December 22, 2009 03:00 pm
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Are you ready for some football? The Insight Bowl at Tempe, Ariz., Dec. 31 will match 6-6 Iowa State versus 6-6 Minnesota. Sure, the flight south is a great escape from Old Man Winter’s icy clutches for fans of those two schools. But is anyone else not totally bored out of their skulls going to watch this meaningless game on TV?
Sure, there are bowls to look forward to. Tonight, Oregon State University meets Brigham Young University in the Las Vegas Bowl. And on Jan. 1 the University of Oregon meets The Ohio State University in the Rose Bowl. Fans throughout Oregon, whether they are Beaver or Duck boosters, will be on the edge of their EZ chairs for both games.
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December 18, 2009 04:07 pm
It’s sad but true: kids often grow up with a negative view of police
officers. Peers or family members who may have had a brush with the law
don’t always have nice things to say about the cops, and impressionable
youngsters get wrong ideas.
Day to day, police officers face many difficult challenges. Overcoming
that negative picture formed in young minds is one more. This Christmas
season, the La Grande Police Department took a proactive step in that
direction.
Sgt. Scott Franks and Det. Jason Hayes were prime organizers in the
LGPD’s first-ever “Shop with a Cop” event, held Dec. 9 at the Island
City Walmart. Joined by fellow officers and 9-1-1 dispatchers, the two
have started something that will go a long way toward building good
community relations.
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December 17, 2009 02:58 pm
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The City of La Grande is in a financial pickle. Citizens of La Grande, and employees of the city, are going to have to accept the fact that some significant cuts are coming.
The city announced last week that it its revenue is continuing to fall below what it is seeing in expenses. Over the course of the past five years, revenue increased by 13 percent while expenses increased by 17 percent. It doesn’t take a math whiz to figure out that a few years of that and you’re in trouble. That’s where the city is today.
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December 16, 2009 12:27 pm
Andrea Waldrop, La Grande High School’s vice principal, started the
school’s Festival of Trees nine years ago. It’s a gift to the community
that keeps on giving, and in more ways than one.
Every holiday season, LHS students form teams to decorate trees set up
in the school commons. Before Christmas, the trees are delivered to
families in need, making the holiday a little brighter.
The students do their creative best, hanging ornaments, tinsel, popcorn
and cranberry strings, and gifts. One tree this year featured stockings
filled with toys, scarves and candy, and another had children’s books
attached to the branches. Sixty students decorated 16 trees in all.
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December 15, 2009 03:21 pm
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Access to health insurance and affordable basic health care is a challenge for many in Northeast Oregon, even during good times. In the midst of a recession, the challenge becomes all the greater.
That’s why it’s good news that Northeast Oregon Network has received a solid grant foundation to continue its operation. The network, formed in 2004, is dedicated to helping Union, Wallowa and Baker County residents get better access to health care. Recently, the network received three grants totaling more than $600,000. The grants will help the organization continue to improve health care access across the region.
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December 11, 2009 02:52 pm
Access to health insurance and affordable basic health care is a
challenge for many in Northeast Oregon, even during good times. In the
midst of a recession, the challenge becomes all the greater.
That’s why it’s good news that Northeast Oregon Network has received a
solid grant foundation to continue its operation. The network, formed
in 2004, is dedicated to helping Union, Wallowa and Baker County
residents get better access to health care. Recently, the network
received three grants totaling more than $600,000. The grants will
help the organization continue to improve health care access across the
region.
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December 10, 2009 03:48 pm
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Each youth can make a difference in the future. Each teacher can make a difference today.
Area schools’ commitment to excellence is displayed in the fact that six schools in Union and Wallowa counties have earned spots on the state’s 2008-09 honor roll. That’s an impressive achievement. The schools received “outstanding” ratings from the Oregon Department of Education’s annual report card program designed to spur excellence in education statewide.
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December 09, 2009 03:18 pm
The Mount Emily Recreation Area Non-Motorized Advisory Committee and
the county commission are in the process of deciding whether to
consider a request from a group of citizens who would like to ensure
there’s a community forest in one unit of the MERA. The proposal would
require raising enough money to purchase the timber on the unit from
Forest Capital Partners, which is in the process of logging portions of
the recreation area as part of the agreement that put the entire
3,700-acre area into the county’s hands a year ago.
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December 02, 2009 02:45 pm
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Monday was unofficially labeled “Cyber Monday’’ as a way for online
business to reap a bigger share of rewards from the Christmas shopping
dollar. It’s an online version of “Black Friday,’’ which has become an
institution for on-site sales and the official kickoff of the Christmas
shopping season. Here’s hoping that local folks didn’t blow their
Christmas spending allowance at out-of-area retailers Monday. Local
businesses need and depend on those dollars.
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November 30, 2009 08:30 am
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Is the spirit of Thanksgiving alive in your household — and in your heart — today?
Thanksgiving
Day offers an annual reminder to all of us that we should pause, if
even for a moment, and give thanks for the things we have.
Each of us should take time to think about, to appreciate, what makes
our lives special. For some of us that might be family, friends, love,
health or simply having food on the table and a roof over our heads.
Especially this year, when many people are doing with less — much less
— than they ever have. Times are that tough for some.
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Opinion 
