Hermiston utility rates set to increase by 2.15% | REGION, A3
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145th year, No. 56
REGONIAN
Thursday, February 25, 2021
WINNER OF THE 2020 ONPA GENERAL EXCELLENCE AWARD
$1.50
County to move out of extreme risk category
Move comes after
successful appeal
By BRYCE DOLE
East Oregonian
saLeM — umatilla County
has been moved from the extreme
coronavirus risk category to the
high risk category after county
officials appealed to the state this
week regarding a recently reported
backlog of tests that for months was
mishandled by the Oregon health
authority.
a joint statement from Oha and
Fiumara
Guzman
Maloy
yellowhawk Tribal health Center
at the Confederated Tribes of the
umatilla Indian reservation on
Wednesday, Feb. 24, announced
that the state had failed to electron-
ically record more than 1,400 tests
reported by yellowhawk between
June 2020 and Jan. 2021.
Murdock
Sidelinger
The error occurred when the state
switched from manual data entry to a
new electronic system, causing “data
processing issues” that resulted in
the backlog. The state said it “regrets
the error and has since been working
closely with the (CTuIr) to prevent
these errors from happening again.”
after the backlogged tests were
reported, county officials success-
fully appealed to Gov. Kate brown’s
office on Feb. 22 and on Feb. 23 the
state announced that the county
would be moved to high risk.
“In the end this is wonderful news
for our local businesses and for our
schools,” umatilla County Commis-
sioner George Murdock said in an
email. “We won’t be able to get back
to full operation, but every step
counts.”
The change allows indoor and
outdoor recreation, entertainment
and shopping and retail establish-
ments to reopen at limited capacity. It
also allows faith institutions, funeral
homes, mortuaries and cemeteries to
reopen at limited capacity. Lastly, it
allows indoor and outdoor visitation
at long-term care facilities and only
recommends, rather than requires,
that office work be done remotely.
The county’s move from the
extreme risk category to the high risk
category becomes effective on Feb.
26. since the state started the four-
tiered risk categories in december,
Umatilla County has been firmly
entrenched in the extreme risk cate-
gory. This is the county’s first move
See Risk, Page A7
BMCC
appoints
interim
president
Connie Green served
the school in same
capacity for six
months in 2018, 2019
By ANTONIO SIERRA
East Oregonian
serve took a newfound meaning. soar-
ing eagle was called to help his fellow
Guardsmen assist health officials from
yellowhawk Tribal health Center in an
unprecedented two-day mass vaccination
clinic at Wildhorse resort & Casino. he
was also one of hundreds of individuals to
get their second shot at a coinciding effort
at the health center just down the road, as
tribal officials moved closer to their goal
of effectively immunizing the reserva-
tion and all who are connected to it in the
coming months.
his job for the day was simple — input-
ting basic information into a computer
PeNdLeTON — blue Moun-
tain Community College turned to
a familiar face to
hold down the fort
while it searches
for a new president.
but Connie Green’s
second tenure lead-
ing the college
will be under very
Green
different circum-
stances.
at a special meeting on Monday,
Feb. 22, the bMCC board of educa-
tion unanimously voted to appoint
Green as interim president starting
on March 1.
Green will temporarily replace
former President dennis bailey-
Fougnier, who cited a recent cancer
diagnosis when he abruptly resigned
on Feb. 11. Jane hill, the chair of the
board, said Green’s appointment
will affirm BMCC’s commitment to
stability during the presidential tran-
sition.
In Green, bMCC is hiring a
veteran college administrator who
served for six years as the presi-
dent of Tillamook bay Community
College before retiring in 2017. For
six months in 2018 and 2019, Green
came out of retirement to serve as the
interim president of bMCC between
Cam Preus, who left the college to
become the director of the Oregon
Community College association,
and the eventual arrival of dennis
bailey-Fougnier.
See CTUIR, Page A7
See President, Page A7
Ben Lonergan/East Oregonian
Corporal John Shown with the Oregon National Guard administers a COVID-19 vaccine to Mary Freeman during a COVID-19 vaccina-
tion run by Yellowhawk Tribal Health Care Center at Wildhorse Resort & Casino in Mission on Tuesday, Feb. 23, 2021.
FINAL PUSH
Officials with the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian
reservation push to vaccinate 2,000 people by mid-March
By BRYCE DOLE
East Oregonian
P
eNdLeTON — sean soaring
eagle cannot count how many
of his family members live on
tribal land.
an enrolled member of
the Confederated Tribes of the umatilla
Indian reservation, soaring eagle joined
the Oregon National Guard to learn disci-
pline, motivation and become active in
the community where he grew up. It has
brought him closer to family, but during
the pandemic, that essential lifeline was cut
short, bringing with it a feeling of isolation.
“My biggest struggle is being alone
when I am,” he said. “I’m usually with my
own thoughts, not talking to anyone, not
doing anything. so that’s hard to be like
that. To be in your own little pot by your-
self.”
a tall, sturdy but soft-spoken 20-year-
old who loves cold weather and read-
ing fantasy novels, soaring eagle has
witnessed the loss the pandemic has
brought to his community.
“It’s hard seeing my friends and family
who have had family very close to them die
— mothers, brothers, friends,” he said. “It’s
hard to know that there is not a lot I can do
to comfort them. There’s not a lot I can say
to them that could make them feel better.”
but on Tuesday, Feb. 23, his desire to
Court arguments heard over controversial transmission line
By MATEUSZ PERKOWSKI
Capital Press
saLeM — Opponents of a
300-mile transmission line in eastern
Oregon claim the u.s. bureau of Land
Management’s approval of the route
across its property violated federal
laws.
The stop b2h Coalition — which
is challenging the high-voltage power
line between boardman and the
hemingway substation in Idaho —
is asking a federal judge to overturn
bLM’s permission for the project.
among the transmission line’s crit-
ics, the agriculture industry has raised
concerns about the project taking
prime farmland out of production and
impeding farm practices.
The agency didn’t comply with
the National environmental Policy
act by selecting a preferred route and
a variant in 2017 that were different
than what it had analyzed in a draft
environmental study, according to the
coalition.
The newly chosen route is prob-
lematic because it’s only one-half mile
from La Grande, runs across an intact
portion of the Oregon Trail, and passes
near ecologically sensitive areas, crit-
ics say.
“The public had no way to antici-
pate the two new routes that would run
through that area. It deprived residents
of La Grande and union County of the
right to weigh in on disproportionately
adverse effects,” said david becker,
attorney for the coalition, during
Monday, Feb. 22, oral arguments.
The coalition also argues that bLM
See B2H, Page A7
EO Media Group, File
A crew works on a transmission line tower outside Boardman. Oral argu-
ments were held in federal court over a proposed transmission line between
Boardman and the Hemingway substation in Idaho.