NEWS
Saturday, March 21, 2020
CHURCHES
“We told them if they need younger people to do their
shopping so they don’t have to go into town (we would
help). We would do that for anybody, not just people in
our congregation.”
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social distancing to slow
COVID-19.
“We feel that it is
important to respect that
and try to slow down the
spread of the virus,” said
Bud Duncan, elder at
Imbler Christian Church,
pointing to the recommen-
dation of 10 in a group as
the number they are going
by.
Duncan said about 80
people attend Imbler Chris-
tian Church on Sundays.
The church posts its ser-
mons as podcasts, he said,
and considered streaming
the service online. Instead,
church leaders will hold
smaller studies Sunday
morning to comply
with the government
recommendation.
“What we’ve done is
basically on Sunday wor-
ship we’re going to have
small groups. The five
elders in the church will
each host a small group, and
if need be others can help
out,” Duncan said, noting
the group meetings will be
the same 10 a.m. time of
their regular service.
Several churches will be
videoing either their worship
session and/or sermon live
as they take place Sunday or
prerecording them for wor-
shippers to take in whenever
they want during the week.
For the La Grande
Church of the Nazarene
and La Grande First Baptist
Church, videoing their mes-
sages is a new venture.
Kevin Goss, pastor of La
Grande Nazarene — which
typically has around 130-
140 attendees — said his
church made a late decision
to stream its sermon last
Sunday on Facebook Live
COVID-19
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addition to advising people
on how to do the same.
“We understand how to
use our personal protective
equipment, which includes
goggles, gloves, gowns,
masks of various types,”
Ford said. “Right now, we
are doing OK with our sup-
plies, but we are all con-
cerned the suppliers and
stockpiles we draw from
could dwindle if the virus
spreads. That being said,
in order to best protect the
community we need our
healthcare workforce to stay
healthy and strong for as
long as this takes.”
thE OBSErVEr — 5A
— Bud Duncan, elder at Imbler Christian Church, on help older or at-risk individuals during
the outbreak
Staff photo by Ronald Bond
La Grande Church of the Nazarene pastor Kevin Goss
holds the camera the church will use starting Sunday to
livestream its services, which it is doing in response to
government moves to reduce gathering sizes during the
COVID-19 outbreak.
using a phone, then decided
to take a further step and
upgrade its gear to better
stream upcoming sermons
on YouTube.
“The service will go
online,” Goss said. “We’re
being very intentional in
using language that ‘Church
is not canceled, it’s gone
digital.’”
Sharon Binder, secre-
tary at First Baptist, said
the church also is entering
uncharted waters getting
the sermon to their 200
attendees — and anyone
else who wants to watch.
The church has, though,
done audio recordings of its
sermons.
“We’ve been working on
livestreaming, which we are
doing this Sunday,” she said.
“This is our first Sunday
livestreaming ever.”
Faith Center in Island
City is among churches that
already stream their ser-
vices, and it will continue to
do so.
Cameron Hefner, pastor
at Faith Center, said the staff
was working on plans to
alter Sunday mornings as
typically around a total of
400-500 attend the church’s
two services.
Hefner said the church
recorded the March 15 ser-
vice and was “promoting
watch parties where people
could be invited over” to
view the recording and wor-
ship together at one anoth-
er’s homes. With the new
mandates on group sizes,
smaller watch parties are
being recommended. Now
in their second week of
recording worship, this week
Hefner said the sermon will
be recorded from a home
rather than from the church
building’s stage.
“We’re hoping that will
help translate to a more per-
sonal (level),” Hefner said.
In Union, the Baptist
Church will meet Sunday
but in a different capacity
while also developing a plan
to allow for a small-group
setup. Nick Ham, associate
pastor, said the church will
admit up to 25 attendees in
the the sanctuary and will
use its youth group room to
house an additional 25 who
would watch off a feed from
According to Dr. Inski
Yu, an Infectious Disease
doctor at Grande Ronde
Hospital, home manage-
ment through isolation is
the best course of treat-
ment at this time. The
focus should be on pre-
venting transmission to
others and monitoring for
symptom, which could
lead to a need for hospital-
ization. Yu said it is best
to try and resolve fever
symptoms without medica-
tion to prevent masking the
true status of the fever and
improvements in respira-
tory function.
The Oregon Associ-
ation of Hospitals and
Health Systems has called
on Gov. Kate Brown to
issue an order to shelter in
place. This order requires
those who are non-essential
employees in the workforce
to stay home except to get
food and medical care.
Ford said Grande Ronde
Hospital supports this call
to action. Brown has yet to
issue that order.
The La Grande hospital
and its clinics remain open
for non-coronavirus med-
ical issues. The hospital
encouraged anyone who
may feel ill with symptoms
of the novel coronavirus
(coughing, sore throat, dif-
ficulty breathing and other
flu symptoms) to call their
primary care provider for
a preliminary screening
before coming in.
NUMBERS
UPDATES
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dismissed temporarily.
•Communicate with
others by phone, email
or social media. If you
have a chronic med-
ical condition and
live alone, ask family,
friends and health
care providers to
check on you during
an outbreak. Stay in
touch with family and
friends, especially
those at increased risk
of developing severe
illness, such as older
adults and people
with chronic medical
conditions.
WHAT ARE THE
SYMPTOMS?
Reported illnesses
have ranged from mild
symptoms to severe ill-
ness and death for con-
firmed coronavirus dis-
ease 2019 (COVID-19)
cases. Fever, cough
and shortness of breath
may appear 2-14 days
after exposure.
IF I FEEL I HAVE
COVID-19 SYMPTOMS,
WHAT DO I DO?
If you have been
exposed to COVID-19
and develop a fever
and symptoms such
as cough or difficulty
breathing, call your
health care provider.
WHERE CAN I GET THE
TEST FOR COVID-19?
Call your health
care provider. Your
doctor will determine
iwhether you should
be tested.
Monday will close all field
offices to the public except
by appointment. Offices
will remain open and
available by phone. Call
the La Grande Unit Office
at 541-963-3168.
LA GRANDE
•La Grande Parks and
Recreation rescheduled
Pee Wee soccer for May.
Meet Your Coach Day
will be May 2.
•Veterans’ Memo-
rial Pool is now closed to
the public. The April 10
Easter Egg Swim at the
pool is canceled.
•The EOU Small Busi-
ness Development Center
is not holding in-person
client meetings but is
available to offer assis-
tance by phone (541-962-
1532) or email (eousbdc@
gmail.com).
•Union County Family
Law Advisory Com-
mittee canceled the April
2 “Helping Children Cope
with Divorce and Separa-
tion” workshop.
•The Social Security
office is closed.
•Grande Ronde Fitness
Club is closed.
ISLAND CITY
•Island City City Hall is
closed to the public. Staff
is available via telephone
(541-963-5017) and email
(karen@islandcityhall.
com). The drive-through
remains open Mon-
day-Thursday from 9 a.m.
to 4:30 p.m. and Friday
from 9 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.
Water/sewer payments
can be made at the drive-
through window, via tele-
phone with the use of
debit/credit cards, or at
www.islandcityoregon.
com (all fees apply). Late
notices and disconnections
will be suspended for the
month of March.
UNION
•Union City Hall,
Union Carnegie Library,
Union Public Works and
the Union Treatment Plant
are closed to the public.
City operations will
continue.
Call City Hall at 541-
562-5197 to make an
appointment or other
arrangements.
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the sanctuary.
“We will have a separate
gathering that goes on at the
same time for overflow pur-
poses. That way we’ll be
able to function,” Ham said.
The church typically has
around 65-70 people attend
Sunday services. In addition
to the new format, there will
be two Sunday services,
at 9:30 a.m. and at 11 a.m.,
which will accommodate as
many as 100 people.
In anticipation of the cap
of 10 being soon required
rather than recommended,
Ham said the church has
“a plan where we will go
to a home church model.
We will have a prerecorded
sermon and meet with small
groups in their houses.”
The recording would be on
DVD.
Churches also are taking
a range of approaches for
various mid-week activities,
such as Bible studies, youth
groups and small gatherings.
Some are suspending the
activities altogether, some, if
they don’t exceed the gath-
ering limit, are continuing.
And others are leaving the
meeting of small groups to
the discretion of the group
leaders.
“We have Celebrate
Recovery that meets at our
downtown campus,” Hefner
said. “They’re going to con-
tinue to meet,” because the
group is under the 25-person
limit.
With the caps limiting
fellowship — an important
aspect of church gatherings
— the various congregations
also are finding creative
ways to stay in commu-
nity and connected. Binder
said one of First Baptist’s
pastors, Matt Carpenter, is
beginning a weekly blog.
“He is going to be
starting that this Sunday,”
she said. “He’s going to be
encouraging that way.”
Duncan said for older
congregants or those at high
risk of contracting corona-
virus, his church is offering
help in getting groceries or
other supplies.
“We told them if they
need younger people to
do their shopping so they
don’t have to go into town
(we would help),” he said,
adding, “We would do that
for anybody, not just people
in our congregation.”
Hefner said he had put
together a daily devotional
to go along with the church’s
focus of study and are “right
in the middle of that right
now.” The devotional has
proved beneficial as the
church changed the way it
operates amid the corona-
virus outbreak.
“People are engaging that
way,” Hefner said of using
the daily devotional. “We’re
fueling people’s devotional
time, that time they spend
with Jesus on their own.”
Goss said the Nazarene
Church will be “sending out
Bible study material and
devotional material,” and
the church body is splitting
up phone lists for people
to remain in contact. Other
congregations using email
and social media to main-
tain a sense of connection
during this time of “social
distancing.”
The goal, Goss said, is
“to still keep people in com-
munity, but obviously not as
much face-to-face. We’re not
going to stop anyone from
getting together, but we’re
going to utilize technology.”
This year, Easter is on
April 12, and as the day
approaches, believers are
offering up hope and prayers
they will be able to celebrate
the resurrection of Jesus
Christ together.
Faith Center was plan-
ning to meet on Easter at
McKenzie Theatre on the
Eastern Oregon University
campus, which Hefner said
the church did a year ago
and drew about 800 people.
He said it’s unlikely the
service at McKenzie will
happen this year, though
it hasn’t been taken off the
table.
Ham said in Union, the
leaders are “hopeful and
prayerful we’ll be able to do
our Easter services at least
in this restricted sense.”
Churches will have to
wait — in the region and
nation — before setting
their Easter plans.
“That is still being devel-
oped,” said Binder, of La
Grande’s First Baptist, “but
we are planning to celebrate
the resurrection.”
Avista Customer Notice
Recently, Avista requested an increase in natural gas rates for our customers in
Oregon. We know you care about your energy costs, so we think it’s important
to share this news with you.
On March 16, 2020, Avista filed a General Rate Case (GRC) request with the Public Utility
Commission of Oregon (PUC) asking for an overall increase of 6.8 percent in natural gas
billed revenue. If this increase is approved, Avista’s natural gas revenues would increase
by approximately $6.8 million. The GRC is based on a proposed rate of return of 7.50
percent with a common equity ratio of 50 percent and a 9.9 percent return on equity.
The Company would expect a final decision from the PUC by January 15, 2021.
The primary driver of the Company’s request is continued investment in our natural
gas projects that support the safe, reliable delivery of natural gas to our customers. This
includes upgrades and maintenance of natural gas pipe and distribution equipment as
well as other information technology upgrades. Major capital investments included in
the filing are:
• The continuation of a major project to replace portions of natural gas distribution pipe.
The project is replacing hundreds of miles of natural gas pipeline that was installed prior
to 1987.
• Replacement and expansion of natural gas pipe to improve the operation of the natural
gas system and accommodate growth, development, and construction projects.
• Implementation and upgrades of technology systems that make it easier for customers
to do business with Avista and that allow employees to perform their jobs and serve
customers in a safe, reliable and efficient manner.
We understand that this requested increase can be challenging. We continue our focus on
maximizing efficiencies throughout the company and minimizing costs where possible.
Customer Bills
If approved by the PUC, a residential customer using an average of 47 therms per month
would see a $3.94 per month increase, or 7.0 percent, for a revised monthly bill of $60.34
(inclusive of a proposed $1.00 per month increase in the basic charge).
For more information
Copies of our filings are available at www.myavista.com/rates, or you can review the
filings by visiting our headquarters at: 1411 E. Mission, Spokane, WA 99202,
(800) 227-9187
You can also view copies of the filing at one of our district offices located at:
580 Business Park Drive, Medford, OR 97504
2825 Dakota Court, Klamath Falls, OR 97603
10201 “F” Street, La Grande, OR 97850
1404 Green Siding Road, Roseburg, OR 97471
This announcement is to provide you with general information about Avista’s rate request
and its effect on customers. The calculations and statements in this announcement are
not binding on the PUC. For more information about the filing or for information about
the time and place of any hearing, contact the PUC at: Public Utility Commission of
Oregon, 201 High Street SE, Ste. 100, Salem, OR 97301, (800) 522-2404,
www.puc.state.or.us
Customer Resources
To assist customers in managing their energy bills, Avista offers services for customers
such as comfort level billing, payment arrangements, and Customer Assistance Referral
and Evaluation Services (CARES), which provide assistance to customers through referrals
to area organizations for help with housing, utilities, medical assistance and other needs.
Avista also provides support to customer assistance funds such as Project Share. In
addition, Avista provides energy efficiency and outreach programs, including rebates and
incentives, which help customers manage their energy use. Since 2017 we have partnered
with the Energy Trust of Oregon for these programs. To learn more, visit
www.myavista.com.
This notice contains forward-looking statements regarding the company’s current
expectations. Forward-looking statements are all statements other than historical facts.
Such statements speak only as of the date of the news release and are subject to a variety
of risks and uncertainties, many of which are beyond the company’s control, which could
cause actual results to differ materially from the expectations. These risks and uncertainties
include, in addition to those discussed herein, all of the factors discussed in the company’s
Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended Dec. 31, 2019.