OFF PAGE ONE
Saturday, March 20, 2021
East Oregonian
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Agape House: ‘It’s pretty amazing. People are very, very grateful’
Continued from Page A1
this,” Jose Garcia, chair of the
Hispanic Advisory Commit-
tee in Hermiston, said as he
looked out at the gathering
workers.
In June 2020, Garcia
recognized that because of
the pandemic, farmworkers
could not come get supplies
from the Agape House, a
local nonprofit food bank.
So, he began working with
the Agape House to reach
out to the thousands of local
Hispanic and Latino agricul-
tural workers.
The workers carried
boxes of bread, Raisin Bran,
beans, rice, vacuum-sealed
meats and fruits and vegeta-
bles to their cars. Dust from
the work day still clung to
their boots and jeans. Some
brought their children, who
played with belts, shirts
and pants spilling out of
stacked cardboard boxes,
while parents checked sizes,
laughed and chatted together.
Nearly all came from Guate-
mala or Mexico.
Every two weeks, Agape
House gives Garcia enough
food and clothing for 120
families. In all, Agape House
Executive Director Mark
Gomolski estimates they
have provided supplies to
approximately 4,800 people.
“It’s pretty amazing,”
Vaccine:
Continued from Page A1
of vaccine to the state.
Brown on March 19
ordered many of the 530,000
people covered in the next
eligibility group moved up
from March 29 to Monday,
March 22. OHA Director
Pat Allen told state lawmak-
ers on March 17 that Brown
was considering moving up
the date as a way to get the
groups at least a short head
start before opening the eligi-
bility to all.
Under Brown’s new time-
line, vaccinations can begin
for migrant and seasonal farm-
workers in counties where they
are currently already working.
People age 45-64 with
underlying health conditions
can get vaccinated in coun-
ties that can attest they have
“largely” vaccinated those
age 65 and older. The Oregon
Health Authority did not have
additional information on
what standards were required
to meet that threshold. OHA
also said it did not have a list
of counties that currently meet
the standard.
Another 550,000 people,
who were to be eligible on
May 1, have had their start date
moved to April 19.
Umatilla County Public
Health Director Joe Fiumara
said the county was already
planning on expanding eligi-
bility next week regardless of
B2H:
Continued from Page A1
said there was one property
owner left who had yet to
accept a proposal from UEC.
If the cooperative isn’t able
to convince the landowner
to voluntarily sign an agree-
ment, eminent domain may be
an option for UEC.
”That’s certainly not a goal
of Umatilla Electric,” Echen-
rode said.
He said the 16-page
order from the Public Util-
ity Commission “speaks for
itself” on the importance
of the line. According to the
order, UEC stated that the line
was needed to handle current
and future growth in the area,
and that the cooperative exam-
ined three routes and deter-
mined that the planned route is
“justified by the comparative
cost, benefit to its system and
is the least impactful in terms
of property, environmental
and agricultural consider-
ations.”
Some affected property
owners disagreed. Several of
them told the East Oregonian
last year that a large, high-volt-
age transmission line running
through their property
would lower its value, cause
a nuisance for them and in
Ben Lonergan/East Oregonian
Jose Garcia, left, and Rafael Romero, center, gather masks and hand sanitizer for a group of
farmworkers at New Horizons in Hermiston on Friday, March 19, 2021.
said Gomolski, who also
serves as vice chair of the
Hispanic Advisory Commit-
tee. “People are very, very
grateful.”
Garcia, an addiction
counselor at New Horizons,
estimates between 20 to
30 families come by when
supplies are offered at New
Horizons every two weeks.
Workers are also provided
with personal protective
equipment supplied by the
the state’s timelines. He said he
was glad to hear of the state’s
new timeline, but added he
was frustrated that the county
will have to wait until March
22 to attest to the state to
expand eligibility, days before
the county had already sched-
uled events with new groups
receiving the vaccine.
“We don’t think that every-
body over 65 who wants (a
vaccine) has gotten one,” he
said. “But we think enough
of them have that we’re start-
ing to run into folks who don’t
want it at this time. And there’s
enough folks beyond them that
still want (the vaccine) that we
don’t want to keep holding
them up.”
He added the county has
already been reaching out
to food processing and agri-
cultural workplaces to offer
vaccines to local farm work-
ers at their workplaces starting
next week.
“Those are the populations
that have been most hit by” the
pandemic, he said. “Especially
in our area. We need to be able
to give them vaccine.”
However, Fiumara said in
order for eligibility to continue
ramping up, the county simply
needs to receive more doses
moving forward.
“We don’t have enough
vaccine for all of this yet,” he
said. “And the concern is that
we won’t. Hopefully we will.”
———
East Oregonian reporter
Bryce Dole contributed to this
report.
some cases interfere with their
plans for construction on their
property. They argued the line
was mostly to benefit a single
customer’s data centers rather
than the community at large.
The order from the Public
Utility Commission details
testimony against the plan
from the Frederickson and
Tallman families, who argued
that UEC should go with a
route that affects industrial
land more than farmland.
The commission sided with
UEC, however, and granted
the certificate.
Echenrode said besides
securing the final private prop-
erty easement needed — either
through an agreement signed
with the landowner or through
eminent domain proceedings
— the cooperative still needs
to secure various permits,
including ones needed from
Bonneville Power Adminis-
tration to cross their lines, one
to cross Interstate 84 and one
from the Bureau of Reclama-
tion to cross a canal.
He said he believes the
project falls within the rules
of each permit, however, and
expects them all to come
through. After everything is
in place, construction of the
line would likely take less than
12 months, he said, barring
any unforeseen holdups with
supplies or labor.
county health department.
It’s an effort to help a
community that has been
disproportionately impacted
by the COVID-19 pandemic,
Garcia says. In 2020, resi-
dents reporting Hispanic
ethnicity accounted for
41% of Umatilla County’s
total COVID-19 cases. The
population also contracted
the virus at a rate over three
times higher than non-His-
panics, according to data
from the county health
department
And Her miston was
hit hardest. The ZIP code
encompassing the town
reported more COVID-19
cases than any other in the
county in 2020. Most of those
cases came in the summer,
when the area reported one
of the highest testing positiv-
ity rates in Oregon.
Residents repor t i ng
Hispanic ethnicity had the
greatest number of Umatilla
County’s cases in every
month from April through
August 2020. In July, the
population tested positive at
a rate nearly four-and-a-half
times higher than non-His-
panics.
Health officials have said
that the bulk of the cases
during the summer months
were being traced back to
agricultural workplaces and
food processing facilities,
where infection has been
known to spread rapidly
and Oregon Health Author-
ity frequently reported large
outbreaks.
Researchers nationally
have pointed to socioeco-
nomic status and workplace
exposures as having contrib-
uted to the pandemic’s
disproportionate impact on
Hispanic and Latino commu-
nities.
G ov. K a t e B r ow n
announced in a Friday, March
22, press conference that
migrant and seasonal farm-
workers would be eligible to
start receiving the COVID-
19 vaccine starting March
22, speeding up the state’s
timeline as more groups of
essential workers become
eligible in the coming
weeks. The move comes
in response to the dispa-
rate affect the pandemic has
had on essential workers in
marginalized communities.
Officials at the Umatilla
County health department
have started contacting agri-
cultural and food process-
ing facilities to make plans
for bringing the vaccine to
these communities starting
next week, according to Joe
Fiumara, the county’s public
health director.
And although infection
rates have declined overall in
the county, the pandemic has
yet to fully abate from some
agricultural areas.
Valentin Alonzo, who
came to Hermiston from
Guatemala nearly five years
ago with his wife and three
kids, said that five of his
co-workers contracted the
virus less than a month ago.
Although Alonzo recognizes
the severity of the virus, and
the impact it’s had on local
farmworkers, he said he is not
worried.
“There is a passage in the
Bible that says, if you come to
me, don’t fear, because I will
protect you from anything,”
he said through a translator.
Garcia watched some of
the last boxes of supplies be
carried away, counting how
many were once sitting on the
tables. He uttered a phrase
that would summarize the
day.
“Fifteen boxes, 15 fami-
lies.”
Summer: Whisky Fest still planned for July
Continued from Page A1
Round-Up Publicity
Director Pat Reay didn’t
respond to a voicemail
requesting comment, but at
a joint meeting between the
Pendleton City Council and
the Confederated Tribes of
the Umatilla Indian Reser-
vation Board of Trust-
ees, Pendleton Mayor
John Turner, an ex-officio
member of the Round-Up
Board of Directors, gave a
short update on the Round-
Up’s planning process.
Tu r n e r s a i d t h e
Round-Up board is study-
ing the safety plans of other
large outdoor rodeos, like
Cheyenne Frontier Days,
as they try to formulate
their own. Turner said early
discussions include logistics
like a temperature check-
point and whether attendees
need to wear masks.
Tribal participation is
also a significant part of the
Round-Up and Boots Pond,
an at-large member of the
Board of Trustees, said he’s
on a subcommittee with
other tribal members that is
working with the rodeo on
what that participation will
look like.
Pond said the subcom-
mittee is expecting to
receive a draft plan from
the Round-Up in April,
and after input from the
subcommittee’s members,
a final draft in July.
Kat Brigham, the chair
of the Board of Trustees,
said the tribal government
is looking to coordinate
more with Round-Up ahead
of the next rodeo.
Pendleton Whisky
Music Fest still a go
Last year was supposed
to rival 2018 for the Pend-
leton Whisky Music Fest’s
biggest year, but it wasn’t
to be.
W hen W hisky Fest
canceled its 2020 event, it
retained headliners Eric
Church and Macklemore for
a rescheduled 2021 concert.
Whisky Fest is still adver-
tising a July 10 concert, but
co-founder Doug Corey
said he’s still waiting on
word from the state.
“We’re full steam ahead
— if they let us go,” he said.
Corey said Whisky Fest
is reliant on ticket sales to
make the concert finan-
cially feasible, and if atten-
dance is capped at a level
too far below the Round-Up
arena’s capacity, organizers
might not be able to stage
the event.
Corey said large event
organizers are supposed to
meet with the governor’s
office by the end of March,
and he hopes Whisky Fest
will have more clarity on
2021 following the meeting.
Kathy Aney/East Oregonian, File
Whisky Fest spectators wait for Post Malone to take the stage on July 13, 2019, at the
Round-Up Arena.
Other events take
wait-and-see approach
Ben Lonergan/East Oregonian, File
A member of the Seattle Cossacks Motorcycle Stunt and Drill
Team rides his Harley Davidson in a circle pivoting about his
foot during a performance at the 2019 Pendleton Bike Week.
Farm-City Pro Rodeo
moving forward
On the west side of the
county, Farm-City Pro
Rodeo board member
Dennis Barnett said the
rodeo will go on in Herm-
iston in August.
“There will be a rodeo,
we just don’t know if there
will be no fans, or some fans
or 100%,” he said.
Barnett said there have
already been other rodeo
events held at the Eastern
Oregon Trade and Event
Center without fans present
since the pandemic began,
establishing a precedent
for using the arena. So the
board is making three plans
— one for an event with no
spectators, one for partial
capacity, and one for an
event that looks like years
past.
“We owe it to the
cowboys, we owe it to the
contractors, because they
need to make a living too,”
he said.
Barnett said the Farm-
City Pro Rodeo has not
received any government
money to support the event,
despite its complete cancel-
ation last year. So if event
organizers can’t sell any
tickets this year or half the
usual amount, it will fall
to sponsors to make up the
difference.
Fortunately, he said,
sponsors he has met with
so far have all been very
supportive.
The rodeo takes place
each year in tandem with
the Umatilla County Fair,
held on the same dates, also
at EOTEC. Fair Manager
Angie McNalley has said
the fair board is also moving
forward with plans on the
assumption that there will
be a “fair that looks like
a fair” in August, even if
there are some regulations
in place regarding social
distancing, capacity, sani-
tation and other safety
measures.
Pendleton Bike Week
unsure about
2021 event
Pendleton Bike Week is
in a similar boat to Whisky
Fest.
Under new ownership,
the 2020 bike week was
supposed to shift from
the Pendleton Convention
Center to the Round-Up
Grounds and feature more
affordable entry prices.
But bike week owner
Stuart Rice had to cancel the
2020 event and he’s not sure
about the 2021 event either.
Pendleton Bike Week is
still advertising July 15-18
event dates, but Rice said he
wants to wait until he hears
from the governor before
proceeding.
While some summer
events are taking a wait-and-
see approach, other smaller
spring and early summer
events are moving forward.
Jackalope Jamboree, a
music festival that held its
inaugural event in 2019, is
already selling tickets for
its June 25-26 shows at the
Happy Canyon Arena on
its website, according to
co-founder Rian Beach.
“Fortunately, we were
able to retain Shane Smith &
the Saints as the Friday head-
liner, who played the first
year of our festival and were
a crowd favorite,” he wrote in
an email. “And we were able
to book Shooter Jennings to
headline for Saturday at this
year’s festival! We also have
been able to add a handful of
great acts that weren’t on the
2020 bill.”
Beach wrote that all
attendees will need to wear
masks to the arena, which
will operate at a reduced
capacity.
Even earlier in the calen-
dar, the Pendleton Cattle
Barons is gearing up to restart
on April 30. The two-day
event will feature its usual
mix of rodeo, horse auctions
and trade shows with the goal
of raising money for college
scholarships.
A ndy VanderPla at,
the president of the Cattle
Barons, said organizers were
motivated to do this year’s
events after hearing from
sponsors and past scholarship
recipients about how much
the event meant to them.
“Agriculture is the back-
bone of Eastern Oregon,” he
said.
VanderPlaat said the 2021
event will look similar to past
events, just with more events
shifted outdoors to comply
with COVID-19 protocols.
VanderPlaat said he hopes
it will be a springboard for
other Eastern Oregon events
to relaunch.