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About East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 5, 2021)
new year’s baby an early surprise for parents | REGION, A3 E O AST 145th year, no. 34 REGONIAN Tuesday, January 5, 2021 $1.50 WINNER OF THE 2020 ONPA GENERAL EXCELLENCE AWARD Bentz stance an about-face from Walden Oregon republican backs bid to upend presidential vote count By GARY A. WARNER Oregon Capital Bureau saLeM — u.s. rep. Cliff Bentz of Ontario has called for an investigation of the 2020 presiden- tial election, a move that would delay and possibly derail the cer- tification of Democrat Joe Biden’s victory over President donald County approves sale of Cook Building sale aims to facilitate building of new city hall in Hermiston By JADE MCDOWELL East Oregonian HerMIsTOn — The umatilla County Board of Commission- ers has approved sale of its annex in Hermiston known as the Cook Building. The sale is part of a three-way deal with the county, the city of Hermiston and landowners, doug- las and Joyce Barak, to facilitate the building of a new city hall in Hermiston. The Baraks own the Lanham Building, a small suite of busi- ness offices next to city hall. The city needs the Lanham prop- erty in order to make its planned new, larger city hall fit on the cur- rent city hall property at 180 n.e. second st. In exchange for sell- ing the Lanham Building to the city for $400,000, the Baraks will purchase the Cook Building for $400,000 — essentially, a trade. The Cook Building, located at 435 e. newport ave., currently hosts offices for the county’s pub- lic health, human services, veteran services and the Cares program. after the county sells the building to the Baraks, umatilla County Commissioner George Murdock said the county plans to lease the building from them until the new city hall is complete. The terms of the lease are still under negotia- tion, Murdock said. See Building, Page A7 Trump in novem- ber’s election. Bentz has declined repeated requests since last week to say whether he would Bentz join an effort by more than 100 republican House members to vote against accepting the elec- toral College results when Con- gress makes a usually perfunctory review of the process on Wednes- day, Jan. 6. “I have joined many of my col- leagues in asking for a congressio- nal investigation and review into what has happened in states where election irregularities have been observed,” Bentz said in a state- ment dec. 15. Bentz’s accusation of voting irregularities worthy of a congres- sional investigations is an about- face from the stance of his pre- decessor, rep. Greg. Walden, r-Hood river. Walden, who repre- sented the district covering eastern and Central Oregon for 20 years, stepped down on saturday, Jan. 2. Bentz was sworn in on sunday, Jan. 3. In a dec. 1 radio interview with the national Journal, Walden said the election had been fair and “the die is cast” for Trump’s departure. at the time he was one of only 27 republicans in the House and senate who would say Biden had defeated Trump. Biden defeated Trump by more than 7 million votes and the elec- toral College confirmed his victory on dec. 14 by a 306-232 margin. Trump or his surrogates have filed more than 50 lawsuits, with only one procedural request win- ning. The other cases on his alle- gations and seeking to stop vote counting or certification of votes have been rejected. The u.s. supreme Court declined without comment to consider lawsuits by Trump supporters. Trump has kept up the pressure, switching to a long-shot gamble to get Congress to reject the electoral See About-face, Page A7 BACK TO SCHOOL Coming into focus reopening plans start to take shape for local districts By ANTONIO SIERRA AND JADE MCDOWELL East Oregonian U MaTILLa COunTy — Gov. Kate Brown’s decision to make the school’s COVId-19 metrics advisory rather than mandatory moved the reopen- ing goalposts up again, but it’s unlikely schools will execute a full-scale reopening by the gov- ernor’s Feb. 15 deadline. In an upcoming column in the Hermiston Herald, Hermis- ton school district superinten- dent Tricia Mooney wrote about Ben Lonergan/East Oregonian some of the barriers that remain A group of Hermiston High School students join fellow protesters advocating for the reopening of schools outside of the Hermiston School District offices in Hermiston on Monday, Jan. 4, 2021. to returning to school. “However, creating a ‘new normal’ isn’t as easy as flipping District offices on Monday, Jan. the group. “We miss seeing your lar activities, but they were also concerned about what they felt a switch. as a school district we 4, holding signs splotched with faces.” district administrators were was a reduced quality to their have been planning since March rainwater encouraging the dis- how to safely return our 5,500 trict to return students to the working on a plan, she said, and education this year. nick Purswell, a sophomore students to the classroom while classroom as quickly as possi- encouraged them to be on the continuing to protect against the ble. They were soon greeted by lookout for surveys regarding and three-sport athlete at Herm- spread of COVId-19,” she wrote. superintendent Mooney, who reopening. she also encouraged iston High school, said not only although Mooney’s editorial came outside to thank them for everyone to reach out to her by was it frustrating to miss out was light on specifics, some stu- their support and let them know email with questions, and said on opportunities to play sports, dents and parents are pushing for there was “no greater priority” she would provide answers as but he also worries about what swift action. the months of online learning for the district than safely bring- soon as she had them. about 20 students and par- ing them back. students at the protest said will do to students’ grade point ents stood on the street corner “We miss you guys more than they missed seeing friends and See Focus, Page A7 outside the Hermiston school ever,” she told the students in participating in extracurricu- Brown’s goal causes debate Governor wants students back on campus Feb. 15 By ROB MANNING Oregon Public Broadcasting S aLeM — Two days before Christmas, Gov. Kate Brown pressed state agencies and school lead- ers to prioritize restoring in-per- son learning for more school children in the first several weeks of 2021. she called reducing the spread of COVId-19 and a safe return to campuses “the greatest gift we can give to Oregon’s chil- dren this holiday season.” as she spelled out several new policies, including chang- ing mandatory COVId-19 met- rics into advice districts could consider rather than adhere to, Brown set a Feb. 15 goal for schools “to return students to in-person instruction, especially elementary students.” But schools that meet that tar- get date will likely reopen before teachers and other key cam- pus staff have been vaccinated against the virus. Ben Lonergan/East Oregonian, File Tracy Wart, an infection prevention nurse at St. Anthony Hospital in Pendleton, draws up a dose of the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine during the hospital’s first round of staff vaccinations on Dec. 28, 2020. That reality is causing debate among educators and local lead- ers and more uncertainty for par- ents and students. In the days leading up to Brown’s announcement of loos- ened regulations, the vast major- ity of Oregon students were attending class remotely. Just before winter break, less than 10% of Oregon’s estimated 580,000 students were receiving some form of in-person instruc- tion, according to the Oregon department of education data. However, as Oregon leaders like Brown press to bring more students back to the classroom, top officials are also acknowl- edging the importance of getting teachers and other school staff vaccinated against COVId-19. school employees are now con- sidered part of “Phase 1b” — the next round of people to receive COVId-19 vaccines. That means they’ll be in line for vaccines after health care workers and people at long-term care facili- ties, ahead of the general public. But vaccinations have been going more slowly than planned. according to data released by the Oregon Health authority, 44,415 people had received initial doses of the vaccine as of new year’s day. In response to an inquiry from Oregon Public Broadcast- ing, state health and education officials acknowledged that vac- cinations for school staff aren’t even expected to begin until after the Feb. 15 target for reopening schools. essential workers in the Phase 1b category should begin being vaccinated in late Feb- ruary, state officials said in an email to OPB. Different districts, different decisions some school districts are moving ahead regardless of vac- cines. Both school districts in Klamath County have plans to start providing in-person instruc- See Brown, Page A7