Vaccinations key to lower COVID-19 restrictions | NORTHWEST, A2
E O
AST
145th year, No. 95
REGONIAN
Thursday, May 27, 2021
$1.50
WINNER OF THE 2020 ONPA GENERAL EXCELLENCE AWARD
BAILEY’S BILL
sB 649
clears
latest
obstacle
By KATHY ANEY
East Oregonian
Ben Lonergan/East Oregonian, File
Cpl. John Shown with the Oregon National Guard administers a COVID-19 vaccine to Mary Freeman during a COVID-19 vaccination
run by Yellowhawk Tribal Health Care Center at Wildhorse Resort & Casino in Mission on Feb. 23, 2021. Officials are trying to piece
together Umatilla County’s true vaccination rate. Some entities, including the Oregon National Guard, reported vaccine data to the
U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, rather than the state, making Umatilla County’s vaccination data unclear.
Trying to track the
real vaccination rate
Lawmakers seek
accurate data to
determine percentage
of Umatilla County
residents who
received vaccines
Bill becomes political tool
states or tribal governments when vaccine
supply ran short in the county. Umatilla
County’s true vaccination status remained
unclear, officials said.
But now that vaccine rates play a direct
role in a county’s reopening status, offi-
cials are seeking the data to “move the dial”
further toward reopening, Hansell said.
“You want accuracy,” said Hansell, who
was vaccinated in Walla Walla. “Whether
“Interesting” and “arduous”
refer to obstructions that threat-
ened to kill the bill at different
points along the way. The most
recent came in the form of two
amendments authored by Rep.
Marty Wilde, D-Eugene. The
amendments would have essen-
tially torpedoed the bill, replacing
most of the verbiage with language
that actually does the opposite of
the original proposed legislation.
During the May 24, Wilde
explained he simply was express-
ing his desire to start a discussion
on sentencing reform.
“I think we need to acknowledge
each other’s legitimate concerns,”
said Wilde, who is an attorney.
“Many in my party believe that
we are over-punishing and we do
need to address mass incarcera-
tion. I believe people in the other
party aren’t wrong either when they
believe that people have commit-
ted truly atrocious acts and should
go away for a long period of time.
I think where we might find agree-
ment on that is restoring some
greater degree of discretion to
sentencing judges to make appro-
priate sentences based on the facts
of those cases.”
That said, Wilde acknowledged
See Data, Page A8
See Obstacle, Page A8
By BRYCE DOLE
East Oregonian
S
aLEM — Eastern Oregon
lawmakers are seeking data that
has long remained out of Umatilla
County’s grasp in a move to
correct the county’s COVID-19
vaccination rate.
In a letter to Gov. Kate Brown’s office
last week, lawmakers noted many Umatilla
County residents have been vaccinated
by Washington health care providers and
veteran health services in Walla Walla.
Others were vaccinated on the Confeder-
ated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reserva-
tion at mass vaccine clinics with the Oregon
National Guard, which reports its data to
the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention, officials say.
Much of that data has yet to be reported
to the state, officials say, which has
“unfairly impacted” the county’s progress
toward reopening as it remains among the
lowest ranked counties statewide for vacci-
nations per capita.
saLEM — a bipartisan bill
that increases penalties for teach-
ers who sexually abuse students
is headed to the House floor. The
10 members of Oregon’s House
Judiciary Committee voted unani-
mously on Monday night, May 24,
to move Bailey’s Bill forward.
But the journey of Senate Bill
649 through the Oregon legislative
process has been bumpier than the
law’s original sponsor, Sen. Bill
Hansell, R-Athena, ever could have
imagined.
T he bill, na med for
Weston-McEwen High School
student Bailey Munck, increases
penalties for criminal sexual
contact with an underage victim
if the offender was the victim’s
teacher. If approved by the House
and signed by Gov. Kate Brown,
the legislation fixes a discrep-
ancy. Currently, a coach convicted
of sexual abuse receives harsher
penalties than a teacher who
commits the exact same crime.
“It’s been an interesting and
arduous journey getting Bailey’s
Bill through the process,” Hansell
said after the May 21 hearing.
Ben Lonergan/East Oregonian, File
A member of the Oregon National Guard draws up a dose of the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine
during a mass vaccination event April 13, 2021, at Wildhorse Resort & Casino in Mission.
“By not counting them, it makes it
much more difficult, if not impossible,
for Umatilla County to ... reach the state’s
required vaccination levels,” said the letter
to Brown’s office, bearing the signatures of
Sen. Bill Hansell, R-Athena, Rep. Bobby
Levy, R-Echo, and Rep. Greg Smith,
R-Heppner. “They are counted on one side
of the equation as citizens, but not on the
other as being vaccinated.”
For months, many residents turned to
health care providers in other counties,
Port of Morrow suffering from workplace shortage
supplemental
benefits contributing
to inability to find
employees, letter says
By JADE MCDOWELL
East Oregonian
BOardMaN — some Morrow
County employers are blaming extra
unemployment benefits for unfilled
positions and say it is time for those
pandemic-era supplemental benefits
to come to an end.
In a letter to Gov. Kate Brown
“on behalf of Morrow County
employers,” Kalie Davis, director
of workforce development for the
Port of Morrow, listed 25 employers
in the county that had more than 200
job openings total.
“I receive multiple phone calls a
day from both employers and temp
agencies who are desperate to find
anyone that is willing to work,” she
wrote.
She asked the governor to
consider ending Oregon’s partici-
pation in the federal supplemental
unemployment benefits program.
“The benefit of being unem-
ployed should not outweigh the
benefit of working,” the letter
stated.
One of the Morrow County
employers that Davis listed in the
letter is Threemile Canyon Farms.
The Boardman farm reports 17
open positions on its website,
including irrigation technician,
mechanic, human resources clerk
and accountant.
See Shortage, Page A8
Ben Lonergan/East Oregonian
A billboard along Interstate 84 near Boardman advertises jobs at the Port of
Morrow on Wednesday, May 26, 2021. Port of Morrow Director of Workforce
Development Kalie Davis listed more than 200 job openings across 25 em-
ployers in a letter to Gov. Kate Brown asking to end the pandemic-era sup-
plemental unemployment benefits.