INSIDE
MEMORABLE MEMORIAL: COUPLE’S LEGACY PRESERVED AT SILVER BUTTE | OUTDOORS & REC, B1
August 27, 2022
lagrandeobserver.com | $1.50
WEEKEND EDITION
Nearly
back to
normal
Local educators welcome the
state’s COVID-19 guidance
as new school year begins
By DICK MASON
The Observer
UNION COUNTY — School district offi -
cials in Union County are expressing positive
feelings about a guidance recently issued by
the Oregon Health Authority and the Oregon
Department of Education regarding what
COVID-19 health and safety protocols they
will be required to follow as a new school
year opens.
The guidance indicates that some state-
wide rules are still in eff ect, including the
vaccination requirement for teachers and
other staff . But decisions regarding whether
to require masks, social distancing and other
protocols remain in local hands, just as they
did at the end of the 2021-22 school year.
Elgin School District Super-
intendent Dianne Greif is
pleased that school districts
will continue to have freedom
with regard to COVID-19
protocols.
“I think what we had in
place previously worked well,”
Greif
she said.
Greif credits school dis-
tricts with doing a good job of
making individual decisions
and choices that helped keep
their communities healthy.
New Imbler School District
Superintendent Randy Waite
Waite
supports the state’s decision
because it allows school dis-
tricts to address specifi c issues
related to the virus.
“Each district is unique,” he
said. “This is a step in the right
direction.”
La Grande School District
Mendoza
Superintendent George Men-
doza also said he feels good about the state’s
approach. He noted, though, that school dis-
tricts still are required by the state to take
many steps, including submitting updated
communicable disease plans to the state and
monitoring COVID-19 levels.
La Grande School District’s rules for
COVID-19 protocol include not allowing
students to come to school if they have
COVID-19 symptoms.
“Things are like they were when the
school year ended,” Mendoza said.
The La Grande School District’s policy
does not require anyone to wear a mask due
to low COVID-19 levels. La Grande High
Shannon Golden/The Observer
Marjie Olson spends time with two of her rescue horses in a corral on her Union County property on Monday, Aug. 15, 2022. Olson has plans to
move to the East Coast this fall, but will continue to rescue horse and run her nonprofi t, Shotzy Sanctuary, wherever she lands.
A safe haven for
HORSEWOMEN
Union County nonprofit
provides shelter for victims of
domestic violence, their horses
By SHANNON GOLDEN • The Observer
A GRANDE — In the fall of 2021,
L
Marjie Olson received a call. For the
first few seconds after she picked up,
Shannon Golden/The Observer
she heard nothing but a woman’s sobs.
Olson, the founder of
Shotzy Sanctuary — a non-
profi t organization that
provides shelter for horse-
women of domestic vio-
lence — said she was trying
to listen for noises in the
background, and was poised
to call 911 with her other
phone.
“What’s going on?”
Olson remembered asking.
“I can’t help you unless you
talk to me.”
Maggie replied on the
other end of the line, saying
she was currently not in
danger — more than any-
thing, she was in shock.
“I didn’t believe that she
existed,” she recalled of
Olson.
Maggie, who asked to be
identifi ed by only her fi rst
name, was seeking help
after enduring more than
A sign for Shotzy Sanctuary hangs on the side of a shed on Marjie
Olson’s property near Elgin on Monday, Aug. 15, 2022. Olson named
the nonprofi t after her top lesson pony, Shotzy, which she rescued
decades prior.
three decades of domestic
violence. But she couldn’t
bear to leave her animals
behind. She had reached
out to a Facebook support
group about her dilemma
and someone replied with
Olson’s number.
Less than a week later,
Olson drove 11 hours from
her home near Elgin to
Southeastern Oregon to pick
up Maggie, her daughter,
her 34-year-old horse, her
three dogs, two cats and her
belongings.
“She’s a remarkable
woman,” Maggie said,
See, Shelter/Page A3
See, School/Page A3
Union County director to release fi lm based on Edgar Allan Poe
Chris Patton’s
‘Raven’s Hollow’
debuts in London
By DICK MASON
The Observer
Chris Hatton/Contributed Photo
William Mosley and Melanie Zanetti are two of the stars in the new
movie “Raven’s Hollow,” which starts streaming in September 2022
on Shudder. Chris Hatton, the movie’s director and cowriter, is a
graduate of Imbler High School and Eastern Oregon University.
WEATHER
INDEX
Classified ......B2
Comics ...........B5
Crossword ....B2
Dear Abby ....B6
LONDON — A 15-year
journey and a single word.
Each have helped create
what might be a Halloween
hit this autumn for Chris
Hatton, a movie director
and writer with deep Union
County roots. Hatton is the
director and cowriter of
“Raven’s Hollow,” a fi ction-
Horoscope ....B2
Local...............A2
Lottery ...........A2
Obituaries .....A5
Opinion .........A4
Outdoors ......B1
Sudoku ..........B5
Weather ........B6
alized story of leg-
an annual fi lm fes-
endary writer Edgar
tival at Cineworld
Allan Poe that is
Leicester Square,
receiving positive
where moviegoers
reviews. The fi lm is
view dozens of the
about Poe’s days as
world’s latest horror
a cadet at the United
fi lms. Time Out’s
Hatton
States Military
London-based dig-
Academy in West
ital magazine rates
Hatton’s work as one of fi ve
Point, New York, which
“must-see” fi lms at Fright-
he attended in the 1830s
Fest, which runs through
before mysteriously drop-
Monday, Aug. 29.
ping out.
“If you like your chills
The streaming service
to come clad in period garb
Shudder will be carrying
and with a gothic vibes
“Raven’s Hollow” starting
this Shudder-produced
in late September. This
week, the fi lm is debuting
See, Film/Page A3
in London at FrightFest,
Full forecast on the back of B section
Tonight
Sunday
48 LOW
80/44
Mainly clear
Mostly sunny
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2 sections, 12 pages
La Grande, Oregon
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