Body of missing woman found after search near Meacham | REGION, A3
E O
AST
145th Year, No. 88
REGONIAN
TUESDAY, MAY 11, 2021
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WINNER OF THE 2020 ONPA GENERAL EXCELLENCE AWARD
BMCC not likely to require vaccine this fall
School offi cials
say county’s low
vaccination rate a
factor in decision
By ANTONIO SIERRA
East Oregonian
PENDLETON — As
they look to reopen in the
fall, colleges and universi-
ties are all trying to answer
the question of whether to
require their students to get
their COVID-19 vaccinations
before returning to the class-
room.
Three of Oregon’s largest
public universities answered
affi rmatively: Oregon State
University, Portland State
University and University of
Oregon have all announced
that students need to be fully
vaccinated before returning
to campus.
According to Casey
W h ite -Zoll ma n, t he
communications director
for the Oregon Community
Colleges Association, none
of the state’s 17 community
colleges have made a deci-
sion on vaccination require-
ments.
Although the decision
Ben Lonergan/East Oregonian, File
Blue Mountain Community College Nursing Program Direc-
tor Laurie Post, second from right, leads a class of students at
the college’s Pendleton campus on Jan. 11, 2021. The school’s
nursing program is one of the few programs that has been
operating in-person since the start of the pandemic.
isn’t final, interim Blue
Mou nt ai n Com mu n it y
College President Connie
Green said BMCC is plan-
ning to let students return in
the fall without their shots.
Green said the state is
allowing higher educa-
tion institutions to resume
in-person classes as long as
they require face masks and
enforce some sort of social
distancing rule, although a
stringent 6-feet standard isn’t
mandatory.
Given that Umatilla
County sports one of the
lowest vaccination rates in
the state, Green said requir-
Latest
numbers
reveal
mixed
results
Former Umatilla
superintendent, city
councilor George
Fenton honored by
House resolution
SALEM — A former Umatilla
superintendent and city councilor
was recently honored in the Oregon
House of Representatives.
The House
voted unanimously
to adopt House
Concurrent Reso-
lution 13 honoring
George I. Fenton,
who died in 2019 at
the age of 88. The
resolution is headed
Fenton
to the Senate for a
vote there.
Kristle Wyant, Fenton’s daugh-
ter, said it meant a lot to her to hear
state legislators praise her father’s
life work on the House fl oor.
“It’s nice knowing people held
him in such great respect,” she said.
The resolution states Fenton
“will be forever remembered as a
dedicated educator and a gentleman
statesman who touched countless
lives and made his community a
better place.”
Wyant said after her father
passed away, many teachers in
Umatilla School District told her
stories about his kindness during
their job interview, or how he let
them stay with the family while
they tried to fi nd housing, or even
See Leader, Page A10
See BMCC, Page A10
COVID-19
Oregon
House
honors
Umatilla
leader
By JADE MCDOWELL
East Oregonian
ing students to vaccinate
against COVID-19 would be
a big ask.
But the situation could
change based on vaccination
rates and case rates, as well
as what other institutions of
higher learning decide to do.
“We’re not going to be
trendsetters,” Green said.
The closest four-year
university in Oregon, East-
ern Oregon University,
hasn’t publicly announced
its vaccine policy yet, accord-
ing to The Bulletin in Bend.
But just across the border
Ben Lonergan/East Oregonian
East Umatilla Fire & Rescue Fire Chief David Baty explains issues with backing fi re trucks into the district’s
Weston fi re station on Wednesday, May 5, 2021. The primary issue is the steep angles of the driveway,
which results in unnecessary stress and twisting on the vehicles’ chassis and has caused vehicles to scrape
the concrete if not backed perfectly.
A game changer
Sen. Bill Hansell,
Rep. Bobby Levy
to direct stimulus
funds to fi re district
By JADE MCDOWELL
East Oregonian
W
ESTON — Money
from the Ameri-
can Rescue Plan
could be a game
changer for East Umatilla Fire &
Rescue, according to Fire Chief
David Baty.
As money from the federal
stimulus package comes to
Oregon, state senators are being
given $4 million to allocate to
a project in their district and
state representatives are given
$2 million. Baty said Sen. Bill
Hansell, R-Athena, and Rep.
Bobby Levy, R-Echo, are on
board with allocating a portion
of their funds to build a new fi re
station for the district.
The money should be enough
to build the new station in Weston
without going to taxpayers for
more.
“It’s going to be close, but
I think if we keep a real sharp
pencil, we’ll be all right,” Baty
said.
The station would serve as
headquarters for East Umatilla
Fire & Rescue, which covers
about 420 square miles in east-
ern Umatilla County after three
smaller districts merged in 2020.
Baty said they already have the
See Fire station, Page A10
Ben Lonergan/East Oregonian
A fi retruck from East Umatilla Fire & Rescue provides mutual aid at a
structure fi re in Pilot Rock on Wednesday, May 5, 2021.
Ben Lonergan/East Oregonian
East Umatilla Fire & Rescue Fire Chief David Baty indicates on a map
how the fi re district has grown over the years during a tour of the
Weston station on Wednesday, May 5, 2021.
Buy a Brick!
Be On A Brick!
Umatilla County
drops nearly 10
points to 136.2
cases per 100,000
By GARY A. WARD
Oregon Capital Bureau
SALEM — Eastern Oregon
showed a mixed set of results
under the latest weekly COVID-
19 risk level numbers released by
the Oregon Health Authority on
Monday, May 10.
Because of the wide diff erence
in population, a smaller county’s
numbers can often show wide
swings based on smaller samples.
The state has often put counties
in lower levels than the statistics
might indicate because of under-
lying information.
Umatilla County — catego-
rized as a large county — dropped
nearly 10 points to 136.2 cases per
100,000, a rate that would rank it
as moderate risk. The only down-
side was an uptick in the percent
of positive cases to 5.5% in the
new reporting period, up from 5%
reported last week.
Baker County’s statistics were
trending down but remained high
compared to other areas in the
state. The county showed a decline
in cases to 47 and a drop in cases
per 100,000 to 277.9 from 360.7 in
the previous report. The positive
infection rate is 9%, down from
10.6% in the last report.
Union County held the line for
the most part on cases. It showed a
small uptick in positive test rates,
to 2.7% from 2%, but its case
numbers were almost identical to
the last reporting period.
Cases and rates are up in
Wallowa and Gilliam counties, but
the small population leaves their
risk level status to be announced
Tuesday, May 11, more up in the air
than other counties in the region.
Grant County, a hot spot in
recent weeks, showed an over-
all decline in cases, but reported
positive cases were up to 10% —
twice the level that OHA says is
See COVID, Page A10
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