FROM PAGE ONE
A6 — THE OBSERVER
TUESDAY, MAY 17, 2022
LEGACY
SCHOOLS
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Hays, OSP Lt. Dave
Aydelotte, Union County
Sheriff’s Office Lt. Ken
Woodward, La Grande
Police Officer Scott
Norton and La Grande
Mayor Steve Clements.
The names of the fallen
officers were read to the
crowd in attendance,
while flower wreaths
were placed above the
memorial outside the law
enforcement building.
Those in attendance
honored the lives of Amos
“Spud” Helms, Michael
Lynn Cheney, Ray-
mond Williams and Gary
Byassee.
Helms, a trooper with
OSP, sustained fatal gun-
shot wounds in October
1931 on Adams Avenue in
La Grande. The trooper
served with OSP for six
months prior to his death.
In 1980, Union County
Sherrif’s Office depu-
ties Cheney and Williams
were killed in their patrol
pickup on Highway 82
near Elgin when a drunk
driver struck their vehicle
head-on. Cheney, who had
served in Union County
for only 14 days after
moving from the Douglas
County Sheriff’s Depart-
ment, was 38 years old —
he was survived by two
daughters. Williams, who
was 33 years old, served
with the Union County
Sheriff’s Office for five
years and was survived by
a wife, son and daughter.
La Grande Police Cpl.
Byassee died at the age
of 30 in the line of duty
in 1982, after a leg injury
sustained during a police
training session in San
Luis Obispo, California.
Byassee developed blood
clots due to the injury,
which traveled to his
lungs and led to his death
before completing treat-
ment in Seattle. Byassee
served in the La Grande
Police Department for
six years, prior to which
he served two years with
the Union County Police
Department — he was
survived by a wife and
to be in place depending
upon the level of the school
district’s infection rate.
Mendoza said that the
school district would con-
tinue working closely with
health care organizations
in the county such as the
Center for Human Devel-
opment to make sure that
it was moving in the right
direction.
Earl Pettit, Cove School
District’s superintendent,
voiced a similar senti-
ment when asked about
what his district would do
if COVID-19 rates spiked
again.
“We have a protocol in
place for communicable
disease and that is what we
will follow,” he said.
pandemic.
“It divided the commu-
nity,” he said.
Hislop hopes that he
never has to be in the
middle of the mask debate
again.
“I would not wish that
upon anyone,” he said.
The Oregon Health
Authority and Oregon
Department of Educa-
tion also reminded schools
that students or staff with
COVID-like symptoms
have to stay home, and
asked families not to send
sick children to school,
to have them tested and,
if eligible, to get them
vaccinated.
— Oregon Public Broadcasting
reporter Elizabeth Miller and The
Oregonian reporter Fedor Zarkhin
contributed to this report.
Davis Carbaugh/The Observer
Pastor Franklin Humber leads the invocation during a Union County
law enforcement memorial ceremony on Friday, May 13, 2022,
outside the county’s law enforcement building, La Grande.
The Observer, File
Uriah Gatliff , a student at La Grande Middle School, works on an assignment during class on Thursday,
April 7, 2022. Oregon offi cials have asked schools to prioritize in-person learning amid rising COVID-19
infections by monitoring spread of disease in their community and absenteeism, off ering testing and
recommending or even mandating masks before moving to remote learning.
Davis Carbaugh/The Observer
A memorial stone recognizing four law enforcement offi cers who
lost their lives in Union County stands on display outside the Union
County law enforcement building, La Grande, on Saturday, May 14,
2022.
two daughters.
“The last few years
have been challenging
times for law enforcement
and the men and women
who wear the badge,” Bell
said at the ceremony.
“It’s important for
those who go on duty
every day to recognize
that what they’re doing
matters.”
MORGAN
Continued from Page A1
creek is unpredictable and
often fl oods in the spring.
“I thought, ‘I got to get
that thing out of the way,’”
he said.
He stepped on a patch of
ice on a footbridge he had
built some four decades ago,
landing hard on the bridge
and breaking a lumbar ver-
tebrae before going into the
creek itself.
“I knew I was going to
fall off the bridge,” he said.
When he did, he landed
partially on the bank and
broke several ribs.
While he tried to get him-
self into a better position, his
condition worsened.
“My vision went totally
black,” he said. “My eyes
were open but I could see
(only) black. And worse
than the loss of vision, I
couldn’t breathe.”
He said his breathing was
“paralyzed.”
That’s when one of the
miracles he experienced
took place.
“I said, ‘Help me, Jesus.’
I raised my right hand in the
air. He grabbed a hold of my
wrist. I couldn’t see him,
but something pulled me up
on my back.”
In his new position, he
was able to breathe again,
but as he was turned away
from his house, his attempts
to call for more help failed.
Eventually, he stopped
yelling to conserve energy.
“When I got back on my
back, I fl oated down the
creek a little ways. I hurt so
Union School District
Superintendent Carter
Wells said his district also
would strive to take mat-
ters into its own hands.
“We would consider all
factors and do what is best
for our students and staff ,”
he said. “We would con-
sider all options.”
Doug Hislop, superin-
tendent of the Imbler School
District, also said he would
want his school district to
be able to decide the steps
it thinks would be best if
COVID-19 rates spiked
again in Union County.
He said he would not
want masks in schools to
be a topic of debate again.
This is not an argument
Hislop would look for-
ward to being involved in
again because it became
so heated earlier in the
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T HE O BSERVER
Bill Bradshaw/Wallowa County Chieftain
Sam Morgan points Wednesday, May 4, 2022, to where he landed in
Trout Creek after falling from the now-defunct footbridge behind
him on Jan. 12 near his home in Enterprise.
bad I couldn’t lift myself at
all,” Morgan said.
He was still in the water
of Trout Creek, which he
said runs at a temperature of
about 41 degrees.
It was a couple hours
before his son went to check
on him, found him in the
water and called 911.
Medical personnel
arrived and were able to
extract Morgan from the
water. His body tempera-
ture had reached near-fatal
temperatures at about 80
degrees. Perhaps just a few
more minutes and it would
have been too late.
That his son was even
there to help him that day, he
said, was the second miracle.
Morgan’s son had been
living in China prior to the
COVID-19 pandemic, but
left just before it started.
The third miracle might
actually have been that he
was in such cold water.
Morgan said he is certain
the chilly water brought
his body temperature to
low enough levels that
his swelling was greatly
reduced.
“I’m convinced in my
own mind that hypothermia
is probably the reason I’m
not paralyzed. I broke seven
thoracic vertebrae and a
lumbar vertebrae,” he said.
He describes his back as
constantly feeling like a leg
that has fallen asleep, but
he added, “I don’t hurt, at
least, in my mind. But it’s
hard to get what you’d call
comfortable.”
Morgan has thought
through if he has a purpose
yet to fulfi ll given he not
only came out of the ordeal
alive, but not paralyzed and,
seemingly, divinely spared.
“What is it? I’ve talked
it over with my Bible study
group,” he said of his pur-
pose. “Just to praise his
name, give witness to what
I went through, and try to
be a better person. That’s
the mandate of Christianity.
Sinners are forgiven, but
that doesn’t mean you’re
not supposed to try to get
better. Maybe he has some-
thing else planned that I
haven’t run across yet.”
Jennifer Smith
High School Name
Congratulations Jen!
We are so proud of you!
Love, Mom & Dad
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Call Devi 541-624-6007 or email
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