LOCAL
A2 — THE OBSERVER
TODAY
In 1790, President George Wash-
ington signed into law the first U.S.
copyright act.
In 1859, the Big Ben clock tower
in London went into operation,
chiming for the first time.
In 1889, some 2,200 people in
Johnstown, Pennsylvania, perished
when the South Fork Dam col-
lapsed, sending 20 million tons of
water rushing through the town.
In 1921, a race riot erupted in
Tulsa, Oklahoma, as white mobs
began looting and leveling the
affluent Black district of Green-
wood over reports a Black man
had assaulted a white woman in an
elevator; hundreds are believed to
have died.
In 1949, former State Depart-
ment official and accused spy
Alger Hiss went on trial in New
York, charged with perjury (the
jury deadlocked, but Hiss was con-
victed in a second trial).
In 1962, former Nazi official
Adolf Eichmann was hanged in
Israel a few minutes before mid-
night for his role in the Holocaust.
In 1970, a magnitude 7.9 earth-
quake in Peru claimed an esti-
mated 67,000 lives.
In 1977, the Trans-Alaska oil
pipeline, three years in the making
despite objections from environ-
mentalists and Alaska Natives, was
completed. (The first oil began
flowing through the pipeline 20
days later.)
In 1989, House Speaker Jim
Wright, dogged by questions
about his ethics, announced he
would resign. (Tom Foley later suc-
ceeded him.)
In 2009, Dr. George Tiller, a rare
provider of late-term abortions,
was shot and killed in a Wichita,
Kansas, church. (Gunman Scott
Roeder was later convicted of
first-degree murder and sentenced
to life in prison with no possibility
of parole for 50 years.) Millvina
Dean, the last survivor of the 1912
sinking of the RMS Titanic, died in
Southampton, England at 97.
In 2014, Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl, the
only American soldier held prisoner
in Afghanistan, was freed by the
Taliban in exchange for five Afghan
detainees from the U.S. prison at
Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. (Bergdahl,
who’d gone missing in June 2009,
later pleaded guilty to endan-
gering his comrades by walking
away from his post in Afghanistan;
his sentence included a dishonor-
able discharge, a reduction in rank
and a fine, but no prison time.)
In 2019, a longtime city
employee opened fire in a munic-
ipal building in Virginia Beach, Vir-
ginia, killing 12 people on three
floors before police shot and killed
him; officials said DeWayne Crad-
dock had resigned by email hours
before the shooting.
In 2020, tens of thousands of
protesters again took to the streets
across America, with peaceful
demonstrations against police kill-
ings overshadowed by unrest;
officials deployed thousands of
National Guard soldiers and enacted
strict curfews in major cities.
Today’s Birthdays: Actor-di-
rector Clint Eastwood is 92.
Humanitarian and author Terry
Waite is 83. Actor Sharon Gless
is 79. Football Hall of Famer Joe
Namath is 79. Broadcast journalist/
commentator Bernard Goldberg is
77. Actor Tom Berenger is 72. Actor
Gregory Harrison is 72. Actor/
comedian Chris Elliott is 62. Actor
Lea Thompson is 61. Singer Corey
Hart is 60. Actor Hugh Dillon is 59.
Rapper DMC is 58. Actor Brooke
Shields is 57. Actor Colin Farrell is
46. Rock musician Andy Hurley
(Fall Out Boy) is 42. Country singer
Casey James (TV: “American Idol”)
is 40. Actor Jonathan Tucker is 40.
CORRECTIONS
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.
LOTTERY
Friday, May 27, 2022
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4 p.m.: 9-5-1-9
7 p.m.: 8-7-7-8
10 p.m.: 0-7-3-2
TuESday, May 31, 2022
GRADUATION 2022
WALLOWA COUNTY
Imbler High graduates 18
By ISABELLA CROWLEY
The Observer
he members of
T
Imbler High School’s
ODFW
extends kill
permit for
wolf pack
the high school gymnasium
Chesnimnus Pack
responsible for
preying on cattle
twice in late April
on Friday, May 27. The class
By GEORGE PLAVEN
Class of 2022
celebrated their graduation in
Capital Press
included 18 seniors, many
of whom received multiple
awards and scholarships.
Kendra Counsell and Nathan
Bingaman were named the class’
co-valedictorians and Allison Stire-
walt was the salutatorian. Bingaman,
Counsell, Carter Crook, Stirewalt,
Bryce Sullivan, Joelle Treat and
Gracie Turley graduated with honors
diplomas.
Before graduating, the senior class
symbolically passed on the light of
knowledge to the juniors.
Isabella Crowley/The Observer
The members of Imbler High School’s senior class mark the end of their high school days on
Friday, May 27, 2022, in the school’s gym.
Isabella Crowley/The Observer
The Imbler High School Class of 2022 metaphorically passes on the light of knowledge to next year’s seniors in a ceremony during
graduation in the school’s gymnasium on Friday, May 27, 2022.
LA GRANDE
Council to consider budget approval
New sidewalk system on Adams Avenue
would replace current ramps with
handicap accessible entries
By DAVIS CARBAUGH
The Observer
LA GRANDE — The
La Grande City Council
will consider adopting its
budget for the 2022-23
fiscal year.
The council will also
discuss a number of new
topics at its regular ses-
sion on Wednesday, June
1, such as an updated ramp
project on Adams Avenue
that would replace out-
dated curbs with ADA
accessibility ramps.
The fiscal year budget
proposal rounds out at just
over $63 million, with a
general fund of nearly $20
million. The La Grande
Urban Renewal Agency’s
general fund is proposed at
just over $2.1 million.
In the new business sec-
tion, the La Grande City
Council will consider
awarding the ADA ramp
construction contract to
HP Civil Inc., of Salem,
which submitted a bid of
$583,710.
The sidewalk project
will involve the recon-
struction of 16 ADA corner
ramps in downtown La
Grande. HP Civil Inc.’s bid
included replacing 3,200
square feet of sidewalk,
410 feet of curb and gutter
and 200 square feet of
driveway.
Also in the new busi-
ness section for the June
1 meeting is a fund bal-
ance classification policy
and resolution. The resolu-
tion would allocate 75% of
an unanticipated increase
MORE INFORMATION
The June 1 regular session
meeting of the La Grande
City Council will be open to
the public at La Grande City
Hall, beginning at 6 p.m. The
meeting will be streamed to
the La Grande Alive website
and on Facebook.
in the city’s general fund
toward capital improve-
ment projects.
The council meeting’s
agenda’s consent sec-
tion includes five different
items of approval.
Councilors will vote
on awarding a bid to G.
Gordon Construction
Company LLC for the con-
crete work required for the
city-wide voluntary side-
walk local improvement
district. The district is an
interactive way for the
city to work with property
owners on maintaining
and improving sidewalks
across La Grande.
The council will vote
upon “Exhibit A” of an
intergovernmental agree-
ment between the La
Grande Urban Renewal
Agency and the City of
La Grande that outlines
the legal provisions for the
working agreement between
the two entities. The revised
proposal for “Exhibit A”
is included in the 2022-23
fiscal year budget.
Other items on the con-
sent agenda are appointing
a new member to the
Union County Tourism
Promotion Advisory Com-
mittee, approving regular
session minutes from the
May session and approving
a tourism annual pro-
gram for work ahead of the
budget approval.
Two public hearing
items will include poten-
tially adopting the city’s
budget and a first reading
of the parks department’s
master plan adoption.
NEWS BRIEFS
Nobody hurt in early
morning house fire
LA GRANDE — A morning
house fire seriously damaged a La
Grande home on Sunday, May 29, but
caused no injuries.
The home, located on North Third
Street, was occupied when the fire
started but everybody got out safely,
according to La Grande Fire Depart-
ment Capt. Merle Laci.
The fire was reported at 5:30 a.m.
and involved a single-story home.
“The entire home was damaged,”
Laci said.
The La Grande Fire Department
sent five engines to the blaze and was
assisted by the La Grande and Imbler
rural fire departments and Union’s
ambulance service.
Firefighters needed an hour to get
the blaze under control. Laci said
firefighters were hampered by wind.
Laci said the cause of the fire is
under investigation.
Light agenda awaits
Wallowa County
commissioners
Wallowa County Rotary
Club announces scholarship
recipients
ENTERPRISE — A light agenda
awaits the Wallowa County Board of
Commissioners as they prepare for their
Wednesday, June 1, meeting.
The meeting begins at 9 a.m. in the
Thornton Conference Room of the Wal-
lowa County Courthouse, Enterprise.
The agenda includes a request by
Scott Siebe for an easement to extend a
culvert on Reavis Lane near Enterprise,
the approval of a services agreement
with Paige Sully as county counsel and
the modification of a grant agreement
for a change in funding from the USDA
Forest Service. There will also be an
executive session.
The meeting can be attended in
person, by phone or by Zoom. For
access information, questions, concerns
or need of special accommodations, call
the Wallowa County Commissioners
Office at 541-426-4543, ext. 1130.
ENTERPRISE — The Rotary
Club of Wallowa County recently
named its scholarship recipients
among graduating high school
seniors.
Enterprise’s Sophia Esponosa
was awarded the Don Swart Schol-
arship for $2,000.
Other Enterprise scholarship
winners were Rose Movich-Fields
($2,500) and Alona Yost ($2,000),
and Kodie Kiser and Lannis Stone-
brink ($500 each).
Willie Gibbs, of Wallowa High
School, received a $2,000 scholar-
ship and Joseph Charter School’s
Piper Larison received $500.
The scholarships will be avail-
able for the students’ sophomore
year of college.
JOSEPH — The Oregon
Department of Fish and Wild-
life has extended a kill permit
for one wolf from the in Wal-
lowa County.
The original permit was
issued Friday, April 29, for
two wolves after ODFW con-
firmed the Chesnimnus Pack
was responsible for preying
on cattle twice between April
25 and April 27 on a public
grazing allotment north of
Joseph, resulting in three dead
calves.
Ranchers in Eastern
Oregon can request a kill
permit under the state’s Wolf
Conservation and Manage-
ment Plan if ODFW con-
firms two depredations in
nine months. They must also
be using nonlethal deterrents
and remove all potential wolf
attractants to qualify.
One of the producer’s
agents killed a yearling male
on May 3, according to John
Williams, of Enterprise,
co-chairman of the wolf com-
mittee for the Oregon Cat-
tlemen’s Association. The
producer, Tom Birkmaier, is
a Crow Creek rancher who
is the president of the Wal-
lowa County Stockgrowers
Association.
Since the killing of the
yearling male on May 3,
ODFW stated there has been
one more “probable” depre-
dation in the area and wolf
activity and risk to livestock
remains high.
According to ODFW’s
own investigations, biologists
have confirmed one other dep-
redation by the Wenaha Pack
in Wallowa County; three by
the Cornucopia Pack and one
by the Keating Pack in neigh-
boring Baker County; and
one by the Desolation Pack in
Grant County.
“Evidence indicates
wolves are testing cattle, with
cattle showing signs of stress
including breaking through
a fence in one incident,” the
agency reported.
ODFW extended Birkmai-
er’s permit through June 14
after it was set to expire on
May 24. It allows him to shoot
one additional wolf to protect
his cattle in pastures where
they graze.
“The producer continues
to use nonlethal measures
including moving their cattle
to a different pasture and
increased human presence,”
ODFW added.
Biologists say killing
another Chesnimnus wolf
would not impact the pack’s
breeding success. The
Chesnimnus Pack numbers
seven to eight adult and year-
ling wolves, and their breeding
female may still be in the
den. None of the wolves has a
working GPS or radio collar.
Birkmaier runs about 500
cows, most of which have
calves. He lost a half dozen
animals to wolves of the
Chesnimnus Pack in late April
and early May. Birkmaier said
he asked ODFW to “remove”
the pack — meaning to kill
them.
In response, ODFW issued
the kill permit on April 29.
The permit allowed Birkmaier
or an agent on his behalf to
kill two wolves in Dorrance
Pasture or Trap Canyon Pas-
ture, where the depredations
on cattle occurred, he said.
Birkmaier said that at the
time of the killing of the year-
ling male on May 3, the wolf
was not actively attacking
cattle, but was in Dorrance
Pasture along Crow Creek.
A targeted wolf does not
legally have to be in the act
of attacking livestock, it just
has to be in an area where
depredations have occurred,
he said.
█
— EO Media Group
Wallowa County Chieftain reporter Bill
Bradshaw contributed to this report.