It’s official. The H1N1 virus has reached Union County.

The state confirmed Monday that a patient admitted to Grande Ronde Hospital suffered from the H1N1 virus.

It is not known when the person was admitted to the hospital. No other information about the case or the individual is available.

Sydney Craven, left, and Ashley Nichols, both students at the ODS College of Dental Sciences in La Grande, will visit Liberia later this month with a Destination Africa Dental Team to provide dental care for poor children. Craven and Nichols are shown with a portable dental chair their team is bringing and some of the more than 1,500 toothbrushes it is also taking to Liberia. - The Observer/DICK MASON

The toothbrushes, though, will soon have children in Liberia whistling with excitement and wonder.

The new toothbrushes will be given to about 1,500 children in Monrovia, Liberia, by a team from the ODS College of Dental Sciences in La Grande later this month.

Community members are invited to join Greenwood Elementary School staff and students for a fundraiser, Harvest Dessert Auction and Greenwood Idol Season 2, from 6:30 to 7:30 p.m. Thursday in the gymnasium.

“We will be auctioning off homemade, decorated cakes made by staff, parents and students,” PTS President Judy Lucius said. “We will also sell cupcakes.”

In addition, the evening will include performances by the Greenwood staff. Staff will impersonate The Village People, Nancy Sinatra & Friends, The Supremes and Sonny & Cher.

GIFTED TEACHER: Michael Geisen, the 2008 National Teacher of the Year, gives a presentation at La Grande Middle School Friday. Geisen is a science teacher at Crook County Middle School in Prineville. The Observer/DICK MASON

With more kindergarten, school dropout rates would plummet and student achievement would rise.

Need to be convinced?

Have you ever wandered around the fruit trees on your own piece of land and spotted a pear that hadn’t been picked until it had reached its prime of sweetness?

I did a while back and plucked just such a pear, bit into it and savored it as the juice ran down my chin. With an outside faucet handy, I was able to clean up a mite, dry on my shirt-tail, then proceed to mosey on down to the barn for a casual look around. It was one of those rare days when nothing else was pressing and I could take time to “just be.”

The city of La Grande Planning Commission will decide next Tuesday whether to grant a Pendleton company permission to build a communications structure in east La Grande.

Juniper Hill Properties, through a Pendleton-based Internet company called Wtechlink, Inc., wants to build a 70-foot tower next to the Morrow County Educational Service District building at 2708 Adams Avenue.

The structure will provide dedicated Internet access to the Cove School District, and other school districts, according to a report submitted by the applicants. Application for the CUP was made Sept. 16, with the city’s staff report finished Tuesday.

Larry Burns of Summerville poses with his banana squash bounty. Photo/TRISH YERGES

But this fall it produced its first banana squash, weighing in at a little over 32 pounds, 36 inches long with a 10-inch diameter.

The oblong-shaped squash has a creamy yellow skin and a golden fine textured inner flesh, great for soups, sauces, bread and pies.

Entrance to shooting scene: The shooting occurred at the Boundary Campground, seven miles from Wallowa on the Bear Creek Road. Photo/KATY NESBITT

The deceased suspect is identified as Roy S. Bass, 52. An autopsy is pending by the Oregon State Medical Examiner’s Office.

The shooting happened at Boundary Campground south of Wallowa along Bear Creek.

Historian Eugene Smith needed just one camera to produce his latest DVD — a camera that helped him bring one of La Grande’s most heated recent controversies into sharper focus.

Smith has produced a 72-minute DVD about the fire storm in La Grande last winter and spring ignited by the Steve Martin play “Picasso at the Lapin Agile.’’

WALLOWA — Wallowa County law enforcement authorities declined to give any details this morning on a shooting incident that occurred about 4 p.m. Wednesday in the Wallowa area.

The Wallowa County Sheriff’s Office refused to comment, saying District Attorney Mona Williams planned to release some information later in the day.