REGION
Tuesday, February 23, 2021
East Oregonian
A3
Funland playground gets $250,000 federal investment
Funding comes
through USDA
Rural Economic
Development Loan
and Grant Program
By JADE MCDOWELL
East Oregonian
HERMISTON — One
source of funding for the
construction of the Funland
playground in Hermiston
will provide a boost to future
community projects as well.
The funding comes in the
form of a $250,000 invest-
ment through the U.S. Depart-
ment of Agriculture’s Rural
Economic Development Loan
and Grant Program.
In this case, fundrais-
ers working on behalf of
the city to raise money for
Funland have offered spon-
sors the opportunity to
spread payments for large
donations out over multiple
years. The city tapped into
Umatilla Electric Coopera-
tive’s Revolving Loan Fund
to cover the difference up
front, and will pay UEC
back as sponsors make their
payments.
According to UEC spokes-
person Steve Myers, UEC in
Ben Lonergan/East Oregonian, File
Workers unload giant produce at the city of Hermiston maintenance facility in Hermiston on Monday, Sept. 28, 2020. The
larger-than-life replicas will be a part of the new Funland playground when it is completed.
turn tapped into the USDA
grant program. The program
provides grants and zero-in-
terest loans to rural utilities,
which in turn pass the money
along to municipalities, busi-
nesses or nonprofits work-
ing in projects designed to
create or retain employment
in a rural area, according to a
news release.
Twenty percent of the
interest-free loan to the city
came from UEC’s Revolving
Loan Fund and 80% came
from the USDA. When the
city repays the loan, however,
the Revolving Loan Fund will
Hermiston plans hybrid learning for more grades
By JADE MCDOWELL
East Oregonian
HERMISTON — Herm-
iston School District plans to
bring more students back to
the classroom with an expan-
sion of hybrid learning to all
elementary school students in
early March.
In light of the “continued
decline” of COVID-19 cases
in the Hermiston ZIP code,
the district reported in a news
release, elementary schools
are planning for second and
third graders to return to the
classroom part time on March
1 and fourth and fi fth graders
on March 8.
Kindergarten and first-
grade students returned to
the classroom on March 17.
Like the youngest grades,
those that return in March
will be split into two cohorts.
Group A will attend on-site
for three hours in the morn-
ings, and Group B in the
afternoon, with those not
on-site learning online while
the other group is in the class-
room. On Fridays, students
will learn from home all day
Hermiston School District/Contributed Photo, File
Hermiston School District plans to bring more students back to the classroom with an expan-
sion of hybrid learning to all elementary school students in early March.
with “full class comprehen-
sive distance learning” via
video in the afternoons.
In a statement, Superin-
tendent Tricia Mooney said
the district tracks the Herm-
iston ZIP code’s COVID-19
cases and calculates a roll-
ing two-week number each
Thursday as it works on
reopening classrooms.
While Gov. Kate Brown
announced in December
2020 that the Oregon Health
Authority’s guidance on
when schools can reopen
was no longer mandatory,
school districts reported they
had learned that the liabil-
ity protections granted by
the state protecting schools
from lawsuits over COVID-
19 outbreaks would only be
applicable if they followed
those rules. For Hermiston
School District, that means
keeping cases in the city’s
ZIP code down to less than 88
cases reported over 14 days
to offer hybrid learning at the
elementary school level.
“Thank you for doing
your part for our students and
community to help bring our
case counts down,” Mooney
said.
Hermiston School District
now displays COVID-19 case
counts relative to Oregon
Health Authority’s guidance
on its website, where parents
can track progress.
CTUIR to hold two-day mass vaccination event
Oregon National
Guard deployed to
help with vaccine
administration
East Oregonian
MISSION — The Yellow-
hawk Tribal Health Center is
hosting a mass vaccination
clinic on Tuesday, Feb. 23, and
Wednesday, Feb. 24, according
to a Confederated Tribes of the
Umatilla Indian Reservation
press release.
The health clinic has
received 975 doses of the
Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine
from the Indian Health Service
to put on a mass vaccination
clinic. The Oregon National
Guard will assist with admin-
istration of the vaccines.
Vaccinations will be
provided to enrolled members
of the CTUIR who are 16 and
over, employees of all CTUIR
entities, including the Tribal
government, Wildhorse Resort
& Casino, Cayuse Holdings,
Hamley’s and Birch Creek
Golf Course. Additionally,
all residents of the Umatilla
Indian Reservation, family
members of CTUIR employ-
ees who reside in the same
household and vendors and
contractors who do work for
CTUIR entities are eligible to
be vaccinated.
“We are so proud to be
able to vaccinate nearly 1,000
more people in our region,”
said CTUIR Board of Trust-
ees Chair Kat Brigham. “IHS
provided us with resources to
go beyond our members and
vaccinate our employees,
Reservation residents and our
employees’ families. We are
ready.”
CTUIR is a part the
Oregon Emergency Response
System, which coordinates
state resources in response
to emergencies involving
multi-jurisdictional coopera-
tion. In response to a request
for support for this mass
vaccination event, the state
has deployed 18 members of
the Oregon National Guard to
help administer the vaccines.
“With the help of Oregon
National Guard medical
personnel we will be able to
ramp up vaccinations beyond
our own patient list,” said
Yellowhawk Chief Executive
Offi cer Lisa Guzman. “This
is such an important tool in
fi ghting the virus. By the end
of March we will have vacci-
nated more than 2,000 people.”
This vaccine is provided to
patients in two doses. Doses
are given 21 days apart. The
second dose or booster vaccine
will be provided by appoint-
ment in March.
Prior to the mass vacci-
nation event, Yellowhawk
vaccinated more than 1,000
individuals, including CTUIR
Tribal members, health care
workers and fi rst responders,
starting in December 2020.
DONATE YOUR CAR
Man faces federal
charges in death
on tribal land
MISSION — A man is
facing federal charges in
the death of a man who was
assaulted on the Confeder-
ated Tribes of the Umatilla
Indian Reservation, accord-
ing to a press release from
the Federal Bureau of
Investigation.
Tom Redhawk Tias, 21,
was charged with voluntary
manslaughter by the FBI on
Feb. 9. The victim, Thomas
James VanPelt Jr., 46, died
from injuries suffered in an
altercation on the reserva-
tion on Jan. 26.
Tias was transferred to
federal custody last week
after being held in tribal
custody after VanPelt Jr.’s
death. He has made an
initial appearance by phone
with a U.S. Magistrate
Judge in Portland while in
Umatilla County.
The U.S. Attorney’s
Office for the District of
Oregon is prosecuting the
case against Tias.
— EO Media Group
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HERMISTON — New
grants will be available
to support children in the
Hermiston area after the
creation of the Wilcox
Family Endowment Fund.
The endowment is a part-
nership between the Greater
Hermiston Community
Foundation and Alan and
John Wilcox of the Wilcox
Furniture family business.
The Wilcoxes have donated
an initial gift of $100,000 to
start the fund.
According to a news
release, grants made from
the endowment each year
will support children’s
education, care and health
in the greater Hermiston
area.
“We believe that all of us
have an opportunity to give
back by helping our neigh-
bors and community in
whatever way we can,” John
Wilcox said in a statement.
The Greater Hermis-
ton Community Founda-
tion will house the fund and
manage the grant applica-
tion and selection process.
Alan Wilcox said work-
ing with GHCF, which had
already built a large endow-
ment of community dona-
tions for charitable giving,
was the way to most effec-
tively focus the money on
helping children in the area.
Greg Harris, GHCF
board president, said in the
news release that the founda-
tion is proud to support the
Wilcox Family Endowment
Fund in quickly getting aid
to much-needed efforts.
“The youth of our
community have shown the
ability to do amazing things
when given the tools to be
successful,” Harris said.
Application and grant
i n for mat ion w ill be
announced in the coming
weeks. To learn more about
the fund, visit www.Greater-
Hermiston.com or contact
Dennis Barnett at dennis@
barnettandmoro.com.
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be able to keep 100% of the
funds, enabling UEC to rein-
vest that money into future
community projects rather
than sending it back to the
federal government.
According to information
provided by UEC, Funland
is the fourth USDA REDLG
project UEC has backed since
the inception of its Revolv-
ing Loan Fund. In addition
to community projects, the
fund also provides low-in-
terest loans to businesses. As
of mid-2020, Meyers said,
UEC has made 13 loans to
area businesses, totaling
$1,627,250 from the original
three projects. Six loans have
been repaid in full.
“We are proud and excited
to be able to leverage these
USDA funds to help further
the return of Funland, and we
commend all who planned
and built this worthwhile
community project,” Robert
Echenrode, general manager
and CEO of the Umatilla
Electric Cooperative, said in
a statement.
The wooden playground
at Butte Park burned down
in a suspected arson in 2019,
and the city is rebuilding the
site with a larger, improved
version made of materials
less susceptible to vandal-
ism or arson. The project also
includes improved security
and lighting, an additional
picnic shelter, and a building
that will house restrooms and
a concessions stand.
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