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A LITTLE FISH WITH A FUNNY NAME IS FULL OF FIGHT |
May 28, 2022
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WEEKEND EDITION
Proposed Union County budget calls for cuts
Loss of Elgin contract
prompts cutbacks to law
enforcement positions
By DICK MASON
The Observer
LA GRANDE — The 2022-23
budget picture for Union County
is a paradoxical one.
The county’s proposed total
budget, one approved by its
budget committee on Tuesday,
May 24, is up 13%, but all is not
as bright as it might seem. The
proposed budget calls for two cor-
rections offi cer and three sheriff ’s
offi ce deputy positions to be cut.
The three deputy positions
are set to be cut because the
Elgin City Council voted on
Wednesday, May 18, not to renew
its contract for law enforcement
services from Union County.
The contract expires at the end of
June. The corrections offi cer posi-
tions would be cut due to rising
personnel costs and because some
revenue the county anticipated
receiving for the positions did not
materialize, according to Shelley
Burgess, the administrative and
budget offi cer for Union County.
Trimming the fi ve law enforce-
ment positions would save Union
County $470,000, Burgess said.
Burgess explained that four
will be able to take other positions
within the Union County Sher-
iff ’s Offi ce, Sheriff Cody Bowen
said. Still, the sheriff said he will
have to issue layoff notices to two
patrol deputies.
“It is awful. These are people
to me,” he said. “They have fam-
ilies and children of their own. In
today’s economy, to have to tell
someone they are being laid off is
corrections positions were added
a year ago with approval of the
budget committee and that two
of these positions are now being
cut. Burgess said at the time the
budget committee believed the
county would receive grants
that would help fund the four
positions.
Due to personnel shuffl ing
made possible by resignations,
some of the law enforcement
employees impacted by the cuts
See, County/Page A7
EOU
graduation
back to
normal
Community Stadium ceremony
returns after COVID-19, turf
replacement interruptions
By DAVIS CARBAUGH
The Observer
LA GRANDE — After a three-year
hiatus, the Eastern Oregon University
commencement ceremony will return to its
normal routine.
The graduation ceremony will take
place at 9:30 am. Saturday, June 11, at
the university’s football fi eld at Commu-
nity Stadium — following two years of
altered ceremonies due to COVID-19 and
the fi eld’s turf replacement in 2019, com-
mencement will now be back to a standard
format.
This year’s gradua-
IF YOU GO
tion marks the univer-
OHSU annual
sity’s 92nd commence-
convention
ment ceremony. EOU
and awards
anticipates awarding
ceremony:
up to 675 degrees and
8:30 a.m., June 10
certifi cates this aca-
EOU student
demic year, with more
awards assembly:
1:30 p.m., June 10
than 300 undergrad-
Master’s hooding
uate and master’s
ceremony:
students set to walk
8:45 a.m., June 11
across the stage. All
General
who fi nished their
commencement:
courses in the summer
9:30 a.m., June 11
of 2021, fall of 2021
or winter or 2022 are
invited to participate in the spring com-
mencement ceremony.
The last two years the COVID-19 pan-
demic altered Eastern’s graduation plans,
with the university turning to virtual gath-
erings and drive-thru ceremonies.
Last year, Eastern graduates packed
their cars with family members and
received their diplomas from EOU Pres-
ident Thomas Insko on the west side of
campus. The brigade of cars, many clad
Dick Mason/the Observer
Ellen Campbell, a trailblazing wildlife biologist, poses in May 2022 with the Artemis Award she received from the Wild Sheep Foundation.
True trailblazer
Retired La Grande wildlife
biologist Ellen Campbell
has helped open doors for
other women biologists
By DICK MASON
The Observer
L
A GRANDE — Retired La
Grande wildlife biologist Ellen
Campbell is a trailblazer, qui-
etly breaking through many glass ceil-
ings during the course of a four-decade
career.
Campbell, who grew up in Balti-
more and has been a La Grande res-
ident 14 years, has left not shards of
glass in her wake but instead new
career paths for women to follow.
The respect she has earned as a pio-
neer is one of the reasons Campbell has
received a legacy-defi ning honor — the
Artemis Outstanding Woman Conser-
vationist of the year award from the
Wild Sheep Foundation.
“She is very richly deserving of the
honor,” said Walter Chuck, president
of the Oregon Wild Sheep Founda-
tion, which is connected to the national
Wild Sheep Foundation.
The Artemis Award recognizes
many portions of Campbell’s work as
a wildlife manager including her work
with Rocky Mountain bighorn sheep
as a member of the Oregon Wild Sheep
Foundation, her role in showing that
women could succeed in a fi eld dom-
inated by men, her success as a big
game hunter, community service work
and much more.
“It is a very prestigious honor,”
Chuck said.
See, Campbell/Page A7
Jim Ward/Contributed Photo
Rocky Mountain bighorn sheep are among
the wildlife Ellen Campbell has helped
protect. This ram was photographed in
Canada’s Banff National Park.
See, EOU/Page A7
Opioid crisis requires all hands on deck
Local treatment centers
grapple with increase in
opioid overdoses
Editor’s Note: This is the
fi nal part of a multistory series
addressing the trends related to
opioid overdoses in Union County
and across the nation.
By DAVIS CARBAUGH
The Observer
LA GRANDE — As opioid
overdoses increasingly aff ect the
nation, local treatment centers are
going full speed ahead to slow the
trend.
As examined in the fi rst two
parts of this series from The
Observer, the uptick in drug over-
doses and addiction is reaching
families and communities far and
wide. With adjustments in state-
wide legislation regarding the
decriminalization of controlled
substances, local law enforcement
are adjusting their methods in
eff orts to slow the alarming trend.
For treatment centers across the
United States and locally in Union
County, the recent surge has led to
a state of emergency in addressing
substance abuse.
WEATHER
INDEX
Classified ......B2
Comics ...........B5
Crossword ....B2
Dear Abby ....B6
Horoscope ....B3
Local...............A2
Lottery ...........A2
Obituaries .....A5
Opinion .........A4
Outdoors ......B1
Sudoku ..........B5
Voices ............A6
“As a company who works with
addiction, the weight of the current
state of aff airs falls heavy upon
our shoulders,” a statement from
staff members at the Center for
Human Development, La Grande,
read. “The sheer infl ux has created
a state of emergency for all who
work with those struggling with
substance use.”
An uphill battle
The overdose uptick has been
building for years in the United
States, but the pandemic accel-
erated the numbers — in Union
County, the law enforcement call
center is on pace to shatter pre-
Full forecast on the back of B section
Tonight
Sunday
45 LOW
49/39
A t-storm or two
A few showers
vious records for overdose calls.
Union County reported 20 drug-re-
lated overdose calls through the
end of March, which is well ahead
of last year’s total of 45 calls
throughout 2021. In 2020, the
county reported just 10 total calls.
Following the passing of Mea-
sure 110 in November of 2020,
the approach to substance abuse
in Oregon shifted to a focus on
treatment and heightened services
toward substance abuse as a public
health issue. Allocations saved by
limiting costs related to arrests,
incarcerations and supervision of
See, Opioids/Page A7
CONTACT US
541-963-3161
Issue 64
2 sections, 14 pages
La Grande, Oregon
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