>La Grande Observer | Union and Wallowa Counties' News Leader

COVE — Sunday about 2,000 cyclists will pedal their way through Cove.

The Cove Booster Club along with community volunteers will have the honor of hosting a luncheon provided for the cyclists at Cove Elementary School. Booster Club members and community volunteers will be ready to assist the cyclists from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m.

There is a robust new avenue for providing drug, alcohol and mental health services to families with children in Northeast Oregon.

The Northeast Oregon Collaborative for Child Safety, which encompasses Baker, Union and Wallowa counties, formed in the fall of 2007 to apply for funding from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Promoting Safe and Stable Families program.

The award was one of 53 in the country.

With a purchase agreement deadline looming a few weeks away, Union County is awaiting a verdict from the Meyer Memorial Trust on funding applications for the proposed Mount Emily Recreation Area.

The county is requesting a $1 million program-related investment in the endeavor, a possible purchase by the county of about 3,700 acres on La Grande’s signature peak from Forest Capital Partners — or, failing that, $250,000 under the same conditions.

Bryan Mills - IHS senior who is bringing Rachel Scott’s story to Imbler

The free presentations, part of a national program known as Rachel’s Challenge, will be given at 7 p.m. Monday in Imbler and at 7 p.m. Tuesday in Elgin. The Imbler program will be in the Imbler High School gym and the Elgin presentation will be in the Stella Mayfield School auditorium.

ENTERPRISE — D&R Auto Group’s Ford and Chrysler dealerships and their 28 employees in Enterprise may be in for rough times.

Twenty-four of the employees were laid off Wednesday, manager Roger Spangenberg said.

Owner David Spangenberg has filed for bankruptcy following a $9 million lawsuit filed by KeyBank.

MOTORCYCLING FOR A CAUSE: Tosh Connor, left, and Larry Fuerstenberg will ride in and direct a 200-mile La Grande Lions Club motorcycle poker run fundraiser Saturday. Fuerstenberg is the event’s chairman, Connor its co-chairman. Both are La Grande Lions Club members. - The Observer/DICK MASON

Participants will ride through the counties collecting cards during the fundraiser. Their route will take them from La Grande to Elgin, Spout Springs, Athena, Pendleton, Pilot Rock and Ukiah and back to La Grande.

Dixie Hild, national president of the VFW Ladies Auxiliary, talks with Jack Zimmerman, post commander of the VFW High Valley Post, at the veterans memorial in the Union City Park on Friday. Hild, who was elected on Aug. 21, visited Union on a tour of the country. - The Observer/ETHAN SCHOWALTER-HAY

Dixie Hild, the national president of the Ladies Auxiliary to the VFW of the United States, visited Union Friday afternoon as part of a whirlwind tour of departments across the country.

“It’s quite an honor to have her here,” said Paul Brookshire, a member of VFW High Valley Post 4060.

According to preliminary data received by NOAA’s National Weather Service in Pendleton, temperatures at La Grande averaged slightly colder than normal during the month of August as recorded at the weather service’s automated station at the Union County Airport.

The average temperature was 67.7 degrees, which was 1.2 degrees below normal. High temperatures averaged 84.0 degrees, which was 1.9 degrees below normal. The highest was 100 degrees on the 18th. Low temperatures averaged 51.4 degrees, which was 0.5 degrees below normal. The lowest was 41 degrees, on Aug. 22.

Fueled by job losses in the manufacturing and state and local government sectors, Union County’s unemployment rate jumped more than 2 percent in July.

The county’s overall jobless rate came in at 7.9 percent, 2.2 percent higher than June’s 5.6 percent, according to the Oregon Employment Department.

That was the largest one-month jump in the unemployment rate in Union County in more than six years, according to Economist Jason Yohannan.