SATURDAY, AUGUST 29, 2020
HOLIDAY
Continued from Page 1A
The recent daily case
counts don’t meet the state’s
criteria for reopening
schools to in-person
learning. According to the
plan laid out by OHA, the
Oregon Department of
Education and Gov. Kate
Brown’s offi ce in July,
counties with 30,000 people
or more must have 30 or
fewer cases per 100,000 res-
idents for three consecutive
weeks, and a test positivity
rate of 5% or less during
that same timeframe.
THE OBSERVER — 5A
That same test posi-
tivity rate must be refl ected
statewide. The guidelines
allow for some exceptions,
in order to meet the needs
of students with disabilities
and students in third grade
or younger, who rely more
on in-person learning.
State health offi cials pre-
viously said it’s possible
the state won’t meet those
guidelines until next spring.
Fifteen counties, most
of them rural, have lowered
their rates of infection, kept
their positive percentage
rate low, and prioritized a
return to in-person learning
for younger students..
Sidelinger and Allen
said right now, those who
get infected in Oregon
pass the virus along to one
other person, on average. If
everyone stays disciplined
and follows the health
guidelines for avoiding
gatherings and wearing
face coverings, that number
could drop to 0.75, and
Oregon could meet the met-
rics needed to bring kids
back to school.
Oregon metrics for
reopening schools
OHA directors said state
health experts are looking
to countries like Denmark,
Sweden and Germany when
formulating Oregon’s health
metrics, and for cues on
how to stop the spread of the
virus and reopen schools.
“The specifi c nations that
we looked at really did take
actions to drive their case
rates down before schools
reopened,” Sidelinger said,
such as face coverings and
widespread testing.
While some rural coun-
ties in Oregon have boasted
low case counts over the past
three weeks, the state’s rules
for in-person instruction rely
on a combination of metrics,
using both county and state-
wide health conditions.
COVID-19 by the numbers*
Worldwide cases:
24,299,923
Worldwide deaths: 827,730
U.S. cases: 5,845,876
U.S. deaths: 180,165
Total U.S. tests: 81,776,753
(8.70% positive)
Oregon cases: 26,055
Oregon active cases:
20,749
Oregon deaths: 447
Total Oregon tests:
542,589 (4.57% positive)
Union County cases: 414
Union County active
cases: 367
Union County deaths: 2
Total Union County tests:
3,285 (11.63% positive)
Wallowa County cases: 22
Wallowa County active
cases: 13
Wallowa County deaths: 1
Total Wallowa County
tests: 837 (2.51% positive)
*As of 1:30 p.m. Friday,
Aug. 28. Sources: World
Health Organization, Cen-
ters for Disease Con-
trol and Prevention,
Johns Hopkins University,
Oregon Health Authority
and Oregon Military
Department.
CALF
Continued from Page 1A
about 10 miles north of
Harper, which is near
Highway 20 about 22 miles
west of Vale.
Romans said he was
home on Aug. 16 when he
saw smoke billowing.
He said he drove to the
area that evening and by
then the fi re, the cause of
which is still under inves-
tigation, had burned onto
part of the allotment where
his family’s cattle were
grazing.
Romans said the cattle
usually use that allotment
from July 1 through Nov. 1.
He said he wasn’t overly
concerned, in part because
the cattle were in a pasture
with lots of rocky areas, but
not much heavy fuel to sus-
tain a fast-moving fi re that
could threaten the animals.
Romans said he and
other family members spent
much of the fi rst half of that
week, Aug. 17-19, helping
to fi ght the fi re to try to pro-
tect unburned parts of the
allotment.
Romans said he and other
relatives were busy on Aug.
20 trying to protect private
land that’s part of the Becker
Ranch.
Finally on Aug. 21, he
started tracking down his
family’s Charolais, knowing
they would start dropping
calves soon and that the
Photo contributed by Jeff Romans
The calf was reunited with its mother on Sunday, Aug. 23.
Photo contributed by Bureau of Land Management
Russell Hamilton, a fi re operations trainee from Spokane, Washington, delivered a new-
born Charolais calf to its owners from the Romans Ranch on Sunday, Aug. 23.
“We as ranchers in the Westfall Valley are thankful for our
local BLM fi refi ghters and the way they look out for our
livelihood. Not everyone would have cared about that one
calf.”
Jeff Romans, Malheur County rancher
newborns would be less able
to fl ee should the fi re start
spreading rapidly.
That day he found about
40 cows congregated at
a reservoir, with the fi re
burning all around them.
Fortunately, the fuel was
scanty, and a helicopter
dropped a bucket of water on
the hottest spot to protect the
cattle, Romans said.
He drove the cows into
a nearby canyon away from
the fi re, but with one excep-
tion. At that point only one
cow had given birth, and
the female calf wasn’t old
enough to go with the rest of
the herd, Romans said.
The next day, Aug. 22,
Romans said he returned to
the canyon and found all the
cows — including the one
that had the calf.
But the calf wasn’t there.
“Typically, when a cow
leaves a calf she’ll go back
and grab it,” Romans said.
He notifi ed fi re offi cials
WARMING
“We’re very happy about
that,” Romans said.
His father, Bill Romans,
and daughter, Mollie, later
found that the cow and calf
had been reunited.
Jeff Romans said he actu-
ally had met Hamilton a few
days before, while helping to
build a fi rebreak.
Romans said the calf
could be worth about $1,000
next year and around $1,800
as a bred heifer.
Romans said he had a
great appreciation for fi re
crews even before they res-
cued his family’s calf.
“We as ranchers in the
Westfall Valley are thankful
for our local BLM fi re-
fi ghters and the way they
look out for our livelihood,”
he said. “Not everyone
would have cared about that
one calf.”
TREASURE
VALLEY
STEEL, INC.
Continued from Page 1A
course, also will have a big
impact on shelter’s capacity
in the immediate future.
“The number of guests
we can have will increase
when COVID-19 rules
become less restrictive,”
Smith said.
If the station receives
permission to open in
November, it will have
been about 13 months after
a vote by the La Grande
City Council denied an
appeal of an Oct. 8, 2019,
La Grande Planning Com-
mission decision that
granted a conditional use
permit for the warming sta-
tion. The October plan-
ning commission decision
had been appealed by La
Grande developer Al Adels-
berger, who said he was not
against the warming station
but feels its location is not
ideal because it is close to
downtown.
The Third Street loca-
tion is the warming station’s
third home. It was on Willow
Street in 2018-19 and at the
Zion Lutheran Church in the
winter of 2017-18.
Smith said there is a pos-
sibility the warming station
will be able to open for day
use before Nov. 15. If so, the
organization will use that
opportunity to train volun-
teers and as a site to help cli-
ents take steps to secure per-
manent housing.
that the calf was missing.
A day later, fi refi ghters
from the BLM’s Snake River
Valley crew No. 7, based in
Vale, found the calf near the
reservoir where the herd had
gathered two days before.
The fi refi ghters coaxed
the calf and brought her to
Russell Hamilton, an inci-
dent fi re operations trainee
from Spokane, Wash-
ington, who is part of the
multi-agency team that’s
managing the 48,000-acre
Indian Creek fi re. The blaze
was 40% contained as of
Wednesday morning, Aug.
26. Investigators concluded
the fi re was human-caused,
but they have not identifi ed a
suspect.
Hamilton hefted the calf
into the front seat of his
pickup truck and brought the
animal back to the herd.
Manufacturing Zee & Cee Purlins
In-HouseCustom Cut Exact Lengths
Staff photo by Dick Mason
Union County Warming Station acting board chairwom-
an Audrey Smith checks one of the exterior lights Friday,
Aug. 28, at the shelter’s location in La Grande. The station
hopes to open in mid-November.
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