warming shelter, zion lutheran, shelter, winter, eastern oregon university, shakespeare la grande ==================== Category: Newsish Youtube link: https://youtu.be/2y6CazftSxo
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Hi La Grande Alive. In the news today, La Grande gets a warming center, EOU gets a high honor, and Shakespeare gets an encore, only on your weekly Newsish…
La Grande gets a warming center
It’s cold outside, La Grande Alive. It’s the time of year for extra layers, starting your car an hour earlier, and spending your nights curled up in a blanket binge watching your favorite Netflix original TV series.
But not everyone has these luxuries. Though we may not see it, homelessness is a real problem right here in La Grande, even when it’s this cold. And with the weather like it is, a group of concerned citizens have started a warming shelter at Zion Lutheran church for people who don’t have someplace to cuddle up at night.
The warming center is open every night from 7pm to 7am at Zion Lutheran Church. There’s a warm place to stay, some basic food and hygiene necessities, plus the pleasure of good conversation and some late-night camaraderie people wouldn’t get sleeping on the streets. They also have clothes washing vouchers plus ways people can take a hot shower.
Now, Cami Miller is the brains behind the operation. And coming herself from a past of poverty and addiction, she said that now that she’s out of that place she has a heart for people who are just down on their luck.
Now, you might be saying, stop enabling these people! A little cold will do them good! Get them inspired to get a job, or something like that. And while it is true that sometimes a few uncomfortable nights is what is needed to get people moving, recent studies, said Jen Goodman, have shown that, actually, a warm bed might be all the difference in getting someone back on their feet.
Now, if you’re interested in learning more about the warming station, contact the Union County Local Community Advisory Council or Zion Lutheran Church. If you need a place to stay for the night, show up at the church at 7pm (and no earlier!).
Like this story? Share it along and get entered into our February drawing for a $20 Le Bebe Cakes Bakery gift card.
This video was brought to you by Northwest Furniture and Mattress, Grande Ronde Hospital, EONI, Anything2Digital.com and Les Schwab Tires
EOU gets a high honor
Breaking news! EOU is named “Oregon’s Rural University” in Salem last week. This is a high honor and allows access to a great level of prestige. Also, the Daddy daughter dance was held at the Blue Mountain Conference center this last weekend. 250 attendees included old, stale dads with absolutely no dance moves and adorable young ladies on their arms. It’s a wonder they let hairy, ugly creatures like us produce such adorable offspring? Oh, and also, this just in, Bobby Kavanaugh is still a little weird.
This has been your breaking news highlight reel brought to you by…
Do you like shakespeare?
Will doing really bad shakespeare — Shut up!
Well, if you don’t, you might actually like Shakespeare as portrayed by Kenn Wheeler and Sam Shown. These two along with their small crew of about four or five are taking The Complete Works Of William Shakespeare Abridged on tour and it’s a romp, they said, perfect for those people who may not enjoy Shakespeare that much otherwise.
The Complete Works of William Shakespeare is a play that makes all of shakespeare’s plays funny. The play references every Shakespeare play and it goofs off with all of them. There’s men playing women, Hamlet as kind of a funny guy, plus a bunch of other comedic elements that bring all the Bard’s works together in laughter.
The play was first performed by Kenn and Sam last year at Eastern Oregon University and people loved it. And so they decided to take it on the road to many of the high schools around Eastern Oregon.
But now they need a little bit of extra money to keep it on the road. So this weekend they’re having a single encore performance, Saturday at 7pm in the Mackenzie Theatre, in La Grande to raise money for the tour. The show is six bucks, so if you didn’t get to see it last year when they performed it, you can certainly see it this year and for cheap too!
Like this story? Be sure to share it along and get entered in our February drawing for a Le Bebe Cakes gift certificate!
This video was brought to you by Northwest Furniture and Mattress, Grande Ronde Hospital, EONI, Anything2Digital.com and Les Schwab Tires
And that’s your weekly Newsish Roundup! Shelters, Dances, and Shakespeares, can’t get a better news program than that. One more big shout out to our sponsors.
Be sure to like and share the video and tune into La Grande Alive for more local content. I’m Will Bowman.
Eastern Oregon University, Shelter from the storm, domestic violence, theatre, la grande eastern oregon ==================== Category: Newsish Youtube link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iA-NCTjBj4o
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You love your family, don’t you?
Yes, we love each other.
Family can be… difficult, to say the least. And an upcoming show at Eastern Oregon University addresses exactly this difficulty. Independence is a story about three sisters Kerry, Jo, and Kess who return to their hometown Independence for a sort of family reunion with their mom Evelyn. But instead of the typical everyone is happy and the family comes back together in the end story, it’s not quite that simple. Sometimes in order to grow you have to move on. And this play is about the daughters realization that they too need to leave to find themselves.
This play is Cassandra’s senior play at Eastern Oregon University. And she’s loved the play since she originally read it years ago, she said. Even then she knew she wanted to direct it. And now, several years later, she’s getting the opportunity to do just that.
The play is a great play, Cassandra said, for people who have ever had trouble with family or have felt the need for independence. The play is showing in the Schwartz Theatre February 8 to 10 at 7pm. The play is not kid friendly, said Cassandra, but for everyone else she’s excited for them to see this play they’ve worked so hard on.
Like this story? Share it along and get entered into our February drawing for a $20 Gift card to Le Bebe Cakes Bakery. And speaking of Gift cards, congratulations to Samantha Ragsdale, our winner of January’s drawing. You can pick your gift card up at the studio.
This story was brought to you by…. Northwest Furniture and Mattress, Grande Ronde Hospital, EONI, Anything2Digital.com and Les Schwab Tires
Did you know that 1 in 3 women experience sexual abuse or domestic violence in their lifetime? Did you know that 1 in seven men do? Sexual assault and domestic violence are rampant in the United States. And denying that is like denying short people exist.
You know, I just really don’t see them.
Domestic and sexual problems are real problems, according to Heather Larvik, the director of Shelter From The Storm here in La Grande. And every year the shelter helps dozens of people affected by this issue.
Shelter from the storm started in the house of a single woman who set her mind to help victims of domestic violence she saw right around her. And since it’s grown into the multiple-county service and activism organization that helps hundreds of victims a year. But they don’t do it on peanuts and gum wrappers. Helping people affected by sexual and domestic violence costs cold, hard cash. And that’s why every year the shelter hosts a soup supper to raise money to help them to serve victims right here in the valley.
The soup supper is happening Saturday February 24. And the fun part about the supper is that everyone who purchases a ticket comes home with a custom, one-of-a-kind handmade bowl from a local artist. At the event, there’s going to be, well, soup, plus a silent auction of local art people can bid on. All money goes directly to helping victims. So if you’re interested in supporting the shelter, head out to their headquarters off Island Avenue and grab a ticket. But don’t wait! There’s 200 tickets, and every year the tickets sell out!
Like this story? Be sure to share it along and get entered into our February drawing for a $20 Le Bebe Cakes Bakery gift card!
This story was brought to you by…
Northwest Furniture and Mattress, Grande Ronde Hospital, EONI, Anything2Digital.com and Les Schwab Tires
And that’s your weekly Newsish Roundup, everyone! We really appreciate you watching. Be sure to thank our sponsors if you see them.
Please, like and share the video and tune into La Grande Alive for more content. I’m Will Bowman.
Eagle Cap Extreme, sled dog racing, la grande, wallowa, joseph oregon, eastern oregon university, michelle benton, billy boyd ==================== Category: Newsish La Grande Alive Youtube link: ——————————————
Helloooooo La Grande Alive! This is your weekly Newsish Roundup brought to you by these, our sponsors!
Michelle Burton and Billy Boyd are a pair of professional choreographers who have been performing and coreographing together for, well, pretty much forever. And for the month or so, they’ve been working with students at Eastern Oregon University to put together the upcoming performance “Life is a Highway”, a group of performances all oriented around travel.
Now these two aren’t small potatoes. And what I mean by that is these guys are the real deal. They’ve been working in the industry for a long time. They’ve performed at Disney Hall and the Ford Amphitheater. They’ve worked with a lot of big names in the performance industry. They’ve worked in Africa to create a social theatre at a local AIDS orphanage. Like I said, not small potatoes. And so when I talked to them naturally I asked them, why the heck come here?
Now, they have been working with the students for about two weeks now. And they said one of the biggest joys they’ve had is watching the students step up to the plate for challenging numbers. Because this play is broad! It’s going to have pieces from everything from the title piece Life is a Highway to Hamilton the Musical. It’s difficult performance, but that hasn’t stopped the students from taking the bull by the horns and throwing themselves into it. And what it’s resulted in is a performance for everyone!
The performances are the weekend of February 3rd. Ticket information and performance times can be found on EOU’s website.
Like this story? Be sure to share it along and get entered into La Grande Alive’s monthly drawing for a $20 dollar gift certificate to Marketplace Family Foods!
This video was brought to you by Northwest Furniture and Mattress, Grande Ronde Hospital, EONI, Anything2Digital.com and Les Schwab Tires
Did you know that Eastern Oregon has sled dog racing?
I didn’t know that!
Well, we do! Every year in January the Eagle Cap Extreme sled-dog race brings between two and four hundred people to Ferguson Ridge Ski Area for a series of sled dog races right here in Eastern Oregon. There’s 4 races: the 200 mile, the one hundred mile, the sixty two mile, and the 21 mile junior race. Every year the sled dogs congregate in a great mass of snow and dogs barking and yowling to be let off the leash to pull and run. Most athletes know the feeling: they want to run.
And then when noon rolls around, Everyone gathers around, boom! The mushers yell and the dogs pull and off the teams are gone, some for multiple days.
Now, this year, according to their website, the race winners were Miriam Osredkar for the 200 mile, Trevor Warren for the 100 mile race, and Jane Devlin for the 2 day 62 mile race. The winner of the 200 mile race finished the race in 32 hours and about 45 minutes. That’s 32 hours in the cold, wet Eagle Caps with nothing but dogs and your thoughts. I would probably go insane.
So if this interests you, next year be sure to head out to Ferguson Ridge ski area just outside of Joseph Oregon for the Eagle Cap Extreme, 2019! Also, be sure to share this video along to be entered into our January drawing for a $20 Marketplace family foods gift certificate.
This video was brought to you by Northwest Furniture and Mattress, Grande Ronde Hospital, EONI, Anything2Digital.com and Les Schwab Tires
And that’s your weekly doggie roundup! Newsish roundup, I mean… One more big shout out to our sponsors.
Be sure to share this video and tune in to La Grande Alivefor more local content. I’m Will Bowman.
Check out your weekly Newsish Roundup for January 4-11, 2018
In the news today:
Marketplace Family Foods Customer Appreciation
Friends of Scouting Breakfast
This video was brought to you by Northwest Furniture and Mattress, Grande Ronde Hospital, EONI, Anything2Digital.com and Les Schwab Tires.
For more local content, visit our website at http://lagrandealive.tv! Boy scouts, marketplace family foods, la grande, eastern oregon ==================== Category: Newsish La Grande Alive Youtube Channel: ——————————————
Hey La Grande Alive! This week’s Newsish Roundup is all about food!
We love food too, Will
Me too, little shoulder me’s. Me too.
Marketplace Family Foods is holding a customer appreciation day to, well, appreciate their customers. Marketplace Family Foods is a small-town local grocery store on the end of Adams Avenue. They have groceries, local cut and smoked meats, plus a cute little bistro and a little-known rooftop patio on which you can sit and sip on a local brew and look out at Mt. Emily in her winter coat.
Eh, maybe you should wait to eat outside until summer. And this week I got a chance to sit down with Dion, the grocery manager and brains behind the customer appreciation day, and chat with him about what, exactly, the Marketplace has to offer their customers.
Now, Marketplace is going to be making some changes here in the new future. Instead of being your general run-of-the-mill grocery store, they’re going to start providing specialty items. Items that other stores in the area might not have. Right now they have specialty meats and cheeses. They also have local crafted beer. And who knows what else in the future? The bottom line, Dion said, is that what you, the customer want, they’ll get.
Now the customer appreciation day is two weeks from now on Wednesday the 31st of January. They’re going to have tours of the store plus deals on new items from new brands including Wild Harvest and Everyday Essentials. They’re also bringing back the famous Bistro Burger!And for all of you non-vegetarians out there, that’s a big deal! So if you’re out and about shopping two Wednesdays from now, be sure to head on into Marketplace Family Foods on the End of Adams Avenue and get appreciated.
And speaking of being appreciated, be sure to share along this video and get entered into our January drawing for Marketplace Family Foods $20 gift card.
This video was brought to you by Northwest Furniture and Mattress, Grande Ronde Hospital, EONI, Anything2Digital.com and Les Schwab Tires
What’s the one reason to get up in the morning at 6am? Breakfast.
Well, good news, soon-to-be-egregiously fat Will. On February 7th you can have both. The annual Friends of Scouting Breakfast is happening next month at 6:30 am at the Presbyterian Friendship Center and the breakfast is going to be fantastic. Think eggs Benedict and fresh-cut fruit and other sides provided by our own local taste-expert Merlyn’s Catering.
But there’s more about this breakfast than just the food. The Friends of Scouting Breakfast is an annual honoring of the scouts and their mission which is, according to Eric Valentine, to help young men to develop into virtuous and competent leaders and citizens that make this nation great. And there’s not another organization like it, he said. Every year at the breakfast the scouts honor their Eagle Scouts plus an adult scout who has been a great help over the year. And all the proceeds of this event go to the Blue Mountain Council without which the scouts couldn’t function in eastern Oregon. Now, like I said, the breakfast is at 6:30 ambut Eric Valentine said that the breakfast will be “invigorating.” But I wonder, what happens when already energy-filled Will eats an invigorating breakfast?
Like this story? Share it along to get entered in our monthly drawing for a $20 Marketplace Family Foods gift card.
This video was brought to you by Northwest Furniture and Mattress, Grande Ronde Hospital, EONI, Anything2Digital.com and Les Schwab Tires
And that’s your weekly Newsish Roundup! This food-filled Newsish Roundup was brought to you by..
Be sure to like and share the video and tune into La Grande Alive for more local content. I’m Will Bowman.
Welcome to this shared meditation, the Newsish Roundup, brought to you by these, our sponsors.
Have you ever wondered, why am I here? What’s my purpose? How do I fit in with, well, everything? Well, if you said no, you’re lying. Or your just a really shallow person. But if you said yes, you might be interested in spiritual direction. What’s spiritual direction, Will? Well, according to two spiritual directors I talked to this week, spiritual direction is really just helping someone find God inside themselves.
Now, I know, God is a really loaded term. People might mean a hundred things when they say God from the great and powerful Yaweh to Dwayne the Rock Johnson with his shirt off. But what God really means, according to Laura, is cosmic meaning, the ultimate “why”. And that meaning, said pastor Colleen, is really to be found inside yourself.
Now spiritual directors are not councillors: they’re not giving advice or tools for fixing your family drama or anxiety problem. They’re also not preachers: telling you everything you need to know about god in a nice 5-point sermon.
GOD HATES YOU! Cue the music!
Jesus loves you!!!
Amen! Amen!
Instead, spiritual directors are really friends, Colleen said, equals, people walking with you and helping you to find god inside yourself rather than telling you how to find it.
Now that all being said, this weekend the directors are having what’s called a “labyrinth”. A labyrinth is a circular walking path at a particular location on which you walk while meditating. The path is a circle, symbolizing the journey into your deepest spiritual self. Then, afterwards, you return to the outside of the circle and use any knowledge you gained in making decisions in right here in this world outside yourself.
So maybe you’re contemplating whether you should change your job. Maybe you’re asking what your purpose is in life. Maybe you just want to be a little bit more spiritual. If so, the labyrinth is this Saturday from 9 am to 2 pm at the Presbyterian Friendship Center in La Grande and you should check it out.
Like this story? Share it along and get entered in a drawing for a free 20 dollar Marketplace Family Foods gift card!
This story was brought to you by…Northwest Furniture and Mattress, Grande Ronde Hospital, EONI, Anything2Digital.com and Les Schwab Tires
Do you believe that health is a human right?
Well, a group of La Grande residents who does is advocating locally for a universal healthcare bill to be on the state ballot in 2020. This month Oregon Rural Action will approach both the La Grande city council and the Union County commissioners and lobby for a state ballot for universal healthcare in 2020. Their goal is to get the vote on the ballot, said Bill Whitaker, one of the members, and they’re not the only ones in the state vying for this bill.
The La Grande group is attached to the state-wide organization Health Care For All Oregon, a group that believes that healthcare should be a human right. And society should provide for basic human rights, right?
But who decides what basic human rights are, you might be asking. If I have a right to healthcare, do I have a right to other things as well?
I propose with this here bill that all humans have a right to… popsicles! All in favor? All opposed.
But… What, you don’t like ***** popsicles??
Now, I think most people agree that it’s not the responsibility of the government to provide for people’s popsicles. But when we’re talking about health the question gets dicier. Health is related to survival. And survival is related to people pursuing their hopes and dreams, a right even our own constitution says that we all have. Besides, Bill said, our medical system is broken and with more government healthcare more money goes to actually giving people care
Now, if you agree with this, you should get in contact with Oregon Rural Action, Bill said. They’re going to continue to lobby for this bill, he said, until 2020 at the next presidential election. They can be reached at this number or on their website. But whether you agree with this statement or not, you should comment on this video and let us know your thoughts on the subject.
And remember, share this video and get entered into our monthly drawing for a $20 gift certificate to Marketplace Family Foods.
This story was brought to you by…Northwest Furniture and Mattress, Grande Ronde Hospital, EONI, Anything2Digital.com and Les Schwab Tires
And that’s your weekly Newsish Roundup! One more big shout out to our sponsors.
Be sure to like and share the video and tune into La Grande Alive TV for more local content. I’m Will Bowman.
NEW YEARS, BLOCK PARTY, LA GRANDE, SAFETY, SAFEHOME
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Category: Newsish Youtube link:
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Your weekly Newsish Roundup for Dec 29 – January 4
Happy birthday Jesus and Happy Almost-New Year La Grande Alive! Get out your bottle rockets and resolution pads, it’s your weekly Newsish Roundup brought to you by these guys!
Northwest Furniture and Mattress, Grande Ronde Hospital, EONI, Anything2Digital.com, and Les Schwab Tires
If you’re like me and New Years Eve means Baileys and a good book, don’t be. Get out of your house and head down to the La Grande New Years Eve block party this Sunday on Adams Avenue at starting at 10 pm. There’s going to be burn barrels, a scavenger hunt in local businesses, plus a big-old ball drop with the chiming in of the new year. Now I talked to Ashley O’Toole, the coordinator of the event, and he said it’s important everyone get to events like this because it’s an opportunity for, and I quote, raging liberal snowflakes and die-hard conservatives to get together and be at peace. Also, first place prize for the scavenger hunt is a hundred big ones (a hundred big ones?) a hundred big ones, La Grande Alive. And second place is fifty. The scavenger hunt begins at at the Chamber of Commerce and, just a heads up, the signature of a “local celebrity” is going to be on the list so you might just want to keep an eye out for this bearded Facebook face.
When things aren’t blowing up and people aren’t getting robbed, La Grande feels like a pretty safe city, right? Well actually, La Grande recently won an award for being the 3rd safest city in Oregon. According to a study put on by SafeHome, a security company, we’re the third safest city behind Pendleton and Newburg-Dundee. Now what does that even mean, you might be asking. Well, I talked with Lt. Gary Bell of the LG police department and he said, in his opinion, a safe town is when the people feel safe. And La Grande feels pretty safe, he said, except for all the falling icicles. The reason, he said, that crime like the recent robbery string surprises us (gasp!) is because our town does feel safe normally. And how do we keep LG feeling safe? Lt. Bell said get to know your neighbor!
Getting to know your neighbors is actually one of the best ways to keep your city safe. It familiarizes you with who is familiar and who’s unfamiliar, giving you a safer feeling overall. So get off Facebook, La Grande Alive, and go and introduce yourself to that weird old guy that shovels your side walk sometime. Didn’t you watch Home Alone this Christmas? Odds are he’s probably not a murderer and you might just be contributing to La Grande’s place as third-safest city in Oregon.
And one last update, according to the Observer Newspaper, the lack of parking problem at Central School has been solved. How? They’re gonna tear down the high school tennis courts and build more parking there.
But I love tennis, Will! Eeh!
That’s okay creepy ski goggles man. They’re rebuilding the tennis courts in the place where the old central school was located. Once they get rid of all the asbestos, that is. Also a fact provided by the Observer Newspaper. La Grande Alive will have more on this story as it develops.
That’s it guys! Your weekly New-Years-Newsish roundup all done and wrapped up like a late Christmas present, which I’m sure a few of you have. One more big shout out to our sponsors.
Be sure to like and share the video and tune into La Grande Alive for more local content. I’m WIll Bowman.
It’s cold outside, La Grande Alive. It’s the time of year for extra layers, starting your car an hour earlier, and spending your nights curled up in a blanket binge watching your favorite Netflix original TV series.
Now, Cami Miller is the brains behind the operation. And coming herself from a past of poverty and addiction, she said that now that she’s out of that place she has a heart for people who are just down on their luck.
Well, if you don’t, you might actually like Shakespeare as portrayed by Kenn Wheeler and Sam Shown. These two along with their small crew of about four or five are taking The Complete Works Of William Shakespeare Abridged on tour and it’s a romp, they said, perfect for those people who may not enjoy Shakespeare that much otherwise.
The play was first performed by Kenn and Sam last year at Eastern Oregon University and people loved it. And so they decided to take it on the road to many of the high schools around Eastern Oregon.
Family can be… difficult, to say the least. And an upcoming show at Eastern Oregon University addresses exactly this difficulty. Independence is a story about three sisters Kerry, Jo, and Kess who return to their hometown Independence for a sort of family reunion with their mom Evelyn. But instead of the typical everyone is happy and the family comes back together in the end story, it’s not quite that simple. Sometimes in order to grow you have to move on. And this play is about the daughters realization that they too need to leave to find themselves.
Did you know that 1 in 3 women experience sexual abuse or domestic violence in their lifetime? Did you know that 1 in seven men do? Sexual assault and domestic violence are rampant in the United States. And denying that is like denying short people exist.
And that’s your weekly Newsish Roundup, everyone! We really appreciate you watching. Be sure to thank our sponsors if you see them.
Michelle Burton and Billy Boyd are a pair of professional choreographers who have been performing and coreographing together for, well, pretty much forever. And for the month or so, they’ve been working with students at Eastern Oregon University to put together the upcoming performance “Life is a Highway”, a group of performances all oriented around travel. 
Well, we do! Every year in January the Eagle Cap Extreme sled-dog race brings between two and four hundred people to Ferguson Ridge Ski Area for a series of sled dog races right here in Eastern Oregon. There’s 4 races: the 200 mile, the one hundred mile, the sixty two mile, and the 21 mile junior race. Every year the sled dogs congregate in a great mass of snow and dogs barking and yowling to be let off the leash to pull and run. Most athletes know the feeling: they want to
Marketplace Family Foods is holding a customer appreciation day to, well, appreciate their customers. Marketplace Family Foods is a small-town local grocery store on the end of Adams Avenue. They have groceries, local cut and smoked meats, plus a cute little bistro and a little-known rooftop patio on which you can sit and sip on a local brew and look out at Mt. Emily in her winter coat.
Well, good news, soon-to-be-egregiously fat Will. On February 7th you can have both. The annual Friends of Scouting Breakfast is happening next month at 6:30 am at the Presbyterian Friendship Center and the breakfast is going to be fantastic. Think eggs Benedict and fresh-cut fruit and other sides provided by our own local taste-expert Merlyn’s Catering. 
Have you ever wondered, why am I here? What’s my purpose? How do I fit in with, well, everything? Well, if you said no, you’re lying. Or your just a really shallow person. But if you said yes, you might be interested in spiritual direction. What’s spiritual direction, Will? Well, according to two spiritual directors I talked to this week, spiritual direction is really just helping someone find God inside themselves. 
Instead, spiritual directors are really friends, Colleen said, equals, people walking with you and helping you to find god inside yourself rather than telling you how to find it. 
Well, a group of La Grande residents who does is advocating locally for a universal healthcare bill to be on the state ballot in 2020. This month Oregon Rural Action will approach both the La Grande city council and the Union County commissioners and lobby for a state ballot for universal healthcare in 2020. Their goal is to get the vote on the ballot, said Bill Whitaker, one of the members, and they’re not the only ones in the state vying for this bill. 
If you’re like me and New Years Eve means Baileys and a good book, don’t be. Get out of your house and head down to the La Grande New Years Eve block party this Sunday on Adams Avenue at starting at 10 pm. There’s going to be burn barrels, a scavenger hunt in local businesses, plus a big-old ball drop with the chiming in of the new year. Now I talked to Ashley O’Toole, the coordinator of the event, and he said it’s important everyone get to events like this because it’s an opportunity for, and I quote, raging liberal snowflakes and die-hard conservatives to get together and be at peace. Also, first place prize for the scavenger hunt is a hundred big ones (a hundred big ones?) a hundred big ones, La Grande Alive. And second place is fifty. The scavenger hunt begins at at the Chamber of Commerce and, just a heads up, the signature of a “local celebrity” is going to be on the list so you might just want to keep an eye out for this bearded Facebook face.
When things aren’t blowing up and people aren’t getting robbed, La Grande feels like a pretty safe city, right? Well actually, La Grande recently won an award for being the 3rd safest city in Oregon. According to a study put on by SafeHome, a security company, we’re the third safest city behind Pendleton and Newburg-Dundee. Now what does that even mean, you might be asking. Well, I talked with Lt. Gary Bell of the LG police department and he said, in his opinion, a safe town is when the people feel safe. And La Grande feels pretty safe, he said, except for all the falling icicles. The reason, he said, that crime like the recent robbery string surprises us (gasp!) is because our town does feel safe normally. And how do we keep LG feeling safe? Lt. Bell said get to know your neighbor!
And one last update, according to the Observer Newspaper, the lack of parking problem at Central School has been solved. How? They’re gonna tear down the high school tennis courts and build more parking there.
