LOCAL
A2 — THE OBSERVER
TuESday, FEBRuaRy 15, 2022
Church
replaces
defunct
bell system
TODAY
In 1764, the site of pres-
ent-day St. Louis was estab-
lished by Pierre Laclede and
Auguste Chouteau.
In 1898, the U.S. battleship
Maine mysteriously blew up
in Havana Harbor, killing more
than 260 crew members and
bringing the United States
closer to war with Spain.
In 1933, President-elect
Franklin D. Roosevelt escaped
an assassination attempt in
Miami that mortally wounded
Chicago Mayor Anton J.
Cermak; gunman Giuseppe
Zangara was executed more
than four weeks later.
In 1944, Allied bombers
destroyed the monastery atop
Monte Cassino in Italy.
In 1961, 73 people, including
an 18-member U.S. figure
skating team en route to the
World Championships in
Czechoslovakia, were killed in
the crash of a Sabena Airlines
Boeing 707 in Belgium.
In 1965, singer Nat King
Cole, 45, died in Santa Monica,
California.
In 1967, the rock band Chi-
cago was founded by Walter
Parazaider, Terry Kath, Danny
Seraphine, Lee Loughnane,
James Pankow and Robert
Lamm; the group originally
called itself The Big Thing.
In 1989, the Soviet Union
announced that the last of its
troops had left Afghanistan,
after more than nine years of
military intervention.
In 1992, a Milwaukee jury
found that Jeffrey Dahmer was
sane when he killed and muti-
lated 15 men and boys. (The
decision meant that Dahmer,
who had already pleaded guilty
to the murders, would receive
a mandatory life sentence for
each count; Dahmer was beaten
to death in prison in 1994.)
In 2003, millions of protesters
around the world demon-
strated against the prospect of
a U.S. attack on Iraq.
In 2005, defrocked priest
Paul Shanley was sentenced
in Boston to 12 to 15 years in
prison on child rape charges.
In 2020, the U.S. govern-
ment said Americans who were
on board a cruise ship under
quarantine in Japan because
of the coronavirus would be
flown back home on a char-
tered flight, but that they would
face another two-week quaran-
tine; about 380 Americans were
aboard the Diamond Princess.
Today’s Birthdays: Actor
Claire Bloom is 91. Author Susan
Brownmiller is 87. Rock musi-
cian Mick Avory (The Kinks) is 78.
Jazz musician Henry Threadgill
is 78. Actor Jane Seymour is 71.
Singer Melissa Manchester is 71.
Actor Lynn Whitfield is 69. “Simp-
sons” creator Matt Groening is
68. Model Janice Dickinson is
67. Actor Christopher McDonald
is 67. Reggae singer Ali Camp-
bell is 63. Musician Mikey Craig
(Culture Club) is 62. College and
Pro Football Hall of Famer Dar-
rell Green is 62. Actor-come-
dian Steven Michael Quezada
is 59. Latin singer Gloria Trevi is
54. Rock musician Stevie Benton
(Drowning Pool) is 51. Actor
Sarah Wynter is 49. Olympic
gold medal swimmer Amy Van
Dyken-Rouen is 49. Actor-di-
rector Miranda July is 48. Rock
singer Brandon Boyd (Incubus)
is 46. Rock musician Ronnie Van-
nucci (The Killers) is 46. Rock
singer/guitarist Adam Granduciel
(The War on Drugs) is 43. Sing-
er-songwriter-musician Conor
Oberst (Bright Eyes) is 42. Actor
Ashley Lyn Cafagna is 39. Blues-
rock musician Gary Clark Jr. is 38.
Actor Natalie Morales is 37. Actor
Amber Riley is 36. Rapper Megan
Thee Stallion is 27. Actor Zach
Gordon is 24.
Enterprise’s ‘Big Brown
Church’ gets new carillon
By BILL BRADSHAW
Wallowa County Chieftain
Bill Bradshaw/Wallowa County Chieftain, File
Clouds linger over Joseph City Hall on Friday, May 7, 2021. The Joseph City Council agreed to disband its Zoning Ordinance Task Force
and replace it with an official Planning Commission during the council’s meeting in early February 2022, interim city Administrator
Brock Eckstein said.
Joseph disbands task force
Zoning Ordinance
Task Force replaced
with official Planning
Commission
By BILL BRADSHAW
Wallowa County Chieftain
JOSEPH — The Joseph City
Council agreed to disband its
Zoning Ordinance Task Force
and replace it with an official
Planning Commission during
the council’s meeting earlier this
month, interim city Adminis-
trator Brock Eckstein said.
“I think it was a really good
step forward,” Eckstein said.
“Joseph’s seen so much growth
and expansion and this commis-
sion will give good direction to
address their rapid growth.”
But the ordinance to formally
create the Planning Commission
Eckstein said state guide-
lines show that the city needs
had to be put on hold, as there
were a couple items missing from a 1.15 full-time equivalent
the initial draft. In particular, the employee to handle the plants.
At present, the work
council wanted all mem-
bers required to be regis-
has fallen to the entire
tered voters in Wallowa
public works crew and no
County and wanted to
single employee has been
allow property owners who
devoted to the task.
own land within the city’s
“There’s not enough
urban growth boundary to
time in the day to address
Eckstein
be able to serve whether
all the plants’ needs,” Eck-
stein said. “Right now,
or not they live within the
there’s no one dedicated to the
city limits. The UGB is the area
plant operations to make sure
on the outskirts of town that
plants are operating at 100% all
could likely be annexed into the
the time.”
city limits.
The council agreed to seek a
Eckstein said the final draft of
replacement for Tickner as Public
the ordinance is expected to be
ready for passage at the council’s Works lead. Eckstein said that
just as Tickner was entitled to
March meeting.
having the first chance at the new
In another matter, Public
position, any current employee
Works Lead Levi Tickner was
who is qualified and desires the
hired to take the new position of
Public Works lead position has a
water and sewer plant operator
similar first chance.
on a full-time basis.
Cooler temperatures in the forecast
By DICK MASON
The Observer
LA GRANDE — A lim-
ited amount of snow is in the
National Weather Service’s fore-
cast for the Grande Ronde and
Wallowa valleys over the next
week.
The National Weather Ser-
vice is reporting a 10% chance
of snow in La Grande and a 30%
chance of snow in Enterprise early
on Tuesday, Feb. 15.
“By the afternoon it will be
dry,” said Larry Nierenberg, a
meteorologist with the National
Weather Service in Pendleton.
No snow, rain or high winds
is in the forecast for the Grande
Ronde and Wallowa valleys at
least through Feb. 19.
“The higher pressure
system will be building
up until the weekend.”
— Larry Nierenberg,
a meteorologist with the National
Weather Service in Pendleton
Nierenberg said this will be due
to a high pressure system coming
into Northeastern Oregon.
“The higher pressure system
will be building up until the
weekend,” he said.
The meteorologist said that
early in the morning Feb. 20 there
may be some snow in the Blue
Mountains and the Wallowas.
The weather is projected to be
cooler in La Grande and Enter-
prise than it was over the past
week. La Grande’s high tem-
peratures are forecast to be 38
degrees on Feb. 15, 39 degrees
on Feb. 16, 44 degrees on Feb.
17, 45 degrees on Feb. 18 and 44
degrees on Feb. 19. Enterprise’s
high temperatures are projected
by the National Weather Ser-
vice to be 31 degrees on Feb.
15, 33 degrees on Feb. 16 and 38
degrees on Feb. 17-19.
The low temperatures for La
Grande are expected to be 26
degrees on Feb. 15, 27 degrees on
Feb. 16, 31 degrees on Feb. 17, 31
degrees on Feb. 18 and 32 degrees
on Feb. 19. Enterprise’s low tem-
peratures are forecast to be 16
degrees on Feb. 15, 15 degrees on
Feb. 16, 21 degrees on Feb. 17-18
and 23 degrees on Feb. 19.
LOTTERY
Friday, Feb. 11, 2022
Megamillions
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Megaplier: 3
Jackpot: $53 million
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10 p.m.: 7-3-9-3
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Powerball
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Powerball: 7
Power Play: 3
Jackpot: $183 million
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Jackpot: $1.6 million
Lucky Lines
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10 p.m.: 5-5-8-1
Win for Life
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Lucky Lines
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Estimated jackpot: $25,000
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4 p.m.: 6-0-7-9
7 p.m.: 6-0-2-6
10 p.m.: 2-4-4-3
alex Wittwer/EO Media Group, File
Positive cases of COVID-19 have been low among Eastern Oregon University students in February 2022. After a spike earlier in the
year, EOU reported only five cases on Feb. 7 and three on Feb. 8.
COVID-19 cases remain steady at EOU
By DAVIS CARBAUGH
The Observer
LA GRANDE — After a spike
in COVID-19 cases that reflected
statewide trends early in the year,
cases at Eastern Oregon University
plateaued over the last week.
From Sunday, Feb. 6, through
Feb. 13, the university reported
eight total cases. The weekly trend
comes in the wake of 182 cases in
January.
Eastern tallied five cases on Feb.
7 and three cases on Feb. 8. Since
the university began tracking cases
in July of 2021, there have been 287
total COVID-19 cases among those
associated with Eastern Oregon
University. There have been 158
cases among off-campus students,
52 cases among employees and 42
cases among on-campus students.
As of Feb. 13, the universi-
ty’s test positivity rate is 11.6%
— Eastern has conducted 2,482
total tests. The percentage takes
into account double-testing posi-
tive individuals.
Eastern totaled one off-campus
isolation/quarantine during the
past week. The university has 50
total isolation rooms available on
campus.
As of the fall semester,
in-person vaccination among stu-
dents stands at 75.7%. There
is a 24.2% exemption rate for
on-campus students.
For employees, 80.1% are vac-
cinated and 17.7% received an
exemption.
ENTERPRISE — After a
couple of years of silence, the
bells at the Enterprise Commu-
nity Congregational Church are
ringing again, since a new carillon
was installed Thursday, Feb. 10.
Church member Stacy Green
said the old carillon ceased to work
a couple years ago. A carillon is a
set of bells in a tower, played using
a keyboard or by an automatic
mechanism similar to a piano roll.
According to the Guild of Carillon-
neurs of North America there are
166 traditional carillons in the USA
and Enterprise has one of those.
The carillon, installed by Skip
Pepers of the Verdin Co., who
drove up from Boise, Idaho, is
largely the legacy left by longtime
musical director and pianist at the
“Big Brown Church,” Gail Swart.
“We have had a carillon,
according to Verdin’s records,
since 1964,” Green said. “Verdin
replaced the 1964 model in the
1990s and that lasted until a
couple of years ago. We were
trying to repair it and we couldn’t
repair it and we just decided we
needed a new one, but that was
$12,000, so it was a big expense.”
Swart was instrumental in get-
ting the new sound system in
place.
“It was something that was
important to Gail Swart, who was
our longtime music director. Gail
passed away Jan. 28,” Green said.
“She helped raise the money. She
sent out letters and put the word
out that we were trying to raise the
money. That was last fall. Shortly
after that, she was diagnosed with
cancer. This was a project that
was important to her and she was
thrilled to know that it would go
forward.”
Ken Holt, chairman of the
church’s board of trustees, recalled
Swart’s longstanding commitment
to music at the church.
“She started playing here when
she was 12 years old,” he said.
Mark Green, Stacy’s husband,
said the success of the fund-
raising showed the church’s and
the community’s affection for
Swart.
“People just got together and
made it happen,” he said. “Person-
ally, I was skeptical we were going
to be able to, but it’s a testimony
to who Gail was.”
The carillon
The carillon has no real bells,
Pepers said. He replaced the elec-
tronics: the control system and the
amplifier, which sends a digitally
recorded sound of bells through
four large speakers mounted on
the church’s roof.
“They’re actually all dig-
ital,” Pepers said. “They’re not
real bells. Even the old system
was all digital; they’re not real
swinging bells. What’s up on
the tower are four big horns that
are in an array facing out. … It’s
a complete digital system with
recorded bells on it.”
As for the times the bells will
ring, that will be up to the church
leadership.
“We’ve talked about doing it at
noon and at six,” Mark Green said.
The church likely will keep it
limited to those two times. There
have been times in the past when
middle-of-the-night bells dis-
turbed church neighbors.
“We already did that and it
didn’t work out so well,” Stacy
Green said.
“We had some young families
with babies that were awakened,”
Holt said. “That’s why we thought
midnight and 3 a.m.” were not
suitable.
“That’s what got us the most
heat was when the programming
was dying and it was going off
in the middle of the night,” Mark
Green said.
But that was an anomaly, his
wife said.
“We didn’t have any trouble
that I heard of when it was func-
tioning normally,” she said.
Many people in the community
donated toward the new carillon,
many in the memory of someone
they cared about and others to
honor Swart, Stacy Green said.
“We hope every time people
hear the bells, it’ll bring joy to the
neighborhood,” she said.