News Roundup July 14-20, 2016

News Roundup July 14-20, 2016 — 10 News Stories in 6 Minutes 57 Seconds

In the news today:
Crazy Days
Kill The Deer? No.
Old Fire Museum, New Brewpub
Upcoming Events
Local Sports

Hey La Grande Alive! This is Will Bowman and I’m feelin’ in an Irish mood today! This roundup
is brought to you by Grande Ronde Hospital and Anything2Digital.com

Crazy Days is upon us! If you don’t know what Crazy Days is, well, you’re a terrible person Just kidding. In all seriousness, it’s a day­long celebration full of slick cars, Soapbox derbies, vendors peddling, face­painting, sprinkler spraying, plack­giving and other small­town rambunctiousness that’s put on by La Grande Main Street every year. And it’s coming up on Saturday. Last year LaGrande Alive filmed the event and this year we’re streaming much of it on Facebook and our homepage.

The festivities will begin with breakfast at the Cove fire station: pancakes, eggs, sausage, fruit, milk, the works. 5 bucks for that.
Concurrent with that, at 7:00 am there is a “fun run”, which I, Will Bowman, will be running in. The race is put on by the LHS track and field and cross country teams and earlier this week, I had Sean Crow, assistant coach for the teams, come in and chat with me.

Coffee With Will and Sean Crow Video

I’ve found a kindred spirit in Sean Crow–he likes exercise, writing, and, like me, once he gets started with coffee he just can’t stop. We chatted for almost an hour yesterday about running, writing, the LHS cross country, track and field teams, and the Crazy Days fun run coming up on Saturday. There will be a 5k and a 10k. Registration starts at 7 am, 10k at 8, and 5k at 9:30. I’m going to run it and you should too, if you’re a runner, that is. And also, Sean, I had a fantastic time. Keep writing and investing in those high school kids!

Registration starts at 7:00 am. There will be a 5k and a 10k. The race will start at the shortstop on Geckler and 12th. And what the rest of Crazy Days looks like is this: an antique car show on Adams avenue from 9 am to 3pm. A soapbox box­car derby race on 2nd and Spring at 3:15 pm that we will stream. Then, finally, the cars will drive off into the sunset during the Cruise for Cash at 7:00 pm that evening, which we will also stream. So whether you’re gonna come run with me in the Fun Run, run through the fire ­department sprinklers on Adams, shop, or just drool over the cars, get out of the house this Saturday and so something. Seriously. This is small­ town Oregon. Get out and enjoy it. And for those of you who have attended in years past, please let us know about your favorite Crazy Days story or event in the comments below.

They are not going to kill the deer! Yay!

Or, well, they’re not going to kill the deer, I mean. This is a newscast so I should probably be a little bit more objective. A Union council voted this last week, after much deliberation, not to hire a Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife hunter to come in and exterminate a portion of the local deer population. Okay, if you’re not up to date on this story here it is: Union, for the last several months, has been embroiled in deliberation about what to do about the local deer problem. So what’s the problem? Well, some Union residents think that the many, many deer in the town are a nuisance: they’re a danger to drivers, they have harmed pets and eaten up gardens. And the proposed means of dealing with these extra deer was to, well, kill some of them. Or hire someone to do it, rather. But this week, the council responsible for the issue finally voted: 3­2 against, the final verdict. There were many reasons cited for the negative vote, including that the lethal means was too severe and that many Union residents think the deer are actually very cute. But whatever the case, the deer live to graze another day, and the Union residents are left to continue to ponder the question: what to do about the deer? A committee has been formed and will be required to give a proposal two months down the road. But what do you think LaGrandeAlive? What’s another way of dealing with the deer, other than killing them, that is? What kind of plan could Union implement to minimize the deer problems? Respond in the comments below.

Old Fire Museum, New Brewpub

So, how many of you have ever been into the Eastern Oregon Fire Museum? Me either. But I’ve wanted to! For a really long time. The fire museum is actually on Jefferson and Elm street in downtown La Grande, and it was a small­ town museum that housed old ­time fire equipment to be viewed by ­appointment by anyone interested. But not any more. Apparently three entrepreneurs are opening a brewpub in the same space now occupied by the museum. But businesses, at least in this case, are like friends: silver and gold, make new ones but keep the old. Why compromise when you can have your beer and drink it in the museum too? The new brewpub will include the museum, and you can drink your beer while walking around and looking at the fire poles, plaques, and other elements of local firefighting history. They are even naming the brewery “Side­ A Brewing” after the front side of the building that firefighters used to refer to as the side ­a. This is very cool. So for those of you who, like me, have always wanted to look inside the museum, rejoice: not only will you be able to do so within the year, but you’ll be able to do it with a nice stout, cider, or plate of food in your hand while you do it. That’s what I like to see, local business. That’s what I like to see.

Upcoming Events

So, what’s going on this week in the valley? Well, as I’ve already talked about, Crazy Days is this Friday and Saturday. Also this Saturday, La Grande United Methodist church is selling a bunch of refurbished stuff from 9am to 4pm. They’re also selling beverages and cinnamon rolls, which I hope are not also refurbished. Also, next Monday, (I had to throw this in here) La Grande Ukulele players of all skill levels are invited to meet at La Fiesta Restaurant from 7 to 8:30 pm. Next Tuesday there will be a Wine and Paint night fundraiser at the Local Harvest Eatery and Pub for Jenny’s Heart with Art. And next Wednesday at 7pm­­for all you rockers out there ­­Pigs on the Wing­­a Pink Floyd tribute band­­ will play at Eastern Oregon University. Tickets are 15 bucks and available only online at brownpperticket.com.

Local Sports

In sports, Isaac Updike, an ex­ EOU track and field racer, missed heading to Rio De Janeiro by just one race, finishing 12th last Friday in his final run to qualify for the Olympics. He ran the 3000m steeplechase in 8:42.92, which is still a whole heck of a lot better than any of us can do. Good job Isaac. Don’t beat yourself up too much. You’ve raised the bar for La Grande and we’re super proud of you, even though you didn’t quite make it. Also, EOU men’s soccer is gearing up for the season. The coach just released several more picks for this year’s team. To see those picks and for more information, visit the EOU sports site at www.eousports.com

Local Sports

In local sports, the 14u USA Explosion did pretty well at the Oregon ASA state tournament in Beaverton last weekend. Game one they lost again against the NW Bullets . The final score was 8­7. After that, they won three: 9­1 against the Oregon TItans, 14­5 against the Rip City Riptide, and 9­0 against the Capital City Crush. They finally lost one more time 5­4 to the Oregon City Nightmare. finishing the tournament 3 and 2 in the fourth bracket.

In American Legion Baseball, the 16­U La Grande Legacy Ford Legends won two this weekend, beating Walla Wall 12­2 and Pendleton 6­0. And lastly, twelve golfers and 11 track and field athletes from Union County placed at the 2015 Special Olympics this weekend.

For more information on these stories and plenty of others, please check out the Observer paper. Seriously, they have much more information and cover these stories much better than we do.

This news roundup is brought to you by Grande Ronde Hospital and Anything2Digital.com