OFF PAGE ONE
Thursday, January 7, 2021
East Oregonian
A7
Vaccine: Umatilla
County recieved
2,400 doses last week
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J. Scott Applewhite/Associated Press
Police with guns drawn watch as protesters try to break into the House Chamber at the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday, Jan. 6,
2021, in Washington.
Under siege: Vice President Pence evacuated
Continued from Page A1
prayed while protesters
banged on the doors. Dem-
ocratic Rep. Dean Phillips
yelled loudly at Republicans,
“This is because of you!”
A chaplain prayed as
police guarded the doors to
the chamber and lawmakers
tried to gather information
about what was happening.
Announcements blared:
Due to an “external security
threat,” no one could enter or
exit the Capitol complex, the
recording said. Lawmakers
tweeted that they were shel-
tering in place.
Reporters and lawmakers
hid under tables as the pro-
testers banged on the door,
demanding to be let inside.
Rumors of guns spread,
but it wasn’t clear if any
shots were fired beside the
one. Tear gas was said to
have been dispersed in the
Rotunda.
After making sure the
hallways were clear, police
swiftly escorted people
down a series of hallways
and tunnels to a cafeteria
in one of the House office
buildings.
As he walked out of the
Capitol, Connecticut Rep.
Jim Himes said he “always
assumed it could never hap-
pen here.”
But others were not so
sure.
Rep. Mike Kelly of Penn-
sylvania, among those chal-
lenging Biden’s win, blamed
“both sides” for the chaos at
the Capitol.
“What do you think was
taking place in this coun-
try?” he told reporters.
“There’s been a lot of peo-
ple during the last four years
that have just been getting
more and more incensed
over what is going on around
the country, on both sides.
It’s just too bad. This is not
how we handle things in
America.”
The Senate side was not
much different.
Vice President Mike
OREGON DELEGATION STUNNED BY PRO-TRUMP PROTESTERS
WASHINGTON — As the U.S. Congress
began certifying the win of President-elect
Joe Biden on Wednesday, Jan. 6, protesters
breached the U.S. Capitol building, leading
to an evacuation.
U.S. Rep. Suzanne Bonamici spoke to
the Portland Tribune at 11:50 a.m. Pacific
Standard Time and said she and her staff
were safe and out of the building.
“I’m OK,” she said. “But it’s just awful. I’m
concerned for the safety of everyone.”
The Washington Post and other media
reported that throngs of protesters — at
the encouragement of President Donald
Trump — stormed the Capitol to protest
the process for certifying Biden’s win.
“Just before 1 p.m. (Eastern Standard
Time), a group of primarily white men
pushed, then toppled the barricades,
storming through them to the grassy
fields leading to the Capitol,” according to
the Washington Post. “Hundreds scaled
and kicked aside the barricades, yelling
‘Forward!’”
As the Democrat spoke to the Portland
Tribune, D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser used an
emergency broadcast system to announce
a citywide curfew.
“The last four years, tempers have
flared,” Bonamici said. “Donald Trump has
brought this about by urging people to
come here, based on false statements.”
She continued speaking but said, “I’m
sorry. I have to.” And was abruptly cut off.
U.S. Sen. Jeff Merkley, a Democrat,
spoke to reporters via conference call
around 12:34 p.m. (PST) on Jan. 6, saying
“We are safe. Senators were rushed to
an undisclosed, safe location. We’re safe
and they’re reestablishing control of the
Capitol.”
He added that his employees are no
longer in the Capitol.
“As far as I’m aware, my whole staff is
safe. I didn’t have much staff here because
of COVID,” he said. “But they’re all safe,
Pence, who was presiding
over the session, was evacu-
ated from the Senate as pro-
testers and police shouted
outside the doors.
Police evacuated the
chamber
at
11:30 a.m.
Pacific Time, ushering sen-
thank you.”
Merkley spoke with anger about the
lies regarding the November election,
which drove protesters to the Capitol.
“That’s what we heard on the floor to-
day,” he said. “’We should listen to the mob.
And that’s why we should stop the elec-
tion of Joe Biden.’ That’s exactly wrong.”
Nick Clemens, spokesman for Repub-
lican Rep. Cliff Bentz, said that the con-
gressman and all his staff in Washington
were safe and awaiting word on next
steps. Clemens declined to discuss Bentz’s
position on the objections to the Electoral
College vote.
Bentz posted a statement to his Face-
book page.
“Peaceful protest is essential to our
society — violent protest is not,” he wrote.
“I urge all those gathered in Washington
DC today to respect United States Capitol
Police and allow Congress to resume
deliberation in the electoral certification
process.”
Democrat Rep. Earl Blumenauer called
the protesters “domestic terrorists.”
“The people storming the U.S. Capitol
building right now are domestic terrorists
emboldened by Trump and every Repub-
lican who has spread lies about the results
of the presidential election,” he said. This
has to stop.”
Sen. Ron Wyden also issued a state-
ment saying the protest is a fitting end to
four years of the Trump presidency.
“What’s happening today in our na-
tion’s Capitol is a direct assault on democ-
racy, a riot by insurrectionists that caps
off four years of Donald Trump fanning
the flames of fanaticism,” he said. “Every
Republican lawmaker who supported his
efforts to overturn a legitimate election
shares responsibility for the violence at the
heart of our democracy.”
— Gary A. Warner, Oregon Capital
Bureau, and Pamplin Media Group
ators to the first of what
would be several undis-
closed locations.
Clerks grabbed boxes of
electoral college certificates
as they left.
Vice
President-elect
Kamala Harris, attend-
ing the session, was among
those ushered to safety.
As soon as they left, pro-
testers roamed the halls
shouting, “Where are they?”
One got on the Senate dais
and yelled, “Trump won that
election.”
Commissioner: Dorran claims ‘disenfranchisement’
Continued from Page A1
represents every citizen in
Umatilla County, not just
their neighbors. Regardless
of where the board chair
lives, they should be paying
attention to all parts of the
county.”
Dorran made repeated
references at the meeting to
the lack of leadership com-
ing from the west part of
the county. He said that no
commissioner from the west
part of the county had been
elected in six years.
Dorran said that most
board chair members have
hailed from the east in
places like Pendleton —
even though Shafer was
elected to county com-
missioner while living in
Athena.
“Although I have noticed
specific regional disenfran-
chisement,” Dorran said,
“the manipulation of offi-
cer rotation directly affects
all of the county, and once
again it causes a division
of the populace that many
of us have tried to cure for
many years.”
Murdock said that Dor-
ran’s effort only furthered
find it offensive.”
Shafer and Murdock
each say that historically,
freshman
commission-
ers have not held board
“I HAVE ALL THE RESPECT FOR
BOTH THE COMMISSIONERS.
OBVIOUSLY THIS ISN’T GOING
TO BE THE LAST TIME WE
DISAGREE, BY ANY MEANS.”
— Dan Dorran, Umatilla County commissioner
division. He added that
upon his election, in 2013,
there had in fact been few
commissioners who hailed
from Pendleton.
“It concerns me that it’s
been suggested that because
two of us are now living in
Pendleton we have somehow
dispossessed the remain-
der of the county,” Murdock
said in the meeting. “I find
this both divisive and I also
chair positions due to the
immense
responsibility
that the position entails.
They said that nowhere in
the charter is there a refer-
ence to geographical repre-
sentation, and that county
commissioners should work
on behalf of all county res-
idents, rather than those
from the communities
where they reside.
In his response, Mur-
dock highlighted a variety
of efforts that leaders in the
east portion of the county
have made to help those in
the west.
In the meeting, Dor-
ran referenced the fact that
commissioner Shafer had
been appointed to the posi-
tion of vice chair in his
freshman year as commis-
sioner. However, Murdock
and Shafer responded that
the only reason Shafer took
his position was because
commissioner Bill Elfering,
who was board chair at the
time, stepped down from
his position due to medical
issues.
Shafer and Murdock
added that although they
may disagree, they are con-
fident the commissioners
will continue to have a good
working relationship.
“I have all the respect for
both the commissioners,”
Dorran said. “Obviously,
this isn’t going to be the last
time we disagree, by any
means.”
been asking the state for a
firmer plan to get the vac-
cine into local arms.
It’s work that should have
been happening weeks ago,
said county public health
director Joseph Fiumara,
pointing out his depart-
ment began preparing this
past summer for a vaccine
rollout.
Thanks to those months
of preplanning, officials
have crafted a road map to
getting the county of 78,000
people immunized against
the virus — those who want
the vaccine, that is, and not
including children.
But there has not been
a verified timeline on how
that’s going to happen, pub-
lic health officer Dr. Jona-
than Hitzman said on Jan. 4.
In the first transfer of
vaccine from Oregon offi-
cials last week, Umatilla
County received 2,400
doses: St. Anthony Hospi-
tal in Pendleton and Good
Shepherd Medical Center in
Hermiston both got an ini-
tial shipment of 700, while
the public health depart-
ment was given 200.
Good Shepherd then got
another 800 doses, Hitzman
said.
But, like in every other
Oregon county, there’s no
telling what — or if — vac-
cines will show up each
week, Fiumara said.
Fiumara, Hitzman and
deputy health director Ali-
sha Lundgren apprised
Umatilla County commis-
sioners of the situation on
Jan. 4.
It could be 100 doses or
1,000 doses to next land,
Fiumara said.
“We have to see how
much we get, then hurry up
and plan for that number,”
Lundgren told commission-
ers in a Jan. 4 morning staff
meeting.
Moderna’s vaccine can
be kept refrigerated for up
to 30 days and is stable at
room temperature for 12
hours, experts say.
The county’s logisti-
cal challenges with vacci-
nating the public are the
same around the country
at this moment, Hitzman
explained later.
“I’m not sure there’s any-
one or any group to blame, I
think there are issues from
the federal government to
the states to local health
departments. At the end of
the day, it’s like all the cli-
ches about government
inefficiencies come to bear.”
The reality is, pandemic
or no, government agencies
are big and bureaucratic, not
designed to be fast and nim-
ble, Hitzman said.
“Until the federal doses
arrive, the state doesn’t
know how it will get admin-
istered. It’s a ‘Don’t shoot
until you see the whites of
their eyes’ situation.”
Reopening:
Continued from Page A1
ing a community that
depends on the restaurant
industry that is more than
a meal — it is Umatilla
County’s social lifeline.”
Dorran and the group
concluded with two points.
They requested the state
fund a temporary posi-
tion called an “open/stay
open liaison agent.” In an
interview, Dorran said the
group envisioned this posi-
tion as educating various
restaurant owners on how
to comply with state rules
so that they can operate
within them, although it
wouldn’t have enforcement
capabilities.
The other point the
group wanted to make was
about ventilation. While
the state has closed indoor
dining out of a concern
that the virus could spread
in an insufficiently venti-
lated room, Dorran said
air is circulated more fre-
quently in Eastern Ore-
And with the surpris-
ing speed at which the vac-
cine was developed and
produced, it caught govern-
ments even less prepared for
a coordinated deployment
of the shots, he added.
“The quote I’ve heard is
that out of 12 million vac-
cines produced, only 3 mil-
lion have gone into the arms
of Americans.”
Fiumara said his depart-
ment is obligated to dis-
pense the vaccine as laid out
by Oregon Health Author-
ity, which is following fed-
eral guidelines.
“There are lots of vari-
ables and it’s dependent on
so many things.”
There’s good news sprin-
kled throughout the scene,
however, he and Hitzman
said. They noted that the
first doses to arrive were
distributed to front-line
health workers. And more
manufacturers are racing
to get their own version to
market.
As well, mutual aid
partnerships are spring-
ing up around the vaccina-
tion efforts. Pharmacies like
Walgreens have contracted
to inoculate residents of
some long-term care facili-
ties, Hitzman said, although
he worries about disabled
people who are cared for at
home and might not learn of
vaccination events.
Oregon Health & Sci-
ence University in Port-
land has chipped in by
loaning the health depart-
ment an ultra-cold freezer
required for the Pfizer vac-
cine formula.
While the county is now
receiving the Moderna vac-
cine that only needs stan-
dard frozen storage, Fiu-
mara said he wants to be
well positioned if anything
goes wrong in the Moderna
production and only the
Pfizer formula is available.
Health officials every-
where are also tasked with
planning for the second
vaccine doses needed to
reach the highest possible
immunity.
Hitzman is encourag-
ing people to remember
that the testing for COVID-
19 started out spotty and
rough, and expanded dra-
matically to fit the need.
“And the same thing
will happen with the shot.
But there will be unfore-
seen obstacles that get in the
way.”
Still, he continued, “real-
istically I think the vast
majority of adults who want
to be vaccinated will be so
before next Christmas. I’m
hopeful it will be faster, but
to have unrealistic expecta-
tions is to set yourself up to
be disappointed.”
The world will get
through this pandemic, he
added.
“We’re going to win this
battle and we will be in a
much better place.”
gon because of the region’s
variable temperatures.
In the interview, Dorran
said the request would cost
the state $30,000, money
that would include the cost
of a temporary employee
and material costs like
pamphlet printing. While
a cost breakdown wasn’t
included in the letter, Dor-
ran said the group would
be pleased if the governor’s
office asked them for more
details because it would
mean the governor took
their letter seriously.
Gov. Kate Brown closed
dine-in restaurants across
the state as COVID-19 saw
a surge in new cases. Uma-
tilla County is no excep-
tion, as a recent spike
boosts the county toward
the precipice of 6,000 total
cases.
But Dorran said the
stakes aren’t just about
restaurants, but about
keeping their communi-
ties from turning toward
bitterness.
“If all everyone turns to
is defeatism, where do we
go?” he said.