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SATURDAY, APRIL 3, 2021
THE OBSERVER — 5A
BILL
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people my age,” Hope Wil-
liams, a volunteer with Stu-
dents Demand Action in
Oregon, said in a statement
after the vote. “We want
to feel safe at home and in
our communities and that
starts with securely storing
fi rearms to prevent gun
violence.”
Students Demand
Action, together with Moms
Demand Action, constitute
Everytown for Gun Safety.
“Even in a pandemic,
our communities are con-
tinuing to endure gun vio-
lence every day,” Elizabeth
Klein, a gun violence sur-
vivor and volunteer for the
Oregon chapter of Moms
Demand Action, said.
“And, unintentional shoot-
ings and gun suicides have
continued to rise over the
past year. Secure storage
is an eff ective and easy
EO Media Group, File
House Bill 2510 in the 2021 Oregon Legislature would require the storage of fi rearms with trigger or cable locks,
in a locked container or in a gun room. The bill is headed for a vote in the Oregon House.
way to help prevent these
tragedies.”
But Oregon’s gun
rights advocates staunchly
opposed the bill.
“This bill will subject
hundreds of thousands of
law-abiding citizens with
potential criminal and
RETURN
lier reported the county’s
21st COVID-19 death, an
80-year-old man who tested
positive on March 22 and
died Monday, March 29, at
Grande Ronde Hospital, La
Grande.
The number of cases
overall in Union County
continues to tick up, with
four news cases Thursday
and six more Friday,
bringing the county’s
total to 1,382.
Continued from Page 1A
start of the school year, 20
staff and 26 students have
tested positive for COVID-
19, and 32 staff and 167 stu-
dents have shown primary
symptoms.
In all, he said, between
staff and students, 480
people in La Grande schools
have had to isolate or quar-
antine for at least 10 days.
“I just want you to know
that it’s great we have stu-
dents in school, but there’s
risk involved,” he said.
“There’s work we have to do
to keep us safe, and that’s
the reality, that’s the truth.”
Mendoza said he and
the school board have been
committed to returning
all students to full-time,
in-person learning as soon
as it was safe to do so.
When the state updated
Ready Schools, Safe
Learners guidance, the La
Grande School District dis-
persed a survey asking stu-
dents and families if they
would desire a full return.
He said the survey results
plus consultations with the
Center for Human Develop-
ment, Grande Ronde Hos-
pital, Union County Board
of Commissioners and
Union County Emergency
Management all support the
full return.
Mendoza also stressed he
listens to what local public
health offi cials say about
keeping schools safe and
stopping the spread of the
virus.
“If they ever tell me that
they think we have to shut
down, I don’t usually tell
them they’re wrong and that
I’m not going to do that,” he
said. “I usually just go for-
ward with their suggestions
so we can reduce the risk
and reduce the spread of
COVID.”
But data from the survey
and those consultations,
Mendoza said, delivered the
message to move forward
with having students return
to regular school days.
“We’re defi nitely excited
about that,” he said, and
asked pediatrician Dr.
Zachary Spoehr-Labutta for
his take on La Grande stu-
Let Your
Alex Wittwer/The Observer
Vicky Huff man, a paraeducator at La Grande Middle School, acts as a crossing guard for students as they leave
class Friday, April 2, 2021. The La Grande School District announced its students would be attending school every
weekday starting April 12.
dents returning to classes.
“Based on the currently
available data, I support this
measure wholeheartedly,”
the doctor said.
He explained he receives
emails weekly from
school districts nationwide
regarding how implemen-
tation of key COVID-19
safety practices have turned
out in their districts.
“Not surprisingly, those
that adhered to key prac-
tices kept their COVID
numbers low, and those
that did not, their COVID
numbers were signifi cantly
higher,” he said.
He said the under-
standing of the virus and
key safety measures make it
feasible for Union County to
move to having middle and
high school students back
on campus classes every
weekday. He also advised
parents to give those stu-
dents some concrete advice:
Tell them if they can reach
out and touch someone in
school, they are too close.
Mendoza also said
while students are
returning to school, main-
taining key safety prac-
tices is a priority. Staff still
must maintain 6 feet of
physical distance between
one another and continue
to physically distance from
students to the greatest
extent possible, and close
contact rules still apply. He
also emphasized the need
for vaccinations, which
could have the most signif-
icant eff ect on returning to
normalcy in schools.
Scott Carpenter, the
school district’s director of
education, during the vir-
tual town hall explained ele-
mentary grades will con-
tinue classes 8 a.m to
1 p.m. each weekday.
Middle and high school
students starting April 12
will attend classes 9 a.m.
to 1:25 p.m. in two blocks
of periods that alternate,
with periods 1-4 one day
and 5-8 the next. Keeping
the later morning start pre-
vents elementary school
students from riding buses
at the same time as middle
and high school students,
he said, and lunch will be
“grab and go,” 1:30-2 p.m.,
when the school day ends.
Going back full time
“carte blanche,” Carpenter
said, would cause a “major
disruption” to people and
systems throughout the
district.
Still, this change
increases instructional
hours from 10-15 a week to
closer to 25 a week, he said,
and gets students in the
habit of returning to school
each weekday. He also said
students have the option of
using the district’s online
education academy.
Now the next big target,
Carpenter said, is full
school days in the fall.
Also, the Oregon Health
Authority reported a second
Union County resident this
week died from COVID-19.
The OHA on Thursday,
April 1, reported a
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civil liability overnight for
actions that are perfectly
legal today,” Paul Donhef-
fner, legislative committee
chairman for the Oregon
Hunters Association, said in
testimony to the committee.
Kevin Starrett is director
of the Oregon Firearms
Federation, which bills
itself as a no compromise
group on gun rights. It even
disparaged Republican law-
makers working on regula-
tion of fi rearms sales at gun
shows in 1999, a year after
the group’s founding. The
bill did not pass, but voters
approved a related initiative
measure in 2000 by a 62%
majority.
Starrett had harsher
words for lawmakers during
his committee testimony.
“Gun owners in Oregon
have been remarkably
well-behaved,” he said.
“But if you keep rewarding
criminals and punishing the
law-abiding, don’t expect
them to stay that way.”
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48-year-old woman in
the county tested posi-
tive March 17 and died
on Tuesday, March 30, at
St. Luke’s Medical Center
in Boise, Idaho. She had
underlying conditions and
became Oregon’s 2,385th
COVID-19 death and the
county’s 22nd.
The Oregon Health
Authority two days ear-
DRIVES
Continued from Page 1A
the blood will be tested
for numerous irreg-
ularities, including
COVID-19 antibodies.
Portions of any blood
with these antibodies
can be used to treat
people being treated for
COVID-19, Reines said.
Most of the blood
drawn at commu-
nity drives stays in
the region in which it
was donated. However,
sometimes it is sent out-
side the region when
there are emergencies,
Reines said.
Union County res-
idents will have two
more opportunities to
give blood at Red Cross
community drives in La
Grande in the next two
and a half months.
The fi rst will be on
April 15 from 10 a.m.
to 4 p.m. at the Pres-
byterian Friendship
Center, 1204 Spring
Ave. The second will be
June 15-16 again at The
Church of Latter-day
Saints Church, 1802
Gekeler Lane. The June
15 session will run from
noon to 6 p.m., and the
June 16 blood draw will
operate from 9 a.m. to
3 p.m.
For more information
on donating blood go to
www.redcrossblood.org.
1.1 Billion
Dollars…
That was the combined
compensation package for 62
health care company CEOs in 2018.
Meanwhile, 1 in 5 Americans
struggle to pay for medical debt
and medical problems contribute
to 66.5% of all bankruptcies. Our
health insurance system is broken.
Letʼs work on fi xing it.
Health Care for All Oregon
Union County
unioncounty@hcao.org