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SATURDAY-MONDAY • June 20, 2020
COVID-19
by the
numbers*
Worldwide cases:
8,385,440
Worldwide deaths:
450,686
U.S. cases: 2,178,710
U.S. deaths: 118,365
Total U.S. tests:
• $1.50
26,400,497
Oregon cases: 6,572
Oregon active cases:
3,851
Oregon deaths: 188
Total Oregon tests:
193,689
Good day to our valued subscriber Charles Sarrett of La Grande
Union County cases: 253
Union County active
cases: 246
Union County deaths: 0
Total Union County tests:
1,187
Wallowa County cases: 7
Wallowa County active
cases: 6
Wallowa County deaths: 0
Total Wallowa County
tests: 345
*As of 4 p.m. Friday,
June 19.
Sources: World Health
Organization, Cen-
ters for Disease Con-
trol and Prevention,
Oregon Health Authority
and Oregon Military
Department.
This year’s
Pendleton
Round-Up
canceled
By Antonio Sierra
East Oregonian
Photo contributed by the Northeast Oregon Joint Information Center
Workers prepare to conduct a swab test for COVID-19 during Thursday’s drive-through testing clinic at the the Union
County Fairgrounds, La Grande. The clinic conducted approximately 400 tests Thursday. The local incident manage-
ment team estimated the clinic could conduct as many as 500 tests Friday.
Union County COVID-19 testing
underway as case total tops 250
Increased testing may
show spread of virus
By Sabrina Thompson
The Observer
LA GRANDE — Union
County added six more cases
of COVID-19, the Center for
Human Development announced
Friday, increasing the total in the
county to 253.
Two days
of drive-
INSIDE
COVID-19
through
cases jump
testing could
in Wallawa
reveal how
County, 5A
far the dis-
Why wear a
ease has
mask, 6A
spread in the
community.
The Union
County Incident Management
Team coordinated a drive-
through testing clinic Thursday
and Friday at the Union County
Fairgrounds, La Grande. The
team partnered with the Center
for Human Development’s
public health department, which
oversees public health in the
county, and the sheriff’s offi ce
See, Testing/Page 5A
Photo contributed by the Northeast Oregon Joint Information Center
Drivers line up Thursday morning to check in at the testing clinic at the Union Coun-
ty Fairgrounds. Residents of Union County were able to make an appointment to get
tested for COVID-19 Thursday and Friday at the drive-through clinic.
PENDLETON — For
the fi rst time since World
War II, the Round-Up, a
rodeo so ingrained into
Pendleton history that it’s
become synonymous with
the city, will not hold its
annual event.
The last two times the
Round-Up took a year off
from activities — 1942
and 1943 — the U.S. and
the rest of the globe was
gripped by war. More
than 75 years later, the
boards of directors for
the Round-Up and Happy
Canyon were trying
to plan events around
COVID-19, a pandemic
that has killed 457,000
people worldwide and 188
in Oregon.
Sitting in an empty
Round-Up Arena on
Friday, June 19, the are-
na’s grass a verdant
green from the thunder-
storms that recently rolled
through town, Round-Up
Publicity Director Pat
Reay, Happy Canyon Pub-
licity Director Kenzie
Hansell and Erika Patton,
Happy Canyon and
Round-Up general man-
ager, explained how they
were all disappointed,
but they needed to put the
safety of their audience
and volunteers fi rst.
Reay said there wasn’t
a specifi c event or devel-
opment that led to the
decision, but rather the
persistence of a virus that
has seen its spread accel-
erate this week.
During a month where
more than 200 people
in Union County con-
tracted the corona-
virus at an Island City
church, the challenge
of trying to coordinate
a rodeo that can pack
upwards of 17,000 people
in the grandstands and
concourse proved too
daunting.
Shutting down the
rodeo and all its accompa-
nying events for the year
didn’t come from a lack of
trying.
“Our original plan was
the show was going to go
on as planned,” Reay said.
The boards for
Round-Up and Happy
Canyon began meeting
in March after Gov. Kate
Brown said any large
events needed to either be
canceled or signifi cantly
modifi ed to meet social
distancing rules.
According to a press
release, the boards went
as far as to draft and
submit a “comprehensive
operational plan” that out-
lined the group’s “safety
protocols” to the gover-
nor’s offi ce.
But as it became clear
that the Round-Up and
Happy Canyon wouldn’t
be able to operate with
all of its usual traditions,
both boards agreed it was
time to look ahead to
2021.
2020 was supposed to
be a watershed year for
the Round-Up.
The association was
making plans for the
rodeo’s 110th anniversary,
which would be marked
in part by the opening
of a brand new facility
to house the Round-
Up’s growing retail, tick-
eting and administrative
operations.
Although still a non-
profi t that largely relies on
1,500 volunteers to coor-
dinate and execute rodeo
week, the Round-Up has
also turned into a multi-
million-dollar operation.
Without the ability to
put on a four-day rodeo,
the association is set up to
take a fi nancial hit.
In tax forms covering
See, Round-Up/Page 5A
Churches scale back service plans, extend grace
Local church
leaders don’t hold
animosity toward
Lighthouse
By Ronald Bond
The Observer
LA GRANDE — The
COVID-19 outbreak at
Lighthouse Pentecostal
Church in Island City led
to several churches making
the decision to close their
doors and resume online-
only services just a couple
of weeks after getting the
OK to reopen.
Meanwhile, other
churches pushed pause on
the steps they were taking
toward reopening.
While there is frustra-
tion among local congre-
gations, church leaders
are not aiming animosity
at the church health offi -
cials reported is respon-
sible for the spike that made
Union County the state’s
COVID-19 hotbed.
Pastors in the region
said they are heartbroken
about the Lighthouse out-
break, which has at least
236 COVID-19 cases tied to
it, and hope it doesn’t put a
stain on all churches in the
Grande Ronde Valley.
“Some of the concern
initially was just for most
of us being very connected
with the non-churched
crowd. This is where our
mission fi eld is to bring
the gospel to those who
INDEX
Classified ..... 3B
Comics ......... 7B
Community . 3A
Crossword ... 5B
don’t yet know Jesus,” said
Tanner Sheahan, pastor of
Christ Church, La Grande.
“Seeing the reaction is
concerning.”
Sheahan said he has
noticed the recent out-
break has caused anger at
churches as a whole, and
that concerns the pastor.
“It was all plural, and
there was the assumption
that we don’t care about
our community,” he said.
“I don’t want to put that on
Lighthouse Church either.
I’m not saying they don’t
care about the city.”
Lighthouse may, in
fact, be in the minority
of churches that elected
to open early. Sheahan
noted the majority of pas-
tors he knows kept their
churches closed while the
state implemented rules
to reduce gathering sizes.
His own congregation,
which uses hq in down-
town La Grande as its
See, Churches/Page 5A
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