FROM PAGE ONE
THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 17, 2022
THE OBSERVER — A7
RENEWAL
Continued from Page A1
full $250,000 that we had
budgeted for that fi scal year,
which is pretty typical for
us in the past,” Strope said.
“We’ve generally had more
requests for funding than
we’ve had dollars available.”
The Raul’s Taqueria
funds — $21,000 out of
a $46,000 project cost —
involved an expansion into
the adjacent space that pre-
viously housed Looking
Glass Books. The reno-
vation increased Raul’s
capacity from roughly
30-40 customers to
upward of 90, according to
co-owner Arturo Escamilla.
“It’s defi nitely increased
business and we’ve been
happy,” Escamilla said.
Funds from the grant
helped pay for the expan-
sion, as well as renovation
in the original restaurant
space. The Adams Avenue
business has been in opera-
tion since 2011, but can now
cater to an expanded cus-
tomer base with the addition
of a functioning bar in the
new space.
“Everyone seems to like
it,” Escamilla said. “We
have had a lot of compli-
ments from our regular cus-
tomers, as well as getting
new customers to come in.”
The $64,220 in Urban
Renewal grant funding at
The Local were used in ren-
ovating the former Texaco
station on Adams Avenue
into a coff ee and ice cream
shop with indoor and out-
door seating and a drive-
thru window.
In the 2020-21 fi scal
year, $69,708 was used to
assist Hines Meat Co. in
adding coolers and equip-
ment to meet USDA
standards and increase
off erings.
Another URA project
in the fi scal year was ren-
ovating the Slate Building
on Fir Street. The report
indicated that $34,700
was spent on the building,
which includes housing
units and street-level busi-
nesses. The renovations
ABUSE
Continued from Page A1
“That would be on the
basis of the suffi ciency of
the evidence,” Schaeff er
said, though that would be
for her appellate attorney to
determine.
According to court
records, the specifi cs of the
20 counts include payment
of Wayne Lathrop’s bar tab,
the purchase and installa-
tion of new fl ooring in Betsy
Lathrop’s home in Lostine,
the purchase of a Lexus,
the purchase of a pickup for
Betsy Lathrop’s daughter
and cash withdrawn and/or
checks to Betsy Lathrop.
Lathrop also was accused
of eight counts of iden-
tity theft — also a Class
C felony — on various
dates between October and
December 2016 when she
allegedly wrote checks using
her father’s identifi cation,
according to court records.
She was acquitted on the
identity theft charges.
Lathrop was convicted of
the counts that accused her
of purchasing and having
installed new fl ooring and a
washer and dryer at her Los-
tine home. She also was con-
victed of using her father’s
money to pay for expenses at
her home and of withdrawing
cash or writing checks on the
elder Lathrop’s bank account
for her own use.
Class C felonies can be
punished with up to fi ve
years in prison, Wallowa
County District Attorney
Rebecca Frolander said in
September 2020. However,
she said then, defendants
rarely get the maximum sen-
tence for a variety of rea-
Alex Wittwer/EO Media Group
Gust Tsiatsos, owner of The Local in downtown La Grande, works on improvements to the coff ee and ice cream cafe on Tuesday, Feb. 15, 2022.
“Everyone seems to like it. We have had
a lot of compliments from our regular
customers, as well as getting new
customers to come in.”
— Arturo Escamilla, co-owner of Raul’s Taqueria,
about the renovation
Alex Wittwer/EO Media Group
Marisol Cisneros, an employee at The Local in downtown La Grande, prepares drinks for customers on
Tuesday, Feb. 15, 2022.
involved improvements to
HVAC systems, electrical
systems and mechanical
systems.
The fi nal project of the
sons. Christian Stringer, an
elder abuse resource prose-
cutor who assisted as pros-
ecuting attorney, said Feb.
14 that sentences on felony
convictions are subject to
the Oregon Sentencing
Guideline Grid, which
can make them even more
complicated.
Kristina Edmunson,
of the state Department
of Justice, agreed on the
use of the grid, saying it’s
unlikely Lathrop will get the
maximum.
It “will likely be a proba-
tionary sentence with some
local jail time possible,”
Edmunson said in a Feb. 14
email.
She said the court also
may order restitution.
Schaeff er said Lathrop may
appeal any court-ordered
restitution, but that wouldn’t
be decided until the sentence
is handed down.
“The issue of restitution
will likely be a contested
issue,” he said.
The lead prosecutor was
Colin Benson, a senior assis-
tant state attorney general.
Lathrop’s defense counsel
was Jim Schaeff er, of La
Grande. He was unavail-
able for comment Feb. 14 or
to ask if Lathrop planned an
appeal.
Frolander said Sept. 21,
2020, that her offi ce referred
the case to Victoria Roe, a
senior assistant attorney gen-
eral and elder abuse resource
prosecutor with the Oregon
Department of Justice. Fro-
lander said the referral was
because that is often the case
in complex legal matters that
require extensive investiga-
tions that local law enforce-
ment has neither the time or
expertise to handle.
fi scal year improved the
parking lot and landscaping
at The Copy Club, a highly
visible business at the busy
intersection of Adams and
is promising.”
The COVID-19 pan-
demic played a role in
project costs and mate-
rial availability, aff ecting
how the agency went about
its projects during the last
fi scal year.
The agency’s plan does
not expire by a specifi c date,
but rather has an allotted
$9,407,121 remaining
indebtedness.
“It can change based on
if we have major projects,”
Strope said. “We still have
several years remaining that
we can continue operating
and do projects at the level
we currently are.”
DEERVID
Continued from Page A1
COVID-19 to the wildlife
population in Oregon, and
to hunters.
The veterinarian also
noted that in the case of a
disease such as COVID-
19, that the virus would
change due to absorbing
DNA from the host.
“When a virus goes
into a new host or a new
species, it takes on some
of the genetic material of
that species or host and it
changes the virus a bit,”
Gillin said.
Gillin also said that
there’s “not a lot of evi-
dence at this point that it
easily goes into other spe-
cies of deer like blacktail
deer, mule deer or elk.”
“It may,” he said, “but
so far there’s been no evi-
dence that it causes dis-
ease in the deer, and
there’s no documented
evidence that it comes
back out of the deer, so
it’s acting like a zoonotic
disease.”
Deer aren’t the
only animals to have
been known to suff er
COVID-19 infections.
Early in the pandemic,
mink farms suff ered tre-
mendous losses as farms
across the world culled
their minks due to the
virus running rampant.
Denmark culled nearly
17 million minks in
November, 2020, after
it was found the virus
had been transmitted
from minks, mutated and
was transmitted back
to the human handlers,
according to reports from
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Island avenues.
According to Strope,
the amount of requests for
funding has trended down
in recent years. The agency
received more than 20 appli-
cations several years ago,
but is currently handling
two total projects in the cur-
rent fi scal year. Strope noted
that having fewer project
requests than dollars avail-
able was a bit of an anomaly
in comparison to typical
fi scal years.
“The budget proposal
that I’m looking at submit-
ting for the coming fi scal
year is going to maintain
the call for projects at that
higher budget amount in
hopes that we’ll have more
projects,” Strope said. “We
are seeing increased interest
in calls for projects, which
Alex Wittwer/EO Media Group, File
A group of young deer make their way across a fi eld near Hunter Road in Summerville on Monday,
Jan. 17, 2022.
NBC news.
But whether or not
the virus will be seen in
Oregon’s deer popula-
tion remains a mystery.
Offi cials with the ODFW
aren’t actively testing or
researching the virus in
Oregon herds. But it’s
also unlikely infected
deer from the Midwest
would end up in Eastern
Oregon, given that the
longest recorded migra-
tion path of a white-tailed
deer is less than 400
miles.
Still, Gillin said the
state is keeping close
watch on any new devel-
opments regarding
COVID-19 in the wildlife
population.
“There’s quite a few
really good researchers
out there working on this
in the Midwest. They’re
putting a lot of resources
into it and we’re in con-
tact with those individ-
uals,” Gillin said. “We
have our ear to ground on
the topic, but we’re not
engaged in active research
in Oregon because of the
low risk.”
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