INSIDE
FROST OR FLOOD, RAISED-BED GARDENING WORKS WONDERS |
F
F
22
O
’
K
C
I
K
August 30, 2022
HOME & LIVING, B1
lagrandeobserver.com | $1.50
TUESDAY EDITION
KICKOFF TO THE 2022 FOOTBALL SEASON
INSIDE
State opens
inquiry into
Anthony
Lake fi sh
deaths
Hatchery-raised rainbow trout
died in July soon after release
By JAYSON JACOBY
Baker City Herald
NORTH POWDER — A state fi sh biolo-
gist is trying to fi gure out what killed about
200 of the 2,000 hatchery rainbow trout
released in Anthony Lake in late July.
The incident was unfortunate because the
alpine lake, at an elevation of 7,100 in the
Elkhorn Mountains northwest of Baker City,
“is one of those places where people really
enjoy going to fi sh during the hot summer
months,” said Joe Lemanski, district fi sh
biologist at the Oregon Department of Fish
and Wildlife’s La Grande offi ce.
The trout are considered “trophy” fi sh,
as they average about a pound and a half, he
said.
Lemanski sent several fi sh carcasses to
ODFW’s fi sh pathology lab for examination.
He said he hopes to have results within a
couple weeks.
There are several potential cases, he said,
any of which alone, or a combination, could
have killed the trout, which were released in
the 22-acre lake on Tuesday, July 26.
Possibilities include accidental injuries
during loading, transporting and releasing
fi sh, mechanical failure of instrumentation
on the transport trucks, shock from the dif-
ference in water temperature between the
truck and the lake, and possible infection
or disease exacerbated by any one of these
factors.
“We’re trying to piece it together,”
Lemanski said.
He said it might not be possible to pin-
point the cause of the fi sh deaths.
Lemanski said there is no evidence, how-
ever, that the problem is not solely with the
lake conditions, or any mechanical failures
or issues during transport — the die-off
seems to have been limited to some of the
fi sh released July 26, and is likely a combina-
tion of a few factors.
He said ODFW didn’t receive any reports
of dead fi sh following a release of 2,000
trophy rainbow trout in Anthony Lake, from
the same hatchery, three weeks earlier, on
July 5.
Nor were there any reports of dead fi sh at
nearby Grande Ronde Lake, where rainbow
trout were also released during July.
Anglers have continued to catch fi sh
in Anthony Lake, Lemanski said, and he
said the lake remains a good place to hook
rainbow or brook trout.
“We were
already dealing
with the crisis.
We are now
having a
problem
where, rather
than increasing
attorneys, we
have gone
backward
here locally.”
— Attorney Jared Boyd,
pictured in front of the
Union County Courthouse
on Monday, Aug. 29, 2022
Shannon Golden/The Observer
FOR THE DEFENSE
Oregon Public Defense Services firing
sends ripple effects through Union County
By SHANNON GOLDEN
The Observer
A GRANDE — When the com-
mission of the Oregon Public
Defense Services met Thursday,
Aug. 18, to vote on the fate of director
Steve Singer, Jared Boyd, a local
attorney, kept tabs on the hearing from
hundreds of miles away. Boyd was in
agreement with the fi nal verdict — to
fi re Singer.
Although the decision occurred in the
state’s capital, Singer’s directorial deci-
sions and work conduct made waves in
the halls of the Union County Court-
house — and brought Oregon’s crippling
public defense service shortage into the
limelight.
“We were already dealing with the
crisis,” Boyd said. “We are now having
a problem where, rather than increasing
attorneys, we have gone backward here
locally.”
According to a two-year American
Bar Association study released in Jan-
uary, Oregon Public Defense Services
L
is defi cient 1,296 full-time equivalent
attorneys for its adult criminal and juve-
nile caseloads. The study estimated that
the 592 attorneys would have to take on
26.6-hour work days each week to meet
counsel assistance needs.
Oregon is the only state that uses a
contracting system to provide nearly
all of its public defense work. OPDS
relies on more than 100 public defender
offi ces, law fi rms, consortia, nonprofi t
organizations and individual attor-
neys to provide services for clients who
cannot aff ord private counsel.
Oregon’s public defense system has
less than one-third of the attorneys it
needs to suffi ciently represent the state’s
criminal defendants.
Contract challenges
There are two delivery systems for
public defense services in Oregon —
the state either contracts attorneys from
nonprofi t law fi rms or private attorneys.
There are some nonprofi t public defense
offi ces in rural areas, but most rural
judicial districts use private attorneys
The Oregonian, File
Oregon Offi ce of Public Defense Services
Executive Director Steve Singer speaks during
a virtual meeting earlier this year. Singer was
fi red on Thursday, Aug. 18, 2022, after less than
a year on the job.
under contract with OPDS.
Boyd — a private, for-profi t attorney
— and other attorneys in Wallowa
County and Union County have con-
tracts with the state to handle public
defense cases.
Eastern Oregon Public Defenders —
a consortium that Boyd was a part of
See, Defense/Page A6
See, Fish/Page A6
Time capsule gets
extra layer of security
By DICK MASON
The Observer
LA GRANDE — Union County
residents will likely have reason to
celebrate 100 years from now when
the time capsule in the Ezra Meeker
Oregon Trail marker at 110 Walnut
St., La Grande, is reopened.
Steve Witty, of Cove, the owner
of Witty’s Concrete, dramatically
increased the odds that a time capsule
fi lled with items from 2022 will be
found. On Thursday, Aug. 25, Witty,
volunteering his time and donating
his resources, poured a concrete form
Dick Mason/The Observer
Steve Witty examines a 1906 Oregon Trail marker on Walnut Street in La Grande
while making a concrete form for it on Thursday, Aug. 25, 2022.
INDEX
Classified ......B2
Comics ...........B5
Crossword ....B2
Dear Abby ....B6
WEATHER
Home .............B1
Horoscope ....B4
Local...............A2
Lottery ...........A2
Obituaries .....A5
Opinion .........A4
Region ...........A3
Sudoku ..........B5
Full forecast on the back of B section
Tonight
Wednesday
56 LOW
99/54
Mainly clear
Sunlit; very hot
for the base of the stone Oregon Trail
marker.
This will make it much harder for
the maker to be moved between now
and when the time capsule, whose
contents were installed in late June, is
set to be opened.
“Anyone who wants to move it
will have to deal with hundreds of
pounds of extra concrete,” Witty said.
Preventing the marker from being
moved will protect the contents of
the time capsule from falling out,
said La Grande historian Ronnie
See, Marker/Page A6
CONTACT US
541-963-3161
Issue 104
2 sections, 12 pages
La Grande, Oregon
Email story ideas
to news@lagrande
observer.com.
More contact info
on Page A4.