News
Blue Mountain Eagle
Wednesday, August 24, 2016
Eastern Oregon
credit unions
announce merger
ECLIPSE
Continued from Page A1
In Grant County, Prairie
City will be at the epicenter,
experiencing the longest to-
tality, 2 minutes, 6 seconds,
at 10:22:50 a.m.
Prairie City City Recorder
Taci Philbrook said the town
is “on board,” and residents
and businesses are planning
to capitalize on the event.
Some ranchers will open
up land for campsites with
ire-prevention and emergen-
cy plans — and 50 porta-pot-
ties are on reserve.
Activities for visitors, in-
cluding movies at the com-
munity center and a swap
meet, are in the works, and
solar eclipse T-shirts have
been ordered.
Grant County Chamber of
Commerce President Jerry
Franklin said he’s glad to see
the interest in planning for
the eclipse. The chamber has
been holding monthly plan-
ning sessions. The next is at
4 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 14,
at the Canyon City Commu-
nity Hall.
The chamber also invited
Bender and two scientists
from the Multiverse program
at the University of Califor-
nia Berkeley, director and
space scientist Dr. Laura Pe-
ticolas and program coordi-
nator Darlene Yan, to present
information about the eclipse
in Grant County earlier this
month.
“We’ve been trying to stay
on top of this from the very
get go,” he said at the presen-
tation, adding many mem-
bers of the community have
been participating. “We see
the magnitude of what could
happen in Grant County, and
we appreciate you coming. It
reinforces what we’re feel-
ing, and we’re going to try to
be as prepared as we can be.”
Bender and Yan both
agreed it will be hard to guess
how many visitors will travel
to Grant County.
“There is no real way to
know how many people may
come. You can get an idea by
how many hotels are booked,
if campgrounds are booked,”
Yan said, adding, with a
smile, “and if your third
cousin twice removed that
you haven’t talked to in 20
years all the sudden wants to
come and stay and visit you.”
She said there are sto-
ries of cities going bust, so
crowded they had to turn vis-
itors away. She said it is best
to prepare as best you can.
Bender said the biggest
difference between the solar
eclipses in developing coun-
tries and in the United States
will be people traveling with
cars and trucks.
“The road situation will
probably be the most com-
plex thing for the whole
event,” he said. “Focus on
setting up campsites and
working on trafic (control).
Generally people coming
to look at eclipses are not a
particularly rowdy bunch
because we’re here to see an
astronomical event, and we
have a great respect for it.”
Grant County Emergen-
cy Management Coordinator
Ted Williams is also prepar-
ing. He said there will be
coordination between state
agencies in the planning pro-
cess.
“We’ve got our work cut
out for us, and it’s going to
get a lot busier as we get up
to crunch time,” he said.
His biggest concern is
fire prevention, and he said
he has been meeting month-
ly with the Oregon Depart-
ment of Forestry and other
emergency personnel. Other
concerns include trespass-
ing, traffic control and gar-
bage.
He said they’ve heard
there could be as many as
10,000 to 50,000 visitors
over a large geographical
area.
“We may not get all those
big numbers, but we’re still
going to get some big num-
bers,” he said. “No matter
if it’s just a third of what
they’ve said, it’s going to
press us to handle that kind
of crowd.”
Cowboy Chapel H our
KJDY,
Sunday, 7 a.m.
“The Spirit Is Holy”
A3
By Rylan Boggs
Blue Mountain Eagle
Two Eastern Oregon
credit unions have an-
nounced their intent to
merge.
Under the intended merg-
er, Union Wallowa Baker
Federal Credit Union would
merge into Old West Feder-
al Credit Union. This would
create a membership of over
12,000 that would have
access to seven branches
throughout Eastern Oregon.
“Both credit unions share
a common heritage and
great reputations,” Old West
President and CEO Ken Ol-
son said in a press release.
“I was impressed by Union
Wallowa Baker board’s
commitment to their mem-
bers and employees. I’m
humbled that they would
choose Old West as a poten-
tial merger partner.”
Carol Kroll, Board Chair
of Union Wallowa Baker,
was enthusiastic about the
potential merger.
“Being able to offer the
products and services that
The Eagle/Angel Carpenter
John Day-Canyon City Parks and Recreation program manager Kim Ward
serves summer lunches Aug. 10 at the John Day City Park.
Summer food for area kids a success
By Angel Carpenter
Blue Mountain Eagle
Local youth of all ages
enjoyed free lunches this
summer through the USDA
Summer Food Program.
Meals were offered June
13 through Aug. 12 in John
Day, Prairie City and Long
Creek.
Adults, 19 and up, were
also invited to buy a meal
for $2.
The program was coordi-
nated by Kim Ward of John
Day-Canyon City Parks
and Recreation, and Jeanie
Moulton was the cook.
Ward said they fed an av-
erage of 100 kids at the John
Day City Park.
Gleason Pool lifeguards
helped serve the lunches.
“During summer school,
we were almost at 200,” she
said.
Sabrina Howard of Prai-
BEO elects Kofler
as board chair
Blue Mountain Eagle
BEO Bancorp and its sub-
sidiary, Bank of Eastern Ore-
gon, upon completion of the
annual shareholders meet-
ing in Heppner, elected E.
George Kofler as chairman
of the board and Joel Peter-
son as vice chairman.
Kofler joined the Board
in 1993. He retired from
employment with Bank of
Eastern Oregon in 2012 after
a distinguished career that
spanned 32 years. He and his
wife, Debbie, live in Herm-
iston.
Peterson joined the board
in 1993. He is president of
Daily Bread Farms, a fam-
ily-owned farm near Ione.
He and his wife, Lea, a high
school teacher, have three
children.
“We are excited to have
George and Joel lead the
board of directors for the
next year,” said President
and CEO Jeff Bailey. “Both
of these gentlemen are active
and engaged board members.
George continues his service
on the funds management
and loan committees. Joel
chairs the funds management
committee and sits on the
compensation and loan com-
mittees. The vast experience
and leadership qualities of
these two men will serve our
shareholders well.”
The most valuable and
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rie City and other volun-
teers helped deliver the
meals to Prairie City Tues-
day through Thursday, with
about 30 lunches handed
out.
Volunteers from Long
Creek’s North Fork Water-
shed Council helped bring
meals to an average of 10
kids on Tuesdays.
“It’s been a great summer
for summer food,” Ward
said.
members want while main-
taining a local, personalized
presence is an expensive
proposition for any cred-
it union,” Kroll stated in a
press release, “and combin-
ing our assets with Old West
will help ensure that a local,
accountable cooperative is
here to serve our members.”
The combined credit
union would have assets
of over $160,000,000 and
serve eight Oregon coun-
ties. Pending regulatory and
member approval, the merg-
er could be completed as
early as December.
“It’s not been an easy
time for small credit unions
in this regulatory economic
environment,” Olson said
in a follow-up interview. “I
think they wanted to ensure
that their members in that
area would continue to be
serviced by a local inancial
institution.”
Olson added that he
didn’t anticipate any jobs
being lost in the merger and
that they may even add a
few people to the La Grande
ofice.
Community health
worker program to be
offered in La Grande
Blue Mountain Eagle
The Eastern Oregon Co-
ordinated Care Organization
will begin a seven-week
community health worker
training program Friday,
Sept. 23 in La Grande.
The program is provided
by Oregon State Universi-
ty College of Public Health
and Human Sciences. The
course is for employees of
hospitals, physician ofic-
es and health departments
or agencies who want to
take on a community health
worker role.
The course is lexible,
online-based and only re-
quires attendance at two on-
site events. It costs $1,100.
For more information
and to register for the train-
ing please visit: https://pace.
oregonstate.edu/CHW.
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195 N. Canyon Blvd.
John Day, Oregon
04349