Fame has not changed Michael Geisen, a science teacher at Crook County Middle School in Prineville.

Geisen, who will speak in La Grande Friday, still packs his own lunch and cuts his lawn with a push mower.

There is one difference, though. He now owns more suits and ties. The latter is to be expected.

Grant agreements with federal and state agencies will dominate the agenda when the Union County Board of Commissioners meets in regular session Wednesday in the   conference room, 1106 K Ave.

A big-ticket item is a $309,000 award from the U.S. Department of Justice Office of Justice Programs. The two-year award will provide money for personnel, fringe benefits and travel for the Multi-Agency Response and Interdiction Team drug enforcement program.

Also, the board will consider an intergovermental agreement between the county and the Oregon Department of Energy that would yield $30,000 for planning department review and evaluation of documents related to Horizon Wind Energy’s proposed Antelope Ridge Wind Farm.

A La Grande man is among 14 people charged recently in connection with a long-term drug investigation led by the Blue Mountain Enforcement Narcotics team.

According to a press release from the United States Attorney’s office, more than 100 law enforcement officers from from local, state and federal agencies executed 22 search warrants and arrested 10 people Thursday on federal charges in connection with the investigation of a drug distribution organization.

Among those people was John Knight, 63, of 1904 Alder St. He and others were indicted in federal court Friday with conspiracy to distribute more than five grams of methamphetamine.

The many graduates of the Oregon Health & Science University School of Nursing at EOU include Abby Workman, left, shown here following her June commencement. Abby is next to her mother Erin and sister Ashley, who both have strong ties to the nursing program. Erin earlier served as its clinical instructor in John Day and Ashley is a student in the nursing program and will graduate in June. The Observer/DICK MASON

The office is where the late EOU President Rodney Briggs went for dental work in 1977-’78. Karen Hasel was then a receptionist at the office and a young woman who wanted to earn a nursing degree. But because of her young family she could not leave town to earn it.

Hasel knew that there was a proposal to set up a cooperative nursing degree program between Eastern and OHSU. She often good-naturedly lobbied Briggs about it during his dental visits.

A voice is missing from the nation’s health care reform debate, one of uncommon compassion and insight — the collective voice of the nursing community.

It is one that desperately needs to be heard, said Michael Bleich, dean of Oregon Health & Science University’s School of Nursing.

“Why don’t we have nurses involved in the end-of-life care debate? It is not happening. We know more about this ... about human dignity (at the end of life) yet our voices are silent,’’ Bleich said.

With the public comment period on the Draft Environmental Impact Statement at an end, the Wallowa-Whitman National Forest’s Travel Management Plan is in the hands of the decision makers.

Now it’s time to try and come up with a document that strikes a balance between adequate public access and sound environmental practices. That’s going to take a while, according to Travel Management Plan Team Leader Cindy Christensen.

Christensen said she recently finished reviewing approximately 400 individual letters and 500 form letters that came in during the public comment period.

ELGIN ICON: Reconstruction of the Elgin Opera House’s front steps is supposed to occur this month. - Observer file photo

Large corporate donors are closing their purses to grant applicants, stating that funds have dried up for this fiscal year. Consequently, the capital committee has been encouraged to “apply again next year” in hopes that a recovering economy will reboot their grant programs and allow them to be more generous.

ENTERPRISE — Wallowa County’s Economic Action Team is entering its final phase and will dissolve as a working entity this fall.

In October 2005 the county was introduced to the Rural Design Assistance Program. In October 2006 Wallowa County was selected as the one community in the United States to receive the benefit of a team of architects, engineers, regional planners, educators and researchers who came to Wallowa County to study the strengths and needs of the communities. They would make recommendations, under the leadership of Peter Batchelor, founder of the program, on improving the economic vitality of the area.

“Art of Giving Fall Showcase” opens with an artist reception Friday. The reception at ArtsEast Gallery runs from 5 to 8 p.m. The show is free and open to the public and will run through Dec. 24.

Located on the edge of campus at Eastern Oregon University, ArtsEast Gallery will be displaying and selling artwork during the showcase.

The show features many local and regional artists’ work. Original paintings and photographs, hand-crafted jewelry and giclee prints are on display and available for purchase at affordable prices ($100 and under).

Birnie Park’s new restrooms were formally opened at a ribbon-cutting ceremony Monday. Those taking park in the ceremony are, from left, Dale DeLong, Randy King, Vicki Jassenoff, Nancy Van Sickle, Mel Elder, Gary Tate, Eddie Elder, Gerald Hopkins and Dave Hallmark. DeLong, King, Jassenoff, Mel Elder, Eddie Elder and Hopkins are all Union County Ambassadors. Hopkins is also a Lions International member who is governor of Oregon’s District G. Van Sickle, Tate and Hallmark are all members of the La Grande Lions Club. The Observer/DICK MASON

That house is a distant memory. But in its place is more, so much more.

Birnie Park features include a state-of-the-art playground; wheelchair-accessible areas; a site recognizing the Oregon Trail and its significance, which is accompanied by Braille signs and more.