2A — THE OBSERVER
TUESDAY, JUNE 23, 2020
LOCAL/REGION
DAILY Union schools boss optimistic about funding
PLANNER
TODAY
Today is Tuesday, June 23,
the 175th day of 2020. There
are 191 days left in the year.
TODAY’S HIGHLIGHT
On June 23, 1888, aboli-
tionist Frederick Douglass
received one vote from the
Kentucky delegation at the
Republican convention in
Chicago, effectively making
him the fi rst black candidate
to have his name placed in
nomination for U.S. presi-
dent. (The nomination went
to Benjamin Harrison.)
On This Date
In 1868, Christopher
Latham Sholes received a
patent for his “Type-Writ-
er,” featuring a QWERTY
keyboard; it was the fi rst
commercially successful
typewriter.
In 1904, President
Theodore Roosevelt was
nominated for a second
term of offi ce at the Repub-
lican National Convention in
Chicago.
In 1938, the Civil Aeronau-
tics Authority was estab-
lished.
In 1947, the Senate joined
the House in overriding
President Harry S. Truman’s
veto of the Taft-Hartley Act,
designed to limit the power
of organized labor.
In 1972, President Nixon
signed Title IX barring dis-
crimination on the basis of
sex for “any education pro-
gram or activity receiving
federal fi nancial assistance.”
In 1985, all 329 people
aboard an Air India Boeing
747 were killed when the
plane crashed into the
Atlantic Ocean near Ireland
because of a bomb author-
ities believe was planted by
Sikh separatists.
In 1988, James E. Han-
sen, a climatologist at the
Goddard Institute for Space
Studies, told a Senate panel
that global warming of the
earth caused by the “green-
house effect” was a reality.
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DELIVERY ISSUES?
If you have any problems
receiving your Observer, call
the offi ce at 541-963-3161.
By Dick Mason
The Observer
UNION — Union
School District Superinten-
dent Carter Wells is con-
fi dent about the fi nancial
outlook for his district in
2020-21.
Wells said he believes
the Legislature will take
signifi cant steps at its
special session in July
to minimize the impact
COVID-19 will have on the
state’s school fund in the
upcoming school year.
“I’m very, very opti-
mistic about the Legisla-
tive session,” Wells said.
He said he expects the
Legislature to draw money
from its reserves to build
up the school fund to the
same level it would have
been had the coronavirus
pandemic not occurred
The pandemic forced
the state to shut down
many businesses for two
months, costing it signif-
icant income tax revenue
and crippling the economy.
The state’s May 20
budget forecast indicates
the school fund will lose
$490 million in 2020-21
Observer fi le photo
The Union School District, like other local school districts,
is banking on the Oregon Legislature to provide full fund-
ing for the 2020-21 school year.
unless the Legislature
backfi lls this amount. If
the Legislature, does this,
public schools will receive
the $9 billion for the
2019-21 biennium the Leg-
islature approved for them
about a year ago.
Wells said legislators
are not likely to cut school
funding now because
they do not want to begin
a downward spiral after
spending years getting the
school fund back to a level
it was years ago before
an economic downturn
hit, forcing substantial
reductions.
“They do not want to go
backward,” Wells said.
He said it is particu-
larly important the state
fully fund schools because
of the extra costs they will
encounter in 2020-21 due
to following state rules
for sanitizing and social
distancing.
Wells noted the number
of students schools will
be able to have per square
foot of classroom space
will be cut. With schools
EO Media Group
BAKER CITY — Thir-
teen people were detained
by police Wednesday
morning at what offi -
cers describe as “a known
high crime activity home”
in an east Baker City
neighborhood.
The operation, con-
ducted by members of
the Baker County Nar-
cotics Enforcement Team
(BCNET), took place at
2339 East St., said Baker
City police Lt. Ty Duby.
The BCNET includes
offi cers from the Baker
City Police Department
and Baker County Sheriff’s
Offi ce. The team is sup-
ported by the Baker County
District Attorney’s Offi ce
and Oregon State Police,
Duby said.
The home had been
owned by James Coe
until March 15, when U.S.
Bank took ownership of
the 864-square-foot house
and property for $15,201,
according to Baker County
Assessor’s Offi ce records.
Coe has continued to live at
the address.
not fully backfi ll funding
for Oregon’s schools,
the Union School Board
may have to meet later
this summer to address
spending cuts. Wells said
the school district is in a
solid position fi nancially
because of frugal bud-
geting in past years and
because it received more
funding than anticipated
from the state in 2020-21.
The reason for the
higher than anticipated
funding is the school
school district underesti-
mated what its enrollment
would be in 2020-21, and
thus built its budget based
on this.
The higher than antic-
ipated enrollment means
the school district received
money from the state it
had not budgeted for. Wells
said Union will be able to
carry this funding over to
2020-21 and use it to deal
with COVID-19 costs.
Enrollment has a major
impact on school funding
because Oregon school
districts receive at least
$7,000 from the state per
student.
Umatilla County’s COVID-19 cases surge past 300
By Antonio Sierra
and Alex Castle
EO Media Group
UMATILLA COUNTY
— A surge in newly
reported COVID-19 cases
Monday caused Umatilla
County’s count to soar past
the 300 threshold.
According to a Umatilla
County Public Health press
release, the 52 new posi-
tive cases bring the county’s
total to 304.
Despite the massive
uptick, the public health
department is reporting all
the new patients are recov-
ering at home in self-iso-
lation and the hospitaliza-
tion count remains steady
at three people. Since the
beginning of the pandemic,
four people have died from
COVID-19 in the county.
The active case count,
which now stands at 131, is
beginning to catch up with
the recovery count at 169.
There have now been
2,969 tests in Umatilla
County, with 281 coming
positive and the rest consid-
ered presumptive because
the patient is showing
COVID-19 symptoms and
had contact with a previ-
ously positive case.
The county is continuing
to advise seniors and the
medically vulnerable to stay
home regardless of their
health in addition to frequent
and thorough hand washing
by all residents and social
distancing of at least six feet
when leaving the home.
The county also is cau-
tioning against employees
going into work while sick.
“Now, more than ever, it
is important for businesses
to ensure that employees
are not coming to work
sick,” the press release
states. “Employees may
feel internal and external
pressure to work through
mild illness. Businesses
are encouraged to develop
fl exible leave policies to
support employees who
become ill and establish
procedures for sending
employees who are not
feeling well home.”
The 52 new cases come
after Umatilla County set a
record in number of cases
for the previous week.
After entering Phase 2
of reopening on June 6 with
130 total cases, Umatilla
County reached 243 cases
on June 19, an increase of
nearly 90% in that span and
including a weekly record
increase of 85 new cases.
Umatilla County Public
Health Director Joe Fiu-
mara last week called the
spike “ shocking.”
“We feel confi dent that
we’ve positioned ourselves
well, but this is not over,”
he said. “This is Phase 2
— this is not business as
usual.”
Fiumara said the health
department’s contact
tracing investigations con-
tinue to attribute many of
these new cases to instances
of employees going to work
with minor symptoms they
don’t believe are COVID-
19. Other employees feel
either external pressure
from their employer or
internal pressure from the
impact of losing hours,
but Fiumara said their best
guidance is to be careful
and stay home at fi rst sign
of any symptoms.
“One or two days home
sick from work is way
better than 10 to 14 days
home sick from work for all
of your colleagues,” he said.
Graduation parties also
have shown up in the coun-
ty’s tracing, he said, though
those cases have been diffi -
Police detain 13 at ‘high crime’ home in Baker City
By Chris Collins
limited to fewer students
per classroom, Wells said,
some districts may have
to add classroom space
and others may have to
hire more staff to make
sure all classrooms have
supervisors.
Wells does not expect
the fewer-students-per-
square-foot rule to be a
problem in Union because
the school district has
additional classroom space
and enough staff available.
“We will be creative in
how we address this,” he
said.
Should the state fully
fund Oregon’s schools,
the Union School District
will likely have a 2020-21
budget that will be a little
higher than its current
year’s budget. This budget
would allow the school dis-
trict to retain all of its staff
and programs in 2020-
21. The school district’s
budget committee has rec-
ommended this budget to
the school board for adop-
tion. The board will vote
on adoption of the budget
at its June 24 meeting.
Should the Legislature
Duby characterized the
property as “a fl op house,”
which is known to welcome
transients, many of whom
have been involved in crim-
inal activity.
He said these people
were found at Coe’s house
Wednesday: James Reedy,
Margaret Lacey, Emily
Speelman, Chuck Briney,
Alexander Harold Wise,
Brandon Radle, Trevor
Heath, Chad Cox, Eli-
annah Banister, Jeffery
Heller, Christopher Griffi th,
Mariam “Evee” Collard and
Haden Buck.
Buck, 25, of Klamath
Falls, was arrested and
lodged at the Baker County
Jail on a Josephine County
warrant charging him
with a post-prison super-
vision violation on orig-
inal charges of burglary
and dangerous drugs, Duby
said.
Because of COVID-19
restrictions at the jail,
three others were cited and
released.
Briney, 27, of Baker
City, was cited on a Baker
County Circuit Court war-
rant charging him with
failure to appear.
Griffi th, 27, of Baker
City, was cited on multiple
Baker County Circuit Court
warrants charging him with
failure to appear.
Wise, 18, of Baker
City, was cited on a Union
County warrant charging
him with failure to appear.
A fi fth person, Cox, was
wanted on an Idaho war-
rant, but the state of Idaho
declined to extradite him,
Duby said.
Wednesday’s enforce-
ment effort is part of the
revival of the Baker County
Narcotics Enforcement
Team, Duby said. The team
had not been actively oper-
ating in the area for several
years because of limited
resources.
Duby said the focus of
the BCNET as it continues
to gain momentum will be
on crimes related to drugs,
guns and violence in the
Baker County area.
cult to track because people
have withheld the names of
their friends and those who
may have attended. While
frustrating, Fiumara said
that’s their right, though
it does affect the county’s
ability to meet the state’s
contact tracing standards.
According to data
from the Oregon Health
Authority, between June
8 and June 14, Umatilla
County was unable to
track 45% of its new cases
to a source. The state has
asked counties to keep that
number below 30%, but
Umatilla County also has
failed to meet its standard
of a downtrend in positive
test result rates.
That number is on the
rise, and Fiumara said it
can be attributed to more
and more close contacts of
known cases being tested
along with the county
keeping its focus on testing
individuals with symptoms
even though the virus can
be spread by those without
any.
But with testing acces-
sibility still relatively lim-
ited in Eastern Oregon and
the fact evidence of the
virus can linger and lead to
a positive test result after an
individual is no longer con-
tagious, Fiumara said it’s
still most effective to target
those outwardly sick.
“If an asymptomatic
person gets a test and it’s
negative, it tells us nothing
because tomorrow they may
be positive if we test again,”
Fiumara said. “And if it’s
positive it actually tells us
very little because we don’t
know if they’re positive
right now or were 10 to 20
days ago.”
Morrow County last
week reported its fi rst death
due to COVID-19 and its
largest single-day increase
in cases, with fi ve more
confi rmed on June 19.
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