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East Oregonian
Thursday, May 20, 2021
Election: ‘I think it’s Difference: Helping LGBTQIA+ community
imperative to have
a voice from the
Native community’
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of the Umatilla Indian
Reservation will continue
to serve on the board.
“I think it’s imperative to
have a voice from the Native
community,” Eagleheart
said while adding that he
will serve all students while
on the board.
Attorney Patrick Gregg
won the Position 7 race
against activist Briana Spen-
cer. In an interview, Gregg
said he was honored by the
voters’ choice and was eager
to start on the board.
“I’m anxious to get to
work and share my talents
and get things going in the
right direction,” he said.
Spencer, who also is a
member of the CTUIR, is
already a member-elect
of the Nixyaawii School
Board. State law doesn’t
allow people to serve on
both a charter school board
and the public school board
that oversees it, but Spen-
cer had committed to serv-
ing on the Pendleton School
Board had she won.
Blue Mountain
Community College
Board of Education
Despite his best efforts,
Echo farmer Kent Madi-
son was elected to represent
Zone 3 on the Blue Moun-
tain Community College
Board of Education.
After meeting with
his opponent, health care
worker Car rie Samp-
son-Samuels, after the
filing deadline, Madison
ended his campaign and
endorsed Sampson-Samu-
els to take the seat, which
represents south Pendle-
ton, Pilot Rock, Echo and
Ukiah.
But Madison couldn’t
take his name off the ballot,
and come the morning of
Wednesday, May 19, he was
edging out Sampson-Samu-
els 50.4-49%, with only 25
votes separating them.
Madison called it an
“unfortunate success” and
probably the result of the
name recognition he’s built
up over the years.
He said he still feels
like younger people should
serve on the BMCC board
and he encouraged Samp-
son-Samuels to run again in
the future, but he intends to
fulfill the voters’ wishes.
“I was dumb enough to
file for it,” he said. “I should
fill out the rest of my term.”
In the other contested
race, incumbent Kim
Puzey handily defeated
challenger Kipp Barron to
hold his Zone 4 seat, which
includes east Hermiston
and Umatilla.
Puzey said he was
pleased voters supported
him so he could continue
his work on the board. With
another four years in hand,
Puzey said his priority is
hiring the right candidate
to serve as BMCC’s next
president.
Although Barron lost his
race, it wasn’t all bad news
for the rest of his family.
Daughter Jubilee won a
three-way race for a seat on
the board for the Umatilla
County Special Library
District, while Barron’s
son Josiah won an uncon-
tested race for a spot on the
Umatilla School Board.
Another son, Caleb, lost a
different race for a seat on
the library board.
Cider maker Abe Currin
won an uncontested race to
fill the open Zone 6 seat,
which covers Milton-Free-
water, Athena and Weston.
Turnout watch
According to the Oregon
Secretary of State’s Office,
only 19.4% of Umatilla
County voters turned out to
vote in the May election.
That number wasn’t
only well below the state’s
25.7% turnout rate, it also
represents a dubious record.
“It’s the lowest turnout
we’ve had in some time,”
Umatilla Elections Manager
Kim Lindell said.
Turnout is typically
lower when federal or state
elections aren’t on the ballot,
but with several contested
races across the county,
Lindell thought turnout
could be higher.
Lindell said one factor that
may have hurt turnout was
the lack of a voter pamphlet.
While the county covers
the cost of the pamphlets in
primaries and general elec-
tions, the special districts
themselves bear the costs of
off-year elections. Lindell
said it would take a signif-
icant number of districts
willing to fund a pamphlet
to get the county to print and
distribute them.
Despite Umatilla Coun-
ty’s low level of voter inter-
est, Lindell said Umatilla
County’s turnout exceeded
Crook County’s, which
came in at 15.8%.
Over the last 23 years the
statewide CommuniCare
program has granted more
than $1.8 million to 354
nonprofit organizations and
school programs, according
to the program’s website.
The program is made up of
28 schools and 31 grant-mak-
ing groups across the state.
Locally, the program oper-
ates at Pendleton High
School, Nixyaawii Commu-
nity School and Hermiston
High School, though Herm-
iston deferred participation
for the 2020-21 school year.
Kelm and the other
students involved in the
program chose to focus on
granting money to organiza-
tions focusing on accessible
health care and immigration.
“T he Com mu niCare
students at Pendleton High
School will be granting
money to organizations that
believe in accessible medi-
cal and mental health care,
services for refugees and
immigrants, and addiction
support in rural areas, focus-
ing on Umatilla County,”
their mission statement
reads.
The group goes on to cite
the COVID-19 pandemic
for the focus it has brought
to socioeconomic inequali-
ties and mental and physical
health issues as key in their
decision to support these
ideals.
The group distributed
funds to Morrison Child
& Family Services (the El
Paso Program), Immigra-
tion Counseling Services,
and Lines for Life for their
work in mental health and
immigration. Although all
three organizations are based
in Portland, the students
selected them for the services
they provide that directly
impact Umatilla County.
The ability to distribute
funds so widely was made
possible by a higher amount
of money ceded to the
students to distribute from
the organization, according
to Kelm
“In terms of money we
definitely have a lot more
this year,” she said. “Usually
we only have around $10,000
or $11,000 but it’s been super
cool having more money
and being able to help our
community more and make
a bigger impact.”
Pendleton senior Riley
Brown added the club had
given her the opportunity
to learn more about the
surrounding community and
the work that nonprofits do.
“It can be pretty easy to
get stuck and not know how
Ben Lonergan/East Oregonian
Members of the Pendleton High School CommuniCare Club walk along Southwest Byers Av-
enue in Pendleton while filming B-roll for the CommuniCare Virtual Grant Awards Ceremony
set to air on KGW in June.
to help and feel like you can’t
have much of an impact,”
he said. “But then actually
doing the research and seeing
the organizations around us
was a rewarding experience.”
Building a community
Among those attending
the April event was Jordan
Schnitzer, whose parents,
Harold and Arlene Schnitzer,
founded the organization in
1997. Schnitzer reflected on
the ideals his parents founded
the organization on and how
people help make a commu-
nity what it is.
“My parents’ idea was
that a city is just made of
buildings right? Smaller
town, small buildings, bigger
towns, bigger buildings —
but without the people, it’s
just a bunch of bricks and
mortar,” he said. “When you
have people, that’s what adds
character to a community.”
Schnitzer went on to add
the program’s key goal is
community involvement and
spurring a desire to help your
community at a young age.
“If you’re involved
working with others in the
community and you work
some community good, it
makes you feel good about
yourself and then you’re able
to go back to your own prob-
lems with a better perspec-
tive and have a healthier
attitude about it and feel a
greater sense of self worth
and self respect, he said.”
Bringing philanthropy
to the classroom
Unlike Pendleton High
School, Nixyaawii Commu-
nity School operates its
CommuniCare program as
a part of a year-long philan-
thropy class, according to
Zach Brandsen, the teacher in
charge of Nixaawii’s Commu-
niCare program.
“It’s definitely been a
challenge like everything
else in the world this year,”
he said.
While students at Nixy-
aawii have been able to hold
in-person classes and discuss
their mission statements and
grants, they began the year
virtually and have had to
do away with site tours and
other in-person activities
surrounding the grant-mak-
ing process.
Despite the difficulties,
Brandsen said the removal
of fundraising require-
ments and the students’ hard
work helped pull everything
together.
“There’s this stereotype
of high school students not
wanting to get involved but
that’s just not correct,” he
said. “Every year we do this
I’m really inspired by my
students.”
One of those students
is Nixyaawii senior Adilia
Hart, who has been involved
with the program since her
freshman year. Hart said the
program has changed her
perspectives on what students
can accomplish and her goals
in life in general.
“Being able to give back
and knowing that you’re
actively doing something
about the issues in the world
really opened my eyes,” she
said.
While Hart said she
missed the site visits of
previous years, this year’s
program was structured
differently, allowing her to be
more involved in every facet
of the grant-making process.
“I got to contribute more
and be a leader to the other
Masks:
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Ben Lonergan/East Oregonian
A pallet of playground equipment sits beside a concrete
border for one of two new play areas at Til Taylor Park in
Pendleton on Wednesday, May 19, 2021.
Budget:
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and donations to the parks
program. The rest would be
sourced from a grant from
the Pendleton Foundation
Trust, a nonprofit.
Between the Til Taylor
project and an effort to move
a Community Park play-
ground to mitigate flood
risk, Hughes admitted the
trust fund would take a big
hit this year, but with good
purpose.
“That’s what the fund is
for,” he said. “We leveraged
the money pretty well.”
With the new funding in
hand, Hughes said the city
plans to start work soon on
building a fenced dog park.
Parks and recreation also
is soliciting donations for
smaller amenities. Some of
the money from the Pend-
leton Foundation Trust will
go toward shade sails, and
donors have already commit-
ted money to install benches
and a water fountain.
Hughes said staff and
contractors are working with
urgency to complete the proj-
ect this summer.
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“These folks are confused,
and I empathize and sympa-
thize with them, because
we’re just as confused,” he
said.
Cheri Rosenberg, direc-
tor of the Pendleton Cham-
ber of Commerce, echoed
Fiumara’s statement.
“The complete lack of
clarity and how this will be
implemented must be defined
before we put this onto our
business community,” she
said.
Rosenberg said although
businesses need to “under-
stand the guidelines” the
state has put forth, the state
must understand that most
people who will now be put
in a position to check vacci-
nation status are “frontline
staff” who are “normally
younger men and women.”
“To put this burden on
them with the ever-changing
guidelines creates a sense
of uncertainty,” she said.
“We want employers and
patrons to feel safe in their
interactions. I think over the
past year it’s safe to say our
businesses have gone above
and beyond to understand
safety procedures, provide
education to staff and above
all provide a safe space for
patrons. To now ask that on
top of all those measures,
we’re not only adding more,
but we’re doing it in a way
that puts all liability on those
frontline workers and small
business owners.”
Ben Lonergan/East Oregonian
A slip of paper lays out the mask policy on the counter of
Neighborhood Books & Gifts in Hermiston on Wednesday,
May 19, 2021. The card reads, “Unfortunately, we either have
to require masks or check vaccine cards (which we don’t
know how to do).”
The change comes as
reported COVID-19 cases,
hospitalizations and deaths
have declined nationally in
recent weeks. Meanwhile,
vaccines are becoming
more widely available and
are reaching the arms of
thousands of people, show-
ing promising signs that the
nation is turning a corner in
the pandemic.
Fiumara said the move
to lift the mask and physical
distancing guidelines was “a
step in the right direction,”
but added he would have
gone a step even further —
removing the mandate and
replacing it with a “strong
recommendation” to allevi-
ate confusion.
“It seems to me that this
was used as a political win
without accounting for how
things would be or work,” he
said.
‘Another step towards
normal’
Fiumara said he’s unsure
how the verification process
is enforceable. Like many
others, he’s concerned that
the rule “shifts more of the
policing to the businesses.”
I n a d d i t i o n , h e’s
concerned the new rule
also could create a “black
market” for selling counter-
feit vaccine cards, saying “it
doesn’t take much to make
one of these” vaccine cards.
“I think you could have
overall abuse of the system
with some of your more
honest people paying the
price while trying to keep
things in line,” Fiumara said.
Concern also is growing
students,” she said.
According to Hart, one of
the most difficult aspects of
the class, after developing a
mission statement, is trying
to stick to that statement and
focus on grant making.
“There are students out
there who are passionate
about many different things
and we want to help every-
one,” she said. “But we have
to look at how it fits and
applies to our mission state-
ment.”
This year’s Nixyaawii
CommuniCare class focused
on nonprofits that work
to quash employment and
education discrimination for
people of color and people in
the LGBTQIA+ community
“The grant makers of
Nixyaawii Com munit y
School are deeply concerned
about realizing justice for
people of color and people
in the LGBTQIA+ commu-
nity who have experienced
discrimination for far too
long,” their mission state-
ment reads.
The class went on to add
it planned to prioritize grants
to groups working to address
these issues in Umatilla,
Union and Morrow counties
but would consider applica-
tions from other entities from
around the state.
Nixyaawii students granted
a total of $15,000 across the
Basic Rights Education Fund,
Friends of the Children: Port-
land, College Possible and
SMART Reading.
“I loved being a part
of it and it really changed
my perspectives on what I
wanted to do in life,” Hart
said. “I enjoyed leaving my
mark and hope the younger
classmen take my lead after
us.”
among Oregonians who say
the move came too quickly,
as large portions of the popu-
lation have yet to receive the
vaccine while case rates are
still high. Scientists also say
it’s unclear whether vacci-
nated people can spread the
virus to others, though stud-
ies suggest vaccines may
reduce transmission rates.
Umatilla County has
reported the lowest vaccina-
tion rate and one of the high-
est COVID-19 case rates in
Oregon, according to state
health data. When asked
whether lifting the mandate
entirely would place the
county under greater risk
of outbreak, Fiumara said,
“It could because of the low
vaccination rates.”
“It’s not as quick as flip-
ping a switch, unfortu-
nately,” Fiumara said of the
change.
For Bob Mullay, the
owner of Hermiston Drug,
he was glad to see mask-
ing guidelines lifted, call-
ing it “another step towards
normal.” However, “as the
owner of a small business,
I would hope that people
would be honest enough
to tell me the truth without
having them show me the
card.”
He, too, said the onus for
checking vaccination status
shouldn’t fall on the busi-
ness.
“If they get sick, that
should not be my responsi-
bility,” he said. “People have
to be responsible for their
own actions. It shouldn’t be
the business’ responsibility
to police anyone.”