REGION
Saturday, August 7, 2021
East Oregonian
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Area school districts to follow mask rules
By JEREMY BURNHAM
Walla Walla Union-Bulletin
MILTON-FREEWATER
— As Oregon Gov. Kate
Brown announced last week,
masks will have to be worn
by all students and staff in
Oregon schools after all.
While her announcement
came on July 29, the docu-
ment governing the upcom-
ing school year, didn’t come
until Aug. 2.
Before, the state had
announced it would issue
recommendations that masks
be required indoors at school,
Duff
Vescio
but the fi nal decision would
be left to the districts.
The Milton-Freewater
and Athena-Weston school
districts had decided not to
require masks for summer
programs or when school
starts up in the fall.
Now that the decision has
offi cially been made at that
state level, leaders of both
districts have responded.
“While this may not have
been the direction that some
in our community were
hoping for, we continue to
recognize the importance
of getting students back to
in-person school and return-
ing to an environment that
is safe and as normal as
possible,” Milton-Freewater
Superintendent Aaron Duff
said in a statement.
“As far as the current
rule, things will look simi-
lar to how we ended the
’20-21 school year, with
students and staff wear-
ing masks inside buildings
whether fully vaccinated or
not during school hours,” he
said. “Eff orts will be made to
build schedules and oppor-
tunities for outside activities
and/or mask breaks.”
Duff said his district will
begin following the rule on
Aug. 9.
“This will allow time for
us to inform students, fami-
lies and staff about this rule
change,” he said.
Athena-Weston Super-
intendent A n n Vescio
confi rmed her district would
follow the new rules as well.
“The district will continue
to adapt and adjust to chang-
ing conditions and require-
ments while providing as
much stability and as many
options as we are able,”
Vescio said in a statement.
“I appreciate the patience,
understanding and resilience
of our students, families, staff
and community as we navi-
gate this pandemic together.”
Brown’s decision puts
Oregon schools in line with
guidance from the Centers
for Disease Control and
Prevention, as well as with
Washington mandates from
Gov. Jay Inslee.
Duff said he remains
focused on the positive news
of having students attend
schools in-person.
“This (mask) change can
be viewed as a setback, but
we are looking forward to
the start of the 2021-2022
school year,” he wrote. “We
are celebrating that students
will be in person, and we
have the resources and expe-
rience to off er instruction to
students who are not able to
attend in person.”
State discloses workplace outbreaks State-funded grants
Seven workplaces in Umatilla
County make OHA weekly list —
fi ve in Pendleton, two in Hermiston
East Oregonian
PENDLETON — The
Oregon Health Authority
in its in its weekly outbreak
report disclosed seven work-
places in Umatilla County
facing active COVID-19
outbreaks.
Three of those work-
places are assisted living
facilities in Pendleton.
The state publishes an
active outbreak in nurs-
ing homes if the facility
reports more than three
cases, according to the state.
The outbreak is considered
resolved if no new cases
are reported within 28 days
of the last case. The local
assisted living facilities are:
• Juniper House has
reported seven COVID-19
cases since June 11. The
facility also reported a
COVID-19 death.
• Suttle Care & Retire-
ment Inc. reported three
cases since July 17.
• McKay Creek Estates
reported eight cases since
July 21.
In addition, the state
publishes a workplace
outbreak when fi ve or more
cases are reported at a facil-
ity with 30 or more workers.
Like assisted living facili-
ties, the outbreak is consid-
ered resolved if no new cases
are reported within 28 days
of the last case.
T he Oregon Health
Authority reported local
wo r k pl a c e o u t b r e a k s
occurred at the following:
• Walmart Distribution
Center, Hermiston, reported
19 cases between its first
reported case on April 26
and its most recent onset
case coming July 26.
• Good Shepherd Medical
Center, Hermiston, reported
10 cases between its first
reported case on July 21 and
its most recent onset case
coming July 24.
• Keystone RV, Pendle-
ton, reported 11 cases on
July 28.
• Eastern Oregon Correc-
tional Institution, Pendleton,
reported seven cases between
its fi rst reported case on July
12 and its most recent onset
case coming July 25.
Umatilla County tax boss warns of tax scam
By BRYCE DOLE
East Oregonian
PEN DLETON
—
Umatilla County’s tax collec-
tor is warning of a potential
tax scam to get money from
residents by posing as the
county’s tax processing unit.
The fraudulent notice
from issuer “J.S. Brown,”
poses as a “final notice”
that says the state of Oregon
can seize assets and garnish
wages and bank accounts due
to unpaid tax liability. It says
the state can “permanently
revoke benefits, suspend
licenses, and levy any federal
tax refund gained this year”
if action isn’t taken.
But the notice, accord-
ing to Rachael Reynolds,
Umatilla County’s assess-
ment and taxation director,
did not come from the asses-
sor’s office and lacks the
county’s insignia.
“It’s defi nitely not ours,”
she said.
Also, Reynolds said,
the state of Oregon does
not gar nish wages or
bank accounts.
Off icials in San
Bernardino, California,
and Bedford, Indiana, have
raised warnings over the
potential scheme from J.S.
Brown.
Reynolds said people
with questions should call
her offi ce at 541-278-6234.
People who receive the scam
should not call the phone
number on the document or
send any money.
Sondra Sundquist, a
bookkeeper in Walla Walla,
brought the notice to the
attention of the county. The
notice from J.S. Brown
warns a Milton-Freewa-
ter business it needs to pay
$10,000 in penalties for tax
liability. But to her, it felt off .
“It looks, front and back,
all nice and formal and offi -
cial,” she said. “But when
people send me notices and
say, ‘Hey, you have a couple
days to send me $10,000,’ I
kind of pay attention.”
She added that, because it
is near the end of the quar-
ter, “this is the time of year
that those notices are being
sent out.”
LOCAL BRIEFING
Bank of America
donates masks
to CTUIR
PORTLAND — The
Bank of America announced
Wednesday, Aug. 4, that it
was donating face masks,
gloves and hand sanitizer to
the Confederated Tribes of the
Umatilla Indian Reservation.
The Umatilla Indian
Reservation has seen a surge
of new COVID-19 cases
in the past few weeks and
recently held a mass testing
event. Bank of America has
donated $2.7 million to orga-
nizations across Oregon and
southwest Washington to
aid local pandemic recovery
eff orts.
Bank of America also
VISIT US ON THE WEB AT:
www.EastOregonian.com
announced it was donat-
ing $150,000 to the Hills-
boro-based Virginia Garcia
Memorial Health Center to
provide a mobile vaccination
clinic to the Latino commu-
nities in Washington and
Yamhill counties, citing the
state’s 45.7% vaccination rate
with Hispanic residents.
According to the Oregon
Health Authority, only
one-third of Latinos living in
Umatilla, Union, Baker and
Wallowa counties are vacci-
nated. OHA doesn’t publish
demographic data for those
individual counties, but
Umatilla County has more
than 90% of the Latino popu-
lation among them.
— EO Media Group
PENDLETON LIONS FOUNDATION
Would like to say THANK YOU to the
following businesses and individuals
that assisted us in our recent
Can and Bottle Drive!
Dr. Robert A. Pratt-DMD P.C.
D&B Supply
City of Pendleton Fire Department
CHI St. Anthony Hospital
Heritage Station Museum
Pediatric Specialists of Pendleton
East Oregonian
Liam Hughes
Pendleton City Parks and Recreation Dept.
City of Pendleton PD
Dave’s Chevron
DG Gifts
Missionaries of the Church of
Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints
and
our generous community members!
Tickets include Free Admission to the Umatilla County Fair
With your help we had a successful drive.
We are putting our proceeds to work to continue
assistance to our wonderful Community
boost local K-12
summer programs
East Oregonian
PORTLAND — Ten
governments and organi-
zations in Umatilla County
received state-f unded
grants totaling $575,997
for summer education and
early childhood learning.
The city of Hermiston
received the lion’s share on
the local scene — $200,000
for K-12 summer program-
ming.
The grants were part
of the $41.2 million the
Oregon Community Foun-
dation distributed to 513
organizations in all 36
counties in Oregon, accord-
ing to a press release from
the foundation.
In mid-March, the state
of Oregon announced
a plan to allocate $250
million to support summer
learning and enrichment
for children through grade
12. The state asked the
Oregon Community Foun-
dation to take on the role of
awarding $40 million for
K-12 summer programs
and $1.2 million for parent-
child programs serving
children to age 5 and their
parents. The following is
a breakdown of the local
grants:
• $200,000 to the city
of Hermiston for K-12
summer programming.
• $125,997 to the
Confederated Tribes of
the Umatilla Indian Reser-
vation for K-12 summer
programming.
• $75,000 to Made
to Thrive, Hermiston,
for K-12 youth summer
programming.
• $60,000 to Pend-
leton Parks and Recre-
ation Department for K-12
summer programming.
• $30,000 to Stanfield
Public Library for K-12
youth summer program-
ming.
• $25,000 to the Arts
Council of Pendleton
for K-12 youth summer
programming.
• $15,000 to Impact
Pendleton for marketing,
background checks and
other operating expenses to
support the Impact Mento-
ring Program for children
grades 3-12..
• $15,000 to Cub House,
Ukiah, for staff wages,
materials, and play equip-
ment summer youth devel-
opment programming for
children K-12.
• $15,000 to the Oregon
East Symphony, Pendle-
ton, for K-12 youth summer
programming.
• $15,000 to Youth for
Christ/Blue Mountain,
Hermiston, for K-12 youth
summer programming.
And in Morrow County,
the Heppner Commu-
nity Foundation received
a $15,160 grant to support
summer gardening educa-
tion programming for chil-
dren K-12.
Max Williams, president
and CEO of the foundation,
said in the press release this
summer is a critical time to
nurture and mentor chil-
dren in Oregon given the
crises during the last year.
CONCEALED CARRY
PERMIT CLASS
SATURDAY
AUGUST 21 ST
Hermiston
Ranch & Home
9AM
&12PM
CLASSES
Multi-State $ 80
Oregon Included No Fee
Oregon Only $ 45
MULTI-STATE
Valid 35-States, including Washington
Shaun
Shaun Curtain
Curtain 360-921-2071
360-921-2071
or or email:
email: ShaunCurtain@gmail.com
ShaunCurtain@gmail.com | www.ShaunCurtain.com.com
| www.ShaunCurtain.com.com
