Two rivers correctional Institution welcomes new superintendent | REGION, A3
E O
AST
145th year, No. 58
REGONIAN
Tuesday, March 2, 2021
$1.50
WINNER OF THE 2020 ONPA GENERAL EXCELLENCE AWARD
Restaurants glad to reopen doors to customers
Limited capacity
indoor dining returns
to umatilla county
By BRYCE DOLE
East Oregonian
PeNdLeTON — ever since
local businesses shut down in the
state-mandated “freeze” back
in November, rodney Burt, the
co-owner of OMG Burgers & Brew
in Pendleton, estimates that heat-
ing his outdoor seating area has cost
about $40 in propane each day. That’s
about $1,200 each month.
“you’re not raising any prices,
cutting any labor,” he said. “It’s
just another thing right out of your
pocket.”
Burt, who runs the restaurant with
his wife, Kimberly, said that he had
to lay off eight of his 20 employees
when the freeze began. It was the
second time during the pandemic he
had to do so.
“It’s hard, because they’re part of
your family, and you know they’re
struggling too,” he said, adding that
several of the employees laid off last
March didn’t receive their unemploy-
ment relief checks until august. “But
you do what you gotta do so you can
keep it going.”
Last week, when umatilla county
was lowered from Gov. Kate Brown’s
extreme risk category to high risk,
allowing indoor dining at limited
capacity, Burt was able to rehire his
employees and prepare for a weekend
he said was sure to be packed with
eager customers, who immediately
came calling as restaurants through-
out downtown Pendleton reopened
on Friday, Feb. 26.
“hopefully, things will stay open,
just like they were a year and a half
ago — summer of 2019,” he said.
“rockin’ and rollin’, making lots of
money, all the staff’s making lots of
money. everybody will be happy. It’s
going to be like that, I hope.”
Community has been very
supportive during lockdown
some Pendleton businesses said
they were able to get by steadily
throughout the most recent three-
month lockdown due to a steady
stream of takeout orders, financial
support from groups like the local
chamber of commerce, and the
support and encouragement in the
tight-knit community of Main street
businesses.
“The community has been
really supportive,” said Joe Meda,
the owner of Joe’s Fiesta Mexican
restaurant. “saying anything less
than that would be ungrateful on my
part.”
See Restaurants, Page A9
WILDHORSE VACCINATIONS
event
marks
turning
point for
cTuIr
“I really wanted to be in a play again. I thought, ‘Nobody else in our school
is going to make a play that I can be in so I’m going to make one myself.’”
— Megan McLouth, Weston Middle School sixth grader
yellowhawk
Tribal health
center vaccinates
nearly 1,000
By BRYCE DOLE AND
ANTONIO SIERRA
East Oregonian
MIssION — since the cOVId-
19 vaccine was introduced late last
year, there have been dozens of
mass vaccination drives across the
state. But the confederated Tribes
of the umatilla Indian reservation’s
two-day vaccination event at Wild-
horse resort & casino was likely
the only one to begin with a Washat
prayer.
On Friday, Feb. 26, and satur-
day, Feb. 27, yellowhawk Tribal
health center teamed up with the
Oregon National Guard to vaccinate
932 people. another 46 people were
vaccinated using leftover doses after
the event to push the total to 978.
But before needles met arms,
armand Minthorn, a member of
the Tribes’ Board of Trustees and
a spiritual leader, opened the day
with a song.
“The song was a welcoming
song that we do when we’re trying
to bring in all the good light to an
event,” chuck sams, the interim
executive director of the cTuIr,
said. “We wanted the room lit up
bright with the good energy in order
to provide the vaccine.”
Leaders believe the two-day
period represents an important
milestone for the Tribes. Once
See Wildhorse, Page A9
Kathy Aney/East Oregonian
Megan McLouth, right, cracks up up at her friend Hazel Hammersla during a rehearsal of the play the sixth graders wrote together while
video chatting during pandemic isolation.
Pandemic playwrights
Weston sixth graders
write play from
pandemic isolation
while video chatting
By KATHY ANEY
East Oregonian
aTheNa — about a
month and a half ago, Megan
McLouth and hazel hammer-
sla felt oh, so tired of social
distancing and pandemic isola-
tion.
so Megan emailed hazel
and asked her friend and
Weston Middle school class-
mate if she’d like to write a
play together virtually.
hazel quickly agreed. The
two sixth graders figured out a
way to write their script while
video chatting on their phones.
deciding to start immediately,
they fired up their laptops.
Megan sat on a carpeted
stairway at her house. hazel
divided her time between a
couch and the floor.
“I Googled ‘good themes
for kids’ plays’ and it came
Kathy Aney/East Oregonian
Sixth graders Megan McLouth and Hazel Hammersla (fourth and fifth from the left) practice a curtain
call during a rehearsal of the play they wrote during pandemic isolation during a video conference
and using a shared Google document.
up with plays about messen-
gers and warriors. We decided
to combine the two themes,”
Megan said. “hazel set up a
Google document and we just
started writing.”
Megan did most of the
writing, while hazel supplied
dialogue ideas and proofread
copy. Together they dreamed
up characters and fleshed out
their personalities. about two
hours later, “The Messenger”
was a fait accompli. The girls
felt exhilarated.
“We were both screaming
over the phone, we were so
excited,” Megan said.
Their seven-page, approx-
See Playwrights, Page A9