A6
COMMUNITY
East Oregonian
COMMUNITY BRIEFING
Thursday, April 15, 2021
Carpe diem
SARAH
HAUG
LIGHT OF UNIT Y
T
Cecili Longhorn/Contributed Photo
Stanfield Public Library staff dressed as dinosaurs wave to students as they leave school.
Stanfield kicks
off Dino-Story
program
STANFIELD — Stanfield
students have an opportu-
nity to learn about dinosaurs
this month through a pilot
program from the Museum of
Natural and Cultural History
at the University of Oregon.
The Oregon Dino-Story
promises a “dino-mite
adventure” for students
looking to learn more about
what Oregon might have
looked like during the age of
the dinosaurs. It started on
Friday, April 9, when Stan-
field Public Library Director
Cecili Longhorn and other
library staff visited Stan-
field classrooms in dinosaur
costumes to hand out kits to
each student to participate.
Kits include activities to
learn about how fossils form,
measure how big different
dinosaurs were, make dino-
saur crafts and play memory
games with cards containing
dinosaur facts.
Children and their parents
can also visit the Stanfield
Public Library to see the
dinosaur display, available
until April 22.
“We have a display about
how to find dinosaurs, a
replica of the first dinosaur
bone found in Oregon, an
example of how big dinosaur
feet were, and other things
that you can walk through,”
she said.
Story time activities at the
library will also be focused
around dinosaurs this month,
and the StoryWalk display
under the water tower next
to the library is a book on
dinosaurs.
The Museum of Natu-
ral and Cultural History at
University of Oregon, located
in Eugene, has been closed
to the public during the
pandemic, but offers virtual
exhibits, family activity ideas
and other “museum at home”
options. For more informa-
tion about Dino-Story and
other outreach programs
available to Oregon librar-
ies, visit mnch.uoregon.edu/
virtual-outreach.
Spring river
cleanup seeking
volunteers
PENDLETON — The
Stewards of the Umatilla
River Environment (SURE),
along with the Umatilla
Basin Watershed Coun-
cil, the East Oregonian and
Pendleton Parks and Recre-
ation, will hold the annual
Spring River Cleanup on
Saturday, April 17, from
9:30-11:30 a.m., beginning at
the river walkway on South-
east Third Street, behind the
East Oregonian building.
Volunteers are needed to
clean trash from along the
Umatilla River walkway.
The sponsors of the cleanup
will provide gloves and trash
bags. Those participating are
asked to wear sturdy shoes,
long pants and long sleeves,
and bring a bottle of water.
No lunch will be provided
this year, due to COVID
restrictions.
The Pendleton Tree
Com mission, Umatilla
National Forest and Pend-
leton Parks and Recreation
also will be giving away
free native plants and trees
on a first come, first served
basis for all those interested
from 9:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.
at the Umatilla Basin Water-
shed Council office, 27 S.E.
Third Ave. (behind the East
Oregonian building). Variet-
ies available include Douglas
fir, blue elderberry, service-
berry, mock orange and red
osier dogwood.
For more information,
visit the group’s Facebook
page, @SUREPendleton, or
call 541-278-2667.
Street fair, car
show planned in
Stanfield
STANFIELD — A street
fair including food trucks,
craft vendors, live music,
kids’ crafts and more is
planned for Saturday, April
17, from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.
on West Coe Avenue and
Barbara Street in Stanfield.
A show-n-shine car show
featuring the Hermiston
Classics Car Club will run
concurrently with the fair.
Vendor space can be
reserved for $30, and food
trucks can join the vendor
list for $50.
For more information, call
Cecili or Jenni at 541-449-
1254.
Pendleton Air
Museum to
hold Doolittle
remembrance
PEN DLETON — A
remembrance event to honor
the Doolittle Raiders’ attack
on mainland Japan will
be held on Saturday, April
17, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.,
weather permitting, next
to the former Cookie Tree
Restaurant, 30 S.W. Emigrant
Ave.
A moment of silence will
be observed at noon in honor
of the Doolittle Raiders and
their mission to boost morale.
The museum will have
American and Japanese mili-
tary weapons and troop carri-
ers on display. Hot dogs and
bottled water will be served.
Also, raffle tickets for a
Blagg 6-by-47 Lapua rifle,
scope, ammunition and
reloading equipment, valued
at $5,500, are on sale. Tick-
ets are $20 each, and only
500 tickets will be sold. The
winner will be drawn Oct.
1, and must pass a back-
ground check (donated by
the museum) and follow all
local, state and federal laws
in regard to acquiring fire-
arms. Proceeds from the
raffle will be used to improve
the museum and to acquire a
new, larger location.
For more information
about the remembrance
event or volunteer opportu-
nities, call President Chris
Sykes at 541-215-2274.
To purchase raffle tickets,
call Chris at 541-215-2274,
Anthony at 541-310-1672,
Debbie at 541-969-9103,
or stop by the museum,
21 S.W. Emigrant Ave.
Umatilla Museum
seeks volunteers
UMATILLA — The
Umatilla Museum, 911 Sixth
St., will hold its grand open-
ing on May 8, and is seeking
volunteers to help staff the
museum.
The museum will be open
Tuesday through Saturday
from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. The
board of the Umatilla Histor-
ical Foundation will offer a
stipend to volunteers to help
offset their time and expense
for each three-hour shift
worked.
For more information,
or to volunteer, call Judy
Simmons at 541-571-8780 or
email j205simmons@gmail.
com.
‘Fire Stories’ to
open April 23
JOSEPH — A new exhibit
featuring photos taken from
Northwest fire lookout towers
will have a limited opening
on Friday, April 23, at 7 p.m.
at the Josephy Center for Arts
and Culture, 403 Main St.,
Joseph.
The Josephy Center is
currently authorized for just
31 visitors on first come,
first served basis. There will
also be unlimited access
via Zoom; call the center at
541-432-0505 for instruc-
tions.
In the 1930s, with a camera
designed by U.S. Forest
Service worker William
Bushnell “Bush” Osborne
and built by Leupold-Volpel
& Co. in Portland, forest-
ers took pictures from fire
lookout towers across the
Northwest. Each photo
covered 120 degrees, so
three photos covered the
entire region surveyed from
each tower, and, matched
with the “Osborne Fire-
finder,” allowed lookout
guards to pinpoint the fires
and communicate up the line.
For the past several years,
photographer-nat uralist
John Marshall has replicated
many of the original Osborne
photos, climbing the towers
when still there, or in some
other way finding a vantage
point to match the views-
hed of 75 and 80 years ago.
The “Fire Stories Exhibit”
matches these photos in the
Blues and the Wallowas, and
allows Marshall to tell a story
of long-term fire suppression.
“Fire Stories” will be up
until June 15, and there will
be related programs, includ-
ing a Josephy Book Group
reading of “Fire in Paradise:
An American Tragedy — fire
is our Western hurricane, and
Paradise was our Katrina.”
The book group will meet
via Zoom on May 4; and
on May 20 Stephen J. Pyne,
author or “Fire in America,”
among many other wild-
fire texts, will be a featured
speaker in a program explor-
ing fire in the West. One of
a very few Osborne cameras
will be on exhibit, and a book
with many of the photos and
John Marshall’s comments
is available for sale at the
Center and at the Bookloft.
For more information
on this exhibit and related
programs, call the Josephy
Center, 541-432-0505, or
email rich.wandschneider@
gmail.com.
StoryWalk
celebrates grand
opening
UMATILLA — The
Umatilla Public Library
celebrated the grand open-
ing of its new StoryWalk on
Wednesday, April 14.
The StoryWalk, located
at Hash Park, 440 Pendleton
Ave. in Umatilla, presents
enlarged pages of a picture
book on display kiosks
around the park, encouraging
children to combine reading
and exercising by going on a
walk to visit all the pages of
the book.
The featured book is
“I Can Save the Earth” by
Alison Inches.
— EO Media Group
his last year, we
spent far too many
hours isolated in
our homes. We fought off a
loneliness that at times felt
endless and hopeless. Such
focus on our own lives —
the things instead of the
people that surround us
— has not been good for
us. While there is nothing
wrong with a good show
(I will neither confirm
nor deny watching all
six seasons of “Madam
Secretary” this winter), the
pandemic created a situ-
ation where it was next to
impossible to think about
anything else.
Many religions warn
against an encroaching
materialism. For exam-
ple, the Baha’i Faith tells
us, “Let not your hearts
be fettered by the mate-
rial things of this world.”
That’s easier said than
done, of course, and not
just during a pandemic.
But a crisis can also be the
perfect time to try.
When my father was
diagnosed with liposar-
coma in 2007, he learned
that 80% of patients with
this type of cancer died
within five years. Given
that news, his first thought
was: Where and — more
importantly — with
whom do I want to spend
this time I have left? His
answer, in consultation
with my mother, was to
move close to family. To
Pendleton. They weren’t
going to waste a moment
of the time he had left.
Sadly, right on sched-
ule, my father’s cancer
returned. By the spring of
2011, he was no longer able
to play tennis, conserv-
ing his energy for visits
with his grandchildren. He
managed a trip to Scot-
land with our eldest son as
a high school graduation
present, and then he died
in August of that year.
My father would have
been 78 years old this
month. I’m saddened that
we didn’t get to spend
these last 10 years together,
but I’m incredibly grate-
ful to have had the time
we did, as well as the years
after with my mother. I had
two years with him, and
eight more with her.
So many people have
lost loved ones this year,
while others have been
unable to visit their loved
ones for a year. Some of us
may have decades left. For
some, the clock is ticking
on our “five years.” The
question then, for all of
us, as the light at the end
of this pandemic tunnel
grows brighter, must be the
same one my parents asked
themselves.
I wish for everyone
a positive and hopeful
answer.
I pray that one result of
these months of isolation
and separation might be
that we remember how to
turn to each other.
And I hope that we can
change what needs to be
changed about our world
so we never feel we have to
turn away again.
———
Sarah Haug is a member
of the Baha’i Faith and has
called Pendleton home
since 2002. You can find
her most days walking
on the riverwalk with her
husband, Dan.
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