WEDNESDAY, JUNE 17, 2020 | SILVERTONAPPEAL.COM
PART OF THE USA TODAY NETWORK
Dear graduates: Gov. Brown believes you can shape future
Editor’s note: Gov. Kate Brown is Oregon’s 38th gov-
ernor and the second woman elected to the position.
Her message of hope and inspiration is one of six being
published by the Statesman Journal in celebration of
the Class of 2020.
This is a hard letter to write. I wish I were standing
with you in person, watching you walk across the
stage.
I can’t imagine how disappointed you must feel —
missing the chance to celebrate with classmates,
teachers, friends, and family. Some of you are the first
in your family to graduate high school or college or
both. Some of you faced extraordinary barriers and
pushed through with resolve, grit, and determination.
Each of you had a different path to bring you to this
momentous occasion.
Missing out on a traditional gradua-
tion ceremony does not diminish the
magnitude of your accomplishments.
You did the work, met all the dead-
lines, turned in your papers, and passed
Brown
your exams. Today, we celebrate you
and everything you have achieved. To-
morrow you embark on a new path, a new adventure, a
new journey — one that you get to choose and map out
for yourself.
I know this is difficult. This pandemic has forced
people all over the world to change how we live. That
said, you have lived most of your lives between the 9/11
terrorist attacks, the Great Recession and this pan-
SILVERTON YOUTH
RALLY FOR JUSTICE
A youth group in Silverton organized a rally earlier this month in response to the death of
George Floyd at the hands of police. About 200 people joined the event, marched through town
demic. You may be better equipped than most to step
up and shape the future.
The world needs your talents, skills, and knowl-
edge. And now, more than ever, the world needs your
compassion and kindness. Instead of despairing over
the current state of the world, you are learning from it.
And changing it.
Never underestimate the impact a single person can
have on the people around them. You have the tools
and skills necessary to change the world. If you think
you’re too small to make an impact, well, you’ve obvi-
ously never shared a tent with a mosquito! In the real
world, big problems are solved little by little, step by
See BROWN, Page 2A
Traeger excited
about future
with the Ducks
Pete Martini
Salem Statesman Journal
USA TODAY NETWORK
and shared discussions about equity and justice. Nine minutes of silence were observed in
As many spring high school senior athletes strug-
gle their way through the recruiting process because
of the coronavirus pandemic, Silverton’s Riley Traeg-
er was fortunate to have her future decided before
sports were canceled.
The three-sport athlete will join the historic track
and field program at Oregon, and she couldn’t be
more excited about becoming a Duck.
“I already knew they were a great track program,
so I was excited just that I was getting a look from
them,” said Traeger, who will compete in the javelin
for the Ducks. “I think I was always kind of eye-ball-
ing them.”
honor of Floyd.
Pandemic hurt basketball season
Silverton Youth Movement held a rally that included
9 minutes of silence for George Floyd.
Silverton Mayor Kyle Palmer, left, speaks at a
Silverton Youth Movement rally.
Silverton Youth Movement held a rally that included 9 minutes of silence for George Floyd PHOTOS BY CATHY
CHENEY / SPECIAL TO THE STATESMAN JOURNAL
In addition to track and field, Traeger competed in
volleyball and basketball for the Foxes, and the pan-
demic hit at a tough time for the Silverton girls bas-
ketball team.
The Foxes entered the OSAA Class 5A state tour-
nament as the No. 1 seed in the state after winning the
Mid-Willamette Conference.
On March 10, Silverton beat Ridgeview 73-26 in
the state quarterfinals at Gill Coliseum in Corvallis.
The Foxes then had March 11 off and were set to
face No. 5 seed Crater on March 12 in the semifinals.
But that game never happened.
Earlier on March 12, the OSAA canceled the rest of
the state basketball tournaments because of safety
concerns over the virus.
“It was just unreal. It was just so weird,” said
Traeger, who competed in volleyball, basketball and
track and field for Silverton. “It was the worst day.”
When the tournaments were canceled, Silverton
girls basketball coach Tal Wold said he wanted to
make sure the players were proud of what they ac-
complished.
“I wanted them to know that what we can control,
we controlled. We were league champs, and we were
ranked No. 1 going into state,” Wold said. “Plus the
friends that were created, and the memories would
never leave. The OSAA needed to do what they need-
ed to do. They’re looking out for the best interest of
the kids.”
When Gov. Kate Brown closed the schools for the
rest of the 2019-20 school year, that canceled the
OSAA spring sports season, wiping out Traeger’s en-
tire senior track and field season.
“By the time the track season was supposed to
start for high school, I was still so angry about bas-
ketball that it didn’t even really hit me that I’m not
going to have track anymore,” Traeger said. “But hon-
estly, I’m just lucky to be committed to college.”
Traeger’s stellar junior season in track
Gig economy workers wait
for unemployment pay
Claire Withycombe
Salem Statesman Journal
USA TODAY NETWORK
Before the COVID-19 pandemic, Christopher Har-
ley spent his evenings as a 21st century jack-of-all-
trades: driving for rideshare companies Uber and
Lyft, and making grocery and meal deliveries through
various other apps.
But in late March, Harley, 53, of Portland, had to
stop working.
“My doctor immediately said: ‘This type of work is
dangerous for you,’” Harley said.
With a 3-year-old daughter at home, Harley could
put himself and his family at risk of getting the new
coronavirus by going to grocery stores multiple times
a week, or by driving people he didn’t know in his car.
Before the pandemic, federal law disallowed gig
workers, freelancers, contractors and self-employed
people from getting unemployment benefits when
they lost work.
As COVID-19 took hold of the world economy,
though, Congress passed a law allowing those work-
ers to get benefits through a new program called Pan-
demic Unemployment Assistance, or PUA.
Harley’s claim for that help has been stuck in the
Oregon Employment Department’s complex bureau-
cratic machinery. He initially applied for regular un-
employment insurance benefits — the kind available
to traditional employees — and the state denied his
claim. So as soon as the new PUA program for workers
like him came online, he applied for that, too.
But he still hasn’t gotten any benefits, and it’s been
more than two months without work.
“It’s just a terrible sort of Kafkaesque, bureaucratic
nightmare,” Harley said. “There’s been days where
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See TRAEGER, Page 2A
See PAY, Page 2A
Vol. 139, No. 26
Online at SilvertonAppeal.com
Traeger had an incredible junior season for the
Foxes in the javelin, winning all of her events except
the Nike/Jesuit Twilight Relays, in which she placed
second.
But it was in the Nike/Jesuit Twilight Relays
where she set her personal and school record with a
throw of 154-1.
“The weather was really good that day, and that
really helps,” Traeger said. “I just can’t believe I threw
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Silverton's Riley Traeger drives to the basket in the
5A Girls Basketball State Championship
quarterfinal game against Ridgeview on March 10
at Gill Coliseum in Corvallis, OR. AMANDA LOMAN / FOR
THE STATESMAN JOURNAL