LOCAL
A2 — THE OBSERVER
SaTuRday, auguST 6, 2022
TODAY
IN BRIEF
In 1806, the Holy Roman Empire
went out of existence as Emperor
Francis II abdicated.
In 1825, Upper Peru became the
autonomous republic of Bolivia.
In 1942, Queen Wilhemina of
the Netherlands became the first
reigning queen to address a joint
session of Congress, telling law-
makers that despite Nazi occupa-
tion, her people’s motto remained,
“No surrender.”
In 1945, during World War II,
the U.S. B-29 Superfortress Enola
Gay dropped an atomic bomb
code-named “Little Boy” on Hiro-
shima, Japan, resulting in an esti-
mated 140,000 deaths. (Three days
later, the United States exploded
a nuclear device over Nagasaki;
five days after that, Imperial Japan
surrendered.)
In 1965, President Lyndon B.
Johnson signed the Voting Rights
Act.
In 1973, entertainer Stevie
Wonder was seriously injured in a
car accident in North Carolina.
In 1978, Pope Paul VI died at
Castel Gandolfo at age 80.
In 1991, the World Wide Web
made its public debut as a means
of accessing webpages over the
Internet. TV newsman Harry Rea-
soner died in Norwalk, Con-
necticut, at age 68.
In 1993, Louis Freeh won Senate
confirmation to be FBI director.
In 2003, actor Arnold
Schwarzenegger used an appear-
ance on NBC’s “The Tonight Show
with Jay Leno” to announce his
successful bid to replace California
Gov. Gray Davis.
In 2009, Sonia Sotomayor was
confirmed as the first Hispanic
Supreme Court justice by a Senate
vote of 68-31. John Hughes, 59,
Hollywood’s youth movie director
of the 1980s and ‘90s, died in New
York City.
In 2011, insurgents shot down
a U.S. military helicopter during
fighting in eastern Afghanistan,
killing 30 Americans, most of them
belonging to the same elite Navy
commando unit that had slain
Osama bin Laden; seven Afghan
commandos also died.
In 2013, U.S. Army Maj. Nidal
Malik Hasan went on trial at Fort
Hood, Texas, charged with killing
13 people and wounding 32 others
in a 2009 attack. (Hasan, who
admitted carrying out the attack,
was convicted and sentenced to
death.)
Ten years ago: Marvin Hamlisch,
68, who composed or arranged
the scores for dozens of movies
including “The Sting” and the
Broadway smash “A Chorus Line,”
died in Los Angeles.
Five years ago: Vice Presi-
dent Mike Pence, in a statement
released by the White House,
described as “disgraceful and
offensive” a New York Times report
suggesting that he was laying the
groundwork for a possible pres-
idential bid in 2020 if President
Donald Trump were not to run.
One year ago: American Allyson
Felix won her record 10th Olympic
track medal at the Tokyo Games
with a bronze in the 400 meters,
the most medals won by any
woman in Olympic history. (She
would win an 11th the following
day.)
Today’s Birthdays: Children’s
performer Ella Jenkins is 98.
Actor-director Peter Bonerz is 84.
Actor Catherine Hicks is 71. Rock
singer Pat MacDonald (Timbuk
3) is 70. Country musician Mark
DuFresne is 69. Actor Stepfanie
Kramer is 66. R&B singer Randy
DeBarge is 64. Actor Michelle Yeoh
is 60. Country singers Patsy and
Peggy Lynn are 58. Basketball Hall
of Famer David Robinson is 57.
Actor Jeremy Ratchford is 57. Actor
Benito Martinez is 54. Country
singer Lisa Stewart is 54. Movie
writer-director M. Night Shyamalan
is 52. Actor Merrin Dungey is 51.
Singer Geri Halliwell Horner is 50.
Actor Jason O’Mara is 50. Actor Vera
Farmiga is 49. Actor Ever Carradine
is 48. Actor Soleil Moon Frye is 46.
Actor Melissa George is 46. Rock
singer Travis McCoy is 41. Actor
Leslie Odom Jr. is 41. Actor Romola
Garai is 40. U.S. Olympic and WNBA
basketball star A’ja Wilson is 26.
Oregon child welfare
seeks help locating
La Grande infant
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.
Contributed Photo
Tremendous generosity from the community helped raise $14,000 toward the playground project in memory of Daniel Hanson.
New place for children to play
Enterprise
Elementary
playground
updated in honor
of student
Wallowa County Chieftain
ENTERPRISE — In
commemoration of Daniel
Hanson, a fund in honor
of his love for play was set
up and dedicated to adding
more equipment to the cur-
rent Enterprise Elemen-
tary School playground.
Daniel was set to enter kin-
dergarten in Enterprise but
died in an accident in 2020.
What began as adding
a few pieces of play equip-
ment soon sparked the
idea of adding equipment
more appropriate for pre-
schoolers and young ele-
mentary students.
Ideas soon became
MORE INFORMATION
If interested in more informa-
tion or in contributing to the
project, please call Damiana
Maxwell at 541-531-9535 or
Sara Hayes 541-263-0690.
plans, and plans became
action. With Damiana
Maxwell and Sara Hayes,
early intervention special-
ists with InterMountain
Education Service Dis-
trict guiding the project,
the addition to the cur-
rent playground shifted its
focus to a truly inclusive
playground for all ages and
abilities.
Key elements of the
playground plan included
smooth surfacing and tran-
sitions to allow for even
walking and assistive
equipment. Play structures
were selected from input
of elementary students and
staff, occupational thera-
pists, physical therapists,
playground design consul-
tants and other key experts
to ensure all elements were
included in the design.
With tremendous gen-
erosity from the commu-
nity, $14,000 was raised
and given toward the play-
ground project in memory
of Daniel, who attended
the Enterprise Collabo-
rative Preschool. Local
grant awards of $38,000
and fundraising efforts
have been contributed
so far, including finan-
cial support from Enter-
prise Education Founda-
tion, Lions Club, Wallowa
County Local Commu-
nity Health Partnership,
Pacific Power and an
organized can drive.
Another $135,000 in
grant and monetary awards
within Eastern Oregon
have been awarded or are
pending including: the
Wildhorse Foundation, the
Ford Family Foundation,
Lewis & Clark, Oregon
Community Foundation
and InterMountain ESD.
The generosity of Wallowa
County shines through
with donations including
that of Rahn’s Sanitary in
providing storage space
for the new equipment and
Enterprise Electric in the
use of machinery.
The project broke
ground July 5 with the
installation of the new
equipment to be the week
of Chief Joseph Days.
The project team remains
hopeful all construc-
tion will be concluded by
the first day of school in
August, accessible for stu-
dents during school hours
and the community before
and after school hours.
The inclusive playground
will allow for children and
adults of all ages and abil-
ities to enjoy what Daniel
cherished most, play.
Voters will decide on psilocybin ban
La Grande City Council
passes ordinance banning
psilocybin, passing final
decision to voters
By ISABELLA CROWLEY
The Observer
LA GRANDE — The La Grande
City Council voted to declare an
emergency in order to pass an ordi-
nance banning psilocybin service
centers within city limits during its
regular meeting on Tuesday, Aug.
3, which means the issue will be
put to the voters on the upcoming
November ballot.
“This is a topic that
came to be in the 2020
November election
with the voter approval
of Ballot Measure 109
and that is the legal-
ization of psyche-
Boquist
delic mushrooms,” said
Michael Boquist, community devel-
opment director for the city of La
Grande.
Four options were presented to the
city council during the meeting:
• Allowing Measure 109 to
simply go into effect.
• Allowing it to go into effect
with restrictions.
• Calling for a complete ban on
psilocybin service centers.
• A two-year temporary ban.
The final two options would go to
voters for approval.
The vote passed 3-2 with John
Bozarth, Gary Lillard and Mary
Ann Miesner voting in favor of
the full ban and Nicole Howard
and Mayor Steve Clements voting
against. Two members of the
council were absent and did not
vote.
Boquist believed the full-ban
option allows the council the
most control over the future of
psilocybin in La Grande, while
ensuring voters were included in
the process. If the ban is approved
by voters, it would take another
vote of the people to lift it. This
could be initiated by voters or the
city council.
“Option three is that it runs con-
tinually and we’re in the driver’s
seat and we decide when we want
to lift that,” Boquist said.
In contrast, if the council moved
forward with a temporary ban, it
would need to be revisited every
two years and could not be con-
verted into a complete ban.
Councilor John Bozarth
requested La Grande Police Chief
Gary Bell’s opinion on the matter.
Bell was in favor of the full ban.
“I’m not impressed, I’m not
excited about it. We
have some recent his-
tory where the state
of Oregon has got
the cart before the
horse, in my opinion.
I don’t know what the
Bell
outcome is and that
really concerns me,”
the police chief said. “And we have
our hands full right now with drug
abuse in our community. And I’m
not suggesting that as presented
this is abuse, but I’m very con-
cerned any time we loosen the reg-
ulation on these things.”
Lillard and Clements both spoke
about the medical use of psilo-
cybin, but the general consensus
from the city council is that there
is still too much unknown about
psilocybin and the process. One
of the primary concerns raised in
favor of the ban by Clements and
Boquist is that the Oregon Health
Authority has not finalized how
the program will be run and what
regulations will be in place.
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Cove council to hold special session on Aug. 9
City to consider
two-year
moratorium on
psilocybin
The Observer
COVE — The Cove City
Council will hold a special
session at 7 p.m. Tuesday,
Aug. 9, to consider an ordi-
nance declaring a ban on
psilocybin service centers
and the manufacture of psi-
locybin products.
The ordinance, if
approved, would also
be referred to voters for
approval in the Nov. 8 elec-
tion. The ordinance would
impose a two-year morato-
rium that has a sunset date
of Dec. 31, 2024. The mor-
atorium would be repealed
on that date.
Copies of Ordinance
2022 are available to the
public at Cove City Hall,
504 Alder St., during
office hours 8:30 a.m. to
12:30 p.m. Monday through
Thursday.
The public can join the
council meeting from a
computer, tablet or smart-
phone by going to meet.
goto.com/CityofCove
or dialing 877-309-2073
and using access code
566-891-733.
Cove joins the La
Grande City Council and
Union County Board of
Commissioners in asking
their voters to consider
banning the psychedelic
drug from being sold in the
county’s unincorporated
areas before a state-man-
aged system takes effect in
January.
The La Grande City
Council declared an emer-
gency on Aug. 3 in order
to refer an ordinance ban-
ning psilocybin service cen-
ters within La Grande city
limits to voters, while the
Union County Board of
Commissioners voted on
Aug. 3 to refer a proposed
ordinance to ban prohibit
the sale and manufacturing
of psilocybin products in
unincorporated portions of
the county.
The sale and manu-
facturing of psilocybin in
Oregon is set to become
legal in 2023 after voters
approved Measure 109 in
2020. If the board of com-
missioners does not refer
the proposed ordinance to
voters, Measure 109 will
go into effect in unincor-
porated portions of Union
County. It would also go
into effect if the proposed
ordinance were rejected by
voters.
Measure 109 passed with
a 56% majority in Oregon
in 2020 but voters in Union
County rejected it.
LA GRANDE — Oregon
child welfare officials are
asking the
public to
help locate
a missing
3-month-old
boy from
La Grande,
according to a Oakley Miller
press release
from the Oregon Department
of Human Services.
Officials believe the child,
Oakley Miller, went missing
with his mother, McKinzie
Simonis, from La Grande
on Wednesday, Aug. 3, state
officials said in an alert
issued Aug. 4. The Oregon
Department of Human Ser-
vices’ Child Welfare Division
believes that Oakley may be
at risk and is searching for
him to assess his safety.
According to the press
release, the mother and son
are believed to be in the
La Grande area and may
be staying in a hotel in the
area. McKinzie Simonis and
Oakley may also be with
Oakley’s father, Remington
Miller.
Oakley has blond hair and
blue eyes.
Culvert projects
are set to begin
LA GRANDE — A pair
of culvert projects in the La
Grande and Whitman ranger
districts will soon be dis-
rupting traffic.
In the La Grande Ranger
District, Forest Service Road
4305, a culvert over Jordan
Creek will be replaced
starting Monday, Aug. 15.
Forest Service Road 4305
will remain open during con-
struction to high clearance
vehicles.
Travelers are advised
to plan accordingly when
visiting parts of the forest
affected by the road work.
For additional information
about this closure, call the La
Grande Ranger District office
at 541-962-8500.
On the Whitman Ranger
District, Forest Service Road
7735 over Little Eagle Creek
will be closed for approxi-
mately 60 days starting Aug.
15. During this closure public
access will not be allowed at
the site. Alternate access is
available from the junction
of Forest Service roads 7735
and 7700. The purpose of
this closure is to allow crews
to complete a bridge replace-
ment over Little Eagle Creek.
For additional informa-
tion about this closure, call
the Whitman Ranger District
office at 541-523-6391.
Enterprise City
Council to discuss
ARPA funds
ENTERPRISE — City
officials on Monday, Aug. 8,
will discuss the expenditure
of more than $220,000 Enter-
prise is expected to receive
this month under the Amer-
ican Rescue Plan Act of 2021.
The discussion will take
place at the August City
Council meeting. It begins
with a work session at 6 p.m.
followed by the regular
meeting at 6:30 p.m. at City
Hall.
The city is expected to
receive a second round of
funding from the federal
government this month,
the council was told at its
Monday, July 11 meeting.
City Administrator Lacey
McQuead said $221,795 in
ARPA funds is expected.
The city received
$221,546 under the first
round of funding last
summer, McQuead said.
Also on Monday’s
agenda, the council will:
• Hear a request for
Opportunity Funds for the
coaching staff for funding
to replace the current back-
stop at the baseball field. Jim
Nave is expected to address
the council on the matter.
• Witness the swearing
in of new Enterprise Police
Officer Shannon Emel.
• Hear an update on traffic
control.
• Hear a recommen-
dation from the Planning
Commission.
• Hear the various depart-
ment reports.
— EO Media Group