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TUESDAY EDITION
June 7, 2022
Vets air
concerns at
town hall
Sen. Ron Wyden says Eastern
Oregon vets need to have say in
proposal to change VA services
By PHIL WRIGHT
East Oregonian
PENDLETON — Veterans in North-
eastern Oregon raised a number of questions
and issues Saturday, June 4, during a virtual
town hall meeting to discuss possible Vet-
erans Administration changes to delivering
health care in the area.
This was the fi rst of three virtual meet-
ings Oregon Democratic Sen. Ron Wyden is
holding for veterans to give input in the wake
of vets at a recent Union County town hall
expressing concerns over a proposal to move
some VA health care services from Walla
Walla to Spokane.
“The veterans who participated were par-
ticularly troubled about what they felt was
the direct touch that’s so important for vet-
erans health care was just going away from
the rural part of the state,” Wyden told those
attending the June 4 event.
Following the Union County meeting,
he said, he contacted Dr. Teresa Boyd, net-
work director for VISN 20, the VA North-
west Health Network, and Scott Kelter,
medical center director of the Jonathan M.
Wainwright Memorial VA Medical Center in
Walla Walla, where many veterans in North-
eastern Oregon go for services. They both
agreed to participate in the three town halls.
Wyden said local veterans are “troubled
by a whirlwind of hasty changes, involving a
new electronic health record system, delays
in delivery of care and recommendations to
move VA care further away from Eastern
Oregon.” He added he was concerned North-
eastern Oregon veterans did not get enough
voice in the changes and proposals, and he
wanted to make sure the Veterans Adminis-
tration was not making “some shortsighted
cost cutting” at the expense of veterans.
Wyden then opened the fl oor to questions
for Boyd and Kelter.
Staffi ng at center of delays
Veteran Ken McCormack, chair of the
veteran advisory council for the La Grande
community-based outpatient clinic, or
CBOC, was fi rst up with several matters.
Community care in La Grande can
mean waiting on the phone 20 to 30 min-
utes for someone to answer because of short
staffi ng, he said, and reimbursement for
travel is backed up to last summer. He also
said the call center in Walla Walla seems to
drop messages and has to handle a larger
area than in the past. He also said it took six
months for the La Grande facility to hire a
registered nurse and another month for the
new hire to learn the system.
Kelter said most delays are due to staffi ng
issues.
“We have been trying every hiring fl ex-
ibility that is available to recruit staff ,” he
The Observer, File
Positions
on the line
Falling enrollment may force La Grande School District
to cut nine positions but not lay off any employees
By DICK MASON
The Observer
L
A GRANDE —
A budget short-
fall caused by
declining enroll-
ment is darkening the La
Grande School District’s
fi nancial horizon.
The shaky outlook has
prompted the school dis-
trict to submit a proposed
$29.65 million general fund
budget for 2022-23 that
which calls for nine posi-
tions to be cut.
The good news is that
there would be no layoff s
since reductions would be
made through attrition,
according to La Grande
School District Superin-
tendent George Mendoza.
The positions that would be
cut are either currently not
fi lled, will be vacated due
to retirement and the like,
or the employee will be
moved to another position
Dick Mason/The Observer, File
within the district.
“In some cases there
will be involuntary trans-
fers,” Mendoza said.
He said three full-time
teaching positions, a por-
tion of one administrative
position and six classifi ed
staff positions would be
eliminated as a result of the
reductions. Classifi ed posi-
tions include cooks, cus-
todians and maintenance
staff . Cutting the three
teaching positions would
saved almost $299,000 and
trimming the six classifi ed
positions would save more
than $236,000.
In addition to the nine
position cuts, the proposed
budget calls for an assis-
tant principal position to
be reduced to a dean of
ABOVE: La Grande School
District Superintendent
George Mendoza delivers
opening remarks at a school
board meeting Wednesday,
Aug. 4, 2021. In the spring of
2022, Mendoza presented a
spending plan for the 2022-23
school year that, based on
declining enrollment, calls for
cutting nine positions.
BELOW LEFT: La Grande
School District fi fth grade
teacher Missy Rinker conducts
a virtual parent-teacher
conference Oct. 29, 2020.
Falling enrollment, which
district offi cials partially
blame on the fallout from
the pandemic, prompted the
school district to submit a
proposed general fund
2022-23 budget of $29.65
million that may require
eliminating several positions.
students position, saving
nearly $13,800.
Mendoza has presented
the spending plan calling
for these moves to the
school district’s budget
committee. The budget
committee may vote on
whether to recommend the
proposed 2022-23 budget
be adopted by the school
board when it meets at
5:30 p.m. on Wednesday,
June 8, in the district’s
board meeting room at
Willow School, 1305 N.
Willow St.
The $29.65 million gen-
eral fund budget being con-
sidered is up $2.58 million
from the present budget.
Much of the increase
See, Budget/Page A6
See, Veterans/Page A6
La Grande graduates 111 during June 4 ceremony
‘Don’t ever forget who you are,’ students are told
By DICK MASON
The Observer
Dick Mason/The Observer
Sonnet Jensen receives her diploma from La Grande High School Principal
Brett Baxter on Saturday, June 4, 2022.
INDEX
Classified ......B3
Comics ...........B7
Crossword ....B3
Dear Abby ....B8
LA GRANDE — The 111 mem-
bers of La Grande High School’s 2022
graduating class received words of
inspiration Saturday, June 4, at their
commencement ceremony from their
guest speaker, LHS art teacher Rich
McIlmoil.
But fi rst McIlmoil made sure that a
fallen classmate of theirs, Izah “Gonzo”
Nicolas Gonzalez, is never forgotten.
Gonzalez, who grew up in La Grande
and was a student of McIlmoil’s when
he taught at La Grande Middle School,
WEATHER
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Full forecast on the back of B section
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died in 2018 at age 14.
“His family and friends meant
everything to him. Izah would do any-
thing in the world for them,” McIlmoil
said. “If you were having a bad day, he
would make it better. He had such a big,
kind, loving heart.”
McIlmoil said Gonzalez was remark-
able and never gave up.
“Sadly, we lost a very special young
man. I’m sorry I am still struggling
and miss him,” he said during the LHS
commencement ceremony. “This is
from me, his brother and his mom.
See, Graduation/Page A6
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Issue 68
2 sections, 16 pages
La Grande, Oregon
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