SPECIAL SECTION SPOTLIGHTS EAST-WEST SHRINE GAME
INSIDE ARTS AND LEISURE MAGAZINE
SERVING UNION AND WALLOWA COUNTIES SINCE 1896
Jobless Comforting scene numbers -ImproVIng • Regional economist says Union County slowly coming out of the recession By Bill Rautenstrauch The Observer
Dick Mason /The Observe r
Ted McBride, a music teacher in the Cove School District stands next to a mural he painted on a building at Grandview Cemetery. The painting depicts portions of the Elkhorn mountains and the Upper Grande Ronde River.
Mural brightens wall at Grandview Cemetery was painted by McBride this month the artist said. at the request of Sue Anderson, This is why the gently flowing Upper Grande is shown in full manager of the La Grande Cemetery Maintenance District. splendor. "I am so pleased ''Nothing says peace like with how it turned out," '1want it to be a a river,' M~B~de said. Anderson said. The artist IS no stranger place wherepeople to large canvasses. He has McBride, an avid hiker and fishermen can sit andfind painted many backm:ops who also makes river serenity." for conce~ts and musicals rafting trips, said the _Ted McBride he has directed fur Cove mural reflects his love schools. of Northeast Oregon's "I'm used to drawing on scenic beauty. a larger backdrop," McBride said. "It is a window into how I see the Those backdrops did not have world," he said. the permanence his Grandview Cemetery mural does - one which McBride wanted the mural to help those who are hurting as they is a perfect complement to a bench placed in front of the equipment reflect on loved ones lost. building earlier. "I wanted to create something that would help comfort "I want it to be a place where people through their sorrow," people can sit and find serenity."
By Dick Mason The Observer
This equipment building on the western edge of Grandview Cemetery fur years had been all but invisible while in plain sight. Visitors had no reason to look at the bland, faceless white cinderblock structure. Today they do. Ted McBride, a music teacher in the Cove School District, has added the face of nature to the equipment building's north wall, one that is so alive in a comforting way it all but sings. McBride has painted a mural on the supply buildings's north wall, one illustrating portions of the Elkhorn mountains and the Upper Grande Ronde River. The mural,"The Depth Beyond,"
Restrictions established as wildfire risk rises Rising wildfire danger has prompted the Oregon Department of Forestry's Northeast Oregon District to institute a Regulated-Use Closure that became effective at 1 a.m. Tuesday. All lands protected by the district will be placed under heightened fire safety restrictions at that time, including forestland within one-eighth mile of the distiict boundary. "Recent warm temperatures and limited rainfall throughout the region have dried wildland fuels and increased the danger of wildland fires," explains John
Buckman, Northeast Oregon district forester. "Implementing RegulatedUse Closure reduces the potential for human-caused fires to occur and allows firefighters to focus on fires ignited by lightning." Limiting hun1an-caused fires within the Northeast Oregon District is the objective of the closure, which includes tlle following resuictions: Open fires are prohibited, including campfires, charcoal fires, cooking fires and warming fires, except at designated locations. Designated locations
INDEX Business ........ l B Classified ....... 78 Com ics ...... ..... 6B Crossw ord ..... 9B Dear Abby ... 128
WEATHER Ho roscope .. ... 9B Lottery ............ 2A Movies ........... 2A Obitu aries...... SA Opinio n .......... 4A
Record ........... 6A Sports ............ 7A Sudoku .......... 6B Wallowa Life . l OA Wonderword... 68
FRIDAY IN OUTDOORS
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within the Regulated Use Closure area includes the following Oregon State Parks: Emigrant Springs, Ukiah Dale, Catl1e1ine Creek, Hilgard Junction, Red Bridge, Wallowa Lake, Minam, and Unity Lake. Portable cooking stoves using liquefied or bottled fuels are allowed. • Smoking is prohibited while traveling, except in vehicles on improved roads, in boats on the wate1; or at a cleared area. • Debris burning is prohibited, except in burn barrels for which a valid permit See Dange1· I Page 2A
Full forecast on the back of B section
Tonight
Thursday
49 LOW
84/52
Clear
Sunny
Union County still has a long way to go to get back to those balmy days of June, 2007 when the unemployment rate stood at 4. 7 percent. Still, things are looking better than the couple of years after the 2008 onset of the Great Recession. The Oregon Employment Department pegged the nonseasonally adjusted jobless rate for the county this June at 8.7 percent. At the height of the recession in January, 2009, the rate was 14.4 percent, and in June of that year it was 10.6 percent. The county has seen slow but steady improvement
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He said the number likely will drop again this summer as seasonal school layoffs start showing up. ''Ifll probably dip again when we stmt losing those school and university employees," he said. See Jobs I Page 6A.
Ride bus to fair for free this week By Bill Rautenstrauch The Observer
Bus transportation to the Union County Fair and all other places in La Grande won't cost a dime this week, as Community Connection re-establishes its free annual fair bus service and provides free rides on the regular fixed route as well. The fair bus runs between Sunny Hills Park on the city's south side to the fairgrounds, today through Saturday. From the park at Aquarius Way and Gelnini Drive, the bus follows Gekeler Lane to Fourth Street, and Fourth Street to Max Square downtovm. It takes Adams Avenue to ~and Street, makes a loop east and north for stops at Garden Club and Benton Park and arrives at the fairgrounds. Other stops on the route include Birnie Park, C'oentral School and Riveria Activity Center. The bus runs continuously from 3 to 10:20 p.m. Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, and from noon to 10:20 p.m. Saturday. Transfer points to the regular fixed route are Max Square and Rive1ia Activity Center. Additionally, Community Connection 'vill be supporting Senior Day at the fair Thursday by running a park-
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Issue 136 4 sections, 50 pages La Grande, Oregon
since then. "If you're looking just at Union County, we're coming out ofit (the recession) really slowly. The job count numbers have shown slight improvement and the unemployment numbers steady improvement," Jason Yohannan,thedepartinenfs regional economist, said. For June of this year, Union County's non-farm labor force numbered 10,000, up 150 from May. The job count number has been below 10,000 for most of the recession, though Yohannan said it's touclled that benchmark a couple of times
Fair's carnival opens today
Brad Mosher /The Observer
Bruce Brown of Chehalis, Wash., assembles the Yo-Yo carnival ride at the Union County Fairgrounds. Rides open today at 2 p.m .
and-ride shuttle to the senior breakfast. A bus will depart the Senior Center at 7:55 and 8:45 a.m. The bus leaves the fair grounds for the senior center at 9 and 10 a.m. See Bus I Page 2A
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