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East Oregonian
Tuesday, May 4, 2021
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“as-needed basis,” which
sometimes means only every
few months, according to
Hemphill. The board also
puts out an annual budget for
the county.
“The only people who
take care of the creek chan-
nels are the land owners,”
Hemphill said. “Nobody
wants to lose your property
by floods and by the creek
channel moving out.”
Since 1999, the commu-
nity has only had a couple
of major floods, Hemphill
said, but “this one last May
was the worst one that caused
trouble in Pilot Rock.”
The six people running for
positions suggest an interest
not seen in recent years, and
according to at least three of
the candidates, that’s because
of the increased flooding.
“I think it’s good that
there’s interest in it — that
somebody is wanting to do
something, to do something
to improve it,” said Andy
Munsey, a retired forester
who is running for Posi-
tion 2 on the board. “That’s
certainly a benefit.”
Munsey, who worked for
nearly 50 years in the local
timber industry and still does
timber consulting, said the
flooding played a role in his
decision to run for a position
on the board.
He said he sees ways that
the timber industry can help
mitigate flooding by provid-
ing trees for restoration and
helping with streamside
stabilization. He also said
he would propose planting
vegetation to hold soil in the
ground and slow runoff and
erosion.
“I think it’s important
because then you’re going
to control the erosion and
control the flooding,” he said.
“We don’t need further erod-
ing in the streams.”
Living near McKay
Reservoir, Munsey said he
had noticed some of the new
Ben Lonergan/East Oregonian, File
Crews from Pilot Rock Fire Protection District carry sandbags through the rising floodwaters from Birch Creek in downtown
Pilot Rock on May 20, 2020.
Ben Lonergan/East Oregonian, File
Sunny Bernabe, center right, helps to distribute sandbags to fellow volunteers along High-
way 395 in Pilot Rock on May 20, 2020.
developments made around
Birch Creek and Pilot Rock,
including waste treatment
and pump systems for the
city, and decided he wanted
to do his part for the commu-
nity as well.
Mary Weinke, a Pilot
Rock resident and board
member who worked in the
school district for many
years, said she’s glad there’s
more interest in the board
positions this year.
“I just think, if you’re
going to help out in the
community, you kind of need
to help out on some things,”
she said. “So many times you
see that nobody’s running
when you vote. But I think
this year, there seems to be
a lot of people running for
open positions. That’s what
makes a community work.
People serving and help-
ing out with other people’s
needs.”
Weinke said she ran for
the position on the board
because it appeared to her
that the board wasn’t filling
positions or levying taxes.
“I saw that and decided to
run and fill in a board posi-
tion, because my husband’s
brother had been a founding
(board member) way back in
the 1970s,” she said.
She said in recent years,
however, local residents like
herself have gotten good
reimbursements from the
floods, and she wants that to
continue to happen.
“You have to follow
certain state rules to meet
and levy and file for tax
stuff,” she said. “And when
you collect the money, then
you’re supposed to dissemi-
nate it under whatever rules
you’ve set up that make you
eligible to receive it. I think
we went for a while with-
Cattle: ‘We damn sure took a hell of a hit last year’ Bill:
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to the pandemic, as plans
and commitments need to
be made months in advance.
“Things were a little
uncertain and crazy to figure
out what we could, how we
could do it and meet the
guidelines and all the things
that were going on,” he said.
But in January, when the
board heard from scholarship
recipients about the value of
their education, they decided
to move forward.
“We realized we had to
be flexible,” he said. “Trying
to change the event was not
going to be a sustainable or
workable thing for us. A lot
of people have done things
virtually. We’re an outdoor-
type event, so we stuck with
the plan we had in the past
and tried to modify it as
much as we could.”
VanderPlaat said the event
is especially important for
young people looking to
enter the agriculture indus-
try after a challenging year
where “jobs were somewhat
questionable and money was
a little tough.”
“This is a huge agricul-
ture area, a primary indus-
try here,” he said. “We need
skills and knowledgeable
young people to come back
and keep it going.”
In all, VanderPlaat said
the event received much
support from the commu-
nity.
“People have been
encouraging,” he said. “It’s
our first event in Pendleton
and it’s been really good, all
the people who have helped
us get to where we are now.
especially useful to certain
groups of people, such as
patients who live in assisted
living facilities.
Telehealth can be partic-
ularly useful for follow-up
visits, she said, when provid-
ers have already diagnosed
the problem but need to
check in with a patient to
see whether their symptoms
have improved or if their new
medication is working.
She said she hopes St.
Anthony will be allowed to
continue providing telehealth
options for patients after the
pandemic is over.
Troy LeGore, vice pres-
ident of Good Shepherd
Medical Group in Herm-
iston, said in an email that
Good Shepherd Health Care
System as a whole has had
a “robust” selection of tele-
health offerings since prior to
the pandemic. Just a few of
those have included genetic
counseling, tele-cardiolol-
ogy and tele-endocrinology
in the clinics and pediatric
critical care in the Family
Birth Center.
Once the pandemic hit,
Good Shepherd added tele-
health for all primary care
clinics and urgent care, as
well as adding other options
for patients who didn’t want
to come inside, such as curb-
side service for prescription
pick-ups. LeGore said they
plan to continue all of those
options.
Telemedicine has its bene-
fits and drawbacks, he said.
On the negative side, some
patients don’t feel like they
got their money’s worth
if they didn’t see a doctor
in person and some strug-
gle with figuring out the
technology. There are also
some more hands-on assess-
ments that need to be done in
person, such as taking blood
pressure.
On the other hand,
LeGore said, telehealth gives
patients in more rural areas
access to specialists they
would otherwise have to
travel long distances to see,
and helped limit patients’ and
providers’ exposure to each
BMCC:
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suggested the college solicit
donations from the college’s
unions or start GoFundMe
pages to help save the posi-
tions.
“I’m throwing any noodle
that’ll stick to avoid losing
this much talent,” he said.
Ben Lonergan/East Oregonian
People browse the Pendleton Cattle Barons trade show at the Pendleton Convention Center
on Saturday, May 1, 2021.
We’ve really been blessed.”
Many attendees came clad
in Western wear — 10-gallon
hats, blue jeans, lassos and
cowboy boots. They strolled
around the trade show, with
its vendors offering home-
made barbecue sauces and
other memorabilia from
across Eastern Oregon, and
around back at the Round-Up
Pavilion, where ranch horses
and working dogs were
previewed and sold.
And for many, there was
the sense of relief and relax-
ation simply to be outside
and away from their homes.
“It’s been relaxing to see
people out and about,” said
Laura Jones, a clerk from St.
John, Washington.
Jones woke up at around
3:30 a.m. on May 1 and
made the drive to Pendle-
ton for Cattle Barons, eager
to finally attend something
that would get her out of the
house. Raised in Hermiston,
she grew up attending events
like the Round-Up and would
meet up with family at Cattle
Barons before her birthday.
“We’re glad to be out and
seeing things kind of open-
ing back up and getting
available,” she said.
And for Cody McKil-
lip, the owner of McKil-
lip’s Catering in St. Paul,
the event was a respite from
a hard year for his family’s
business.
“We damn sure took a
hell of a hit last year,” said
McKillip, who competed in
the barbecue competition.
“Our business was down
about 65%, but this year’s
looking a little more prom-
ising.”
Despite the hardship, his
business was still able to get
by with takeout orders, at
times cooking 80 orders at a
time for more than 300 local
customers.
Like many of the attend-
ees, McKillip said he was
“proud of Cattle Barons for
staying with this.”
“It’s something that needs
to happen,” he said of the
event. “There’s no reason
why we can’t do it. I under-
stand the need to be safe and
do things differently, but it’s
good to show everyone in the
Northwest that these things
can actually happen. They’re
going on everywhere else in
the country, so why can’t we
be like them?”
But Green said BMCC
needed to look for a way to
sustainably operate, and
while fundraising drives
could help in the short term,
it couldn’t offer a long-term
solution for the college’s
fiscal issues.
After about a 30-minute
discussion, the board voted
5-2 to approve the staff-
ing cuts. Puzey and board
member Heidi Van Kirk
voted against the motion.
The latest round of staff
reductions nearly completes
a rough 12-month period for
BMCC. The college cut 23
positions in May 2019, five
positions from its corrections
education program earlier
this spring, and now another
14 reductions.
In an interview after
the meeting, Green said
she understood the impact
the cuts would have on the
services the college offers
and morale.
But she added that the
restructuring the college is
making at the supervisory
level and the new initiatives
BMCC is starting would put
the college on the path to
success.
“BMCC is choosing
opportunities over closing,”
she said.
Relief and relaxation
out any problems, but then I
think it just got a little lax.”
A retired farmer and Viet-
nam veteran who grew up in
Pilot Rock, Hemphill was
the chairman of the board
for several years in the 1980s
and 1990s. He also served
with the Umatilla County
Soil and Water Conserva-
tion District for over 30 years
until he resigned in 2010.
Hemphill said there are
several places along Birch
Creek that have become
problematic during times of
high waters in recent years.
One point, which he called
the “miracle mile” due to its
unpredictable nature during
flooding, is located just south
of Pilot Rock on East Birch
Creek above Pilot Rock
Elementary School.
Hemphill said farmers
in the region have been hit
especially hard by the floods.
He said community members
should be given the respon-
sibility for taking care of the
waterways.
“The people who manage
it should be the ones who live
by it,” he said. “Because it’s
those people whose lives it
affects.”
According to candidate
filings, running for the posi-
tion against Munsey is Cliff
Hoeft, a longtime board
member, farmer and pilot.
Running against Hemphill
is John Johnson, a Pendleton
resident and retired owner
of fast food and pizza estab-
lishments in Hermiston. And
running against Weinke is
Jim Hatley, a self-employed
construction worker from
Pilot Rock.
Hoeft, Hatley and John-
son did not respond to
multiple calls requesting an
interview.
Birch Creek is essen-
tial for the vitality of the
Umatilla River Basin,
supplying a large percentage
of its wild steelhead trout,
according to Hemphill, who
has served on the board since
the late 1970s.
other during the pandemic.
Telepharmacy bill
offers help
While the future of some
telehealth options are still up
in the air, a bill introduced by
Sen. Bill Hansell, R-Athena,
would allow pharmacists to
provide virtual services in
certain circumstances.
Senate Bill 629 is
currently scheduled for
a hearing in the House
Committee on Health Care
on Thursday, May 6. The
bill would allow for a phar-
macist to remotely super-
vise a pharmacy technician
or speak with a patient rather
than being on site. It would
give pharmacies in small
cities without enough work
to support hiring a full-time
pharmacist the ability to
operate as a satellite office,
where a pharmacy techni-
cian dispenses medications
to patients under the super-
vision of a pharmacist at the
main location.
Hansell said he had
previously helped get fund-
ing for a medical clinic in
Elgin that was affiliated with
the Grande Ronde Hospi-
tal in La Grande. The small
clinic would like to be able
to dispense medications to
patients on site, he said, but
instead patients have to travel
an hour round trip to pick up
medications because there is
not enough work to support a
full-time pharmacist for the
clinic. Under this bill, a phar-
macist with Grande Ronde
Hospital could remotely
supervise a pharmacy tech-
nician at the clinic in Elgin.
“We anticipate that other
clinics are in the same situa-
tion,” he said.
He said when he spon-
sored the bill, it was after
finding out that Oregon is the
only state west of Texas not
offering it as an option.
“I thought, if it’s that
universal, if there are
concerns, we can work them
out,” he said.
The bill has received
the support of the Oregon
Society of Health System
Pharmacies, Oregon State
Pharmacy Association and
the Oregon Association
of Hospitals and Health
Systems.