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Thursday, September 24, 2020
The Observer & Baker City Herald
Small-business & Ag
HAPPENINGS
Photo from Facebook
Dennis Falk, owner of Falk Mini Mart in
Union, posted a sign on his business
Sept. 15 stating the store would not
require customers to wear a mask. He
took down the Tuesday, Sept. 22, after
the Oregon Occupations Health and
Safety Administration received a com-
plaint about the signed and warned Falk
or displaying it.
Union mini mart rejects mask
ordinance
EO Media Group
UNION — Falk’s Mini Mart in Union
posted a sign Sept. 15 stating the store will
not enforce mask mandates. The two-page
sign stayed up for about a week before
someone reported it to Oregon’s Occupa-
tional Health and Safety Administration.
Dennis Falk, the store’s owner, said the
state agency told him to take down the sign
or face a fine.
“I guess there is no being a free American
anymore,” Falk said.
The sign in the store’s front window
said: “As of 9/15/20, the day the mask
request was to end ‘but’ (Gov.) Kate Brown
extended it to 11/3/20. So masks are still
required until then. We are asking you to be
free Americans! Make your own educated
decision on if you need a mask or not. We
will not force you to put one on. It is not
our place to go against your freedom as
Americans!!!”
Falk said he put up the sign because he
was tired of the mask mandate and how
political everything with COVID-19 had
become. The store also has political stickers
on its door in support of President Donald
Trump’s reelection and recalling Brown.
Falk took the sign down Tuesday, Sept 22.
There is a page regarding the face cover-
ing mandate at the entrance on one of the
drink coolers in the store.
Island City Walmart pulls back
on COVID-19 measures
ISLAND CITY — The Walmart in Island
City has pulled back its COVID-19 restric-
tions.
The shopping center at 11619 Island Ave.
reopened its second entrance and removed
one-way aisles in the store.
At the start of the pandemic the store
closed its home and pharmacy entrance
and initiated one way passages with
directional stickers on the floor. The store
announced the changes Monday, Sept. 21,
on its Facebook page.
The Walmart store still is requiring cus-
tomers to wear masks.
Cattle producers looking at $2.8
billion in CFAP assistance
WASHINGTON — Cattle producers are
expected to receive $2.8 billion in additional
funding announced last week through
USDA’s Coronavirus Food Assistance
Program.
That would put cattle producers’ share
at 20% of the up to $14 billion in additional
funding for agricultural producers, according
to USDA’s cost-benefit analysis of CFAP 2.
“We’re thrilled that more assistance is
going to be made available for our cattle
producers,” Danielle Beck, National Cattle-
men’s Beef Association executive director of
government affairs, said.
Payments will be $55 a head and based
See Briefs / Page 2B
Photo by Sabrina Thompson/EO Media Group
Ashlynn Lillywhite, 19, measures the drive-thru window Tuesday, Sept. 22, at 1609 Adams Ave., La Grande, for her new business,
Soda Blitz. She is remodeling the space and plans to open in October.
Young entrepreneur to
open soda shop
Ashlynn Lillywhite,
19, is opening Soda
Blitz in October
By Sabrina Thompson
EO Media Group
LA GRANDE — La Grande is
about to get a fizzy blitz.
Ashlynn Lillywhite is opening
Soda Blitz, a gourmet soda shop,
at 1609 Adams Ave. in down-
town La Grande. Lillywhite is
19 and moved from Utah in July
to the seat of Union County to
run her own business with the
help of her parents. She plans
to open the store around the
second week of October.
Lillywhite had the idea to
See Soda / Page 2B
Photo by Sabrina Thompson/EO Media Group
Soda Blitz, a new gourmet soda shop, is coming to La Grande at 1609 Adams Ave. Owner Ash-
lynn Lillywhite, 19, moved to La Grande from Utah to open the business.
Marketing association feeling optimistic
about hard-hit sheep industry
By Brad Carlson
Capital Press
BOISE — Lamb prices jumped 40% in the
six weeks ended Sept. 15, catching the atten-
tion of Rocky Mountain Sheep Marketing
Association General Manager Stan Boyd.
“This has been a really abnormal year,”
the Eagle, Idaho-based Boyd said. “In my 44
years, I’ve never seen a year like this.”
COVID-19 affected the market substan-
tially. Shutdowns of restaurants and cruise
lines initially eliminated more than half
the market for U.S. lamb meat. Closure of
Mountain States Rosen’s processing plant in
Greeley, Colorado, reduced capacity. Earlier,
drought in Australia and New Zealand
diminished lamb supply.
And trade issues with China dragged on
the wool market, which is not a segment for
Rocky Mountain but is traditionally respon-
sible for 20-30% of producer income.
Boyd said a 100-pound feeder lamb sold
for $1.40 per pound in mid-September com-
pared to $1 in the first week of August.
“All of a sudden, the industry has confi-
dence and is optimistic about the future,” he
said.
Upcoming openings of lamb-processing
plants in Brush, Colorado, and San Angelo,
Texas, should ease processing backlogs and
improve competition, Boyd said.
“We have seen an increase in demand
for lamb meat, primarily in the restaurant
trade,” said Boyd, who led the Idaho Wool
Growers Association from 1978 to 2016. Re-
tail demand, though not enough to make up
for lost restaurant sales, has been strong.
He owns a southeast Boise restaurant
and lounge that he said was closed for four
weeks and then “semi-successful” during a
two-week stint offering take-out food. “Now,
being at 50% occupancy, we are paying the
bills.”
The lamb supply chain is starting to par-
tially level out as restaurants regain some
indoor-dining revenue, Boyd said.
Caleb Pirc, a Meridian, Idaho, producer
and IWGA government affairs manager,
said he’s optimistic about the market, which
has been in a “reset” that could lead to explo-
ration of new opportunities and, ultimately,
growth.
Rocky Mountain sells lamb meat and breed-
ing stock to buyers mainly in the western and
central U.S. It successfully marketed 47,955
head for nearly $7.6 million in fiscal 2018 and
49,789 head for nearly $8.3 million last year,
an annual report said. The fiscal year ends
Oct. 31. September and October are high-
volume traditionally.
“For the majority of lambs, we are optimis-
tic because of increased packing capacity,”
Boyd said.
The 85-member cooperative dates from
1975. It was started by Boyd’s father, Tom,
See Sheep / Page 2B