Familiar face returning to the East Oregonian | REGION, A3
E O
AST
145th year, No. 92
REGONIAN
Thursday, May 20, 2021
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WINNER OF THE 2020 ONPA GENERAL EXCELLENCE AWARD
PENDLETON
ELECTION COVERAGE
Til Taylor
project
gets bigger Fresh faces fill open school board seats
budget
BMCC race produces
VOTER TURNOUT As of 9 a.m. 05/19/2021
Initial results for special district elections in Eastern Oregon • Region, A7
Pendleton
development
Commission
agrees to more
than $130K bump
By ANTONIO SIERRA
East Oregonian
PENdLETON — The Til Taylor
101 project is on time but over budget.
Back in October, the Pendleton
development Commission allo-
cated $575,000 to Pendleton Parks
and recreation to renovate Til Taylor
Park to coincide with the 101st anni-
versary of its namesake’s death, a
project that included replacing the
park’s wading pool with a splash pad,
installing two new playgrounds and
adding a dog park.
after some costs came in higher
than expected and some unforeseen
circumstances, the commission voted
on Tuesday, May 18, to increase the
budget by $131,698, with most of the
funding coming from public sources.
The day after the meeting, Parks
and recreation director Liam
Hughes toured the park, its north
side fenced in as contractors and park
staff worked on the project. With the
wading pool already removed and
covered over, Hughes said the new
playgrounds are due to be installed
next week.
hughes said the cost overruns
weren’t simply an issue of miscalcu-
lated costs. While removing some of
the old trees from the park was more
expensive than what was budgeted
because of some organic matter in the
ground, hughes said one of the addi-
tional costs represented an upgrade
to the project.
Parks staff had initially intended
to use rubber tiles as flooring for the
playgrounds. But after a glue short-
age led the tile supplier to cancel its
order, the city was forced to switch
to “pour-in-place” rubber, a higher
quality flooring that also was more
expensive.
“We initially negotiated a Chevy,
but we actually got a King Ranch,
fully loaded,” he said.
Hughes was prepared to stay
under budget by cutting the dog park
and downgrading the fencing, but
the commission, which is composed
of members of the Pendleton City
Council, asked him to come back
with the cost of keeping the original
vision intact.
Parks and recreation’s new
proposal, which the commission
unanimously approved, requested an
additional $60,000 from the commis-
sion and $46,698 from the city’s parks
trust fund, a fund derived from gifts
See Budget, Page A1
unexpected results as
turnout dips
By ANTONIO SIERRA
East Oregonian
Eagleheart
PENdLETON — With all three
incumbents up for election choos-
ing to retire, the Pendleton school
Board was guaranteed three new
faces.
Beth harrison, a stay-at-home
mother and a community volunteer,
garnered more than three-quarters
of the vote in the race for Position 1,
Gregg
Harrison
securing her victory over retiree
rodney Thompson.
harrison did not return a request
for comment as of press time.
The race for Position 4 was
technically a three-way contest,
but teacher Chris Garrigues ended
his campaign while remaining
Puzey
on the ballot.
Preston Eagleheart, the manag-
ing director of Cayuse Govern-
ment services, still managed to
garner a little more than 50% of
the vote over Garrigues and Joey
GrosJacques, the project director of
TrIO and student support services
Umatilla County
Morrow County
18.95%
30.53%
at Blue Mountain Community
College.
Eagleheart thanked voters, the
outgoing board members and the
other candidates in the field, saying
the board would’ve been in good
hands regardless of who residents
voted for.
“It’s a great opportunity for me
to learn and grow as I continue my
journey,” he said.
With Eagleheart set to replace
Gary George on the board, Eagle-
heart’s victory ensures an enrolled
member of the Confederated Tribes
See Election, Page A8
Mask confusion
Businesses allowing
patrons to be maskless
indoors must verify
their vaccination status
By BRYCE DOLE
East Oregonian
H
ErMIsTON — There’s a small
orange note that Michael Gorm-
ley, the owner of Neighborhood
Books & Gifts in downtown
Hermiston, plans to show his customers in
the coming days.
It says: “Unfortunately, we either have to
require masks or check vaccine cards (which
we don’t know how to do).”
he’s not the only one.
Several Umatilla County business owners
and employees have voiced frustration about
the recent mask-wearing guidance put forth
by the state this past week.
The new requirements, announced on
Tuesday, May 18, say businesses allow-
ing customers to be maskless indoors must
verify if the customer is vaccinated against
COVID-19. Businesses that don’t check must
require masks, the state says.
Employers say the change puts businesses
in a difficult position bound for conflict and
confusion.
“I’m not going to ask, they’re just going
to have to wear a mask,” Gormley said of
checking vaccine status. He added that he’s
lost customers by asking them to put their
masks on or leave. “Unless they walk in here
and show me their card, I’m not asking.”
New rules
The new rule comes less than a week after
state and federal officials announced that
people who have been vaccinated against
COVID-19 are no longer required to wear
masks or physically distance in most public
settings.
But that change came with some caveats.
The decision, first announced by the U.S.
Centers for disease Control and Preven-
Ben Lonergan/East Oregonian
Michael Gormley sits behind a plexiglass shield plastered with various mask and social dis-
tancing guidelines at Neighborhood Books & Gifts, the Hermiston bookstore he co-owns
with his wife Judy Gormley, on Wednesday, May 19, 2021.
tion and later approved by the state, does
not mean masks aren’t required anywhere.
For instance, the federal government still
advises fully vaccinated people cover their
faces while visiting health care facilities,
flying or taking public transit, and in other
settings, including homeless shelters, pris-
ons or jails.
The Oregon health authority says fully
vaccinated people can go maskless in “most
outdoor settings” and an “uncrowded private
or public space.” However, as reported by
The Oregonian/OregonLive, the “exceptions
to the mask, face covering, or face shield
requirement are not applicable to work-
places,” the state says. Private businesses
can even make their mask rules stricter than
CdC guidelines, according to the state.
“some businesses may prefer to simply
continue operating under the current guid-
ance for now, rather than worrying about
verifying vaccination status,” Gov. Kate
Brown said on May 13, “and that’s fine.”
Businesses left scrambling
But the recent changes have left busi-
nesses across umatilla County scrambling
to clarify the guidelines and figure out what
they’ll do. Several business owners and
managers declined to be interviewed because
they were unsure how to comply with the
guidelines. At least one was concerned they
would be penalized by the state for failing to
adhere to the rules properly.
umatilla County Public health director
Joe Fiumara said the health department has
been receiving calls all week from county
businesses asking what they can and cannot
do. He hasn’t had a complete answer for
them.
See Masks, Page A8
Looking to make a difference
Local student groups
award $30,000 in
CommuniCare grants
By BEN LONERGAN
East Oregonian
PENdLETON — Gathered around
a table recently, students from Pend-
leton high school’s CommuniCare
Club reflected on a year of hard work.
The students looked back on the
hours of dedication drafting and
finalizing of their mission state-
ment, interviews with nearly half
a dozen different charitable orga-
nizations and the decision-making
process behind allocating $15,000
in grants as a part of the Communi-
Care program.
The april meeting served as an
opportunity to film interviews for
the CommuniCare Virtual Grant
Award Ceremony to be aired on
KGW on Thursday, June 17, at 8:30
p.m and was only the second time
since the start of the school year the
group had met in person.
“It’s definitely been a lot more
difficult than years past,” said PHS
senior Katie Kelm.
While the club usually operates
before or after school, the changes to
distance learning and unusual sched-
ules made it difficult to find times to
meet, Kelm said.
“Finding time that works with
everyone’s schedule has been pretty
challenging but we’ve been able to do
it successfully,” she said.
See Difference, Page A8
Ben Lonergan/East Oregonian
Jordan Schnitzer, left, addresses several members of the Pendleton High
School CommuniCare Club during a lunch at the Pendleton Center for the
Arts in Pendleton on Saturday, April 24, 2021. The lunch and a subsequent
walking tour of the town were part of an effort to film the students for a vir-
tual awards ceremony set to air on KGW in June.