REGION
Saturday, January 9, 2021
East Oregonian
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Umatilla County holds COVID-19 vaccination clinic
Cars line up for
COVID-19 vacci-
nations during a
Umatilla County
Public Health
vaccination
clinic at the
Pendleton Con-
vention center
on Thursday,
Jan 7, 2021. As of
2 p.m., the line
of cars stretched
roughly 60
vehicles long
as the county
worked to vac-
cinate essential
workers in the
1a category, in-
cluding hospital
workers and fi rst
responders.
Ben Lonergan/
East Oregonian
Annual MLK event to take a different form this year
By JADE MCDOWELL
East Oregonian
HERMISTON — A virtual
forum on race will take the
place of Hermiston’s usual
Martin Luther King Day Peace
Walk this year.
The panel, held over Zoom,
will take place on Monday, Jan.
18, from noon to 1 p.m. People
can visit www.gohermiston.
com that day to fi nd a link and
login information to access the
event.
In the past, the Hermiston
Cultural Awareness Coalition
has planned a “peace walk”
through downtown on Martin
Luther King Jr. Day, followed
by a gathering at First United
Methodist Church to hear
speakers and musical numbers
and eat lunch. Jesus Rome, who
is helping organize the panel
this year, said a large gather-
Ben Lonergan/East Oregonian, File
Hispanic Advisory Committee Chair Jose Garcia, left, march-
es with Hermiston Mayor David Drotzmann, right, as a part
of the annual Martin Luther King Jr. March in Hermiston on
January 20, 2020. This year Garcia will be part of a virtual
panel on race being held instead of the march.
ing felt inappropriate during
the pandemic, but given the
country’s protests and discus-
sions on race in 2020 it seemed
important to continue that work
on Martin Luther King Day.
“We’re excited,” he said.
“We have some pretty good
speakers.”
The panel will include a
discussion on the legacy of
Martin Luther King Jr. and
related topics by Hermiston
City Manager Byron Smith,
Briana Spencer of the Confed-
erated Tribes of the Umatilla
Indian Reservation, Carol
Jeffry Hoague of the Herm-
iston Cultural Awareness
Coalition, Jose Garcia of the
Hispanic Advisory Commit-
tee and Hermiston High
School students Inle Gonza-
lez and Jada Rome. It will be
moderated by Angela Pursel
of KOHU & The Q, which are
sponsoring the event.
Rome said Pursel will ask
some prepared questions, but
there will be opportunities for
people to submit questions as
well.
LOCAL BRIEFING
Hansell appointed
Hermiston City
to fi ve committees
Council to meet
for 2021 Legislature Jan. 11
SALEM — Veteran East-
ern Oregon Republican legis-
lator Bill Hansell has been
issued Oregon Senate commit-
tee assign-
ments for
the upcom-
i ng 2021
Legislature,
according to
a Thursday,
Hansell
Jan. 7, press
release.
Hansell, entering his ninth
year as a state senator, has been
appointed to fi ve committee
assignments, including vice-
chair of labor and business.
Other committee assignments
include redistricting, joint
committee on ways and means,
public safety subcommittee and
transportation and economic
development subcommittee.
“I’m excited about my
committee assignments and
honored to get to work on
behalf of the voters of North-
east Oregon,” Hansell said.
”With COVID-19 recovery
and budget cuts there are a lot
of challenges ahead of Oregon,
but I look forward to meeting
those challenges head-on.”
Hansell represents Senate
District 29, which comprises all
of Gilliam, Morrow, Sherman,
Umatilla, Union and Wallowa
counties, as well as parts of
Wasco County.
The 2021 Oregon Legisla-
ture begins its session on Tues-
day, Jan. 19.
HERMISTON — Hermis-
ton city councilors will receive
updates on water projects
in the region during a work
session preceding the Monday,
Jan. 11, city council meeting.
The work session will take
place at 6 p.m. at the Hermis-
ton Community Center, 415
S. Highway 395, followed
by the regular city council
meeting at 7 p.m. Both will
be livestreamed over the City
of Hermiston YouTube chan-
nel and available for viewing
afterward.
During their regular meet-
ing, city councilors will hold
public hearings for two land
use actions before voting on
them. The fi rst is an annex-
ation of 1.38 acres of land at
1035 S.W. 17th St., owned by
Robert and Victoria Smith.
The second request is
an amendment to the city’s
comprehensive plan and
zoning map, and annexation
of 11.5 acres at 455 E. Elm
Ave. Steve Richards of East-
ern Oregon Development LLC
has requested that the zoning
be changed from multi-family
residential to a neighborhood
commercial overlay. Accord-
ing to the staff report, he hopes
to build a mini-storage facility
similar to Highland Mini-Stor-
age, which he also owns, and
make the rest of the property
available for future commer-
cial development. The action is
recommended by the planning
commission and city staff.
Umatilla County
logs two more
COVID-19 deaths
PENDLETON — The
Oregon Health Authority
announced Umatilla Coun-
ty’s 60th COVID-19 death in
a Friday, Jan. 8, press release.
The victim is a 50-year-
old man who tested positive
on Sunday, Dec. 27, 2020,
and died on Tuesday, Jan. 5, at
Good Shepherd Community
Hospital in Hermiston, accord-
ing to the state. He had under-
lying conditions.
The announcement came a
day after the state announced
the county’s 59th COVID-19
death, a 56-year-old man who
tested positive on Wednes-
day, Dec. 30, 2020, and died
on Saturday, Jan. 2, at his resi-
dence, according to the state.
He also had underlying condi-
tions.
The announcement comes
as the county reported 38 new
cases of COVID-19 on Jan. 8
and 158 new cases on Thurs-
day, Jan. 7, bringing the coun-
ty’s total to 6,185 total cases
since the pandemic began last
year, according to the Umatilla
County COVID-19 dashboard.
Morrow County reported
13 new cases on Jan. 8 and two
new cases on Jan. 7, bringing its
total to 866 cases, according to
the Morrow County COVID-
19 dashboard. Morrow County
has had eight deaths since the
pandemic started early in 2020.
Person of interest
in fatal shooting
turns himself in
HEPPNER — A man
police considered a “person
of interest” in a December
2020 shooting that left one
woman dead has surrendered
to police.
According to a press
release from
the Oregon
State Police,
D a v i d
Bowle s
voluntarily
t u r n e d
Bowles
himself
into the
Morrow County Sheriff’s
Offi ce shortly before 8 p.m.
on Thursday, Jan. 7, for
outstanding felony warrants
for manslaughter and felon in
possession of a fi rearm.
Oregon State Police troop-
ers took Bowles into custody
for the outstanding felony
warrants and transported him
to the Umatilla County Jail
for the two felony warrants
out of Morrow County
Circuit Court.
Bowles had been wanted
in connection to a homicide
investigation that occurred
Dec. 15, 2020. Bowles is
the husband of the victim,
Marlen Bowles, who was
shot in Heppner then Life
Flighted to Oregon Health &
Science University in Port-
land in critical condition,
where she later died with her
family at her bedside.
— EO Media Group
Camp Umatilla gets
funding for upgrades
By JADE MCDOWELL
East Oregonian
HERMISTON — Camp
Umatilla will greatly
increase its training capac-
ity in upcoming years as
Congress continues to
appropriate funding for
improvements.
The National Guard
training center on the
former Umatilla Chemical
Depot, just west of Herm-
iston, received approval
for construction of a $15.7
million barracks building
in the National Defense
Authorization Act passed
by Congress on Jan. 1. The
project is in addition to an
$11.3 million barrack build-
ing already under design.
Together, according to a
news release, the buildings
will increase the National
Guard’s ability to house
visiting soldiers by 448
beds. The Oregon Military
Department expects to start
construction this summer
or fall, with completion in
the summer of 2022.
“This is a great train-
ing space now and with
these improvements Camp
Umatilla will become a
premiere military training
facility for both our service
members and the local
community in the future,”
Stan Hutchison, director of
installations for the Oregon
Military Department, said
in the news release.
The Oregon Military
Department was also
notifi ed it is set to receive
another $6 million for more
housing in the following
fi scal year.
The 7,000-acre Camp
Umatilla was originally
part of the Umatilla Chem-
ical Depot, but the U.S.
Army turned over that
portion of the depot to the
Oregon Military Depart-
ment in November 2017.
At the time, department
announced it was planning
to spend $25 million on the
facility over the next three
years, including installation
of water infrastructure, new
roads, fencing and reno-
vations of existing depot
buildings, many of which
date back to the depot’s
construction in 1941.
According to the Oregon
Military Department’s Dec.
7, 2020, news release, the
new barracks projects adds
to a list of about 20 active
capital projects in design
or construction at Camp
Umatilla and the Navy’s
bombing range nearby in
Boardman that together
total more than $68 million
in improvements.
Some of those projects
at the depot include a new
schoolhouse and class-
rooms for the Guard’s
Regional Training Institute,
a new wastewater treatment
facility and water distri-
bution system, electrical
work, fi ber internet instal-
lation, fencing, demolition
of more than 100 structures
deemed unsafe or outdated,
and refurbishment of other
old buildings.
Phone and Internet Discounts
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CenturyLink as an Eligible Telecommunications
Carrier within its service area for universal service
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for residential voice lines are $21.00-$21.43 per
month and business services are $28.00-$32.00
per month. Specific rates will be provided upon
request.
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or broadband service more affordable to eligible
low-income individuals and families. Eligible
customers are those that meet eligibility standards
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Residents who live on federally recognized Tribal
Lands may qualify for additional Tribal benefits
if they participate in certain additional federal
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available for only one telephone or qualifying
broadband service per household, which can be
either a wireline or wireless service. Broadband
speeds must be 25 Mbps download and 3 Mbps
upload or faster to qualify.
A household is defined for the purposes of the
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