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TUESDAY EDITION
February 15, 2022
Fighting the power
Idaho Power seeks access to private property ahead of B2H approval
La Grande grade
school students learn
how to scale EOU’s
climbing wall
By DICK MASON
The Observer
LA GRANDE — It
appeared that winter was in
the rearview mirror in the
Grande Ronde Valley on
Friday, Feb. 11.
The mild and sunny
weather had an air of per-
fection. Still, none of the 24
students in Kylinn Irwin’s
fourth grade class at Cen-
tral Elementary School
were complaining about
being indoors. In fact, they
seemed to care about only
two things — scaling por-
tions of Eastern Oregon
University’s climbing wall
at Quinn Coliseum or
helping a classmate during
the new La Grande School
District program.
The climbing wall, com-
plete with footholds, looked
a bit daunting but that did
not prevent each of the stu-
dents from scaling at least
a portion of it and then rap-
pelling down from it.
Ruthi Davenport, a EOU
education professor emerita,
who helped found the new
program, was proud of the
students’ eff orts, noting that
they caught on quickly.
“They were dancing on
the rock,” she said.
The program Daven-
port helped found is Team
5C, which is providing all
La Grande School District
students in grades 3-5 an
opportunity to learn how
to wall climb during a pair
of one-hour sessions. The
Team 5C program started in
January and will conclude
at the end of April. Classes
will begin attending their
second sessions in early
March.
Davenport, along with
Michael Hatch, EOU’s out-
door program director, lead
the wall climbing sessions
and are working in collab-
oration with La Grande
School District Superinten-
dent George Mendoza and
See, Climbing/Page A7
Alex Wittwer/EO Media Group
Greg Larkin, along with his blue heeler, Killie, stands outside the home he is building on his property near Morgan Lake Road on Saturday, Feb. 12, 2022.
By DAVIS CARBAUGH
The Observer
L
A GRANDE — Greg
Larkin has worked for
decades to create his
dream retirement spot off the
grid south of Morgan Lake.
That dream could be off the
table if proposed electricity
lines are installed on his
property.
Idaho Power Company
is attempting to establish a
500-kilovolt line across Eastern
Oregon that would extend
approximately 300 miles from
Boardman to Hemingway,
Idaho. For locals like Larkin,
the lines present a number of
issues such as lowered property
value and an overall decrease
in the serenity of the land in
question.
“The site view with the
towers going across and the
static hiss of the line, I think it
will destroy the peace and tran-
quility of the lake,” Larkin said.
And in Larkin’s case, the
line could have serious negative
health repercussions.
As Idaho Power pushes for-
ward with its plans for the B2H
transmission line, the company
Alex Wittwer/EO Media Group
Greg Larkin, owner of a parcel of land off Morgan Lake Road, on Saturday,
Feb. 12, 2022, points out a map where the Boardman to Idaho power line
project would cross his property.
has fi led about a dozen civil
petitions in Union County Cir-
cuit Court to gain access to pri-
vate property in order to con-
duct surveys and examinations
on the land. The company’s
verbiage in the petitions indi-
cates that work could begin as
early as 2023, if approved.
The sound of silence
Larkin, a native of La
Grande, has owned 160 acres
just south of Morgan Lake
since 1974. After moving back
from The Dalles in the late
1990s, he has spent count-
less hours working to build up
the land and create an ideal
retirement location. In addi-
tion, work has been done on
the trees and topography of the
land to make the acreage as
silent as possible.
The silence is important
because Larkin suff ers from
tinnitus, a constant ringing in
the ears that makes him sensi-
tive to buzzing and loud noises.
The crackling and hissing of
the B2H power lines could
force the landowner into an
unlivable situation.
“I choose to live off the grid
because of my tinnitus,” Larkin
said. “It’s as close to the wilder-
ness as I can get without fully
being in the wilderness.”
Larkin spent his professional
years as a locomotive engineer,
before leaving that job because
of the tinnitus. He now tends
to his horses and works on his
new two-story house and shop
as he copes with his hearing
issues and seeks to live a
peaceful life alongside his dogs
— his father owns an adjacent
plot of land.
If the B2H plans were to go
through, Larkin would have no
choice but to leave the prop-
erty he has spent so many years
working on.
“If this transmission line
were to go through at this loca-
tion, I would no longer be able
to reside or fulfi ll my life-
time dreams and goal of living
here,” Larkin said at a public
hearing in June 2019. “And I
See, B2H/Page A7
Raising bett er readers: Modern methods promise improved literacy
The Observer
LA GRANDE — By the end of
third grade, about half of Oregon
students have fallen behind in
reading comprehension. Diffi culty
reading at this early stage often
leads to lower achievement in
school, as well as in adult life.
A new program developed by
Eastern Oregon University’s Col-
lege of Education aims to equip
teachers with tools and strategies to
ensure more children stay on track.
Education professor
a dual model so pre-ser-
Ronda Fritz founded the
vice teachers and in-service
EOU Reading Clinic
teachers receive training at
because her undergradu-
diff erent times of the year,”
ates needed opportunities to
Fritz said.
practice the structured lit-
She partnered with the
eracy methods taught in her
Oregon Trail Regional Edu-
Fritz
classes. She discovered that
cation Network to incorpo-
some in-service teachers weren’t
rate the EOU Reading Clinic into
using these researched-based prac- teacher training schedules. The
tice in their classroom curriculum. network, which covers Morrow,
“If we could train teachers,
Union, Baker and Umatilla coun-
then our students would be able to
ties, also agreed to provide a
practice in their classrooms. It’s
$2,000 stipend to teachers who
INDEX
Classified ......B2
Comics ...........B5
Crossword ....B2
Dear Abby ....B6
WEATHER
Home .............B1
Horoscope ....B4
Local...............A2
Lottery ...........A2
THURSDAY
Obituaries .....A5
Opinion .........A4
Sports ............A8
Sudoku ..........B5
Full forecast on the back of B section
Tonight
Wednesday
27 LOW
44/22
Mostly cloudy
Low clouds
SIDES DIVIDED OVER WOLF PROPOSAL
attend the clinic. Online instruc-
tion allows Fritz to reach rural
Oregon’s far-fl ung teachers, many
of whom cope with even lower
levels of reading profi ciency in
their schools.
“There’s this inequity in
reading instruction that leaves
chunks of students unable to read,”
Fritz said. “In the U.S. 60% of kids
are not at grade level by the end
of third grade, and 50% in Oregon
See, Literacy/Page A7
CONTACT US
541-963-3161
Issue 20
2 sections, 14 pages
La Grande, Oregon
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Online at lagrandeobserver.com