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About The Observer. (La Grande, Or.) 1968-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 6, 2022)
INSIDE SMASH BURGERS ARE ALL THE RAGE | HOME & LIVING, B1 lagrandeobserver.com | $1.50 TUESDAY EDITION September 6, 2022 Backup arrives to fi ght Double Creek Fire Following in their footsteps Wallowa County blaze biggest in state, topping 43,600 acres The Observer Local Latter-day Saints youths, adults walk and roll along the trail of Mormon pioneers ENTERPRISE — Additional resources continued to arrive on Sunday, Sept. 4, including task forces from the Oregon Offi ce of the State Fire Marshal, to help battle the both the Double Creek and Eagle Cap Wil- derness fi res in Wallowa County. The Double Creek Fire is the largest wild- fi re burning in Oregon. The fi re has now burned 43,668 acres, according to the Sept. 5 update, up from the more than 37,800 acres reported on Sept. 4. The blaze is still zero percent contained, and there are more than 400 personnel assigned to fi ght the fi re. Oregon Gov. Kate Brown invoked the Emergency Confl agration Act on Sept. 3 in response to the Double Creek Fire. Strong winds, hot temperatures and humidity that dipped into single digits in places Sept. 3 also enabled two light- ing-caused fi res in the Eagle Cap Wilderness to grow substantially. According to a press release from the Type 1 overhead team that’s managing the Double Creek and the wilderness fi res, task forces from the State Fire Marshal’s offi ce initiated structure protection on the By DICK MASON • The Observer L A GRANDE — Hand- carts can make people feel like they are turning back the hands of time, something Kaylee Car- penter, a La Grande High School student, understands well. Carpenter is one of 270 youth and 100 adults from Union, Wallowa, Baker and Grant counties with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints who par- ticipated in a pioneer trek in early August. It was a small- scale reenactment of pio- neers who pulled handcarts while crossing the plains and moving into the Salt Lake Valley in Utah from 1856 to 1860. The youths traveled 16 miles on foot, including 14 while pushing and pulling handcarts in Wyoming. “It was an amazing expe- rience,” Carpenter said. See, Walk/Page A6 Greg Baxter/Contributed Photos Youths from Northeastern Oregon push and pull a handcart through the Sweetwater River in Wyoming as part of a historical reenactment in August 2022. Youths and adults from Northeastern Oregon walk up Rocky Ridge in Wyoming while traveling a route pioneers took to Salt Lake Valley in the 1800s. The reenactment trek is conducted every fi ve years by the La Grande Stake of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, which encompasses Union, Wallowa, Baker and Grant counties. See, Fire/Page A6 BEND SAFEWAY SHOOTING ‘AR-15 style’ rifl e is loved and hated By GARY A. WARNER Oregon Capital Bureau BEND — The rifl e type used in the deadly Bend shooting on Sunday, Aug. 27, has enjoyed a popularity boom among mil- lions of gun owners, while it is reviled by gun control advocates as an icon of mass murder. Police say a gunman fi red more than 100 shots at The Forum Shopping Center with an “AR-15 style” rifl e, killing two men in the Safeway supermarket. Offi cers found the shooter dead at the back of the store from a self-infl icted gunshot wound, next to his rifl e and a shotgun. The police description of the rifl e as AR-15 “style” hints at the rifl e’s convoluted history. Touted for its modern, military look, the AR-15 design is actually 66 years old. It inspired the design of the M-16 rifl e used since the Vietnam War, but the AR-15 itself is very rarely used by U.S. Armed Forces. See, AR-15/Page A6 New faces, new location for Celebrate La Grande By ISABELLA CROWLEY The Observer The Observer, File La Grande Police Chief Gary Bell grills hot dogs Thursday, Sept. 10, 2020, at Celebrate La Grande’s COVID-friendly drive-thru party. The more charred the better, Bell said of his grilling style. WEATHER INDEX Classified ......B2 Comics ...........B5 Crossword ....B2 Dear Abby ....B6 LA GRANDE — The annual celebra- tion of everything that makes La Grande “grand” was the creation of two public offi - cials in 1995. Then-mayor Di Lyn Larsen-Hill and former police Sgt. Scott Franks wanted to bring neighbors together to celebrate the community that makes La Grande so special, Larsen-Hill said. The communi- ty-oriented Celebrate La Grande “end-of- summer block party” is always a mix of fun games and free food. “It’s a feel-good event,” Larsen-Hill said. “The thing I love the most is walking through the crowd and seeing strangers meeting strangers and becoming friends.” Home .............B1 Horoscope ....B4 Local...............A2 Lottery ...........A2 Obituaries .....A5 Opinion .........A4 Sudoku ..........B5 Weather ........B6 Full forecast on the back of B section Tonight Wednesday 57 LOW 91/47 Mainly clear A stray t-shower According to the former mayor, building community was one of the major goals of Celebrate La Grande. Larsen-Hill said she not only wanted neighbors to bond with neighbors, but she also wanted everyone to meet the people working for the city. She thought it was important for public offi - cials to get out into the community, so that people could put faces to the names. Larsen-Hill also wanted residents to know more about their community and what resources are available. This is why there is a “nonprofi t showcase” at the block party, where nonprofi t organizations set up booths and provide information. Another key goal for Larsen-Hill — the event had to be totally free for the public. See, Celebrate/Page A6 CONTACT US 541-963-3161 Issue 107 2 sections, 12 pages La Grande, Oregon Email story ideas to news@lagrande observer.com. More contact info on Page A4.
