Eclipse, Powerline, BPA, Beer, Festival
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Hey La Grande Alive! This is your weekly newsish roundup, brought to you by Grande Ronde Hospital, Northwest Furniture and Mattress, Anything2Digital, and EONI!
Eclipse Earlier this week, according to NASA, almost 300 million people migrated globally to see, front and center, the full solar eclipse. And man, I gotta say, speaking as a person who saw it from Baker City in all its totality, it was mind-boggling. Here’s a couple images taken from across the United States. Here’s one from Greenville, South Carolina. Here’s Hopkinsville, South Carolina. And here’s one from Jefferson City Missouri. We also got video of the event from Baker City, OR.
And the event was just the beginning. Many people have spent all this week thinking about what, exactly, the eclipse really meant. One weird bearded guy wrote this in a poem about his experience with the eclipse.
You never understand the value of the light
until you’ve looked directly at the sun
and felt it covered up.
But not everyone is as weird as that guy. And I got the opportunity to walk around and talk to a bunch of normal La Grandians this week about their most memorable experience of the eclipse.
And what about you, La Grande Alive? What was your most memorable moment of the eclipse? Post in the comments and we’ll put your name into a drawing to appear on your own Coffee With Will to talk about you and your experience of the eclipse this year! I promise you, it’s easier than pie and a whole heck of a lot more tasty.
Brought to you By This title story was brought to you by…Grande Ronde Hospital, Northwest Furniture and Mattress, Anything2Digital, and EONI!
So Many Beers, So Little Time Beer! Everyone loves beer! Well, most people like beer. I’m not one of them, but many Oregonians are! And last weekend, just before the eclipse, La Grande hosted its fourth annual Beer Festival at the Union County fairgrounds. Hundreds of beer-lovers from all over Eastern Oregon mecca’d to this oasis of craft beer culture, music, food, and overall festivities to enjoy over 80 craft beers from Portland to Colorado here to be tasted, tried, and enjoyed.
B2H On Trial Last night about a hundred people gathered at the Blue Mountain Conference center to give their input into the B2H issue, yet again. After a long and somewhat tedious presentation about the appeal process things got a little spicy as people began to express their extreme distaste at not only the idea of the particular routes of the B2H power line but also the idea of a new power line in general!
People we’re very frustrated at the entire idea of a new power line and didn’t want it anywhere near La Grande. Plus, after that long an extremely technical speech about how to be involved in the appeal process nobody seemed to know exactly how they could best get involved! People yelled, people made passionate speeches and generally expressed frustrations. Even the county commissioners seemed frustrated at their seeming lack of power and options for their voices being really heard. But one voice, Irene with the STOP B2H commission, seemed to know what she was talking about and have an answer for how to help.
So bottom line, though the process is frustrating and complicated, if you have concerns about the B2H line contact Irene with the STOP B2H committee here in La Grande at this number (5418058446). La Grande Alive will have more on this story as it develops.
Outro And that’s your weekly Newsish Roundup! This roundup…Grande Ronde Hospital, Northwest Furniture and Mattress, Anything2Digital, and EONI!
Hey La Grande Alive! It’s your weekly Newsish Roundup brought to you by Grande Ronde Hospital, Northwest Furniture and Mattress, Anything2Digital, and EONI!
Cloverhaven Cowgirls And speaking of horses, there’s something about them. Something that makes you want to tell them all your problems, reveal all your deepest emotions. Something tender and sensitive yet, at the same time, quietly powerful. And this week I got the opportunity to visit the Cloverhaven Cowgirl Camp 2017 where every summer several groups of young ladies spend a whole week getting to know horses and enjoying the subtle therapy of these gentle giants.
But these horses aren’t all tears and ears. They’re also extremely powerful beasts and being around them, said Brittany, rubs off on the girls and, in a way, empowers them.
Now this year’s camps are done. Winter is coming and the open-air facilities they have are too cold to go all winter. But Brittany said that she’d love to have facilities for year-round camps. This is her passion, she said, and she said that, with more money, her dreams could become a reality. And she said that the upcoming Gala on the 16th of September is a perfect opportunity to give to this cause.
La Grande Alive will have more on this story in a couple weeks.
Brought to You By This title story was brought to you by…Northwest Furniture and Mattress, Grande Ronde Hospital, EONI and Anything2Digital.com
Eclipsed! Eclipsed! Next Monday, August 21st, the moon and sun are ready for their closeups. The eclipse is happening and here’s a couple tips on how you should prepare all courtesy of the Observer Newspaper.
Be prepared for inconveniences. Over three million people are slated to travel through this area this weekend. And where people go, inconveniences grow. So be prepared and maybe spend a little more time meditating this week to prepare your spirit for petty annoyances.
Stock up! Stock up on any necessities this week thursday and friday. Here’s the list: food, water, safety glasses, prescriptions and medicines and any special necessities for you. You won’t, I repeat, you won’t be able to drive very well to purchase things this weekend, especially the day before the eclipse. So buy it all now.
Don’t burn. There is a county-wide burn ban, people, so keep your matches in your pants and your lighters in your backpacks. The last three forest fires around here were human caused. And with all the people, we don’t want any flames spoiling the skies for our front-row seat of this thing.
For more information on the eclipse, be sure to check out the Observer story in their Monday newspaper. La Grande Alive will have a follow up next week.
Outtro Short Newsish this week, everyone! This roundup was brought to you by…Northwest Furniture and Mattress, Grande Ronde Hospital, EONI and Anything2Digital.com
But, soft! What light through yonder barn door breaks!
It is the Newsish Roundup, and I am the fool!
Arise fair fool and bring us the half-baked news,
Brought to you by sponsors such as these:
Northwest Furniture and Mattress,
Grande Ronde Hospital,
Anything2Digital,
And Eastern Oregon Network Inc.
It is the news, O, it is the news!
Theater Camp Parents, looking for somewhere to dump your kids during the week? Yes, yes, I know you would never think such a thing about your kids. But if do think such heinous thoughts, the Elgin Opera House is holding week-long summer camps which look like a stick and a bundle of fun for kiddos of every age. Every week close to a hundred kids descend on the Opera House to learn stage combat, dance, acting, and other theater activities. And Abagail Raasch, EOU student and assistant camp director, said that the most important thing the kids learn is how to make friends and be social which, let’s be real, some of us (big arrow pointing at will) had a lot of trouble with at that age.
And as you can see by this b-roll, this ain’t no chess-club: it’s a lot of fun. And having fun is important, said Abagail.
After the week of training, the kids take all of their new knowledge and get to participate in the Elgin Opera House production of Wizard of Oz. If you’re interested in signing up your kids for Theatre Camp at the Opera House, visit their website and give them a call. And be sure to head out to Wizard of Oz and Catch Me If You Can showing these next weekends at the opera house.
B2H On Trial Remember last week when I talked about B2H? Well, I got a couple things wrong and I want to correct them. I said it was B2H stood for Boise to Hermiston. Well, it doesn’t. It stands for Boardman to Hemingway. Also, I said the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission makes the final decision on where the line goes. Well, it’s actually the Energy Facilities Siding Council, or EFSC for short.
Now, that all being said, I got much of this information from having further conversations on the subject this week. After last week’s story, I got to sit down with, first, County Commissioner Donna Beverage, the third Union County commissioner, and, second, local attorney Brent Smith to talk about the legality of the issues. The conversation with Donna Beverage was short and to the point. She really had her ducks in a row and the bottom line of what we talked about was that the best way to get your concerns heard is to work with the county commissioners instead of against them.
I also got to talk to local attorney Brent Smith about the legality of the government taking private property. And interesting fact, the “eminent domain” laws are actually written into the constitution. What it says is, essentially, that the government can take private property for public use but only if they offer them fair compensation. So for those people (like me) who have a little inward cringe at the idea of government taking private land for public use, unfortunately, it’s been written right into our constitution since day one. But that’s okay, Brent said. The system that’s in place is actually really biased toward the private landowner and them getting solid payment for their condemned property. The best thing people in this situation can do, he says, is learn the system and use it to get what’s theirs.
The rest of these interviews, along with the Jack Howard and Steve McClure interviews, can be found in-full on La Grande Alive.
CHARM Grande Ronde Hospital is starting a new program for pregnant mothers struggling with alcohol and drugs. The CHARM program will help struggling mothers with services like access to safe housing, baby necessities, transportation, and registration assistance with other support services. It’s designed to help reduce the amount of fatalities and birth complications in mothers who struggle with drugs and alcohol. It was spearheaded by FBC Nurse Manager Jenny Gonzalez who said that she “experience(s) firsthand the heartbreak of newborns addicted to drug and alcohol as they suffer withdrawals and are discharged to a potentially unsafe home environment. We understand these mothers need help and we want to help them.” The program is not punitive and is more focused on helping the mothers and children than redressing the drug and alcohol problem and meting out consequences. It does, though, offer services to help the mother get sober.
Get Out and Go! And here’s your upcoming events with Emily Adair from Go! Magazine in Get Out and Go!
One other event coming up, Union County CASA is hosting a carnival the weekend of the 19th! Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASAs) are volunteers who are appointed to each child taken into state jurisdiction due to abuse and/or neglect. And CASA is holding a carnival to increase awareness of CASA and need for what they call “superheroes” to support the abused and neglected youth in our community. It’s scheduled for August 19, at Riverside Park in La Grande from 11:00 AM to 4:00 PM. So get on down and have some fun!
Joseph Marcell – (born August 18, 1948) is a Saint Lucian born British actor, best known for his role as Geoffrey the butler on the sitcom The Fresh Prince of Belair
Earlier this week, according to NASA, almost 300 million people migrated globally to see, front and center, the full solar eclipse. And man, I gotta say, speaking as a person who saw it from Baker City in all its totality, it was mind-boggling. Here’s a couple images taken from across the United States. Here’s one from Greenville, South Carolina. Here’s Hopkinsville, South Carolina. And here’s one from Jefferson City Missouri. We also got video of the event from Baker City, OR.
You never understand the value of the light
