FROM PAGE ONE
TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 22, 2022
THE OBSERVER — A7
SURVEY
Mass crash in Umatilla County closes Interstate 84
Continued from Page A1
Oregon Department of Transportation/Contributed Photo
PENDLETON — A mass crash involving dozens of vehicles early in the after-
noon of Monday, Feb. 21, closed a portion of Interstate 84 about 21 miles east
of Pendleton, according to the Oregon Department of Transportation and Nick
Vora, Union County’s emergency services director.
The crash was reported on ODOT’s Trip Check website at 12:44 p.m.
Pendleton Fire Chief Jim Critchley said the wrecks stretch for a mile and emer-
gency agencies from regional counties are responding.
Capt. Merle Laci with the La Grande Fire Department said two ambulances
and one rescue rig were on scene from Union County, with crews from Union and
Island City fi re departments on standby. The La Grande Fire Department sent
eight personnel to the scene.
Laci said crews are conducting triage and no other emergency vehicles have
been called as of 2:30 p.m.
According to a press release from ODOT, “This is expected to be an extended
closure lasting through the evening for westbound freeway and at least several
hours for eastbound freeway.”
The westbound freeway also is closed to trucks in Ontario due to limited truck
parking in Baker City and La Grande. Highway 204 (Tollgate Highway) and High-
CTE
Continued from Page A1
“Transition time will
be reduced and the time
students have to work
in the woodshop will be
increased,” Wells said.
The robotics lab will
replace one now located
in the high school gym.
Wells said that having a
robotics classroom in the
CTE center will be a plus
because the CTE center
includes a metal shop,
where there are many tools
that are needed to create
robots.
A timetable for the con-
struction of the classroom,
robotics lab and open-air
work station has not been
set yet because it has not
been determined how much
construction costs will be.
The Union School District
is now accepting proposals
and bids from contractors
for the construction. Wells
said that if the amounts the
contractors would charge
for the projects is more than
what the school district can
pay, some of the work will
be postponed until funding
is available.
“We will see what we
can aff ord,” Wells said.
“I’m hopeful that we will
receive an off er we cannot
refuse.”
The school district has
made the construction of
way 245 also were closed to all but local traffi c. ODOT reported these are not
viable detour routes for freeway traffi c.
Grande Ronde Hospital Incident Commander Elaine LaRochelle activated the
hospital’s incident command system, according to a press release from Mardi
Ford, public information offi cer.
“We are preparing to support any patients sent our way with emergency ser-
vices and medical care,” Ford said in the release. “We do not have any news on
distribution of patients to be sent our way. However, we are prepared to assist
in this emergency. We are cooperating fully with all regional partners, including
our media contacts, to do what we can to keep everyone informed. Our primary
mission, however, is to provide emergency services and medical care to patients
in need. Once we know more, we will issue an update.”
Emily Smith, director of communications for St. Anthony Hospital, Pendleton,
reported that as of 3 p.m., the hospital received six patients from the multi-vehi-
cle crash. “The patients’ statuses are unknown at this time,” she reported, “and
no information on ages etc. is available to the media at this time.”
The Observer will have updated information on this story in print Thursday,
Feb. 24, and online as it becomes available at lagrandeobserver.com
the robotics lab and the
classroom its top priority
and the building of the out-
door work space its second
priority.
Wells said it is very
likely that construction of
the classroom and robotics
lab will begin in early
March and could be fi n-
ished by early fall.
Wells wants the Union
School District’s CTE pro-
gram to develop to the point
that students, after gradu-
ating, will have the skills
needed to begin working in
the manufacturing industry
for local fi rms, such as
Woodgrain Lumber, Boise
Cascade, Northwood Man-
ufacturing and Barreto
Alex Wittwer/EO Media Group, File
Union High School student Kyle Boren works in the school’s wood-
shop on Monday, Jan. 31, 2022. The district’s former bus barn was
renovated into a new woodshop and welding building in 2021. Plans
for further expansion in the career and technical education center
include an adjacent classroom, a robotics lab and a large covered
outdoor area.
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STOPS
Continued from Page A1
such as a country road in
rural Oregon on a winter’s
night — the loss of a head-
light poses a serious safety
concern.
“When we see a vehicle
approaching us with two
headlights — you’re able to
discern the outboard sec-
tions of that vehicle,” he
said. “If you see one head-
light, in hours of darkness
or low light, you know, is
it a motorcycle or is it a
vehicle with a headlight out,
and which headlight is it? If
it’s a two-lane highway or
a roadway, you don’t know
— are they in their lane or
your lane? It’s genuinely a
safety issue.”
Bell also said that in his
many years working as a
law enforcement offi cer,
and among the countless
times he’s stopped motor-
ists for faulty equipment, he
often heard the driver state
that they were unaware that
their headlights were out.
That can spell disaster, Bell
said, if the other headlight
fails as well, creating a sit-
uation that is “straight-up
unsafe.”
Oregon State Police has
a program in place that
gives motorists with faulty
Manufacturing.
The planned additions
come on the heels of a
major boost the program
received last summer when
the school district’s former
bus barn was renovated into
a woodshop with money
from a $140,000 state
CTE grant. The grant was
written by Karolyn Kelley,
UHS’s agricultural sciences
teacher.
The renovation of the
bus barn was completed
in the summer of 2021
and provides much needed
space for the high school’s
woodshop, which was
revived in 2020 after being
shut down for more than 25
years.
whiney third will fi nd some way
to draw attention to themselves
and how they’re being personally
oppressed instead of doing any
meaningful Democratic debates,”
wrote Brenda Pace, a Deschutes
County resident who responded to
the survey.
The survey asked about the
state’s direction and mental
well-being. The margin of error
ranges from 1.6% to 2.6% due
to rounding. The Oregon Values
and Beliefs Center is an indepen-
dent, nonpartisan organization.
The center partnered with Pam-
plin Media Group and EO Media
Group, which owns The Observer
and The Bulletin.
In the survey, suburban respon-
dents were more optimistic than
rural residents. Yet rural residents
said they were less likely to believe
the state is headed in the right
direction than other Oregonians,
according to the survey.
Roughly a quarter of the
respondents defi ned themselves
as from rural areas and 37% were
suburban.
The younger the respondents
were and the farther west of the
Cascades they lived, the more opti-
mistic the responses about 2022,
according to the survey. Gener-
ally, those who were ages 45 to
74 were not optimistic about the
year, according to the results. And
Black, Indigenous and other people
of color were signifi cantly more
likely to say they were hopeful
about 2022.
“I have lived many years
growing up in Portland and now
live outside of Portland in a rural
area,” wrote Aurora Kay Sancoy,
who lives in Lane County. “One
thing I have learned is that politics
diff er geographically.”
www.eomediagroup.com
Charles & Eileen
Stewart
10304 A 1st St.
Island City, OR
cstewartpc@gmail.com
Alex Wittwer/EO Media Group, File
An Oregon State Police trooper’s signature hat sits in the cabin of an
OSP service vehicle on Wednesday, Jan. 26, 2022. A law in the Oregon
legislature would remove the ability of offi cers to stop motorists for
faulty lights, which La Grande Police Chief Gary Bell sees as a safety
concern.
lighting a voucher for auto
parts stores to allow them
to get discounts on the parts
needed to fi x issues such as
burned-out bulbs.
But the law, if passed,
would limit those interac-
tions and prevent drivers
and motorists from
receiving those vouchers
and the notifi cation that
their equipment was defec-
tive. OSP offi cials said they
weren’t looking to discon-
tinue the program, however.
“At this time there are
no plans to discontinue the
Car Care Program,” Oregon
State Police Capt. Steph-
anie Bigman said. “The
passage of SB1510 may
aff ect the overall numbers
of vouchers handed out but
offi cers would still have
the option of providing the
vouchers if the person was
stopped for an unrelated
violation.”
SB1510 would also
make changes to the way in
which law enforcement offi -
cers search vehicles. The
bill would require motor-
ists give informed verbal
consent for the search when
no probable cause is found.
That verbal consent would
also need to be recorded.
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