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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.