KATHRYN B. BROWN
Owner
ANDREW CUTLER
Publisher/Editor
WYATT HAUPT JR.
News Editor
JADE McDOWELL
Hermiston Editor
TUESDAY, APRIL 27, 2021
A4
Founded October 16, 1875
OUR VIEW
OSHA’s
‘temporary’
permanent
rulemaking
O
regon Occupational Safety and Health
is working to make permanent —
“temporarily” — the emergency
COVID workplace rules that it first put in place
Nov. 16. 2020.
This rulemaking seems necessary because
of requirements in state law, to continue
pandemic safeguards that were set to expire
next month.
However, we are wary — as many are — of
“temporary” permanent rules that are imple-
mented without an expiration date.
In the beginning of the pandemic it was
clear that something needed to be done to
protect people in the workplace and the public
at large. The job fell to state agencies, includ-
ing Oregon OSHA, that felt their way through
a situation about which little was known but
immediate action was required.
The danger from COVID-19 is real. Wear-
ing masks, maintaining social distancing and
taking steps to keep surfaces clean are simple,
commonsense precautions. The rules that
farms and businesses must follow are anything
but simple, and in many cases defy common
sense.
In November 2020, Oregon OSHA set out a
comprehensive temporary rule that governed
behavior and safeguards in all Oregon work-
places.
Oregon farms, already reeling from earlier
emergency orders, raced to comply with
state-imposed guidelines aimed at curbing
workplace outbreaks of COVID-19. Comply-
ing with the requirements has been a massive
undertaking for small, family-owned farms
that may only have a few full-time employees.
Ninety-seven percent of Oregon’s 37,200 farms
are family owned and operated.
Those temporary rules are set to expire on
May 4. Under Oregon law, an emergency rule
can’t be extended longer than 180 days. And, a
permanent rule is temporary if it has a built-in
expiration date.
OSHA says it can’t anticipate how long the
temporary permanent rules will need to be
in place, but it will amend or abolish them as
conditions warrant and health officials give
consent.
Michael Wood, administrator of the state’s
Department of Occupational Safety and
Health, told the Associated Press that the work-
place rule is “driven by the pandemic, and it
will be repealed.”
We are sure that it will be repealed. Proba-
bly.
But when? What objective standard will
the Oregon Health Authority or OSHA use to
judge that it’s time to amend or repeal the rule?
Throughout the pandemic, the state has
refused to set transparent mileposts and goals
for pandemic improvement that the public can
monitor. These decisions are made behind
closed doors and without explanation.
Our long experience in reporting on rules
and rulemaking has shown that once a perma-
nent rule is in place, it sticks like glue. But we
look forward to these rules being the exception.
Until that time, all interested parties should
press Wood and other bureaucrats to reveal
what improvements need to take place for the
rule to be repealed.
EDITORIALS
Unsigned editorials are the opinion of the East
Oregonian editorial board. Other columns,
letters and cartoons on this page express the
opinions of the authors and not necessarily
that of the East Oregonian.
LETTERS
The East Oregonian welcomes original letters
of 400 words or less on public issues and public
policies for publication in the newspaper and on
our website. The newspaper reserves the right
to withhold letters that address concerns about
individual services and products or letters that
infringe on the rights of private citizens. Letters
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Unsigned letters will not be published.
SEND LETTERS TO:
editor@eastoregonian.com,
or via mail to Andrew Cutler,
211 S.E. Byers Ave. Pendleton, OR 97801
Revisiting the family tree
REGINA
BRAKER
ANOTHER MILE
M
any years ago, we traveled to
Memphis, Tennessee, to visit
a family matriarch, to meet
for the first time the great-aunt who had
sent us a wedding gift. Aunt “Tweet,” as
she was called, regaled us with family
stories, talking about her brother, James,
my father-in-law’s father, too early
killed in a trucking accident, leaving
his widow and young son to make their
way in Seattle as the Great Depression
ravaged the country.
There were details about family
traditions and her grandfather the minis-
ter, whose legacy she wanted to share.
Aunt Tweet had married a clergyman
herself. It was sometimes difficult to
follow whose story she was telling,
about moving from place to place,
from North Carolina to Union Church,
Mississippi, where her father, Angus,
was born.
Things got interesting when she told
us about him, how during the Civil War,
normal life was so upended that he was
sent to Texas, still a boy (8-11) accom-
panied by someone older, someone she
referred to as a slave. It stunned us to be
visiting with a person who was a link to
family members who had experienced
the Civil War and had lived with slavery.
Years later, we learned of Aunt Tweet’s
death, leaving any questions we still had
unanswered.
That Memphis visit came to my mind
this year, as family papers were sorted
after the death of my mother-in-law. A
letter laid out the family genealogy in
detail, written in 1943 when he was 89
by that boy whose education paused
during the Civil War, making sure the
remnant of the family had a record of its
forebears.
He wrote about himself in third
person for the sake of an impartial narra-
tive: “born at Union Church, Miss. July
7, 1853. Grew up on a farm, attended
short sessions of country schools, and
during the Civil War, 1861 to 1865, there
were few schools to attend. At this time
he was riding a Texas pony and helping
drive Texas cattle from the plains to the
Confederate Army in Va. for beef.”
While in college my husband met a
fellow student, Tom, from Texas with
the same surname. Tom was Black and
neither considered the possibility of a
family connection, because of where he
was from. At the time John heard about
Angus’ letter and Texas adventure, he
did not consider that possibility, because
Angus had left out the detail about who
was with him.
Only after hearing Aunt Tweet elab-
orate on her grandfather’s legacy and
her father’s Civil War experience did
John wonder if there was indeed a link
back in time, and thought about the
differences in opportunity and support
claimed by those who came after with
the same family name, but on different
sides of the slave transaction.
The historical record on Union
Church, Jefferson County, Mississippi,
is readily available. The place name
came from the consolidation of worship
of Presbyterian and Methodist congre-
gants, who had moved there from North
Carolina, families with origins in Scot-
land. Church membership rolls include
their names along with those of their
slaves, who worshipped in separate
afternoon services.
For each enslaved congrega-
tion member, the slaveowner’s name
also appears. This listing calls them
“servants,” yet they were not paid as
household staff, skilled crafts workers,
or field laborers.
A brief account of the “Scotch Settle-
ment” notes that this euphemism was
in common usage by the slave owners.
There’s something about that choice
of words — a way to cover the guilt of
enslaving people, perhaps? After the
war, a new congregation formed to
accommodate the newly emancipated.
Other county records document slave
transactions before emancipation. The
“1860 Jefferson County Slave Schedule
— Mississippi” lists slave owners alpha-
betically and the number of people they
purchased. Angus’ father the minister is
listed with five.
This family history challenges us
to consider new options to old tradi-
tions. We consider ourselves fortunate
to celebrate today’s version of Angus’
family. This branch of the family tree
is enriched through immigration from
Latin America, with the youngest
adding what they learn from their Native
American and Hmong heritage.
On May 8, there is “Eight o’ May”
to commemorate, celebrated as the date
in 1865 when news of emancipation
entered Mississippi.
———
Regina Braker, a retired educator with
journeys through many places and expe-
riences, enjoys getting to know people
along the way.
YOUR VIEWS
Vote Harrison for
Pendleton schools
Please join us and vote for Beth
Harrison for Position 1 of the Pendle-
ton School District. I observed Beth in
our Altrusa Club of Pendleton. She was
a leader in Days for Girls, an interna-
tional project. She always assists where
needed in Altrusa. She was an advisor
with me in the ASTRA Club. ASTRA
is a student leadership group from our
area high schools. She is prompt, orga-
nized and bright.
She has served on other educational
committees in our community and
serves very well. She has “skin in the
game” as she is raising her family in the
Pendleton School District. Her husband
Russ practices family medicine in our
community, so Pendleton is their home.
She will serve our district well.
Margaret and Bruce Gianotti
Pendleton
Hold the public responsible
for beating COVID
The fact that COVID-19 cases in the
county have rapidly increased since
businesses were allowed to open up
and the fact that vaccinations are now
available to everyone over 16, I am
suggesting that businesses should refuse
service to people who have not been
vaccinated.
For years businesses have refused
service to customers who were not
wearing shoes or shirts. People seem-
ingly accepted this minor offense
without complaint. How could they
complain about something as major as
this? We need to keep our schools and
businesses open, and the only way it
appears this is going to happen is the
general population be responsible.
Carlisle Harrison
Hermiston
Gregg would be a great
school board addition
I am writing to endorse Pat Gregg
for the Pendleton School District Board
Position 7.
Pat will make a great addition to our
school board. I have known Pat since
he first moved to Pendleton in 2009 and
started his family with his wife, Jill. Pat
and Jill have three young children, two
of whom are in the Pendleton school
system.
Pat is hard working, intelligent, and
able to work with everyone. Pat’s back-
LETTERS DEADLINE FOR
MAY 18 ELECTIONS
The East Oregonian does not run en-
dorsements of more than 400 words.
The East Oregonian will institute a
deadline for letters to the editor, so
we can be fair with all the letters we
receive and allow for responses before
Election Day, if necessary.
We run local letters of endorsement on
a first-come, first-served basis.
Please submit your endorsement
letters to the editor by 5 p.m. Friday,
May 7. You can email them to editor@
eastoregonian.com, or mail them to
East Oregonian, c/o Andrew Cutler, 211
S.E. Byers Ave., Pendleton, OR 97801.
We will publish our last letters on
Saturday, May 15. Any letters received
after the deadline will not run. Election
Day is May 18.
ground as a lawyer makes him highly
qualified to be on the school board.
Please join me in voting for Pat
Gregg for the Pendleton School District
Board.
Dorothy O’Rourke
Pendleton