Funland playground gets $250K federal investment | REGION, A3
E O
AST
145th year, No. 55
REGONIAN
Tuesday, February 23, 2021
WINNER OF THE 2020 ONPA GENERAL EXCELLENCE AWARD
$1.50
District welcomes back elementary school students
Pendleton students,
teachers excited to be
back in classrooms
HERMISTON SCHOOL DISTRICT PLANS HYBRID
LEARNING FOR MORE GRADES
In light of the "continued decline" of COVID-19 cases in the Herm-
iston ZIP code, the Hermiston School District said that elementary
schools are planning for second and third graders to return to the
classroom part time on March 1 and fourth and fifth graders on
March 8. Page A3
By ANTONIO SIERRA
East Oregonian
PeNdLeTON — It was the
second first day of school at the
Pendleton school district.
after months of mostly seeing
their students on computer screens,
teachers at the district’s K-5 schools
welcomed in kids for the first day of
in-person instruction on Monday,
Feb. 22.
at sherwood Heights elemen-
tary school, staff laid down tape on
the classroom floors to mark social
distancing radii and walking space.
Fifth grade teacher Mike Heriza
called it his “spiderweb.”
“It’s like the first day of school
but I know all of them,” he said.
For all the audial reminders
that in-person schools was back
— the thrum of student chatter,
the authoritative voices of teach-
ers, the rumble of school buses
— the visual presentation of the
school was a reminder that public
education was still making its way
through the pandemic.
Classes were about half-empty
as individual classes are split
between morning and afternoon
sessions to accommodate social
distancing. The cafeteria will
remain closed during mealtimes as
students take their lunches in their
classrooms. at least at the outset,
students are being afforded one
Ben Lonergan/East Oregonian
recess day per week.
Staff greet students as they get off the bus at Washington Elementary
See Students, Page A9
School in Pendleton on the first day of in-person instruction on Monday,
Feb. 22, 2021.
Citizen review
board seeking
volunteers
Umatilla County-based
boards review cases on
children in foster care
By ANDREW CUTLER
East Oregonian
alds or other fast food chains, and people
purchase their groceries at the local Heppner
Market rather than a safeway or Walmart.
For business owners like brannon, who
owns breaking Grounds Coffee and a bread
delivery service, a large company like dollar
General moving in feels like unfair competi-
tion. such retail chains are able to use econo-
mies of scale to offer lower prices than a small,
independently owned market or drug store.
“We want competition to come to town,”
brannon said. “It keeps us (from getting)
PeNdLeTON — John Nichols
knows serving as a volunteer on a
foster care citizen review board is
a commitment, both in time and
energy.
but, Nichols said, being in a
position to help foster children
from getting lost
in the system is a
reward that makes
the personal
investment worth-
while.
“you’re acting
on behalf of these
kids that are in
Nichols
foster care, and we
know that the stats haven’t been
great for Oregon foster care kids.
We’re really reviewing the cases to
see if the agency is following what
they need to be following. and the
(citizen review board) as a whole,
including our local agency, has
called attention to certain issues
that are coming up that could be
affecting the safety of kids.”
Nichols, a field manager for
the Oregon Judicial department,
oversees citizen review boards in
eight eastern Oregon counties. He
is seeking volunteers to serve on a
pair of umatilla County boards in
Hermiston and Pendleton.
“We really want some perma-
nent volunteers. Now, permanent
means that they’re willing to keep
committing to the program,” Nich-
ols said. “The first year, they’re on
a one-year probation period, and
then from that point on, they’re
See Heppner, Page A9
See Review, Page A9
Ben Lonergan/East Oregonian
Irelynn Kollman serves up a pair of cookies at Breaking Grounds Coffee in Heppner on Friday, Feb. 19, 2021.
Some Heppner residents hope Dollar General passes them by
By JADE MCDOWELL
East Oregonian
H
ePPNer — When drew bran-
non heard dollar General was
interested in a piece of property
in downtown Heppner, he was
worried.
brannon, who has taken to checking regu-
larly to see if the company has purchased any
property in town, said it hasn’t yet, and dollar
General has not responded to an inquiry
sent last week by the East Oregonian about
whether it has any plans to build a store there.
a few Heppner residents appeared before
the Heppner City Council recently and have
started a petition, however, hoping to send a
message early that they’re not interested in a
large discount retail chain coming to town.
“It doesn’t match the history and culture
here,” brannon said. “We call Heppner our
little island of paradise.”
shopping and dining options in the Morrow
County town of about 1,110 residents are
generally limited to small, independent local
businesses, such as bucknum’s bar and Grill
or sage Clothing Company. There is a Les
schwab Tire Center, but there is no Mcdon-
Mother was told ‘no chance’ of passing COVID to unborn infant
David James Wadley Jr.
first Oregon child under
age 9 to die of COVID-19
By JAIMIE DING
The Oregonian
PeNdLeTON — an infant boy
born prematurely last month in Pend-
leton died the same day he tested
positive for COVId-19, making him
Oregon’s youngest victim of the
deadly coronavirus.
David James Wadley Jr. is the first
Oregon child age 9 or younger to die
of COVId-19. His death was one of
six coronavirus fatalities reported on
Thursday, Feb. 18.
ashley Wadley, his mother, was 31
weeks pregnant when she tested posi-
tive for COVId-19 about Jan. 11 or
12. she told The Oregonian/Oregon-
Live she first lost her sense of taste and
smell — and that she was bedridden
with a high fever one day later.
doctors told Wadley over the phone
that she had “no chance” of passing
COVId-19 to the baby, she said.
Children are less likely than
adults to develop severe cases of the
virus, state epidemiologist dr. dean
sidelinger said in a statement, and
infant deaths from COVId-19 are
“extremely rare.”
Wadley, a 29-year-old athena
resident, stayed home, took Tylenol
and drank fluids as she waited to test
negative so she could see a doctor in
person. but on Jan. 14 — two or three
days after she tested positive — her
unborn son suddenly stopped moving
in her belly.
“That’s how I knew something was
wrong,” she said. “before I got sick, he
was nonstop moving.”
she tried to get him to move again
— by rocking back and forth, for
example, and drinking something
sweet — but went to the hospital on
Jan. 15 because her son still wasn’t
moving.
Her son was born that night through
an emergency cesarean section. He
weighed three pounds, 15 ounces, and
was immediately flown to the Kadlec
regional Medical Center in richland,
Washington.
Wadley stayed behind at st.
anthony Hospital in Pendleton.
At first, the infant boy had to be
intubated, but doctors took the tubes
out after he was able to breathe on
his own and told Wadley her son was
doing much better, she said.
“He was spunky,” Wadley said.
“He was doing great.”
but her son’s condition had rapidly
deteriorated by the next night. Wadley
said he had developed two brain
bleeds, which were causing seizures,
and that his lungs were cloudy.
He died on Jan. 17, moments after
receiving results of a positive COVId-
19 test.
after giving birth, Wadley was
never again able to see her son alive.
“I had COVId so they wouldn’t let
me around him,” she said.
The infant boy had undisclosed,
underlying health conditions, accord-
ing to the Oregon Health authority.
but Wadley said she was unaware of
any health problems her son may have
had, aside from his premature birth.
“I did every test to make sure he
was 100% healthy, no defects, no noth-
ing,” she said.