Bilingual basketball camp in Irrigon a hit | SPORTS A11
E O
AST
145th year, No. 123
REGONIAN
Tuesday, augusT 3, 2021
WINNER OF THE 2020 ONPA GENERAL EXCELLENCE AWARD
$1.50
PENDLETON WHISKY MUSIC FEST
OHA to investigate outbreak tied to festival
State has identified
64 COVId-19 cases
stemming from the
July 10 event
By BRYCE DOLE
East Oregonian
PeNdLeTON — The Oregon
Health authority is investigating a
COVId-19 outbreak stemming from
the Pendleton Whisky Music Fest.
The state so far has reported
64 COVId-19 cases tied to the
music event in Pendleton on July
10. Forty-one of those cases were
umatilla County residents, accord-
ing to umatilla County Public Health
director Joe Fiumara. Cases have
so far been identified in Umatilla,
Morrow, union and Wallowa coun-
ties, as well as Washington state.
“This outbreak is the first one of
its size and scope to be traced to an
outdoor entertainment event since
the lifting of statewide COVId-19
prevention measures at the end of
June,” the state said Friday, July 30.
The reported cases almost
certainly are an undercount, Fiumara
said, adding that more than 25% of
people with presumed cases do not
cooperate with contact tracers. The
total also does not include people
who did not attend the concert but
were infected by people coming to
town.
Cases already were rising in
umatilla County before the 12,000-
person event — a surge health offi-
cials attributed to the state lifting
virtually all pandemic restrictions at
the end of June, just as the delta vari-
ant was reaching Oregon. But county
health data shows a “big jump” in
cases between four to six days after
the concert, Fiumara said.
“While I am by no means saying
all of these cases are tied to Whisky
Fest,” Fiumara said. “It does seem
like that concert taking place kind of
jump started some additional spread
in the area.”
Cases rise after concert
The county now is experiencing
one of the largest COVId-19 surges
in Oregon, with 412 cases reported
last week alone. That’s more than
8% of the state’s total case count last
week, according to state data.
The county’s case rate is by far
the highest in Oregon. Hospitals in
Pendleton and Hermiston reported
an uptick in COVId-19 hospitaliza-
tions last week.
Two umatilla County residents
who recently tested positive for
COVId-19 died last week, raising the
death toll to 94, according to the state.
The concert, however, did not
appear to break any rules. The state
lifted virtually all pandemic restric-
tions less than two weeks before, and
although health officials voiced alarm
about the delta variant and cases
rising in Umatilla County, no officials
publicly recommended stopping the
event. It likely was the largest event
eastern Oregon has seen since the
See Outbreak, Page A9
RIVER DEMOCRACY ACT
eastern
Oregon
counties
object
By GEORGE PLAVEN AND
ANTONIO SIERRA
EO Media Group
for traditional hot rods and old-school
customs. The show stopped in 2010,
however, and attempted a resurgence in
2020 before COVId-19 shut down the
country.
This year, thanks in part to the efforts
from Rodney Bullington from the Oregon
grain growers distillery, Pendleton, and
his cousin Hugh Tucker, HotRod-a-Rama
came back with a force, drawing in 425
cars and an estimated 2,000-2,500 people,
according to dale seaholm.
“We are really thankful for how every-
eNTeRPRIse — at least two
counties in rural eastern Oregon
are raising objections to the River
democracy act, an ambitious
federal bill that would add nearly
4,700 miles of wild and scenic rivers
across the state.
The Wallowa County Board of
Commissioners opposed the legis-
lation in a resolution passed July 21,
citing impacts to ranching, forest
management, public access and
recreation.
Commissioners in neighboring
union County sent a letter July 6
to the bill’s architects, sens. Ron
Wyden and Jeff Merkley, outlining
similar concerns.
Representatives for Wyden and
Merkley will meet aug. 10 with
the eastern Counties association
in Pendleton to brief commission-
ers on the bill.
The association’s members
include Baker, Crook, deschutes,
Grant, Harney, Jefferson, Klam-
ath, Malheur, Morrow, sherman,
umatilla, union and Wallowa coun-
ties.
Created in 1968, the National
Wild and scenic River system
calls for preserving rivers with
“outstanding natural, cultural and
recreational values,” shielding them
from development.
The River democracy act
would roughly triple the number of
wild and scenic rivers in Oregon,
and was developed based on more
than 15,000 nominations submit-
See Hot rods, Page A9
See Rivers, Page A9
Ben Lonergan/East Oregonian
HotRod-A-Rama attendees and a 1930 Ford Roadster reflect in the hubcap of a show car Saturday, July 31, 2021, in the parking lot
of the Pendleton Chamber of Commerce as roughly 400 hot rods rolled into Pendleton.
BIGGER AND BETTER
HotRod-A-Rama rolls into Pendleton with 400-plus rides
By NICK ROSENBERGER
East Oregonian
P
eNdLeTON — With a thun-
derous boom of engines and the
smell of rubber filling Pendle-
ton’s hazy air, the city welcomed
thousands of attendees from
around the country to the revival
of HotRod-a-Rama Thursday,
July 29, through aug. 1.
The hot rod show, a classic and iconic
event throughout the Pacific Northwest,
brought in hundreds of cars from pre-1965
in all makes and models. From beat-up
muscle cars to freshly painted roadsters
and drag racers with beefed up back
wheels, there was a little bit for everyone.
“We’ve been having a blast out here for
sure,” said Rod Wilkinson, an attendee
who drove from Puyallup, Washington,
and brought two 1932 Fords — a three-
door coupe and a roadster.
Like so much in the hot rod community,
the event was a family thing when it first
began, said dale seaholm, but it snow-
balled into something much bigger.
Father-son duo Terry and dale seaholm
started HotRod-a-Rama in 2002 to bring
together people who shared their passion
New application aims to reopen easterday dairy
By GEORGE PLAVEN
Capital Press
BOaRdMaN — Plans to reopen
Oregon’s second-largest dairy are
back on the table, with a third owner
at the helm.
The Oregon department of agri-
culture received a new application
from Cole easterday to operate the
dairy near Boardman. Cole’s father,
Cody easterday, was forced to with-
draw his application on July 15.
It is the latest development for the
property formerly known as Lost
Valley Farm, which opened in 2018
and closed less than a year later due
to repeated violations of its confined
animal feeding operation, or CaFO,
permit.
Former owner greg te Velde even-
tually declared bankruptcy and the
site was sold in 2019 to the easterday
family, which ran several farming
businesses around Pasco.
However, Cody easterday ran into
legal troubles of his own and pleaded
guilty earlier this year to defraud-
ing Tyson Foods in a “ghost cattle”
scheme, selling more than 200,000
animals that existed only on paper.
He agreed to pay $244 million in
restitution and faces up to 20 years in
prison for felony wire fraud. sentenc-
ing is scheduled for Oct. 5.
Meanwhile, both easterday Farms
and Easterday Ranches have filed for
bankruptcy, and Cody easterday’s
sons — Cole, Clay and Cutter —
purchased controlling interest in the
family’s dairy business, known as
easterday dairy LLC.
EO Media Group, File/Capital Press
See Dairy, Page A9
The former Lost Valley Farm outside Boardman, which Cole Easterday pro-
poses to reopen.