REGION
Thursday, January 14, 2021
East Oregonian
A3
Plans for reopening schools face roadblocks
By JADE MCDOWELL
East Oregonian
HERMISTON — School
districts in Umatilla County
can see a path forward for
bringing students back to
the classroom, but it will be
a slower journey than many
parents hoped.
Hermiston School District
Superintendent Tricia Mooney
said when Gov. Kate Brown
announced shortly before
Christmas that the state’s
metrics for reopening schools
would become guidelines
rather than mandates, many
parents and even school staff
assumed that would mean a
quick return to the classroom.
But the governor’s announce-
ment didn’t give the full
picture, she said.
“If you just read the head-
line, a lot of parents said, ‘OK,
my kid is going back on Jan.
4,’” she said.
One roadblock, Mooney
said, is that school districts
have been informed by the
Oregon School Board Asso-
ciation’s legal counsel that the
liability protection passed by
the Oregon Legislature does
not appear to protect them
Ben Lonergan/East Oregonian, File
A group of roughly two dozen protesters advocating for the reopening of schools gather
outside the Hermiston School District office in Hermiston on Jan. 4, 2021.
from lawsuits over COVID-
19 outbreaks if they choose to
go outside the state’s reopen-
ing metrics.
Even though schools
are not legally mandated to
wait until they reach certain
benchmarks for COVID-19
cases anymore, they must still
follow the Oregon Depart-
ment of Education’s “Ready
Schools, Safe Learners”
guidelines, which include a list
of 164 different rules for social
distancing, cleaning, wearing
masks and keeping students
and staff separated into small
“cohorts” to limit the number
of people an infected person
would expose to the virus.
And to complicate matters,
ODE has announced it will
release updated guidelines
on Jan. 19, meaning planning
school districts do now could
be thrown out the window if
the rules change significantly.
Those rules, particu-
larly with cohorts and social
distancing, also create logisti-
cal challenges for the district,
which must find enough
classroom space and staff to
accommodate students.
That being said, Mooney
said Hermiston School District
is determined to figure things
out, and she hasn’t given up
hope that all HSD students
could be back in the class-
room before the end of the
school year.
She said they plan to start
by bringing back the students
in categories like special
education, who were partic-
ipating in two hours a day of
“limited in-person instruc-
tion” before the holidays.
After that, she said they hope
to continue adding back more
and more groups students
across all the district’s build-
ings.
They want to do so safely,
however, so she said the
biggest thing people can do
is avoid gatherings, practice
social distancing and other
measures to bring Umatilla
County’s COVID-19 numbers
back down. The current safety
guidelines from the state say
schools shouldn’t reopen if
their county has more than 200
cases per 100,000 people over
a 14-day period, and Mooney
said right now Umatilla
County is at more than 1,000
cases per 100,000 people.
“Our case count is high —
very, very high — so we’re
asking people to do their part,”
she said. “With the numbers
we have now, it’s not a matter
of if we have a case in the
schools but when.”
Parent responses
Jamie Aga, who has a third
grader in Hermiston School
District, said her son has really
struggled with online learning.
He used to love school
and reading, she said, but he
has gotten so resentful now
of anything to do with school
that he won’t even sit down and
listen anymore when she reads
a bedtime story to his younger
siblings.
“Sometimes he sits there
and cries and says he misses
his friends. He misses getting
to get up and move around
during the day instead of being
stuck in front of a computer,”
she said.
She said she really wants
to see schools reopen “sooner
rather than later,” but as time
marches on and Umatilla
County’s COVID-19 numbers
shoot up, she doesn’t have
much hope for returning by
the end of the year.
“I hope so, but I don’t see it
happening,” she said.
Strong winds rip through region
Pendleton airport
records top speed of
68 miles per hour
By ANTONIO SIERRA
East Oregonian
Ben Lonergan/East Oregonian
Vehicles come to a standstill on Interstate 84 near Exit 216 after the Oregon Department
of Transportation closed the interstate due to a pair of truck crashes blocking the west-
bound lanes near mileposts 270 and 258 on Tuesday, Jan. 12, 2020.
Multiple truck crashes close I-84
East Oregonian
PENDLETON — A
pair of truck crashes forced
the closure of Interstate 84 on
Tuesday, Jan. 12, for much of
the afternoon and evening.
Oregon Department of
Transportation closed the
interstate in both direc-
tions between Baker City
and Pendleton around noon
following two separate truck
crashes near mileposts 270
and 258.
“The one at (milepost)
258 was stretched across
both lanes,” said Tom Strand-
berg, who manages public
affairs for ODOT in North-
east Oregon. “The one at
(milepost) 270 they were able
to get that opened up a little
earlier than the other one to
get around it.”
Oregon State Police
reported the first crash
happened about 11:34 a.m.
southeast of La Grande,
near milepost 270, when
Zayne Carter Treasure, 50, of
Nampa, Idaho, lost control of
his semitruck and two trail-
ers as he was traveling west
on Interstate 84.
Treasure told police that
he was traveling at a speed
of about 50 mph because of
the icy road conditions. He
said his empty rear trailer
lost traction on the highway
because of heavy winds.
Treasure said he next
lost control of the tractor
unit and the front trailer. All
three units came to an uncon-
trolled rest on the freeway
blocking both travel lanes.
No injuries were reported
and no citations were issued.
Police said the guardrail and
a portion of the road surface
suffered damage in the crash.
Police said the second
crash happened about the
same time in the westbound
freeway lanes about 2 miles
west of La Grande, near
Milepost 258.
Police said the driver,
Sidney M. Gamble, 69, of
Great Falls, Montana, lost
control in icy conditions
while negotiating a corner.
The trailer came to rest on its
side and the semitruck rolled
over onto its top. The driver
was taken to Grande Ronde
Hospital in La Grande, police
said. No information about
his condition was available
in time for this report.
Police also were called
to at least three noninjury
crashes between Pendle-
ton and Ontario involving
passenger vehicles during
the day, according to reports
provided by Capt. Timo-
thy Fox, OSP spokesman in
Salem.
LOCAL BRIEFING
Contractors break
ground for Dollar
General in M-F
MILTON-FREEWATER
— Construction is underway
off Highway 11 on a new
Dollar General store sched-
uled to open at the end of
May.
Ground has broken on the
empty lot at 45 S. Columbia
St.
The store will employ six
to 10 people, said Angela
Petkovic with Dollar General
public relations.
Founded in 1939, the
Dollar General corporation
has grown to include more
than 17,000 locations in 46
states.
The closest existing
Dollar General is about four
hours away in Madras.
Dollar General stores
sell food, snacks, health
and beauty aids, clean-
ing supplies, basic apparel,
housewares, seasonal items
and paper products from
major brands, as well as
several private labels.
Contractor Don Jackson
Excavation LLC is preparing
the Milton-Freewater site for
Collaborative Construction
Solutions, based in Battle
Ground, Washington.
Umatilla County
reports four more
COVID-19 deaths
PEN DLETON
—
Umatilla County Public
Health announced three
COVID-19-related deaths on
Wednesday, Jan. 13, and one
death on Tuesday, Jan. 12,
bringing the county’s total
to 64.
Umatilla County’s 61st
death with COVID-19 is a
63-year-old female who died
on Dec. 27, 2020, at her resi-
dence in Umatilla County,
according to the state. The
death certificate listed
COVID-19 as a contributing
cause of death.
The county’s 62nd death
with COVID-19 is a 69-year-
old male who tested positive
Dec. 28, 2020, and died Jan.
1 at Good Shepherd Health
Care System in Hermiston.
This individual had underly-
ing medical conditions.
The county’s 63rd death
with COVID-19 is an 89-year-
old male who tested positive
Dec. 29, 2020, and died Jan. 6
while incarcerated. This indi-
vidual had underlying medi-
cal conditions.
The county’s 64th death
with COVID-19 is a 72-year-
old male who tested positive
Jan. 3 and died Sunday, Jan.
10, while incarcerated. This
individual had underlying
medical conditions.
The announcements come
as the county reported 50
new cases on Jan. 13 and 54
new cases of COVID-19 on
Jan. 12, bringing the coun-
ty’s total to 6,471 total cases
since the pandemic began
last year, according to the
Umatilla County COVID-19
dashboard.
Morrow County reported
nine new cases on Jan. 13
and four new cases on Jan.
12, for a total of 905 since
the pandemic began, accord-
ing to the Morrow County
COVID-19 dashboard.
Morrow County has nine
deaths related to COVID-19.
— EO Media Group
PENDLETON — High
winds and strong gusts
rocked Eastern Oregon
during the early morning
hours of Wednesday, Jan. 13.
P roper t y d id n’t go
unscathed. In one instance,
the wind signif icantly
damaged a Pendleton apart-
ment complex.
A section of roof lay
across the hood of a green
Honda sedan in the park-
ing lot of Mary’s Mannor
in Pendleton on Jan. 13, the
remainder of the building’s
roof sitting across the parking
lot as crews worked to clear
debris. Crews used crowbars
and other tools to dismantle
the large chunk of roof.
According to the National
Weather Service station
in Pendleton, the Pendle-
ton airport had some of the
highest recorded winds in
its coverage area, which
includes Eastern Oregon,
Central Oregon, and South-
eastern Washington. The
weather service’s instru-
ments at the Pendleton airport
captured peak wind speed at
68 miles per hour, while the
service also recorded a max
wind speed of 59 miles per
hour at a different point in
Pendleton.
Ben Lonergan/East Oregonian
Construction crews work to dismantle the destroyed roof
of Mary’s Mannor after in was blown from the building on
Wednesday, Jan. 13, 2021.
The highest recorded
speed in the weather service’s
coverage area was 76 miles
per hour in West Richland,
Washington, but other areas
of Eastern Oregon were hit
hard as well.
Hermiston’s wind speed
high was 60 miles per hour,
while the northern part of
Umatilla County also expe-
rienced high winds.
In Milton-Freewater,
some 40 customers were
without power after the wind
apparently sheared off a
power pole on the upper end
of South Fork of the Walla
Walla River just outside of
town, according to the Walla
Walla Union-Bulletin.
City Manager Linda Hall
said the city, which runs its
own electric utility, got the
call out at about 5:30 a.m. Jan.
13 and anticipated having
power back online by 10 a.m.
Jim Smith, a meteorolo-
gist with the weather service,
said the strong wind condi-
tions throughout the inland
Northwest were caused by a
rapidly moving cold front.
Despite its suddenness,
Smith said forecasters don’t
expect the windy conditions
to stick around for long. The
weather service anticipates
colder temperatures and
dry conditions as the week
continues but without strong
wind conditions.
———
East Oregonian multime-
dia reporter Ben Lonergan
contributed to this report.
Morrow County moves back
to ‘extreme risk’ category
East Oregonian
SALEM — Four Oregon
Counties, including Morrow
County, will move into the
governor’s “extreme risk”
designation for spreading
COVID-19, according to a
press release from Gov. Kate
Brown’s office.
In addition to Morrow
County, Baker, Clatsop and
Coos counties will move from
the “high risk” category to the
“extreme risk” category.
“With four counties
moving back to extreme risk,
this week we are reminded
that health and safety
measures continue to be of
utmost importance, even
when we slow the spread of
COVID-19,” Brown said in
the release. “I want to remind
all Oregonians to continue to
do their part by abiding by the
health and safety guidelines
in place.”
The updated risk levels go
into effect Friday, Jan. 15.
In all, 26 counties are now
in the “extreme risk” level,
two at “high risk,” two at
“moderate risk” and six at
“lower risk.” Umatilla County
has been in the “extreme risk”
COUNTY RISK CATEGORIES
Lower Risk (6)
Gilliam
Grant
Harney
Sherman
Wallowa
Wheeler
Moderate Risk (2)
Curry (Moved from Extreme)
Lake (Moved from Lower)
High Risk (2)
Douglas
Lincoln
Extreme Risk (26)
Baker (Moved from High)
Benton
Clackamas
Clatsop (Moved from High)
Columbia
Coos (Moved from High)
category since Brown started
the four-tier risk levels. Union
County is also in the “extreme
risk” category.
“Until vaccines are widely
available with high partici-
pation rates, the surest way
to open our communities is
to continue practicing the
measures we know are effec-
tive in reducing the spread
Crook
Deschutes
Hood River
Jackson
Jefferson
Josephine
Klamath
Lane
Linn
Malheur
Marion
Morrow (Moved from High)
Multnomah
Polk
Tillamook
Umatilla
Union
Wasco
Washington
Yamhill
of COVID-19 — wear your
mask, keep physical distance
from others, avoid gatherings,
wash your hands often, and
stay home when you are sick,”
Brown said in the release.
The levels are reviewed
every two weeks. The next
assignment of risk levels will
be announced Jan. 26 and take
effect Jan. 29.