LOCAL
A2 — THE OBSERVER
TODAY
In 1876, Lt. Col. Colonel George
A. Custer and his 7th Cavalry were
wiped out by Sioux and Cheyenne
Indians in the Battle of the Little
Bighorn in Montana.
In 1938, the Fair Labor Standards
Act of 1938 was enacted.
In 1942, Gen. Dwight D. Eisen-
hower was designated Com-
manding General of the European
Theater of Operations during World
War II. Some 1,000 British Royal Air
Force bombers raided Bremen,
Germany.
In 1947, “The Diary of a Young
Girl,” the personal journal of Anne
Frank, a German-born Jewish girl
hiding with her family from the
Nazis in Amsterdam during World
War II, was first published.
In 1950, war broke out in Korea
as forces from the communist
North invaded the South.
In 1962, the U.S. Supreme
Court ruled that recitation of a
state-sponsored prayer in New
York State public schools was
unconstitutional.
In 1973, former White House
Counsel John W. Dean began testi-
fying before the Senate Watergate
Committee, implicating top admin-
istration officials, including Presi-
dent Richard Nixon as well as him-
self, in the Watergate scandal and
cover-up.
In 1990, the U.S. Supreme Court,
in its first “right-to-die” decision,
ruled that family members could
be barred from ending the lives of
persistently comatose relatives who
had not made their wishes known
conclusively.
In 1993, Kim Campbell was
sworn in as Canada’s 19th prime
minister, the first woman to hold
the post.
In 1996, a truck bomb killed 19
Americans and injured hundreds at
a U.S. military housing complex in
Saudi Arabia.
In 2009, death claimed Michael
Jackson, the “King of Pop,” in Los
Angeles at age 50 and actor Farrah
Fawcett in Santa Monica, California,
at age 62.
In 2015, the U.S. Supreme Court
upheld nationwide tax subsidies
under President Barack Obama’s
health care overhaul in a 6-3 ruling
that preserved health insurance for
millions of Americans.
In 2016, Pope Francis visited
Armenia, where he recognized the
Ottoman-era slaughter of Arme-
nians as a genocide, prompting a
harsh rebuttal from Turkey.
Ten years ago: A divided U.S.
Supreme Court threw out major
parts of Arizona’s tough crack-
down on people living in the U.S.
without legal permission, while
unanimously upholding the law’s
most-discussed provision: requiring
police to check the immigration
status of those they stop for other
reasons, but limiting the legal
consequences.
Five years ago: In eastern Paki-
stan, an overturned oil tanker
burst into flames, killing at least
150 people who had rushed to the
scene to gather leaking fuel.
One year ago: Former Minneap-
olis police Officer Derek Chauvin
was sentenced to 22-1/2 years in
prison for the murder of George
Floyd, whose dying gasps under
Chauvin’s knee led to the biggest
outcry against racial injustice in
the U.S. in generations. The Justice
Department sued Georgia over the
state’s new election law, saying it
was intended to deny Black voters
equal access to the ballot. (The law-
suit is pending.)
Today’s birthdays: Actor June
Lockhart is 97. Civil rights activist
James Meredith is 89. R&B singer
Eddie Floyd is 85. Actor Barbara
Montgomery is 83. Actor Mary Beth
Peil is 82. Basketball Hall of Famer
Willis Reed is 80. Singer Carly Simon
is 77. Actor-comedian Jimmie
Walker is 75. Actor-director Michael
Lembeck is 74. Supreme Court Jus-
tice Sonia Sotomayor is 68. Rock
musician David Paich (Toto) is 68.
Actor-writer-director Ricky Ger-
vais is 61. Basketball Hall of Famer
Dikembe Mutombo is 56. Rap-
per-producer Richie Rich is 55. Actor
Angela Kinsey is 51. Rock musician
Mike Kroeger (Nickelback) is 50.
Rock musician Mario Calire is 48.
Actor Busy Philipps is 43.
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.
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SaTuRday, JunE 25, 2022
Annual 4th of July traditions County
continue in Wallowa County prepares
Parade, fireworks
at lake planned
for the
‘big one’
By BILL BRADSHAW
Wallowa County Chieftain
WALLOWA COUNTY — The
246th anniversary of the signing
of the Declaration of Indepen-
dence will once again get a rip-
roaring recognition from one end
of Wallowa County to the other,
Monday, July 4, with the Old-Time
Fourth of July Parade and Cele-
bration in Wallowa and the Shake
the Lake fireworks show at Wal-
lowa Lake.
Union County agencies,
groups to participate in
Regional Cascadia
Earthquake exercise
By ANDREW CUTLER
Wallowa County Chieftain, File
Parade
The parade, which usually
includes 30-40 entries, kicks off at
11 a.m. from Wallow’s high school
football field.
“We’re hoping we have a lot,”
said Carolyn Harshfield, city
recorder.
This year’s parade is not
expected to have the spirit of
rebelliousness exhibited two years
ago when, against state govern-
ment orders, Wallowans went
ahead and held their Indepen-
dence Day Parade without gov-
ernment sanction — or an official
closure of Highway 82 through
town. With the COVID-19 pan-
demic virtually over, there’s no
need to close such events, Harsh-
field said.
Ruby Frazier will serve as
grand marshal of the parade.
Entrants are asked to sign up
by June 30, Harshfield said.
“There can be last-minute ones
but we prefer for them to sign up,”
she said.
Cash prizes will be awarded to
the parade winners.
After the parade, people are
welcome to buy corn dogs, tacos,
hamburgers or barbecued meat at
one of the numerous food vendors
that will be set up on Pine Street.
Then they can gather at the Wal-
lowa Fire Hall to eat while lis-
tening to live music. Gary and
Terri Moffit of Wallowa are to
perform, Harshfield said.
There is no entry fee for the
The annual Shake the Lake Independence Day fireworks display will begin at dark
Monday, July 4, 2022. The pyrotechnics will be fired from a raft anchored in the
north end of Wallowa Lake.
parade or for vendors’ booths, but
vendors are asked to check with
City Hall to reserve a space. In
addition to food booths, Harsh-
field said the city is hoping to
have vendors selling crafts, jew-
elry and “flea-market” items.
Shake the Lake
Later on the Fourth, at the
other end of the county, the
rockets’ redness will glare over
Wallowa Lake for the annual
Shake the Lake fireworks display.
As usual, a raft will be towed
out in the middle of the northern
end of the lake from which a
pyrotechnician will shoot off
about 22 minutes of fireworks
for the revolutionary thrills of
viewers along the shoreline and
throughout the area who can see
the display.
Jude Graham, of the Joseph
Chamber of Commerce, which is
one of the chief organizers of the
event, said it is expected to begin
at “9-9:30-ish.”
“It depends on if we have
clouds or not, but it’s always at
dark,” she said.
She encourages anyone plan-
ning to attend at the lake to come
early and get a parking space and
somewhere to lay out a blanket.
“There’s thousands of people
there,” she said.
The pyrotechnics don’t come
cheap, Graham said, adding that it
costs about $1,000 a minute.
She said the county has been
overwhelmingly generous with
donations for the fireworks. Busi-
nesses, local governments and
people around town dropping
their cash in collection baskets
have shown their support.
Graham said the chamber is
still collecting money for the
event, but “it’s going to happen.”
It wasn’t such a sure thing
in 2020 when, like Wallowa’s
parade, the government wasn’t
going to allow the event because
of concerns over the close prox-
imity viewers would be during the
pandemic.
But a groundswell of grass-
roots support arose, and that
fierce, independent spirit in Wal-
lowa County made it happen,
even when it wasn’t supposed to.
“The Joseph Chamber with
the help of Gary Bethscheider at
the Stubborn Mule pulled it off,”
Graham said.
Well before the fireworks, there
will be music at the north end of
the lake, she said. The musical
group Shanks Pony will start
playing about 4 p.m.
“Come and enjoy music,
family and friends and make it a
memory,” Graham said.
Imbler school budget appears strong
By DICK MASON
The Observer
IMBLER — Only
bright colors are needed
to paint the Imbler
School District’s budget
picture for 2022-23.
The Imbler School
Board voted on Tuesday,
June 21, to adopt a
2022-23 total budget of
$12.23 million, up 16%
from 2021-22, that will
allow the school district
to retain all of its staff
and programs.
The general fund
budget within the total
budget is $6.058 million,
up 14% from the cur-
rent general fund budget,
which consists of money
from taxes, fees, interest
earnings and other
sources that can be used
for general operation
purposes.
The school district’s
budget is being boosted
by steady enrollment,
said interim Imbler
School District Super-
intendent Doug Hislop,
a huge factor since
Oregon public school
districts receive at least
$8,000 from the state per
student.
Hislop said enrollment
in Oregon’s schools has
dropped about 30,000
over the past year but the
amount of money allotted
by the state for school
districts in 2022-23 has
not changed, meaning
the state has more money
available per student.
Hislop noted that the
school district’s enroll-
ment outlook also looks
good because it has a
waiting list of students
from outside the school
district for some grades.
Because the Imbler
School District was
granted charter status by
the state about 15 years
ago, it can accept stu-
dents whose families live
outside of the district
when it has openings.
IN BRIEF
La Grande Police make
arrest in arson case
LA GRANDE — A La Grande
man was arrested for allegedly
starting a fire earlier this month at
Wildflower Lodge.
Teryn Demoss, 20, was taken
into custody on Thursday, June
23, on charges of arson and reck-
less endangering and lodged into
the Union County Jail without
incident, according to a press
release. Demoss was an employee
of the Wildflower Lodge and
served as the lodge’s cook. He
had been employed at the assisted
living facility for more than a
year.
The La Grande Fire Depart-
ment and the La Grande Police
Department responded to a report
of a fire inside the Wildflower
Lodge, 508 16th St., La Grande,
shortly before 2 p.m. on June 11.
Emergency crews arrived
moments later and quickly extin-
guished a fire in a storage room
near the Memory Care Ward.
The La Grande Fire Depart-
ment assisted by the Wildflower
Lodge staff, the La Grande
Police Department and the Union
County Sheriff’s Office evacuated
residents from the facility until
the scene was safe. No one was
injured in the fire.
The State Fire Marshall’s
Office, along with the La Grande
Fire Department, the La Grande
Police Department and the
Oregon State Police, conducted a
thorough investigation and deter-
mined the cause of the fire was
arson. Several items of eviden-
tiary value were collected and
sent to the Oregon State Police
Forensic Lab for analysis.
This case remains under inves-
tigation and more charges may
occur, police said. Anyone with
information in regard to this arson
is asked to contact La Grande Det.
Scott Norton at 541-963-1017.
La Grande changing out
analog water meters
LA GRANDE — The La
Grande Public Works Department
will be installing high-tech meters
to all homes and businesses
within the La Grande city limits
as part of the city’s City Water
Meter Change Program.
These new meters will allow
the city to monitor water usage
and to alert property owners
about possible leaks. La Grande
residents may notice a disturbance
in their water for about 10-15 min-
utes while crews change out the
water meter.
Water meter changes are
expected to take place from
8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through
Thursday until all meters have
been changed.
For more information, call
Public Works at 541-962-1325.
Annual fire hydrant tests
will begin in July
LA GRANDE — The city of
La Grande’s annual fire hydrant
testing and maintenance program
will begin Tuesday, July 5, and
continue from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.
until all hydrants are tested.
The La Grande Public
Works Department’s program is
important to “identify the quan-
tity of water available for fire-
fighting purposes” and “serves to
rid the city’s water distribution
system of accumulations of sed-
imentation deposits over the past
year,” according to a press release.
Residents who experience any
unusual water clarity problems
after the hydrants are flushed are
encouraged to turn on a cold-
water faucet outside of their house
and let it run for 10-15 minutes,
the release stateds. Doing so will
normally clear up water from the
service line to the home. Addi-
tional problems may be referred
to Public Works by calling
541-962-1325.
EOU board to hold
special meeting
LA GRANDE — The Eastern
Oregon University Board of
Trustees will meet via Zoom at
10:30 a.m. Monday, June 27, for a
special meeting.
The board will discuss whether
to enter into a contract with EAB
Global, Inc., an educational con-
sulting firm. Since the contract
would exceed $1 million in value,
board authorization is required.
View the agenda at www.eou.
edu/governance/board-
meeting-schedule. Members of
the public can watch the meeting
via livestream at youtube.com/
user/EOUAV.
— The Observer
The Observer
LA GRANDE — The “big one” is
coming to Union County next week
— in practice form anyway.
The county will be joining several
other Northeastern Oregon counties
in a Regional Cascadia Earthquake
exercise on Monday, June 27, and
Tuesday, June 28. The exercise will
test communications, lines of succes-
sion, priority assessments, such as
debris removal, roadway damages,
response times and fuel distribution,
as well as mass care and sheltering.
“In the exercise we may find that
some aspects were solid and are great
and others we may find that we need
to generate this information, that we
maybe don’t have the most efficient
mechanisms in place,” Union County
Emergency Manager Nick Vora said.
“And then coming out of this it’ll be
a good learning opportunity to iden-
tify how we can do some trainings
and have some coordination meetings
in the future. So if this does happen
for real, we’ll be able to respond in a
deliberate and prepared manner.”
The Cascadia earthquake is based
on the Cascadia Subduction Zone,
which is a convergent plate boundary
that stretches from Vancouver Island
to Northern California. Subduction
zone earthquakes can exceed a mag-
nitude of 9.0, according to a press
release. While Northeastern Oregon
is located far from the center of the
subduction zone, extreme shaking
may be felt for several minutes
that could potentially affect build-
ings, utilities and transportation
throughout the area.
Vora said Baker County was
awarded a grant from the Federal
Emergency Management Agency for
planning a Cascadia earthquake exer-
cise, and several neighboring coun-
ties, including Union County, were
able to take advantage of that grant
and the support that FEMA had to
offer in planning and then conducting
the exercise.
“Multiple counties got together
and we identified some of the objec-
tives that as a group we thought were
a high priority to exercise because we
can’t practically exercise all aspects
of response to a major emergency at
once,” he said.
Malheur, Umatilla, Union, Baker
and Harney counties will be holding
training in each county’s respec-
tive emergency operation centers. In
Union County, next week’s training
will be held at the law enforcement
building, 1109 K Ave., La Grande.
The two-day training is a con-
tinuation of the 2016 Great Oregon
Shakeout, a mass casualty exercise
that took place in Union County.
The 2016 event was a full-scale exer-
cise with no simulation — other than
the “patients” weren’t actually hurt.
However, the 2022 training is a func-
tional exercise that will be contained.
“So as people drive around Union
County on (June 27-28), they’re not
going to notice anything different,”
Vora said. “But in our emergency
operations center we’ll be simu-
lating a significant emergency has
occurred.”
Vora said simulations will include
power and communication outages,
gas line, ruptures, fires, traffic man-
agement and fuel management.
“Pretty much every aspect of
emergency response in Union County
was really eager to participate in
this,” Vora said.
WHO’S TRAINING?
The two-day Regional Cascadia Earthquake
exercise in Union County will involve a host
of local volunteer groups and agencies,
including the Amateur Radio Emergency Ser-
vice, American Red Cross, and members from
Union County Search and Rescue, La Grande
Fire, La Grande Police, La Grande Public
Works and Wastewater Treatment, La Grande
Rural Fire District, Center for Human Devel-
opment/Union County Public Health, Grande
Ronde Hospital, Avista Utilities, Oregon
Trail Electric Cooperation, Ziply Fiber, Union
County Commissioners, 911 Dispatch, Union
County Emergency Services, Union County
Public Works, Union County Sheriff’s Office,
Oregon Department of Emergency Manage-
ment, Oregon Department of Transportation
and the Federal Emergency Management
Association.