WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 20, 2021 | SILVERTONAPPEAL.COM
PART OF THE USA TODAY NETWORK
E-Board approves COVID-19 and wildfire relief
Tracy Loew
Salem Statesman Journal
USA TODAY NETWORK
The Oregon Legislature approved millions of dollars
more in state and federal funds to address the CO-
VID-19 pandemic and the Labor Day wildfires.
“Our state has faced constant crises for the last 10
months, and legislators of the Emergency Board have
acted swiftly and thoughtfully to help Oregonians who
desperately need help,” House Speaker Tina Kotek, D-
Portland, said.
In December, during the Legislature’s third special
session, lawmakers voted to move $400 million into
the state’s emergency fund for pandemic-related pro-
grams to support Oregonians during the first few
months of 2021; and $100 million to provide more sup-
port for Oregonians impacted by the Labor Day wild-
fires.
The new funds include $17 million for wildfire pre-
paredness, and $324 million for educators to respond
to the COVID-19 pandemic.
“It is a new year, but Oregon and her people are still
hurting,” Senate President Peter Courtney, D-Salem,
said. “Today, we sent relief to Oregonians hit by the
virus and the fires."
The Legislature convenes Jan. 19 but will hold or-
ganizational meetings beginning Monday.
Here is a summary of the Emergency Board approv-
als, according to a joint news release from House and
Senate leadership:
Pandemic relief:
h $324 million in federal funds for grants to school
districts and for staff to meet education needs of re-
sponding to the COVID-19 pandemic.
h $116 million in federal funds for emergency rental
and utility assistance to Oregonians from the Decem-
ber 2020 Congressional stimulus package.
h $100 million to fund a commercial rent relief pro-
gram.
h $46 million to the Oregon Community Foundation
to provide continued support to the Worker Relief
Fund and the Quarantined Worker Fund, and the cre-
ation of a Small Enterprise Fund for small business as-
sistance.
h $19 million to the Oregon Health Authority for the
public health response to COVID-19.
h $15 million to assist residential and day camps
that provide school-age childcare and other services.
h $12 million for community behavioral health pro-
viders.
h $9 million for grants of $1 million each to Oregon’s
See E-BOARD, Page 3A
Reduced
hydropower at
Detroit Dam
sparks lawsuit
Bill Poehler
Salem Statesman Journal
USA TODAY NETWORK
Kehlani Marie Coria was the first baby born in 2021 at Legacy Silverton Medical Center.
SPECIAL TO THE STATESMAN JOURNAL
Meet the first
babies born in 2021
Forward This
Capi Lynn
Salem Statesman Journal
USA TODAY NETWORK
Hope Wilkinson and Justin Sramek were prepared
for their newborn to arrive on the last day of 2020, the
perfect ending to a year many want to forget.
They arrived at the hospital at about 2 p.m. on Dec.
31.
They also prepared for a natural birth, but their ba-
by girl had other plans.
Sophie Maxx Sramek made her entrance at 4:18
a.m. New Year's Day, delivered by C-section at Salem
Hospital's Family Birth Center.
She weighed 7 pounds, 9 ounces, and was the first
baby born at the hospital in 2021.
Sophie was one of seven born there on Jan. 1. That's
about average for New Year’s Day births at Salem Hos-
pital over the past 20 years, but it's probably still too
early to tell whether predictions of a COVID-19 baby
boom may be on the horizon.
Sophie's mom works as a pharmacy tech in Salem
Hospital's emergency department. Dad owns a local
glass business.
The C-section became necessary after more than
24 hours of labor and when Sophie’s heart rate
dropped, according to a Jan. 6 news release from Sa-
lem Health.
Mom and baby are both doing well, according to
Sramek. He said Sophie's birth was "the best way, ab-
solutely" to start what everyone hopes will be a better
See BABIES, Page 4A
State committee suggests
who is next for vaccines
Tracy Loew
Salem Statesman Journal
USA TODAY NETWORK
Oregon’s Vaccine Advisory Committee has decided
who it thinks should be next in line to receive the CO-
VID-19 vaccine, likely in February or March.
Taking a consensus vote just minutes before a noon
deadline Thursday, the committee approved the fol-
lowing list:
h BIPOC: Black, African American, Hispanic/La-
tino, Indigenous, tribal and urban-based Natives, Pa-
cific Islanders.
h Adults 16-64 with chronic conditions.
h Adults and youth eligible for vaccine in custody;
prison and jail frontline workers.
h Frontline workers not already in Phase 1a or 1b.
h Multi-generational homes.
h People under the age of 65 living in low-income
senior housing and other congregate senior housing.
Groups within the list are not prioritized. Details of
exactly who is in each group will be determined at fu-
ture meetings.
News updates: h Breaking news h Get updates from
the Silverton area
Photos: h Photo galleries
Reducing hydropower production
In August, a federal judge found the Corps is years
behind its 2008 Biological Opinion timeline, and
pushing native Chinook and steelhead to the brink of
extinction.
The lawsuit was filed by environmental groups
WildEarth Guardians, Native Fish Society and the
Northwest Environmental Defense Center.
In November, the Corps announced an interim
measure to curtail electricity production through the
turbines at the dam between 6-10 a.m. and 4-10 p.m.
from Nov. 1 through Feb. 21
The Corps said the move was to aid passage for ju-
venile Chinook and steelhead down the North San-
tiam River past the Big Cliff Dam and Detroit Dam.
But the Public Power Council said in a press release
that those moves reduced the power production at
Detroit Dam by 60% during the winter months and
15% of the power it produces overall.
The dams block approximately 70% of Chinook
and 33% of steelhead habitat in the Willamette Valley.
Chinook and steelhead were listed as “threatened”
under the Environmental Species Act in 1999, which
gave them protections and required that steps would
have to be taken to ensure the native species' surviv-
al.
The Corps has been working on a downstream fish
passage and temperature control project at Detroit
See DAM, Page 3A
Deadline pressure
The two-hour committee meeting repeatedly
veered off track, and specific recommendations
weren’t considered until about 25 minutes before it
ended.
As the clock ticked down, the list was extensively
revised to get group consensus. A few recommenda-
See VACCINE, Page 2A
Vol. 140, No. 5
Online at SilvertonAppeal.com
The Army Corps of Engineers made changes in the
operations at Detroit Dam to aid threatened species
of fish before it was forced in court to do so, a move
that has prompted another lawsuit.
The Public Power Council filed suit in district
court, alleging the Corps violated multiple federal
acts and legislation when it curtailed some of its pow-
er production at the dam. The council is a trade group
for municipal and public utility districts and electric
cooperatives in Oregon and five western states.
The Corps made operational changes to Detroit
Dam in November, including stopping hydropower
production through its turbines in the morning and
evening during the winter months and adding a
mechanism to monitor and count juvenile salmon
making their way downstream on the North Santiam
River below Big Cliff Dam.
Those were some of the changes requested by sev-
eral environmental groups after an August ruling
against the Corps. The Corps was found to be years
behind the timeline needed to complete work it was
required under a 2008 settlement and hadn't altered
operations in the interim to aid salmon.
“The Corps’ decision to turn off turbines in the
middle of the winter peak power-using season came
as a complete surprise to PPC and our public power
utility members across five states, as there was no
public process to let anyone know,” PPC executive di-
rector Scott Simms said in a statement.
The Army Corps of Engineers didn’t immediately
respond to a message for comment about the lawsuit.
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The Detroit Dam was constructed by the U.S. Army
Corps of Engineers in the Willamette Valley and
began operating in 1953. FILE / STATESMAN JOURNAL