Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About Baker City herald. (Baker City, Or.) 1990-current | View Entire Issue (Aug. 28, 2019)
LOCAL & STATE WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 28, 2019 GRAMMAR Continued from Page 1A Jovin isn’t selling anything. And although she’s passionate, she’s no proselytizer. Mainly Jovin just wants to meet people, to share with them a few minutes and, ideally, a few laughs. If these chance encounters also allow her to indulge in her enthu- siasm for language, and in the process help one of her newfound friends bypass some pratfall of punctuation, so much the better. Jovin’s journey started almost a year ago, on Sept. 21, 2018, also on a sidewalk. This one was in front of her apartment on Manhattan’s Upper West Side. Jovin, who earned a master’s degree in comparative litera- ture from UCLA and started a language-learning website called Words, wanted a way to discuss her favorite topic — language and how we use it — in a forum more personal than the internet. She was also tired of the nasti- ness that online anonymity can nurture. “I want people to take joy in language and not use it as a weapon to hurt people with,” Jovin said Monday as she sat on the east side of Main, in front of the Geiser Grand Hotel. So on that day last September “I want people to take joy in language and not use it as a weapon to hurt people with.” BAKER CITY HERALD — 3A cities, on not quite a whim. Jovin, who grew up in Los An- geles, said she wanted to stop in at least one town in Oregon. — Ellen Jovin But she had already visited Portland — this was long before she set up a folding table in front Grammar Table — so she pon- of her apartment, taped on the dered other places. “Grammar Table” sign, sat back “I looked (Baker City) up and it and waited. looked like a cool town,” Jovin said. She didn’t wait long. It exceeded her expectations. (About 1.7 million people live in “I’m so happy we came here,” Manhattan, after all.) she said. “There are lots of really Within 30 seconds someone beautiful buildings here. And now stopped to chat. it’s not just a dot on the map. It’s a “Pretty quickly it became appar- place I know something about.” ent to me that it can be an anchor A trifl e more, perhaps, than she for community building,” she said expected. of the Grammar Table experiment. Jovin initially set up her table Since then Jovin has put up her Sunday evening on the east side of table in many places in New York Main near Court Avenue, and in City. 90 minutes or so she met several And in late July she embarked local residents and a handful of on a national tour with her visitors from, among other places, husband, Brandt Johnson, who Canada, Texas and California. is making a documentary tenta- And although the conversations tively titled “Grammar Table: The delved into grammatical matters, Movie.” that was, Jovin said, just “a place Jovin also is writing a book to start.” about her adventures for Hough- “I learned about someone’s ton Miffl in Harcourt. She hopes it medical history, and how a couple will be published in 2021. met and fell in love,” she said. Over the past month Jovin has Jovin said that mixture of per- visited Buffalo, Toledo, Detroit, sonal anecdote and discussion of Milwaukee, Chicago, Minneapolis, grammar and language has been Fargo and Spokane, among other typical during her hours sitting cities. behind the Grammar Table. She picked Baker City, which is “It’s very broadly human,” she considerably smaller than those said. And quite often amusing. “I cracked up about 30 times doing the course of the conversa- tion,” Jovin said of her brief time in Baker City Sunday evening. She also watched a covey of quail, complete with cute chicks, scamper past. A common sight in Baker City, but not so in New York City. “To me that was a big deal,” Jovin said. It was also a chance to indulge in her favorite topic. Jovin said the wildlife encoun- ter prompted her to tweet about the plural of quail. (As with elk and deer, the plural version is the same as the singular.) Jovin said she’d like to take Grammar Table to every state, but she admits that’s probably an overly ambitious goal. In the meantime she’s eager to continue seeing new towns and meeting new people. And although she treasures the personal stories that sometimes result, Jovin said she’s especially excited when someone simply walks up and, without even mak- ing an introduction, launches into a question or comment about grammar or language. “As if this,” she says, gesturing to her table stacked with grammar guides, “is a natural thing to fi nd on a sidewalk.” Missing hunter found safe By Chris Collins ccollins@bakercityherald.com As it turns out, Benjamin Owens wasn’t ever really lost. The 27-year-old Eugene-area man had just returned from a day of hunting when he found a fl ier on his pickup truck announcing that searchers were looking for him, said Chris Galiszewski, coordina- tor of the Baker County Sheriff’s Search and Rescue Team. Owens was the subject of a half- day search that started about 10:30 a.m. and ended at 3 p.m. Monday. Searchers drove about 350 road miles looking for Owens’ pickup. The hunter was well-equipped for the outing and simply had become focused on his hunting and had neglected to call his wife, Jamie, to report in as he usually did, Galisze- wski said. Jamie had last heard from her husband by phone from Sumpter on Saturday. She called the Baker County Sheriff’s Offi ce Monday morning to report that her husband was overdue in contacting her. See Hunter/Page 5A Grant County Sheriff Glenn Palmer withdraws retirement ■ Sheriff who is the subject of an ethics complaint says he will seek a sixth term lice offi cer fi led the latest eth- ics complaint with the Oregon JOHN DAY — A sheriff in Department of Public Safety Eastern Oregon who an- Standards and Training, or nounced he would resign the DPSST, a state agency that day after being notifi ed of an enforces minimum standards ethics complaint against him for peace offi cers. now says he will stay on the The complaint alleges job and seek re-election for a Palmer failed to return lost sixth term. property — in this case, a fi sh- Grant County Sheriff Glenn ing pole with the owner’s name Palmer told county offi cials at engraved on it. The complaint a public meeting last week he alleges Palmer kept the pole would quit. But he wrote in a out of personal animosity Facebook post Tuesday, “I am toward a retired OSP offi cer withdrawing my resignation.” Gordon Larson. A former Oregon State Po- Larson fi led the ethics com- By Emily Cureton Oregon Public Broadcasting plaint. He said the lost fi shing pole “is a small piece of a much larger issue that talks about a sheriff willing to use all resources under his direction to try and damage a citizen.” In 2018, Larson ran against and lost to Palmer’s younger brother, Sam Palmer, for a Grant County Commis- sion seat. Larson claims the sheriff has repeatedly used his position to damage political opponents. Sheriff Palmer’s politics were a fl ashpoint during the 2016 occupation of the Mal- Requires Total Plan with Unlimited Plus Data, new line, port-in, credit approval, qualified smartphone purchase and Device Protection+ and comes via monthly bill credit on a 30-mo. Retail Installment Contract. Taxes, fees and terms apply. Baker City 1084 Campbell St. 541-523-3334 Things we want you to know: New consumer or small business (25 lines or less) Total Plan line with Unlimited Plus Data and port-in required. Purchase of a qualifying device via 0% APR, $0 down, 30-mo. Retail Installment Contract (RIC), credit approval and Device Protection+ required. Qualifying device is any base-model and -memory phone with an MSRP greater than $600. Tax due at sale. All data on Unlimited Plus Plans automatically shifts to 2G speeds when each line reaches 25GB. The speed you receive will depend on many factors, including, but not limited to, your data plan terms, the device you use, your distance from a cell tower, topography and number of users on the network at the time of your session. A Regulatory Cost Recovery Fee applies; this is not a tax or government required charge. Additional fees, taxes, terms, conditions and coverage areas may apply and vary by plan, service and phone. Offers valid at participating locations only and cannot be combined. See store or uscellular.com for details. Device Protection+ starts at $9.99/mo. per smartphone. A service fee/deductible per approved claim applies. You may cancel anytime. Property insurance is underwritten by American Bankers Insurance Company of Florida and provided under a Master Policy issued to U.S. Cellular. You will be the certificate holder on U.S. Cellular’s Master Policy for loss/theft benefits. Service Contract Obligor is Federal Warranty Service Corporation in all states except CA (Sureway, Inc.) and OK (Assurant Service Protection, Inc.). Limitations and exclusions apply. See an associate or brochure for complete details. Offer Details: Prices vary. Comes via a monthly bill credit of $20/mo. on a 30-mo. RIC. Bill credit applied within three bill cycles and ends when balance is paid. Line must remain in good standing with required price plan for entire 30-mo. RIC. Customer may lose bill credit if price plan is changed. In the event of cancellation of service, customer will be responsible for the entire RIC balance. Kansas Customers: In areas in which U.S. Cellular receives support from the Federal Universal Service Fund, all reasonable requests for service must be met. Unresolved questions concerning services availability can be directed to the Kansas Corporation Commission Office of Public Affairs and Consumer Protection at 1-800-662-0027. Limited-time offer. While supplies last. Trademarks and trade names are the property of their respective owners. ©2019 U.S. Cellular heur National Wildlife Refuge, when he publicly sympathized with armed militia members who took over the refuge for 41 days. “Local offi cials, primarily the sheriff and those acting under his control, [are] trying to dam- age me and my family because of my political posture against the Malheur occupation, because I opposed his brother in a political race, and more Thomas Boyd/The Oregonian fi le photo importantly because we’ve called him out for his tactics,” Gov. Kate Brown hugs Grant County Sheriff Glenn Palm- er as they enter a meeting with homeowners in Canyon Larson said. See Palmer/Page 5A City after the Canyon Creek fi re in August 2015.
