The Observer. (La Grande, Or.) 1968-current, July 14, 2020, Image 5

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The Observer., July 14, 2020, Page 5, Image 5

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Newspaper Page TextLOCAL TUESDAY, JULY 14, 2020 THE OBSERVER — 5A COVID-19 testing, recovery data slows in Union County By Ronald Bond The Observer LA GRANDE — Public health in Union County is backing off testing for COVID-19. And data on the number of individuals who have recovered from COVID-19 — both at the local and state level — is likely to see a delay moving for- ward. That’s according to a press release from the Center for Human Devel- COMPLAINTS Continued from Page 1A diagnosis of injury as well as training for all of the department’s paramedics on working with patients who may have a disability. Cornford said the depart- ment resolved the com- plaint by May 5, 2018, and the person who made the complaint was good with the resolution. The police department during those four years sus- tained only one of the 11 complaints, according to information from Police Chief Gary Bell, meaning police found there was evidence to support the complaint. The depart- ment determined ﬁ ve were unfounded, one was not sustained and the other four led to exonerations. Bell also pointed out the depart- ment handled 39,729 calls during the four years. Complaints submitted against the police depart- ment primarily were from people unhappy about the way an ofﬁ cer handled a sit- uation. The lone complaint the department sustained was in regard to off-duty behavior of an ofﬁ cer. Bell could not pro- vide additional infor- mation about the sus- tained complaint, due to ORS 181A.830(3) and 192.345(12). “It is very important to us that we be as transparent and open with our records and processes as we are legally able, to maintain the trust and legitimacy that we enjoy within our commu- nity,” he said. Complaints at state level Union County sheriff’s Lt. Ken Woodward reported there were not any formal complaints during the time frame, as did the rest of county government. How- ever, the Oregon Depart- ment of Public Safety Stan- dards and Training reported it received one complaint about the sheriff’s ofﬁ ce in 2017 about a reserve deputy who was having an extra- marital affair, an action that violated DPSST’s code of standards and ethics. Woodward said the com- plaint was made directly to the Department of Public Safety Standards and Training and not to the Union County Sheriff’s Ofﬁ ce, and he could not provide any further infor- RULES Continued from Page 1A cases per day by the Labor Day weekend at the begin- ning of September. Brown’s current emergency order runs out Sept. 4. The Oregon Health Authority reported 280 new cases of COVID-19 on Monday, bringing the state total to 12,438. Three more deaths were reported — one each in Umatilla, Marion and Clackamas County — bringing the state total to 237 dead from the virus. Nationwide, about 3.35 opment, La Grande, which reported it will tempo- rarily suspend testing and testing clinics. Demand for COVID-19 testing has increased across the state and nation in the past three weeks, according to the press release, which has “surpassed the abilities for the laboratories to pro- cess and release results as expected.” The center now will limits its testing to indi- viduals identiﬁ ed through investigations or individ- uals that meet Oregon State Public Health Lab cri- teria. The center is “expe- riencing signiﬁ cant delays in receiving lab results on previous tests,” the press release stated. The center encouraged individuals interested in getting a test for the coro- navirus to contact a pri- mary care provider at other locations in the community. mation about the complaint. DPSST also reported a complaint against a La Grande police sergeant and several Oregon State Police troopers. Bell conﬁ rmed the complaint regarding the La Grande sergeant is not part of the 11 he provided infor- mation on because it was reported at the state level. The complainant in 2017 accused the LGPD sergeant of issuing an unjustiﬁ ed citation and improper ﬁ ling two years earlier. In the 2015 incident, the sergeant brought a driver to the police station on sus- picion of driving under the inﬂ uence after the person hit a boulder with their vehicle and drove off. According to the police report, the sergeant said the driver smelled of alcohol but refused to participate in intoxication tests. When the driver ﬁ nally sub- mitted to a breathalyzer, the person blew a 0.01%, but the sergeant’s report said it seemed low for the way the driver behaved. The legal limit for blood alcohol con- tent in the state of Oregon is 0.08%. The driver was cited for DUI and hit-and-run, among other charges. Ultimately the case was dismissed in court. How- ever, the police department reported it completed an investigation into the inci- dent. Derick Reddington, a lieutenant in the department at the time, wrote a letter in 2018 reporting he spoke with the district attorney’s ofﬁ ce about the case and reviewed applicable crim- inal laws and vehicle code violations and determined the sergeant had acted appropriately. “It is my hope you may also review the chapters that I will be referring to,” according to the letter, “so that you will have a better understanding why Sgt. Kristen Rasmussen responded and processed this case as she did.” The complainant in a response noted no one interviewed him during the LGPD investigation. DPSST eventually deemed the matter out of its juris- diction and closed the case. State law also requires law enforcement agen- cies to annually report any instances of discrimina- tion. The La Grande Police Department and Union County Sheriff’s Ofﬁ ce reported there have been zero discrimination com- plaints from 2017-20. SHAHBAZI million people in the United States have been infected with the coronavirus and at least 135,100 have died as of Monday, according to a New York Times data- base. The newspaper said the worldwide count as of Monday was 12.9 mil- lion cases and more than 569,000 deaths. Brown said she believed most Oregonians were following the face cov- ering, social distancing and enhanced hygiene efforts that health ofﬁ cials advo- cate. She called those who willingly ignore the efforts “outliers.” Imagine The Difference You Can Make DONATE YOUR CAR 1-844-533-9173 FREE TOWING TAX DEDUCTIBLE Help Prevent Blindness Get A Vision Screening Annually Ask About A FREE 3 Day Vacation Voucher To Over 20 Destinations!!! CHD also anticipates a national shortage of COVID-19 testing supplies and points to highly pop- ulated states where there have been surges in cases — California, Florida and Texas — partly behind the reason supplies could be affected throughout Oregon. The nation has more than 3 million cases of COVID-19, and has con- sistently seen the reporting of the number of positive test results increase by at least 500,000 a day. To date, Union County has 369 cases of COVID- 19, and CHD reported no new cases Sunday or Monday. CHD has reported 46 individuals have recov- ered from the illness, and two have died, leaving 321 active cases. Oregon Health Authority also is planning to cease its efforts to call those with positive cases Continued from Page 1A local weather experts. “We will have the most meteorol- ogists (of any news organization) in the nation,” Shahbazi said. The news anchor said while she will miss her many friends, viewers and colleagues in Miami, from a pro- fessional standpoint, deciding to take her new position was not difﬁ cult. “Once I understood the mission and the vision (of those creating News Nation) the choice was clear,” she said. Shahbazi was at KFOR, a CBS afﬁ liate, throughout her ﬁ ve-year tenure in Miami before accepting her position with WGN America. At KFOR, Shahbazi won a regional Emmy Award in 2016 and earlier that year was named one of Miami’s most inﬂ uential women by Ocean Drive Magazine. The Miami News Times honored her as “Best TV News Anchor,” and she was the recipient of the Christopher Columbus News Network award for “Best Anchor” during her tenure at KFOR. Shahbazi has worked at ﬁ ve sta- tions since she began her television career in 2008, including KEPR in Pasco. A highlight when working there was the opportunity to do an on-camera interview with Barack Obama, then a U.S. Senator making a presidential campaign stop in Pendleton. “It was a short interview but it was deﬁ nitely exciting,” she said. “He was very nice and took the time to talk to reporters in a small town. Not everyone does that.’’ Shahbazi had just started her career after earning her master’s degree in journalism, which had an emphasis on television production. She did her master’s thesis on the many refugees who ﬂ ed to Jordan because of ﬁ ghting in the Middle East. The thesis, which included extensive footage and interviews Shahbazi shot in Jordan, ended up on the website of PBS’ international newsmagazine Frontline/World. “It was a story that needed to be told,” said Shahbazi, who was born in Germany and is no stranger to world travel after accompanying her parents on many international trips while growing up. At Berkeley, Shahbazi learned the art of recording video images and editing footage. She credits Contributed photo Rudabeh Shahbazi, a La Grande High graduate, is about to become the anchor of a national news program. these skills with helping her land a job right out of college 12 years ago when the Great Recession was hit- ting. Stations were cutting back then and seeking reporters with multiple skills as a cost-saving step. Shah- bazi often found herself doing video reports alone, and she sometimes had to record herself. “It was backbreaking work,” Shahbazi said. She took subsequent jobs with sta- tions in Los Angeles and Arizona. On more than one occasion she found herself taking risks or using unorth- odox means to get stories. Once when she was in Arizona she cov- ered a ﬂ ood that washed out a bridge to a community. Shahbazi got a ride on a personal watercraft to get to the community. One of the saddest stories she cov- ered was the Jan. 8, 2011, shooting at a Casa Adobes grocery store near Tucson, Arizona, which killed six people and injured a number of others including Rep. Gabrielle Gif- fords, who suffered a serious brain injury. “That was a pivotal story,” Shah- bazi said, speaking of the impact it had on her. Shahbazi was struck by how deeply the shooting touched the small community and by how resi- dents extended hands of assistance to so many, including members of the media, a number of whom spent con- siderable time in the community. “They wanted the story about the victims to get out,” Shahbazi said. Blazing Fast Internet! ADD TO YOUR PACKAGE FOR ONLY 19 $ . 99 /mo. where available 2-YEAR TV PRICE GUARANTEE to assess their status and report recoveries, a task it did on a weekly basis, according to the press release from the Center for Human Development. The state is making the change because of the increase in the number of cases across Oregon. This means, in part, the number of recoveries reported may not be reﬂ ec- tive of the overall recovery rates, the CHD said. In Miami, one of the most exhausting challenges Shahbazi faced was covering the frequent hurricanes. “We would provide wall-to-wall coverage,” she said. “One time we were at the station for ﬁ ve days.” She said that during times like this a station’s staff bonds even more with its viewers. “We did not lose track that we are all in this together,” she said. The television journalist said she she owes her career to her upbringing in La Grande, where her mother, Theresa Gillis Noldeke, and her father, Shapur Shahbazi, both worked at Eastern Oregon University. Her mother is a reference librarian at Pierce Library, and her father, who died in 2006, was a history professor. “Eastern was like my backyard,” Shahbazi said. Rudabeh Shahbazi’s immediate family members with Union County ties also include her stepfather Charlie Gillis, a La Grande attorney, and her brother, Michael Gillis, who grew up in La Grande and now lives in Eugene. Shahbazi said she cannot imagine spending her childhood in a more nurturing place than the Grande Ronde Valley. “I’m so grateful that I got to grow up in La Grande with such a loving and supportive family,’’ Shahbazi said. She said she also beneﬁ ted from the caring local community. “There are so many people who will rally all around you,” she said. “It was like being part of a big family.” Shahbazi remains good friends with many of her classmates from La Grande High, people she looks up during her many return visits to La Grande. “We hang out together,” she said. The future TV news anchor sat in on EOU classes her father taught, did homework in the university’s library where her mother still works, took part in on-campus productions like Island Magic with Eastern students, attended colloquiums and got to know many international students. “This all had an important role in my development,” Shahbazi said. 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