2A — THE OBSERVER
THURSDAY, APRIL 23, 2020
STATE
DAILY Gov. Brown’s plan to reopen remains in fl ux
PLANNER Framework
TODAY
Today is Thursday, April
23, the 114th day of 2020.
There are 252 days left in
the year.
considers regional
capacity for
COVID-19 testing
TODAY’S HIGHLIGHT
On April 23, 1616, English
poet and dramatist William
Shakespeare died in Strat-
ford-upon-Avon on what has
traditionally been regarded
as the 52nd anniversary of
his birth in 1564.
ON THIS DATE
In 1943, U.S. Navy Lt.
John F. Kennedy assumed
command of PT-109, a motor
torpedo boat, in the Solo-
mon Islands during World
War II.
In 1954, Hank Aaron of
the Milwaukee Braves hit
the fi rst of his 755 ma-
jor-league home runs in a
game against the St. Louis
Cardinals.
In 1968, the Methodist
Church and the Evangelical
United Brethren Church
merged to form the United
Methodist Church.
In 1988, a federal ban on
smoking during domestic
airline fl ights of two hours
or less went into effect.
In 1998, James Earl Ray,
who confessed to assas-
sinating the Rev. Martin
Luther King Jr., and then
insisted he’d been framed,
died at a Nashville, Tennes-
see, hospital at age 70.
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DELIVERY ISSUES?
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TODAY’S QUOTE
“For in that sleep of death
what dreams may come /
When we have shuffl ed off
this mortal coil / Must give
us pause.”
— From “Hamlet”
Associated Press
Oregon surfers
ignore virus
closures, receive
citations
OTTER ROCK — A
sheriff’s deputy cited two
surfers in Oregon after they
climbed a chain-link fence
to reach a beach southwest
of Portland that remains
closed to the public because
of the coronavirus pan-
demic, authorities said.
The men were reported
to authorities after they
were seen Monday after-
noon heading to the beach
with surfboards in Otter
Rock, according to the
Lincoln County Sheriff’s
Offi ce.
A deputy saw them
climbing back over the
fence a couple hours later,
the sheriff’s offi ce said.
The deputy cited Max
Gause, 20, and Konnor
Owens, 19, both of Cot-
tage Grove, for criminal
trespassing.
The men confi rmed a
local resident told them the
park was closed and they
would be trespassing if they
did it, according to the sher-
iff’s offi ce.
Deputies have stepped
up patrolling that area and
others following increased
trespassing complaints and
people gathering in viola-
tion of the state and local
government’s stay-at-home
orders, the sheriff’s offi ce
reported.
The sheriff’s offi ce also
stated it has been taking the
approach of education fi rst
and enforcement second.
Victim ID’d in fatal
shooting at adult
club
PORTLAND — Police
have identifi ed the person
killed in a shooting at an
Oregon adult entertainment
club Friday.
Nathaniel Acosta, 24,
of Yelm, Washington, died
Friday after Ryan Newman,
25, shot him, The Orego-
nian/OregonLive reported.
Police said it appears
By Dick Hughes
For the Capital Bureau
SALEM — Oregon’s
economic reopening likely
will be more gradual than
what President Donald
Trump has suggested.
Churches, theaters, gyms
and sporting events initially
would remain closed.
Other business reopen-
ings from the COVID-19
pandemic are under study.
Gov. Kate Brown
and her staff shared her
thinking with legislators
and county commissioners
this week. The governor’s
“Reopening Oregon: A
Framework for Restarting
Public Life and Business”
combines concepts Brown
released last week and the
national guidelines Trump
announced a few of days
later.
Brown’s staff cautioned
the ideas were still being
reviewed. The goal is to
release a more detailed draft
next week. Work groups are
preparing proposals on per-
sonal services, such as hair
salons; sit-down dining;
bars; and other areas. Addi-
tional child care facilities
also would be reopened in
the fi rst phase, but schools
would remain closed.
Much of the phased plan,
including resumption of
non-emergency medical and
dental procedures, would
roll out regionally.
“A lot of states are taking
statewide approaches, and
the governor has been
pretty consistent in telling
us, ‘Look, I want to be
able to do this in a regional
way,’” said Nik Blosser,
Brown’s chief of staff.
Those geographical
considerations include
the regional capacity for
COVID-19 testing, contract
tracing and hospitalization,
along with evidence that the
growth in cases was sub-
siding. Each county would
have to submit a formal
request to Brown, including
commitments to have ade-
quate personal protective
equipment and, in the event
of a surge in cases, avail-
able hospital beds.
Offi cials in Harney
County asked Brown to let
it become a pilot project
for reopening Oregon.
The frontier county has a
small population, many
businesses and individ-
uals are hurting, and there
have been no reported
COVID-19 cases.
“There’s no curve to
fl atten out here. We never
had a bump in the road.
That’s what’s really eating
at people,” County Judge
Pete Runnels said, adding
Oregon must adjust to
living with the threat of
coronavirus.
To meet the framework
outlined by Brown, the
county would need state
help in acquiring personal
protective equipment. The
local hospital could treat up
to two, possibly three, cases
at a time. Any positive case
would require 20 hours of
research to trace the per-
son’s contacts, according to
Runnels.
During a phone call
Monday afternoon with
county offi cials and Rep.
Mark Owens, R-Crane,
the governor acknowl-
edged the proposal but did
not promise what would
happen, Runnels said.
“I don’t know if they
understand the urgency of
how dire it is for some,” he
said of Brown and her staff.
“They hear us but they
don’t feel us.”
Dr. Bob Dannenhoffer,
the Douglas County health
offi cer and a member of
Brown’s coronavirus Med-
ical Advisory Panel, said
he knew of nowhere in the
nation that was yet pre-
pared to meet even the
broad guidelines of the fed-
eral plan. Those guide-
lines include suffi cient
personal protective gear,
robust testing and an army
of people to follow up on
cases.
Dannenhoffer said he
could not forecast when any
Oregon county would be
ready.
“I think anybody who
would try to project the
future is being somewhat
foolish, because we really
have to see what happens
with case counts. We have
to see what happens with
testing. We have to see what
happens with PPE. These
are all things that are out of
anybody’s control,” he said.
Small Oregon town plans to deliver masks, door-to-door
Volunteers have
completed more
than 2,000 masks
By Samantha Swindler
The Oregonian/OregonLive
SUBLIMITY — The
city of Sublimity, pop-
ulation 3,000, has taken
on an ambitious public
health project. After a local
nursing home saw 16 pos-
itive coronavirus tests, the
town is leading an effort to
provide every city resident
with cloth face masks.
The project, Masks for
Neighbors, expects to make
12,000 homemade masks
to distribute not just door-
to-door in Sublimity, but to
surrounding communities in
the North Santiam Valley of
Marion County.
City Councilor Greg
Atkin a retired fi refi ghter,
medic and department of
corrections supervisor, is
leading the effort.
“We had a small out-
break at a local retirement
home,” he said. Numbers
released from the Oregon
Health Authority show 16
known cases at Marian
Estates in Sublimity, and
one death.
“It’s always been my
worst nightmare that some-
thing like that would run
through our retirement
center,” Atkin said. “So we
were talking, what can we
do to help them?”
The Centers for Dis-
ease Control and Prevention
says having access to wash-
able cloth masks can help
slow the rate of infections
because wearing a mask can
help prevent a sick person
from spreading the disease
to others. So Atkin put out
a call on NextDoor and the
city’s Facebook page, asking
for help sewing masks.
“Almost immediately,
with 10 minutes, we had
people saying, ‘I’ve got
fabric, I’ll donate it,’” he
said. “I contacted a number
of sewers and quilting
guilds in our area, and said,
‘If we put a project together
would you be willing to help
us?’ And of course every-
body was overwhelmingly,
‘Yes, we can certainly do
that.’”
Atkins received 400
yards of donated fabric and
purchased another 1,300
yards online.
The scope of the project
quickly expanded from the
community’s elderly resi-
dents to everyone in town.
Local businesses have
stepped up to help, too:
Keizer Stitch and Sew is
cutting fabric, Santiam
Cleanery in Stayton is
washing it, and Silver Fall
Engraving in Silverton and
Cruise Master Engraving
in Sublimity are using their
laser cutting machines to
cut fabric patterns.
The project launched on
blanket in a poorly lit area
at about 12:30 a.m. May 25,
2018. Schaupp drove his
pickup onto the sidewalk.
“(Schaupp) said he felt
a bump on the tire and
then heard a women (sic)
yelling,” the report reads.
An offi cer wrote that
Schaupp didn’t appear
impaired.
Attorney Greg Kafoury,
who is representing Taylor,
said he offered a settlement
with Central City Concern
that included the agency
providing Taylor a home.
But Kafoury said the non-
profi t wouldn’t oblige —
and Taylor is still living
outside.
The lawsuit faults
Schaupp for negligence.
house fi re early Sunday just
outside Dallas, authorities
said.
Authorities from mul-
tiple agencies responded
just after 3 a.m. and found
the house in fl ames, the
Polk County Sheriff’s
Offi ce said. Polk County
Public Works also was
called to remove debris
so fi refi ghters and sher-
iff’s deputies could enter
the house after the fi re was
extinguished.
NEWS BRIEFS
the two were doing some
construction work at the
Gold Club in Milwaukie.
Police have not said what
provoked the shooting
and said they don’t know
if there was a connec-
tion between Newman and
Acosta.
Newman’s father, who
was there at the time,
wrestled the gun out
of his son’s hands after
the shooting, holding
him to the ground until
police arrived, Clack-
amas County Sheriff’s Sgt.
Marcus Mendoza said.
Newman was arrested
and booked at the Clack-
amas County Jail for
murder. He is being held
without bail. It wasn’t
immediately known if he
has a lawyer to comment
for him.
Mendoza said the club
was not open.
Woman run over
while sleeping on
sidewalk sues
PORTLAND — A
woman who was sleeping
on a Portland sidewalk
when she was run over by a
truck operated by a home-
lessness nonprofi t organi-
zation has fi led a $450,000
lawsuit against the driver.
Daphne Taylor is suing
driver Warren Schaupp
as well as his employer,
Central City Concern,
for the 2018 incident that
left her with a broken leg,
according to her lawsuit
fi led Friday in Multnomah
County Circuit Court.
Schaupp declined com-
ment Monday, The Orego-
nian/OregonLive reported.
Administrative staff and
a lawyer for Central City
Concern didn’t immediately
respond to a request for
comment Monday.
The large nonprofi t helps
people without homes fi nd
homes and receive health-
care, mental health coun-
seling and substance abuse
treatment.
According to a police
report, Taylor had been
sleeping under a dark
April 6, and so far volunteer
sewers have completed more
than 2,000 masks. Masks
have already gone out into
the community, with pri-
ority given to the town’s
frontline workers, retire-
ment homes and residents at
a 55-and-older mobile home
park. Atkin wants to give
workers multiple masks for
use throughout the day.
Then, members of the
Stayton/Sublimity Commu-
nity Emergency Response
Team will go street by
street, door to door — step-
ping back at least 6 feet,
of course, after knocking
— offering cloth masks to
households. Police and fi re-
fi ghters also will help with
distribution.
Atkin anticipates it will
take three more weeks to
sew another 10,000 masks.
“I think we’re up to 50
sewers in the community,
as far as Keizer all the way
up to Lyons and points in
between,” he said. “Sub-
limity, Stayton, Aumsville,
Turner. Just a lot of folks
who have stepped up and
said, ‘We’re home, and we’d
love to help you.’”
On Friday, Atkin learned
the city received a $5,000
grant from the Marie Lam-
from Charitable Foundation
to help cover costs of the
project, namely the purchase
of fabric.
“It’s defi nitely a labor
of love with neighbors who
want to help neighbors keep
safe during this virus,”
Atkin said. “As long as
there’s a need there, we will
fi ll it.”
Editor’s Note: This article
was originally published
by The Oregonian/Oregon-
Live, one of more than a
dozen news organizations
throughout the state sharing
their coverage of the coro-
navirus outbreak to help
inform Oregonians about
this evolving heath issue.
CORRECTION
The article “Eastern
Oregon counties push to
reopen” that ran on The
Observer’s front page
Tuesday, April 21, incor-
rectly referred to Ron Polk
as a physician. Instead,
he is the medical colum-
nist for The Observer’s
related paper, the Wallowa
County Chieftain. The
Observer regrets the error.
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Grande Ronde Hospital and Clinics proudly welcomes:
Kim Myers, AGACNP-BC, FNP-BC
To the Grande Ronde Hospital team as a Hospitalist
Kim Myers, dual-certified nurse practitioner, joins the GRH Hospitalist team from Altamonte
Springs, Florida, where she worked as a nursing instructor and simulation coordinator for the
Cambridge Institute of Allied Health & Technology. She completed her Master's Degree at the
University of South Alabama, and her undergraduate degree at Adventist University of Health
Sciences. In the future, Kim hopes to complete her doctor of
nursing practice degree. Kim has interests in whole person, patient-
centered care, with special interests in inpatient, critical care, and
palliative care medicine. Outside of work, Kim enjoys spending time
with her husband, four children, and Labrador retriever. She has
interests in travel, reading, cooking, scuba diving, sailing, hiking,
running, and horseback riding.
Grande Ronde Hospital
Kim Myers, AGACNP-BC, FNP-BC
900 Sunset Drive, La Grande • 541.963.8421
Learn more about Kim in our online
Provider Directory at www.grh.org today!