The Observer. (La Grande, Or.) 1968-current, January 27, 2022, THURSDAY EDITION, Page 18, Image 18

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    LOCAL
A2 — THE OBSERVER
THuRSday, JanuaRy 27, 2022
As if it
never
happened
TODAY
On Jan. 27, 1967, astronauts
Virgil I. “Gus” Grissom, Edward
H. White and Roger B. Chaffee
died in a flash fire during a test
aboard their Apollo spacecraft.
In 1756, composer Wolfgang
Amadeus Mozart was born in
Salzburg, Austria.
In 1880, Thomas Edison
received a patent for his elec-
tric incandescent lamp.
In 1888, the National Geo-
graphic Society was incorpo-
rated in Washington, D.C.
In 1944, during World War
II, the Soviet Union announced
the complete end of the
deadly German siege of Len-
ingrad, which had lasted for
more than two years.
In 1945, during World War
II, Soviet troops liberated the
Nazi concentration camps Aus-
chwitz and Birkenau in Poland.
In 1973, the Vietnam peace
accords were signed in Paris.
In 1981, President Ronald
Reagan and his wife, Nancy,
greeted the 52 former Amer-
ican hostages released by Iran
at the White House.
In 2006, Western Union
delivered its last telegram.
In 2010, Apple CEO Steve
Jobs unveiled the iPad tablet
computer during a presen-
tation in San Francisco. J.D.
Salinger, the reclusive author
of “The Catcher in the Rye,”
died in Cornish, New Hamp-
shire, at age 91.
In 2013, Flames raced
through a crowded nightclub
in southern Brazil, killing 242
people.
In 2018, a suicide bombing
in the Afghan capital of Kabul
killed more than 100 people;
the attacker was driving an
ambulance full of explosives
and raced through a security
checkpoint after saying he
was transferring a patient to a
hospital.
In 2020, China confirmed
more than 2,700 cases of the
new coronavirus with more
than 80 deaths in that country;
authorities postponed the end
of the Lunar New Year holiday
to keep the public at home.
U.S. health officials said they
believed the risk to Ameri-
cans remained low and that
they had no evidence that the
new virus was spreading in the
United States; they advised
Americans to avoid non-essen-
tial travel to any part of China.
Today’s Birthdays: Actor
James Cromwell is 82. Rock
musician Nick Mason (Pink
Floyd) is 78. R&B singer Nedra
Talley (The Ronettes) is 76.
Ballet star Mikhail Barysh-
nikov is 74. Latin singer-song-
writer Djavan is 73. U.S. Chief
Justice John Roberts is 67.
Country singer Cheryl White
is 67. Country singer-musician
Richard Young (The Kentucky
Headhunters) is 67. Actor Mimi
Rogers is 66. Rock musician
Janick Gers (Iron Maiden) is 65.
Actor Susanna Thompson is
64. Political and sports com-
mentator Keith Olbermann is
63. Rock singer Margo Tim-
mins (Cowboy Junkies) is 61.
Rock musician Gillian Gilbert
is 61. Actor Tamlyn Tomita is
59. Actor Bridget Fonda is 58.
Actor Alan Cumming is 57.
Country singer Tracy Lawrence
is 54. Rock singer Mike Patton
is 54. Rapper Tricky is 54. Rock
musician Michael Kulas (James)
is 53. Actor-comedian Patton
Oswalt is 53. Actor Josh Ran-
dall is 50. Country singer Kevin
Denney is 44. Tennis player
Marat Safin is 42. Rock musi-
cian Matt Sanchez (American
Authors) is 36. Actor Braeden
Lemasters is 26.
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10 p.m.: 8-4-3-7
New law will
expunge juvenile
arrest records
By ALEX WITTWER
EO Media Group
alex Wittwer/EO Media Group
Art Center East’s Co-op Gallery showcases The Big annual open exhibit on Friday, Jan. 21, 2022, in La Grande.
Art Center East to rename its Co-op Gallery
Vote now to decide which local artist the Co-op Gallery will be named after
By DICK MASON
The Observer
LA GRANDE — An
election is underway, one
which is giving people
a chance to honor and
reflect upon the lives and
contributions of popular
artists from Union Coun-
ty’s recent past.
The election is for the
renaming of Art Center
East’s Co-op Gallery.
Four Union County art-
ists who were nomi-
nated to become the gal-
lery’s namesake are on the
ballot.
“The beautiful part
of this process is that it
honors individuals and
brings an awareness of
them,” said Darcy Dolge,
executive director of Art
Center East.
The candidates, all
of whom were nomi-
nated posthumously, are
Dennis “Craig” Canoy, an
art teacher and painter;
Kat Galloway, an Eastern
Oregon University art
instructor who also taught
children; Tom Madden, a
poet and EOU writing and
journalism professor; and
Sue Orlaske, a biologist
who was also a ceramic
artist.
The Art Center East
staff asked the families
of all four nominees for
permission to place their
names on the ballot.
Dolge said that several
artists were invited to also
be on the ballot but the
families declined.
They asked not to be on
the ballot after learning
of who had already been
nominated.
“It was a beautiful
thing,” Dolge said.
If people would like to
add an artist or art sup-
porter to the ballot, this
will be done if at least 10
individuals nominate the
person by emailing Art
Center East at info@art-
centereast.org.
People can vote by
going on to Art Center
East’s website, www.art-
centereast.org, by calling
the art center at 541-
624-2800, or in-person
by coming to Art Center
East’s building at 1006
Penn Ave., La Grande.
ACE is open Wednesday
through Friday from
10 a.m. to 5 p.m., and on
Saturday from 10 a.m. to
2 p.m.
Votes will be accepted
through midnight on
Thursday, March 10.
People are asked to
vote just once but nobody
will be checking to see
if individuals are voting
multiple times.
“It is on the honor
system,” Dolge said.
She said the results will
have greater impact if the
one-vote rule is followed.
“If I vote five times it is
not as meaningful as when
I vote once and four others
also vote,” Dolge said.
She said a difficult
selection process awaits
voters.
“There is no wrong
choice because this is
such a beautiful group of
people,” Dolge said.
The winner will be
announced on Friday,
March 11, at 6:30 p.m.
during the Fiber Arts &
Jewelry Exhibit’s closing
reception at the art center.
Following are brief
looks at the candidates
based on information pro-
vided by their families on
Art Center East’s website.
Dennis “Craig” Canoy
Canoy taught art
and design at Hillsboro
High School
for three
decades. He
moved to La
Grande in the
1990s after
retiring.
A pastel
Canoy
painter, he
focused on depicting
the beauty of the natural
world, He exhibited his
work in three galleries in
Oregon, including Port-
land State’s Littman Gal-
lery, the Kathrin Cawein
Gallery of Art at Pacific
University and Peterson’s
Gallery in Baker City.
Canoy, who died in
2020 and was a Univer-
sity of Oregon graduate,
left his art collection to
ACE for the purpose of
fundraising. The pieces
in his collection are his
own works and those of
regional artists.
Kat Galloway
Galloway was an
art professor at Eastern
Oregon Uni-
versity where
she taught
printmaking
and drawing
starting
in 1998.
Galloway According to
information
submitted, Galloway had
an encouraging teaching
style, and “her students
were able to find within
them a way to overcome
the impossible to not
only create art but to also
deeply appreciate art.’’
Galloway, as an edu-
cator, also worked with
younger art students. For
example, she was a big
supporter of Central Ele-
mentary School’s Art Lit-
eracy program.
Galloway was also
a leader of the Union
County Arts and Culture
Center, which merged
with ArtsEast in 2015 to
become Art Center East.
She played an important
role in the process of
Art Center East leasing
the city’s old Carnegie
Library building, which
ACE is now located in.
Thomas “Tom”
Madden
Madden was a poet,
writer and teacher.
Madden
taught
English,
writing and
journalism
at Eastern
Oregon Uni-
versity for
Madden
25 years and
led poetry workshops at
Art Center East after his
retirement from EOU
in 2000.
He enjoyed teaching
community members to
write poems about many
subjects, especially the
natural environment,
helping them craft short
pieces about landscape,
seasons, weather, plants
and animals. He empha-
sized a constructive,
friendly atmosphere in his
classes and workshops,
according to his family.
Early in his career,
he worked as a reporter
for several newspapers,
including the Oregonian.
Madden published three
collections of poems:
“Graves in Wheat” (1998),
“Lessons for Custer”
(2006) — a finalist for
the Western Writers of
America Spur Award in
2007 — and “This Dia-
lect of Grass,” which was
published posthumously
in 2019.
Sue Orlaske
A biologist who had
no formal art training but
had a life-
long interest
in art, Orlaske
became a
full-time
artist in the
1990s when
Orlaske
she moved to
Union County.
She produced ceramic
art as well as two-dimen-
sional art. Her themes
often included abstract
and representational nat-
ural elements — Eastern
Oregon landscapes, crit-
ters, and plants.
She became well
known in Northeastern
Oregon for the quality of
her work and for her will-
ingness to help and teach
others, according to her
family. She was a member
and actively involved
with three art co-ops: Art
Center East, Valley Art in
Forest Grove and Cross-
roads in Baker City.
Orlaske won several
regional art awards and
was a featured artist on
Oregon Public Broadcast-
ing’s Oregon Art Beat.
Her work has been car-
ried by several galleries
in Oregon and Southern
Washington.
COVID-19 rate continues to rise in LG schools
153 students
missed school
during the week
of Jan. 18-21
By DICK MASON
The Observer
LA GRANDE — The
La Grande School Dis-
trict’s COVID-19 infec-
tion rate is continuing to
spike.
The school district’s
latest weekly statis-
tics show that 153 stu-
dents and 25 staff mem-
bers missed school
during the week of Jan.
18-21 because of pos-
itive COVID-19 tests,
COVID-19 symptoms or
close contact with those
who have COVID-19.
The new figures are an
increase of 43 students
from the week of Jan.
10-14.
The school district’s
Jan. 18-21 statistics indi-
cate that 12 staff mem-
bers — four from Cen-
tral Elementary School,
three from Island City
Elementary, two each
from Greenwood Ele-
mentary School and La
Grande High School, and
one from the school dis-
trict office — were absent
during the week due to
positive COVID-19 tests.
This is up from the pre-
vious week when nine
staff members were out
due to positive tests.
The number of students
testing positive leaped
from 16 the week of Jan.
10-14 to 58 the week of
Jan. 18-21.
Twenty-two of the stu-
dents were from Central,
11 were from La Grande
Middle School, 10 were
at Island City, eight were
from La Grande High
School and seven were
from Greenwood.
A total of 80 stu-
dents during the week of
Jan. 18-21 missed school
because of close contact
with someone who was
COVID-19 positive.
Thirty-three of these
students were at Central,
21 were at Island City Ele-
mentary, 13 were at La
Grande Middle School,
seven were at Greenwood,
five were at La Grande
High School and one
was in the Rising Stars
program.
Ten staff, five at Green-
wood, three at La Grande
Middle School and one
each at La Grande High
School and the school
district office were out
because of close contact to
a positive case.
A total of 15 students
and three staff members
missed school because of
COVID-19 symptoms.
The La Grande School
District’s statistics for Jan.
18-21 also indicated that
two staff members and 64
students had close con-
tracts but were able to
stay in school under the
state’s test to stay pro-
gram, because they tested
negative for COVID-19 or
because they were fully
vaccinated.
LA GRANDE — A new
law passed in the 2021 leg-
islative session in Oregon
is now taking effect, and
will automatically expunge
juvenile arrest records of
everyone who turns 18.
Senate Bill 575, other-
wise known as the Youth
Expunction Reform Act,
saw wide support in the
Senate, passing 54-1 on
Sept. 25, 2021, with the
lone nay vote by Rep.
Cedric Hayden of Oregon
District 7.
Under this new law,
notices will be sent to teen-
agers who have records with
the juvenile department on
their 18th birthday, noti-
fying them of the expunc-
tion. The new law does not
affect convictions, only
arrest records and other
records relating to a juve-
nile’s arrest.
Nor is the law retroactive
— anyone who is already
18 or older will have to file
a request with the juvenile
department through existing
application processes for
expungement in order to
have their record cleared.
“Choices have conse-
quences. Lord knows I
made (mistakes) when I was
a kid that had some pretty
negative consequences,”
said Union County Sheriff
Cody Bowen. “But I don’t
think they should be held
over a kid’s head. Once they
learn from their mistake and
pay for the consequences,
if they turn 18 and it goes
away, I’m all for that.”
Bowen spoke from expe-
rience — in his youth, he
was cited for disorderly con-
duct. A framed record of
that 1993 citation hangs in
his office as a reminder that
people can change course
in life.
He said that most juve-
nile criminal cases can be
addressed through edu-
cation, structure and con-
sequence at the home. If
the home life of a juve-
nile does not provide those
elements, then the juve-
nile department can pro-
vide them, he said. Bowen
noted that in some serious
crimes, like ones that vic-
timize a person, should stick
for a considerable amount
of time, if not life in certain
circumstances.
The new law does not
affect records relating
to serious crimes such
as assault, manslaughter
and other sexual or vio-
lent crimes. It also does
not affect education tran-
scripts or medical records
not related to insanity pleas.
Those records will remain
with the juvenile depart-
ment and are exempt from
expungement.
Under the new law,
people with prior arrest
records that are expunged
will be able to say that
the arrest never happened
without having to file paper-
work with the juvenile
department. However, they
will still have records for
any federal-level arrests,
which operate on a different
system.
That distinction is
important for individuals
in the system if they seek
out careers with exhaustive
background checks, such as
public service, military, or
security clearance investi-
gations. They may also face
challenges when filling out a
rental application.
“I think it’s great for kids
to be able to do this because
a lot of them grow up and
forget the original records,”
said Digna Moreno, Uma-
tilla County Juvenile Divi-
sion Supervisor. “And so I
think it’s great that we’re
able to do this for them.
Some of them want to enlist
in the service and some-
times their records may get
in the way.”