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About The Observer. (La Grande, Or.) 1968-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 13, 2021)
SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 13, 2021 LEE Continued from Page 1A this moment and not to any actions in the past. “It’s about whether or not he is able to commu- nicate and engage with his attorney to mount a defense,” she said. “We’re talking about how he pres- ents in court today.” Lee’s defense attorney, Dean Gushwa of Pendleton, said the two strokes Lee suffered Gushwa since his arrest in 2019 have created signifi - cant hurdles to the vital com- munication he McDaniel needs to have with a client. Without that, he said, a client can’t help in their own defense. McDaniel and Gushwa in separate interviews said aid and assist matters often come up with someone suf- fering mental illness, for example. In those cases, treatment, including psychiatric drugs and education about how the criminal court system functions, can help someone regain the ability to work BENEFITS Continued from Page 1A interruptions in benefi t pay- ments. States pay benefi ts but the U.S. Department of Labor oversees them. The latest extensions, which Congress approved at the end of December, are scheduled to end March 13. Oregon pays: • Federal benefi ts for self-employed and gig workers under a program known as Pandemic Unem- ployment Assistance. These workers did not qualify for any benefi ts until they were included for the fi rst time in the CARES Act last spring. • Federal benefi ts, on top of 26 weeks of regular ben- efi ts from the state unem- ployment trust fund, under a program known as Pan- demic Emergency Unem- ployment Compensation. • Weekly federal sup- plemental benefi ts of $300. They had been $600 for four months in 2020, and a diversion from the Federal Emergency Management Agency kept payments going for fi ve more weeks through Sept. 5. • A balance from fed- eral funds, instead of the state trust fund, under Work Share programs for employees whose hours have been cut 20% or 40%. “From the summaries I’ve seen of what is being discussed right now, I didn’t see brand-new programs being created, which is cer- STUDENTS Continued from Page 1A for instruction and cur- riculum to each district in coordination with a district’s own program options. This model allows the district to continue to support its students in all wraparound services, and students are able to remain eligible for activities such as athletics and other dis- trict-based opportunities. “We’re just helping to be a conduit for their edu- cation with virtual teachers and virtual instruction,” Lair said. The ESD also tracks stu- dents taking classes through the Virtual Learning Academy, including which school districts students are in, and provides that data to the districts. That way, Lair said, the students learning online count in a school dis- trict’s average daily enroll- ment, which matters for purposes of funding from the Oregon Department of Education. “There are many nuances behind taking aggregate numbers like this,” Lair said. “For example, these numbers include both students taking THE OBSERVER — 5A with their lawyer. Powers in his ruling stated he found “there is a substantial proba- bility that the defendant will gain or regain the capacity to stand trial.” Gushwa said Lee’s case is not a matter of over- coming a mental health problem. Rather, Lee may have suffered permanent brain damage from the strokes. The attorney ques- tioned whether Lee would be able to regain the fac- ulties to help in his own defense. Per the judge’s order, the superintendent of the Oregon State Hospital has to provide the court a prog- ress report on Lee within 90 days, and then every 180 days after that, for up to three years. Gushwa explained after that, the state can go through a civil commitment process to determine if Lee is a threat to himself or others and keep him in custody for the length of the sentence of the original offense — in this case, at least 25 years, the length of a sentence for murder. Gushwa said where someone in that situation does the time is up to the Oregon Psychiatric Security Review Board. Powers also ordered the state hospital has to notify the court if Lee regains the ability to stand trial. The state has accused Lee and codefendant Steve Edward Hamilton, 67, of La Grande, of killing Loretta Williams in November 2018 at her home in Cove. At the time, Lee and Williams were divorcing. Hamilton remains in cus- tody at the Union County Correctional Facility, La Grande. Like Lee, he faces charges of murder and con- spiracy to commit murder. Hamilton’s prosecution is in a “holding pattern,” McDaniel said, but she was not able to get into a public discussion about that. While the cases of Lee and Hamilton are on pause, McDaniel has another homi- cide case on her desk. The state has accused Gary Mason, 54, of Elgin, of killing Candy Williams, 56, of Elgin, on Dec. 29, 2020, along with her grand- daughter, Mary-Jane Eliza- beth Faria, 14, of Pendleton. He faces two counts of fi rst-degree murder. Mason has a hearing March 11 to enter a plea. McDaniel has been in offi ce since 2010. Handling two homicide cases at the same time, one involving two defendants and the other involving two victims, she said is a fi rst during her tenure. tainly a more challenging issue than just extending the time frame of some of the programs,” Gerstenfeld told reporters Wednesday, Feb. 10. on a weekly confer- ence call. “Of the vastly more complicated options that have been discussed in the past, it does not look like those proposals are actively being talked about now. So that is promising.” Some proposals would have capped benefi ts at a share of an employee’s former wage. Gerstenfeld also said he hopes Congress will act before the March 13 cutoff. Congress let the sup- plemental benefi ts in the CARES Act expire July 25, and all benefi ts expired one day before then-President Donald Trump signed the current extension on Dec. 27. The Employment Department was able to continue many benefi t pay- ments uninterrupted, but some people are having to wait for benefi ts because federal law imposed some new identity requirements for claims. “Certainly, the more lead time we have, the easier it will be,” Gerstenfeld said. “One of the problems we face is the timing of knowing what the program is and being able to get guidance from the Depart- ment of Labor before the benefi ts are supposed to be paid. We will have to wait and see what ulti- mately is passed to see what we need to do in our sys- tems to implement the new programs.” some classes through the VLA setting and some classes in their local dis- tricts. Others, the majority, would have full schedules within the virtual setting.” Actual enrollment at La Grande School Dis- trict, according to the dis- trict’s director of edu- cation, Scott Carpenter, is 2,190 students, or 158 fewer than were enrolled in 2019. That’s a drop of about 6.7%. La Grande is not the only school district in the county to partner with IMESD, and similarly, it is not alone in seeing its enrollment num- bers take a downturn in the state’s report. Union School District, for example, according to the state’s data, had 326 stu- dents enrolled as of Oct. 1, 2020, down from 373 the year before. However, according to the IMESD, 46 students in the Union School District were taking courses through the Virtual Learning Academy. That puts enrollment at Union roughly fl at. Union Super- intendent Carter Wells said the district’s students who are learning virtually are real-life Union students. “The IMESD, because of coronavirus, has given these kids an opportunity to do 100% online without leaving the community,” Wells said. Some students, Wells continued, need the oppor- tunity to forgo in-person instruction for reasons such as living with elderly or immunocompromised people in their household, which makes potential exposure to COVID-19 too dangerous to risk. The Department of Edu- cation’s report showed declined enrollment of 11 fewer students at Imbler School District, 39 fewer students at Cove School District and 22 fewer stu- dents at North Powder School District from fall 2019 to fall 2020. But 15 students in the Imbler School District are taking Virtual Learning Academy classes, along with 46 from Cove school and 15 in the North Powder School District. Only Elgin School Dis- trict showed increased enrollment, gaining fi ve students. And four of Elgin’s students are using the InterMountain ESD online program. — The Observer editor Phil Wright contributed to this article. D.C. disagreement Biden has proposed extending all these pro- grams for about six more months, to the end of the federal budget year on Sept. 30. He also proposes to increase the weekly sup- plemental benefi t from $300, which is at the fed- eral minimum wage, to $400. The money is part of his $1.9 trillion plan for pandemic recovery. Oregon Sen. Ron Wyden, the Democrat who now leads the Senate Finance Committee, has said he would like a $600 supplemental benefi t, the same amount he secured in the CARES Act for four months last year. But he said he supports the rest of what Biden wants. Wyden reacted Feb. 10 after Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell spoke in New York about the U.S. economic outlook, which Powell paints as bleaker because 5 million people have left the U.S. workforce and the jobless rate is closer to 10%, not the offi cial 6.3%. “Even more troubling, Chair Powell emphasized that while the situation has improved for upper-income workers, there has been no progress for workers of more modest means. That bears repeating — there’s been no progress for Alex Wittwer/The Observer Oregon State Police Honor Guardsman Marcus Burt of Pendleton rests while waiting for the changing of the guard at the honor watch for former Oregon State Po- lice Superintendent Reginald Madsen on Thursday, Feb. 11, 2021, at Loveland Funeral Chapel, La Grande. MADSEN Continued from Page 1A would be better than he was.” Howland said he him- self benefi ted from Mad- sen’s guidance. “He was instrumental in getting me to realize my capacity,” said Howland, who was with the OSP for 33 years. Madsen, who served in those workers who are the least fi nancially secure,” Wyden said. “Chair Pow- ell’s assessment reiterates the need for the strongest possible benefi ts package in our COVID relief bill, which is why I’m going to continue to push for at least a $400 weekly boost and six months of enhanced benefi ts.” The Senate Finance Committee and the House Ways and Means Com- mittee have authority over tax legislation. Unemploy- ment benefi ts come largely from payroll taxes. The House committee plans to take up initial legislation proposing an Aug. 29 cutoff for all the extensions. Chad Stone, chief economist for the lib- eral-leaning Center on Budget and Policy Prior- ities, argued for the Sept. 30 deadline. “Unemployment, par- ticularly among workers of color and workers without college degrees, will likely remain elevated in the fall,” Stone writes. “In addition, extending benefi ts an additional month better aligns their expiration with a time when Congress will be in session and focused on budget matters (with the fi scal year ending on Sept. 30) and, thus, well posi- tioned to further extend benefi ts.” Congress typically takes an August recess that runs through Labor Day. the U.S. Navy from 1958- 64, began his law enforce- ment career in 1966 as an offi cer with the Vancouver Police Department in Wash- ington, a position he held through 1968. After retiring from the state police, he served as a United States marshal for the District of Oregon until 2001. A service for Madsen, who had lived in Island City for several years with his wife, Pauline, will be conducted in Washougal, Washington, this spring. Madsen’s sons, Reg W. and Rick, followed in his footsteps and became Oregon State Police troopers. Reg W. Madsen, who also lived in La Grande, was a trooper from 1988 to 2007. He died in La Grande in 2010 at age 44 of natural causes. Rick Madsen is continuing to serve as a trooper in Western Oregon. Drivers urged to exercise caution By DICK MASION The Observer LA GRANDE — The Oregon Department of Transportation has warned drivers to exercise extreme caution or stay at home due to the storm hitting North- east Oregon this weekend. The storm began late Thursday afternoon, Feb. 11, and may run through late afternoon Saturday. “Motorists are advised to postpone travel if pos- sible,” said Tom Strand- berg, spokesperson for the ODOT in Northeast Oregon. ODOT did not report any serious crashes during the initial day of the fi rst storm. Strandberg attributed this to the visi- bility of snow. “When drivers see the white stuff on the road they slow down,” Strandberg said. “They are more cau- tious than when there is black ice or spots of ice.” The National Weather Service issued a winter storm warning for back-to- back storms moving over the area. The moderate to heavy snowfall continued Friday morning, according to the warning message, before a lull in intensity during the day. But snowfall would increases again Friday night through Saturday. The NWS also said to expect cold temperatures and single-digit wind chills through Saturday. Strandberg said he is encouraging motorists to consult ODOT’s Trip Check site at TripCheck. com to fi nd out about road conditions before trav- eling. The site has cam- eras to provide images of road conditions. He said it is now easier to mon- itor conditions between La Grande and Pendleton on Trip Check because of 10 additional ODOT cam- eras installed over the past year. This has boosted the number of Interstate 84 cameras between La Grande and Pendleton to about two dozen. Additional tips Strand- berg and ODOT provided include: • Be ready to use your chains. Be patient. Go slow. • Expect a long com- mute that could last hours. You never know when weather or traffi c will cause the road to be closed for extended periods. • Turn off cruise con- trol. Never use cruise con- trol in wet, icy, snowy or slippery conditions. • Expect visibility to be limited. • Make sure your wipers, headlights, turn signals, heater, etc. are in good working order.