LOCAL
TUESDAY, JUNE 16, 2020
COVID-19
Continued from Page 1A
100 people at each event.
Churches throughout
Union County adapted ser-
vices to meet the require-
ments of the executive
order, such as shifting to
hold sermons online. The
Lighthouse Church also
changed its format —
moving services outside.
According to posts on
the Lighthouse Church’s
Facebook page, members of
the church began meeting
outside for service April 12
with a “drive-up” service
where people remained in
or near their cars while the
worship team and church
leaders held the service.
This model, with additional
livestreams of the service,
became a staple for the
church during Phase 1 of
reopening.
But the church’s videos
of services in April and
the fi rst half of May show
dozens of parishioners
gathered in the church
parking lot around a central
stage, ignoring the restric-
tion on crowd sizes.
The video from the
April 26 services shows
church leaders and mem-
bers engaged in the prac-
tice of the laying on of
hands during prayer. Par-
ticipants were close enough
to rub shoulders and no one
BMHA
Continued from Page 1A
The shelter in 2012
became a high-save shelter,
which meant the cost of
keeping and taking care
of animals increased. The
990 tax forms from 2011
on confi rm this growing
increase in expenses each
year. While the shelter
attributed much of the cost
increase to the shelter’s
change in operations, ques-
tions about Brinlee’s han-
dling of money surfaced
at Union County commis-
sioner meetings.
The county in 2011 con-
tracted with the association
to help pay for services the
shelter provides in partner-
ship with animal control.
However, there have been
periods of time the associa-
tion did not have a contract
with the county. According
to meeting minutes from
the Oct. 5, 2016, board of
commissioners meeting, the
contract was reinstated with
particular provisions for
the BMHA board to meet,
including keeping an up-to-
date website and better
track of fi nances and having
a clear plan of operation.
“The county will require
that BMHA has a manage-
ment plan working with
Union County Animal Con-
trol and the community,”
the Oct. 5 minutes state.
“This would include hours
of operation and drop-off
of dogs by Animal Con-
trol after normal business
hours. A separate docu-
ment is needed to address
JAIL
Continued from Page 1A
Retired Union County
Sheriff Steve Oliver,
a member of the Elgin
Museum and Historical
Society Board, said the old
jail building was similar
to many of the era used to
house inmates.
“They were primitive
jails but they were very effi -
cient,” Oliver said.
The jail reminds him
of one near a school he
attended while growing
up in Asotin, Washington,
more than fi ve decades ago.
Oliver said he recalls seeing
inmates in the jail watching
students through windows
while holding on to its bars.
He believes those held in
the old jail in Elgin likely
also could be seen watching
people while standing and
holding window bars.
Oliver believes that such
was wearing face cover-
ings. The video of the May
6 services shows church-
goers side by side. Again,
no one in the videos appear
to be wearing face masks.
During Mother’s Day, May
10, a pastor invited all the
mother’s in the audience to
come forth for recognition.
Numerous women lined up
next to one another, only 2
or 3 feet apart at the most,
and once more, no one
wore a mask.
The church announced
on its Facebook page Sat-
urday that it canceled Sun-
day’s service “due to recent
outbreaks.” The Observer
made numerous attempts
Monday to contact the
church, but there was no
response.
Union County did not
enter Phase 1 of reopening
until May 15, and even then
there were restrictions on
crowd sizes. Brogoitti noted
the cases are not coming
from just one source but
warned that large gath-
erings can pose a risk in
spreading the virus.
“Many of the recent pos-
itive cases are touching
various areas of our com-
munity and are not con-
fi ned to one location,” she
said.
Two weeks ago Tuesday,
hundreds of locals pro-
tested for racial equity
in downtown La Grande.
While many in the throng
wore facial coverings, they
did not remain 6 feet apart
from one another, and the
protest lasted several hours.
During a press call
Monday afternoon with the
Oregon Health Authority,
Dr. Paul Cieslak, Senior
Health Advisor at OHA,
stressed the risks of large
gatherings.
“One of the main mes-
sages we are trying to get
out to the public is large
gatherings are a really
effi cient way to spread
COVID-19,” he said.
operations.”
This same meeting
allowed public comments,
and those who spoke voiced
frustrations with the shelter.
Some community mem-
bers were upset the shelter
would not take sick ani-
mals, and others shared
their personal experiences,
one of which involved the
director getting upset with
a customer and staff. Jodi
Lambert, who manages the
Eastern Oregon Pet Lovers
Facebook page, shared the
story from a message she
received:
“BMHA told them to
let the cat go because they
couldn’t take it, couldn’t
afford the vet fee, and they
would put it down anyway,”
Lambert said, according
to meeting minutes. “The
cat just had a broken leg.
BMHA staff are rude and
freak out if you take an
animal to them without
calling fi rst. The last time
she went to BMHA was
when she was asked to
pick up a black cat that
was missing from a trailer
park. BMHA told her it
was a stray, so she posted
it on the Facebook page.
Then Leeann at BMHA
said someone was missing
a black cat and told her to
bring them the cat, so she
did. John (Brinlee) had a
freak out session about her
not taking it in. You can’t
win with them.”
The county still decided
to contract with the shelter
under the promise of
change and a plan to check
back in with Brinlee and
the association’s board pres-
ident, John Rineheart, in a
year. The meeting minutes
for June 21, 2017, showed
the shelter was not holding
up its end of the deal with
the county, particularly in
regard to maintaining the
website where the associ-
ation was to post adoption
listings.
At the June 2017 com-
missioner meeting, the
county granted a six-month
renewal of the shelter’s
contract, but it would be
a year before the shelter
went before the board of
commissioners again. The
county renewed the contract
without issue, according to
meeting minutes from July
25, 2018.
The Blue Mountain
Humane Association
board at its April 12, 2019,
meeting discussed Brin-
lee’s work with the shelter.
Board members brought
up concerns about missing
money and improper use
of funding. According to
the meeting minutes, the
director was accessing
shelter funds without board
approval and not providing
any documentation about
where the money was being
spent.
There also was an issue
regarding a 2012 raffl e
for an all-terrain vehicle
that AC Powersports, La
Grande, donated to the
shelter to raise money. The
board received complaints
from people who purchased
raffl e tickets but never
heard back regarding who
won the ATV, and there
was a rumor that Brinlee’s
then-girlfriend, LeAnna
slights prevented crime.
“I wouldn’t want to be in
there (the jail),” he said.
The old jail building was
renovated with help from
the Brock Eckstein family
of Elgin, the Collins Foun-
dation and Bill Furman of
Portland.
The Elgin Museum will
be open from 10 a.m. to
4 p.m. Thursday through
Sunday until late summer.
Admission is $2 per person
for all ages.
The museum is now at
the old Elgin City Hall, 180
N. Eighth St. The museum
reopened for the fi rst time
in a decade in May 2019. It
had operated on the second
fl oor of the Elgin Opera
House for a number of years
before it was closed because
of space issues.
Everyone visiting the
museum must adhere to
social distancing rules due
to the coronavirus pan-
demic. All visitors will
receive free masks made by
the Elgin Lions Club.
Hopkins said the old jail
is the fi rst piece of an old
town model he wants to
create next to the museum.
He would like to later have
a small one-room school-
house and other old struc-
tures at the site.
He knows of other cities
where old-town re-creations
have been a success.
“They have become
beautiful destinations (for
travelers),” Hopkins said.
An old town in Elgin
might encourage tourists
driving to and from Wal-
lowa Lake to stop in Elgin
and perhaps spend the
night, he added.
“It could be a good
draw,” Hopkins said.
He knows he will face
many hurdles but plans to
continue pursuing the cre-
ation of the old-town attrac-
tion in Elgin.
“I’m a dreamer,” he said.
Public health
investigation
continues
Brogoitti during that
press call explained public
health must investigate
cases before working on
contact tracing.
“We are working to
respond as quickly as pos-
sible,” she said.
The Center for Human
Development also asks
those who test positive to
isolate for 10 days, and
those who were in con-
tact with someone positive
to isolate for 14 days. The
center also reported it is
working to contact individ-
uals who may have come
in close contact — within 6
feet for more than 15 min-
utes — with one of the
patients.
“If you are identifi ed
through this investiga-
10106 N. ‘C’ • Island City
The Union County out-
break makes it the 10th
county in Oregon with at
least 100 cases, and moves
it past Lincoln County for
the highest number of cases
per capita. Now, about .48%
— or roughly one out of
every 210 individuals — in
the county has contracted
the disease. Because of
the outbreak, now nearly
16% of the test results in
the county have come back
positive. That number was
around 1% last week.
Cieslak with the Oregon
Health Authority also said
the state is not telling Union
County to go back in phases
but is looking at case count,
hospital capacity and ability
to protect its residents.
Mardi Ford, spokes-
woman for Grande Ronde
Hospital, La Grande, said
the hospital is ready to
handle a large number of
patients. She also was on
the Monday press call and
explain Grande Ronde can
expand to house 48 patients,
and its pavilion near down-
town could have up to 200.
She also said at the begin-
ning of March the hospital
received word to prepare for
500 cases, and that is what
it has done.
Union County’s spike
in cases is part of a surge
statewide that has seen the
seven highest single-day
counts in the last nine.
The current peak came
on Monday with 184 new
cases, pushing the state
total to 5,820. Five days in
that stretch have had at least
140 cases: June 7 (146),
June 11 (178), June 12 (142)
and June 13 (158) and June
15, according to the Oregon
Health Authority website.
Like with Union Coun-
ty’s Monday spike, out-
breaks were a contributing
factor in at least two of the
days last week, with a large
portion of the June 7 and
June 8 spikes (114 cases that
day) due to an outbreak at a
Newport seafood plant, one
that in two days accounted
for more than half of Lin-
coln County’s 206 cases.
The counties with the
four highest totals in the
state — Multnomah, Clack-
amas, Marion and Wash-
ington — continue to be
where the largest portion
of cases are, accounting for
close to 70.7% of all cases
in the state. That ratio,
though, is down with the
spikes that have occurred
outside of the state’s most
populous area.
The 10 counties with at
least 100 cases are: Mult-
nomah, Washington, Clack-
amas, Marion, Polk, Lin-
coln, Linn, Umatilla,
Deschutes and Union. Four
more have at least 80: Yam-
hill, Jackson, Lake and
Hood River.
The seven-day average
for confi rmed cases state-
wide is at 129, much higher
than May’s peak of 78,
which at the time was the
high point for cases in the
state.
Close to 56% of the
cases in the state (3,244
total) are considered active.
The number of test
results has been up as well.
During the fi rst 10 days of
June, the state averaged
processing more than 2,990
tests a day. All told, the
state has conducted 175,941
tests, with about 96.8% of
the results coming back
negative.
Muse, purchased and regis-
tered an ATV.
Miller said the police
are looking into the alle-
gation. However, AC Pow-
ersports employee Cody
Richelderfer said the store
has no record of a sale of an
ATV to Muse or to the Blue
Mountain Humane Associa-
tion at that time.
Former board member
Cheryl Borum said the
board gave Brinlee $11,000
to purchase new kennel
doors but never saw the cor-
rect number of doors pur-
chased or installed. Borum
said before Brinlee came on
as director the shelter had
few fi nancial struggles out-
side of the recession. How-
ever, some changes in the
fi nancial situation can be
attributed to becoming a
low-kill shelter, according
to BMHA’s comments
during the commissioner
meetings through the years.
A former board member
said the shelter did not com-
pensate Brinlee for his work
as director, and he lived at
the shelter rent free. The
board member spoke on
the condition of anonymity
to allow for open discus-
sion about the issues with
Brinlee. This was the only
way to obtain an interview
and is not a typical practice
of The Observer.
tion as someone that may
be at risk for COVID-19
public health will con-
tact you,” the press release
stated. “CHD Public Health
staff are making calls now.
Some of these calls may
look like they come from
an unknown number. If
you don’t answer, they will
leave a message. Please call
them back as soon as you
can.”
Residents should con-
tinue to monitor themselves
for symptoms of COVID-
19, according to the center,
and if they think they might
have come in contact with
someone or if they have
symptoms, they need to
speak with their primary
health care provider.
1 in 210 Union
County residents
have virus
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