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Good day to our valued subscriber Robert Journot of Wallowa
Bill aims to keep outbreak data public
Testimony in favor of SB 719 targets Oregon
Health Authority’s handling of information
INSIDE
For details on Senate Bill 719, see Page 5A.
session on Wednesday, March
31. The bill is in the Senate
Committee on Health Care.
According to the text of the pro-
posal, “Aggregate data derived
from information obtained by the
authority or a local public health
administrator in the course of an
investigation of a reportable dis-
ease or disease outbreak are not
confi dential or exempt from dis-
By PHIL WRIGHT
The Observer
SALEM — A proposal for a
bill to compel the state to keep
aggregate data relating to report-
able disease investigations as
public information remains alive
in the ongoing 2021 Oregon
Legislature.
Senate Bill 719 had a public
hearing last week and has a work
Wallowa Lake
closure” under specifi c sections
of Oregon’s public records law
“unless the data could reasonably
lead to the identifi cation of an
individual.”
Sen. Bill Hansell does not
serve on that committee but
explained most bills that did not
have a hearing or work session by
March 19 were dead in the Senate.
A bill can’t exit a committee to
head to a fl oor vote without a
work session. Oregon’s consti-
tutional limit of 160 days for the
Legislature, he said, fi rms up
scheduling to consider new laws.
But at this point in the session, he
said, plenty of proposals are done.
SB 719, though, is pitting
public interest in data about the
coronavirus against health agen-
cies concerned with revealing
an individual’s private health
information.
Two Portland Democrats,
Sen. Michael Dembrow and Rep.
Karin A. Power, are the chief
sponsors of the bill. Hansell said
they were liberal progressives
who tend not to want to infringe
on people’s privacy, and in
looking at 719, he said, there seem
to be “lot of caveats” to ensure
that’s the case.
Prior to the public hearing on
Wednesday, March 24, the com-
mittee received testimony against
and for the bill.
Collette Young, adminis-
See, Bill/Page 5A
REGRETTING RADIO SILENCE
Funding
for dam on
the burner KEOL alumni reflect on value of college radio
DICK MASON
Legislature looks to
restore $14 million in
funding for Wallowa
Lake Dam project
The Observer
By BILL BRADSHAW
Wallowa County Chieftain
WALLOWA LAKE —
Although sales for bonds to fund
the $16 million refurbishment
of the Wallowa Lake Dam were
supposed to begin this month,
the Oregon Legislature put that
on hold for a year because the
COVID-19 pandemic caused a
sharp drop in Oregon Lottery
revenue.
But lawmakers and dam stake-
holders are optimistic the funding
will come through this year.
“What they have decided to do
is include those in discussion for
this year’s funding cycle. Because
they were in the governor’s, that
gives us some options,” state
Sen. Bill Hansell, R-Athena, said
Thursday, March 25.
He said although the lottery
funding is “trending in the right
direction,” it may not be neces-
sary to rely on the bonds and the
money could come out of general
fund or another fund.
“We won’t need to go to lottery
bonds in that case,” he said.
The plan was to raise $14 mil-
lion through sale of bonds from
lottery revenue and begin selling
them this month, with work on
the dam to begin after irrigation
season ends Sept. 30. Another
$2 million of the $16 million
project will be raised from “other
sources,” said Dan Butterfi eld,
president of the Wallowa Lake
Alex Wittwer/The Observer
Eastern Oregon University refl ects through the windows of the KEOL radio station room Friday, March 5, 2021. Several alumni have
contacted EOU about how to keep the radio station alive following the announcement that it would be defunded at the end of
the 2020-21 school year.
See, Dam/Page 5A
Alex Wittwer/The Observer
Eastern Oregon University’s KEOL radio studio sits empty on Friday, March 5, 2021. The university’s board votes in May on the
proposal to not fund the station next school year.
THE KEOL SITUATION
• The Eastern Oregon University Student Fee Committee voted on Feb. 5 to discontinue funding KEOL, the student-run FM radio station, for 2021-22.
• The station sought $33,606 for 2021-22.
• The committee cited various reasons for its decision, including budget shortfall from declining enrollment and the notion that traditional broad-
cast radio is a fading industry.
• Supporters of KEOL argue the station has a future and might be able to continue as a community radio station.
• The EOU’s Board of Trustees at its May 20 meeting votes on approving the budget for student incidental fees.
LA GRANDE — Joe Garner
of Ontario admitted the news hit
him hard.
Garner was jolted recently
when he found out KEOL FM,
Eastern Oregon University’s stu-
dent-run radio station since 1973,
likely will be shut down in June at
the end of the 2020-21 school year.
“I was heartbroken. I don’t like
it,” said Garner, who served as
KEOL’s station manager and pro-
gram director during portions of
the time he worked at the radio
station from 1985-89.
The shutdown appears immi-
nent after EOU’s Student Fees
Committee voted to defund
KEOL, which is receiving $33,481
from student incidental fees this
school year to operate.
The committee, composed of
EOU students, voted Feb. 5 to
take the step primarily due to a
budget shortfall from declining
enrollment. Other reasons the
committee cited were low stu-
dent participation and the belief
that traditional broadcast radio is
a fading industry in today’s dig-
ital age.
Garner disagreed, saying,
“There is still room for radio.”
He said radio is going in a dif-
ferent direction today but it has
a future, one he believes KEOL
should be helping train students
for.
“Radio needs good people,
and Eastern can provide them,”
Garner said.
He said $33,481 is a small price
to pay for Eastern to give students
a chance to be introduced to radio.
“When you go to college you
want to be exposed to as many
things as possible, to get a well-
rounded education,” Garner said.
“It is important to get out of your
comfort zone.”
Lack of student participa-
tion was another factor in the
Student Fee Committee’s deci-
sion to defund the station, which
EOU’s student senate supported
on March 5. The station has about
four student disc jockeys, plus two
paid student staff members. This
is a far cry from the 1980s and
1990s when KEOL had enough
disc jockeys to fi ll almost every
three-hour time slot almost around
the clock.
“We had about 100 DJs and
they were on the air day and
night,” said Jack Kemp of Cor-
vallis, a station manager at KEOL
See, KEOL/Page 5A
INDEX
Classified ...............4B
Comics ....................7B
Crossword .............4B
Dear Abby .............8B
WEATHER
Home ......................1B
Horoscope .............4B
Lottery ....................3A
Obituaries ..............3A
THURSDAY
Opinion ..................4A
Sports .....................7A
State ........................6A
Sudoku ...................7B
TINY HOMES
Full forecast on the back of B section
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Issue 38
2 sections, 16 pages
La Grande, Oregon
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