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TUESDAY EDITION
August 16, 2022
Hail damages Union County crops
Some farmers lost up to
70% of their crops
By DICK MASON
The Observer
LA GRANDE — Farmers in
Union County are describing the
hailstorm that hit Union County
late last week as among the worst
they have seen.
“It was pretty signifi cant,
pretty severe,” said Matt Insko, a
farmer in the Imbler area.
Insko said he and many
farmers were just getting ready to
start harvesting their wheat when
the hailstorm hit at about 4 p.m.
on Thursday, Aug. 11.
“It would have been nice if it
had been a couple of weeks later.
It did a lot more damage because
of when it hit,” he said.
Insko lost about 30% of his
450-acre wheat crop. Fortunately,
he had purchased hail insurance
for his crop.
“That will defi nitely take some
of the sting away,” he said.
Insko has been farming in the
Grande Ronde Valley for 23 years
and said he has seen few storms
drop so much hail over such a
wide area so quickly. This made
driving during the hail storm
diffi cult.
“My windshield wipers could
not move fast enough,” Insko said.
The hail hit during a thun-
derstorm that started south of
La Grande and moved northeast
through the Wallowa area. Insko
said he always fears thunder-
storms because of the hail they
can bring. He said thunderstorms
are more likely when there are
temperatures in the 90s, as was
the case last week.
Seth Hassinger, a farmer in the
Cove area, said that the hailstorm
missed his family’s farm. He
knows fi rsthand, though, just how
devastating hailstorms can be to
crops. Hassinger said that even
small hail stones can have a big
impact. He recalled how once a
hailstorm fi lled with small stones
destroyed much of the peppermint
crop on his family’s farm.
“It shredded the leaves off ,” he
said.
Brett Rudd, also a Grande
Ronde Valley farmer, said the
storm destroyed as much as 35%
percent of his 500-acre canola
crop.
The storm also ruined up to
10% of his 150-acre wheat crop.
“The hail knocked the seeds
out of their heads,” he said.
Rudd, like Insko, describes the
hailstorm as one of the worst he’s
seen.
“It was defi nitely a memo-
rably bad storm. It was so wide-
spread,” said Rudd, who is 45 and
has lived in Union County all of
his life.
Curt Ricker, who farms in the
Island City area, also sustained
heavy losses.
See, Hail/Page A6
Dick Mason/The Observer
Curt Ricker, an Island City farmer,
checks a portion of his spring wheat
crop for seeds on Monday, Aug. 15,
2022, after it was hit by a hailstorm on
Thursday, Aug. 11.
OTEC
submits
fi re plans
to state
Racing
for a cause
Elkhorn Relay rounds out seven years of racing,
charity and community
This is the first year electric
utilities have had to submit
plans for fire prevention tactics
By JAYSON JACOBY
Baker City Herald
BAKER CITY — Electric utilities have
plenty of incentive to prevent their lines from
sparking wildfi res.
Such blazes can destroy homes as well as
power lines themselves, resulting in long out-
ages that can aff ect hundreds or thousands of
customers.
Last year, the three investor-owned utilities
that operate in Oregon — Pacifi Corp, Portland
General Electric and Idaho Power Company
— were required for the fi rst time to submit to
the Oregon Public Utility Commission (PUC)
a plan listing their fi re prevention strategies.
This year other electric providers,
including cooperatives such as Oregon Trail
Electric (OTEC), also had to submit their
wildfi re mitigation plans to the state agency.
The mandate is part of Senate Bill 762,
which the Oregon Legislature passed, and
Gov. Kate Brown signed into law, in 2021.
The legislation deals with multiple issues
related to wildfi re risk and prevention in the
state. OTEC, which is based in Baker City and
has about 31,000 customers in Baker, Union,
Grant and Harney counties, submitted its
17-page plan earlier this summer.
Eric Wirfs, director of operations for
OTEC, said that for the cooperative the
new requirement was largely an exercise
in compiling existing policies into a single
document.
Gail Kimberling keeps track of her
granddaughter’s time as she rounds
out the fi rst leg of the Elkhorn Relay
on the morning of Aug. 13, 2022.
Photos by Shannon Golden/The Observer
By SHANNON GOLDEN
The Observer
LA GRANDE — While a
nearly full moon hung over La
Grande, racers were taking their
marks among the pines at Hil-
gard State Park. It wasn’t quite
5 a.m. on Saturday, Aug. 13, but
the Elkhorn Relay — an 82-mile
race put on by La Grande’s
Doomsday Racing — was about
to begin.
The yearly relay is a summer
staple for runners in the Union
County area.
While stunning views of
the Elkhorn Mountains and the
Grande Ronde River may be
part of the draw, the race’s char-
itable zeal gives many added
motivation to participate.
Doomsday Racing, a La
Grande nonprofi t, started the
local relay in 2015, intending
to raise funds for nonprofi ts
helping people around the world.
According to Summer Steele,
one of Doomsday Racing’s six
founding board members, the
relay has raised approximately
$10,000 for charity since its
inception.
The idea for the Elkhorn
See, Relay/Page A6
Gail Kimberling smiles with her granddaughter Kasey in the early morning
of Aug. 13, 2022, after Kasey completed the fi rst leg of the Elkhorn Relay.
See, OTEC/Page A6
Passenger train advocacy group rolls into La Grande
All Aboard Northwest advocating for
expanding passenger rail service to
communities in Pacific Northwest
By ISABELLA CROWLEY
The Observer
LA GRANDE — All
Aboard Northwest rolled
into La Grande on Sat-
urday, Aug. 13, to host a
Train Trek meeting at Cook
Memorial Library.
The stop in La Grande
is part of a larger series
of talks happening across
Oregon, Idaho and Utah
to gather support for the
return of passenger trains to
the Pacifi c Northwest.
“We look at trains as
part of a world class trans-
portation network, that is a
seamless way to get people
from here to there,” said
Charles Hamilton, vice
president and treasurer of
AANW.
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Importance of
passenger trains
Around 30% of Amer-
icans do not drive and
that number is growing,
according to AANW. Many
people cannot drive due to
age — too young or too old
— or disability.
Owning a car is expen-
sive — initial purchase,
yearly maintenance, insur-
ance, price of gas — so
socioeconomic status can
be a factor.
Many people live in
places where seasonal
weather, such as snow or ice,
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impact their ability to drive.
There also are people who
choose not to drive due to
the environmental impact.
“We’ll always need cars
in rural areas and else-
where, but we really need
to ensure that communities
of all sizes can participate
in mobility that works for
everyone,” AANW Presi-
dent Daniel Bilka said.
In November 2021, the
U.S. House passed a $1.2
trillion bipartisan infra-
structure bill, which allo-
cated $66 billion in funding
for Amtrak’s repair backlog.
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This would allow for
improvements to existing
passenger rail networks
and potentially kick-start
new projects that would
allow passenger rail service
across the nation.
Meeting attendees
pointed out areas where
they believed a passenger
rail could have a positive
impact for Northeastern
Oregon — winter weather,
medical access and college
attendance.
“If you want to go to
See, Rail/Page A6
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Issue 98
2 sections, 14 pages
La Grande, Oregon
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