.
“It’s really a positive report, and I think
the best thing ranchers can do is engage in
it and help Tom Vilsack,” Martin said.
Vilsack is the U.S. Agriculture Sec-
retary, and one of the federal offi cials
who met with Biden recently in a virtual
meeting to discuss the situation.
The resulting plan, which was
announced on Jan. 3, has among its goals
enforcing existing competition laws and
making the machinations of the cattle
markets more transparent.
Bennett
McElligott
Martin
“It’s something we in
the industry have been
talking about for a long
time, the need to have
a more vibrant and
competitive industry.”
— Matt McElligott, Baker County
cattle rancher
That new federal focus is welcome
news for Martin, who has been concerned
for many years about what he considers
an unfair manipulation of beef markets by
the four companies that control about 85%
of the country’s cattle processing — Car-
gill, Tyson Foods, JBS and National Beef
Packing.
While retail beef prices have risen
by 21% over the past year, according
to the U.S. Department of Agriculture,
that trend hasn’t been refl ected in what
ranchers are receiving for their cattle,
Martin said.
Tom Sharp, former Oregon Cattle-
men’s president, addressed the rise in beef
prices in an October 2021 interview with
the Pacifi c Northwest Ag Network when
he was still president of the OCA.
“Those profi ts have largely gone solely
to the major beef packing companies that
dominate boxed beef production here in
the United States,” Sharp said. “There’s
really four multinational companies that
produce 83% of the total boxed beef for
retail consumption here in the United
States.”
Martin said he believes one way to
reduce the dominance those four compa-
nies have is to encourage more local and
regional processing of beef.
That would also give ranchers more
options for marketing their cattle, and
boost consumer choice, potentially
aff ording them the option of buying beef
raised, and butchered, in the same county
where they live.
Martin said there is a suffi cient number
of beef cattle in Eastern Oregon and
Western Idaho to support processing
plants with a capacity to handle 250 to
500 head per day.
But now, he said, “we have absolutely
no competition in the Northwest. There’s
no negotiation. You take what is given to
you (in terms of prices).”
Martin pointed to Agri Beef’s con-
struction of a beef processing plant in
Jerome, Idaho. It’s expected to open by
the end of 2022, and will have a capacity
of about 500 head per day.
“That’s a great thing, but I still see the
need for more competition,” Martin said.
See, Cattle/Page A5
See, Bond/Page A5
Flushed: La Grande ends wastewater testing
Short staff, skewed
results end local
COVID-19
testing program
By DAVIS CARBAUGH
The Observer
LA GRANDE — Waste-
water testing has become
a trusted method with the
Oregon Health Authority,
relying on waste sam-
ples in local communities
across the state to detect
COVID-19 trends and the
emergence of potential new
strains.
While La Grande took
part in the sampling during
the early stages of the pan-
demic, a short staff and
problematic pipe connec-
tions to rest stops near
Interstate 84 led the city
to discontinue sending
samples.
“It became a time issue,
especially with a small
staff ,” La Grande Sani-
tary Sewer and Wastewater
INDEX
Classified ............B2
Comics .................B5
Crossword ..........B2
Dear Abby ..........B6
TUESDAY
Superintendent Lyle Bridge
said.
La Grande is still listed
as a wastewater testing site
on the OHA’s COVID-19
dashboard. More than 40
communities are included
throughout Oregon, but just
six cities in Eastern Oregon
take part.
The state works with
Oregon State University to
monitor wastewater testing
throughout communities
in Oregon, reporting back
See, Testing/Page A5
WEATHER
Horoscope ..........B4
Lottery ................ A2
Obituaries .......... A3
Opinion .............. A4
Outdoors & Rec B1
Sports ................. A7
State .................... A6
Sudoku ................B5
Alex Wittwer/The Observer
A danger sign hangs near the entrance to the La Grande Wastewater
Lagoon Headworks on Thursday, Jan. 13, 2022. The treatment center
stopped testing for COVID-19 in January of 2021 after experiencing
diffi culties related to a short staff and skewed testing results.
Full forecast on the back of B section
Tonight
Sunday
27 LOW
39/27
Mostly cloudy
Mostly cloudy
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Issue 6
2 sections, 14 pages
La Grande, Oregon
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