HIGH SCHOOL CROSS COUNTRY INSPORTS, 1C
AMANDAWELCH SETTO COMPLETE LONG-TIME DREAM OF COMPETING FOR HERFATHERAT EASTERN OREGON UNIVERSITY IN NATION 5.WORLD, 8A IN LOCAL,2A
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V • Market Place Family Foods project not set to start until all funding is secured By Kelly Ducote The Observer
La Grande residents shouldn't expect to see any major changes to the building that once housed Blockbuster until after winter.
A lot of work remains before Market Place Family Foods, set to open on the corner of Adams Avenue and Fourth Street, comes to fruition. Grocer Troy Berglund in August got approval from the La Grande Urban Renewal Agency for a $500,000 loan, which can convert to a grantifthestore me ets criteria outlined in a written agreement with the URA. Since then, the contract has been executed and signed by all involved parties. Berglund said he is still waiting to hear back on a Small Business Administration loan. After giving a presentation to SBA representatives in Portland, Ber-
glundsaidhe gota positiveresponse. 'They were real excited about the project after we laid it out," said Berglund, who owns and operates Mt. Joseph Family Foods in Wallowa County. He hopes to get something in writing from the SBA within the next 60 days. "As far as my end of it, there's no roadblocks in the way," Berglund said."There haven't been any major hangups with it, and we are proceeding forward." A site plan was conditionally approved over the summer. Two issues hanging overthatprocesswere sorted outby the La Grande Parking, Traffic Safety and Street Maintenance Commission. Those issues, regarding a busstop location and truckdelivery,w ere approved by the PTSSMC last month. "Both of those were items that the city m anager comfortably approved,"said Mike Boquist, La Grande city planner. Berglund said he is waiting to secure the last piece of funding before he moves forwardon the project. cWe're not going to start anything on the project until we get SBA approval," he said. The entire project must SeeProject / Page 5A
• Lottery measures would divert more money to Oregon counties, veterans'services By Taylor W. Anderson WesCom News Service
Election season just ended, but another apparently has begun. Two initiatives that would change how Oregon Lottery profits are divided have surfaced,paving an early path toward the 2016 election. One proposal would give half of the state's lottery profits, the second-biggest revenue stream, directly to counties, which one lawmaker says would make it"pretty much impossible" to fund public education in Oregon. ClifFThomason, a Grants Pass real estate agent, announced last week he's collecting signatures for an initiative that would give half the state lottery's profits directly to counties, where he says officials are more in tune with local needs. 'There'sa lotofw aste on the state level with the lottery," Thomason said."So when you see that and you realize we could do better locally, we thought it would be important to put something forward." Rep. Peter Buckley, who sits on the state's budget-writ ing committee, said theproposal SeeCycle / Page 5A
Courtesy photo
Two collared wolves from Wallowa County are traveling together between the Catherine Creek and Keating wildlife units.
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Two collared wolves pair up Cherise Kaechele/The Observer
REAL PEOPLE
Arnson is La Grande's own man of steel • Going to movie introduces National Guardsman to possibility ofbending steel By Jeff Petersen The Observer
M ost people seenoneed to bend horseshoes or twist spikes into fishing hooks for
INDEX Classified.......4B Home.............1B Comics...........3B Horoscope.....5B Community...6A Letters............4A Crossvvord.....5B Lottery............2A Dear Abby .....SB Obituaries......3A
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By Katy Nesbitt verylargefish.To teardecksofplaying cards in half or turn pieces of metal into sculptures with their bare hands Alan Arnson is not most people. The 33-year-old La Grande man, a stafF sergeant for the Army National Guard, a 5-foot-11, 220-pound strong man with two tours to Iraq under his belt, also plays piano and guitar. WE A T H E R
Opinion..........4A Record ...........3A Spo rts ............ 1 C State...............7A Sudoku ..........3B
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• Wallowa County More info The male/ wolves calling female pair Catherine Creek, are both 2 years old, but Keating areas home they have
And he loves film. Last February, he saw a preview for a movie,"Bending Steel," to be shown on the opening night of the Eastern Oregon Film Festival. He was intrigued, and so he went to the film on the festival's opening night. "It was an underdog story. The guy, Chris SeeArnson / Page 5A
Fu l l forecast on the back of B section
Tonight
Tuesday
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Morning fog and cold
Two Wallowa County wolvesfrom different packs are making the Keating and Catherine Creek wildlife units home, creating a new area of known wolf activity. According to their collar SeeWolves / Page 5A
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Issue 138 3 sections, 20 pages La Grande, Oregon
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not been together long enoughto have bred, said Russ Morgan, the state's wolf biologist.
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