FROM PAGE ONE
TUESDAY, JULY 12, 2022
OLYMPICS
Continued from Page A1
became the LPCs earlier this year.
“We were, quote unquote,
tapped for this by the state offi ce
due to us being some of the only
ones that could take it on,” JT
Thorne said.
Lis Thorne said in addition to
Trice’s death in May 2020, the
other co-LPC, Pam Thompson,
retired, though she is still the
Union County golf coach. Con-
cerned the organization could fall
away, the Thornes stepped in.
“We didn’t want the program
to go by the wayside for Union
County,” Lis Thorne said. “We
know how much it has been a
benefi t for our own daughter
with special needs, so here we
are today.”
Financial issues at the state
level led to the cancellation of the
regional games in 2019. Athletes
locally still practiced but didn’t
have a regional event.
Then came the pandemic,
which added to the delay.
“It’s been three years since
these athletes have been able to
compete. It’s been four years
since we’ve been to a state com-
petition for track, golf, stuff like
that,” Thorne said.
With a restructuring that has
taken place at the state level
and COVID restrictions lifted,
those larger events are returning.
There will be regional games in
Hermiston for track on Saturday,
July 16, and in Oregon City for
golf on July 17. State games
are not being held this year as
the organization continues to
rebuild.
The return has been met with
joy, as could be expected, by the
athletes, the Thornes said.
“The general consensus from
all the athletes is ‘thank God
we’re back,’” Lis Thorne said.
“They’ve been wanting to come
back for over a year, year and a
half now. Everyone enjoys seeing
their athlete friends.”
JT Thorne admitted some
concern on how many partici-
pants would be out, but at their
fi rst practice in late May, those
fears dropped. There are 11 ath-
letes involved in track — 10 ath-
letes and one helper — and six
in golf.
“It was really good to see them
come out at the fi rst practice —
as many that did. I personally
was very afraid that a lot of them
would be like, ‘I don’t want to do
this anymore.’ We have our whole
original team and then a couple
more,” he said.
“It’s so good to see the posi-
THE OBSERVER — A3
tive attitudes between them all,
too, the way they cheer each other
on and encourage each other,” Lis
Thorne added.
The growth of the athletes
from Special Olympics is vital,
and the Thornes said they have
seen that fi rsthand with their own
daughter, Dani.
“Once we got her into the pro-
gram and watched her blossom
with teammates and new friends
— there are things she does now
that she wouldn’t have done due
to her comfortability with indi-
viduals,” JT Thorne said. “This
has helped her to grow as a young
lady and an athlete.”
Both noted the scene at a
regional or state competition is
unlike anything else.
“It is an amazing thing to see.
It is a sight I believe everyone
should come watch. It’s sports,
friendship and competition in its
purest form,” JT Thorne said.
As the new leaders of the local
chapter look to the future, adding
sports is being considered. JT
Thorne said soccer and bocci ball
are among the events they hope
to add as early as next year. The
couple is also hoping to garner
support to bring the regional
games to Union County in the
future. It’s a move that would go
a long way to letting the com-
munity know the local chapter is
thriving.
“That would be really big for
the area,” JT Thorne said of the
regional games. “It would give a
sense of ownership to the athletes
that it is happening in their own
town. We were down for three
years due to Doug’s passing (and
when) COVID hit. (It’s important)
to get out in front of everybody
again, letting people know we are
still here.”
HOT LAKE
Dick Roth,
the author
of four
books about
Hot Lake’s
history, puts
together
a display
before a
presentation
on Thursday,
June 23,
2022, at
Grande Hot
Springs RV
Resort. Roth
is shown with
a 1909 fi re
extinguisher
from Hot
Lake.
Continued from Page A1
The old hydrant system Roth
is referring to was fed by an
unorthodox and memorable
source, a concrete reservoir on
the south hill behind Hot Lake’s
buildings. Water was pumped
into the structure, which held
thousands of gallons of water
that flowed downhill through
wooden pipes wrapped by wire.
The reservoir stopped being
used many decades ago but it is
still buoyant in Roth’s mind.
“I used to play up there,” said
Roth, who grew up at Hot Lake
in the 1940s and 1950s when it
was owned by his parents, A.J.
and Fern Roth.
Roth said wildlife were also
attracted to the reservoir.
“Once I had to pull a dead
deer out of there,” said Roth,
who discussed Hot Lake’s former
fi refi ghting system in late June
during a presentation at Grande
Hot Springs RV Resort.
Another pillar of Hot Lake’s
old fi refi ghting system was its
Ford-La Grande chemical hose
truck. It was a Model TT fi re
engine manufactured in March
of 1921.
The vehicle’s features
included two 38-gallon chemical
tanks and two hose baskets. The
chemical tanks held soda, water
and acid in separate compart-
ments. When they needed to be
used the tanks would be turned
upside down, mixing the soda
GOP
Continued from Page A1
recently that showed her in
a neck-and-neck race with
Kotek.
About 32% of the
respondents were Republi-
cans and 39% were Demo-
crats — slightly lower than
the parties’ vote share in the
most recent midterm elec-
tion, when Democrats made
up 41% of the electorate and
Republicans 33%. Nonaf-
fi liated voters, the largest
group in the state, have
lower voting rates than
those who choose a party,
and they turn out at even
lower rates in non-presiden-
tial elections.
Cygnal has a B+ rating
from FiveThirtyEight, a
highly respected political
website, which reports that
the fi rm more frequently
overestimates Democrats
than Republicans.
Democrats have con-
trolled both chambers of
the Legislature since 2007,
except for a two-year period
beginning in 2011 when the
House was split 30-30. This
year, Democrats hold 37 of
60 seats in the House and
18 of 30 in the Senate.
‘Playing a rigged
game’
Dru Draper, polit-
ical director for the House
Republicans’ Evergreen
Oregon PAC, said almost
20 House districts are in
play for Republicans in
November. That includes
Photos by Dick Mason/The Observer
The sign at Hot Lake Springs stands out against the blue sky on Friday, June 24,
2022. The historic complex, now owned by Michael and Tamarah Rysavy, has many
features including hotel rooms, soaking pools and a movie theater.
and water with acid to create a
compound used to extinguish
blazes.
These tanks were dangerous
once their chemicals were acti-
vated since this caused pressure
to build within them. While this
could result in exploding or burst
tanks, Roth said he knows of
no instances in which chemical
tanks exploded at Hot Lake.
The fi re of 1934
Roth believes that the Model
TT fi re engine was last used on
May 7, 1934, when a disastrous
fi re hit Hot Lake, destroying
about two thirds of its 650-foot-
long building complex, which
included a hospital. He said the
former Democratic strong-
holds in Salem, Clackamas
County and Hood River.
“The number of seats
that we’re looking at is a
lot bigger than it normally
is because of how badly
things are going,” he said.
That’s despite struc-
tural advantages Democrats
had going into the election
because of their control
over redistricting, he said.
“We’re kind of playing
a rigged game because of
what the Democrats did
during redistricting, but a
pissed-off electorate isn’t
gonna let that get in the
way,” Draper said.
House Majority Leader
Julie Fahey, D-Eugene, and
Dan Torres, the director
of the Democratic Cau-
cus’s FuturePAC, were in
meetings throughout the
day Thursday, July 7, and
unavailable for interviews.
Democratic candidates are
running in 55 of the 60
House districts, and Fahey
has previously praised this
year’s slate of Democratic
candidates for their enthu-
siasm and diversity.
Republicans start from
a stronger position in the
Senate, where only 16 seats
are on the ballot in the fall:
15 for four-year terms and
one to fi nish the last two
years of a term. Five of the
senators who don’t have to
run for reelection this year
are Democrats, while eight
are Republicans and one is
an independent who previ-
ously ran as a Republican.
That means Repub-
fi re may have been started by
sparks created by uninsulated
wires coming into contact with
one another because of strong
winds. Roth said the fi re started
in the attic of Hot Lake’s main
building.
Hot Lake had 13 patients at
the time, all of whom escaped
unharmed and evacuated to
Grande Ronde Hospital.
Roth said the blaze exposed
the shortcomings of the era’s fi re-
fi ghting equipment.
“The fire consumed almost
the entire wood portion of the
complex and demonstrated the
inadequacies of available early
day firefighting equipment,”
Roth wrote in his book “The
licans need to win only
seven races in November
to tie the Senate and eight
to win a majority. Knopp,
the minority leader, said
Republicans’ path to a
majority runs through dis-
tricts in Salem, Keizer,
Medford, Hood River,
Clackamas County and
Lane County.
They’re defending three
Republican-held seats in
close districts now rep-
resented by Sens. Chuck
Thomsen, R-Hood River;
Bill Kennemer, R-Oregon
City; and Kim Thatcher,
R-Keizer. Kennemer and
Thatcher are running for
reelection against Demo-
cratic Gladstone Rep. Mark
Meek and Keizer attorney
Rich Walsh. Thomsen
retires at the end of this
year, and Rep. Daniel
Bonham, R-The Dalles, is
running in his stead.
Republicans also have
their eyes on the Salem-
based 10th Senate District
now represented by Demo-
cratic Sen. Deb Patterson.
Rep. Raquel Moore-Green,
R-Salem, is running against
her.
Republicans also are
competing in the 16th
Senate District on the
north coast, previously
represented by unaffi li-
ated gubernatorial candi-
date Betsy Johnson. Rep.
Suzanne Weber, R-Tilla-
mook, is running against
Melissa Busch, a nurse
from Warren.
And Republicans hope
Rep. Cedric Hayden,
Hot Lake Story.”
Roth said the two 38-gallon
tanks Hot Lake’s fi re truck had
were no match for the large fi re,
for they were drained early in the
course of the fi re.
Today, Hot Lake’s old fi re
truck, which Roth drove in
parades in the 1960s, is on dis-
play at the Eastern Oregon Fire
Museum, La Grande. The fi re
engine, while at Hot Lake, was
kept in a building also used as a
pump house and a machine shop.
The brick building still stands.
R-Roseburg, can pick up
an open Senate seat in
rural Lane County east of
Eugene and that Medford
Mayor Randy Sparacino
can unseat Sen. Jeff Golden,
D-Ashland.
Oliver Muggli, executive
director of the Senate Dem-
ocratic Leadership Fund,
said Democrats are pre-
Roth, who has authored four
books about Hot Lake’s past, said
doing historical research about
this area is a pursuit he will never
tire of.
“I enjoy fi nding facts and sep-
arating truth from mythology,” he
said. “Truth is always more inter-
esting than fi ction or fabrication.”
█
Dick Mason is a reporter with The Observer
primarily covering the communities of
North Powder, Imbler, Island City and Union,
education, Union County veterans programs
and local history.
pared for a tough November
election because the party
that controls the White
House usually struggles in
midterm elections.
But he said Senate Dem-
ocrats have the most qual-
ifi ed slate of candidates
they’ve had in years. Along
with defending current
Democratic districts, they
hope to unseat Thatcher and
Kennemer.
“Many of them have a
real track record of success
winning tough districts and
are not shying away from
getting out and talking to
voters and putting in the
legwork all the way through
to win tough campaigns,”
Muggli said.
Charles & Eileen
Stewart
10304 A 1st St.
Island City, OR
cstewartpc@gmail.com
541.910.5435
Pay cash or
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