OFF PAGE ONE
Saturday, November 21, 2020
East Oregonian
A11
Letter: ‘I’m
not saying open
everything up
no holds barred’
Continued from Page A1
More autonomy for
local officials
Ben Lonergan/East Oregonian
The city of Pendleton, which has been testing its wastewater for COVID-19 since April, has seen a significant resurgence in
the amount detected in recent tests.
Sewage: Weekly tests now every 2 weeks
Continued from Page A1
Milne said the testing data
has been informative.
“I don’t think it’s perfect
right now, but you got to try
something,” he said.
In the early days of
sewer testing, the city
didn’t widely share the
results it got back, reason-
ing that testing methods
were too novel to get a reli-
able picture.
But as sewer testing has
become more prevalent and
the pandemic has worn on,
the city is sharing its find-
ings with more sources.
Over the past two
months, Milne said he’s
shared the results of each
sewer test with Umatilla
County Public Health as
well as provided the depart-
ment with all data from pre-
vious tests.
Milne said Oregon State
University and the Ore-
gon Health Authority have
also begun processing sam-
ples taken from Pendleton’s
wastewater treatment plant,
but the results they’ve pro-
vided back to the city only
Ben Lonergan/East Oregonian
Wastewater flows through the various steps of the treatment process at the wastewater
treatment plant in Pendleton on Friday, Nov. 20, 2020.
include whether COVID-
19 is present in the system
rather than any kind of spe-
cific data.
Initially, the city planned
to only test its sewer system
through the end of the year,
with a rise in Biobot testing
prices causing the city to
slow its testing pace from
weekly to every other week.
Milne said he still needs to
talk with his superiors, but
he’s considering a request
to extend its deal with Bio-
bot beyond December.
Biobot charges $1,200
per test, but Milne said
he would like to con-
tinue receiving data from
the tests, at least until the
state’s sewer test results
expand the amount of data
it provides.
Freeze: COVID measures are enforceable by law
Continued from Page A1
becomes ridiculous, and
again, an irresponsible
utilization of the public
dollar.”
Brown initially took a
hard line in directing the
state’s law enforcement to
enforce the rules in place,
saying that she was “order-
ing” officers to comply. She
has since backed off this
approach.
“I expect local law
enforcement to continue
to use an education-first
approach,” the governor
said in a statement Tues-
day, Nov. 17. “But Orego-
nians need to understand
that these rules are enforce-
able under law.”
State police organiza-
tions quickly responded to
the governor’s orders, say-
ing they will only be citing
people as a “last resort.”
“As with most enforce-
ment
decision-making,
discretion will be used if/
when any Executive Order
enforcement action is taken.
Oregon Law Enforcement
recognizes that we can-
not arrest or enforce our
way out of the pandemic,”
The Oregon State Sher-
iffs’ Association, the Ore-
gon Association of Chiefs
of Police and the Oregon
State Police said in a press
release Tuesday, Nov. 17.
Edmiston said his offi-
cers will respond to busi-
nesses that call in and say
customers are refusing to
wear masks. He also said
he has told his officers that
they will “not violate some-
one’s Fourth Amendment
Right.”
“It’s frustrating because
we want to honor the gov-
ernor’s orders under emer-
gency declarations,” he
said. “But there’s a very
clear line in the sand with
regard to the threshold of a
person’s property and law
enforcement coming onto
that property.”
Both Edmiston and
Ben Lonergan/East Oregonian, File
Both the Hermiston Police Department and Pendleton Police Department have said they
do not intend to crack down on social gatherings of more than six people unless the gath-
ering is in a public space or blatantly disregards the health and safety of communities.
Roberts said that the big-
gest distinction in when
their officers will and will
not respond lies between
public and private prop-
erty. If called to respond
to a large social gathering
in somebody’s home, the
most they can do, they said,
is approach and ask if there
are more than six people
inside. But even then, they
cannot enter and enforce
the restrictions without
being allowed in.
“If and when these calls
come in, we’re going to
approach them with the
same standards we deal
with all along — with rea-
sonableness,”
Edmiston
said.
Roberts said the dis-
connect between Brown’s
demands and local law
enforcement have been
frustrating.
He
said
although the governor
claims to be communicat-
ing with law enforcement
statewide on the best ways
to enforce the measures,
there has been little com-
munication with depart-
ments like his.
“If you’re telling peo-
ple that you’re out being
openly communicative and
that you have these partner-
ships, then you better damn
well have them,” he said.
“They don’t exist. She’s
relying on organizations
that represent chiefs and
sheriffs, not the chiefs and
sheriffs themselves.
Umatilla County Sheriff
Terry Rowan and Morrow
County Sheriff Ken Mat-
lack did not return calls for
comment.
However, Matlack and
the Morrow County Sher-
iff’s Office posted a state-
ment on Facebook on Nov.
20 saying they will not be
citing and arresting viola-
tors despite Brown’s orders.
“We have not engaged in
any criminal enforcement
on COVID-19 measures
or orders sent down from
Governor Brown and we
will not start now,” Matlack
said in the release. “If cit-
izens or businesses refuse
to follow the safety recom-
mendations, they could face
civil litigation or fines from
OSHA or OLCC. They will
not be cited or arrested by
any member of the Morrow
County Sheriff’s Office.”
Roberts said it can cer-
tainly be argued that people
who have tested positive for
COVID-19 can place a risk
to the public. However, he
said law enforcement is not
in a position to enforce the
mandate, and it is better left
to public health officials.
“These types of regula-
tory oversight is a whole lot
different than going out and
enforcing the law on people
committing what is, in my
mind, bona fide crimes that
put people or property at
risk,” he said.
Roberts and Edmiston
both made clear that the
best things their communi-
ties can do right now is fol-
low the basic guidelines set
in place from the beginning
— wearing a mask, keep-
ing your social group small
and physical distancing.
“If we’re going to
change this, then it’s going
to be a community effort,”
Roberts said. “I say this all
the time, ‘If not you, then
who?’”
Sen. Lynn Findley, a
Republican from Vale, said
he and other legislators had
been working on drafts of the
letter for about three weeks
before sending it to the gov-
ernor’s office on Nov. 18.
Since discussion of the
letter started weeks ago, the
COVID-19 landscape in Ore-
gon looks different. On Nov.
1, Oregon Health Author-
ity reported 524 new cases
of COVID-19. Since then,
the state has repeatedly set
records for daily case counts,
and on Thursday, Nov. 19,
reported 1,225 new cases.
Findley, whose district
includes parts of 11 counties,
said his main goal is to pro-
mote a “dialogue” between
the governor and other
state officials and legisla-
tors, county commissioners,
school administrators and
other local officials in rural
counties.
He said he wants the
state to give more autonomy
to local officials in design-
ing strategies to combat the
spread of COVID-19.
He notes that during the
spring, the state required
counties to submit detailed
plans for state approval
before moving into Phase 1,
which relaxed some of the
restrictions on businesses,
church services and other
activities that the governor
had imposed in March at the
outset of the pandemic.
Findley contends that
approach “is totally ignored
now.”
He laments that in place
of pandemic planning that
acknowledges the differ-
ent effects the virus has had
in rural Oregon, state offi-
cials have switched to a “one-
size-fits-all” strategy, includ-
ing the two-week statewide
freeze in effect from Nov. 18
through Wednesday, Dec. 2.
He concedes that one ref-
erence in the letter about
rural communities slow-
ing the spread of COVID-19
has been overtaken, to some
extent, by subsequent trends
in new cases.
“Clearly the situation
seems to continue to escalate,
and the numbers in most of
the (legislative) districts are
pretty darn high, which is
unfortunate,” he said.
Nonetheless,
Findley
stands by his belief that state-
wide restrictions, such as
the two-week freeze, fail
to reflect the differences
between rural and urban
areas.
Wheeler County, for
instance, has reported only
one COVID-19 case during
the pandemic.
Three other counties in his
district have had fewer than
100 cases — Lake, with 82
cases as of Nov. 19, Harney,
with 78, and Grant, with 74.
House District 58 State
Representative-elect Bobby
Levy, R-Echo, added her sig-
nature to the letter because
she believes the individ-
ual differences of counties
should be taken into account.
“I signed onto this letter
because I believe it’s true.
Hospitalizations in the metro
shouldn’t automatically mean
that our rural communities
suffer the consequences,”
she said. “Our children need
to be in school full time. Our
churches need to be open to
attend. State business needs
to open back up and serve the
communities they have left
behind.”
Levy signed the letter
before the governor’s freeze
took effect and said her feel-
ings about the COVID-19
lockdown issue have not
changed since then. She
remains very concerned
about how the state’s han-
dling of the pandemic is
impacting the district she is
set to represent.
“We have small communi-
ties that heavily rely on sum-
mer tourism and rodeos that
were unable to count on those
funds to carry them through
the winter months,” she said.
“We all are doing our best
to help keep our communi-
ties safe and financially afloat
— but shutting down busi-
nesses, schools and churches
that have no correlation to
outbreaks is not the answer.”
Levy will succeed three-
term Rep. Greg Barreto,
R-Cove, when she is sworn
in January. Barreto, who did
not run for reelection, signed
the letter for a fundamental
reason.
“I read it and I
agreed with it,’’ he said.
Letter is slightly dated
Umatilla County Com-
missioner George Murdock
said although he signed the
letter weeks ago, its contents
do not necessarily represent
where he stands now, in light
of changes to COVID-19 case
numbers. Though he declined
to revoke his signature from
the letter, as it fundamentally
supported his views, the let-
ter’s claims that the county
has “adjusted and improved”
are slightly dated when con-
sidering the record-break-
ing spike in coronavirus
cases the state has seen in
recent weeks, according to
Murdock.
“More recently, people
have let down their guard,”
Murdock said. “We know
what we need to do, and right
now we’re not doing it.”
He said the county needs
to make a concerted effort to
get its numbers down, and
said although he, too, has
families he wishes he could
safely see for the holidays,
people need to make personal
sacrifices to help schools
reopen. He expressed con-
cern about a “lost generation”
of schoolchildren, and lost
businesses.
“Our biggest concern has
been restaurants and bars,”
he said. “Every time we do
something, they get hit. Let’s
just focus on areas that are
causing the most problems.”
Umatilla County Com-
missioner Bill Elfering said
he has not found the governor
or the Oregon Health Author-
ity very willing to sit down
and have discussions about a
plan “that would have more
chances of success.” He crit-
icized what he called blan-
ket solutions that don’t take
into account the impact, and
said he doesn’t feel counties
in Eastern Oregon are being
given enough opportunities
for input.
“Why are we closing
restaurants and bars when we
don’t know that’s where the
problem is coming from?” he
said. “If we’re out to protect
our elderly and our vulnera-
ble — those who have under-
lying conditions — then let’s
protect them.”
He called wearing a face
mask a “minor inconve-
nience” that people should be
following to help out, along
with social distancing and
other “logical” steps. He said
counties should work with
their own health directors
and commissioners to put
together plans, rather than
enforce the overarching man-
dates that come from the gov-
ernor’s office.
Umatilla County Com-
missioner John Shafer said
he feels the damage that
COVID-19 restrictions are
doing to businesses is doing
more harm to the county than
COVID-19 itself.
“I’m not saying open
everything up no holds
barred,” he said. “But the
restrictions in place a few
days ago I think were more
than adequate to slow the
spread. We’ve got a vaccine
coming up. These things are
coming. Why crush our econ-
omy right now when we’re so
close to having a vaccine?”
———
EOMG reporters Dick
Mason and Jayson Jacoby
contributed to this report.