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About East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 3, 2020)
Umatilla, Morrow counties slow workplace outbreaks | REGION, A3 E O AST 144th Year, No. 192 REGONIAN THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 3, 2020 $1.50 WINNER OF THE 2019 ONPA GENERAL EXCELLENCE AWARD Redistricting commission plan stays off Oregon’s Nov. 3 ballot By PETER WONG Oregon Capital Bureau Image courtesy of Umatilla County SALEM — Oregon vot- ers will not decide Nov. 3 if they want an indepen- dent commission to redraw legislative and congressio- nal district lines after every 10-year census. Clarno That’s the apparent result of a decision released Tuesday, Sept. 1, by a panel of the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals. Sept. 3, which is 60 days before the general election, is the absolute deadline for Secretary of State Bev Rosenblum Clarno to make the lineup fi nal. There will be two legislative referrals and two initiative mea- sures, the lowest total for an Oregon gen- eral election since 1966. The court’s decision also means that even if advocates eventually qualify the ballot initiative for the 2022 general elec- tion, it will have no effect on the Oregon Legislature’s authority to redraw legisla- tive and congressional district boundaries after 2020 Census information becomes available in 2021. A spokeswoman for Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum confi rmed Sept. 2 that the measure will not appear on the ballot. The appeals court panel, on a 2-1 vote, did not decide directly whether the mea- sure sponsored by the People Not Politi- cians coalition qualifi ed for a statewide election. Instead, the panel sent the case back to U.S. District Court, where Judge Michael McShane ruled July 13 that the coalition could qualify the measure with a signature threshold that is 39% of the num- ber required under the Oregon Constitu- tion, if the signatures were submitted by Aug. 17. The coalition gathered an estimated 64,000 of the 149,360 signatures normally required before it went to court, basing its arguments for ballot access on signa- ture-gathering diffi culties related to the coronavirus pandemic. Though the coalition submitted more signatures to Clarno to meet the lower threshold by an Aug. 17 deadline, the Ore- gon Department of Justice went to federal appeals courts for a stay to keep the mea- sure off the ballot. The 9th Circuit denied the state’s request on July 23. But on Aug. 11, the U.S. Supreme Court blocked fur- ther action until the 9th Circuit panel could hear arguments from both sides on the state’s appeal of McShane’s ruling. The panel did so Aug. 13. The majority on the 9th Circuit panel said this: “The practical effect of the stay is that even if we affi rm the district court’s injunction, the Supreme Court is not likely to lift the stay until after the September 3 deadline to place the Initiative on the November 2020 ballot, likely rendering An architectural drawing of the Umatilla County Jail highlights areas proposed for ren- ovation in blue. See Redistricting, Page A7 EO fi le photo Umatilla County Sheriff ’s Offi ce Deputy Mynde Lee monitors the inmate population from the control room in 2018 at the Umatilla County Jail in Pendleton. Still on the table? Umatilla County lobbying state to fund jail project using COVID dollars By ALEX CASTLE East Oregonian P ENDLETON — Umatilla County is lobbying the Oregon Legislative Emergency Board in Salem to OK a $1.6 million ren- ovation to its jail using funds intended to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic, according to Umatilla County Commissioner George Murdock. “At this point in time we are appeal- ing to the E-Board because we think this is a legitimate COVID expense to provide for the health and safety of our inmates,” Murdock said. The county’s lobbying efforts for the state funding to renovate the interior of the Umatilla County Jail in Pendle- ton dates back to 2017, with the primary intention of creating better accommoda- tions for inmates facing medical issues, drug addiction and or mental illness. “It was designed from Day 1 to pro- vide ways of isolating our prisoners in the very areas where we haven’t had the luxury or opportunity to distance them,” See Jail, Page A7 UMATILLA COUNTY SHERIFF'S OFFICE PREPARES TO ADD BODY CAMERAS As calls for police accountability reach each corner of the country, the Umatilla County Sheriff ’s Offi ce is preparing to outfi t its deputies with body-worn cameras. Page A3 Tribal members rally behind Black Lives Matter By ANTONIO SIERRA East Oregonian PENDLETON — In her open- ing remarks at the Saturday, Aug. 29, Black Lives Matter protest, co-or- ganizer Briana Spencer reminded the audience assembled at Pendle- ton’s Roy Raley Park that they were on land that belongs to the Umatilla, Walla Walla and Cayuse tribes. Based on the tribes’ original ter- ritory before it was ceded to the U.S. government, she could have made that statement anywhere from La Grande to the Tri-Cities and it would still be true, Spencer said in an inter- view after the protest. Members from the Confeder- ated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation and other tribes have been a signifi cant part of Pendleton Black Lives Matter protests since the movement reignited in the wake of George Floyd’s death in May, and the trend continued on Aug. 29. The protest opened with a drum- ming circle featuring members of the CTUIR, Siletz and Warm Springs tribes before giving way to a series of speeches that included Carina Miller, a Warm Springs member who is running for Oregon Senate District 30. A pro-Black Lives Mat- ter car march took place concurrently to give participants a COVID-19- safe way of participating, and Spen- cer said CTUIR Board of Trustees member Jill-Marie Gavin and other tribal government offi cials took part. In a county that’s only 1% Black, Spencer explained why she felt a See CTUIR, Page A7 Staff photo by Ben Lonergan Members of the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation, Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs and Confederated Tribes of Siletz Indians perform during a Black Lives Matter protest at Roy Raley Park in Pendleton on Saturday, Aug. 29, 2020.
