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SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 26, 2022
INSIDE
February 26, 2022
COVID-19
Oregon
to lift
masking
rules
March 19
Gov. Kate Brown is
also ending the
two-year-long state
of emergency
By DIRK VANDERHART
Oregon Public Broadcasting
SALEM — Oregon’s
masking rules now have a
fi rm expiration date: March
19.
As COVID-19 infec-
tions and hospitaliza-
tions plummet across the
state, the Oregon Health
Authority will lift require-
ments for masks in indoor
public spaces and schools
earlier than expected; the
mandate had been sched-
uled to lapse by March 31.
At the same time, Gov.
Kate Brown announced
Thursday, Feb. 24, that she
will rescind her COVID-19
state of emergency decla-
ration on April 1. By then
the declaration will have
lingered for more than two
years, allowing the gov-
ernor to take unprecedented
actions to stem the spread
of the virus.
“I am really excited that
our numbers are down,”
Union County Commis-
sioner Donna Beverage
said. “Of course, you can
only hope that we can get
back to how we were before
the pandemic.”
Taken together, the
moves are the most sig-
nifi cant curtailment of
COVID-19 restrictions
that Oregon has seen since
the arrival of the virus in
March 2020. Brown pre-
viously revoked masking
and distancing require-
ments last summer as cases
dropped, only to reinstate
them weeks later as the
delta variant of the virus
took hold.
Despite those fl uctu-
ations, the governor has
repeatedly extended the
emergency declaration that
has allowed her to wield
broad powers. Brown cau-
WEEKEND EDITION
$1.50
MERA project nears completion
No estimate yet on
size of tree harvest
on Mount Emily
By DAVIS CARBAUGH
The Observer
LA GRANDE — The fi rst sec-
tion of a contested forest manage-
ment project at Mount Emily Rec-
reation Area is nearly fi nished.
Phase one of the Red Apple
Forest Management project, which
is aimed at improving forest health
and conducting logging, is set to
be completed after a month of
work by ReedCo Forestry. The
project intends to limit future
wildfi res in the 300-acre Red
Apple area at MERA.
“They’re wrapping up and
looking to get out of there by the
the forest management. According
to Chambers, winter conditions
throughout the month were ideal,
making the project go on without
any hiccups.
“It stayed good and cold, so the
ground was hard and maintained
snow cover,” he said. “It was really
great conditions.”
After the project was delayed
end of this week,” Union County
Parks Coordinator Sean Chambers
said.
ReedCo Forestry, a Union
County business, was awarded the
project bid on Jan. 5, following
a lengthy public debate over the
proposal.
The project’s time frame was
very dependent on the winter
weather, with frozen grounds cre-
ating a better work condition for
See, MERA/Page A7
A NEW HOME
La Grande School District’s shop
facilities will relocate to Adams Avenue
location if voters approve bond
By DICK MASON
The Observer
A GRANDE — The La Grande School Dis-
trict’s shop for maintenance and grounds
work may have a new home in the next
couple of years.
The shop’s facilities, based at an old building
constructed about 110 years ago, will be moved
from the La Grande Middle School area to the
Adams Professional Plaza on the 1800 block of
Adams Avenue if voters approve a $4.485 million
bond in the May election. Money from the bond
would be spent on the replacement of the school
district’s aging Annex building with a new aca-
demic and athletic center.
L
Alex Wittwer/EO Media Group, File
The building housing La Grande School District’s maintenance, facilities and grounds shop,
seen through a window on Thursday, Dec. 23, 2021, is more than 100 years old. The structure
will be torn down along with the adjacent Annex building if a new athletic and academic
center is approved by voters.
See, Schools/Page A7
Adams Professional Plaza, photographed Tuesday,
Feb. 22, 2022, could be the site of the new maintenance
and grounds work shop for the La Grande School
District within the next year or two.
Alex Wittwer/EO Media Group
See, Masks/Page A7
Imprisoned by the past
New law proposed in Senate could vacate previous
criminal verdicts at the expense of victims
By ALEX WITTWER
EO Media Group
SALEM — Legislators are
pushing through a broad reform
bill that would retroactively allow
criminals to appeal their case if
the verdict wasn’t reached unani-
mously. That could mean regional
district attorneys would be open to
dozens if not thousands of formerly
closed cases that could stretch back
decades.
Senate Bill 1511, which would
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allow those previously convicted of
crimes with a less than unanimous
jury to appeal their decision, is
based on the recent Ramos vs. Lou-
isiana Supreme Court ruling that
found that non-unanimous juries
were unconstitutional.
Oregon, along with Louisiana,
were the only two states in the
nation to allow non-unanimous
juries. The Oregon law was put into
eff ect in 1934, and had racist and
xenophobic origins according to
numerous testimonies for SB 1511.
The Supreme Court of the
Full forecast on the back of B section
Tonight
Sunday
28 LOW
38/28
A bit of snow
Rain/snow
shower
TITLE III GRANT BRINGS $2.5M FOR STUDENT SERVICES
United States denied the retroac-
tivity clause by a 6-3 ruling on May
17, 2021 in the case of Edwards vs.
Warden Vannoy, with Justice Brett
Kavanaugh writing the majority
opinion. However, Kavanaugh also
wrote that the states could make
their own retroactivity laws, which
is what Oregon aims to do with SB
1511.
Baker County District Attorney
Greg Baxter said the law for
non-unanimous juries was followed
See, Verdicts/Page A7
CONTACT US
541-963-3161
Issue 25
2 sections, 14 pages
La Grande, Oregon
Email story ideas
to news@lagrande
observer.com.
More contact info
on Page A4.
Online at lagrandeobserver.com