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145th year, no. 104
REGONIAN
Thursday, June 17, 2021
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WINNER OF THE 2020 ONPA GENERAL EXCELLENCE AWARD
umatilla County sticks with Community Counseling
Move comes after
Lifeways protested
county’s decision
By BRYCE DOLE
East Oregonian
Murdock
PendLeTOn — The umatilla
County Board of Commissioners is
sticking with its decision to award
a contract for mental health and
addiction services to Community
Shafer
Counseling solutions.
Lifeways, the county’s previous
provider of mental health services,
protested the recent move. The
board at its Wednesday, June 16,
meeting voted unanimously to over-
ride the protest.
Commissioners John shafer
and George Murdock made brief
comments before casting their votes
against Lifeways’ objection, which
criticized the county’s decision and
questioned the ability of Commu-
nity Counseling to take on the new,
larger role.
Shafer, the county’s mental
health liaison, was the first to
recommend the county reject Life-
ways’ protest. Shafer was part of the
five-person committee that unan-
imously recommended CCs, a
heppner-based provider that serves
four smaller eastern Oregon coun-
ties, over Lifeways.
an educator, business person,
law enforcement officer and
county employees all served on the
committee.
shafer said the decision to go
with CCs as the new provider will
lead to “a better end product for
mental health and behavioral health
in umatilla County.” he said he was
excited to see CCs and Lifeways
directors say they would be willing
to work together in any way possi-
ble to provide care in the county.
“although I was not directly
involved in the decision, I do know
that considering the possibility of
a new provider has been a long
time coming, based upon input we
have received from law enforce-
ment, medical facilities, educa-
tors and others who have deep
See County, Page A7
COVID-19
Vaccine
rates rise
and cases
decline
Fourth of July
could lead to rise
in COVId-19
By BRYCE DOLE
East Oregonian
PendLeTOn — The ZIP code
encompassing the city of Pendle-
ton reported the largest uptick in
COVId-19 vaccinations in the state
during the past week, mostly due
to a new batch of vaccine data that
had yet to be reported to the Oregon
health authority.
according to the state, the ZIP
code reported 1,429 residents
vaccinated for the first time in the
past week, bringing the county’s
weekly total to 2,271. That’s about
three times as many as the previous
week, as reported by The Orego-
nian/OregonLive.
The data, according to Joe
Fiumara, the county’s public
health director, was largely from
vaccinations at yellowhawk Tribal
health Center from december 2020
through april 2021.
The health center held multi-
ple mass vaccine clinics with the
national Guard in the winter and
spring, vaccinating thousands of
residents. But the national Guard
reports its data to the Centers for
disease Control and Prevention,
officials have said, meaning that
for months much of that data was
not reported to the state.
The data comes amid a larger
effort from state and county officials
attempting to track down the coun-
ty’s true vaccination rate. In May,
lawmakers reached out to Gov. Kate
Brown’s office, noting many county
residents had been vaccinated either
by tribal health officials or in Wash-
ington and voicing concerns the
data wasn’t being counted.
Though the new data represents
Ben Lonergan/East Oregonian
Dena Summerfield, left, turns over “Flowers of Eastern Oregon” Monday, June 14, 2021, at Pendleton Art and Frame while working with
Cherise Stewart Baker to frame a collection of works Blue Mountain Community College purchased from Crow’s Shadow Institute of the
Arts. Nixyaawii Community School students created “Flowers” during a printmaking class with Yatika Fields in 2019.
Artful effort
BMCC brings on Native works to reflect its home
By ANTONIO SIERRA
East Oregonian
P
endLeTOn — The Confed-
erated Tribes of the umatilla
Indian Reservation’s ceded
territory stretches to nearly
every corner of Blue Mountain
Community College’s service area. Soon,
the artwork featured in all of BMCC’s five
campuses will reflect that fact.
BMCC recently used more than $60,000
in state grants to purchase, frame and install
artwork made by american Indian artists
from Crow’s Shadow Institute of the Arts,
a umatilla Indian reservation print studio
and gallery.
See COVID-19, Page A7
Dena
Summerfield,
right, frames
“kahss
K’wahyayis” by
Shirod Younker
on Monday,
June 14, 2021,
at Pendleton
Art and Frame
in preparation
for its display at
Blue Mountain
Community
College.
Ben Lonergan/
East Oregonian
See Art, Page A7
Candidate has story to tell
Washington state administrator subject of
final BMCC presidential candidates forum
the board of education learned late in
the process that the search commit-
tee had identified a fourth candidate.
PendLeTOn — Luca Lewis had
Lewis had just finished recounting
a story to tell about Blue Mountain his trip to Boardman when interim
Community College, but not
President Connie Green inter-
jected to remind him their
enough time to tell it.
Lewis, the vice president
time was limited and he still
of student services at What-
had to field questions from the
com Community College in
audience.
Bellingham, Washington,
nevertheless, Lewis was
opened his time at the BMCC
able to weave his experi-
ences in eastern Oregon
presidential candidate forum
Monday eventing, June 14,
Lewis
into his answers from vari-
ous community members.
detailing a road trip he
took to visit all five of the college’s Through anecdotes, he painted a
campuses. Lewis was a last-minute
addition to the slate of finalists after
See Candidate, Page A7
By ANTONIO SIERRA
East Oregonian
Ben Lonergan/East Oregonian, File
Blue Mountain Community College faces competition from community col-
leges in Pasco and Walla Walla. BMCC presidential candidate Luca Lewis told
the college’s board of education during a forum Monday, June 14, 2021, the
institution is struggling to remain relevant with the people it serves.