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OFF PAGE ONE
East Oregonian
Thursday, May 27, 2021
Shortage: Silver Creek offering $500 incentive bonus
Continued from Page A1
Job openings abound
Varon Blackburn, human
resources manager for the
farm, said he has noticed
a significant change in the
number of applicants for jobs
across all skill levels and pay
ranges.
“It used to be, I had a
receptionist opening, I would
get 10 to 20 applicants, and
one’s been open two weeks
and I’ve gotten three appli-
cants,” he said.
The farm’s website doesn’t
list salaries for the open posi-
tions, but Blackburn said the
lowest wages on the farm are
more than $13 an hour, with
many hourly workers making
$15 to $16. Some skilled posi-
tions make more — shop
mechanics make $18 to $26
an hour depending on experi-
ence. He said they have been
turning to visa programs to
recruit workers from Mexico
to fill positions.
Blackburn said he feels the
supplemental unemployment
benefits that were put in place
when unemployment spiked
during the early days of the
pandemic are now providing
disincentives for people to
return to the workforce when
work is readily available.
He said child care also is
a problem. He recently hired
someone as an accountant
after struggling to fill the
position, he said, but she
changed her mind before her
start date, saying she hadn’t
been able to find child care.
To help combat that prob-
lem, the Port of Morrow has
an early learning center that
Threemile Canyon Farms
contributes financially to,
and Blackburn said the farm
offers discounted vouchers to
employees.
Another major employer,
Lamb Weston, does not
list starting salaries in its
Ben Lonergan/East Oregonian, File
Workers process potatoes as they are loaded into a storage facility at Threemile Canyon Farms near Boardman on Sept. 30,
2020. The Boardman farm lists 17 open positions on its website.
job descriptions, but as of
Monday, May 24, listed 49
open positions between its
Boardman and Hermiston
locations. Job titles that have
been listed for more than
30 days include operations
support specialist for human
resources, process qual-
ity technician and package
handler.
Amazon has 45 jobs open
in the Boardman area, most
of which were posted more
than 30 days ago. The oldest
job posting on their website is
a data center facility manager
position that, according to the
site, was posted in Novem-
ber 2020. Some of the jobs
posted require a bachelor’s
degree plus multiple years
Vaccine: According
to state data, 22,026
county residents
have been vaccinated
Continued from Page A1
or not it gets us to 90% or
75%, to me it doesn’t matter.
You want to be as accurate as
to what the results are. And
right now it isn’t.”
T he st at e re ce ntly
announced that counties are
eligible to move to lower risk
when 65% of residents over
the age of 16 have received
at least their first shot. The
move would lift restrictions
on indoor gatherings and
commerce.
And when the state
reaches 70% of residents
partially vaccinated, capac-
ity limits on most public
activities statewide would be
lifted — a benchmark Brown
said she expects the state will
meet sometime in June.
Umatilla County officials
say confirming this data gives
the county a chance to move
down a risk category and
lift restrictions. But even if
the data was corrected, it’s
unlikely to make a significant
dent and move the county
beyond 65%, officials say.
“Yes, it would help,” said
Umatilla County Commis-
sioner George Murdock.
“But we’d still be nowhere
near 65%.”
According to Umatilla
County Public Health Direc-
tor Joe Fiumara, county
health officials recently
obtained data from the
federal government and the
health department in Walla
Walla County suggest-
ing Umatilla County’s real
vaccine percentage should
be about 5% higher, up to
approximately 39%.
But even that data is
limited, Fiumara said. It does
not include some health care
providers in Washington,
such as local pharmacies
and Jonathan M. Wainwright
Memorial VA Medical Center
in Walla Walla.
“It’s not a huge jump,”
Fiumara said of the data. “But
it also tells us there’s more of
this out there.”
He added: “We don’t
know how high that number
will get. And we don’t want
our lack of trying to get this
information to be a hold up
for the county being able to
open up.”
Hansell said he recog-
nized that residents will see
no impact if correcting the
data doesn’t move the county
to lower risk, but said the
county cannot get to 65%
without getting to 39%.
“I had no illusions that
we’re going to get to 90% if
everybody was counted,” he
said. “But there are thousands
of people out there for sure
who are not being counted,
and we need to count them.”
Fiumara said it’s more
likely restrictions will be
lifted by the state reaching
the 70% benchmark than the
county reaching 65%. But
there are other reasons for
gathering the data, as higher
percentages can “give people
an incentive to take that
initiative” and get vaccinated,
he said.
“I think one of the things
that is hurting our vaccina-
tion process is the assumption
that nobody else is getting it,”
he said. “And we don’t think
that’s actually the case. And if
we can get this data together
and show that there’s actu-
ally more people who have
taken it than they think, it
might change a few minds,
specifically for the folks on
the fence.”
County health officials
now are reaching out to facil-
ities throughout Southeastern
Washington to “get a more
complete picture of where
we’re at as a county,” Fiumara
said.
In all, 22,026 Umatilla
County residents have been
vaccinated against COVID-
19, according to state health
data. The county is ranked
second lowest in vaccina-
tions per 10,000 people, the
data shows.
ipated in the virtual job fair
the Port of Morrow hosted,
and no one visited the break-
out room on Zoom where she
was waiting to answer ques-
tions from potential appli-
cants.
She said she hopes that
perhaps when school starts up
again in the fall and parents
have more certainty about
child care, that some of the
hiring crunch will ease.
of post-college experience,
while others simply require
a high school diploma.
Angela Boatman, plant
manager for Alto Columbia
(formerly Pacific Ethanol),
said the company raised its
starting wages from $16.50
and hour to $19 an hour but
still has struggled to fill open
positions.
“We’ve looked at lower-
ing requirements for jobs as
well,” she said. “We’re will-
ing to train people.”
Of those who have sent in
applications, she estimated
60% have not returned any
calls or other efforts the
company has made to get an
interview scheduled. Boat-
man said she recently partic-
Candidates turn
down jobs
Mike Duncan, owner of
Silver Creek Contracting,
said his company has more
than 20 positions open, that in
some cases have been adver-
tised for more than a year.
They range from carpenters
and welders to a site super-
visor.
He said the company has
done free and sponsored
advertising on Zip Recruiter
and Indeed, as well as posting
jobs to Facebook and Craig-
slist and working through
the employment department.
Silver Creek also is offering a
$500 incentive bonus.
Duncan said he has had
multiple job candidates turn
down offers with a compet-
itive wage, and has heard
from people they are making
enough on unemployment
benefits not to want to go
back to work. He said unem-
ployment benefits should
serve to help people get back
on their feet after a job loss,
but should not turn into a
career.
“Unemployment has a
specific purpose whether
you agree with it or not,”
he wrote in an email. “ We
have not required the same
qualifying parameters for
unemployment as we do for
employment and now the
unemployment pay scale
has climbed to a living wage
level without any of the same
requirements for employ-
ment such as transportation,
drug testing policies or any
accountability to hold down
a job. What could possibly
motivate a human to seek
work?”
A growing number of
states, mostly led by Repub-
lican legislatures, have
recently announced an end
to increased unemployment
benefits, citing worry the
benefits are keeping people
from working when they are
able to.
According to reporting
from FOX Business, Presi-
dent Joe Biden and members
of his administration have
pushed back on that notion,
blaming lack of affordable
child care, fear of COVID-
19 and other factors instead.
Treasury Secretary Janet
Yellen said during a May
press briefing the industry
adding the most jobs in April
was the leisure and hospital-
ity industry, which tends to
have lower wages than most
sectors and would there-
fore have more incentive to
continue collecting unem-
ployment.
In Oregon, the state
recently announced that
Oregonians must start show-
ing they are actively looking
for work by July 31 to keep
collecting their benefits. That
requirement was in place
before the pandemic but was
waived in 2020.
Obstacle: ‘Prayers were answered’
Continued from Page A1
he planned to vote for
Bailey’s Bill sans amend-
ments.
When the chair, Rep.
Janelle Bynum, D-Clack-
amas, called for a vote, all
10 members voted aye.
On April 19, members of
the Senate also passed the
bill unanimously after the
Senate Judiciary Commit-
tee’s unanimous recommen-
dation.
Another threat to the
bill happened earlier this
month when it appeared
Chair Bynum likely wasn’t
going to schedule SB 649
for a hearing by the House
Judiciary Committee, a
move that essentially would
doom the bill. The other
members dusted off a rarely
used House rule that says
if a majority of committee
members request a hearing
in writing, the chair must
schedule one within five
days. They wrote a letter
to Bynum that all members
signed. Given no other
choice, Bynum scheduled a
hearing.
Filling a gap in
the law
During public testimony
May 24, former Umatilla
County Chief Deputy
District Attorney Jaclyn
Kathy Aney/East Oregonian
Bailey Munck testifies at a House judiciary committee hear-
ing about Bailey’s Bill on May 18, 2021, from her home in
Athena.
Jenkins spoke about the
experience of Munck, now
17. Munck testified earlier
during Senate and House
committee hearings about
sexual abuse during a 2019
volleyball trip by Andrew
DeYoe, an English teacher
and scorekeeper for the
volleyball team. He later
abuse her in his classroom.
DeYoe, 31, after pleading
guilty to harassment that
included sexual touching,
spent a night in the Umatilla
County Jail and will serve
five years probation. He
wasn’t required to register
as a sex offender.
If DeYoe had been a
coach, he might have been
convicted of a Class C
felony, a crime that carries
sentences up to five years in
prison and a $125,000 fine.
Jenkins said teachers
are in a position of power
and authority and there-
fore should have stiff penal-
ties when they abuse their
students.
“To the extent that most
sex crimes represent a power
imbalance, few relationships
embody that imbalance
better than a teacher and a
student,” Jenkins testified.
“Teachers can use their
authority and their position
in the student’s life as a way
to give the student a better
future. Bailey’s case is an
illustration of the power of a
teacher who chose to use his
authority in a different way.”
Jenkins said she wasn’t
saying teachers committing
sexual abuse in the second
degree should be held to
a higher standard than
coaches who do the same.
“Both should be held
accountable to the highest
degree possible for their
conduct,” she said. “The
failure of Oregon statutes to
include sexual conduct by
teachers as part of the sex
abuse in the second degree
statute and the election to
focus solely on coaches is
a serious failure for public
safety generally and for
Oregon’s students specifi-
cally. I urge you to make this
change, which is both long
overdue and badly needed.”
The bill next goes to the
full House for a vote.
Hansell said he is
relieved, as this bill has
become very important to
him. He said people prayed
around the state for the piece
of legislation.
“Prayers were answered,”
he said. “It’s a good bill.
A lot of good people made
this happen, not the least of
which was Bailey herself.
At the end of the day, the
process worked.”
EASTERN OREGON
2021
PHOTO CONTEST
Offi cial Rules:
Photo Contest open now and closes at
11:59 pm Sunday, June 20, 2021.
Staff will choose the top 10. The public can
vote online for People’s Choice from 12:01
am Monday, June 21 through 11:59 pm
Thursday, June 30.
Digital or scanned photos only, uploaded
to the online platform. No physical copies.
Only photographers from Oregon may
participate.
The contest subject matter is wide open but
we’re looking for images that capture life
in Eastern Oregon.
Submit all photos
online at:
Entrants may crop, tone, adjust saturation
and make minor enhancements, but may
not add or remove objects within the
frame, or doctor images such that the fi nal
product doesn’t represent what’s actually
before the camera.
The winners will appear in the July 8th
edition of Go Magazine; the top 25 will
appear online.
Gift cards to a restaurant of your choice
will be awarded for fi rst, second and third
place.
eastoregonian.com/photocontest