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Saturday, March 27, 2021
East Oregonian
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Stimulus: ‘We want it to benefit Umatilla County as a whole’
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where to direct the funding
have hardly begun.
“We’re really getting defi-
nitions right now about how
it could be spent,” Commis-
sioner George Murdock said,
adding that the funding will be
coming directly to the county,
rather than going through
Salem, “where we may get
some of it and may not.”
The funds come from the
American Rescue Plan, which
Congress approved on March
10. At $1.9 trillion, it’s one of
the largest anti-poverty efforts
in American history, intended
to boost economic recovery
in response to the pandemic
and help vulnerable Ameri-
cans. Republican lawmakers
largely oppose the bill for its
liberal policies, according to
the Associated Press.
In addition to providing
hundreds of millions of Amer-
icans with one-time payments
of $1,400 and jobless benefits
in the form of $300 per week,
the plan is estimated to cut
national poverty by a third
this year, according to the
New York Times. It is also
expected to cut child poverty
in half through a variety of
measures, including expand-
ing rental assistance, food
stamps and tax credits for
Americans with children.
“We have the opportu-
Ben Lonergan/East Oregonian
Vehicles pass through a Umatilla County Public Health COVID-19 mass vaccination site in
Pendleton on Friday, March 26, 2021.
nity now to lift up Oregon
families and businesses, by
immediately investing state
and federal resources to help
them recover from the devas-
tating economic impacts of the
COVID-19 pandemic,” Gov.
Kate Brown said of the plan
earlier this month.
Oregon’s state and local
governments are slated to
receive more than $4 billion
from the plan. Brown has laid
out principles saying that,
on top of helping economic
recovery, the funds should
address existing disparities
made worse by the pandemic,
particularly those relating to
gender and racial disparities.
Though concrete plans of
any kind have yet to be made in
Umatilla County, the commis-
sioners had a few rough ideas
in mind for how the funding
might be used, like improving
infrastructure and taking care
of public health payments that
have accumulated throughout
the pandemic.
“The cost of operating
public health in Umatilla
County over the past year
has been significantly larger
than on an ordinary basis,”
Murdock said, noting that the
health department has over
twice as many employees on
staff currently. “We’ll be able
to use some of this money to
offset those costs that we’ve
had.”
Schools: Hermiston Online! still an option
Brothers:
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of people students and staff
came into contact with in the
building. Removing a rule
that students must come into
contact with no more than
100 different people per week
allows high school students
to move from class to class
for different subjects as they
would in a normal year.
She said the district had
already stocked up on clean-
ing supplies and hired extra
custodial staff to handle sani-
tizing requirements.
Families who don’t want
their students to return to
the classroom will be able
to participate in the Hermis-
ton Online! virtual academy
instead.
In the midst of its spring
break, the Pendleton School
District hasn’t made any
announcements on its opera-
tional plans with its new rules
in place. High school and
middle school students are
set to return to school for part-
time instruction on Monday,
March 29.
Pendleton Superintendent
Chris Fritsch said the district’s
secondary schools will reopen
as advertised, but the district
will need until April 12 to
formulate a plan based on the
new rules.
While the new guidance
allows schools to offer more
expansive in-person options,
both wrenched open a door
on the north side of the U.S.
Capitol after having already
entered and exited the build-
ing. They were held back by
law enforcement officers.
“The exact example of
what the court gave is what
the defendant has done,”
Faruqui said during Jona-
thanpeter Klein’s hearing.
Government evidence
that Jonathanpeter Klein
coordinated the trip to
Washington, D.C., with his
brother, was excited about
it and proclaimed his alle-
giance to the Proud Boys,
wore tactical gear and carried
paintball guns and batons
to prior rallies in Oregon,
convinced the magistrate
judge that pretrial detention
was warranted.
“He is more than just a
passive participant. He was
actively involved,” Faruqui
ruled during Jonathanpeter
Klein’s hearing.
“This was an attack on the
lawful democratic process
and the foundation of our
Guns:
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advocates opposed to the bill,
and passed it on a 4-3 party-
line vote a few days later.
What supporters said
The bill’s chief sponsor
and floor manager was Sen.
Ginny Burdick, a Democrat
from Portland and a longtime
supporter of gun regulation.
Burdick said under a state
law dating back to 1969,
possession of firearms in a
public building is a felony
unless that person has a
concealed handgun license.
But until 1989, when state law
changed to require issuance
of licenses to people who met
specified standards, Burdick
said sheriffs had broad discre-
tion over who could obtain
licenses. Oregon now has
about 300,000 people with
such licenses.
“The events of 2020 are a
flashing red light that we need
to do something,” Burdick
said.
She referred to armed inva-
sions of the Michigan Capitol
in Lansing — several men
were arrested in an attempt to
kidnap Gov. Gretchen Whit-
mer — and the U.S. Capitol
in Washington, D.C., on Jan.
Ben Lonergan/East Oregonian
Sandstone Middle School teacher Lucas Eivins leads a lesson on
Caesar and Pompey during class on Thursday, March 25, 2021.
Fritsch said the district still
needs to answer some logisti-
cal questions before it makes
any changes, such as how
school bus service would
work if the district moved K-5
to an all-day schedule or what
kind of impacts the state’s
recommended 36-student
cohorts would have locally.
And although the social
distancing requirement has
been halved, the district still
has to determine if its class-
rooms have enough space to
accommodate whole classes
while maintaining at least 3
feet of separation.
“We’re going to get the
tape measures out and see
what we can work with,”
Fritsch said.
With the size, space and
age of facilities varying
6. (Anti-lockdown protest-
ers also breached the Oregon
Capitol during a special
session Dec. 21, 2020, but they
were confined to a vestibule
and police ejected them.)
Burdick said the bill gives
local governments flexibil-
ity, rather than impose a state
policy.
“I think you are safer with-
out a gun; the National Rifle
Association thinks you are
safer with a gun,” she said.
“Neither of us gets to decide.
The local community gets to
decide. That’s as it should be.”
Sen. James Manning Jr., a
Democrat from Eugene and a
24-year Army veteran, said
the bill is consistent with a
2008 U.S. Supreme Court
decision that recognizes
an individual right to bear
firearms under the Second
Amendment. The decision,
written by Justice Antonin
Scalia, also allows regulation
of firearms in sensitive places,
such as schools and govern-
ment buildings.
“This bill does not take
anyone’s freedoms from
them,” Manning said.
Sen. Floyd Prozanski, a
Democrat from Eugene and
Judiciary Committee chair-
man, said even Tombstone,
Arizona, barred guns from
town limits back in 1880 as
violence grew.
vastly from district to district,
Mulvihill, the IMESD super-
intendent, said how schools
will continue to reopen will
depend on the school system.
Mulvihill said he under-
stood that parents were eager
to get every school to reopen
completely, but Umatilla
County still needs to continue
driving down case rates if it
wants to continue lifting
educational restrictions.
Nevertheless, Mulvihill
thinks the state’s new stan-
dards will become the floor
for school operations going
forward as school start look-
ing ahead to fall.
Mulvihill said he expects
districts across the region to
begin formulating and unveil-
ing their new plans after the
end of spring break.
What opponents said
But Sen. Tim Knopp,
R-Bend, argued the opposite.
He said the bill would deprive
thousands of concealed hand-
gun license holders from being
able to defend themselves. He
also said he could think of only
one instance — a 2019 shoot-
ing at a Eugene middle school
that resulted in police killing
a male parent involved in a
custody dispute — when there
was a conflict.
“What we have here is a bill
in search of a problem,” Knopp
said.
Knopp said if support-
ers were confident that it had
public support, they should
vote to put it on a statewide
ballot. (A recent survey
conducted by DHM Research
of Portland indicated 59%
support for such a measure,
31% opposition, with most
support in the sample from the
Portland area and Democrats;
however, it mustered 49%
support outside the Willamette
Valley.)
A motion to that effect
failed on a party-line vote.
Sen. Bill Hansell, a Repub-
lican from Athena and a former
Umatilla County commis-
sioner, said counties do not
want the burden of having to
decide whether firearms should
be allowed in public buildings.
Murdock said that COVID-
19 vaccinations in particular
will be a “monumental task”
for the county when all Ameri-
cans over the age of 18 become
eligible on the Biden adminis-
tration’s goal of May 1.
In regards to infrastruc-
ture, Murdock and Shafer
said the county might be able
to make modifications and
improvements to heating,
ventilation and air condition-
ing in older buildings, which
Murdock said is “specifically
outlined in those funds.”
“It will be able to help us do
some modernization that we
generally don’t have funds to
do that will make this a health-
ier environment,” he said.
Shafer said that past
budget talks have looked at
the central water project near
Hermiston, a pipeline that will
deliver water from the Colum-
bia River to farmlands near
Boardman that could allow
for economic growth. Shafer
added that mental health
services are also likely to be
a “key factor” in discussions
around the funding.
Commissioner Dan Dorran
said that he largely wouldn’t
speculate on ways the funding
could be used, emphasizing
that “we have no money until
it’s in the bank.” However,
Dorran said he’s received calls
from special districts inquir-
ing about the money.
peaceful society as the tran-
sition of power is occurring,”
the judge said.
Matthew Klein was
arrested Tuesday, March 23,
in Sherwood and Jonathan-
peter Klein was arrested
the same day near Heppner,
according to the FBI.
The Kleins were among
the first group to breach the
Capitol about 2:16 p.m. on
Jan. 6, after Matthew Klein
helped others ascend a wall
to gain access to a stairwell
leading to the Capitol’s Upper
West Terrace, according to
prosecutors.
The two brothers are
charged with conspiracy to
defraud the United States,
aiding and abetting in the
obstruction of an official
proceeding, obstruction of
law enforcement during
civil disorder, destruction
of government property,
entering and remaining in a
restricted building or grounds
and disorderly conduct
in a restricted building or
grounds.
Jonathanpeter Klein’s
defense lawyer Michelle
Sweet had urged her client’s
release pending trial. She said
he can continue to work at
“We need to have that
discussion of, ‘What does
stimulus mean to the commis-
sioners,” he said, adding that
the commissioners “have
no idea what the technical
constraints are going to be on
(the funding). We’ve heard
that it’s going to be flexible,
but we don’t know that until
we see the guidelines.”
Both Shafer and Murdock
said they don’t want to use
the money to add personnel
because the money is tempo-
rary.
“The (county) will not be
using the money to hire more
staff,” Murdock said. “This is
one-time funding and, obvi-
ously, if we hire more staff
then next year we go, ‘Oops
we don’t have that revenue.’
And that doesn’t make sense.
Whatever we do, it will not
be to incur expenses that will
come home to roost when the
money isn’t coming in.”
Shafer said he wants
county residents to know the
commissioners “want to be
good stewards of the money
and that we get the most bang
for our buck out of the deal.”
Shafer said that discussions
regarding the county’s use of
the funding will most likely
begin in mid-April.
“We don’t want to spend it
frivolously,” he said. “We want
it to benefit Umatilla County
as a whole.”
Ruggs Ranch in Heppner and
the ranch owner John Flynn
could serve as his third-party
guardian.
The Klein brothers were
living with their parents in
South America until Febru-
ary 2020. Their parents lived
as missionaries in Argentina
and Chile. Jonathanpeter
Klein and his brother were
home schooled when they
were younger, and Jona-
thanpeter started doing land-
scaping work at age 15 after
a morning of home lessons,
Sweet said. He also volun-
teered as a translator, she
said.
The Klein family returned
to Oregon on Feb. 24, 2020,
and the brothers’ parents
now live in Baker City. Baker
County property records
show that Nanci and Jeffrey
Klein, the brothers’ parents,
have property in Baker City
and a P.O. Box in Pendleton.
Jonathanpeter Klein
worked as a roofer during the
day and for Domino’s Pizza
at night before he decided in
mid- to late January of this
year to get out of the Portland
area because of the politically
and emotionally charged
environment, Sweet said.
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