March 24, 2008 12:53 pm
The La Grande school board was wise to not pursue placing an excise tax on new local construction as allowed by Oregon Senate Bill 1036.
Yes, the tax — 50 cents or $1 per square foot depending on type of project — likely would have raised $100,000 or more a year for the district, perhaps as much as $2 million over 20 years. But that’s just about all the good that can be said for it.
On the down side, the school board would have earned the enmity of an entire community by enacting the tax. To put it simply, people don’t take kindly to taxation by decree.
|
March 22, 2008 12:00 am
|
Kelly, Severin, Berry, Hoffnagle, Russell
|
March 21, 2008 03:18 pm
|
Union County will be a little the poorer this April 1, when Judy Loudermilk steps down as head of the Chamber of Commerce and begins a new chapter of her life elsewhere.
Loudermilk, the Union County chamber’s executive director the past nine years, is resigning to look after personal family matters in Sunriver.
She says she is sad to go; her many friends and associates are just as sad. Hers was a steadying influence, applied gently and always with the best interests of the community at heart. She will be missed.
|
March 20, 2008 02:39 pm
|
Some things you just never want to hear.
“A family of screamers is moving in next door.”
“The tax audit should be relatively painless.”
“We can move up your prostate exam appointment an hour.”
|
March 20, 2008 02:36 pm
|
A special bit of genius lies behind the latest college scholarships offered by the Oregon Trail Electric Cooperative. OTEC is giving four more scholarships, which brings the total to 24 in the four counties the cooperative serves. Only these new scholarships are for students returning to college or an accredited vocational or technical school for their second, third or fourth year.
It’s common knowledge that students are most vulnerable to dropping out of college after their freshman year. The new scholarships give students incentive to stay the course and complete a degree program.
|
March 19, 2008 03:28 pm
|
Here’s a salute to the Eastern Oregon University men’s and women’s basketball teams for their success this past season. Both teams earned league championships. Both advanced to the national tournament. And both won first-round games.
The Mountaineer women’s teams have been winning league championships for several years in a row now — five straight and six of the past seven. Coach Anji Weissenfluh has built a competitive Cascade Collegiate Conference team. But not until this year was the team able to win at the national tourney.
|
March 18, 2008 02:53 pm
|
Some people will undoubtedly hammer the Union County commissioners for hiring a director of promotions at Buffalo Peak Golf Course. These people are understandably worried about long-term financial obligations of the county-owned course, as is any member of the public who enjoys playing the beautifully designed links course on the outskirts of Union with the magnificent view over the Grande Ronde Valley.
We recommend reserving judgment until the plan has a chance to work. Buffalo Peak is not dying. In fact, the course at Union showed overall revenue gains of 11 percent last year as well as a jump in player rounds of almost 500.
|
March 17, 2008 01:13 pm
If it weren’t for Colleen Johnson and Dan Pokorney, the public could snooze right through this year’s La Grande City Council elections.
Pokorney, whose term on the city council expires in December, is challenging Johnson, the incumbent mayor, for the mayoral seat. It promises to be an interesting race.
But beyond that, there’s nothing shaking. Check the scorecard: incumbent Councilor Todd Richmond is running unopposed. Kelly McGee and Les Balsiger, looking to fill the No. 2 and No. 3 positions being vacated by Pokorney and Di Lyn Larsen-Hill, also face zero competition.
|
March 15, 2008 12:00 am
|
March, Firor, Fast, Bodewig, Fiorito, Hills, Smith, Wandschneider, Cooke, Garoutte, Petersen
|
March 13, 2008 03:06 pm
|
Got debt? If so, you’re not alone.
In these days of rampant materialism, it seems almost anti-American to oppose wild credit card sprees and intoxicating out-of-control consumerism.
Before you flag-waving, red-meat, true-blue, credit card-flashing Americans start sending hate mail, put on the charge card at 41 cents a letter, hear me out.
|
|
Opinion