LOCAL/REGION
2A — THE OBSERVER
TuESday, apRil 6, 2021
Today in Baker County’s vaccination count overstated
History Problem with state reporting system inflated Baker County’s vaccination numbers by about 50%
Today is Tuesday, april 6, the
96th day of 2021. There are 269
days left in the year.
TODAY’S HIGHLIGHT IN
HISTORY:
On april 6, 1909, american
explorers Robert E. peary and
Matthew a. Henson and four inuits
became the first men to reach the
North pole.
ON THIS DATE:
in 1886, the Canadian city of
Vancouver, British Columbia, was
incorporated.
in 1896, the first modern
Olympic games formally opened in
athens, Greece.
in 1945, during World War ii, the
Japanese warship yamato and nine
other vessels sailed on a suicide
mission to attack the u.S. fleet off
Okinawa; the fleet was intercepted
the next day.
in 1968, 41 people were killed
by two consecutive natural gas
explosions at a sporting goods store
in downtown Richmond, indiana.
in 1974, Swedish pop group
aBBa won the Eurovision Song
Contest held in Brighton, England,
with a performance of the song
“Waterloo.”
in 1985, William J. Schroeder
became the first artificial heart
recipient to be discharged from
the hospital as he moved into an
apartment in louisville, Kentucky.
in 2008, democratic presi-
dential candidate Barack Obama
spoke of voters in pennsylvania’s
Rust Belt communities who “cling
to guns or religion” because of bit-
terness about their economic lot;
democratic rival Hillary Rodham
Clinton seized on the comment,
calling it “elitist.”
By JAYSON JACOBY
Baker City Herald
SALEM — The Oregon
Health Authority estimated
its website recently exag-
gerated by about 50% the
number of Baker County
residents who have been
partially or fully vaccinated
against COVID-19.
The agency on
Wednesday, March 31, tem-
porarily blocked the section
of the website listing county
vaccination statistics due to
the Baker County error.
Earlier this week, the
website showed that more
than 10,400 Baker County
residents — about 62% of
the county’s population —
had been partially or fully
vaccinated.
That was by far the
highest rate among Ore-
gon’s 36 counties.
The Baker City Herald
on March 23 sent an email
to OHA noting the website
showed that more Baker
County residents in cer-
tain age groups, including
80 and older and 75 to 79,
had been vaccinated than
there are residents in the
county in those age ranges
based on a state-supplied
spreadsheet.
Baker County Commis-
sioner Mark Bennett told
Samantha O’Conner/Baker City Herald
More than 450 people received vaccinations for COVid-19 on Friday, Feb. 26, 2021, in the Baker High School gym.
the Herald last week that
he believed the OHA web-
site overstated the number
of county residents who
have been fully or partially
vaccinated.
In a March 31 email
to the Baker City Herald,
Rudy Owens, a public
affairs specialist for OHA,
wrote the agency is investi-
gating the error.
“We estimate that
roughly 50% of individ-
uals indicated as residing in
Baker County were incor-
rect on the county data
tab dashboard feature” on
the OHA website, Owens
wrote. “We presume Baker
County had such a signif-
icant impact because it is
the first county, alphabeti-
Oregon State Police still seeking
leads for missing Idaho woman
The Observer
MEACHAM — Oregon State Police
are reminding people in the area of the
Interstate 84 work zone near Meacham to
keep an eye out for anything that could
lead to finding a woman who has been
missing almost three months.
Deborah “Deb” Hendrichs of Ada
County, Idaho, has been missing since
Jan. 11. OSP Lt. Daniel D. Conner with
the La Grande Area Command in a bul-
letin reported an Oregon Department of
Transportation worker was the last person
to report seeing Hendrichs, whose 2012
black Toyota Rav 4 ran out of fuel on east-
bound Interstate 84 near mile point 238.5
near Meacham.
“Members of the Oregon State Police
responded to the scene within 20 minutes
to find the vehicle unoccupied,” according
to state police.
Hendrichs is 56, stands 5 feet, 6 inches
tall and weighs 145 pounds. Multiple
Oregon State police/Contributed Photo
Search efforts continue to try to find deborah “deb”
Hendrichs of ada County, idaho, who has been
missing since Jan. 11, 2021, after her car ran out of
gas near Meacham.
search efforts have not led to finding Hen-
drichs. Conner urged anyone who sees
anything suspicious in the area to contact
the Oregon State Police La Grande Area
Command at 541-963-7175 and refer to
case No. SP21-014895.
Police to crack down on distracted driving
The Observer
LA GRANDE — Local
law enforcement will run
extra patrols later this
week to catch distracted
drivers.
April is Distracted
Driver Awareness Month,
and on Friday, April 9,
local law enforcement will
conduct a saturation patrol
to increase awareness and
deter distracted driving,
according to press release
from the La Grande Police
Department.
This will be the first of
three events in La Grande
and Union County in
2021 to educate distracted
drivers and enforce dis-
tracted-driving laws, the
release stated.
The effort is a partner-
ship involving the Oregon
Department of Trans-
portation, La Grande
Police Department, Union
County Sheriff’s Office
and the Oregon State
Police.
On Friday in La
Grande, officers, deputies
and troopers will be stop-
ping and ticketing those
they catch texting or using
their devices illegally
while driving. The press
release stated police are
not trying to rack up cita-
tions but rather trying to
save lives.
According to ODOT,
distract drivers in Oregon
between 2014-18 caused
13,603 crashes resulting
in 20,992 injuries and 137
fatalities.
Distractions such as
texting, talking on a cell-
phone, using a naviga-
tion system or eating can
endanger you, your pas-
sengers and others on
the road. Approximately
eight people die each day
as a result of distracted
driving, according to
La Grande police, and in
2019 nearly 1 in 10 fatal
crashes in the United
States were reported as
distraction-affected.
Texting is perhaps
the most common cause
of distracted driving.
According to the Trans-
portation Safety section
of the U.S. Centers for
Disease Control and Pre-
vention website, at 55
mph, sending or reading
a text “is like driving the
length of a football field
with your eyes closed.”
McNary Dam using bird deterrent system
East Oregonian
UMATILLA — Offi-
cials with the U.S. Army
Corps of Engineers
Walla Walla District have
resumed use of bird-de-
terring lasers, and will
be testing a long-range
acoustic device to pre-
vent birds from preying
on endangered juvenile
salmon passing through
McNary Dam.
In a change from last
year, the two lasers will be
used simultaneously. Pre-
viously, only one of the
two lasers owned by the
dam were operational at
any given time. One laser
will be positioned on the
navigational lock wing
wall on the downstream
side and will provide cov-
erage of the fish outfall
pipe and surrounding
waters and facilities,
including the dam itself.
The other laser will be
positioned directly on the
outfall pipe and cover the
water directly below it.
The lasers, which will
run from dawn to dusk
daily, went into operation
on Thursday, April 1, and
will be in operation until
approximately November.
The lasers emit a bright
green light that creates a
large dot. Birds interpret
the dot as a solid object,
which they avoid as a
potential threat. The lasers
are programmed to move
in random patterns within
a predetermined area and
have a range of approxi-
mately 950 feet to 1 mile,
depending on the weather.
The long-range acoustic
device is scheduled to
begin usage in late August.
A small device, it can
broadcast preprogramed
audio tracks over a large
area. When activated,
the tracks act as an audio
deterrent for birds. Similar
devices have garnered suc-
cess at airports across the
United States.
McNary’s long-range
acoustic device is pro-
grammed with two audio
tracks. The first is a com-
puter-generated male
voice that announces it
is a long-range acoustic
device and performs a
countdown. The second
closely matches the noise
emitted by a standard car
alarm. When active, it will
be audible throughout the
McNary Dam and Lake
Wallua area.
The long-range acoustic
device will run intermit-
tently throughout the day
through October.
cally, in the list of Oregon
counties.”
Owens wrote that OHA
expects to have more
detailed numbers next
week.
Owens wrote that one
possible source of the mis-
takes is a March 15 outage
in the computer system,
supplied by a state vendor,
that tabulates vaccination
statistics. The system is
called Alert IIS.
“We are also actively
working with our ALERT
IIS vendor on solutions
to avoid this error in the
future,” Owens wrote in his
email to the Herald.
March 15 is about when
Baker County’s vaccina-
tion numbers began to rise
rapidly, particularly the
number of Pfizer vaccine
doses administered.
By March 24, the OHA
website showed that more
than 4,200 doses of the
Pfizer vaccine had been
given in Baker County,
compared with 325 in
neighboring Union County,
which has about 10,000
more residents.
Yet, Baker Coun-
ty’s vaccine providers,
including the Baker County
Health Department, Saint
Alphonsus Medical Cen-
ter-Baker City, and phar-
macies at the Safeway, Alb-
ertsons and Bi-Mart stores,
told the Herald that they
either don’t use the Pfizer
vaccine at all, or administer
News Briefs
La Grande’s March
and how to navigate the
warmer, drier than normal application process. Reg-
LA GRANDE — La
Grande’s temperatures in
March were slightly warmer
than normal, according
to preliminary data from
the National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administra-
tion’s National Weather Ser-
vice Office in Pendleton.
The average temperature
was 41.4 degrees, which
was 0.6 degrees above
normal, the Weather Ser-
vice reported in its monthly
climate report. High tem-
peratures averaged 53.8
degrees, 2.6 degrees above
normal. The highest was
70 degrees on March 28.
Low temperatures averaged
29.0 degrees, which was 1.4
degrees below normal. The
lowest was 21 degrees on
March 10. There were 17
days with the low tempera-
ture below 32 degrees.
Precipitation totaled
1.15 inches during March,
which was 0.31 inches
below normal. La Grande
received measurable pre-
cipitation (at least .01 inch)
on 11 day, according to the
report, with the heaviest,
0.41 inches on March 23.
Precipitation this year has
reached 4.68 inches, 0.45
inches above normal. Since
October, the water-year pre-
cipitation at La Grande has
been 9.26 inches, which is
0.05 inches above normal.
The 30-year normal precipi-
tation is 1.58 inches.
The outlook for April
from NOAA’s Climate Pre-
diction Center calls for near
to below normal tempera-
tures and near normal pre-
cipitation. Normal highs
for La Grande rise from 55
degrees at the start of April
to 62 degrees at the end
of April, and normal lows
rise from 33 degrees to 38
degrees.
State seeks applications
for trail projects
SALEM — Organiza-
tions, land managers and
local governments looking
to build, expand or improve
public trails have until June
15 to seek grants through
the Oregon Parks and Rec-
reation Department’s Rec-
reational Trails Program.
The federally funded
reimbursement grant pro-
gram provides matching
grants to construct, expand
or improve public trails for
motorized and non-mo-
torized use. The program
is accepting grant appli-
cations for the 2021 grant
cycle. Applicants must
submit a letter of intent via
oprdgrants.org by April
30, and applications are
due June 15. An optional
webinar is set April 15,
9:30-11:30 a.m. to provide
information on the program
ister at the Recreational
Trails Program web page.
Approximately $1.6
million in grant funds are
available for land or ease-
ment acquisitions, safety
and education, trail assess-
ment for accessibility or
maintenance construction,
heavy restoration, trailhead
facilities and water trails.
The grant program is
open to local governments,
park districts, state and fed-
eral agencies, tribal gov-
ernments, other public land
managers and nonprofits.
Information about the
program, including the
grant manual, application
instructions and program
schedule, is on the Recre-
ational Trails Program web
page: www.oregon.gov/
oprd/GRA/pages/GRA-rtp.
aspx.
Interstate 84 construction
project underway
MEACHAM — Con-
struction is slowing slow
traffic on Interstate 84
between Meacham and
Spring Creek for the next
two years.
The Oregon Depart-
ment of Transportation on
Monday, April 5, began a
new paving project between
milepost 238 and 248.
During construction, vehi-
cles will be rerouted to one
side of the interstate at a
time, with a single lane in
each direction. The speed
limit will be reduced to
50 mph, and Oregon State
Police will increase its
patrol presence.
According to an email
from ODOT, reconstruction
of milepost 238 to 241.5
will take place in 2021 and
the rest will be completed
in 2022.
ODOT is starting the
work with closing the left
lanes in each direction to
construct the “crossovers”
for traffic to move onto the
new travel route.
The state road depart-
ment also reported the
project will replace the
asphalt that has become
rutted from severe winter
weather and chain use, cre-
ating hazardous condi-
tions where ice collects in
the ruts and cracks. Crews
also will complete some
other upgrades to guard
rails, median barriers and
bridges.
No signs of foul play in
Long Creek fire
LONG CREEK — A
woman’s death in a house
fire near Long Creek that
was being investigated as
arson has not turned up any
evidence of foul play so far,
according to Grant County
Sheriff Todd McKinley.
it in small numbers.
A notice posted March
31 on the OHA COVID-19
website stated: “Vaccina-
tion data by county of resi-
dence is currently unavail-
able. An error in county
designation for some indi-
viduals was identified on
March 30, 2021 and the
Oregon Immunization Pro-
gram Alert IIS team is
working on a solution to
correct the error in county
assignment.”
The error doesn’t affect
statewide totals, which are
available on the website.
Bennett said despite the
counting error, he is pleased
with the county’s progress
in vaccinating residents.
The health department
administered 717 doses on
March 12, most at a clinic
at Baker High School, and
about 560 more during a
March 26 clinic, most of
those being second doses.
The health department’s
next major clinic, also
focusing on administering
second doses to people
who had their first dose on
March 12, is set for Friday,
April 9, at BHS.
To get on a waiting list
for a vaccine, go to www.
bakercountycovid19.com or
call 541-523-0015.
In August, the body of
Susan Carter, 72, was dis-
covered inside her mobile
home on Carter Lane near
Long Creek after it became
engulfed in flames, then-
Grant County Sheriff Glenn
Palmer said in a press
release.
The sheriff’s office
received a report of the
burning home at about
5 a.m. on Aug. 3, and both
the Long Creek fire depart-
ment and ambulance were
dispatched to the scene. The
sheriff’s office and Oregon
State Fire Marshal’s Office
also responded.
During a subsequent
investigation, authorities
learned Carter had gone to
the Pendleton area the pre-
vious week and returned
home on Saturday.
Members of the state
fire marshal’s office and an
arson investigator with the
Oregon State Police began
an investigation into the
fire’s cause when Carter
was located in the burned
home.
McKinley said the inves-
tigation is ongoing.
Wallowa supports
replacement of pipeline
WALLOWA — A
letter of support to repair
and replace a pipeline to
an irrigation ditch was
approved by the Wallowa
City Council at its meeting
Tuesday, March 16.
The request of the letter
was made by Elwayne Hen-
derson who wants to obtain
a grant to have the work
done on a new pipeline for
the Chamberlin and West-
side irrigation ditches,
Mayor Gary Hulse said.
“It does affect the city,”
Hulse said. “We’ve had
complaints of water in
basements. There also is
flooding in the spring.”
Hulse said the ditch near
Green Hill had been there
since the 1960s and orig-
inally was a steel pipe,
which now has developed
leaks.
Hulse wasn’t sure who
the grant request was to be
made to, but said it was a
group that has done similar
work in Joseph and Enter-
prise. The council voted to
endorse the grant request
with a letter.
In another matter at the
meeting, the council agreed
to transfer $2,660 from the
Senior Center Contingency
Fund to the Equipment
Fund for a new kitchen
range. The mayor said the
range will cost more than
$10,000, of which 50%
must be paid down prior
to ordering it. The Senior
Center Equipment Fund has
enough to reach the 50%
with that which the city is
contributing.
— EO Media Group