A total of $1.09 million will be at stake for the La Grande School District in January.

The La Grande School Board was told Wednesday that the district would lose $1.1 million in revenue in the 2009-11 biennium if Measures 66 and 67, which together would allow income tax and corporate tax increases approved by the Legislature to remain in place, are rejected by Oregon voters in January.

Balancing conservation, recreation and American Indian cultural aspects of the Enterprise district’s fisheries will be Yanke’s focus. - KATIE NESBITT/The Observer

With a degree in environmental science and biology, he had studied and fished the “big river” as he called it, the Mississippi, but trout fishing lured him to a job with Idaho Fish and Game in Salmon, Idaho.

Recently hired as the district fisheries biologist of the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife Enterprise District office, Yanke previously worked for the North East Oregon Fisheries Research Program, also out of Enterprise, for the past four years.

Permits to cut a Christmas tree on the Wallowa-Whitman National Forest are available for sale at local Forest Service offices and several commercial outlets.

Permits cost $5 each and are valid for the cutting of one tree up to 20 feet tall on national forest land. The permit does not authorize cutting on private, state or other federal lands.

The Forest Service Christmas Tree program is designed for families, businesses and institutions wishing to cut their own Christmas tree for decorating.

Rotary candlestick phones, like this one, were popular in the 1920s. DICK MASON/The Observer

And one of the most memorable in the history of the old Home Independent Telephone Company.

Dec. 19, 1926, was the day the state board of normal school regents voted 5-4 to place a state college in La Grande. Area residents were anxious to spread the news, perhaps more eager than operators at the Home Independent Telephone Company would have liked.

Terri Washburn

Washburn, from Chewelah, Wash., will succeed Jo Cowling, who announced last summer her plans to retire at the end of the year. Cowling has worked for the city since January 1984.

Mayor Colleen Johnson said she is pleased that the long search for a new library director is at an end.

Heidi Peterson Laurance makes a cameo appearance as the “Star To Be” in the Friends of the Opera House production of “Annie.’’ Submitted photo

After entertaining audiences as Belle in “Beauty & the Beast,” portraying a nun in the “Sound of Music” and undertaking the rigorous role of stage manager for the production of “Annie,” Laurance’s hard work will pay off this fall when she is honored as the first recipient of a scholarship bearing her name.

A unanimous vote of the foundation’s board of directors selected Peterson Laurance as the honoree for her exemplary dedication to her craft and devotion to the success of the Elgin Opera House. Peterson Laurance committed countless hours to the Elgin Opera House Theater while working toward her theatre arts major at Eastern Oregon University.

Gary Webster and Lia Spigel place protective wiring around a London plane tree Monday at Birnie Park. The London plane tree was the 150th planted in La Grande in recognition of the state’s 150th birthday. DICK MASON/ The Observer

It is thus fitting that a London plane tree was planted Monday at Birnie Park during a ceremony celebrating Oregon’s sesquicentennial.

A strong, biting wind blew throughout the ceremony at which the planting of a London plane tree was completed. The tree was the 150th planted in La Grande since April as part of a sesquicentennial program conducted by the City of La Grande Urban Forestry Program.

Mount Emily and a camas flower are incorporated into the design of bike racks being installed in the downtown area. Observer photo/BILL RAUTENSTRAUCH

That changes beginning this week, thanks to La Grande Main Street and the city of La Grande. Tuesday morning, the first of 50 distinctive bike racks for the downtown area was installed on Adams Avenue.

Jason McNeil, a city intern who coordinates Oregon Main Street projects and activities, said the racks are important in ways beyond functionality.

Mighty winds blew through Northeast Oregon Monday night and early this morning, sending debris flying through the air but apparently causing no injuries.

For velocity, the windiest place in the region was Joseph in Wallowa County, where gusts up to 88 mph were reported overnight to the National Weather Service.

Power to parts of Joseph went out about 4:30 a.m., and had not been restored by 10 a.m. today, according to a spokeswoman at Joseph City Hall.

ALI GARRETT (LEFT) PLAYS Alice, DaLynn Roberts is Jan and Jonae Schoen is cast as Chris in the upcoming production of “Go Ask Alice” Thursday through Saturday at Joseph High School. JOYCE OSTERLOH photo

The play is based on the book of the same name. The book was first published in 1971 as a diary by an anonymous 15-year-old girl who unwittingly encounters the drug culture in her small university town. The playwright, while staying true to the major events in the book, focuses on Alice, her family and the “trip’’ that changed their lives  forever.