East Oregonian : E.O., October 01, 2020, Image 1

east Oregonian wins 2020 General excellence award | REGION, A3
E O
AST
144th year, No. 204
REGONIAN
Thursday, OcTOber 1, 2020
$1.50
WINNER OF THE 2020 ONPA GENERAL EXCELLENCE AWARD
State balks
at significant
prisoner
release
Gov. brown announced
Sept. 29 she’d be
commuting the
sentences of 66 more
incarcerated people
By ALEX CASTLE
East Oregonian
PeNdLeTON — Gov. Kate
brown announced a second round
of early releases for individuals
incarcerated in Oregon prisons
who are medically vulnerable to
COVID-19 or within two months
of release on Tuesday, Sept. 29,
this time commuting the sen-
tences of 66 people.
brown has granted the release
of 123 individuals from the state’s
prisons since the start of the pan-
demic — less than 1% of the
state’s prison population — after
officials with the Oregon Depart-
ment of corrections said in april
that up to 5,800 people would
need to be released to allow for
adequate social distancing.
For families with those incar-
cerated and the attorneys fight-
ing for prisoner’s rights to not be
exposed to a potentially deadly
virus, the announcement was
a disheartening show of polit-
ical will from brown and her
administration.
“There is no explanation —
other than political reasons —
why there wouldn’t be consid-
eration for people to be released
so they do not die from the pan-
demic,” said Tara herivel, an
attorney representing prisoners
across the state. “It seems like
we’re waiting for a body count to
do something about it.”
The Oregon department of
corrections has reported a body
count of nine deaths of prisoners
who tested positive for COVID-19
and just under 1,000 total people
have tested positive while incar-
cerated as of Wednesday, sept. 30.
That includes 297 cases and three
deaths at eastern Oregon correc-
tional Institution in Pendleton,
and 81 cases at Two rivers cor-
rectional Institution in umatilla.
In august, brown asked the
Oregon department of correc-
tions to provide her with a list of
up to 400 inmates who were either
vulnerable to the virus or within
two months of release and met a
specific set of criteria.
Oregon department of cor-
rections director colette Peters
returned a letter to brown on
Sept. 21 that identified 69 indi-
viduals who fit all criteria, which
brown then trimmed to 66.
herivel said, along with other
See Prisoners, Page A6
East Oregonian, File
Laurie Doherty paints Round-Up cartoons on the front windows of Michael’s Fine Jewelry on Aug. 30, 2015. This year, Doherty would have marked
a half century as a Round-Up window painter, but COVID-19 forced the cancelation of the 2020 Round-Up.
The one that got away
Downtown-wide
exhibit honors
Round-Up painter,
who misses 50th
year due to COVID-19
By KATHY ANEY
East Oregonian
P
eNdLeTON — artist
Laurie doherty knows
her paintings have life
spans only slightly lon-
ger than sandcastles.
And she’s fine with
that.
For 49 straight years, she
painted cartoon cowboys, bulls
and broncs onto the windows of
Pendleton businesses in the weeks
before the Pendleton round-up.
a short time later, they came off
with soap and water as soon as
the rodeo crowd left town.
This year, doherty would
have marked a half century as
a round-up window painter.
she’d started arranging clients.
Then came COVID-19 and the
2020 round-up was canceled.
See Painter, Page A6
East Oregonian, File
The front window of the Rainbow Cafe boasts a sign marking the first stop of a downtown-wide exhibit of
some of Laurie Doherty’s work from 49 years of painting windows in the weeks preceding the Pendleton
Round-Up.
Pendleton selects Byram as next top cop
Lt. chuck byram to
take over as city’s
next chief of police
By ALEX CASTLE
East Oregonian
PeNdLeTON
— a 20-year vet-
eran of the Pendle-
ton Police depart-
ment will be
taking the reins
as the city’s next
Byram
chief of police on
dec. 1.
Lt. chuck byram will be
appointed to the position following
the retirement of chief stuart rob-
erts, the city announced in a press
release on Wednesday, sept. 30.
“I am honored and humbled to
be the individual chosen to lead
such a professional and respected
group of people at the Pendleton
Police department,” byram stated
in the release. “It would not be pos-
sible for me to continue the great
work being done at this agency
without the support from those
within. We, as a team, will con-
tinue to provide those who live,
work and visit Pendleton with the
best possible public safety services
that the citizens of Pendleton are
accustomed to receiving.”
byram joined the force as a
reserve officer in May 1999, the
release stated, before becoming a
full-time officer in March 2000.
“IN THE END, THERE WAS
OVERWHELMING SUPPORT FOR
AN INTERNAL CANDIDATE.”
— Robb Corbett, Pendleton city manager
he was then promoted to corporal
in 2007, sergeant in 2009 and lieu-
tenant in 2017.
according to roberts, byram
was one of the last hires prior
to then-Police chief ed Taber’s
retirement.
“he’s certainly capable,” rob-
erts said of byram. “he has a
perspective to where we were 20
years today versus where we are
today, and I think he obviously has
ideas and visions of where we go
beyond today.”
Pendleton City Manager Robb
corbett decided on the internal
hire after a two-week evaluation
that included conversations with
members of the department.
“I felt it was critical to get feed-
back from the department person-
nel before making this decision,”
See Top cop, Page A6