FROM PAGE ONE
A8 — THE OBSERVER
SATURDAY, JUNE 25, 2022
CAPSULE
SCHOOLS
Continued from Page A1
Continued from Page A1
gathering of people interested in Oregon
Trail history.
“It was a good block party,” he said.
The time capsule, according to a
Meeker journal entry, included a speech
read by the mayor of La Grande on April
10, 1906, at a dedication ceremony for
the marker. Jim Kreider, of La Grande,
said good-naturedly that he had hoped the
time capsule contained something more.
“It is unfortunate,” he said. “I was
hoping the secret of life was in there.”
school years, but the district is restricted in what
it can spend the relief funds on.
After two years, the school district will have
little if any COVID-19 funding remaining to
buff er its enrollment decline, he said, meaning
the chance of layoff s starting in the 2024-25
school year will be much greater if enrollment
does not rise signifi cantly.
The school district’s enrollment has been
declining since the COVID-19 pandemic hit
Oregon in March 2020 and now stands at about
240 fewer students.
Justice believes one reason for the decline is
that parents and students want consistency and
stability. School districts lost an element of this
during the pandemic when they were switching
from online to in-person instruction and a hybrid
learning model, which is a combination of both.
“We understand the instability challenges for
families,” Justice said.
He added that he hopes that as stability
improves in the post-pandemic environment,
more parents will enroll their children again in
the La Grande School District. Justice said the
new athletic and academic center the school dis-
trict will be constructing over the next two years
may also boost enrollment.
“It will show how serious our community is
about education,” Justice said.
The athletic and academic center will replace
the school district’s aging Annex gym building
and will be constructed with funds from a $4.524
million bond school district voters approved in
May and a $4 million matching state grant. Jus-
tice said enrollment in school districts often rises
after a bond has been approved. He noted that
enrollment increased after La Grande School
District passed a $31.5 million bond in 2014 for
capital construction and major building upgrades.
“Hopefully, this will happen with the passage
of the latest one,” Justice said.
Isabella Crowley/The Observer
SNOW
Continued from Page A1
Chelsea Judy, marketing
manager at Anthony Lakes,
said about 114 inches of
snow has fallen at the
ski area since the resort
closed for the season the
fi rst weekend of April — a
respectable amount for the
same period in the middle
of winter.
“It’s been a crazy
spring,” Story said, “with
the late snow and these
really cool temperatures.”
Road obstacles
Creating a new time capsule
The empty time capsule in the stone
marker on Walnut Street will soon be
fi lled with current items collected by
Ronnie Allen, of La Grande, a local his-
torian who organized the June 23 event
along with Counsell. Items Allen will put
in the time capsule include an Oregon
Trail brochure, a copy of the Overland
Journal (a quarterly publication of the
Oregon-California Association) plus
items that are or recently have been inte-
gral parts of our daily lives today such as
face masks, a COVID-19 home test kit,
an iPhone, a $2 bill, a quarter and a 1926
that had nothing to do with
snow but yielded an unex-
pected benefi t.
He hired a contractor
to cut small trees — with
a diameter of less than 9
inches — within 6 feet of
the shoulder of the byway
between Crane Flats, a few
miles north of Granite, and
the Elkhorn Summit.
The purpose was to get
rid of tree branches that
impeded drivers’ views
on the curvy byway, Story
said.
But since the work was
done in 2016, Story said
he’s noticed that snow
doesn’t accumulate to quite
such prodigious depths in
some places, and it seems
to melt earlier — he esti-
mates the diff erence at 10 to
14 days.
He fi gures that removing
the roadside trees, besides
extending drivers’ sight-
lines, exposed the byway
to more sunlight, hence the
accelerated snowmelt.
Story notes that this
eff ect is muted, however,
when snow is actually
falling, as it did on many
days this spring.
Other roads, other
issues
Above Cove, the 6220
Road running north from
Moss Springs toward
Mount Harris and Point
Prominence is also closed,
Story said.
Some other popular
routes are open, however,
including Forest Road 39,
the Wallowa Mountain
Loop Road, which leads
north from Highway 86
east of Halfway to near
Joseph.
The Blue Mountain
Scenic Byway from Granite
to Ukiah is also open.
Besides the persistent
snow, Story, who has worked
on the Wallowa-Whitman
for 31 years, said this spring
has been noteworthy for the
amount of debris he’s seen
on forest roads.
The detritus includes
rocks as well as fallen trees.
Story said an infestation
of fi r engraver insects has
killed many white fi r trees,
and the combination of
strong winds on dead fi rs,
bearing loads of heavy, wet
spring snow, led to what
he called an “excessive”
number of trees toppling
across roads.
He also noted — as
campers and other outdoor
enthusiasts undoubtedly
did — that some of the sog-
gier storms happened on
weekends.
Story said he’s found
several places where people
driving on saturated roads
left deep ruts that channel
water onto the road and
prevent it from draining.
“There’s been a lot
of damage to our road
system,” he said.
Oregon Trail 50-cent piece.
These items will be placed in the time
capsule in about three days and then
sealed. Allen said he will notify the Ezra
Meeker Society in Washington that the
time capsule should not be reopened until
2122.
Allen said loose stones collected from
the marker will be sent to Washington
State University’s geology department
for analysis. He hopes this will deter-
mine where the rock used for the creation
of the marker came from. Allen said the
markers Meeker set up along the Oregon
Trail were made locally.
Many schoolchildren had attended
Meeker’s 1906 dedication ceremony on
Walnut Street, and Jennifer Boyd was
glad to see a number of children and teen-
agers were at the June 23 event.
“If just some of these kids get excited
about history, it will all be worth it,” she
said.
Our Quality Is Timeless.
This Price Isn’t!
Miracle-Ear Quality
For $895. Why Wait?
Hearing is believing! Right now, for a very limited
time, you can get a fully digital, genuine Miracle-Ear ®
hearing aid for less than $900. This is one of our
smallest, most discreet hearing solutions. Complete
with Miracle-Ear sound quality, custom fitting and a
comprehensive service and warranty program.
Experience the
Brand America Trusts.
Once in a while I come across a product
I think is excellent, and my Miracle-Ear
hearing aids are one of those things.
Save on one of our
smallest custom digital
hearing aids!
Offer Ends July 1
At Miracle-Ear, we’ve been helping people hear
better** for over 65 years. So when you visit any one
of our 1200 locations across America, you’re sure to
receive the friendly, professional service and the
personalized hearing solutions we’re famous for.
Getting Started.
It’s Free and Easy.
At Miracle-Ear, we make our process comfortable and
convenient. We also offer you a variety of valuable
services–at no charge.
Now Only
Services include:
FREE Ear Canal Inspections †
A miniature camera “tours”
your ear canal. You may not
have a hearing loss, it may be
nothing more than earwax.
$895!
HURRY! Offer ends 7/1/22
Valid on model Audiotone ® Pro CIC
Valid at participating Miracle-Ear locations only. Limit one coupon per
purchase. May not be combined with other offers and does not apply
to prior sales. Cash value 1/20 cent. Offer Expires 7/1/22.
(Exp. Date)
FREE Hearing Test †
A complete hearing test that
reveals where you need
hearing help. Recommended
annually.
~ OR ~
Another Great Way to Save
Make Your Appointment Today!
BUY 1 GET 1
50% Off
Schedule Your Appointment for a free In-Store
Demonstration of our NEWEST Miracle-Ear ®
Hearing Aids - Hear the difference for Yourself!
OUR LOWEST PRICE ON
Save on our full line of digital hearing solutions.
Don’t miss out on this amazing offer.
OPEN FIT
Hurry offer ends 7/1/22
Good only from participating Miracle-Ear ® representatives. One coupon per purchase. No other offers
or discounts apply. Discount does not apply to prior sales. Offer valid on ME-5, ME-4, ME-3, ME-2
Solutions. Cannot combine with any other offers. Cash value 1/20 cent. Offer expires 7/1/22
(Exp.
Date)
7/1/22.
TECHNO LOG Y
TM
TRY
THE
MEEASY
2
TRY
THE
MEEASY™
2 OPEN
Mention Code:
20JunSink
Mention
Code:
22JunSink
LA GRANDE
111 Elm Street
La Grande, OR 97850
541-605-2109
BAKER CITY
2021 Washington Ave.
Baker City, OR 97814
541-239-3782
ENTERPRISE
113-1/2 Front E. Main St.
Enterprise, OR 97828
541-239-3877
LIM
The lingering snow is a
tangible eff ect of the trend,
and one that is preventing
travelers from completing
the 106-mile Elkhorn
Drive, which circles its
namesake range and passes
through Baker City, Haines,
Granite and Sumpter.
Although warmer tem-
peratures earlier this week
melted snow from about a
mile of the byway, Story
said that when he drove up
on June 22, the route was
blocked by snow between
the upper Crawfi sh Basin
trailhead and near Grande
Ronde Lake, just west of
Anthony Lakes.
That section includes
the highest parts of the
byway, capped by Elkhorn
Summit about 2 miles west
of Anthony Lakes. At 7,392
feet, it’s the second-highest
point on a paved road in
Oregon, behind only the
Rim Drive in Crater Lake
National Park, which
ascends to 7,900 feet.
And the obstacles are
considerably more daunting
than a few modestly sized
drifts, Story said.
Snow still spans the
entire roadway in places.
It’s possible the byway
won’t fully open until
early July. That would be
a month later than in 2021,
and about two weeks later
than usual.
The Forest Service
doesn’t plow snow from the
byway.
But Anthony Lakes
Mountain Resort, which
has a certain amount of
experience in moving snow
around, starting last year
off ered to use its equipment
to punch through remaining
drifts when the byway was
almost clear.
That’s not the case yet,
though.
Peter Johnson, Anthony
Lakes general manager,
said it probably would take
“another week or two” of
melting to make it fea-
sible to clear the remaining
snow.
Although the byway
opening will be unusually
late this year, Story thinks
it might have been later still
but for a project he coor-
dinated several years ago
wagon, and still later retraced portions of
it in an automobile.
At 94, he made the trip by airplane.
He fl ew over the trail in a week. His 1852
journey took seven months.
Meeker died in December 1928, at the
age of 97.
IT
TY
Larsen said the La Grande marker is
the only one Meeker ever mentioned in
his journals as having a time capsule.
Pat Ziobar, Larsen’s wife, believes
the people of Union County in 1906 may
have requested a time capsule. Ziobar
said Meeker liked to involve communities
in the process of designing the markers.
“I think that was a good idea,” she
said.
The Oregon Trail was close to Meek-
er’s heart because he had taken the route
west from Iowa in 1852 when he was a
young man. He later settled in what is
now Puyallup, Washington, and was the
town’s fi rst mayor.
In the 1880s, he made and lost a for-
tune growing and marketing hops.
Meeker then went to Alaska to look for
gold, returned and experimented with
dehydrated foods. He took up writing,
producing at least fi ve books before he
died.
Meeker made his 1906 stop in La
Grande while on an eastbound trip along
the Oregon Trail in an ox-drawn wagon.
He made a second trip across the trail by
Dale Counsell, left, Jennifer Boyd, center, and Ronnie Allen discuss the day’s events after an Oregon
Trail stone marker failed to contain a 1906 time capsule on Thursday, June 23, 2022, in La Grande.
Boyd is one of the owners of the property at the corner of B Avenue and Walnut Street where the
marker now stands.
ED
N
Why La Grande?
WARR
A
It’s incredibly discreet.
Save up to 30% off our full line of open fit technology.
Perfect for active lifestyles
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Noisy restaurants
Plays, movies, recitals
Conversation in the car
Cards & board games
Recreation around water
Talking while exercising
And that’s just the start!
PLUS RECEIVE THIS
HEARING AID CHARGER
FREE WITH PURCHASE
• Stays charged all day long
• No more hearing aid batteries.
Offered on LI RIC
100% INVISIBLE
Don’t be fooled by the small size.
The Miracle-Ear Mirage TM features
amazingly advanced and powerful
micro-technology, all wrapped up
in our tiniest hearing aid ever!
So Little Can Do So Much!
*Audiotone ® Pro not included **Hearing aids do not restore natural hearing. Individual experiences vary depending on severity of hearing loss, accuracy of evaluation, proper fit and ability to adapt to amplification.†Our hearing test and video otoscopic inspection are
always free. Hearing test is an audiometric test to determine proper amplification needs only. These are not medical exams or diagnoses nor are they intended to replace a physician’s care. If you suspect a medical problem, please seek treatment from your doctor. Hearing
Aids must be returned within 30 days after delivery for a 100% refund.
SPECIAL FINANCING AVAILABLE • SEE STORE FOR DETAILS