Gunfire Tuesday night at 62429 Starr Lane in rural Union County resulted in the death of Lonnie Thomas Whitley, 61. Submitted photo

According to a press release from the Union County Sheriff’s Office, deputies were dispatched to the scene about 5:30 p.m. They determined that a domestic dispute between a father and son had occurred and that shots were fired.

The dead man is identified as Lonnie Thomas Whitley, 61. Jason Robert Whitley, 32, was transported to Grande Ronde Hospital.

The La Grande City Council began chipping away at the city’s huge projected budget shortfall Monday night, reaching consensus on a number of revenue-enhancing recommendations from City Manager Robert Strope.

In a work session at City Hall, the council agreed that raising and reallocating transient room taxes, temporarily reducing urban renewal taxes to generate money for the general fund and raising water and sewer franchise fees are all viable options.

The practice of Horticultural Therapy as a treatment modality has only been in place for about 200 years, therefore making it a relatively new profession. But the evidence of its usefulness and practical value is clearly seen in the positive results obtained by countless thousands of patients from all areas of the globe, including patients from all cultural, mental, social, and economic backgrounds.

Yvonne Da Torre serves Al Eggleston Friday during a lunch provided for Cove seniors. - DICK MASON/The Observer

The program, run by Cove Senior Citizens, was staggering like a restaurant that had lost its head chef. Its major funding source had been cut after a public grant for the senior meals program was lost. Today the program still has no public funding but is sizzling.

Last Saturday I went Back to the Future. What a trip it was! Based on last Friday’s column, I was invited by Dale Mammen to tour the old Liberty Theatre with a group of interested others. How could I refuse?

It isn’t the tour I want to tell you about. It is my reactions to what I saw and how my mind tried to put it back together as I remembered it.

Touring the old Liberty Theatre site was a heart-rending visit to the past while standing amidst the rubble of what it has become and trying to envision the beauty that had been torn asunder. In years gone by, it had been almost like entering a cathedral, for voices were muffled and deep carpets absorbed the patron noises.

R. Thomas Gooding, a longtime attorney who served as Union County Circuit Court judge, died Sunday in Meridian, Idaho.

Gooding, 76, practiced law in La Grande for 25 years and was a circuit judge from 1984 to 1991.

After his service as judge, he worked eight years as a special assistant attorney general in Salem. He was appointed to that post by Attorney General Dave Frohnmayer.

It was a rough day at Veterans Memorial Pool, and as it neared an end, SFC James Chatfield decided the time had come for a reality check.

“Remember, people, when this is for real you’re not going to have the ability to do do-overs,” he said, just before he pushed another fully-clothed, weapon-carrying, LBE-wearing ROTC cadet backwards into the deep end of the pool.

Sploosh!

ISLAND CITY — The fate of proposed voluntary mergers involving the Union-Baker Education Service District and two other ESDs now rests with the State Board of Education.

This follows action taken by the Union-Baker ESD Board Thursday. The board approved a formal petition for voluntary mergers between the Union-Baker ESD and the Umatilla-Morrow ESD and the Malheur ESD. The Union-Baker ESD Board’s action came after the Umatilla-Morrow ESD and the Malheur ESD boards approved the same merger petition earlier this month. The four-page petition will be sent to the State Board of Education in several days.

Russ Morgan, ODFW wolf coordinator, with the 97-pound male wolf collared Feb. 12. Photo/ODFW

Collaring the wolves will help wildlife managers better track and understand the pack’s movements, ODFW said.

Last Friday a 115-pound wolf believed to be the alpha male was fitted with a GPS collar, which allows ODFW to track the wolf daily.