Page 10A
OFF PAGE ONE
East Oregonian
Saturday, October 1, 2016
Zika illnesses are mild at worst
CTUIR: Harry James
teens, young children
plans to buy a horse with in NEW U.S.
YORK (AP) — A fi rst the bulk of them were older kids
look
at
U.S.
teens and young chil- in their teens. Only 16 were age
the settlement dividend
dren who were infected with Zika 4 or younger and only four were
Continued from 1A
The dividend from the
settlement will be in addition
to the quarterly dividends,
which average about $2,000
per year, that tribal members
receive
from
gaming
revenue.
While the fi nal amount is
still being tabulated, some
tribal members are already
planning how they will
spend the money.
Sitting in front of Mission
Market Friday afternoon,
Harry James said he plans to
buy a horse and saddle with
the settlement dividend.
James injured his knee in
1982 when a horse bucked
him off its back, forcing him
to use a walker to get around.
Although horse riding
was the source of his ailment,
James said he has been
riding horses since he was a
child and doesn’t anticipate
an accident happening again.
Walking to Mission
Market with a young
relative, Victoria Star said
she wants to go shopping
and buy clothes and other
personal items with her
check.
“It’s very exciting,” she
said.
Star said her parents are
looking at larger invest-
ments, like things that could
be bought for their home and
maybe even a new car.
The impact won’t be felt
just on the reservation, but
the many tribal members
who live off the reservation.
Cece Hoffman talked
over the phone from Seattle,
where she’s starting her
freshman year at the Univer-
sity of Washington.
Hoffman said she shares
the excitement with her
fellow tribal members, but
something as signifi cant as
an equine purchase probably
isn’t in her future.
“Honestly I’m going to
save it for tuition or anything
that comes for college,” she
said.
———
Contact Antonio Sierra at
asierra@eastoregonian.com
or 541-966-0836.
Staff photo by Kathy Aney
A elevated view of the Echo Crazy Corn Maze gives a
glimpse of some of the almost two miles of pathways
inside the eight-acre corn fi eld. Work on the maze was
scheduled to fi nish on Friday.
MAZE: Will have a corn
kernael pit for kids to jump in
Continued from 1A
other activities. People are
encouraged to bring cash
for purchases under $10.
Additional activities include
a Crazy Train Ride for
kids, corn cannons, a straw
bale maze and a corn pit.
A zip-line may be added if
insurance coverage can be
sorted out, Gina said, and
fi re pit rentals and space
for private parties are also
available.
Gina is excited about
having an array of activi-
ties to draw people to the
attraction. Setting up the
corn pit, she said, includes
putting hay or straw bales in
a U-shape.
“We’ll dump in a bunch
of kernels of corn in there
and kids can jump in there
and have a good time,” she
said. “It’s a different texture,
but it’s kind of like jumping
into the pits with balls.”
Gina is energized by
the sense of community
as her family has worked
on the maze and activities.
A number of businesses
have extended their hand in
support.
She also is happy to teach
people about the connection
from farm to table through
“agritainment.”
“It’s a fun way to get in
the dirt and learn a little bit
about agriculture,” she said.
“We’re a working farm.”
For more information,
visit www.echocornmaze.
com, www.facebook.com/
echocrazycornmaze or call
509-528-5808.
———
Contact
Community
Editor Tammy Malgesini at
tmalgesini@eastoregonian.
com or 541-564-4539
POWERFUL TOOLS FOR
THE CAREGIVER
Build a tool kit for taking better care of
yourself while caring for a loved one. FREE,
must pre-register, please call 541-667-3509.
3:00pm - 4:30pm
Thursdays starting Oct. 13 through Nov. 17
Conference room 7
PREVENT T2 INFO SESSION
O ne out of every three American adults has prediabetes - and 90%
don't know it! Learn how the Prevent T2 program can help prevent
or delay the progression to type 2 diabetes. (Prevent T2 classes will
be scheduled to meet participants needs.) FREE.
4:00pm - 5:00pm OR 6:00pm - 7:00pm
Wednesdays, Oct. 19 Nov. 16 or Jan. 11
Must pre-register, call 541-667-3509
LIVING WELL WITH
CHRONIC CONDITIONS
Find positive and practical ways to deal with
chronic health issues and make a step-by-
step plan to improve your health. Six weekly
classes. FREE but please pre-register.
Starts Oct. 11
3:00 - 5:00pm
Call 541-667-3509 to pre-register
BABYSITTING BASICS
For babysitters ages 10-15. Learn childcare
techniques, children's developmental stages and
what to expect, basic first aid and infant and child
CPR. $35, includes lunch & all class materials.
9:00am - 3:00pm
Oct. 8 or Nov. 5
$35 - Must pre-register and pre-pay, call 541-667-3509
Information or to register
call (541) 667-3509
or email
healthinfo@gshealth.org
www.gshealth.org
suggests the virus typically causes
at worst only a mild illness.
Zika infection during preg-
nancy can cause severe brain-re-
lated birth defects. But the report
seems to confi rm health offi cials’
belief that infections after birth in
children are similar to infections
in adults— most people don’t feel
sick, and some develop only mild
symptoms like fever, rash, joint
pain and red eyes.
Some experts say there’s not
enough data to answer questions
about the virus’s potential impact
on the developing brains of infants
and small children, however.
The report, released Friday by
the Centers for Disease Control
and Prevention, is based on 158
infections from earlier this year in
kids ages 1 month to 17 years.
All the children picked up the
virus while traveling abroad, and
under a year old. Experts are
worried about very young children
because they can be more severely
affected by infections in general,
and because their brains are devel-
oping rapidly.
“I’m really concerned about
birth through the fi rst birthday,”
said Dr. Carrie Byington, a
University of Utah researcher who
focuses on infections in children.
None of the children studied
died, and none developed a
paralyzing condition seen in
some infected adults called Guil-
lain-Barre syndrome.
But Guillain-Barre is rare,
seen only once in every several
thousand Zika illnesses in adults.
It may be that kids can still get it,
but there weren’t enough cases for
it to surface, said Dr. Ganeshwaran
Mochida, a pediatric neurologist at
Boston Children’s Hospital.
EOTEC: Event center will
host safety training in Nov.
Continued from 1A
things are coming together.
“Having the opportunity to work with
two great local contractors ... has really
allowed us to accelerate where we’re at,” he
said. “These guys are doing an incredible
job for us.”
On Friday, the EOTEC board approved
a plan for Umatilla County and the fair
board to use space in the northwest corner
of the EOTEC property to store the fair’s
equipment that must be moved from the
current fairgrounds by January. The county
commission approved $30,000 last week to
purchase fi ve shipping containers, fencing
and lighting to build a secure storage space.
Umatilla County Emergency Manager
Tom Roberts told the board that when the
state asked county emergency managers
about a location for an Event Security
Planning for Public Safety Professionals
training, he volunteered EOTEC to host it.
The training will take place Nov. 17-18 in
the event center.
———
Contact Jade McDowell at jmcdowell@
eastoregonian.com or 541-564-4536.
DISPATCH: Sheriff gets fi nal say in what happens in dispatch center
Continued from 1A
its name, was not part of the
group’s work.
Rowan said with the
fi nancial work done, he
sees the group transitioning
predominantly to police, fi re
and ambulance reps focused
on improving how the
dispatch center functions.
Some of that work, he
said, has been happening on
an agency-to-agency basis
for a while now.
Pendleton Police Chief
Stuart Roberts said the
name of the group “is a little
bit subjective” because the
advising was strictly about
how to pay for the service.
Hashing out a payment
formula that is equitable to
all users is a boon, he said,
but that is not what brought
people to the table.
Roberts said the agencies
that use the dispatch center
wanted a voice in directing
its operation.
“If I’m going to pay
almost 400 grand a year,” he
said, “I ought to have a say.”
Basing the payment on
assessed value jacked up
Pendleton’s dispatch contri-
bution to $378,196.66 this
fi scal year, about $93,000
more than the year before.
Roberts stressed his
criticism was not about the
dispatchers, who “work
very hard and ... have a
very diffi cult job to do.”
And he said he appreciated
having input in the funding
formula, which he advo-
cated for. But he said there
is a reluctance from the
county to “drill down” and
correct problems, such as
the dispatch center’s failure
to notify police on Jan. 21
after a 9-1-1 caller reported
possible gunshots near Pilot
Rock Elementary School, a
failure Rowan apologized
for.
In an effort to communi-
cate more formally, Roberts
appointed Roger Youncs,
a sergeant in the police
department, to talk directly
with dispatch heads when
something comes up, such
as when Pendleton offi cers
confi rmed with dispatch that
a man had a warrant for his
arrest only to take him to the
county jail and fi nd out it
was the wrong person.
“You can’t afford for
those kinds of things to
occur,” he said.
And this is a two-way
street, Robert said. A
dispatch supervisor can
tell Youncs when a Pend-
leton offi cer was rude,
for example. Then the
appropriate heads for either
agency can address and
correct the problem.
“It’s a good thing the
county was receptive to
allow that relationship to
exist,” he said.
Rowan said the county
has that same relationship
with
a
representative
from fi re and ambulances
services, and it works better
than a large group meeting
once a month or less.
Concerning issues pop up
daily in dispatch, he said,
and the calls are so varied
that one policy can’t cover
everything.
“We want to make
sure we can correct these
adjustments more rapidly,”
he said. “That’s why its
important to have these
discussions often.”
The advisory committee,
he said, would not focus on
these smaller matters, but
would discuss, for instance,
if the dispatch needed to
add more staff, a move that
would affect cost.
Scott Stanton, chief
of Umatilla County Fire
District 1, said since the
group turned the corner
on fi guring out funding, it
should be looking at what
he called “phase two” —
improving the operations.
“I think that’s going to be
this winter’s topic,” he said,
“what’s the next phase and
the performance aspect of it
and where we’re at.”
Elfering said while
giving advice is one thing,
the committee would not
function as a board of direc-
tors. The county’s 9-1-1 and
dispatch center operates
under the umbrella of the
sheriff’s offi ce, Elfering
said, and the sheriff gets the
fi nal say in what happens in
the dispatch center.
———
Contact Phil Wright at
541-966-0833 or pwright@
eastoregonian.com