>La Grande Observer | Union and Wallowa Counties' News Leader

Observer news Yellow Pages Classifieds Web
web powered by Web Search Powered by Google

Today's front page

Image of The Observer's Front Page

Get home delivery of The Observer for only $8.50 a month by clicking here. After filling out one simple and secure online form you could be on your way to learning more about your city, state and world than you ever have before.

Home arrow Opinion

Support stock show

Young people raising stock for display in the 101st Eastern Oregon Livestock Show, which opens this week in Union, learn a lot about keeping records, budgeting and general problem-solving skills like how to move a 1,200-pound animal off their feet.

The more than 300 4-H and FFA exhibitors who will be involved at Saturday’s stock show junior auction also learn about the narrow profit margins in the livestock raising business. Raising steers, lambs or hogs is not a get rich quick scheme. Particularly not this year.

 

Lightning and strawberries

Recently, I dreamt of my childhood dog, Rita. She darted around my backyard in Oregon while I stood next to my apple tree, considering the weeds.

Once, while my family was sleeping, Rita darted around our post and pier house during a thunder and lightning storm — the little bell on her collar a minor sound to the roar. Just behind the house in front of a thick bamboo grove, our above-ground water tank was a tempestuous brew and made its own thunder.

 

Coordinated eco-devo effort is necessary

A consultant hired recently to take a look at local economic development saw some good things going on, but he also saw things leaders can do to improve. With growth stagnant, our basic industries struggling and the average citizen feeling downright insecure about his finances, here’s hoping somebody listens.

Dick Gardner, the consultant from Bootstrap Solutions in Boise, visited the area this spring at the behest of the Union County Economic Development Corp. He interviewed more than two dozen people, then compiled his report.
 

Letters and comments for the week ending May 31, 2008

Hawkins, Snook, Lindley, Gregersen, Babb, Martin, Lemon, Candler

 

Making a difference

Oregon Chief Justice Paul De Muniz is committed to enhancing Oregon’s legal system. Not only is he striving to bring Oregon’s court system into the 21st century, but he’s committed to making sure Oregon’s young people have a chance to see the Oregon Supreme Court in action.

The chief justice recently brought the state Supreme Court to Enterprise and La Grande where it held sessions in the local high schools. The justices heard arguments in Enterprise and La Grande for actual cases pending before the high court, then answered questions from students.

 

What to do about high gas prices?

Many senators and representatives are “extremely concerned” about the high price of gas. They are so concerned they are furrowing their brows and holding totally meaningless congressional hearings with high-ranking petroleum industry officials to get to the bottom of Gasgate.

It just so happens that many of these same senators and representatives are “extremely concerned” about getting re-elected in November and don’t want to appear to be doing nothing as their constituents suffer under skyrocketing gas prices, and the prices of so many other commodities affected by the cost of transportation.

 

Lottery funds do help make a difference

An event came and went last month with little fanfare, but it was an event that provided something good for some schools in our region.

The Oregon Lottery’s Scratch-It for Schools event was staged April 23 at EOU’s Hoke Union Building. Representatives of local media outlets showed up to see how many lottery Scratch-It tickets they could master in five minutes. Proceeds from the tickets were donated to three schools. The schools were drawn from a pool of schools within the region that had submitted their names for the drawing.

 

Letters and comments for the week ending May 24, 2008

Spiegel, Morehead, Zinzer, Morehead, Bruce, Cooke, Hoffnagle

 

Election season spawns policy review

Round one of the two-round Election 2008 is behind us. The primary that just concluded brought out some of the best in candidates, but it also brought out some of the worst.

Sadly, negative-style campaigning has become the norm in our country. Some national, state and even local elections suffer from the same problem: it’s not about what candidates can do if they are elected, it’s about casting elements of doubt on their opponents. We see it in advertising, and more and more  we are seeing it in letters that supporters send to newspapers.

Locally in this primary season we saw it in some advertising, most of which was placed independently of campaigns. Except for a few ads, most of our local candidates focused on stressing what they had to offer.
 

Super Delegate to the rescue

The big blockbuster movie of the summer of 2008 is not “Spiderman does St. Paul” or even “Godzilla eats Denver.”

The sites of the upcoming political conventions are not in jeopardy.

It’s “Super Delegate to the Rescue.”

Yes, for the first time since gas cost 34 cents a gallon and the only man on the moon was made of cheese, the Oregon primary this spring played a role in the race for president.

 
<< Start < Previous page 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Next page > End >>

News
Local / Sports / Business / State / National / Obituaries / Public Notices
Opinion
Editorials / Letters / Guest Columns / Columnists
Features
Outdoors / Ag / Spiritual / Go Magazine / Portraits
Classifieds
Classified Listings / Jobs / Place an Ad
The Observer
About / Contact / Commercial Printing / Subscribe / Terms of Use / Site Map
Also Online
Photo Reprints / Slideshows / Weather and Valley Cam / RSS Feed

© Copyright 2001 - 2008 Western Communications, Inc. All rights reserved. By Using this site you agree to our Terms of Use

LaGrandeObserver.com works best with the latest versions of Mozilla Firefox, Microsoft Internet Explorer or Apple Safari