School districts prepare to welcome back students | REGION, A3
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145th year, no. 35
REGONIAN
THUrSDay, JanUary 7, 2021
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WINNER OF THE 2020 ONPA GENERAL EXCELLENCE AWARD
U.S. CAPITOL UNDER SEIGE
‘PROTESTERS ARE IN THE BUILDING’
At least one person
shot and killed as
Trump supporters
storm U.S. Capitol
By LISA MASCARO, BEN
FOX, ASHRAF KHALIL AND
MICHAEL BALSAMO
Associated Press
WASHINGTON — The crowd
pushed past the police barricades,
up the steps to the iron doors and,
in what seemed like no time at all,
hoisted a Trump flag from the U.S.
Capitol.
“Protesters are in the building,”
came the last words picked up by a
microphone carrying a live feed of
the Senate before it shut off.
Hundreds of President Donald
Trump’s supporters paraded and
hollered on Wednesday, Jan. 6,
through some of the most hallowed
spaces in the Capitol — propped at
the Senate dais and in the House
speaker’s office — all to protest the
election and keep President Donald
Trump in office.
It was an extraordinary, unprec-
edented scene.
Trump, the defeated president,
had been encouraging protesters as
Congress convened for a joint ses-
sion to certify Joe Biden’s win.
Under the very risers set up for
Biden’s inauguration at the U.S.
Capitol, the Trump supporters
gathered.
Protests are typical at the Capi-
tol. But this one was not.
At least one person was shot and
killed, though it’s not clear who
pulled the trigger during the cha-
otic scene. Some in the crowd were
shouting “traitors” as officers tried
to keep them back.
Inside the House chamber, law-
makers described a harrowing
scene.
As they stayed down, they were
told to have gas masks at the ready
— and take off the lapel pins they
wear identifying them as elected
representatives.
Police had guns drawn, and fur-
niture barricaded the door.
Glass was shattered. Some
See Under siege, Page A7
Manuel Balce Ceneta/Associated Press
Protesters gesture to U.S. Capitol Police in the hallway outside of the
Senate chamber at the Capitol in Washington on Wednesday, Jan. 6,
2021, near the Ohio Clock.
‘We’re going
to win this
battle’
Umatilla County
battles logistics
to get COVID-19
vaccine into arms
By SHEILA HAGAR
Walla Walla Union-Bulletin
ends, we are left to recover the dead and
destroyed. There is still time to rescue Uma-
tilla County restaurants and entertainment
businesses before they become permanent
victims of COVID-19.”
Dorran said the economic assistance pro-
vided by the state was appreciated, but it
wasn’t enough. He wrote that closing restau-
rants had wider repercussions, as it also
affected organizations and events like Little
League, the livestock auctions at the Uma-
tilla County Fair and various charity drives.
“Umatilla County is made up of genera-
tional generosity and we are straddling a fine
line of denying at least one generation of the
opportunity and expectation to give back,”
he wrote. “Our goal: Get back to work serv-
PEnDLETOn — Oregon Gov.
Kate Brown said on Monday, Jan.
4, health offi-
cials must vacci-
nate state residents
against COVID-
19 as quickly as
possible.
She said that by
percentage of pop-
Fiumara
ulation, Oregon has
administered about
the same number
of vaccinations as
other states and dis-
tribution will con-
tinue to ramp up
quickly.
“We
have
Hitzman
increased vaccina-
tions from about
3,700 given in our
first week to over
29,000 in the last
week,” the gover-
nor said.
But still it is not
fast enough, Brown
Lundgren
added, noting she
has directed Ore-
gon Health authority to reach a
benchmark of 12,000 vaccinations
administered per day by the end of
the next two weeks.
That’s welcome news to Umatilla
County health officials who have
See Reopening, Page A7
See Vaccine, Page A7
Ben Lonergan/East Oregonian
A man, who identified himself as “Patriot Erickson,” holds a sign while protesting COVID-19 restrictions on restaurants and other small
businesses outside of the Umatilla County Board of Commissioners meeting in Pendleton on Wednesday, Jan, 6, 2021.
reopening campaign
Dan Dorran spearheads
initiative called ‘Umatilla
County Economic rescue
Target’ aimed at reopening
the county’s restaurants
By ANTONIO SIERRA
East Oregonian
MaTILLa COUnTy — Before
taking office, new Umatilla
County Commissioner Dan Dor-
ran wrote a letter to the governor.
Dorran said throughout his campaign,
he heard from restaurant owners who were
struggling with the state’s COVID-19 shut-
U
downs. after he was elected, Dorran started
meeting with leaders from chambers of
commerce from across the county to come
up with a proposal that would help reopen
restaurants.
The group eventually narrowed down
their requests and submitted it in a letter
signed by Dorran, calling their initiative
the “Umatilla County Economic rescue
Target.”
Dorran began the letter by comparing
the potential fallout of COVID-19 and its
accompanying shutdowns to the human toll
of a catastrophe.
“In both man-made and natural disas-
ters, the rescue period is a time when we use
every tool at our disposal to identify, locate,
and rescue survivors,” he wrote. “The sad
truth is that once this short but crucial period
New county commissioner causes sparks
Dan Dorran moves to
oppose election during
first meeting, inciting
disagreement among
commissioners
By BRYCE DOLE
East Oregonian
PEnDLETOn — new Umatilla
County Commissioner Dan Dorran
kicked off his first meeting with a
bang.
In a move highlighting what
he called an “unprecedented and
unbalanced period of leadership,”
Dorran made a motion to oppose
the election of commissioners
George Murdock and John Shafer to
the positions of board officers in his
first board of com-
missioners meeting
since he was sworn
in as the county’s
new commissioner
on Monday, Jan. 4.
The move —
Dorran
which Dorran said
was focused on the
integrity of the county’s charter and
highlighted an unequal representa-
tion of leadership geographically
— ultimately failed. The commis-
sioners voted 2-1 against Dorran on
Wednesday, Jan. 6.
Murdock and Shafer each said
that they were offended on behalf
of Umatilla County residents and
that Dorran’s move put them off to
a rocky start.
“I do think we got off on the
wrong foot,” Murdock said in an
Murdock
Shafer
interview after the meeting. “I was
very disappointed. The commis-
sioners do not serve geographically,
we serve the county. We’re at-large.”
Dorran said that he believes the
board of commissioners “blew up”
the county’s charter — a document
that dictates how Umatilla County
government operates — by approv-
ing the election. He claims that the
charter says commissioners should
technically rotate into chair posi-
tions, rather than be elected, and
that he should therefore have been
appointed vice chair of the board.
“If this proposal passes, there
is no limitation or guidelines left
in either document that would pre-
vent these two commissioners from
using these harmful shenanigans to
continue their commissioner-to-of-
ficer rotation indefinitely until they
leave office,” Dorran said during the
meeting. “Leaving perception and
motive out of the equation, today is
a sad day for the long, proud history
of Umatilla County.”
Shafer said that he believed no
part of the county’s charter was dis-
regarded with the approval.
“I felt offended for the citizens of
Umatilla County,” Shafer said after
the meeting. “To me, the board chair
See Commissioner, Page A7