OFF PAGE ONE
Thursday, February 4, 2021
East Oregonian
A7
Guilty: Lopez
moved across the
country following
the letter incident
Continued from Page A1
County Circuit Court Judge
Christopher Brauer sentenced
Lopez to probation for 18
months, two days of jail and
a fine. As part of his proba-
tion, Lopez must submit an
acceptable apology letter to
the community and complete
a racial bias program, accord-
ing to the DA’s office.
Court records show that
Lopez now lives in Harri-
sonburg, Virginia. Umatilla
County District Attorney Dan
Primus said Lopez moved to
Virginia after the incident,
but could not say definitively
if the incident played a role in
his decision to move.
Lopez did not respond to
interview requests for this
story, but emailed the East
Oregonian newsroom his
apology letter for the commu-
nity.
In the letter, Lopez apolo-
gizes for what he calls “unpro-
fessional behavior.” Lopez
said that “family matters and
various things” in June 2020
left him stressed and over-
whelmed at the time he wrote
the letter.
“This was not only unpro-
fessional, but also simply
disrespectful,” Lopez said
in the letter. “I let my stress
about a personal matter
impact my community. I
further understand (I) am
solely responsible for portray-
ing a bad image and have
take(n) responsibility of my
actions.”
Lopez said he is “taking
steps” to manage his stress
and ensure it does not impact
future decisions, but did not
specify in the letter what that
would look like. He asked
for the county’s forgiveness,
saying that everyone goes
through “darkness and rough
patches.”
Primus said it is uncom-
mon for nonviolent cases, like
Lopez’s, to include jail time,
but added that he feels Lopez’s
punishment is “appropriate”
because the false letter was
reported during a period of
tension and unrest as protests
for racial justice unfolded
across the country.
“For him to cause more of
a stir, we felt that it was appro-
priate,” Primus said of the
sentence, adding the circum-
stances of the case also made
it “appropriate for (Lopez) to
get the racial bias training.”
Primus said when Herm-
iston police received Lopez’s
report, they had to focus
resources, including detec-
tives, toward investigating
the letter at the same time that
multiple homicide investiga-
tions were ongoing.
“The circumstances
surrounding this case were
unique in a sense because
of everything in play at this
time when (the) hate crime is
alleged,” he said. “It’s such a
significant matter that Herm-
iston has to do what it can to
investigate that circumstance,
and as a result the realloca-
tion of those resources. It
could have hindered or hurt
our ability to investigate some
homicides we were working
on.”
Primus noted the role
social media played in spread-
ing the false letter. Primus
said he recognizes the many
benefits social media can
present, but in this case, it
created a platform for misin-
formation.
“In a circumstance like
this where it’s not real — it
can still have some pretty
severe negative impacts
because people see it and
believe it” at first, but don’t
see later that the letter was
fake, Primus said.
Advocate: ‘I have
people ready to
work. We just
need the vaccine’
Continued from Page A1
Center, Mardi Hagerman
said, but he never accessed
VA care.
Mardi Hagerman also
questions how Oregon plans
to ensure migrant workers —
vital to agriculture and food
production in the area — will
get vaccinated when there is
still a shortage of vaccine for
people already here.
Many farmers, like her
husband and brother, are
aging men still working
physically demanding jobs,
she said.
“You can’t talk about
people who are potentially
going to show up when you
can’t talk about people pres-
ently here,” she said.
In her calls to government
officials, Mardi Hagerman
has run into one roadblock
after another.
“I have discovered that
our government, state and
federal, is a quagmire at every
level. No one takes responsi-
bility for anything. It’s frus-
trating that no one is hearing
and no one has any answers,”
she said. “I had a job where
I had to be responsible every
day. I had to check all the
boxes so I didn’t kill some-
one.”
The former health care
worker, no stranger to
community activism, has
volunteered to put her money
where her mouth is, she said,
and organize a vaccination
clinic in Milton-Freewater.
“I have volunteer nurses,
I have a volunteer doctor, I
have people ready to work.
We just need the vaccine,”
she said.
She’s spent the last few
weeks saying the same to
county and state legislators
by sending out letters and
making calls.
Dr. Jonathan Hitzman,
public health officer for
Umatilla County, said he
understands the concern for
elderly residents.
Those folks had the rug
pulled out from under them
when state first moved them
up in the vaccination line,
then reversed course due to
lack of vaccine. And then the
state decided to vaccinate
educators before senior citi-
zens living independently,
Hitzman said.
“Misinformation is not
uncommon,” he said.
Not only is the vaccine
more limited than officials
were initially led to believe,
but getting an entire popula-
tion vaccinated is a daunting
task, Hitzman said.
Even at 100,000 doses a
week, getting everyone fully
vaccinated is going to take
time with a state population
of about 3.2 million people
over age 18.
“Obviously, we want to
get this vaccine into as many
elderly people as possible as
soon as we can, but we are
still strapped for availability,”
Hitzman said.
Mardi Hager man is
coming to accept nothing is
going to happen immediately.
“Even if we can do a clinic
here in March or April, it will
still be here,” she said, list-
ing buildings in town that
could handle large numbers
of people in safe ways.
“This world has gotten so
big. We have to take care of
these people. Give us a model
and we will follow it … we
will vaccinate the people in
this community.”
Ben Lonergan/East Oregonian
Ben Cambell instructs a socially distanced PE class at the Echo School on Tuesday, Feb. 2, 2021.
Schools: ‘I hope folks know we
spent a ton of time planning’
Continued from Page A1
Stanfield School District
Superintendent Beth Burton
said it’s hard to believe that
by the time secondary school
students return in Stanfield,
it will have been 11 months
since most have seen the
inside of a classroom.
Starting on Monday, Feb.
8, kindergarten through
fifth grade students in Stan-
field will be able to return
to in-person learning from
7:45 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.
Monday through Thursday.
Secondary school students
are expected to return on
Feb. 16.
Burton said it took a lot
of work to fit all students in
the school with the requi-
site 35 square feet of space
per student and desks 6 feet
apart, but they made it work
with the help of placing the
two largest classes in the
gym and library.
“We would measure
rooms and take out every-
thing we could,” she said.
Like all districts in
Oregon, Stanfield will be
following pages of rules
for preventing the spread of
viruses, including sanitation
protocols, social distanc-
ing, masks and screen-
ing students for symptoms
when they arrive. Students
who are exposed to COVID-
19 through a family member
or other contacts will tune in
virtually until their recom-
mended quarantine period
is up.
“I hope folks know we
spent a ton of time planning,”
Burton said. “We’ve really
Ben Lonergan/East Oregonian
Sixth grade students take part in class work at the Echo School District Building on Tues-
day, Feb. 2, 2021.
looked at the guidance, and
we feel our plan meets all of
that guidance. We’re really
focused on safety.”
Umatilla School District
Superintendent Heidi Sipe
said she and other school
staff are “over the moon
excited” about getting ready
to welcome students back
into the classroom.
The district recently
started the “limited in-per-
son instruction” phase by
bringing back a few students
in select categories, such
as special education and
English language learn-
ers. Sipe said they plan to
start hybrid learning for all
kindergarten through second
grade students the last week
of February, and keep adding
a few more grades each week
from that point.
Students will attend
classes on an A-B schedule,
with half the students attend-
ing one day and half the next.
Sipe said they just couldn’t
find a way to fit all students
in the space available at the
same time with the required
social distancing.
“What we were told
square footage wise works
awesome on paper, but when
you actually put kids in the
classroom you can fit about
half of what it looks like on
paper,” she said.
The A-B schedule will
allow the district to offer
bussing, however, although
Sipe said walking or rides
from parents are encouraged
where possible.
So far, students who
have come back for limited
in-person instruction have
done well in the classroom,
she said.
“The kids take wearing a
mask really seriously,” she
said.
The district will be reach-
ing out to parents over the
next few days to ask if the
information they filled out
in August is still correct or
if they would rather switch
their choice of hybrid or
online-only learning.
Bankruptcy: Tyson wants court-appointed receiver
Continued from Page A1
For now, ODA contin-
ues to review draft permits
for the dair y, though
Cantu-Schomas said they are
in talks with partner agen-
cies, including the Depart-
ment of Justice, considering
recent developments.
“At this time, the East-
erday (dairy) draft permit
is still under review,” she
said. “The state continues to
conduct due diligence.”
According to the Tyson
lawsuit, farm president
Cody Easterday admit-
ted to the scheme, falsify-
ing records and collecting
reimbursement from Tyson
over a period of several
years, which was done
to offset more than $200
million in losses incurred
in the commodities trading
markets.
Tyson Foods is the world’s
second-largest processor and
marketer of chicken, beef and
pork. The company does not
own or operate feedlots, but
has buyers in beef-produc-
ing areas who visit indepen-
dent feed yards and public
auctions to buy animals for
its processing plants. That
includes one near Pasco,
which Easterday Ranches
supplied.
Tyson entered into a cattle
feeding agreement with East-
Matthew Weaver/Capital Press, File
Cody Easterday at the Easterday Farms feedlot near Pasco, Wash. Easterday Ranches has
filed for Chapter 11 protection amid allegations the Eastern Washington cattle supplier
bilked Tyson Foods out of $225 million by submitting fake invoices for more than 200,000
cattle that did not exist.
erday Ranches in 2017. In a
filing with the U.S. Securities
and Exchange Commission,
Tyson reported that Easter-
day provided roughly 2% of
the company’s beef during
the last four fiscal years.
Gary Mickelson, senior
director of public relations
for Tyson, said the company
became aware of fraud
during a recent company-led
inspection.
“As we disclosed in
December, this misappropri-
ation of funds has cost Tyson
more than $200 million,
which the company is work-
ing to recoup,” Mickelson
said in an emailed state-
ment. “We are also working
with our outside auditor to
implement additional finan-
cial controls to help prevent
or detect this type of activity
in the future.”
Mickelson said Tyson is
asking for a court-appointed
receiver to take control of
Easterday Ranches until the
situation is resolved.
Tyson claims it has
approximately 54,000 real
cattle still on Easterday’s
feedlots and grow yards.
“Those cattle are of
various ages and various
weights, most not yet ready
for market,” the lawsuit
states. “Those cattle require
continued feeding, main-
tenance and other care on
a daily basis, or their value
will quickly and dramatically
deteriorate.”