REGION Saturday, August 7, 2021 East Oregonian A3       ­€‚‘†‹  ’“‚“Ž€†ŒŽ“†Ž”‚…‚‹Žˆ•”€ˆ†‚†Š‚‹‚…ˆ‹†‚• ›™­„† Š™–„‚’‚–‚€œ„ƒƒš„ŠžŠ’„œŸ¡¢ ‘’  — …‹Žƒ‘ “–€ ‡•  ­ƒ‘ƒ ‡ƒ ˆ‰ ‘ Ž†‹‘Ž‰ ­„ ‘ˆ ‡‰ ­„ ‘ˆ ‡… ‘€…  ­€‚‘€…  ­€‚ ˜ŠŠ™­…­™Š„š ˆ‰ ‘ Š‹Œ‹‡     ‚‡ ‘ ’ ‰ ‚…† ‘ˆ ‡…  ­ƒ ­„ ‚…† …‹Žƒ‘ “ƒ€ ‡• ‚‡ ‘ “‚”€ ‡• ‡† ˆ‰ ‚‡  € ‚Š ‘ “–€ ‡• ‚Š ‹‡Œ ­€‚ƒ„…†ƒ …‹Žƒ   ­€‚  ­ƒ 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