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FINDING A WAY THROUGH THE FOG: HIKING THE LODGEPOLE TRAIL IN THE WALLOWAS | OUTDOORS & REC, B1
September 4, 2021
WEEKEND EDITION
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INSIDE GET OUT THE BOOTS AND COWBOY HAT, ROUND-UP IS BACK
Sheriff s
won’t
enforce
mask
mandate
By ALEX WITTWER
EVENTS
AXED
Local events feel impact of
COVID-19 spike
EO Media Group
LA GRANDE —
Eastern Oregon sheriff ’s
offi ces reaffi rmed they
would not enforce the mask
mandates Gov. Kate Brown
set in place. As well, a
number of sheriff s across
Eastern Oregon, including
in Baker and Union coun-
ties, have addressed the
matter in letters to the gov-
ernor stating they will not
be enforcing any mask
mandates.
But the governor never
asked them to do so.
The enforcement of mask
mandates falls under the
supervision of the Oregon
Occupational Safety and
Health Administration,
not local law enforcement,
according to the governor’s
offi ce.
“The man-
dates don’t pro-
vide authority
to me to do
anything,”
Umatilla
County Sheriff
Rowan
Terry Rowan
said in a previous interview
with the East Oregonian.
There is one exception —
the sheriff s said they would
continue to handle issues of
trespassing wherein a patron
of a business refuses to wear
a mask after being asked
to by the business — but
that is the ultimate extent to
which the law enforcement
agencies have said they
would intervene.
“Business and property
owners have
a right to set
ground rules
for how people
behave in their
businesses,”
said Morrow
Matlack
County Sheriff
Kenneth Matlack. “When
a person becomes disrup-
tive because of this issue,
in that situation, it’s not
See, Sheriff s/Page A5
By DAVIS CARBAUGH
and DICK MASON
The Observer
UNION COUNTY — In what felt like
a somewhat normal summer, many local
events returned to Northeastern Oregon
after being canceled in 2020. However, as
Union and Wallowa counties experienced
record high COVID-19 cases in August,
many late-summer and early-fall events
have been canceled or modifi ed.
The current state of the pandemic has
organizers unsure about future events
as the delta variant surges across the
country.
“We’re going to lean on the cautionary
side, always,” said Eastern Oregon Film
Festival Director Chris Jennings.
Jennings also co-owns HQ on Depot
Street, which hosted a number of con-
certs and events throughout the summer
when COVID-19 cases were low. With
the recent spike, the venue announced on
Aug. 11 that open mic nights and concerts
would be put on hold until further notice.
“We defi nitely had an interest in the
open mic,” he said. “People were really
enjoying that opportunity, and we’re cer-
tainly hopeful to bring that back as soon
as we can.”
HQ hosted concerts on Saturdays
for most of the summer, with open mic
nights taking place during the week. Jen-
nings noted that the plan was to con-
tinue hosting shows throughout the fall
and winter months, but the spike in
COVID-19 made things diffi cult from a
monetary standpoint. HQ was operating
on a limited capacity during the summer
and there are no concerts planned for the
future, but the venue is still available for
musicians and others to rent out as a cre-
ative space.
“When it comes down to it, we have to
get enough bodies in here to make a buck,
so it’s more cost eff ective right now to not
Alex Wittwer/The Observer
Patrons at the Liberty Theatre Cafe sit outside and enjoy a meal Friday, April 23, 2021. The Liberty The-
atre venue is slated to show some of the Eastern Oregon Film Festival entries, but audiences may be
limited or prohibited based on COVID-19 cases in October.
“Depending on where we’re at in October
will dictate how many at-the-door tickets for
each event we might have. It’s a juggle all
the way up to the end.”
See, Events/Page A5
Chris Jennings, Eastern Oregon Film Festival director
Employers ask: Where are the workers?
Workers in short
supply amid year of
great job growth
Editor’s Note
This is part one of a fi ve-
part series by the EO Media
Group to publish over the
next fi ve weekends, looking
at the issue of the lack of
workers for jobs in Central
and Eastern Oregon — why
workers are not returning
to previously held jobs and
how businesses are pivoting
to function without being
fully staff ed.
By SUZANNE ROIG
The Bulletin
BEND — With record
job growth in Oregon,
Whitney Keatman never
imagined she would have
Worker
Shortage
FIRST IN A 5-PART SERIES
problems fi nding workers
for her Scott Street loca-
tion of Sparrow Bakery.
And she didn’t. It was
getting them to stay that
has plagued her longtime
Bend business.
In the past year
Keatman, a co-owner,
made 117 job off ers and
most were accepted. But
after just three months,
INDEX
Classified ...............B2
Comics ....................B5
Crossword .............B2
Dear Abby .............B6
only about 42 workers
remained. The bakery
needed a minimum of 20
workers at the Scott Street
location and by the end of
this summer there were
six.
So last week, she made
a hard decision: She will
close the bakery at the Old
Iron Works Arts District.
“We’ve been strug-
gling for seven years,
with moments of success,”
Keatman said. “Over the
years we’ve had on again
and off again good man-
agers. When you don’t
have the right manage-
ment, you have a hard
time retaining workers.
“It’s common for people
to come and begin training
and then get another job
off er that competes with
wages,” Keatman said.
“There’s no allegiance.
WEATHER
Horoscope .............B2
Local........................A2
Lottery ....................A2
Obituaries ..............A3
TUESDAY
Opinion ..................A4
Outdoors ...............B1
Records ..................A3
State ........................A8
EXPERIMENT WITH PIZZA STYLES
It’s a competitive market
for employers.”
Hard time
During a year of record
job growth in Oregon,
employers like Keatman
have had the hardest time
fi nding workers to fi ll posi-
tions. Companies, particu-
larly in the leisure and hos-
pitality industries, across
the state are scrambling to
fi nd employees.
The hospitality, hotel,
restaurant and tourism-re-
lated industries added 6%
more jobs this year, econ-
omists say. Hiring is more
competitive than ever as
employers raise wages,
off er signing bonuses,
referral bonuses, improved
benefi ts, even subsidies for
housing. But those incen-
tives also have to compete
Full forecast on the back of B section
Tonight
Sunday
52 LOW
87/51
Clear
Mostly sunny
against federal unemploy-
ment benefi ts, an increase
in household income from
federal stimulus funds and
retirements.
Just ask Robin Clement,
co-owner of Monkless Bel-
gian Ales in Bend. Clement
and her husband opened
their pub just four months
before the pandemic shut it
down to reduce the spread
of COVID-19.
Fast forward to July
when tourism season in
Central Oregon hits a
high note and the state is
reopening as COVID-19
cases wane, and the Clem-
ents are scrambling to get
enough workers to keep the
brew pub open six days a
week.
In an interview with
an out-of-town worker
See, Workers/Page A5
CONTACT US
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Issue 104
2 sections, 14 pages
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