November 19, 2009 03:29 pm
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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.
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November 19, 2009 03:21 pm
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 Balancing conservation, recreation and American Indian cultural aspects of the Enterprise district’s fisheries will be Yanke’s focus. - KATIE NESBITT/The Observer ENTERPRISE — Cold-water fishing brought Jeff Yanke to the West after graduating from the University of Wisconsin, LaCrosse.
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.
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November 18, 2009 04:28 pm
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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.
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November 18, 2009 04:20 pm
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 Rotary candlestick phones, like this one, were popular in the 1920s. DICK MASON/The Observer It was the first great day for EOU.
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.
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November 18, 2009 04:17 pm
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 Terri Washburn Terri Washburn has been named the new director of the city of La Grande’s F. Maxine and Thomas W. Cook Memorial Library.
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.
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November 17, 2009 05:00 pm
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 Heidi Peterson Laurance makes a cameo appearance as the “Star To Be” in the Friends of the Opera House production of “Annie.’’ Submitted photo ELGIN — The Friends of the Elgin Opera House, a non-profit
organization dedicated to producing community- supported theater, has
awarded its first scholarship to Heidi Peterson Laurance.
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.
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November 17, 2009 04:26 pm
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 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 The London plane tree’s many features include a tolerance for wind.
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.
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November 17, 2009 04:23 pm
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 Mount Emily and a camas flower are incorporated into the design of bike racks being installed in the downtown area. Observer photo/BILL RAUTENSTRAUCH It’s always been a bit of an issue for the local cycling set: in
downtown La Grande, there’s a shortage of bike racks. People end up
chaining their machines to lamp posts, signs or benches, whatever’s
available.
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.
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November 17, 2009 04:20 pm
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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.
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November 16, 2009 03:19 pm
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 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 JOSEPH — Joseph High School’s award-winning Thespian Troupe will
present its fall production of “Go Ask Alice’’ by Frank Shiras Thursday
through Saturday.
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.
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