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About East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current | View Entire Issue (May 21, 2020)
A6 LOCAL East Oregonian Thursday, May 21, 2020 Court denies injunction in property dispute Hermiston property owners locked in a legal battle with Umatilla County were denied their motion last week By ALEX CASTLE East Oregonian HERMISTON — The Hermiston property own- ers locked in a legal battle with Umatilla County and the city of Hermiston over a road improvement project on Airport and Ott roads were denied a motion for a temporary restraining order last week. “It is unlikely the plain- tiffs will prevail, and although it appears their fence and drain field may encroach on the road ease- ment, there is insufficient evidence the county road improvement will encroach on their property or cause irreparable harm,” Uma- tilla County Circuit Court Judge Eva Temple ruled in her May 13 order on the motion. The ruling may seem like a loss for Chris and Monique Waine’s case that seeks to resolve conflicts between county surveys, their property deed, and identified historical mon- uments, which they claim would subsequently prove that 11 feet on the north and 5 feet on the east side of their property is in fact theirs and not a county right-of- way. But the Waines won’t be deterred by it. “The thing about an injunction is it’s not really a loss, we just lost the argu- ment that we had a plethora of evidence that would land us in a favorable decision,” Chris Waine said. “There’s a lot of witness testimony that still needs to be had, there’s depositions that still need to happen.” Waine said that the injunction also offered an opportunity for him and his attorneys to see what addi- tional evidence the court will need to see and how it needs to be presented. But Waine said his team also relied heavily on sur- vey records provided by the county in the injunction hearing, which are being impacted by excavation and additional surveys happen- ing around the property now. “The hard thing about this particular case is things are continually develop- Harris Park reopens to the public Park now open for day use, overnight stays with new guidelines due to COVID-19 East Oregonian Staff photo by Ben Lonergan, File An excavation company works near the entrance to Harris Memorial Park in rural Umatilla Coun- ty outside of Milton-Freewater in early April. The park will reopen for day use and overnight stays with new guidelines for sanitation, limited overnight stays and remote payment options. ing throughout the park and along its trails, and group contact sports are discour- aged. The park’s playground equipment will also be unavailable for use. Park staff will be cleaning and sanitizing campsites after each use, and bathrooms will be cleaned and sanitized at least twice per day with plans to increase efforts during the weekends when more people are expected at the park. Campers will need to bring food, personal hygiene products and chairs of their own because the county won’t make any of these items available at the park, and staff have been encour- aged to implement a remote pay station rather than han- dling transactions by hand. Harris park suffered severe damages during Feb- ruary’s historic flooding and was initially expected to be a longer renovation project, but repairs came along faster than anticipated and staff have been preparing the park to ensure its water and elec- trical systems are ready to go. Staff have also been directed to inspect that the park is better equipped for some rises in the river, which is especially prudent after the National Weather Service in Pendleton issued a flood watch for the region through Wednesday night. “Where possible staff were also asked to help assure that campsites along the River have new levels of protection from potential overflows that might contam- inate the park,” the guide- lines stated. State seeks health care volunteers to support COVID-19 response Eastern Oregon Medical Reserve Corps has added 30 new volunteers By ANDREW CUTLER East Oregonian PENDLETON — As Ore- gon residents work to get back to some sort of normalcy, the Oregon Health Authority is increasing efforts to recruit health care professionals to join the State Emergency Registry of Volunteers across the state. Since March, SERV-OR has added more than 800 vol- unteers, strengthening OHA’s ability to contain COVID- 19 cases and building the capacity of the volunteer pro- gram to respond to future emergencies. The effort is picking up steam in Eastern Oregon. “There has been a signifi- cant increase in people volun- teering for different regions across the state for the East- ern Oregon Medical Reserve Corps (EOMRC) and for Serve Oregon,” said Jason Yencopal, emergency man- agement director for Baker County and the unit com- mander of the Eastern Ore- gon Medical Reserve Corps. “And we’ve seen that increase in Eastern Oregon, too.” Yencopal said about 30 volunteers have been added around the seven-county region that makes up the EOMRC, bringing the total volunteers in the region to about 90. Having volun- teers spread out in all of the counties under the EOMRC umbrella helps cut down on response times if volunteers are needed to travel from, say, MORE INFORMATION For more information about Oregon’s response to COVID-19, please visit https://govstatus.egov.com/OR-OHA-COVID-19 Pendleton to Burns, Yencopal said. “If we only have volun- teers in three of the seven counties, we’re always pulling from those three,” he said. “If we can get them spread out all over the region, the drive time for volunteers to respond in the case of a severe outbreak would decrease and make our response time increase.” The Oregon Health Authority is planning for vol- unteers to be a key part of the state’s COVID-19 recovery to potential volunteers in Eastern Oregon has been productive. “It’s been positive,” said Ray Denny, public safety director for the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation and a manager for the EOMRC. The EOMRC is a group of doctors, nurses, emergency medical technicians and resi- dents around Eastern Oregon. The organization falls under the State Emergency Regis- try of Volunteers. The Corps “WHEN OUR HEALTH CARE SYSTEM WAS PREPARING FOR THE WORST OF THIS, VOLUNTEER HEALTH CARE WORKERS ANSWERED THE CALL.” — Oregon Gov. Kate Brown effort by supporting contact tracing, testing and commu- nity wellness campaigns, and studies of long-term commu- nity effects and mass vacci- nation programs. Volunteers who sign up in the coming days will have the oppor- tunity to train and deploy quickly. “The objective is to get enough contact tracers for the counties, and then whether it’s county or state, we have enough contact tracers to sup- port positive cases in order to be able to go through that pro- cess to keep people safe and to reduce the spread,” Yenco- pal said. Getting the word out supports local county health departments, area hospi- tals, emergency management offices and local response teams in a seven-county area: Gilliam, Morrow, Umatilla, Union, Wallowa, Grant and Baker. In addition to helping with disease outbreaks, SERV-OR volunteers are ready to respond to other emergen- cies and natural disasters, such as flooding, wildfire and earthquakes. A couple of events the EOMRC has been involved with, Yencopal said, include the solar eclipse in 2017 and supporting the Red Cross shelter during the February flooding in Umatilla County. Health care professionals can register to volunteer with SERV-OR at SERV-OR.org. “Oregon’s health care workers are our most valu- able asset in the fight against COVID-19,” said OHA Director Patrick Allen. “Their skills and energy are sav- ing lives every day, in every part of the state. SERV-OR provides another opportu- nity to give back and sup- port response efforts while connecting volunteers to high-quality training.” While the backbone of the EOMRC are health care vol- unteers, Denny said there is a need for volunteers without a medical background. “Sometimes we just need somebody there to help direct people. We don’t want to take a nurse and put them in that role unless we have to,” he said. “We’d rather have them be able to immunize or what- ever we’re doing there. So, we would be looking for some regular volunteers as well.” SERV-OR is Oregon’s ros- ter of licensed physicians, nurses, pharmacists, Emer- gency Medical Technicians, behavioral health providers, respiratory therapists and other medical professionals who have registered to volun- teer in response to local, state or federal emergencies. “When our health care system was preparing for the worst of this, volunteer health care workers answered the call,” Oregon Gov. Kate Brown said. “I want to com- mend all our health care pro- fessionals and volunteers for their incredible work protect- ing the lives, safety, and well- ness of Oregonians during this crisis.” “We’re going to scru- tinize what they’ve done in the past,” Waine said. “What this is really going to boil down to is was this done the right way, and I don’t think that it was.” Meanwhile, the proj- ect’s construction has pro- gressed and Waine said this week that contrac- tors are paving the roads. The next court date has yet to be set, and Waine said things around the neighbor- hood may soon be quieting down, but he has no plans of backing away from the conflict. “We’re going to keep holding the line,” he said. Oregon Veterans’ Affairs launches Educational Bridge Grant Program The new program was established during the 2019 legislative session By ALEX CASTLE East Oregonian UMATILLA COUNTY — Harris Park is back open to the public with some new guidelines in place due to COVID-19. The Umatilla County Board of Commissioners for- mally adopted new guide- lines for the park Wednes- day that include limiting overnight stays to Umatilla County residents, increas- ing sanitation protocols and implementing remote paying options. According to the guide- lines, the park will be open for both day use and over- night camping, though res- ervations will be restricted to Umatilla County residents only for the time being. “No such residency requirement shall be in place for day use although travel regulations remain in effect in the State of Oregon,” the new guidelines stated. Those attending the park are encouraged to continue practicing social distanc- ing,” Waine said. Ultimately, Waine said they’re hoping to prove the northeast corner of the property has been “lost” after mistakes were made during previous surveys and how historical monu- ments were tied to it. While the legal pro- cess and ongoing standoff between the Waines and the county have been wearing on their family mentally and financially, they’re commit- ted to fighting the injustices they believe they’ve faced and will continue to take the case to higher courts if last week’s ruling is a sign of more to come. SALEM — The Ore- gon Department of Veter- ans’ Affairs is now accept- ing applications for a new grant program aimed at helping Oregon veterans complete their educational goals, according to a press release. The Veteran Educa- tional Bridge Grant Pro- gram provides financial assistance to veterans who are unable to complete their education due to the unavailability of one or more required classes. “The financial reality of many student veterans’ situations is that they can’t simply take a semester off,” said ODVA Director Kelly Fitzpatrick. “And we know that many of those who have to seek employ- ment to provide for them- selves and their families may never return to the classroom to finish their education.” The new program, which the Oregon Legis- lature established during the 2019 legislative session with the passage of House Bill 2201, provides grants to eligible student veterans to alleviate the financial stress during a gap period when required courses are unavailable, allowing them to stay in school and finish the academic program. “In Oregon, we believe our veterans should not have to miss out on the chance to reach their career and educational goals sim- ply because of the timing of course offerings,” Fitz- patrick said. “At a time when student veterans’ schedules and finances may be more challenged due to the COVID-19 cri- sis, this program is needed now more than ever.” Under the program, eligible student veter- ans, who are unable to complete their education due to the unavailability of required classes, may receive grants of up to $5,000. Recipients must be a veteran eligible for GI Bill benefits, an Oregon resident, and enrolled in an Oregon-based academic program that is approved by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. For more information about the Veteran Edu- cational Bridge Grant Program, or to apply, visit the ODVA web- site at www.oregon.gov/ odva/agency-programs/ grants/Pages/Education- al-Bridge-Grant.aspx. Questions may also be directed to ODVA’s Vet- eran Educational Bridge Grant coordinator, Scott Salazar, at ebg@odva. state.or.us or by phone at 503-373-2338. Umatilla National Forest seeks public input on Davis Project East Oregonian PENDLETON — The North Fork John Day Ranger District of the Umatilla National Forest is seeking public comment on the proposed Davis Farm Bill Categorical Exclusion project, accord- ing to a press release from the Umatilla National Forest. The purpose of the Davis Project, located approximately 35 miles southeast of Ukiah, is to reduce the risk and extent of an ongoing insect and disease infestation. The Davis Project proposes to treat up to 3,000 acres by removing trees through mechanical treatments, including commercial thinning, small diameter thinning, pile burning and prescribed fire. Treatments would remove insect- and dis- ease-infested trees and reduce stocking levels to decrease competition for moisture, light and nutri- ents. Proposed activities are designed to improve the ability of trees to ward off insects and diseases and decrease fuel buildup from dead and dying trees, increasing forest stand resilience. The Forest Service is seeking scoping comments to help refine the proposed action and identify ways to improve the project. The comment period is an opportunity for the public to be involved in the pro- cess and offer thoughts on alternative ways the For- est Service can accom- plish the project purpose and need. The Forest Ser- vice will be accepting comments on the proposal until June 18. The North Fork John Day Ranger District also intends to host a field trip to the project area during the scoping period on June 11, with the date or the format for the field trip depending on the status of the COVID-19 pandemic. For more informa- tion about the Davis Proj- ect or the upcoming field trip, contact Wendy Eddy, the project lead, at wendy. eddy@usda.gov or 541- 427-5387. Additionally, those interested in attend- ing the public field trip are encouraged to RSVP to Eddy.
