Business Oregon offers new grants for small businesses | COMMUNITY, A6
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145th Year, No. 17
REGONIAN
TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 24, 2020
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WINNER OF THE 2020 ONPA GENERAL EXCELLENCE AWARD
Vaccine trials have new epidemiologist optimistic
Halley Maloy
started new position
with Umatilla
County in October
By BRYCE DOLE
East Oregonian
PENDLETON — Umatilla
County residents can expect detailed
data and trends showing corona-
virus infection rates coming from
the public health department now
that the county has
hired its fi rst-ever
epidemiologist.
Halley Maloy,
34, began her role
as the county’s
expert in tracking
Maloy
the causes and pat-
terns of diseases
and injuries in October. Her work
is meant to both inform the public
and to inform offi cials about where
infection is spreading and how.
“I look at the numbers and pat-
terns of the disease,” she said.
“Basically, my position is a rung
in the ladder between the commu-
nity and the implementation of pro-
grams” to track COVID-19.
According to Joe Fiumara, the
county’s public health director,
Maloy is the only epidemiologist
in Eastern Oregon, with the next
closest believed to be employed in
Bend.
Fiumara said the department
intends to make the addition of a
county epidemiologist a permanent
one. He said that bringing epide-
miologists to support public health
departments in smaller counties
was a topic at the state level prior
to the pandemic, but it was diffi -
cult to employ one with minimal
resources.
“We’ve wanted an epidemiol-
ogist for a while,” Fiumara said.
“All the programs we do can ben-
efi t from data analysis. Finding
out what things are effective, how
things are going to work, helping
us visualize the data — all of that
is huge.”
After growing up in Wichita,
Kansas, Maloy graduated from
Pendleton maps out homeless policy
Ordinance designates certain
public areas for public rest
between 10 p.m. and 6 a.m.
By ANTONIO SIERRA
East Oregonian
P
Ben Lonergan/East Oregonian
See Homeless, Page A7
A section of land along the Umatilla River in Pendleton is among parcels the city has iden-
tifi ed as acceptable for sleeping outdoors.
On Nov. 6, Pendleton’s “right to rest” law went into effect, creating outdoor areas
where homeless residents could legally sleep between the hours of 10 p.m. and
6 a.m. The areas are all public properties but exclude sidewalks, parking lots,
alleyways and other property designated for pedestrian or vehicular travel.
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395
Map legend
Sou
Um
a
UMATILLA COUNTY
County
sees overall
increase in
residents
By JADE MCDOWELL
East Oregonian
Pendleton
rest areas
30
See Vaccine, Page A7
Hermiston lengthens
lead over Pendleton
as largest city in
Eastern Oregon
ENDLETON — A law creating
legal areas for the public to sleep
outside went into effect Nov. 6,
but it wasn’t until Nov. 19 that the
city produced a map that showed
where these areas are located.
The Pendleton City Council passed
Ordinance No. 3966 in October, infor-
mally known as Pendleton’s “right to rest”
law. In light of some recent federal court
rulings that deemed it unconstitutional to
prohibit outdoor sleeping, a burden that
largely falls on homeless populations, the
city’s new ordinance designates certain
public areas for public rest between the
d
Wichita State University with a
dual major in anthropology and
biology. She then worked at a lab
in Florida studying malaria and at
a mental health facility where she
became interested in working in
public health.
Maloy was midway through her
master’s program at the University
of Kansas School of Medicine when
the coronavirus pandemic began.
She quickly found herself assisting
the county public health department
T
d
Roa
illa
utu
Pendleton city limits
Hwy./state route
Interstate hwy.
Rail corridor
2,000 feet
Source: City of Pendleton
Alan Kenaga/For the East Oregonian
395
HERMISTON — Hermiston
continues to expand its lead as
Eastern Oregon’s largest city, add-
ing an estimated 360 new residents
between July 2019 and July 2020,
according to data released by Port-
land State University’s Population
Research Center.
The center released its prelimi-
nary estimates for the year on Nov.
15. They showed Umatilla County
as a whole gained an estimated 335
people, bumping the population up
to about 81,495 residents.
Pendleton gained fi ve residents,
putting Hermiston at an estimated
18,775 and Pendleton at 17,025.
As Hermiston’s population has
grown, its housing stock has too.
According to a news release from
the city of Hermiston, the city
issued permits for 83 new homes
inside city limits in 2020 through
the end of October. Assistant City
Manager Mark Morgan said the
city has worked to promote addi-
tional housing development in sev-
eral ways, including investing in a
new water tower and other infra-
structure to bring down the cost of
developing housing in the northeast
part of the city.
“Hermiston, Umatilla, and Stan-
fi eld can really all be thought of as
neighborhoods in a larger west-
end real estate market,” he said in
a statement. “Our hope with these
targeted public investments was
certainly to drive housing in north-
east Hermiston, but also to allow
See Residents, Page A7
Oregon stays blue, and lesser known voting stats
By GARY A. WARNER
Oregon Capital Bureau
SALEM — Oregon continued
its run of backing Democrats for
president that dates back to when
“Kokomo” by the Beach Boys was
the No. 1 song in the country.
The electoral map of Oregon took
on its usual hues: The population
centers around the Portland metro
area and a stretch from Eugene
northwest through Corvallis to the
coast around Newport stayed blue
with Democrat Joe Biden, who won
the state and the national election.
President Donald Trump retained
Eastern and Southern Oregon as
strongholds of Republican red on
the map, running up victories from
Pendleton and Hermiston to Klam-
ath Falls and Coos Bay.
In the far northwest corner of the
state, Astoria and Clatsop County
went for the Democrat, as per usual
in recent races. But neighboring
Tillamook and Columbia counties
stuck with President Trump, after
both fl ipping in 2016 following
two consecutive wins by Democrat
Barack Obama.
But the biggest — if not unex-
pected — fl ip could be seen on the
map as a blue bulge running east out
of the Cascades. Deschutes County
unambiguously gave the Democrat
the majority of its votes for president
for the fi rst time since Beatlemania
swept the nation.
Oregon Secretary of State Bev
Clarno has until Dec. 3 to announce
fi nal voting totals.
See Voting, Page A7
Paula Bronstein/Associated Press, File
Supporters of President Donald Trump attend a rally to protest against Presi-
dent-elect Joe Biden’s win, fi ghting the vote counts on Nov, 7, 2020, in Salem.
Trump retained Eastern and Southern Oregon as strongholds of Republican
red on the state map, running up victories from Pendleton and Hermiston to
Klamath Falls and Coos Bay.