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THURSDAY EDITION
Ready
to get
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Local
police
taking a
New chamber director
praises the vibrant
business community
in Union County
DIFFERENT
APPROACH
By DICK MASON
The Observer
LA GRANDE — Scott
Newman, the new executive
director of the Union County
Chamber of Commerce, is in a
paradoxical position.
Newman, who came to the
Grande Ronde Valley from
Wisconsin, is a new face in
Union County, but
his learning curve
about the commu-
nity is anything but
steep because of his
family ties in the
area.
Newman
“It is kind of cool.
It is why the move here has been
easy,” Newman said during a
gathering Tuesday, Jan. 18, at
the Union County Chamber of
Commerce’s offi ce.
Newman is joining three
members of his family who
already live here — his wife,
Kimberly Newman, who is exec-
utive assistant to Eastern Oregon
University President Tom Insko;
his daughter, Jillian, a freshman
at EOU; and his sister, Rae Ette
Newman, a professor in EOU’s
college of education.
In addition, Newman moved
here with his youngest son,
Korey, who is set to be a sopho-
more at La Grande High School.
Newman’s oldest son, Jaece,
chose to remain in Wisconsin.
Newman comes to Union
County armed with a fi rsthand
understanding of what running
businesses involves. He for-
merly was an owner of TECH
Enterprises, a family com-
pany based in Madison, Wis-
consin, that manufactures and
distributes household cleaning
products.
Newman also operated a disc
jockey business in Wisconsin
for 20 years, playing at events
such as wedding receptions and
parties.
Newman said he is impressed
with the business climate he has
found in Union County.
“The environment is fan-
tastic. It is very vibrant,” he
said. “I am looking forward
See, Newman/Page A5
Alex Wittwer/The Observer
A Union County deputy sheriff drives past Raul’s Cantina at night in La Grande on Tuesday, Jan. 18, 2022. Local law enforcement have seen a slight uptick
in the number of DUII related incidents involving drugs, while alcohol related DUIIs have remained steady.
Increase in drug-impaired DUIIs prompts changes from law enforcement
By DAVIS CARBAUGH
MEASURE 110
The Observer
LA GRANDE — Local law enforce-
ment agencies in Union County are con-
tinuing to take a proactive approach to
enforcing impaired driving laws, but
with changes in the enforcement of con-
trolled substances, this approach has
taken a slightly diff erent angle.
While overall numbers of driving
under the infl uence of intoxicants
have stayed steady, controlled sub-
stance DUIIs have increased locally and
statewide, prompting a more in-depth
approach to how law enforcement con-
ducts its protocol. Measure 110 still is
in its early stages of decriminalizing
substances, and it remains to be seen if
the new measure will impact the quan-
tity of controlled substance-related
DUIIs in Oregon.
According to informa-
tion provided by La Grande
Police Lt. Jason Hays, in
2021 the La Grande Police
Department and Union
County Sheriff ’s Offi ce
recorded a combined 51
Hays
DUII arrests through Dec.
21. That compares with 44 in 2020, 58
in 2019 and 54 in 2018.
Of the 51 DUII arrests through Dec.
21, 2021, 38 involved alcohol and 13
resulted from drugs — a noticeable
shift in controlled substance DUIIs
from 2018 when 49 arrests were from
alcohol and the remaining fi ve were
related to intoxicant factors other than
alcohol.
Extra steps
With alcohol-related DUIIs, a
blood-alcohol test is an easy way to
determine whether someone has been
On Nov. 3, 2020, Oregon voters passed Measure
110, approving two shifts in how the state deals
with the use of illegal drugs. First, the measure
reduces penalties for drug possession, making
Oregon the fi rst state to decriminalize the per-
sonal possession of illegal drugs. Secondly, the
anticipated savings achieved from the current
cost of enforcing criminal drug possession pen-
alties will be combined with marijuana sales rev-
enue to fund a new drug addiction treatment and
recovery grant program.
— Measure 110 Background Brief (www.oregon-
legislature.gov)
drinking and approximately how much
they have consumed. When it comes to
substance-related driving arrests, police
have to take extra steps.
When a driver is pulled over and sus-
pected of driving impaired, the offi cer
fi rst speaks with the individual and
conducts a fi eld sobriety test. If law
enforcement has a reason to suspect
impairment after the fi eld sobriety test,
a blood-alcohol concentration test is
then conducted with the driver’s con-
sent. If the BAC test shows a zero and
the driver still is suspected of being
impaired, a drug recognition expert, or
DRE, is called to evaluate the driver’s
status.
DREs are law enforcement offi cers
trained to identify driving impairments
that result from substances other than
alcohol. The program was established
by the International Association of
Chiefs of Police in California more than
35 years ago.
The DRE protocol uses a three-step
process to determine whether the driver
is impaired, discover if the impair-
ment involves controlled substances or
a medical condition and ascertain which
drugs are causing the driver’s impair-
ment. This course of action is based on
a knowledge of observable signs related
to drug use.
The DREs perform their impairment
evaluations at controlled environments
such as a police station. A major dif-
ference between the standard roadside
BAC test and the DRE’s drug impair-
ment test is the evaluation is not typi-
cally performed roadside and is usually
done after the arrest.
According to IACP, the evalua-
tion typically takes about an hour. The
offi cer monitors the driver’s behavior,
appearance and vital signs.
In addition, psychophysical tests are
performed to measure judgment, infor-
mation processing and coordination.
In short, the process to evaluate a con-
trolled substance-related DUII takes
a bit more digging than observing the
sometimes obvious eff ects of impair-
ment present during a strictly alco-
hol-related DUII.
Roughly 200 people are part of the
DRE program in Oregon, across state,
county and municipal law enforcement
organizations.
With DREs conducting the evalu-
ations after the arrest, police offi cers
can return to patrolling. Even so, added
precautions from a non-DRE arresting
offi cer can have an impact. According
to Hays, La Grande Police do not
use body cams, but the use of digital
recorders assists law enforcement in
gathering evidence during the initial
arrest and investigation for a DUII.
“The probable cause for arrest gener-
ally comes from the standardized fi eld
sobriety tests after the traffi c stop is ini-
tiated and signs indicate the operator
See, DUII/Page A5
North Powder briefl y back to distance learning
Move to virtual classes comes after
students were exposed to virus at school
By DICK MASON
The Observer
NORTH POWDER —
An outbreak of COVID-19
has forced the North
Powder School District
to shut down in-person
instruction and provide
only online instruction.
The changes are for
Wednesday, Jan. 19 and
Thursday, Jan 20. The
North Powder School Dis-
trict has a four-day school
week.
“This is what is best
for the health and safety
of everyone,” said North
Power School District
Superintendent Lance
Dixon.
The move to online
instruction, formally
INDEX
Business & Ag.... B1
Classified ............ B2
Comics ................. B5
Crossword .......... B2
known as Comprehen-
sive Distance Learning,
was made after 11 stu-
dents tested positive for
COVID-19 over the past
week. The number of stu-
dents who were exposed
via close contact is now
being determined, but
Dixon said the there are
many. He said that doing
contract tracing was
extremely diffi cult because
there have been so many
See, Distance/Page A5
WEATHER
Dear Abby .......... B6
Horoscope .......... B3
Lottery .................A2
Obituaries ...........A4
SATURDAY
Opinion ...............A4
Sports ........ A9, A10
Spiritual Life ......A6
State ..............A7, A8
The Observer, File
An outbreak of COVID-19 in the North Powder School District has
forced the school district to provide only online instruction on
Wednesday and Thursday, Jan. 19-20, 2022.
Full forecast on the back of B section
Tonight
Friday
34 LOW
41/23
Rain and drizzle
Partly sunny
WEIGHING IN ON HOMELESSNESS
CONTACT US
541-963-3161
Issue 8
3 sections, 34 pages
La Grande, Oregon
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to news@lagrande
observer.com.
More contact info
on Page A4.
Online at lagrandeobserver.com