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Thursday, December 3, 2020
East Oregonian
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CARES: ‘I hate to say $1.18 million is not enough. But it’s not enough’
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ing pandemic, which has
brought mass layoffs as
cases have spiked to unprec-
edented levels in recent
weeks.
The commissioners each
said that the approval of the
funds was a highlight in the
meeting, and a step in the
right direction toward get-
ting support for those who
are struggling.
Commissioner Bill Elf-
ering said the relief funds
will help, but that it’s not
nearly enough to keep busi-
nesses afloat to next sum-
mer. Instead, he hopes that
the funds will provide tem-
porary support while a vac-
cine is on the way.
“It may be the amount
they need to keep the straw
from breaking the camel’s
back,” he said.
Businesses can expect
an application to receive
financial support to be
posted as early as Dec.
3, according to Gail Nel-
son, the county’s economic
development and tourism
coordinator. The appli-
cation will remain online
through Dec. 15 with a goal
to have the checks ready to
Ben Lonergan/East Oregonian, File
Umatilla County Commissioner Bill Elfering listens as participants speak during a meeting
to discuss how funding from the federal coronavirus relief package will be spent in Umatilla
County on July 1, 2020, at the Pendleton Convention Center. On Wednesday, Dec. 2, the Uma-
tilla County Board of Commissioners approved the use of $1.18 million from the state-funded
CARES Business Grant Program to support local businesses.
distribute by Dec. 30.
County Commissioner
George Murdock said the
county has already distrib-
uted more than $2 million
in funds since the pandemic
began. Recent funds were
distributed by ZIP codes,
while the current funds will
be distributed primarily
to the hospitality industry,
Murdock said.
Elfering said the funds
will go to businesses that are
struggling more than others,
like small restaurants and
bars. Businesses that have
not had to close, like some
grocery stores, will most
likely not be approved to
receive financial support, he
said.
“I am hopeful that we
will be able to help some
businesses sustain,” Elfer-
ing said. “I hate to say $1.18
million is not enough. But
it’s not enough.”
In response to mounting
pressure from businesses
who feared they would not
survive another statewide
shutdown meant to curb the
spread of infection, Gov.
Kate Brown announced
Nov. 17 that the state would
provide $55 million in fed-
eral CARES Act funding
to help failing businesses.
Each county has received
$500,000 in funds, plus an
additional amount depend-
ing on population.
Heading into the holi-
day season, however, fed-
eral funding from both the
CARES Act and the Pan-
demic
Unemployment
Assistance program is set
to expire, as benefits will
end Dec. 26. The Oregon
Unemployment Department
has estimated that the expi-
rations could cause up to
70,000 Oregonians to lose
their jobs.
“Some things need to
happen,” Murdock said.
“We only have less than a
month before we fall off
another cliff.”
With a divided Congress
showing no clear indication
that a new pandemic relief
package will be approved
before the year-end dead-
line, a study from the Cen-
tury Foundation has shown
that as many as 12 million
Americans will be at risk of
losing benefits.
Also on the agenda for
the commissioners’ meet-
ing was the approval of elec-
tion results, which included
the election of county com-
missioner-elect Dan Dor-
ran, the reelection of Sher-
iff Terry Rowan, who ran
unopposed, and the Sec-
ond Amendment Sanctuary
Ordinance, which passed.
The results were approved
unanimously.
Dan Lonai, the county’s
director of administrative
services, said in the meeting
that the county’s Secretary
of State department ran-
domly selected batches of
ballots, perhaps more than
1,500, to verify by hand that
machines counted ballots
correctly.
Stamps: New Pendleton police chief sworn in
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situations in the future.
“If you want to preserve
history, this land belongs
to my tribe,” said Spencer,
an enrolled member of the
CTUIR.
Spencer’s questions were
met with an extended period
of silence from the coun-
cil before Turner said the
upcoming amendment ordi-
nance was meant to correct
the process.
Sidewalk stamps bear-
ing the pre-World War II
name of the street it’s on can
be found all over the city’s
older residential areas, but
only several cross streets
on Byers bore the names of
Confederate figures like Jef-
ferson Davis, Robert E. Lee
and Stonewall Jackson.
The issue didn’t come to
a head until the city decided
to reconstruct Southeast
Byers, which included
replacing some of the side-
walks. The Pendleton His-
toric Preservation Commis-
sion approved preservation
of the stamps, either by cut-
ting out the original stamp
and reinstalling it or reprint-
ing it with a replica stamp.
That drew the attention
of resident Joshua Walker,
who smashed the Jefferson
Davis stamp, and then nailed
in a pro-Black Lives Matter
sign onto it as an act of pro-
test on Nov. 16. Walker was
eventually cited by Pendle-
ton police for misdemeanor
criminal mischief.
The Dec. 1 meeting was
the first time activists used a
Ben Lonergan/East Oregonian, File
Linda Kerr checks students’ temperatures as they arrive
for class at the Ukiah School District building in Ukiah on
Sept. 3, 2020.
Ben Lonergan/East Oregonian
Chuck Byram, center, is sworn in as chief of police for the city of Pendleton by Mayor John
Turner, right, during a city council meeting on Tuesday, Dec. 1, 2020.
council meeting to air con-
cerns, with Spencer joined
by three other speakers.
Nastasha Stiles read from
a prepared statement signed
by several progressive orga-
nizations in the region and
a few individuals, including
two Eastern Oregon Uni-
versity history professors
and Jamie McLeod-Skin-
ner, a Terrebonne resident
who unsuccessfully ran for
the 2nd Congressional Dis-
trict in 2018 and Secretary
of State in 2020.
“The consensus among
our collaboration of coali-
tion voices is that Pendleton
being infiltrated with dis-
graced Confederate soldiers
is shameful, not something
we want to be re-captured
in our streets forever,” the
letter states. “Oregon was
not part of the Confederacy
and is no longer a sundown
state. We feel that since the
engraved stones are already
removed, it would be less
contentious to find a more
appropriate new home for
them. Relocate them to
storage, state archives or a
museum.”
When the city announced
it was reversing its stance on
the stamps, a press release
stated the city intended to
donate the remaining stamps
to the Umatilla County His-
torical Society.
The public will get at
least one more chance to
comment on the issue. If the
council holds a first reading
of the amended ordinance
on Dec. 15, then it will hold
a mandatory public hearing
on Jan. 5.
With no scheduled action
items on the Dec. 1 agenda,
one of the only other activi-
ties on the schedule was the
swearing in of new Pend-
leton Police Chief Chuck
Byram.
A former lieutenant with
the Pendleton Police Depart-
ment, Byram replaces out-
going Chief Stuart Roberts,
who led the department for
18 years and is now retiring.
Strategy: Approximately 1,500 kits to be distributed
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attempt to connect with a
community that officials say
have been underserved and
disproportionately affected
by the pandemic.
Joe Fiumara, the county’s
public health director, said
that efforts like these are
meant to improve commu-
nication and slow the spread
of the virus in any way pos-
sible until a distributable
COVID-19 vaccine arrives.
“If these efforts reduce
that number by a couple a
day, that’s huge,” Fiumara
said, referring to reported
daily cases, which have
increased on average in
recent weeks. “That’s huge
from less people being sick,
that frees up staff time to do
better tracing to prevent oth-
ers from getting sick.”
Fiumara said the coro-
navirus has hit Hispanic
communities in Umatilla
County especially hard. He
said that working conditions
and a lack of communica-
tion between health depart-
ments, businesses and their
workers play a combined
role in the high infection
rates seen throughout the
county.
“It’s a vicious cycle if the
more behind we fall on our
contact tracing, the more
spread of virus you are
likely to see,” he said. “Any
little things that we can do
to help stem that tide are
worthwhile in our opinion.”
There is also information
about how to access com-
munity financial support for
things like utilities and rent,
according to Walsborn.
“The kits were born out
of a recognition that there
is a need to get more hand
sanitizers and masks out
into the community, and
“IT’S A VICIOUS CYCLE IF THE
MORE BEHIND WE FALL ON OUR
CONTACT TRACING, THE MORE
SPREAD OF VIRUS YOU ARE LIKELY
TO SEE.”
— Joe Fiumara, Umatilla County public health director
Amanda Walsborn, a
supervisor for Umatilla
County public health who
helped organize the outreach
effort, said the kits will have
messaging attached about
contact tracing, how to
access resources to receive
housing, food and cleaning
supplies, and what to expect
if you contract the virus and
are required to quarantine.
we wanted to pair some
more fresh information with
those,” she said.
Walsborn estimated that
around 1,500 kits will be
distributed at various places
throughout the county in
cooperation with commu-
nity groups like the Herm-
iston Hispanic Advisory
Committee. The commit-
tee will then work with
crew supervisors to go into
the fields and distribute kits
in-person at select farms.
It’s the second time in the
past several months that the
county has made such an
effort, with the first com-
ing in August as the East
Oregonian partnered with
the county to distribute
over 25,000 masks included
inside the newspaper.
For Walsborn, who
has been a part of various
outreach efforts like the
COVID-19 kits throughout
the pandemic, she feels a
certain pride by serving the
community where she grew
up and doing whatever she
can to relay a message of
health and safety.
“When we’re trying to
get information out there, it
becomes apparent that not
everyone is receiving the
right information,” she said.
“Rather than just expect
that people would seek out
information or are going to
be reached through Face-
book or the mail or news-
paper, I think it’s important
that everyone have the over-
arching information to keep
safe.”
Schools: Morrow
County schools
granted safe harbor
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long school shutdown that
included
Thanksgiving
break.
With contact tracing
determining that no other
staff or students had con-
tracted the virus from the
staff member, Reger said
the school was back in
operation on Nov. 30.
The Morrow County
School District eventu-
ally got permission from
the state to reopen as
well, and the most recent
report shows that it has six
recent cases among staff
and students, with several
more that are considered
“resolved.” If all the cases
are tallied, all of the com-
munities that the district
serves — Boardman, Irri-
gon and Heppner — have
all had at least one case.
Morrow County Super-
intendent Dirk Dirksen
said the district has reacted
to each case by reverting
the affected cohort of stu-
dents and staff to distance
learning, but keeping the
rest of the school open.
He added that each stu-
dent cohort has minimal
contact with other groups
of students, limiting the
chance for spread.
The Pendleton School
District is where most
other school districts are at
in terms of teaching meth-
ods. Without an exemption
to lean on, Pendleton is
offering limited in-person
instruction, meaning small
groups of in-need students
are brought in for a few
hours each day.
But that hasn’t stopped
the pandemic from affect-
ing school operations.
Pendleton’s seven recent
cases are the most of any
district in the county, with
all positive cases con-
nected to staff.
“Obviously, the num-
bers speak for themselves,”
Pendleton Superintendent
Chris Fritsch said.
COVID-19 is penetrat-
ing small and large dis-
tricts alike, with recent
cases linked to Hermiston,
Milton-Freewater, Helix,
Stanfield and Weston.
InterMountain
Edu-
cation Service District
Superintendent Mark Mul-
vihill said it’s a concerning
trend.
“It is frustrating to look
at because we’re going in
the wrong direction,” he
said.
Mulvihill said the out-
breaks at schools are a
“microcosm” of the com-
munities where they are
located, which are see-
ing COVID-19 cases rise
overall.
That comment was
echoed by the other super-
intendents, who found a
silver lining in the fact that
contact tracing has linked
the sources of the cases
to people outside of the
school.
All of them intended to
keep their schools operat-
ing in the same way, while
acknowledging that things
could change quickly if
the virus starts spreading
within school walls.
Dirksen said his district
was granted its exemption
before the recent uptick
in cases across Morrow
County, but if the state was
basing the district’s status
on the county’s cases from
last week, it wouldn’t have
been allowed to reopen.
Dirksen said the dis-
trict will be granted “safe
harbor” until Jan. 4, when
the state will reevaluate its
school opening guidelines.
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