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.