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June 30, 2022
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LA GRANDE COUPLE TAKE REINS OF LOCAL HARVEST EATERY AND PUB | BUSINESS & AGLIFE, B1
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Many Union County leaders
support U.S. Supreme Court
decision on abortion
By ANDREW CUTLER and DICK MASON
The Observer
LA GRANDE — Local elected leaders
off ered broad support for the Friday, June
24, decision by the U.S. Supreme Court to
overturn Roe v. Wade and allow the states to
regulate abortion.
The 6-3 ruling paves the way for each
state to set its own abortion laws.
“We hold that Roe and Casey must be
overruled,” Justice Samuel Alito wrote
in his opinion, referring to the Supreme
Court’s previous decisions of Roe v. Wade
in 1973 and Planned Parenthood of South-
eastern PA v. Casey in 1992.
Alito was joined by Justices Clarence
Thomas, Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh
and Amy Coney Barrett in reversing a case
settled nearly 50 years ago.
Sen. Bill Hansell, R-Athena,
said the Supreme Court’s deci-
sion falls in line with his own
personal beliefs.
“My position on abortion
has never changed, and it has
not with (the June 24) Supreme
Court decision. My position is
Hansell
based on my Christian faith.
I am pro-life. My position hinges on the
answer, what is to me a simple question,
when does human life begin?” he said.
Hansell said he believes life begins at
conception.
“Then ending it is wrong. If anyone can
show me life does not begin at conception,
I would be more than willing to reconsider
my position. So far no one has.”
Allan Duff y, chairman of the Union
County Republican Party, said he supports
the Supreme Court decision.
“I am a pro-life Republican, and it sounds
like a great decision made by the Supreme
Court to leave things up to the individual
states,” he said.
Union County Commissioner Donna
Beverage said she feels good about the deci-
sion because it puts the issue into the hands
of individual states and their voters.
“It brought it from a federal decision to
a state decision, which I’m fi ne with,” she
said.
The commissioner said she prefers it
when states are provided more freedom to
make their own decisions.
The Observer, File
Pallets of food sit within Community Connection of Northeast Oregon’s storage facility in Island City on Thursday, Nov. 4, 2021. The regional
food bank, which services Grant, Union, Baker and Wallowa counties, has seen a 28% increase in demand for fresh food services in April and May,
compared to the average for the fi rst three months of 2022.
Rising food prices
Increasingly high cost of food and fuel are
driving more people across Eastern Oregon
to seek food assistance
By ISABELLA CROWLEY
The Observer
L
A GRANDE —
More people have
been relying on the
regional food bank this
spring in Union County,
mirroring the trend seen
across the state, according
to the Northeast Oregon
Regional Food Bank — a
service of Community Con-
nection — and the Oregon
Food Bank.
Two types of food assis-
tance boxes are off ered by
the regional food bank:
fresh food boxes and tra-
ditional food boxes. Fresh
food boxes — produce
boxes, harvest share boxes
or fresh alliance boxes —
can be picked up daily or
weekly depending on the
location. Traditional food
boxes, which include shelf-
stable items, are off ered only
once a month.
In Union County, the
average number of people
accessing fresh food ser-
vices increased by 28% in
April and May compared to
the average across January,
February and March. In
comparison, traditional food
boxes increased by only
10% in the same time frame.
“What this tells me is that
people are needing to access
the food bank more fre-
quently,” said Audrey Smith,
regional food bank manager
for Community Connection
of Northeast Oregon.
Susannah Morgan,
chief executive offi cer of
the Oregon Food Bank,
told Oregon Public Broad-
casting the trend is due to
two factors. First, federal
benefi ts provided during
the pandemic — stimulus
checks, expanded unem-
ployment, additional money
for the Supplemental Nutri-
tion Assistance Program
and more — have been
ending across the county.
The second factor is infl a-
tion, with rising food costs
and gas prices leading more
people to need assistance.
Isabella Crowley/The Observer
The sign posted on the front of Northeast Oregon Regional Food
Bank’s distribution center in Island City on Tuesday, June 28, 2022,
welcomes donations from the community.
The regional food bank
has seen this trend in all of
the counties it supports —
Baker, Grant, Union and
Wallowa. Across all four
counties, there has been a
23% increase in fresh food
boxes and a 7% increase in
traditional food boxes.
Smith said more people
accessing food assistance
programs in the spring
is a fl ip from the usual
trend. Typically, more
people access food banks
in December, January and
February when utility costs
are high, and the number of
recipients decreases at the
start of spring.
Numbers for June will be
available in early July, but
the trend is expected to hold,
said Smith.
The regional food bank
receives weekly shipments
from the Oregon Food
Bank, which is supple-
mented by fresh produce
donated by local stores and
farmers. Smith said that the
regional food bank has a
good stock of shelf-stable
and frozen foods at its new
See, Food/Page A7
See, Court/Page A7
Cascadia earthquake: What if?
Regional agencies gather in La Grande
for emergency response exercise
By DICK MASON
The Observer
LA GRANDE — The
simulated news was not
nearly as alarming as it
fi rst sounded.
Elaine LaRochelle,
facilities manager at
Grande Ronde Hospital,
told the Union County par-
ticipants in a regional Cas-
cadia earthquake exercise
on Monday, June 27, that
the hospital had just lost its
water pressure due to the
hypothetical earthquake.
She then said that if
water pressure was not
restored within 12 to 24
hours, Grande Ronde
Hospital would have
to begin evacuating its
patients. LaRochelle
explained that water pres-
sure was needed not for
See, Cascadia/Page A7
WEATHER
INDEX
Business ........B1
Classified ......B2
Comics ...........B5
Crossword ....B2
drinking water but for
sanitation purposes.
LaRochelle was not
worried, though, for city
of La Grande Public
Works Department repre-
sentatives at the simula-
tion informed her that the
broken pipes causing the
pressure drop would be
fi xed in two hours.
“The La Grande
Public Works Department
always comes through,”
LaRochelle said, referring
Dear Abby ....B6
Horoscope ....B2
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Opinion .........A4
Spiritual ........A6
Sports ............A8
Sudoku ..........B5
Dick Mason/The Observer
La Grande Rural Department Fire Chief Craig Kretschmer, right, and
Oregon Trail Electric Cooperative’s Jeff Pillow talk about regional
responses to the Cascadia earthquake at a multi-county exercise at
Union County’s law enforcement building, La Grande, on Monday,
June 27, 2022.
Full forecast on the back of B section
Tonight
Friday
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Mostly sunny
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