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Saturday, February 27, 2021
East Oregonian
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Food: ‘Once you’ve been a soldier, you know what it’s like’
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to go for people who need it
— for veterans or their fami-
lies — means a lot,” she said.
Burger said she was
contacted by AMEN to
help distribute food boxes
throughout Eastern Oregon,
as the organization recently
began to expand its food
distributions beyond the west
side of the state.
“I’m really proud of us
for being able to do it and
I’m very honored that we
can be this staging place,”
she said.
A M E N , a 5 01(c) 3
nonprof it, began as an
out rea ch orga n i zat ion
with Damascus Commu-
nity Church in Damas-
cus in 2005, according to
its website. In 2019, the
nonprofit distributed 2,309
food boxes, as well as
providing financial support,
meals and other donations to
veterans and their families.
Brook Blake, whose
father founded AMEN, was
among a pair of volunteers
delivering the food to the
Pendleton VFW. Blake, an
Air Force veteran, said it is a
“blessing” to be able to help
his fellow veterans.
“The amazing thing
is if you really want help,
it’s there,” he said. “Once
you’ve been a soldier, you
know what it’s like.”
As a show of goodwill for
the generosity, Burger said
the VFW donated money
to AMEN to help cover the
Increase:
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less to deduct from your
state taxes.
The Legislative Revenue
Office estimates Oregon
will collect an additional
$103 million this year, and
$9 million in 2022, from
taxes generated by that
stimulus money. That’s
3.6% of the $3.1 billion in
stimulus money that Orego-
nians received.
That tax hike won’t hit
everyone, though. Low-in-
come Oregonians with no
federal tax liability won’t
pay more in state taxes, and
some high-income residents
with large federal tax bills
won’t pay, either.
The more people earn,
generally speaking, the
more they will owe — but
even some Oregonians
earning under $50,000 a
year will owe $100 in addi-
tional taxes. That’s a hefty
chunk of their stimulus
payments.
(The calculations of who
will owe, and how much, are
complex and vary consid-
erably based on taxpayer
income and family status.
See some detailed examples
from the state here.)
While
stimulus
payments from 2008 had
a similar effect on Orego-
nians’ taxes, few people
anticipated the pandemic
relief payments would
generate additional costs.
And few people appear to
have set aside money to
cover the costs.
Congress intended the
stimulus payments to be tax
free, according to U.S. Rep.
Peter DeFazio, D-Spring-
field.
“It is unconscionable to
ask those working fami-
lies who have struggled the
most during this crisis to
bear the weight of the state’s
budget shortfall,” DeFazio
wrote in a letter to Gov.
Kate Brown and legislative
leaders last week. He asked
them to relieve Oregonians
of those higher taxes.
Oregon State Sen. Dick
Anderson, R-Lincoln City,
plans to introduce a bill the
protect Oregonians’ stim-
ulus checks from state tax
implications.
“The sole purpose of
federal stimulus checks was
to give people help when
they needed it the most,”
Anderson said in a state-
ment last week. “There is no
justification for the state to
be taking some off the top.
Helping people get back on
their feet means helping
them keep more money in
their pockets.”
Ben Lonergan/East Oregonian
Members of the Pendleton VFW Let’er Buck Post 922 and representatives from the American Military Encouragement Net-
work unload a pallet of donated food boxes at the VFW post in Pendleton on Thursday, Feb. 25, 2021.
cost of transporting the food
to Pendleton, and she and
other members of the VFW
will help to distribute food
further east in the coming
days and weeks.
“It’s just a matter of
communicating with the
veterans organizations or
anyone who deals with
veterans who might be need-
ing it,” she said.
Sen. Bill Hansell, R-Ath-
ena, said he does not think
its right for the state to tax
the stimulus payments, and
there seems to be support
on both sides of the political
isle to tackle the matter. He
said Anderson’s bill is under
review and likely to drop no
later than early next week.
The thrust of the proposal,
he said, would give refunds
on next year’s taxes.
Gov. Kate Brown’s office
said she is interested in an
“overall conversation”
about the effects of stim-
ulus programs on Oregon
taxes. Spokeswoman Liz
Merah said the governor
wants to consider the ques-
tion of stimulus taxes in
the broader context of how
federal relief programs have
impacted Oregon’s budget.
Other elements of the
programs, she said, have
reduced Oregon’s tax reve-
nues and more changes
could be coming with a
new relief bill now before
Congress.
“The governor’s goal is
to ensure that we’re target-
ing state financial aid to
the neediest families who
have been hit hard by this
pandemic,” Merah said.
House Speaker Tina
Kotek, D-Portland, appears
to be open to a fix to the
stimulus tax. Her spokes-
man, Danny Moran, said
the House Committee on
Revenue is evaluating
the issue and the speaker
is “looking forward” to
receiving feedback from
committee Chairwoman
Nancy Nathanson.
But Rep. Nathanson,
D-Eugene, noted that
Oregon law requires that
tax changes go into effect
90 days after the end of a
legislative session — which
is currently scheduled for
June, well after the April 15
tax deadline. Many people
have already started filing
their taxes, so Nathanson
said she is examining when
the state can modify tax
returns.
“I’m looking for options
that can get help to people
who need it as easily and
quickly as possible, given
timing constraints of chang-
ing the tax laws,” she said in
an email. “There’s time for
this Legislature to consider
separate action related
specifically to the 2021 tax
return. In other words, we
are looking at one approach
for helping people this year
and a different approach
for next year in order to
help Oregonians who need
it most.”
———
La Grande Observer
editor Phil Wright contrib-
uted to this report.
‘If we have to, I’ll find
someone to deliver
them’
Harold Roberts, the
commander for the Hermiston
VFW Desert Post 4750, said he
picked up 10 boxes of nonper-
ishable food for members of
the Hermiston post and hopes
to provide even more should he
find additional people in need.
“I’m going to take these
down to the post, contact the
people that wanted them and
let them know they’re avail-
able,” he said. “If we have to,
I’ll find someone to deliver
them.”
Roberts said he knew there
was need in the community,
but was unsure of how to best
find people to distribute the
boxes to. Roberts made a post
on the VFW Facebook page
and reached out to various
community groups.
Through his outreach.
Roberts said he received a
call from Ione VFW Post 95
Commander Brian Rietmann
looking to see how Ione could
arrange to pick up food boxes
as well. Rietmann, who picked
up six boxes, said it may take
some convincing to pass the
help along to those in his
community, but he was grate-
ful to be able to offer it.
“I’ll probably have to fight
with some of them to get them
to take it,” said Rietmann.
“But it helps those families
that are in need.”
Roman Olivera, the direc-
tor of the Student Success
Center at Blue Mountain
Community College, was
among the first to show up
and pick up food boxes for
student veterans at the college.
Olivera picked up seven boxes
of nonperishable food and
three boxes of perishable food
to distribute to veterans at the
college.
“To BMCC students, it is
another avenue of resources
to help our veterans,” he said.
“It doesn’t just isolate them, it
pulls us all together.”
Olivera, who works closely
with veterans attending the
school, said he sees being able
to provide the food boxes as a
way to reach out to veterans
who may be struggling and
unwilling to ask for help.
“From my point of view,
some veterans don’t come
forward and say, ‘I can use
this,’” he said.
Olivera went on to add that
the boxes allow him an oppor-
tunity to start building rela-
tionships with students and
say, “here, we have this for
you,” without requiring them
to seek out the help directly.
“I am so appreciative of the
VFW and AMEN for provid-
ing this to our students and to
our public — our community
as a whole,” he said.
Birds: Walmart to donate 4 pallets of birdseed
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“Nobody got hurt and the
birds are OK,” she said. “It
could have been worse.”
Tompkins has a call into
OBC Northwest in Canby
about replacement costs. It’s
her hope the costs don’t soar
too high — she’s guessing
around $5,000 or possibly as
high as $10,000. In addition
to the damage to the Scaven-
ger Pen, the roof on the Song-
bird Pen, which is smaller,
partially collapsed. While
its top needs to be replaced,
Tompkins said it’s still usable
in the interim.
Always grateful and
forever the optimist, Tomp-
kins is confident resources
will be provided. She wrote
about the damage in her
weekly newsletter and posted
a link to it on the organiza-
tion’s Facebook page. In
addition, she said several
media outlets have reported
on the loss.
“It will probably be a chal-
lenge but people are already
responding,” Tompkins said
about the fiscal impact. “I’m
confident it will be rebuilt.”
By Wednesday afternoon,
Feb. 24, $1,600 had already
come in for the project. In
addition, Tompkins received
a call last week from the
Walmart Distribution Center
regarding a donation of four
Ben Lonergan/East Oregonian
Blue Mountain Wildlife Executive Director Lynn Tompkins indicates where the Scavenger
Pen at BMW was damaged as a result of heavy snow during a tour of the facility on Thursday,
Feb. 25, 2021.
pallets of damaged bags of
birdseed.
Tompkins said plans are
being formulated to accept
donations during a drive-
thru bird feed giveaway in
March. Finalized details will
be posted on the BMW Face-
book page and website.
Founded in 1990, BMW
is dedicated to wildlife
rehabilitation, research and
public education. A Thurs-
day, Feb. 25, virtual Winter
Birds 2021 series presented
by Mid-Columbia River
National Wildlife Refuge
Complex in conjunction with
the Friends of Mid Colum-
bia River Wildlife Refuges
features Tompkins sharing
about the work the facility
does. It can be accessed via
a link at www.friendsofm-
crwr.org.
Blue Mountain Wild-
life’s main facility is located
at 71046 Appaloosa Lane,
Pendleton. For more informa-
tion, contact 541-278-0215,
lynn@bluemountainwildlife.
org or visit www.bluemoun-
tainwildlife.org.
Surge: 588,698 Oregonians vaccinated so far
Continued from Page A1
months, barring further
delays from the state or federal
government. Currently, the
public health department
is only planning events in
Pendleton, Hermiston and
Milton-Freewater, but he said
vaccination drives in smaller
towns could start once supply
starts to balance out with
demand.
Fiumara said doctor’s
offices and pharmacies will
also start to play a bigger
role in vaccinating Umatilla
County, but many will need
time to build out their capac-
ity to administer vaccina-
tions as they continue to tend
to patients’ everyday health
needs.
In the meantime, the county
is seeing success with their
current vaccination clinics.
Fiumara said the county
is anticipating to vaccinate
nearly 1,900 people across
three days this week, includ-
ing those that are getting their
second doses.
“It’s been a very busy
week,” he said.
At the same time Umatilla
County was holding its events,
health officials at the Confed-
erated Tribes of the Umatilla
Indian Reservation spent Tues-
day, Feb. 23, and Wednesday,
Feb. 24, vaccinating nearly
1,000 people at the Wildhorse
Resort & Casino with the help
of the Oregon Army National
Guard.
With many tribal members
already covered in previ-
ous rounds of vaccinations,
much of the event’s focus was
on non-American Indians
who lived or worked on the
Umatilla Indian Reservation.
With the CTUIR being
Pendleton’s top employer,
and one of the top employers
in the region, Fiumara said
he was happy to learn about
the number of new residents
being vaccinated. Previous to
the Feb. 26 announcement, the
county had only received that
many vaccines in one week
once before.
“As far as I’m concerned,
every arm that gets a vaccine
is good,” he said. “However we
get there, we’re happy about
it.”
Near the bottom for
vaccination rates
The increase in doses
comes a week after the county
saw its vaccine supply halted
due to inclement weather, forc-
ing health officials to postpone
drive-thru clinics planned to
bring shots to the arms of
hundreds of residents. Offi-
cials have routinely said the
county could be vaccinating
hundreds more people each
day, but a variety of hiccups
and canceled shipments have
for months inhibited the
county’s efforts to immunize
the community against the
pandemic.
The latest increase in doses
also comes as the county is
moved from the extreme coro-
navirus risk category to high
risk for the first time since the
state started the four-tiered risk
categories in December 2020.
Case counts have dropped in
the county in recent weeks,
and after the state announced
on Feb. 23 that it had mishan-
dled months worth of data
from county health facilities,
Brown’s office approved an
appeal from county officials
allowing it to move to high
risk.
The change allows indoor
and outdoor recreation, enter-
tainment, and shopping
and retail establishments 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.
Umatilla County has vacci-
nated 7,532 residents since
vaccine efforts began in late
December 2020, with 4,191
of those being second doses,
according to data from the
Oregon Health Authority.
That’s 928 people vaccinated
per 10,000 residents, which
places the county at the second
lowest vaccine rate in Oregon
for the second consecutive
week.
In Oregon, 588,698 people
have been vaccinated against
COVID-19, with 317,267 of
those being second doses,
according to state data.