OREGON
A6 — THE OBSERVER
SaTuRday, dEcEmBER 11, 2021
Pendleton bird rehab center hopes
$45,000 gift will set up future
By ANTONIO SIERRA
East Oregonian
PENDLETON — Blue
Mountain Wildlife’s weekly
newsletter ran through the
normal humdrum of the
nonprofit’s work before
making a significant
reveal: The bird rehabilita-
tion center was brought a
screech owl that had been
trapped in a chimney, a res-
cued Cooper’s hawk died
before reaching the group’s
facility south of Pendleton,
and the organization just
received a $45,000 check
from a trust.
The latter item is big
news for Blue Moun-
tain Wildlife, which has
been rehabilitating wild
birds from across Eastern
Oregon since 1990. Com-
pared against the non-
profit’s $200,000 annual
budget, the $45,000 gift
will provide a signifi-
cant boost to the rehabil-
itation center. According
to Lynn Tompkins, the
co-founder and director of
Blue Mountain Wildlife, all
of this happened without
her meeting the surprise
benefactor.
The $45,000 is being
provided by the Leona B.
Ambrose Living Trust,
an entity created to carry
out the will of the late
Ambrose. While Blue
Mountain Wildlife may
not have connected with
her during her lifetime,
Ambrose decided to donate
significant amounts of
money to the organization
and to other bird sanctu-
aries in Oregon.
Tompkins said Blue
Mountain Wildlife’s annual
budget should be higher,
but she isn’t planning on
using Ambrose’s money
for operational expenses.
Instead, she expects Blue
Mountain Wildlife to work
with the Blue Mountain
Community Foundation to
use the gift as seed money
for an endowment she
hopes her organization can
grow and withdraw from
Ben Lonergan/East Oregonian
A newly constructed educational facility at Blue Mountain Wildlife in Pendleton is among director Lynn
Tompkins’ plans to help expand the educational abilities of the organization.
for years to come.
Tompkins said she’s rec-
ommending these moves
with the future in mind.
“My goal is to make it
sustainable past me,” she
said.
For more than 30 years,
Blue Mountain Wildlife has
cared for wild animals, pri-
marily birds of prey, who
are seriously injured, often
after coming into contact
with humans. Each year,
Blue Mountain Wildlife
takes in more than 1,000
birds that get stuck in build-
ings, get shot by hunters
or mistakenly ingest lead
ammunition they find in
carrion. During this year’s
sweltering heat wave, the
rehabilitation center took in
dozens of chicks that threw
themselves out of their
nests to escape the blazing
sun.
Beyond rehabilitating
birds and returning them
back to their habitats, Blue
Mountain Wildlife has an
educational component.
For years, Tompkins would
transport her rehabilitation
center’s permanent avian
residents to schools around
the region to give students
lessons about conservation.
Ben Lonergan/East Oregonian
Lynn Tompkins, the co-founder and director of Blue Mountain
Wildlife, pauses alongside a pen Wednesday, Dec. 1, 2021, at the
rehabilitation center’s Pendleton headquarters. The organization
recently received a $45,000 gift from a trust.
But COVID-19 halted
her trips to schools, and
with her husband and
co-founder, Bob, dying in
March, Tompkins doesn’t
have the same appetite for
travel.
“I’m at a point where I’m
not going to drive all over
the countryside,” she said.
That doesn’t meant
Blue Mountain Wildlife is
leaving behind the educa-
tional part of its mission.
The group recently built
a new educational facility
COVID-19
Vaccine
at its property, so visi-
tors can view the birds the
center uses for educational
purposes away from the
rehabbing animals. Tomp-
kins said she would like
to start granting money to
schools to cover the costs
of field trips to Blue Moun-
tain Wildlife.
Tompkins also said she
is also hoping the $45,000
gift will aid Blue Mountain
Wildlife’s efforts to build
a a new wildlife hospital
on site.
Omicron is coming:
What will Oregon do?
By AIMEE GREEN
The Oregonian
SALEM — The arrival
of the highly worrisome
omicron variant in the U.S.
— and soon, Oregon — has
prompted weighty questions
about the state’s future: Will
Oregon need to bring back
old COVID-19 restrictions?
Will lives and the economy
be crippled? Will the pan-
demic slog on, when so many
are so ready for it to end?
Five experts in the
fields of epidemiology,
public health and data sci-
ence were asked about
measures Oregon should
employ this winter. Four
anticipate a surge in winter
cases from delta, if not omi-
cron. Although the variant
first identified in southern
Africa last month had not
yet been detected in Oregon
as of Tuesday, it has been
found in 19 states, including
Washington.
All five experts said
Oregon needs to maintain its
indoor public mask mandate
for the time-being — some-
thing that will put the state
in a better position than it
was in the summer, when it
lifted its mandate just as the
delta variant hit.
All five also said how
Oregon chooses to react
depends largely on informa-
tion about omicron’s char-
acteristics that won’t be
known for another week,
maybe two. Before deciding
Oregon’s response, offi-
cials need more data about
whether omicron is more
transmissible than delta, if it
causes more severe disease
and to what extent it might
evade the effectiveness of
current vaccines.
State epidemiologist Dr.
Dean Sidelinger said very
early data this week that
omicron might not cause
more severe disease “is
encouraging.” He’s “cau-
tiously optimistic” that cur-
rent efforts — mask usage
and encouraging vaccina-
tions and boosters — will be
enough to blunt omicron.
But Sidelinger said
it’s too early to rule out
restoring past COVID-19
restrictions or instituting
new ones, should they be
determined necessary, and
that includes closing indoor
dining at restaurants and
bars, shuttering gyms, lim-
iting gathering sizes or
requiring vaccinations to
visit public indoor spaces.
“I’m never going to say
never,” Sidelinger said.
“If things get much worse
and hospital capacity is
constrained, we’ll prob-
ably be talking about more
limitations.”
Sidelinger doesn’t have
a specific number of hos-
pitalized patients in mind
that could trigger new
restrictions.
Oregon did not restore
measures other than mask
mandates this summer even
as delta led to nearly 1,200
hospitalizations — double
the previous high.
Charles Boyle, a spokes-
person for Gov. Kate Brown,
said the governor’s office
is closely monitoring the
variant and isn’t considering
any new restrictions. How-
ever, they know that could
change.
“We have learned
throughout the pandemic to
be prepared for the unex-
pected with this virus, and
as we continue to navi-
gate Delta and Omicron
and any other future vari-
ants COVID-19 brings, all
options are on the table,”
Boyle said in an email.
European countries with
higher vaccination rates
than Oregon or the U.S. are
tightening rules amid a delta
surge and worries omicron
will worsen the situation,
with Austria implementing a
lockdown in late November
as well as a vaccination
mandate for all adults by
February. President Biden
has said there will not be a
nationwide lockdown, and‚
domestically, many local
governments are holding off
on enacting restrictions for
now. But New York City’s
mayor Monday announced
a vaccination requirement at
all private places of employ-
ment, regardless of size.
NOTICE
Other vaccine events offered in December:
To the residence of Union
County. This notice is meant
only to teach, inform,
and educated purpose only.
Location: Center for Human Development
Time: 10:00 am to 2:00 pm every Friday with the exception of New Year’s Eve
in addition to Christmas Eve.
Additional options: Scheduled appointments available throughout the week.
Vaccines offered: 1st dose, 2nd dose, 3rd doses and booster vaccines. All
Covid vaccine configurations will be available including pediatric vaccination.
Other pediatric and adult immunizations also available at CHD.
CDC General Vaccine Info:
COVID-19 vaccines are effective
COVID 19-vaccines are effective and can reduce the risk of getting and
spreading the virus that causes COVID-19. Learn more about the different
COVID-19 vaccines.
COVID-19 vaccines also help children and adults from getting seriously ill
even if they do get COVID-19.
While COVID-19 tends to be milder in children than adults, it can make
children very sick, require hospitalization, and some children have even died.
Children with underlying medical conditions are more at risk for severe illness
compared to children without underlying medical conditions.
Getting children ages 5 years and older vaccinated can help protect them
from serious short- and long-term complications.
Getting everyone ages 5 years and older vaccinated can protect families and
communities, including friends and family who are not eligible for vaccination
and people at increased risk for severe illness from COVID-19.
Booster Information from CDC:
Fast Facts Everyone age 18 and older is eligible for a COVID-19 vaccine booster beginning Nov. 20,
2021. Some people are strongly advised get a booster dose to protect themselves and others. You
can choose which vaccine to get. The COVID-19 vaccines are extraordinarily effective at preventing
serious illness, hospitalization and death. That said, we are seeing immunity drop over time, espe-
cially in people over age 50 and those with compromised immune systems who are more likely to
experience severe disease, hospitalization and death. For these people, another dose boosts their
immunity, sometimes greater than what was achieved after the primary, two-dose series. Health
experts strongly recommend people over age 50, people over 18 who live in long-term care facil-
ities, and anyone who received one dose of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine get a booster dose.
Younger, healthy people may also get a booster dose to protect themselves and others. A booster
will re-build neutralizing antibodies that strengthen the body’s ability to fight getting a breakthrough
case. Even if you’re not at high risk, you could be infected and then pass it on to others, such as
children too young to be vaccinated, the elderly, or people who are immunocompromised. Booster
doses help people maintain strong immunity to disease longer. The first vaccine series built up
the immune system to make the antibodies needed to fight the disease. Over time, the immune
response weakens. A booster dose stimulates the initial response and tends to result in higher
antibody levels that help people maintain their immunity longer. Boosters take about two weeks to
bring up the immune response. This continues to be studied, but we can reliably say it takes two
weeks to bring the immune response up to or better than that after the primary series.
Did you know that the State of Oregon has no laws to protect your
animals on your property. Your dogs and cats have no rights on their
property. Even the owners of dogs and cats have no help from the state.
Our neighbors (renters) 30 feet away from my dogs decided upon
themselves to place many frequency devices next to our home. They stop
the dogs barking and keep them away from their yard. The whole
surrounding area is affected. All of our neighbors who have one or more
dogs are affected by these devices.
It is probably not known by many that these frequency devices cause
a great deal of pain, illness and stress. Our dogs would cry and mourn for
hours before we knew what was happening. Because of our dog’s pain they
just added more devices. Keep in mind that our neighbors recorded our
dogs (3) on 3 separate occasions. Union County Animal Control advised us
there was nothing they could do. Our dogs were not considered nuisance
barkers on any of the 3 recordings. If they were nuisance barkers the fine
is 150.00 dollars. Union County Sheriff ’s office also advised us there was
nothing they could do. Both officials advised us to hire an attorney and let
them know the outcome.
We said we will do just that.
We hired an attorney. His name is Geordie Duckler. He can be reached
at 503-546-8052.
If anyone has any problems with neighbors hurting their animals this is
the best person to hire.
He is very knowledgeable and very helpful.
If there is any attorney that would be interested in taking on this
company that sells and builds these devices let me know. They express how
they don’t hurt animals, that is a false statement in my opinion. Just ask
my dogs, they will show you because they are smart. I have recordings and
documents freely given if someone desires to protect our animals.
My address: PO BOX 2995,
www.chdinc.org
541-962-8800
La Grande OR 97850.
Teresa McLucas
Cove OR.