Cody Vavra, Union County’s Mount Emily Recreation Area liaison (left) led the way on a recent tour of the MERA for Union County commissioners Steve McClure, Nellie Hibbert and Mark Davidson. BILL RAUTENSTRAUCH/The Observer

Union County Commissioners Nellie Hibbert, Steve McClure and Mark Davidson got an eye-popping look at the MERA’s ATV trail network recently, as they rode on a long, sometimes bumpy journey across the face of the mountain from Fox Hill Road on the west, all the way to Igo Lane on the east, then back again.

Cody Vavra, who works in the county planning department and serves as MERA liaison, rode a trail bike and led the tour.

Joseph Fire Department and Joseph Family Food brought in $4,000 worth of groceries for the Enterprise food bank Monday. KATY NESBITT photo

Now in its third year of participation with Family Foods’ parent company, URM Stores Inc., the local grocer teamed up with the fire department in hopes to fill a fire truck full of grocery bags during the first day of the food drive.

The fire department helped by getting the word out and delivering the first truckload of food to the food bank, said Michael Moore, Family Food employee and volunteer firefighter. Monday’s effort was entirely volunteer and promoted by KWVR Radio, Enterprise.

Tucker, a year old shepherd-retriever mix, loves to play "fetch" with the training toy. JOYCE OSTERLOH photo

The dog, a donation from the Blue Mountain Humane Association in Union County, is in training at Dark-9 (Drug, Assault, Rescue K-9) Kennels outside of Summerville.

Mike Voss of Dark-9 Kennels said their training facility works closely with The Animal Shelter as a source for dogs exhibiting some of the qualities they seek for training. Even if Dark-9 finds the dogs are not suitable for search and rescue or narcotics detection training, the obedience training they receive at Dark-9 Kennels helps the shelter to find homes for the dogs.

The La Grande Rotary Club is proud, in spite of hard economic times, to serve the La Grande community with projects which support and enrich its local children and youth.

Next week tickets go on sale for the Rotary Holiday Home Tour.

All proceeds from this sale go to fund projects involving La Grande or Union County youth.

Patriots young and old turned out along Adams Avenue Wednesday to pay tribute to the nation’s veterans. Despite cold weather, about 250 people took in the annual Veterans Day parade organized by American Legion Post 43. Observers photo

The annual Veterans Day observances got under way at the Rose Garden on the Eastern Oregon University campus with members of the High Valley Veterans of Foreign Wars post raising an American flag that had flown over a camp in Iraq during ceremonies on Sept. 11 of this year.

Before the banner went up, the crowd on hand heard remarks from Eastern President Bob Davies and Lt. Col. Kevin Sheehy, commander of the Oregon National Guard’s Third Battalion, 116th Cavalry.

 $10 million restoration nears completion, grand opening on horizon

Lee Manuel and her husband, sculptor David Manuel, bought Hot Lake in 2003 and have worked since then on its restoration. They plan a grand opening sometime in 2010. Observer photo

It’s been six years since Lee Manuel and her artist husband David bought the dilapidated three-story main building and its surrounding grounds and outbuildings, and set about transforming the property into a center for the arts and a world-class lodging facility.

Features were added one by one as the owners worked to realize their vision. Finally, the Manuels are satisfied. The time to unveil the new Hot Lake Springs is near.

PENDLETON — Members of the Eastern Oregon University Chemistry Club will work their magic at Blue Mountain Community College Nov. 14 for Saturday Science, a free program for middle school students.

Free pre-registration is required by Thursday.

Activities begin at 9:30 a.m. and continue until 2 p.m. in the Science and Technology Building, Room 200 at BMCC.

EOU has eclipsed its all-time enrollment record and stands on the brink of a milestone, fourth-week fall term statistics released by the Oregon University System Tuesday indicate.

Eastern has 3,957 students, up 7.9 percent from its previous record of 3,666 set a year ago, the OUS reported.

Look below the surface and the numbers get even better. EOU’s new freshman enrollment stands at 473, up a staggering 25 percent from a year ago. The state report also indicates that the number of students on campus is up 13.6 percent to 1,806 and that student retention has jumped 21 points to 72.1 percent.

FOOD BANK PRESERVES: The Blue Mountain Quilters presented a “Preserves’’ quilt to the Elgin Food Bank last week as a permanent wall hanging. Presenting the quilt was Eva Way, Ann Warren and Beth McMullen of Elgin to Pat McMullen, representing the Elgin Food Bank board of directors. TRISH YERGES photo

Accepting the gift on behalf of the Elgin Food Bank board of directors was Pat McMullen.

“We want to thank the quilt club for giving us a quilt to hang on the wall,” said McMullen.

Two people from Bend were arrested and more than 51 pounds of marijuana were seized during an Oregon State Police traffic stop Saturday on Interstate 84 east of La Grande.

According to OSP Sgt. Larry Graves, at approximately 10:30 a.m. an OSP senior trooper stopped a rented 2009 Nissan Altima displaying California license plates eastbound on the freeway near milepost 278 after noting the car’s speed at 84 mph in a 65 mph speed zone.

Contacted during the stop were driver Tisha Maelou Niles, 25, and passenger Jeffrey Davey Stratton, 28, both from Bend.