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

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    SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 14, 2020
STATE
Continued from Page 1A
COVID-19 tests are coming
back at a level of 11.9% pos-
itive. A rate above 5% indi-
cates a rise in the number of
people who will get ill.
For businesses, activi-
ties and groups that do not
fall under the new restric-
tions, The Oregon Health
Authority will issue addi-
tional guidance within the
next week. Sectors without
specifi c prohibitions or
guidance must operate
under previous directives.
Brown and the governors
of California and Wash-
ington earlier on Friday
issued identical travel
advisories.
Travelers going out of
state are urged to quaran-
tine for 14 days upon their
return home.
Dr. Dean Sidelinger, the
state’s top infectious dis-
ease expert, said decisions
on public action “are not
perfect” and that state offi -
cials know that ordering
shutdowns or stay-at-home
orders have their own nega-
tive impacts.
“That economic impact
has a real impact on our
health,” Sidelinger said.
“People can’t tolerate that
level of isolation for that
long.”
Brown said Oregon and
LOCAL
Continued from Page 1A
will likely be travelers
here waiting for roads to
open up.
“They will be looking
for services,” said Baker,
who also has his own busi-
ness, Merlyn’s Catering.
Baker said the restau-
rants that fare best in the
face of additional restric-
tions like those posed by
LIBRARY
Continued from Page 1A
Townsend said she hears
students talking about the
name on campus and is
concerned and disheart-
ened some students don’t
feel comfortable entering
the library because of its
namesake. Townsend also
is a member of the library
renaming committee.
“We continue to have
students express discom-
fort with coming into the
library. To know there were
students out there who felt
that was really upsetting,”
Townsend said.
English junior Emily
Andrews said she she
understands and sup-
ports the school removing
the Pierce name from the
library. Growing up in La
Grande Andrews said she
has heard about the issues
with the name for most
of her life and she is glad
to see something is being
done about removing the
name.
“Having the library with
namesake for that family
ROADWORK
Continued from Page 1A
also will pay for base
repairs and chip sealing on
Evanston Street and North
Ninth Avenue.
North Powder received
$70,000 to make improve-
ments to the town’s school
bus route, which was
recently changed to run on
Fourth and F streets.
THE OBSERVER — 5A
all states need new federal
help to cushion the eco-
nomic fallout and over-
stretched public resources
used in the pandemic.
“It’s time for congress to
just do it and stop talking
about it,” Brown said.
Oregon is still experi-
encing less overall impact
from the virus than other
states. It had experienced
1,289 cases per 100,000
people — 45th among
states, according to analysis
on Friday by the New York
Times. North Dakota tops
the list with 7,953 cases per
100,000 people.
But in the past 7 days,
the Times said Oregon had
20.5 cases per 100,000,
moving it up to a rank of
42nd — higher than Cali-
fornia and New York.
Oregon’s current rapid
rise is already stretching
hospital availability in the
Portland area and showing
strain elsewhere in the state.
Brown had already
placed a two-week pause
on social activities in nine
counties, including Union
and Baker counties, which
began Wednesday. She
said said adding addi-
tional counties was a future
option.
Legacy Health, Oregon
Health & Science Univer-
sity and Kaiser Permanente
Northwest, all based in the
Portland area, are delaying
elective surgeries as hos-
pital beds are fi lling. Check
with your doctor or med-
ical center for their status.
Check with your doctor
or medical center for their
status.
Under the three-state
plan announced Friday
morning, “non-essential
travel” should be cancelled
or delayed.
The advisory defi nes
essential travel as travel
for work and study, critical
infrastructure support, eco-
nomic services and supply
chains, health, immediate
medical care, and safety
and security.
Visitors entering or
returning from the three
states should minimize
their exposure to others for
14 days after arriving from
another state. In the case of
the three states, the advi-
sory would mean an Orego-
nian traveling to California
or Washington should quar-
antine for 14 days on their
arrival and then another 14
days upon return.
The governors of the
three states reiterated early
requests that residents not
risk out-of-state travel for
the Thanksgiving holiday.
“COVID-19 does not
stop at state lines,” Brown
said in a statement. “As
hospitals across the West
are stretched to capacity, we
must take steps to ensure
travelers are not bringing
this disease home with
them.”
The three-state advi-
sory also recommends indi-
viduals limit their inter-
actions to their immediate
household.
The United States reg-
istered 150,000 cases on
Thursday, a new record.
Current hospitalizations for
Covid-19 hit a new record
of 67,096 on Thursday,
according to the Covid
Tracking Project.
California on Thursday
became the second state to
surpass one million cases.
Texas is the other. Nation-
wide, nearly 10.7 million
people have been infected
and 243,387 people have
died, according to the
Johns Hopkins Coranavirus
the pause are those who
strive to be adaptable.
Kody Guentert, owner of
Brother Bear Cafe in La
Grande, said that is what
he plans on doing.
“I’m gonna be deliv-
ering,” Guentert said. “I’m
in talks right now with the
PA offi ce here in town. I’m
gonna try to cone off two
spots out front here (for
outdoor seating), and I’ll
be doing the delivery per-
sonally. ... You gotta do
what you gotta do.”
Jennifer Li, manager
at Moy’s Dynasty in La
Grande, said the establish-
ment has been doing some
in-person dining, but the
freeze is “going to be a
pretty hard hit.”
“We’re hoping with
November and the hol-
iday season, with col-
lege students coming back
from wherever they were,
they’ll order or pickup,”
she said.
Li said she and the crew
at Moy’s Dynasty have
been worried about the sit-
uation but also optimistic
through these tough times.
“A lot of people in the
community have been
really supportive,” Li said.
Becky Boyd, owner of
Becky’s Burger Wagon in
La Grande, said she did
not have to worry about
the indoor dining, and she
put away the table that
was for outdoor seating.
She also said the last set of
dining restrictions led to
an uptick for her business.
“People that hadn’t
been here before now had
a chance to stop in,” Boyd
said. “We will be kicking
up a delivery service in
the very near future. We
will also have homemade
soup and chili. I don’t
feel like it will hurt me in
a bad way. Last time we
were just exhausted, but
that’s not really bad.”
2-WEEK FREEZE NOV. 18 TO DEC. 2
NEW LIMITS AND RESTRICTIONS:
• Takeout only from restaurants and bars.
• Close all gyms and fi tness organizations.
• Close indoor recreational and entertainment
facilities, including theaters, museums, pools,
sports courts and hosting venues.
• Close outdoor recreational facilities, zoos,
gardens, aquariums, entertainment activities,
including pools and hosting venues.
• Faith-based gatherings are limited to 25 people
indoors or 50 people outdoors.
• Prohibits indoor visits to long-term care
facilities.
• Limits grocery stores and pharmacies to 75%
capacity and encourages curbside pick-up.
• Limits retail stores and retail malls — both
indoor and outdoor — to a 75% capacity and
encourages curbside pick-up.
• Requires all businesses mandate work-from-
puts a bad vibe off and tells
a story that EOU doesn’t
want to tell,” Andrews said.
“I think it is a pretty bold
move to get it out of there.
We know he is part of our
history and made contribu-
tions to the town and to the
library but it is appropriate
to have his name removed.”
Two people spoke
during the time for public
comment, both in support
of removing the name.
EOU alumnus Peter
Barry said he supports
the decision and encour-
ages the university to con-
sider renaming the building
with the help of the Amer-
ican Indian tribes. Michael
Fields, a business professor,
spoke on behalf of the com-
mittee for diversity, equity,
inclusion and accessi-
bility, and said he supports
renaming of the library.
The university plans to
install a display explaining
the history of the library
name and the reason for the
change. This is to combat
the concern that changing
the name of the library is
an attempt to erase history.
“For me, it was the dif-
“What we’re doing
is trying to resurface a
couple of the streets in
town that have gotten so
bad with potholes and
stuff,” said Beth Wendt,
city recorder for North
Powder. “(North Powder
school) changed their bus
route, and in the process
of that, with the additional
weight of the bus on the
street, there’s some pretty
big potholes.”
home to the greatest extent possible and close
offi ces to the public.
UNAFFECTED BY NEW RULES:
The restrictions came with several exemptions.
It does not affect continued state guidance for
operations by the Oregon Health Authority that
includes:
• Higher education.
• Programs for sports, youth, childcare, K-12
schools, and K-12 sports.
• Division 1 and professional sports operations.
• Current rules for personal services such as
barber shops, hair salons, and non-medical mas-
sage therapy.
• Congregate homeless sheltering.
• Program for outdoor recreation and sports,
youth, childcare, K-12 schools, K-12 sports, Divi-
sion 1 and professional athletics.
ference of ensuring we
are not erasing history but
choosing who we want
to honor,” Insko said. “A
name on a building from
my standpoint is an honor.
I do hope when students
read the history it continues
the conversation about our
checkered past. I want these
conversations to continue
not for negative purposes
but so that it causes all of
us to refl ect on where we
are and how we contribute
to the history as individ-
uals. History is history, you
cannot rewrite it.”
The changes to the
library will not be imme-
diate, Seydel and Townsend
said. The school will
update the signs at the
library and update the uni-
versity’s webpages, in addi-
tion to updating stamps
in the large collection of
books at EOU. This will
occur over time to not
burden the staff and keep
costs low.
“You can’t just do a
global search and replace,”
Seydel said. “We do expect
there to be some cost but
largely born out over time.”
Nearby Enterprise and
Ukiah received awards
of $100,000 each to make
roadway repairs and
improvements.
Snow said cities that
have received funding will
have to enter into agree-
ments with ODOT to estab-
lish milestones, deadlines
and other details. She also
noted projects had to be
completed within two years
to be eligible.
Chiropractic Specialist
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EOU hoops hits
roadblock
LA GRANDE —
Eastern Oregon Uni-
versity basketball won’t
take to the court until at
least the second week of
2021, according to a press
release from the Cascade
Collegiate Conference.
While the Mounties’
conference had hoped to
start competition Dec.
4, fans will now have to
wait another month before
seeing players hit the
hardwood.
“With the surge in
COVID-19 cases across
our footprint and the work
still pending with state/
local health authorities on
our Return to Play Plan,
our CoP determined the
best path forward was
Resource Center.
Worldwide, more than
53.1 million people have
been infected and 1.31 mil-
lion have died. the center
said. As of Thursday’s
report, an estimated 53,779
people have been infected
in Oregon, with 746 deaths.
Pfi zer-BioNTech
announced this week that
preliminary results of a vac-
cine under development had
a 90% effective rate. Addi-
tional tests and reviews will
be required, but the com-
pany hopes to start shipping
vaccine by the end of the
year. However, it likely will
take several months for the
vaccine to become widely
available.
Dr. Amesh Adalja, an
infectious disease expert
with the Johns Hopkins
Center for Health Security,
writing in The Hill political
website, said this week the
vaccine development was
good news, but there still
were many hurdles to get it
to people around the globe.
“If everything goes per-
fectly with this vaccine,
there is still a Herculean
vaccine distribution task
that lies ahead,” Adalja
wrote. “This vaccine, and
several other candidates,
are two-dose vaccines that
require both doses for full
effect.”
— Observer staff con-
tributed to this report.
PEAK Lifestyle Fitness
Studio in downtown La
Grande isn’t going to wait
for the mandate to take
effect and will start tran-
sitioning fi tness classes
online, owner Colleen
McIntosh said.
“We are lucky to be
able to easily transition,”
she said. “Luckily we went
all virtual before and my
instructors know how to
keep the energy up and
keep people engaged.”
NEWS BRIEFS
to delay the start of con-
ference basketball until
after the fi rst of the year,”
said CCC Commissioner
Robert Cashell.
The CCC had a plan for
returning to play just last
week, but was sidelined
by a statewide fl ood of
COVID-19 cases that have
shattered records. Cashell
said the CCC remains
committed to giving
players an opportunity to
compete, and a revised
schedule is in the works.
Baker City man
gets prison term
for meth delivery
BAKER CITY — A
Baker City man who was
arrested during a law
enforcement sweep of a
southeast Baker City prop-
erty known in the neigh-
borhood for drug activity
has been sentenced to
almost three years in
prison for dealing in “sub-
stantial quantities” of
methamphetamine.
John Gordon Hanna,
54, who police describe as
a transient, was one of six
arrested in September on
drug-related charges by
offi cers from the North-
east Oregon Regional
SWAT Team and Baker
County Narcotics Enforce-
ment Team that executed a
search warrant at a Baker
City residence.
The property is owned
by Stacey Bork, who also
was among those arrested.
Hanna was convicted
Nov. 3 in Baker County
Circuit Court.
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