INSIDE
LA GRANDE SOFTBALL STANDOUT KINZY BOWEN SIGNS TO PLAY WITH OREGON STATE |
January 29, 2022
SPORTS, A6
WEEKEND EDITION
Strong
report for
region’s
schools
$1.50
Cultivating
community
confidence
NE Oregon counties
beat state averages for
graduation rates
By ALEX WITTWER
EO Media Group
EASTERN OREGON — It
was a red-letter year for many
Northeastern Oregon school dis-
tricts, as numbers released by
the Oregon Department of Edu-
cation show that the majority of
the region’s counties beat state
averages for graduation rates —
even as graduation rates fell from
82.6% to 80.6% across the state.
Similarly, rates across North-
eastern Oregon fell as well, with
Baker County seeing one the
largest drops in graduation rates
for the area, falling from 84.7% to
77.9% — a 6.8 percentage-point
drop from last year’s graduation
rates.
The rest of the Northeastern
Oregon counties — Umatilla,
Morrow, Union, Wallowa and
Grant counties — registered an
above-average graduation rate.
Leading the way
Grant, Morrow and Wallowa
counties topped the list with
more than 92% of their respec-
tive cohorts graduating during a
pandemic year. Morrow County
School District in particular
shined with a staggering 96.6%
graduation rate for the district.
School administrators credit
the push for in-person learning —
as opposed to distance learning or
remote classroom environments
— as a critical factor for success
in rural classrooms.
“I would say one of the things
we were fortunate with in Morrow
County is that we were able to
stay in person more than other
school districts around the state,”
said Morrow County School Dis-
trict Superintendent Dirk Dirksen.
“We made a real eff ort to get into
the limited in-person instruction
as soon as we can, and just try to
maximize every opportunity for
the doors to be open.”
Knowing that a signifi cant
portion of rural communities are
without stable internet access,
school districts across North-
eastern Oregon had given out
mobile hotspot devices for stu-
dents to use at home, as well as
Chromebooks to access online
coursework.
See, Schools/Page A5
Blue Mountain Humane Association making strides in second year under new management
By DAVIS CARBAUGH
facility, Beach said the board
has gathered enough funding
for a new exam room and that
an intake room is one of the
next items on the agenda.
A lack of record keeping
proved costly early on, as med-
ical and fi nancial records are
crucial in acquiring potential
new funding.
“When we took over, there
were no protocols or programs
for the animals. There were
45 cats here and none of them
had medical paperwork or even
names,” Lord said. “It took us
the fi rst full year just to start
putting everything in place to
move forward. We were just
really trying to fi gure out how
to set all the protocols.”
The Observer
LA GRANDE — The end-
of-year numbers are in, marking
two years of new management
at La Grande’s Blue Mountain
Humane Association.
After years of poor manage-
ment, one of the shelter’s board’s
biggest goals is rebuilding trust
with the local community.
Alongside that mission, the Blue
Mountain Humane Association
is ramping up its eff orts to pro-
vide the best possible care to the
animals that come through its
doors.
“I think our biggest chal-
lenge, in the fi rst year especially,
was just trying to get the public
to trust us again,” board member
Rebecca Lord said. “We had to
overcome so much bad juju from
the previous administrators.”
In 2021, the Blue Mountain
Humane Association recorded
more than 900 intakes, of which
621 were cats and 275 were
dogs. Looking back on the past
year, the kitten season from
April to November was larger in
2021 than most years. Through
partnerships in the region and
escalated caretaking proce-
dures at the shelter, BMHA’s
operations are running much
smoother as the shelter con-
tinues holding itself to a higher
standard.
Winning back trust
After years of the previous
management team creating
a poor reputation at the Blue
Mountain Humane Associa-
tion, new board members and
staff do not blame citizens of
Union County for any skepti-
cism toward the shelter. With
that being said, the organiza-
tion has improved the shelter
Turning the corner
Photos by Alex Wittwer/EO Media Group, File
Blue Mountain Human Association Board President Beverly Beach pets Drama,
a cat up for adoption, at the Blue Mountain Humane Association shelter on
Wednesday, Nov. 10, 2021. At top, Delanie Moad, a member of the staff at the
Blue Mountain Humane Association, handles a litter of black kittens during
intake and vaccinations.
by leaps and bounds as it
seeks to provide the best pos-
sible service with its available
resources.
Beverly Beach, president of
the BMHA’s board, noted that
the facility was used as a kill
shelter from the mid-1990s up
until around 2012. In addition,
the shelter was being lived in
by the former president. The
new board is now faced with
the task of making the best out
of limited supplies and out-
dated equipment.
“This place was a mess,”
Beach said. “The dog kennels
are kind of small compared to
what you would see in a newer
shelter. The dogs rarely had
any time outside. That was
one of the things we instituted
immediately. Every dog gets
outside every single day.”
According to Lord, “We
found the books (from the past)
and they were euthanizing
dozens of animals a day. All
cats that came in if they were
feral, pregnant, sick or black
were euthanized. All pit bulls
were euthanized. They’d hold
them for the minimum amount
of time, which I think was
three days. We started reading
these records, and it was so
depressing.”
Upon taking over the shelter,
Beach and the new staff hauled
off roughly 10,000 pounds of
scrap metal, vehicles on the
property and about 20 pickup
loads of garbage. As part of the
ongoing improvements at the
As the new board and staff
continue to build back trust
with the community, the need
for volunteers and donations is
still paramount.
“We’re super reliant on vol-
unteers,” said Claire Hanson,
an employee who manages the
shelter. “Normally there are
three staff members here every
day, two people fully devoted
to animal care, because it takes
that much time to rotate the
dogs through the yard so they
all get time outside and so we
can get all the cleaning done.”
Union County Animal Con-
trol is a major resource for the
Blue Mountain Humane Asso-
ciation, Beach said.
“We love working with
them. They have been so
amazing,” she said. “They
always have the welfare of the
animals and the welfare of the
shelter in mind when they’re
doing things.”
See, Shelter/Page A5
Off to a promising start
Blood donations in La Grande have been up the past two years
By DICK MASON
The Observer
LA GRANDE — La
Grande is continuing to
defy a national trend in
blood donation.
A total of 224 units of
blood were collected at a
two-day American Red
Cross drive in La Grande
on Tuesday, Jan. 25, and
Wednesday, Jan. 26. This
puts La Grande, where four
more two-day blood drives
will be conducted this year,
on pace to collect 1,120
units of blood in 2022, a
mark that would be 155
units greater than the 965
units collected at Amer-
ican Red Cross blood drives
in La Grande in 2021 and
477 more than the 2020 La
INDEX
Classified ......B2
Comics ...........B5
Crossword ....B3
Dear Abby ....B6
TUESDAY
Grande mark of 643 units.
“We had an outstanding
start and exceeded our
goal because of amazing
community support,” said
Sheldon Strand, who coor-
dinates La Grande’s Amer-
ican Red Cross blood drives
with his wife, Linda Strand.
The increase comes at a
See, Blood/Page A5
WEATHER
Horoscope ....B2
Local...............A2
Lottery ...........A2
Obituaries .....A3
Opinion .........A4
Outdoors ......B1
Sports ............A6
Sudoku ..........B5
THE BATTLE OF THE LASAGNAS
Alex Wittwer/EO Media Group
Phlebotomy technicians with the American Red Cross work with
donors to collect blood during the American Red Cross blood drive
held at The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in La Grande
on Tuesday, Jan. 25, 2022.
Full forecast on the back of B section
Tonight
Sunday
24 LOW
35/29
Mainly clear
Cloudy and chilly
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Issue 12
2 sections, 12 pages
La Grande, Oregon
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