LOCAL
A2 — THE OBSERVER
THuRSday, apRil 28, 2022
TODAY
IN BRIEF
In 1788, Maryland became the
seventh state to ratify the Consti-
tution of the United States.
In 1945, Italian dictator Benito
Mussolini and his mistress, Clara
Petacci, were executed by Italian
partisans as they attempted to flee
the country.
In 1947, a six-man expedition
set out from Peru aboard a balsa
wood raft named the Kon-Tiki on a
101-day journey across the Pacific
Ocean to the Polynesian Islands.
In 1952, war with Japan offi-
cially ended as a treaty signed
in San Francisco the year before
took effect. Gen. Dwight D. Eisen-
hower resigned as Supreme Allied
commander in Europe; he was
succeeded by Gen. Matthew B.
Ridgway.
In 1965, President Lyndon B.
Johnson ordered U.S. Marines to
the Dominican Republic to protect
American citizens and interests in
the face of a civil war.
In 1967, heavyweight boxing
champion Muhammad Ali was
stripped of his title after he
refused to be inducted into the
armed forces.
In 1980, President Jimmy Carter
accepted the resignation of Secre-
tary of State Cyrus R. Vance, who
had opposed the failed rescue mis-
sion aimed at freeing American
hostages in Iran. (Vance was suc-
ceeded by Edmund Muskie.)
In 1986, the Soviet Union
informed the world of the nuclear
disaster at Chernobyl.
In 1990, the musical “A Chorus
Line” closed after 6,137 perfor-
mances on Broadway.
In 1994, former CIA official
Aldrich Ames, who had passed
U.S. secrets to the Soviet Union
and then Russia, pleaded guilty to
espionage and tax evasion, and
was sentenced to life in prison
without parole.
In 2001, a Russian rocket lifted
off from Central Asia bearing the
first space tourist, California busi-
nessman Dennis Tito, and two cos-
monauts on a journey to the inter-
national space station.
In 2011, convicted sex offender
Phillip Garrido and his wife, Nancy,
pleaded guilty to kidnapping and
raping a California girl, Jaycee
Dugard, who was abducted in 1991
at the age of 11 and rescued 18
years later. (Phillip Garrido was sen-
tenced to 431 years to life in prison;
Nancy Garrido was sentenced to
36 years to life in prison.)
In 2015, urging Americans to
“do some soul-searching,” Pres-
ident Barack Obama expressed
deep frustration over recur-
ring Black deaths at the hands
of police, rioters who responded
with senseless violence and a
society that would only “feign con-
cern” without addressing the root
causes.
Ten years ago: Syria derided
United Nations Secretary-General
Ban Ki-moon as biased and called
his comments “outrageous” after
he blamed the regime for wide-
spread cease-fire violations.
Five years ago: President
Donald Trump reaffirmed his
support for gun rights, telling
attendees of a National Rifle Asso-
ciation convention in Atlanta that
“the eight-year assault on your
Second Amendment freedoms has
come to a crashing end.”
One year ago: In his first
address to Congress, President
Joe Biden called for an expansion
of federal programs to drive the
economy past the pandemic and
broadly extend the social safety
net on a scale not seen in decades.
Federal agents raided the New
York home and office of Rudy
Giuliani, former President Donald
Trump’s personal lawyer; they
seized computers and cellphones.
Today’s Birthdays: Former Sec-
retary of State James A. Baker III is
92. Actor-singer Ann-Margret is 81.
Actor Paul Guilfoyle is 73. Former
“Tonight Show” host Jay Leno is 72.
Rock musician Chuck Leavell is 70.
Actor Mary McDonnell is 70. Rock
singer-musician Kim Gordon (Sonic
Youth) is 69. Actor Nancy Lee Grahn
is 66. Supreme Court Justice Elena
Kagan is 62. Rapper Too Short is
56. Actor Bridget Moynahan is 51.
Actor Chris Young is 51. Rapper Big
Gipp is 50. Actor Jorge Garcia is 49.
Actor Elisabeth Rohm is 49. Actor
Penelope Cruz is 48. Actor Nate
Richert is 44. TV personalities Drew
and Jonathan Scott are 44. Actor
Jessica Alba is 41. Actor Harry Shum
Jr. is 40. Actor Jenna Ushkowitz is
36. Actor Aleisha Allen is 31.
Joseph council work
session canceled
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The Observer/Dick Mason
Bryce Sullivan does finishing work on a juniper table in the woodshop of his family’s home. He made the table for his senior project at
Imbler High School, in honor of his grandfather Walt Sullivan.
‘He is a giver’
Bryce Sullivan’s
senior project
completed in
memory of his
grandfather
By DICK MASON
The Observer
IMBLER — Students
at Imbler High School have
had to complete senior proj-
ects as a graduation require-
ment since at least 2000.
Hundreds of senior proj-
ects have been completed
since then, few of which
have had a more compel-
ling backstory than one
being completed by Bryce
Sullivan.
The senior is putting fin-
ishing touches on a table
made of juniper wood,
made in honor of his late
grandfather Walt, a ded-
icated volunteer for the
Imbler School District.
Woodworking was one
of Walt Sullivan’s hob-
bies and he had a dream
of making a table from
the wood of a juniper tree.
Finding a juniper tree large
enough to make a large
senior project as a way
table was a challenge.
to send a message to his
“My grandfather and
grandfather that he was not
some of his friends looked
able to five years ago.
20 years for a juniper that
“Now, I feel like I am
would be big enough,”
saying goodbye,” the IHS
Bryce Sullivan said.
senior said.
Walt Sullivan’s
The younger Sul-
livan did much of his
friends finally
work on the project in
found a tree about
the school’s woodshop
a dozen years ago
his junior and senior
near Burns. The
years. Doug Hislop,
juniper, which was
W. Sullivan
the high school wres-
300 years old, was
tling coach and interim
cut down and much
superintendent, noted
of its wood was
he often saw the stu-
brought back to
dent working on the
Sullivan’s home in
table when the wres-
Summerville.
tling team’s practice
“He was really
started after school.
excited about it,”
Bryce Sullivan said. B. Sullivan Two hours later, wres-
tlers would be leaving
Walt Sullivan,
school but not Bryce, who
who was an Imbler School
would still be busy in the
Board member, wasn’t able
woodshop.
to start building the table
“It was a dedication of
because of failing health.
love,” Hislop said.
He died in 2017, and even
Hislop vividly remem-
though he had not been
well, his death came sooner bers how badly Walt Sul-
livan wanted to build the
than doctors anticipated.
table.
The sudden loss left his
“It was on his bucket
grandson with a sense of
list,” the superintendent
regret.
said.
“I never got to say
Hislop said he has
goodbye to him,” Bryce
never had a school board
Sullivan said.
member more dedicated
Today, he views his
than Walt Sullivan, who
regularly visited his office
at least once a week to dis-
cuss school district mat-
ters. Hislop said it was
never because he was
upset but because he
wanted to discuss, in a
positive manner, ways to
keep the Imbler School
District’s programs oper-
ating at a high level.
Walt Sullivan was also
involved in raising money
for the Imbler Education
Foundation, which provides
scholarships to graduates
and supports Imbler School
District programs. Sullivan
made generous donations to
the foundation, Hislop said.
“Walt Sullivan is prob-
ably the reason we have
an education foundation,”
he said.
Bryce Sullivan recently
sold the table at a raffle
and has donated all the
proceeds to Imbler High
School’s FFA chapter, an
organization his grand-
father was a strong sup-
porter of.
“He is a giver. He would
give you the shirt off his
back,” Hislop said of the
IHS senior. “He is a special
young man.”
Judge denies lower bail for La Grande
man charged with multiple sex crimes
The Observer
LA GRANDE — A La
Grande man who faces
nearly 30 counts of sex
crimes was arraigned
Monday, April 25, in
Union County Circuit
Court.
Union County Cir-
cuit Court Judge Thomas
Powers denied a request
to reduce the $300,000
bail set for Joel Phoenix
Rogers, 19, arrested on
charges of 28 counts of sex
crimes and two counts of
strangulation.
Powers said he set bail
at $300,000 based on crim-
inal classification of the
charges Rogers faces and
their felony scale.
“I did not pull the
number out of thin air,”
the judge said during the
hearing.
Rogers’ attorney,
Jared Boyd, asked that
the bail be reduced. He
said there is no way that
Rogers could afford the
minimum of $30,000 he
would need to make the
10% level needed for his
release. People who are
jailed after being arrested
in Oregon can be released
if they pay 10% of the bail
set for them.
Boyd, in asking for
reduced bail, added that
Rogers previously has had
no real criminal history
and he has not had any
contact with the victim in
this case since Nov. 18,
2021.
Powers said it would be
best not to lower the bail
considering the serious
nature of the charges and
the possibility that Rogers,
if convicted of just a few of
the most serious charges he
faces, will face extensive
jail time.
Rogers will next appear
in court on May 23 for a
plea hearing.
Rogers, 19, was arrested
by the La Grande Police
on April 22 after a secret
indictment warrant was
released two days earlier
and has been lodged in the
Union County Jail since
then.
Police booked Rogers in
the Union County Jail on
the following: three counts
of first-degree rape; five
counts of second-degree
rape; two counts of stran-
gulation; three counts of
first-degree sex abuse; five
counts of second-degree
sex abuse; two counts of
first-degree sodomy; four
counts of luring a minor;
four counts of using a
child in a display of sexu-
ally explicit conduct; and
two counts of attempted
third-degree sodomy.
The state alleges Rogers
committed the crimes
between July 1 and Nov.
18, 2021, according to
Union County Circuit
Court documents. The
victim was a juvenile.
Red Cross blood drive sees large turnout
Next drive
scheduled for June
By BILL BRADSHAW
Wallowa County Chieftain
ENTERPRISE — A
total of 74 units of blood
were donated Tuesday,
April 19, during a blood
drive held by the American
Red Cross at the Cloverleaf
Hall in Enterprise.
A unit is approximately
1 pint, said Alicia Hayes,
Wallowa County Red Cross
coordinator for the blood
drive.
She said 87 people
signed up to donate.
“It was one of our big-
gest turnouts,” she said.
Rebecca Frolander, one
of the volunteer donors, said
she’s been donating blood
since she was 18.
“I regularly donate blood.
I feel it’s something I can do
to help people for just a little
bit of my time,” she said.
“One of the workers said that
for every blood donation,
you can help three people.”
Hayes said the short-
staffed crew ran about 45
minutes behind.
“That was very unusual.
They got backed up so we
had to reschedule six,” she
said. “We were booked
solid.”
The blood drive ran from
9 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Hayes said donated
blood covered the entire
gamut of types, O (the uni-
versal donor), A, B and AB
(the universal recipient), as
well as positive and negative
Rh factors.
“O negative is partic-
ularly coveted,” being the
one that can be given to all
others, but all types were
received, Hayes said.
“It was pretty even
across the board,” she said.
Hayes said the American
Red Cross tries to hold three
or four blood drives a year
in Enterprise. The next will
be in June, followed by one
in September.
“Weather permit-
ting, we’ll have one in
November,” she said.
Hayes said the
COVID-19 pandemic led
to lower turnouts of volun-
teers. In fact, the Red Cross
even canceled its spring
blood drive of 2020, when
the pandemic started. The
local situation is much like
the national shortage.
“A big part of that is
COVID — it scares people
from donating,” she said.
“It’s not that there were a lot
of restrictions. It’s just that
people were uncomfortable
with it.”
Hayes said the blood col-
lected can help local med-
ical facilities, but at times
outside sources may be
contacted.
“Wallowa County only
keeps a certain amount of
blood on hand, so if they
had a situation where they
needed a lot, they’d have to
request it from other areas,”
she said.
Hayes expressed her
appreciation to all who
donated.
“We greatly appreciate
their gift of life,” she said.
JOSEPH — A work ses-
sion planned for Monday,
April 25, was canceled
when the Joseph City
Council was to discuss
American Rescue Plan Act
funds and System Develop-
ment Charges.
The work session
was canceled due to
“unforeseen emergen-
cies,” according to a press
release.
Discussion and voting
on the ARPA funds and
discussion of the SDC fees
will take place at a special
session to be held April 28
at 6 p.m.
Voting on potential SDC
fees will take place at the
May 5 council meeting.
Intro to native
languages offered
JOSEPH — A vir-
tual lecture as an intro-
duction to Nez Perce and
other Sahaptin languages
will be held Saturday, May
14, from 9:30-11:30 a.m.
presented by the Josephy
Center for Arts and Cul-
ture, according to a press
release.
Angel Sobotta will con-
duct the lecture. She is a
Nez Perce mother, dancer,
language instructor and
PhD student at the Univer-
sity of Idaho.
A Nez Perce language
program app is available on
your phone. The cost of the
lecture is $30.
This interactive lecture
will cover:
• Nez Perce and other
Sahaptin languages: How
close are they? What do
they share or what makes
them different?
• Accepted linguistic
spellings and pronuncia-
tions so that we can follow
words on maps, words that
come up in tribal papers,
etc.
• Common greetings
and place names, especially
names of places in Oregon
and Idaho.
• Family names — how
are they passed down and
carried on? What names
can a family choose from?
Are native names used
more now than in previous
decades?
• Next steps for those
who want to really learn the
language.
To register, contact
Cheryl Coughlan at the
center at 541-432-0505, by
email at director@josephy.
org or stop in at 403 N.
Main St. in Joseph.
Applications for
Dunn scholarship
available
WALLOWA COUNTY
— Applications are now
being accepted for the
Bruce Dunn Scholarship
Fund, which, according to
a press release, is open to
college students who grad-
uated from a Wallowa
County high school and
who are pursuing an educa-
tion in natural resources.
Applications, which are
on the Wallowa Resources
website, will be accepted
through July 15.
Preference will be given
to those students entering
their junior or senior year of
college who are planning a
career in “forestry, wildlife,
fisheries, soils, hydrology,
or other related fields,” the
release states.
The fund was started by
Bruce Dunn’s wife, Jane,
and his friends following
his death in August 2018.
Bruce Dunn was a forester
with both the U.S. Forest
Service and with private
companies. He oversaw RY
Timber properties for more
than three decades, and
helped start the Wallowa
County Natural Resource
Advisory Committee.
“Through this schol-
arship the hope is to con-
tinue educating and training
tomorrow’s natural resource
professionals in order for
them to best serve Wal-
lowa County’s land-based
economy,” a statement from
the press release reads.
Visit wallowaresources.
org for more information.
—EO Media Group