FROM PAGE ONE
THURSDAY, JUNE 10, 2021
WORK
now open, they have jobs
and people who are wor-
ried about COVID have had
multiple opportunities to get
vaccinated. Our businesses
are struggling because so
many people don’t want to
go back to work.”
Continued from Page 1A
receiving additional federal
unemployment benefi ts, are
choosing to stay home rather
than look for work.”
The letter stated the ben-
efi ts are “creating a labor
shortage that is impacting
our most vulnerable com-
munities and will not be sus-
tainable long term.”
“There’s a disincen-
tive to work,” said Sen. Bill
Hansell, R-Athena, who
signed the letter. “You get
paid as much, or nearly as
much, to not work as you do
to work with the federal dol-
lars coming in.”
The letter comes as more
than two dozen GOP-led
states have ended similar
benefi ts due to slow job
growth nationwide, a trend
some lawmakers have been
quick to blame on federal
unemployment benefi ts,
though experts also have
said child care and the fear
of contracting COVID-19
are playing roles.
“It’s really hurting the
economy right now,” said
Donna Beverage, a Union
County commissioner who
signed the letter. “There are
some people that need to be
on unemployment, certainly
if they have to do childcare
and that sort of thing. But,
it’s really discouraging a lot
of people from going back
to work when they make
more money by being on
unemployment.”
From March 2020 to
March 2021, Oregonians
received $5.5 billion in
federal stimulus money,
according to The Oregonian/
OregonLive.
In May, payrolls
increased nationally by
GRADS
Continued from Page 1A
OHSU on Saturday, June
12. The OHSU School of
Nursing, La Grande Campus,
commencement will be con-
ducted in conjunction with
Eastern Oregon Univer-
sity’s ceremony. The two
are closely linked since the
nursing program has been
based on Eastern’s campus
since it was founded more
than three decades ago.
Elysa said that being a
full-time mom with a family
QUEEN
Continued from Page 1A
Kachira Phillips hopes
to spend the next few years
traveling while she pur-
sues her phlebotomy and
EKG technician certifi ca-
THE OBSERVER — 5A
‘It’s not just poor
people’
Carlos Fuentes/The Observer
A help wanted sign sits on the front window of The Cell Fix in
La Grande on Wednesday, June 9, 2021.
559,000 workers as the
unemployment rate fell
below 6% for the fi rst time
since the pandemic began.
And about 554,000 jobs
were added on-average from
March through May. At that
rate, the labor market will
not return to pre-pandemic
levels until 2022, according
to The New York Times.
For weeks, Eastern
Oregon offi cials have voiced
concerns over the workforce
shortage. In a letter to Brown
“on behalf of Morrow
County employers” in late
May, Kalie Davis, director of
workforce development for
the Port of Morrow, listed 25
employers in the county that
had more than 200 job open-
ings total.
The letter from the law-
makers concluded with the
exact same language used in
Davis’ letter: “The benefi t
of being unemployed should
not outweigh the benefi t of
working.”
The letter comes as
COVID-19 cases decline
while vaccinations rise state-
wide, signaling the pan-
demic is largely waning.
That’s why some offi cials
decided to call for an end
to the federal benefi ts now,
even as several Eastern
Oregon counties with dispro-
portionately high infection
rates have reported some of
the lowest vaccination rates
in Oregon.
“In a time when vaccina-
tion numbers are up, COVID
cases are coming down and
hospitalizations, you know,
it’s a time that we need to
consider” ending supple-
mental unemployment ben-
efi ts, said Wallowa County
Commissioner Todd Nash.
Umatilla County Com-
missioner George Murdock
said there’s “no question”
that federal unemployment
relief was “a great deal”
during the pandemic’s ear-
lier stages.
“At that point, businesses
were closed, people were not
going to work, and people
were laid off ,” he said.
“That’s changed. They’re
of fi ve children and a full-
time nursing student has
been an uncommon chal-
lenge the past three years.
“I honestly don’t know
how I did it,’’ said Elysa, who
graduated from EOU in 2018
with a bachelor of science
degree in psychology.
She credits support and
help from her husband,
Joseph, with making a big
diff erence.
“He has been our biggest
fan,’’ Elysa said.
Elysa, in the course of her
studies, has inspired Katelyn
to also pursue a career in
nursing. Katelyn became
interested in the fi eld after
reading one of her nursing
textbooks.
“She has found her pas-
sion,’’ Elysa said.
Elysa said her daugh-
ter’s early graduation ges-
ture is especially meaningful
because she had her at a
young age when she believes
she was not ready to be the
best mother she could be.
“I was a teenage mom. I
felt like I was a failure. This
makes me feel like I’ve done
something right,’’ Elysa
Nason said.
She has already received
three job off ers in the nursing
tions. She currently works
as a certifi ed medical assis-
tant in Union and Elgin and
hopes to become a registered
nurse and one day return to
Eastern Oregon to give back
to her community.
“I would like to thank my
community because they
have been supporting me for
the last fi ve or six years and
it’s been constant support,”
Phillips said. “People see me
coming and they’re like, ‘oh,
what rodeo are you in this
year?’ It’s just always unwav-
ering support, and hopefully
by becoming a nurse I’ll
be able to help them just as
they’ve helped me.”
Workforce shortages
felt across Eastern
Oregon
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Mark Gomolski, the
executive director of Agape
House, a nonprofi t food bank
in Hermiston, said it was sad
that several of the people the
organization serves have no
incentive to go back to work
because they are making
more money sitting at home.
“I know if I was a parent,
how does that look that we’re
just waiting for a paycheck
and not going to work and
staying home and watching
TV?” he said. “Some people
are being productive and
doing things around their
homes or volunteering.
But they should get back
to work. Our economy’s
hurting.”
In May, David Ger-
stenfeld, acting director of
the Oregon Employment
Department, announced
Oregonians soon will have
to actively search for a job
to receive unemployment,
as required under federal
law before Congress waived
the requirement early in
the pandemic when busi-
nesses closed to prevent the
spread of coronavirus. Those
requirements will resume
over the next two months,
Gerstenfeld said.
The state, however, did
not specify when workers
will need to demonstrate
they’re looking for work and
did not set a timeline for
when it will reinstate the job
search requirement.
fi eld and plans to work in
Northeast Oregon. Elysa is
excited about starting her
career and also about the
chance to spend more time
with her sons and daughters
after three years of intense
study in nursing school.
“I will get to be a mom
again,’’ Elysa said.
Jana Peterson/Oregon Department of Forestry, Contributed Photo
The Joseph Canyon Fire viewed from the east side of Cottonwood
Creek late Saturday, June 5, 2021.
FIRE
Continued from Page 1A
of the fi res.
Weather wreaked
havoc and aided to the
early demise of the fi res.
A Wednesday update
from Northwest Team 7,
the lead on the fi re, said
fi ve hours of precipitation
Tuesday helped dampen
remaining hotspots.
Between .25 and .4
inches of rain was pre-
dicted for the fi re loca-
tions over June 9 and June
10. The good news was
the rain would come in
showers and not heavy
downpours, reducing the
threat of slides and wash-
outs. Humidity recovery
was forecasted to be near
48% at ridge tops with 5
to 10 mph winds coming
from the north and north-
west. Afternoon and eve-
ning gusts could be up
to 25 mph and a slight
chance of lightning.
The rain and fog were
listed as potential fac-
tors that could hamper
mopping up the fi re with
helicopter water drops,
but fi re activity was pre-
dicted to diminish even
further. Team 7 Section
Chief John Larson said
remaining crews and air
support would work on
securing the fi re line and
mopping up where pos-
sible in the coming days.
Crucial to the suc-
cess of putting out the
fi re and fi refi ghter safety
in canyon country were
“human repeaters,” fi re
crew members who could
receive radio communi-
cation and deliver mes-
sages to those in areas
where direct communica-
tions were hampered by
steep cliff s and deep can-
yons. Larson said now that
the fi re was in mop-up
mode, “human repeaters”
and lookouts would not be
necessary as communica-
tions would be conducted
in areas easier to reach by
radio.
Spike camps where
crews were camped on the
fi re line were scheduled
for clean up with equip-
ment and trash fl own out
via helicopter.
The Nez Perce Tribe
has temporarily closed the
Precious Lands Wildlife
Management Area within
the Joseph Canyon Fire
footprint.