LOCAL
A2 — THE OBSERVER
TODAY
In 1924, Congress passed, and
President Calvin Coolidge signed,
a measure guaranteeing full Amer-
ican citizenship for all Native Amer-
icans born within U.S. territorial
limits.
In 1941, baseball’s “Iron Horse,”
Lou Gehrig, died in New York of a
degenerative disease, amyotrophic
lateral sclerosis; he was 37.
In 1953, the coronation of
Queen Elizabeth II took place in
London’s Westminster Abbey,
16 months after the death of her
father, King George VI.
In 1961, playwright and director
George S. Kaufman, 71, died in
New York.
In 1962, Soviet forces opened
fire on striking workers in the
Russian city of Novocherkassk;
a retired general in 1989 put the
death toll at 22 to 24.
In 1966, U.S. space probe Sur-
veyor 1 landed on the moon and
began transmitting detailed pho-
tographs of the lunar surface.
In 1979, Pope John Paul II
arrived in his native Poland on the
first visit by a pope to a Commu-
nist country.
In 1981, the Japanese video
arcade game “Donkey Kong” was
released by Nintendo.
In 1997, Timothy McVeigh was
convicted of murder and con-
spiracy in the 1995 bombing of the
Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building
in Oklahoma City that killed 168
people. (McVeigh was executed in
June 2001.)
In 1999, South Africans went
to the polls in their second
post-apartheid election, giving
the African National Congress a
decisive victory; retiring president
Nelson Mandela was succeeded by
Thabo Mbeki.
In 2011, a judge in Placerville,
California, sentenced serial sex
offender Phillip Garrido to life in
prison for kidnapping and raping
Jaycee Dugard; Garrido’s wife,
Nancy, received a decades-long
sentence.
In 2016, autopsy results showed
superstar musician Prince died of
an accidental overdose of fentanyl,
a powerful opioid painkiller.
In 2020, defying curfews, pro-
testers streamed back into the
nation’s streets, hours after Presi-
dent Donald Trump urged gover-
nors to put down the violence set
off by the death of George Floyd.
Police said four officers were hit by
gunfire after protests in St. Louis
that began peacefully became vio-
lent. The bishop of the Episcopal
Diocese of Washington sharply
criticized Trump for staging a visit
to St. John’s Church across from
the White House after authorities
had cleared the area of peaceful
protesters. Mayors and governors
from both parties rejected Trump’s
threat to use the military against
protesters.
Today’s birthdays: Actor Ron
Ely is 84. Filmmaker and movie his-
torian Kevin Brownlow is 84. Actor
Stacy Keach is 81. Actor Charles
Haid is 79. R&B singer Chubby Tav-
ares (Tavares) is 78. Movie director
Lasse Hallstrom is 76. Actor Jerry
Mathers is 74. Actor Joanna Gleason
is 72. NHL Commissioner Gary Bet-
tman is 70. Actor Dennis Hays-
bert is 68. Comedian Dana Carvey
is 67. Actor Gary Grimes is 67. Pop
musician Michael Steele is 67. Rock
singer Tony Hadley (Spandau Ballet)
is 62. Actor Liam Cunningham is
61. Actor Navid Negahban is 58.
Singer Merril Bainbridge is 54. TV
personality-producer Andy Cohen
(“The Real Housewives” TV fran-
chise) is 54. Rapper B-Real (Cypress
Hill) is 52. Actor Paula Cale is 52.
Actor Anthony Montgomery is 51.
Actor-comedian Wayne Brady is 50.
Actor Wentworth Miller is 50. Rock
musician Tim Rice-Oxley (Keane)
is 46. Actor Zachary Quinto is 45.
Actor Dominic Cooper is 44. Actor
Nikki Cox is 44. Actor Justin Long
is 44. Actor Deon Richmond is 44.
Actor Morena Baccarin is 43. R&B
singer Irish Grinstead (702) is 42.
Rock musician Fabrizio Moretti (The
Strokes) is 42. Olympic gold medal
soccer player Abby Wambach is 42.
Singer-songwriter ZZ Ward is 36.
Rapper/actor Awkwafina is 34. Actor
Brittany Curran is 32. Actor Sterling
Beaumon is 27.
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.
Going up
New elevator provides access
at Union High School
By DICK MASON
The Observer
UNION — Union
School District Superin-
tendent Carter Wells is a
high-energy, passionate
person.
Wells cares deeply
about helping young people
succeed, and about giving
students, staff and com-
munity members with
mobility issues the oppor-
tunity to easily enter and
leave the Union School
District’s buildings.
“We want everyone to
be able to move around the
school district with dig-
nity,” Wells said.
This is why he is elated
with Union High School’s
latest addition — a south-
side elevator that stops at
each of the school’s three
floors.
“This is a very exciting
time for us,” Wells said. “It
really almost feels surreal.
I’m a little awestruck.”
Some staff members feel
the same way. Wells noted
that one person who has
been on the Union School
District’s staff for 25 years
said he never thought he
would see the day when
Union High School had its
own elevator.
Wells had hoped the ele-
vator would be installed
and operating by late 2021.
Unfortunately, supply
chain issues caused by
the COVID-19 pandemic
resulted in shipping and
installation delays.
The elevator is con-
tained in a concrete
masonry block with steel
supports and has a one-
layer brick veneer.
The brick veneer
matches the bricks out-
side Union High School.
The intent of this was to
help the building, built in
1912, maintain its original
appearance. The Wenaha
Group, the construction
manager for the Union
School District’s bond
projects, did this at the rec-
ommendation of Union’s
history commission.
Wyden,
VA to
hold
virtual
town hall
Weekend meeting
is first of three
veterans-focused
town halls in
Eastern Oregon
The Observer
dick Mason/The Observer
Union School District Superintendent Carter Wells on Thursday, May 26, 2022, uses a key card to open
the doors of Union High School’s new elevator.
dick Mason/The Observer
dick Mason/The Observer
Union High School’s new elevator, shown here on
Thursday, May 26, 2022, stops at all three floors
of the classroom building.
“The community really
respects and cares about
the high school building,”
said Cassie Hibbert, project
manager for the Wenaha
Group.
Those who have used
the elevator over the past
month include staff mem-
bers with mobility issues,
a student recovering from
an injury and the school
district’s custodial staff,
An outer shaft was installed for Union High
School’s new elevator, shown here on Thursday,
May 26, 2022. Its look is designed to match the
appearance of Union High School’s classroom
building.
which is using it to trans-
port supplies from floor
to floor. All Union School
District staff members have
code keys that allow them
to use the elevator. Students
can also use the elevator if
they have a condition that
limits their mobility.
The elevator, which
has been operating for
about a month, was pur-
chased and installed with
money from a $4 million
bond Union School District
voters approved in 2019.
The bond, for which the
school district received a
$4 million matching grant
from the state, has paid for
many major renovations
and additions in the Union
School District, including
ones making the high
school gym handicapped
accessible.
La Grande High commencement set for June 4
Rich McIlmoil will speak
to class of 2022
By DICK MASON
The Observer
LA GRANDE — The approxi-
mately 110 students set to graduate
from La Grande High School this
weekend will enjoy a unique dis-
tinction — theirs will be the first
class in three years to be part of
a commencement ceremony not
impacted by COVID-19 protocols.
This will be a big switch from
2020 when students received their
diplomas while in vehicles with
their families in a drive-thru event.
In 2021, graduation was conducted
in LHS’s gym but attendance was
restricted so that social distancing
rules could be met. Graduates were
allotted five tickets each to give to
family members and friends for
commencement.
No tickets will be needed to
attend the Saturday, June 4, gradu-
ation ceremony because COVID-19
infection rates have fallen dramat-
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The Observer, File
Graduates embrace in front of La Grande
High School following commencement on
Saturday, June 5, 2021.
ically. Commencement starts at
10 a.m. and the doors to the gym
will open at 8:30 a.m.
Rich McIlmoil, La Grande High
School art teacher and head football
coach, was selected by LHS stu-
dents to be the graduation speaker.
The educator said he will be
addressing “a great group of kids.”
McIlmoil said this year’s senior
class has a number of excellent
leaders and is filled with hard-
working students.
“A lot of the students are driven,”
he said.
Those who will be saluted at
the June 4 commencement include
the class of 2022’s valedictorians
— Derek Begin, Braden Carson,
Cole Jorgensen, Isabelle Kump
and Carter Perry. All have earned
straight A’s throughout high school.
McIlmoil also said many stu-
dents in the class of 2022 are ver-
satile individuals who have par-
ticipated in an array of activities,
including art, music and athletics.
He noted that has gotten to know
a wide variety of students in the
class with different interests, talents
and backgrounds because he is both
a football coach and an art teacher.
“It is not a common duo,” he said.
He believes the students in the
class of 2022 are closer because of
the pandemic.
“They have had to be strong
together,” McIlmoil said.
The educator said the chal-
lenges students have faced due
to COVID-19 have made them
stronger.
“They will be using their trials
as fuel to push them through life,”
McIlmoil said.
IN BRIEF
Drowning death at Wallowa
Lake ruled a suicide
WALLOWA LAKE — The death
of an Enterprise man found April 15
has been ruled a suicide, according
to an email from Wallowa County
Sheriff Joel Fish.
Fish said Tuesday, May 31, that
no foul play is suspected in the
drowning death of Devin Nelson
Woempner-Velarde, found in his car
submerged in Wallowa Lake at Wal-
lowa Lake State Park off the boat
ramp.
On April 19 the sheriff said it
appeared that Woempner-Velarde
drove off the ramp, and likely before
April 15.
“The ignition was on and the car
was in drive,” Fish said at the time.
“It looks like he drove off.”
The sheriff had said the cause
of death “appears to be drowning,”
but he was awaiting a determination
from the state Medical Examiner’s
Office. Fish said on May 31 that the
determination was suicide.
Cove to have second, final
reading of resolution
COVE — The Cove City Council
will conduct a second reading of
Resolution 2022-2 during its regu-
larly scheduled meeting on Tuesday,
June 7. The meeting is set for 7 p.m.
at Cove City Hall, 504 Alder St.
Resolution 2022-2 would estab-
lish fines, fees and assessments
against violations of the city’s ordi-
nances and regulations. Passage
of the second reading on June 7,
according to Cove Mayor Sherry
Haeger, would provide the city the
first piece needed for the establish-
ment of a municipal court. Passage
of the second reading would lead to
a vote to approve the resolution in
July.
After systemizing
fines, the next step
would then involve
the approval of a res-
olution to create a
municipal court. Two
readings and a vote
Haeger
of approval by the
council would also be required to
create the court.
Cove’s proposed municipal court
would be in place to address viola-
tions of the nuisance ordinance, the
only ordinance the city has. Cove’s
nuisance ordinance was approved
and went into effect in 2021.
Copies of Resolution 2022-2 are
available for public inspection from
8:30 a.m. until 12:30 p.m. at city
hall. Instructions on how to connect
to the council meeting virtually
are available on the city’s website,
www.citycove.org.
— EO Media Group
WASHINGTON — U.S.
Sen. Ron Wyden announced
in a press release on
Tuesday, May 31, the first of
three online town halls for
Eastern Oregon veterans,
their families and veterans
service providers. Partic-
ipants will ask top Vet-
erans Administration offi-
cials health care questions,
including about the agen-
cy’s proposals to reduce
physical and mental health
services in the region.
The first veterans-fo-
cused town hall meeting for
Umatilla, Union, Wallowa,
Baker and Morrow counties
is scheduled for Saturday,
June 4, at 10 a.m.
The town hall follows
a letter the Democratic
senator wrote earlier this
month about
VA recom-
mendations
that the Vet-
erans Admin-
istration Med-
ical Center in
Walla Walla,
Wyden
Washington,
be reclassified to a commu-
nity-based outpatient clinic
and to move its 31-bed res-
idential rehabilitation treat-
ment program 180 miles
north to Spokane.
“The message I heard
consistently at my recent
town halls in Eastern
Oregon made it clear that
veterans have lacked a real
opportunity to share their
legitimate concerns about
how these proposed changes
will reduce access to both
physical and mental health
care,” Wyden said in the
release. “Veterans deserve
topnotch care here at home
thanks to their service, and
I’m committed to working
with them and the VA
through these veterans-only
town halls to brainstorm
solutions to secure that
quality and accessible care.”
The VA already has a
community-based outpa-
tient clinic in La Grande,
which is frequently used by
veterans in the rural region.
The proposed changes to the
Walla Walla center would
make it similar to the La
Grande clinic, and local vet-
erans who need services
beyond the outpatient clinic
would have to travel to Spo-
kane instead. Wyden has
cited winter conditions, lack
of public transit and weath-
er-related highway closures
as reasons for concern over
the proposed limitations of
the Walla Walla clinic.
In a letter addressed to
Dr. Teresa Boyd of the VA
Northwest Health Network
Office and Walla Walla
VAMC Director Scott Kelter,
Wyden wrote that he finds
these changes “particularly
troubling to my constituents
in Oregon, who often trek
across state lines to receive
crucial care from the VA.
Adding 180 miles to their
commute will effectively
cut off access to behavioral
health and substance use
treatment services.”
Wyden also included sev-
eral other points from the
local town halls in the letter,
such as delays in travel reim-
bursement and technical fail-
ures related to the electronic
health record system. The
letter included seven ques-
tions in regard to how the
proposed downgrade at the
Walla Walla Clinic would
negatively impact veterans in
Eastern Oregon.
Wyden, Kelter and Boyd
will participate in the town
hall. The link to submit
questions is https://bit.
ly/3M28YIe. The link to
watch the June 4 meeting is
https://bit.ly/38RQMnb.