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TUESDAY EDITION
March 29, 2022
Delayed
festival set
for June
debut
Elgin Opera House to
host Shakespeare Festival
By DICK MASON
The Observer
ELGIN — The Elgin Opera
House’s fi rst Shakespeare Festival
is set to emerge from the shadow
of COVID-19.
Preparations for the June fes-
tival, canceled in 2020 because
of the COVID-19 pandemic, are
gaining momentum. The Elgin
Opera House has received com-
mitments from award-winning
Shakespearean actors, including
Imogen Stubbs, of London,
England, and Bobby Bermea, of
the United States, to appear and
plans are in place for the produc-
tion of four of Shakespeare’s plays
— “The Merchant of Venice,”
“Othello,” “A Midsummer Night’s
Dream” and “The Two Gentlemen
of Verona” are set to be performed
multiple times from June 17-26.
Terry Hale, the Elgin Opera
House’s executive artistic director,
is excited about the number of
talented people who will be
speaking at or performing in pro-
ductions at the festival.
“We have quite a crew coming
in,” he said.
Hale credits the lineup of
actors to the work of Grant
Turner, the associate artistic
director of the Elgin Opera House,
who is playing a leading role
in organizing the Shakespeare
festival.
“Grant is doing an amazing
job,” he said.
Hale hopes that the festival
goes on to become an annual fi x-
ture in Elgin.
“We want this to become a tra-
dition,” he said.
Festival performances and pre-
sentations will take place at the
Elgin Opera House, on its outdoor
stage and in its second building on
Alder Street, which is the home
of the Hale Turner Little Theatre
and a dance studio. A second per-
formance site, the Jewel Theatre,
is now being constructed in the
building.
“It should be fi nished in one to
two months,” said Kathy Bonney,
executive assistant of the nonprofi t
Friends of the Opera House.
Physical preparations for the
festival received a big boost ear-
lier this month, when the Union
County Board of Commissioners
voted to provide the Friends
of the Opera House $8,738 for
Going with
the fl ow
Plan for improving Upper Grande Ronde Basin water
quality and quantity recognized by state commission
By DICK MASON • The Observer
A GRANDE — An effort to improve the flow of rivers and
L
streams in the Upper Grande Ronde Basin, which includes
Catherine Creek, has received a major boost.
The Upper Grande Ronde Watershed
Partnership Place-Based Integrated Water
Resources Plan has been recognized by
the Oregon Water Resources Commis-
sion. The recognition, received following
a unanimous vote of the water resources
commission, means the plan can now
be put into eff ect to address issues like
fl ooding and low in-stream late-summer
fl ows.
“This is a local plan meant to move
our community forward in the next 100
years in a way which will help all and hurt
none,” said Union County Commissioner
Donna Beverage, who helped develop the
plan.
The plan, which was fi ve years in the
making, was prepared with the help of
local, state and federal agencies, including
the Oregon Department of Fish and Wild-
life, the Union County Farm Bureau, the
Union County Soil and Water Conser-
vation District, the Union County Cat-
tlemen’s Association, the Grande Ronde
See, Festival/Page A6
Model Watershed, the Confederated
Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation
and cities, plus many local farmers and
ranchers.
Quality and quantity
The Upper Grande Ronde Basin is one
of four in Oregon provided funding by
the state commission to develop a plan for
boosting its water quality and quantity as
part of a pilot project. Beverage said the
signifi cance of the plan being recognized
by the state cannot be overstated.
“I see this as a great milestone,” she
said.
Beverage said it is a major step not only
for the Upper Grande Ronde Basin, but for
the Oregon Water Resources Department
and all planning groups in the other three
basins in the future. She said the success
of the plan development here will make it
easier for the plans being developed in the
other three basins to move forward.
The plan lists what its creators believe
Alex Wittwer/EO Media Group
The Grande Ronde River
surges near Riverside Park,
La Grande, on Tuesday,
March 22, 2022. A plan for
improving the quantity
and quality of water in
the Upper Grande Ronde
Basin, fi ve years in the
making, has received the
go-ahead from the state.
are the nine most important strategies for
addressing needs in the Upper Grande
Ronde Basin.
“After six years of hard work, tough
discussions and considering the water
needs of all users, I am proud of the fi nal
list of the nine most important strategies
identifi ed to address our needs and con-
cerns in the Upper Grande Ronde Basin,”
Beverage said.
She also looks at the plan from a philo-
sophical perspective.
“Water is life, and this local plan will
help us look into the future and make sure
we provide clean and abundant water for
future generations,” she said.
Building resilience
The executive summary of the plan
states that it will provide strategies for
meeting the water needs of communities
in the Upper Grande Ronde Basin while
adhering to all existing laws and policies.
“This planning eff ort will help under-
stand and meet the water needs of our
communities, economy, and environment
consistent with existing law and policy and
will not jeopardize any existing rights to
use water,” the executive summary states.
Jed Hassinger, a Cove area farmer
who helped with the development of the
plan, was pleased with how its creation
progressed over the course of about 100
meetings.
“It’s been heartening to see the ag,
municipal and ecological groups put polit-
ical diff erences aside and work toward
See, Water/Page A6
‘We tried to save each other’
Cody Watson,
pictured
here during a
bowhunting trip,
was injured in a
fall in July 2021
near Pilot Rock
and died before
rescuers could save
him from a narrow
canyon. Watson, 21,
was a member of
the Oregon Army
National Guard,
loved outdoor
activities and
planned to become
a military pilot.
Fall from waterfall brings complex challenges for first responders
Editor’s Note: This is the
fi rst of a two-part feature.
Look for the conclusion in
The Observer in print and
online Thursday, March 31.
By KATHY ANEY
East Oregonian
PILOT ROCK — One
day last July, three long-
time friends headed to the
mountains to cool off in
a swimming hole. They
never imagined one of them
wouldn’t make it home.
The young men — Kyler
Carter and Braydon Postma,
both 23, and Cody Watson,
21 — had a close-knit
friendship. They’d bonded
as young boys in Pilot
Rock, playing ball, tag and
climbing on the jungle gym.
In later years, they hunted
and hiked in the mountains,
tubed in McKay Reservoir,
participated in sports and
played competitive games of
Call of Duty: Black Ops II.
See, Rescue/Page A6
WEATHER
INDEX
Classified ......B4
Comics ...........B7
Crossword ....B4
Dear Abby ....B8
Basically, said Carter,
“We were brothers.”
The tragic adventure
began last July 1 on a sunny
afternoon. The three waited
until Watson got off work
and then rode in Postma’s
pickup about 10 miles south
of Pilot Rock into the moun-
tains. The destination was
a picturesque spot they’d
visited dozens of times —
a swimming hole on West
Home .............B1
Horoscope ....B4
Local...............A2
Lottery ...........A2
THURSDAY
Obituaries .....A5
Opinion .........A4
Sports ............A8
Sudoku ..........B7
Sharon Gaines/Contributed Photo
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Issue 38
2 sections, 16 pages
La Grande, Oregon
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