May 30, 2009 10:29 am
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RICHLAND — There is something about Eagle Valley that keeps bringing people back.
My great-great-grandparents, Dogan and Eliza (Gover) Saunders,
settled here in the 1880s. My great-grandparents, Samuel Q. and
LouDella, married here in the 1890s. My grandparents, though they
eventually moved to the “big city’’ of
La Grande for better educational opportunities for their kids, kept going back and are buried here.
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May 22, 2009 02:33 pm
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Dear Diary,
Sitting in my car in front of The Observer office today, lying in
wait for Editor/Publisher Ted Kramer’s arrival back from lunch, I had a
thrill from long ago.
An old man was shuffling his way towards the box in front of the
newspaper office to get his daily news in print. As he did so, an
employee of The Observer approached from another direction with an
armload of the day’s papers to make them available to the public as
they inserted their coins in the box.
“The paper has gone to press,” I thought.
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May 16, 2009 11:12 am
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This is National Travel & Tourism Week. Communities all across
America are using the designation to call attention to the importance
of tourism in local, state and national economies.
National Travel and Tourism Week was established in 1983 when the
U.S. Congress passed a joint resolution designating the week to be
celebrated in May 1984. In a White House ceremony, President Ronald
Reagan signed a presidential proclamation urging citizens to observe
the week with “the appropriate ceremonies and activities.”
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April 11, 2009 12:36 pm
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According to Peter Barry’s response to the “Cattle are No. 1” column
by OCA President Bill Moore, Oregon cattle ranchers took $664 million
to the bank last year. This is a sad testimony to what has happened to
Oregon’s No.1 Industry of Yesteryear — timber.
This industry was the “Big Mama” of Oregon natural resource
industries. It provided thousands of good-paying jobs and allowed for a
thriving consumer economy. Using the Endangered Species Act, the
spotted owl was used as a tool to begin the massive shut-down of
Oregon’s economic foundation. This owl is now copulating with the
barred owl, having lots of little sub-species and enjoys more habitat
than any owl ever knew. We are still waiting for that “better Earth” we
were promised if the owl was saved.
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April 10, 2009 01:52 pm
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As many of you may have noticed in a recent Observer article, Grande
Ronde Valley Habitat for Humanity Inc. is in the middle of a
home-building project here in La Grande, right now, thanks to all of
the community’s support. One of the new ways that your local Habitat
affiliate generates revenue is by operating a thrift store we call
“Restore ... The Store that Builds Homes.’’
Our Restore is located in the old Dome Plumbing property, 2304 East
R Ave., which is behind Wendy’s and McDonald’s restaurants. It is
stocked with new and used building materials, some major appliances and
sinks.
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March 28, 2009 08:54 am
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For the sixth consecutive year, Oregon’s farmers and ranchers have
experienced positive sales growth, grossing an estimated $4.9 billion
in 2008 — the largest total in the state’s history, according to a
report just released by Oregon State University.
Cattle are Oregon’s No. 1 agricultural commodity with $664 million
in sales, surpassing nursery crops (when excluding greenhouse crops)
for the first time in recent history and ahead of dairy, wheat and farm
forest products.
The 1,900-member Oregon Cattlemen’s Association is proud of what our
cattle industry has accomplished, but we have lots of challenging
issues ahead of us to work on in 2009.
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March 26, 2009 02:56 pm
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Times are tough. It’s plain to see everyone is cutting costs and
doing without some basic necessities. We hopefully look ahead to better
times.
Regardless of those cost-saving measures, citizens of Union County
remain generous to a fault when it comes to others in need. Recently,
Soroptimist International of
La Grande hosted a reception to distribute the net proceeds from our
21st annual Festival of Trees to 12 extremely appreciative local
agencies and organizations. The festival, a mainstay in our valley’s
holiday events, garnered close to $20,000 to award in grants.
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March 26, 2009 02:51 pm
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We in Eastern Oregon experience a long, drawn out early spring. It’s
frustrating. One day, 50 degrees. The next we wake up to new snow. The
daffodils poke their little green shoots up, growing a millimeter a
day, and we wonder if spring will overcome winter. Spring is a time of
new growth and rebirth, and it does always prevail over winter.
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March 21, 2009 11:45 am
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The controversy surrounding the production of “Picasso at the Lapin
Agile” has created a window of opportunity for community growth and
understanding. Presently, though, there seems to be more heat than
light.
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March 20, 2009 02:34 pm
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Having just returned from Branson, Mo., and the NAIA Division II
Men’s National Basketball Tournament, I would like to pass on a few
observations. My wife, Kay, and I were accompanied by former Eastern
Oregon College all-conference basketball player and Northeast Oregon
educator Mike Moor and his wife, Linda.
I was intrigued by the host school, College of the Ozark’s mission
to serve the needs for a higher education for the students of the Ozark
Mountain Region. It is one of six colleges nationally that was formed
to serve low-income regions. Ninety percent of the students receive
Federal Student Assistance dollars and in turn are required to work 15
hours per week to pay for their tuition.
Also, if a student elects to work 40 hours per week in the summer
their room and board is furnished. The students do the maintenance and
landscape work, provide security, do laundry and custodial work,
operate an on-campus hotel convention center and even maintain a dairy
herd.
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Opinion 
