LOCAL
A2 — THE OBSERVER
SaTuRday, May 28, 2022
Mental
health
emphasized
during May
TODAY
In 1863, the 54th Massachu-
setts Volunteer Infantry Regi-
ment, made up of freed Blacks, left
Boston to fight for the Union in the
Civil War.
In 1892, the Sierra Club was
organized in San Francisco.
In 1918, American troops fought
their first major battle during
World War I as they launched an
offensive against the German-held
French village of Cantigny; the
Americans succeeded in capturing
the village.
In 1934, the Dionne quintu-
plets — Annette, Cecile, Emilie,
Marie and Yvonne — were born to
Elzire Dionne at the family farm in
Ontario, Canada.
In 1937, Neville Chamberlain
became prime minister of Britain.
In 1940, during World War II,
the Belgian army surrendered to
invading German forces.
In 1959, the U.S. Army launched
Able, a rhesus monkey, and Baker,
a squirrel monkey, aboard a Jupiter
missile for a suborbital flight which
both primates survived.
In 1964, the charter of the Pales-
tine Liberation Organization was
issued at the start of a meeting of
the Palestine National Congress in
Jerusalem.
In 1972, Edward, the Duke of
Windsor, who had abdicated the
English throne to marry Wallis
Warfield Simpson, died in Paris at
age 77.
In 1977, 165 people were killed
when fire raced through the Bev-
erly Hills Supper Club in Southgate,
Kentucky.
In 1987, to the embarrassment
of Soviet officials, Mathias Rust, a
young West German pilot, landed
a private plane in Moscow’s Red
Square without authorization.
(Rust was freed by the Soviets the
following year.)
In 1998, comic actor Phil
Hartman of “Saturday Night Live”
and “NewsRadio” fame was shot to
death at his home in Encino, Cali-
fornia, by his wife, Brynn, who then
killed herself.
In 2020, people torched a
Minneapolis police station that
the department was forced to
abandon amid spreading protests
over the death of George Floyd.
Protesters in New York defied a
coronavirus prohibition on public
gatherings, clashing with police;
demonstrators blocked traffic and
smashed vehicles in downtown
Denver before police used tear
gas to disperse the crowd. At least
seven people were shot as gunfire
erupted during a protest in Louis-
ville, Kentucky, to demand justice
for Breonna Taylor, a Black woman
who was fatally shot by police in
her home in March.
Today’s birthdays: Actor Car-
roll Baker is 91. Producer-director
Irwin Winkler is 91. Basketball Hall
of Famer Jerry West is 84. Former
New York City Mayor Rudolph
Giuliani is 78. Singer Gladys Knight
is 78. Singer Billy Vera is 78. Singer
John Fogerty (Creedence Clear-
water Revival) is 77. Country musi-
cian Jerry Douglas is 66. Actor
Louis Mustillo is 64. Actor Brandon
Cruz (TV: “The Courtship of Eddie’s
Father”) is 60. Country singer Phil
Vassar is 58. Singer Kylie Minogue
is 54. Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., is
51. Television personality Elisa-
beth Hasselbeck is 45. R&B singer
Jaheim is 45. Actor Monica Keena is
43. Actor Alexa Davalos is 40. Actor
Megalyn Echikunwoke is 40. Pop
singer Colbie Caillat is 37. Actor
Carey Mulligan is 37. Actor Joseph
Cross is 36. Los Angeles Dodgers
pitcher Craig Kimbrel is 34.
CORRECTION
The Page A1 story “Four La
Grande City Council positions
are up for grabs this November,”
published Thursday, May 26,
misstated that candidate Cody
Vela has previous experience
on the city council. Vela has not
previously served as a council
member.
The Observer works hard to be
accurate and sincerely regrets
any errors. If you notice a
mistake in the paper, please call
541-963-3161.
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By JEFF BUDLONG
Wallowa County Chieftain
Isabella Crowley/The Observer
Students take part in Elgin High School graduation in the school’s gymnasium on Thursday, May 26, 2022. The high school graduated 12
seniors, who hauled in more than $27,000 in scholarship aid.
Elgin graduates 12 seniors
By ISABELLA CROWLEY
and DAVIS CARBAUGH
The Observer
T
he members of Elgin
High School’s Class
of 2022 celebrated their
graduation in the high school
gymnasium on Thursday,
May 26.
The class included 12 graduates,
who collectively received more than
$27,000 in scholarship aid.
Erika Adams was named the class
valedictorian and Elizabeth Hays was
the salutatorian.
During the ceremony, the students
honored their former social studies
teacher and football coach Jeffrey
Rysdam, who passed away in 2021.
The high school’s state-recognized
concert band performed at the gradu-
ation ceremony.
davis Carbaugh/The Observer
During the Elgin High School graduation ceremony on Thursday, May 26, 2022, Elizabeth
Hays, left, Blake Jenkins, middle, and Gracie Evans speak on behalf of the graduating
students and thank teachers who impacted their lives.
Kindergartners donate to camp for children
Young students
experience spirit of
giving to assist
nonprofit for
disabled children
By BILL BRADSHAW
Wallowa County Chieftain
WALLOWA LAKE
— Enterprise Elementary
School’s two kindergarten
classes presented money
they raised to a nonprofit at
Wallowa Lake on Tuesday,
May 24, that offers dis-
abled children an outdoor
experience.
The 44 children in
Tricia Otten’s and Petey
Evans’ classes pre-
sented $1,721.86 to Cre-
ating Memories for Dis-
abled Children, as a way
to muster a spirit of gener-
osity in the students.
Bill Bradshaw/Wallowa County Chieftain
From left, Riley Vesterby, vice president of Creating Memories for
Disabled Children, a nonprofit that gives children with disabilities
an outdoor experience, accepts a donation Tuesday, May 24,
2022, from Enterprise Elementary School kindergarten teachers
Tricia Otten and Petey Evans. The classes raised $1,721.86 from
fundraisers they conducted.
“We tried to get the kin-
dergartners to think of a
way to give to others and
not expect anything in
return,” Evans said.
Earlier in the school
year, the classes voted on a
charity they wished to sup-
port. Then, they decided on
a method to raise money
for the camp.
Evans’ class sold about
500 cookies, while Otten’s
solicited pledges for a
walk-a-thon.
Creating Memories
began as a nonprofit in
2012 and took over the
former Boy Scout camp at
the head of the lake in 2014.
It now has a 50-year
lease on the property
with an option for another
50-year lease from the
Blue Mountain Council of
the Boy Scouts.
At the camp are three
A-frame cabins and five
tepees that can be used
by children with disabil-
ities and their families,
according to a Chieftain
story from June 2021. The
camp also has a trail to
Wallowa Falls.
The children are given
the opportunity to enjoy
outdoor activities, such as
boating, hunting, fishing,
photography and just
enjoying being outdoors.
“We just wanted the
kindergartners to get into
the spirit of giving,” Evans
said.
Downtown La Grande building receives grant
Bohnenkamp Building
receives $200,000 from
Oregon Heritage
By DAVIS CARBAUGH
The Observer
LA GRANDE — A historic
building in downtown La Grande is set
to receive grant funding for significant
upgrades.
The Bohkenkamp Building, 1301
Adams Ave., was awarded the max-
imum $200,000 by Oregon Heritage to
renovate the structure’s exterior facade,
strengthen the building against weather
forces and create new housing units
on the second floor. La Grande Main
Street Downtown announced the news,
adding that La Grande has been a recip-
ient of the Oregon Main Street Revital-
ization Grant for the third consecutive
cycle.
Oregon Heritage, a branch of the
Oregon Parks and Recreation Depart-
ment, awarded 28 matching grants
worth $5 million to main street orga-
nizations across the state. The orga-
nization fosters building projects to
assist in local economic revitalization.
The range of grant funding allocated
stretches from just over $20,000 to
$200,000.
“La Grande Main Street is very
excited to see this project be awarded
funding,” La Grande Main Street
Downtown Executive Director Taylor
Scroggins said. “As one of our most
prominent historic buildings, the
Bohnenkamp Building is full of oppor-
tunity to further beautify the district,
fully utilize a historic building and
increase housing availability in the
downtown core.”
The Bohnenkamp Building was
constructed in 1900 by William
Bohnenkamp, who moved from Dyers-
ville, Iowa, to La Grande in the late
1800s. Bohnenkamp ran a successful
hardware business at the building and
the location served as a hardware store
into the late 1970s. The building’s lower
story is currently home to The Moun-
tain Works Bicycle Shop.
The Oregon Main Street Revitaliza-
tion Grant began after the 2015 legis-
lative session as part of a lottery bond
funding package. The program requires
at least half of the funds to be allocated
to rural communities.
davis Carbaugh/The Observer
Oregon Heritage awarded the La Grande
Main Street organization a $200,000 grant
to make improvements to the Bohnenkamp
Building, pictured on Thursday, May 26,
2022. The funds will go toward rebuilding
the structure’s facade, strengthening the
building’s structural integrity and creating
housing units on the second floor.
ENTERPRISE — The
pandemic has changed daily
life for nearly everyone, and
that can manifest itself in a
number of ways. Something
hospitals across the nation
have seen is an increase
in mental health issues
as people adjust to a new
normal.
May is Mental Health
Awareness Month and Wal-
lowa County Health Care
District community health
clinical social worker
Kathryn Kemp shared some
ways to identify mental
health issues and ways they
can be addressed.
Kemp identified three
main factors the pandemic
presented affecting mental
health:
Sense of isolation: Social
isolation breeds sadness and
anxiety.
Grief: The loss of loved
ones and ways of life and
activities.
Stress response: When
threatened, the body’s
response can be to ramp up
or shut down, and the pan-
demic has kept it in this state
for a greater length of time.
“We can become chron-
ically activated or chronically
shutdown, and for a lot of
people having an amped-up
nervous system can leave
them feeling irritable and
feeling more anxiety each
day,” she said. “Little things
can feel more overwhelming
than usual, and people can
get angry with others who
are close to them.”
A chronic shutdown
state may include feelings of
apathy or numbness, Kemp
said. Individuals can oscillate
between the states frequently,
even during the same day.
Learning to deal with
the stresses is something
everyone has had to do
during the pandemic, and it
has led to a greater need to
assist a growing population
looking for help with mental
health issues.
Kemp’s position is new
and provides more support
for both patients and health
care workers. She provides
in-patient mental health coor-
dination and support in addi-
tion to out-patient mental
health counseling through
the Wallowa Memorial Med-
ical Clinic.
Kemp said the pandemic
also put people into new
caregiving roles, but it is
important to remember to
take time for yourself.
“I think of the instructions
you get when you are on a
plane,” she said. “You need
to put your own oxygen mask
on first before you can help
others.”
Techniques in practice
Kemp said small things
can make a big difference in
a person’s daily life to deal
with a variety of stressors.
She suggested looking for
patterns that may put your
body and brain on edge,
and looking for glimmers
throughout the day.
“Start by having com-
passion for yourself,” she
said. “All of the emotions are
normal human responses to
a stressful world.”
Things that bring people
calm and signal safety are
important when trying to
cope with difficult situations,
Kemp said. It helps the ner-
vous system move back into
a calm and connected mode.
“It can be something as
simple as the warmth of the
first sip of coffee or a smile
from a child or coworker,”
she said. “Take a moment to
relax into whatever positive
feeling that glimmer gives
you.”
Kemp also recommends
keeping a list of personal
anchors that are easily acces-
sible throughout the day to
utilize when you are feeling
overwhelmed. Anchors can
include memories that bring
a sense of comfort, as well
as people, places or activities
that bring joy. Include goals
that make you excited for the
future.