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TUESDAY EDITION
February 22, 2022
Proposed
law would
limit some
traffi c stops
Senate Bill 1510 would
remove police ability to
initiate traffic stops for
lighting issues
By ALEX WITTWER
EO Media Group
EASTERN OREGON —
Police offi cers might not be able to
pull over Oregon drivers for faulty
lights starting next year if a bill in
the Legislature becomes law.
Senate Bill 1510 would limit
police offi cers from initiating
traffi c stops for taillight, head-
light or other light issues, as
well as require offi cers to secure
verbal consent in order to search
a vehicle. Drivers will also not
have to worry about getting fi x-it
tickets — those would be unen-
forceable unless the
lighting or equip-
ment violation was
accompanied by
another violation
such as speeding.
If passed, the leg-
islation would take
Bell
eff ect on Jan. 1,
2023.
The Senate bill is part of a
broader reform initiative started
in the 2021 legislative ses-
sion with House Bill 2002 — a
47-page document that would
have made sweeping changes to
Oregon’s criminal justice system.
That bill died in the 2021 legis-
lative session. The change to the
laws regarding police offi cers ini-
tiating traffi c stops from lighting
violations comes from text within
HB2002.
Testimony for the bill was
largely in support of the new
restrictions on police stops, citing
racial disparities in the Oregon
criminal justice system and the
use of pretextual police stops as a
way to target minorities.
But for rural law enforcement
offi cials, the inability to stop vehi-
cles with faulty lighting is a con-
cern for safety.
“I’m not in favor of that leg-
islative change,” said La Grande
Police Chief Gary Bell. “The way
I see it, essentially, we’re talking
about a public safety issue. I
understand that this is packaged
in some of the criminal justice
reform legislation eff orts, and I
appreciate those eff orts.”
Bell said that often in
inclement weather or low light —
Alex Wittwer/EO Media Group, File
Michael Day, a student in the woodshop class at Union High School works on a project on Monday, Jan. 31, 2022. Students in the district’s revamped wood-
shop and welding classes often build small items that can be sold to the community so the school can replace materials. The district plans to construct a
covered outdoor work area where larger items, such as garden sheds and greenhouses, can be built.
Getting bigger?
Union district exploring
expansion of high school’s
career and technical
education center
By DICK MASON
The Observer
U
NION — Union High School’s
career and technical education
center is set to soon expand.
Preliminary plans are in place to add
a classroom, a robotics lab and a covered
outdoor work area to Union High School’s
CTE center. The additions will add 5,000
square feet of building space to the high
school’s campus. The addition of the out-
door work area, which will have one or
two walls open, will allow high school
students to build larger items, including
garden sheds, greenhouses and play
structures.
“We want to expand the program so
students can build things on a larger
scale that can be sold in the community,”
said Union School District Superinten-
dent Carter Wells.
The classroom will be used for the
Union High School’s new geometry con-
struction program. Students in the pro-
gram attend a geometry class and then
immediately move to a woodshop to
tackle projects applying geometric con-
cepts they are learning. Currently, stu-
Alex Wittwer/EO Media Group, File
John Townsend, center right, assists student Wyatt McCants with a project during woodshop class at
Union High School on Monday, Jan. 31, 2022.
“We will see what we can aff ord. I’m hopeful that we will
receive an off er we cannot refuse.”
Carter Wells, Union School District superintendent
dents in the high school geometry class
have to walk across campus to reach
the shop. Once the new classroom is
built, geometry students would be adja-
cent to the woodshop, allowing them to
make a quick transition, providing them
with extra time to work on construction
projects.
See, CTE/Page A7
See, Stops/Page A7
Survey fi nds optimism is in short supply in Oregon
By SUZANNE ROIG
The Bulletin
BEND — Optimism is in short
supply these days, according to
a survey of Oregonians by the
Values and Beliefs Center.
And more than half those sur-
veyed feel Oregon is headed down
the wrong path, according to the
survey of 1,400 residents from Jan.
13-20.
“It is sad that people are
unhappy,” said Amaury Vogel,
Oregon Values and Beliefs Center
associate executive director. “I
think it’s more sad that they are
not hopeful that things are going
to get better and that they feel their
elected offi cials are not going to
make progress in making things
better.”
Rising prices, two years of pan-
demic-related restrictions and a
distrust for politicians are contrib-
uting to the amount of optimism
people feel.
The emotional climate of Ore-
gonians is a complex issue, said
Peter Sparks, Oregon State Univer-
sity-Cascades senior instructor and
program coordinator for the psy-
chology program.
“There is likely to be many
complex issues that have led
people to be pessimistic, and
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
helping people become more opti-
mistic will be diffi cult,” Sparks
said of the survey results.
According to the survey, 53%
of those surveyed say they’re opti-
mistic about 2022, compared to
roughly the same period in 2021
when 59% surveyed said they were
very or somewhat optimistic.
More than half those surveyed
also felt that the state was headed
in the wrong direction, a feeling
that is about the same as it was in
February 2021, according to the
results.
“They (lawmakers) will be
able to make signifi cant prog-
ress in benefi tting the opinions of
Full forecast on the back of B section
Tonight
Wednesday
4 LOW
23/9
Bitterly cold
Quite cold
Portlanders, but certainly not the
whole Oregon, which is largely at
odds with Portland and its poli-
tics,” wrote Savannah Singleton,
a Deschutes County resident, in a
response to a survey question.
A deeper dive into the results
shows that 62% of those surveyed
are not optimistic that the Leg-
islature and the governor will be
able to make any progress on key
issues during the current legisla-
tive session.
“Despite a nearly two-thirds
majority in the Legislature,
somehow I suspect that the nut job
See, Survey/Page A7
CONTACT US
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Issue 23
2 sections, 16 pages
La Grande, Oregon
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