FROM PAGE ONE
THURSDAY, MAY 27, 2021
THE OBSERVER — 5A
BUDGET
Continued from Page 1A
deputies on duty at the jail
are as highly trained as the
new offi cers who would
be hired, Bowen said. The
sheriff said having the addi-
tional offi cers he is asking
for would help reduce safety
concerns.
The addition of the four
corrections offi cers would
cost more than $326,000
but only a net of just over
$146,000. Bowen attributed
this to the $180,500 in sav-
ings the additional offi cers
would generate because of
reduced overtime costs and
other factors.
The reentry offi cer
would help prepare inmates
for life outside jail. The
offi cer would work with
inmates being released to
help them fi nd housing and
employment.
“Hopefully this would
help them get back on the
right track,” Bowen said.
The reentry offi cer
would not cost the county
money from its general
fund because it would be
funded by a grant, Burgess
said.
The $50.01 million
proposed spending plan
presented to the budget
committee is about $1
million less than the cur-
RISK
Continued from Page 1A
Afterward, they can party
until midnight.
The comparisons
underline the new reality
in Oregon this week:
COVID-19 cases are no
longer the only measuring
stick for how tight restric-
tions are placed on counties.
The new key to opening
up: vaccination rates. Get
a shot of vaccine into the
arms of 65% of eligible resi-
dents age 16 and up and any
county could be dropped to
the least restrictive level of
rules.
“This disease remains
dangerous for those in com-
munities with high rates of
unvaccinated individuals,”
Gov. Kate Brown said May
25. “That’s why I’m encour-
aging all Oregonians to roll
up your sleeves, take your
shot, and get a chance to
change your life.”
The new format
explained why some coun-
ties with high vaccination
rates but less than stellar
marks on COVID-19 cases
could be in the lower risk
DROUGHT
Continued from Page 1A
Reading from the res-
olution, Roberts said the
ongoing severe drought
means “the emergency
seems to be of such mag-
nitude as the economic
impact to many livestock
producers, farmers and
agriculture-related busi-
nesses and the county
economy may be putting
them in need of economic
assistance.”
The resolution stated
that a continuous lack of
rain with no signifi cant
change forecast for the
rest of agricultural season
could aff ect all businesses
in Wallowa County. Nash
said that Wallowa Lake
— the primary source for
irrigation water — hasn’t
fi lled up like in the past
and the dry conditions
have led irrigators to turn
on the tap a month earlier
than usual.
A map of the entire
county was attached to the
resolution, which was sent
as a request to Gov. Kate
Brown and a request that
Alex Wittwer/The Observer, File
Union County Sheriff ’s deputy Patricia Kelly walks through a mobile
home neighborhood to serve court papers in Island City on Wednes-
day, May 12, 2021. The Union County Sheriff ’s Offi ce is looking to add
fi ve full-time positions by next year in addition to restarting its cadet
and reserve deputy program.
Alex Wittwer/The Observer
rent 2020-21 budget. A
big reason is many grant-
funded projects, including
a major one at La Grande/
Union County Airport,
were completed in the past
fi scal year, Burgess said.
She said the county’s
budget picture also was
hurt by the COVID-19 pan-
demic, which reduced activ-
ities like travel in the state,
resulting in Union County
receiving less money from
the state’s gas tax. The
activity slowdown also
reduced fuel sales at Union
County’s airport and cut
food and beverage sales at
the county’s Buff alo Peak
Golf Course.
Burgess said many of
these impacts will likely
carry over to 2021-22 due
to the continuing pandemic,
a likelihood refl ected in the
proposed 2021-22 budget.
The revenue Union
County lost due to the pan-
demic was partially off set
by federal government
funding it received to help it
cope with the impact of the
pandemic.
The Union County
Budget Committee is
expected to soon submit a
proposed spending plan to
the Union County Board of
Commissioners. The com-
missioners must adopt a
2021-22 budget by June 30.
group while counties with
lower numbers might fi nd
themselves still facing mod-
erate or high risk levels of
restrictions.
From May 27 through
June 3, the Oregon Health
Agency has placed 15 coun-
ties in the high risk level,
three at moderate risk, and
18 at lower risk.
Twelve of the lower-risk
counties show smaller num-
bers of COVID-19 cases
and lower percentages of
positive cases.
But six of the counties
are on the lower risk level
because of Brown’s waiver
for counties that have put
vaccine in just under two
out of three adults.
Deschutes, Multnomah,
Washington, Lincoln, Hood
River and Benton counties
have passed the mark and
will move to lower level
restrictions as of May 27.
The “one-shot” rule was
put in place because most
Oregon residents have
been inoculated with either
the Pfi zer or Moderna vac-
cine, which requires two
shots given about a month
apart.
A smaller number of
residents have received
the one-shot Johnson &
Johnson vaccine.
Normally, the risk level
changes go into eff ect the
Friday after the levels are
announced. But the levels
announced May 25 will go
into eff ect May 27.
Brown said that with
COVID-19 cases declining
in the state and vaccination
levels going up, the revision
of risk levels — and their
associated restrictions —
will be made every week
instead of every other week.
The next risk levels will
be announced June 1. Coun-
ties where infection rates
and cases move them into
a higher risk level will not
have to immediately imple-
ment restrictions. OHA will
allow a “caution period” of
one week in which to get
the metrics back down. If
cases and rates stay high,
the restrictions would then
be imposed for the fol-
lowing week.
Counties with low vac-
cination rates are far from
qualifying for the waiver.
They will have to live with
more restrictions for a
longer time.
she forward it to U.S. sec-
retary of agriculture for
consideration.
“If you wait longer, it
just takes longer,” Rob-
erts said, so the state “rec-
ommended we move this
forward in an expeditious
manner.”
Nash agreed.
“The wheels of govern-
ment move slow,” he said.
The last time Wallowa
County declared drought
was in 2007, before any of
the current commissioners
were on the board.
But Commissioner John
Hillock said he’s seen the
benefi ts of such a declara-
tion in other counties.
“Umatilla County
had this last year and it
opened up a lot of diff erent
funding sources … low-in-
terest loans, grants, a few
diff erent things,” he said.
“Sometimes … that even
drops down to ag-related
businesses, for instance
if someone doesn’t sell
enough fertilizer, they
could get a loan to keep
going. It just opens up
USDA funding for a lot of
diff erent things.”
The aid can come down
to what could seem minor
amounts.
“If a rancher has to haul
water to livestock, there
are some reimbursement
funds,” Nash said. “There
can be an allowance for
Conservation Reserve Pro-
gram grounds to open them
up for grazing.”
Roberts said the deter-
mination of drought comes
mainly from input from
county residents.
“We determine here as to
whether we’re in drought,”
she said. “Our producers
and people here help us
determine that.”
Hillock agreed, saying he
and the other commissioners
have sought that input.
“You drive around and
you talk to the producers,”
he said. “The grass (for
grazing) isn’t growing.”
But the drought extends
beyond traditional agricul-
tural areas up into the tim-
berlands. Nash told of one
resident who conducted a
controlled burn recently and
was amazed how dry it was.
“Those were fi res like
we’d see in late July,” he
said. “They burned some
trees they didn’t intend to.”
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Volunteers, from left, Carolyn Young, Etta Ruberg and Mary Dodds inspect a plaque containing the
names of members of the former United Methodist Church on Tuesday, May 25, 2021. The church
building is now home to the Catherine Creek Community Center.
UNION
Continued from Page 1A
as Union’s United Meth-
odist Church until 2019
when it closed because of
declining membership.
The Oregon-Idaho
Annual Conference of the
United Methodist Church
assumed ownership of the
building plus its fellow-
ship hall and parsonage
building. It then put it up
for sale in 2020.
The Friends of the His-
toric Union Community
Hall purchased the com-
plex in February 2021 to
save it from possibly being
converted into a business
or being torn down. Today
the complex’s old Meth-
odist Church building is
a chapel available to all
denominations for reli-
gious services, weddings,
funerals and more.
The new memorial area
in the chapel will be ded-
icated at 1 p.m. Sunday,
May 30. Its centerpiece is
a trophy case from Union
High School’s gym that
was installed at UHS in
memory of one of its stu-
dents, Anna Marie Hall,
a cheerleader who died of
an illness in 1978 at age
14. She was the daughter
of LaVon Hall, one of the
leaders of Friends of the
Historic Union Commu-
nity Hall.
People examining the
trophy case and other
parts of the memorial site
will fi nd albums fi lled
with photos of past church
members, old Bibles,
handwritten stories about
the church and many doc-
uments including Sunday
school attendance records
from the 1960s and a list
of the church’s pastors
and lay speakers. The list
includes people like A.J.
Joslin, a minister more
than 100 years ago for a
single year; V.A. Bolen,
a minister from 1948 to
1958, one of the church’s
longest serving leaders;
and Ernie Smith, who
served from 1994 to 2001,
in one of two stints as
minister.
Visitors to the memo-
rial site will later be able
to read a story about the
Methodist Church’s bell,
which was donated by an
old church in Union about
a 100 years ago, according
to Geneva Williams, a
member of the Friends of
the Historic Union Com-
munity Hall. Williams
said the Methodist Church
could not use it at fi rst
because it lacked a bell
tower. One was later built
with funds raised by a
penny drive conducted by
children, Williams said.
The bell is still in place
today and can be rung by
pulling a rope hanging
from a ceiling in the
church’s second story.
The May 30 dedica-
tion will follow an alumni
and community breakfast
at Catherine Creek Com-
munity Hall. The break-
fast will be served from
7:30-10:30 a.m.
Following the dedi-
cation, a lunch will be
served at the Catherine
Creek Community Center
in honor of three women
who worked tirelessly
to help create the Cath-
erine Creek Community
Center but died in the past
year before it became a
reality — Joy Anne Smith,
Gracie Tarter and Marty
McKeen.
“They were all big sup-
porters of this,” Hall said.
Hall hopes the memo-
rial site will keep memo-
ries of these women and
other former church sup-
porters shining as brightly
as the sun does when
it pierces the church’s
striking stained glass
windows.
“We want the spirit of
the church to live on,’’
she said.