REGION
Tuesday, January 12, 2021
East Oregonian
A3
County exhausts vaccine supply during clinics
Nearly 300
people vaccinated
each day of the
two-day clinic
By BEN LONERGAN
East Oregonian
PEN DLETON
—
Roughly 600 people streamed
through the parking lot of the
Pendleton Convention Center
for a pair of COVID-19 vacci-
nation clinics late last week,
according to the Umatilla
Count y Public Health
Department.
The vaccination clinics,
which ran Thursday, Jan. 7,
and Friday, Jan. 8, vaccinated
594 people total, 279 the
fi rst day and 315 the second
day, according to Umatilla
County Public Health Direc-
tor Joe Fiumara.
“Going into the event
we were unsure what the
community turnout would
be,” said Alisha Southwick,
the deputy director of the
Umatilla County Public
Health Department. “We
were pleasantly surprised to
be busy each day and utilized
every dose we had available.”
The clinics served as
the county’s fi rst attempt at
distributing the COVID-19
vaccine and was limited to
workers in the 1a category,
including hospital workers
and fi rst responders.
Fiumara said the vacci-
nation clinics exhausted
the county’s supply of the
Moderna COVID-19 vaccine
and the department is expect-
ing an additional 100 doses
later this week.
Umatilla County Commis-
Kathy Aney/East Oregonian
A nurse gives a shot through a driver’s window during a rainy
drive-thru vaccination clinic on Friday, Jan. 8, 2021, at the
Pendleton Convention Center. The clinic, conducted by Uma-
tilla County Public Health to vaccinate health care providers
and other essential workers, brought a strong turnout.
sioner George Murdock, who
also raised concern over the
lack of additional vaccines,
added the county will be
unable to schedule further
vaccination clinics until they
receive additional doses.
“Public Health demon-
strated (Jan. 7-8) they can give
out 300 a day,” Murdock said.
“They’ve done a wonderful
job getting it all set up.”
While Murdock praised
county health offi cials for a
successful vaccination clinic,
he expressed dismay at the
speed at which the state is
distributing vaccines to the
county.
“It’s very frustrating,”
he said. “We’re completely
dependent on what they send
us. They don’t send them —
we don’t have them.”
In addition to the county
exhausting its vaccine supply,
Murdock said St. Anthony
Hospital in Pendleton had run
out of doses and Good Shep-
herd Hospital in Hermiston
was down to only 300 doses,
a number he expected to
dwindle quickly as the hospi-
tal offers additional clinics.
Fiumara confi rmed Good
Shepherd is planning addi-
tional vaccine distribution
this week to make use of their
remaining 300 doses.
Mu rdock added St.
Anthony Hospital is expect-
ing only one additional ship-
ment, enough to provide the
booster vaccine to those the
hospital has already vacci-
nated, and will not receive
additional shipments beyond
that.
“We’ve done everything
we can to get ready,” he said.
“We’re all dressed up with
nowhere to go.”
LOCAL BRIEFING
Ballot drop box
in Hermiston
relocated
HERMISTON — The
ballot drop box outside of
Hermiston City Hall is being
relocated to the Stafford
Hansell Government Center
at 915 S.E. Columbia Drive
in Hermiston.
The drop box allows voters
to deposit their ballot to be
taken straight to the Umatilla
County Elections Office
instead of mailing their ballot
through the postal system. A
sign will be placed at the drop
box’s former location at the
drive-thru outside city hall to
let voters looking for it know
it has been moved to the coun-
ty’s building instead.
East Oregonian, File
The 3D Idapro Solutions plant in Stanfi eld, pictured here in 2019 shortly before it closed,
is the subject of a class action lawsuit that the company has agreed to settle.
3D Idapro Solutions lawsuit
deadline is approaching fast
By JADE MCDOWELL
East Oregonian
STANFIELD — Settle-
ment of a class action
lawsuit on behalf of Stan-
fi eld residents against 3D
Idapro Solutions is wind-
ing down.
Those who qualify for
payment under the settle-
ment have until Feb. 4 to
submit a claim, according
to documentation on the
website of Liddle & Dubin
P.C., a Detroit-based law
fi rm handling the lawsuit.
3D Idapro Solutions
operated a dehydration
plant in Stanfi eld for several
years before closing the
plant in 2019. In 2017, a fi re
burned equipment at the
plant that helped reduce
the odors coming from
rotting potato scraps there.
The company replaced the
fire-damaged scrubber
and made other changes
designed to reduce odor,
but area residents continued
to complain in city council
meetings and elsewhere
that strong odors from the
plant were reducing their
quality of life. Some told
the city council at the time
that the odors had triggered
physical responses, such as
vomiting.
Liddle & Dubin P.C.
did not return a request for
comment, but court docu-
ments show a lawsuit was
filed against 3D Idapro
Solutions in Febr uary
2019, alleging the compa-
ny’s actions had caused a
decrease in the plaintiffs’
property values due to the
odor. According to the
fi rm’s website, the company
has “vigorously denied and
continues to deny all claims
of wrongdoing and liabil-
ity” but agreed to a settle-
ment of $500,000 to avoid
further legal expenses.
According to Liddle &
Dubin P.C., the $500,000
settlement will be split
between parties to the
lawsuit after legal fees
and attorney expenses are
deducted. The settlement
class includes people who
live or own residential prop-
erty within a 4-mile radius
of the plant at 405 Hoosier
Road, Stanfi eld, any time
after Feb. 26, 2013, and
those who submitted a resi-
dential data sheet to the
fi rm before April 15, 2020.
The law fi rm’s website
states that qualifying indi-
viduals who wish to receive
part of the settlement must
submit a claim for compen-
sation by Feb. 4. Those who
wish to object to the terms
of the settlement or exclude
themselves from the settle-
ment have until Jan. 20 to
do so. Those who are part of
the settlement class but do
nothing before those dead-
lines will not receive part
of the settlement, but will
also release their claims
on the defendant, meaning
they could not fi le their own
lawsuit for the same thing.
The East Oregonian
could not locate a website
or contact information for
3D Idapro Solutions, but
reached out to 3D Corpo-
rate Solutions, which lists
the same address for its
headquarters as previously
listed by 3D Idapro Solu-
tions, and did not receive a
response.
For more information,
visit www.ldclassaction.
com/class-action/3d-ida-
p r o - s olu t io n s -l lc - s e t-
tlement-2, email info@
ldclassaction.com or call
1-800-536-0045.
Shooting
suspect found
deceased in jail
PENDLETON — A man
police considered a “person of
interest” in a December 2020
shooting that left one woman
dead was found deceased
in the Umatilla County Jail,
according to the Umatilla
County Sheriff’s Offi ce.
David Lee Bowles, 43,
was found
dead in his
cell on Satur-
day, Jan. 9.
Bowles was
in the jail on
charges of
first-degree
manslaugh-
Bowles
ter and felon
in possession of a weapon.
Oregon State Police previously
reported he had turned himself
in to the Morrow County
Sheriff’s Offi ce on Thursday,
Jan. 7, after the offi ce named
him as a “person of interest” in
the shooting death of his wife,
Marlen Bowles, in Heppner on
Dec. 15.
According to a news
release from the Umatilla
County Sheriff’s Offi ce, in the
early morning hours of Jan. 9,
jail staff were making their
morning rounds when they
discovered Bowles deceased
in his bed.
“At this time, there is no
apparent evidence of foul
play,” the release stated.
It said the sheriff’s offi ce
is conducting an investigation
into the cause of death.
Bowles had been wanted
in connection to a homicide
investigation that occurred
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County reports
182 new cases
over weekend
UMATILLA COUNTY
— Umatilla County Public
Health reported 182 new cases
of COVID-19 on Monday, Jan.
11.
The case count includes
totals for the weekend and Jan.
11. That brings the county up
to 6,367 total cases reported to
the health department since the
pandemic began early last year.
Morrow County reported
26 new cases, for a total of 892
since the pandemic began.
Oregon Health Authority
reported on Jan. 11 that so far
97,010 vaccine doses have been
administered statewide.
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Boardman
councilors and
mayor sworn in
BOARDMAN — The city
of Boardman swore in new
members of its city council on
Tuesday, Jan. 5.
Mayor Paul E. Keefer,
Councilor Brenda Profitt,
Councilor Katy Norton and
Councilor Paul Beagle will
serve four-year terms. Coun-
cilor Isaac Williams was
appointed into a vacated posi-
tion, and his term will expire
Dec. 31, 2022.
The city council elected
Councilor Roy Drago Jr. as
council president for 2021,
according to a news release
from the city. They also voted
to reappoint Ted Lieurance
and Lisa Mittelsdorf to the
budget committee, and Zack
Barresse and Ragna TenEyck
to the planning commission.
The news release stated
that during its fi rst meeting
of the year, the council held
a public hearing to receive
public comment concerning
a request for a zone change
and map amendment for Tax
Lot #1600 of Morrow County
Tax Map 4N 25 9CC, but the
city council ended up voting
against it.
The council also listened to
a proposal by Kimberly Lind-
sey of Community Counseling
Solutions to open and operate
a combined behavioral reha-
bilitation services and psychi-
atric residential treatment
facility focused on the care of
younger children between the
ages of 6 to 11 with a capac-
ity of up to 14 children in the
Boardman area.
The next meeting of the
Boardman City Council will
be a workshop on Saturday,
Jan. 23, at 8 a.m. at Boardman
City Hall.
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on Dec. 15, 2020. Bowles is
the husband of the victim,
Marlen Bowles, who was shot
in Heppner, and then Life
Flighted to Oregon Health &
Science University in Portland
in critical condition, where she
later died with her family at
her bedside.
Morrow County District
Attorney Justin Nelson said
while the criminal case will
not go forward now that
the defendant has died, law
enforcement will continue
to talk to people and attempt
to learn more about what
happened on Dec. 15. He said
Bowles did not make any
statements to law enforce-
ment when he was taken into
custody, but may have been
willing to later after speak-
ing with an attorney, so it was
regrettable that information
that may have been able to
provide some closure is now
lost. He also said he feels for
Bowles’ family, particularly
David and Marlen’s children,
as they deal with an additional
loss that leaves more questions
behind.
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Happy 10 th Birthday , Brody!
We hear you are one of the
coolest people around!
Was there ever any doubt?!
Hope you have a fabulous
birthday celebration!
We think of you all the time.
Much love,
Grandpa and
Grandma Powell
Ben Lonergan/East Oregonian
A ballot is dropped into a drop box in Hermiston on Nov. 3,
2020.
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