A6
FROM PAGE ONE
East Oregonian
Thursday, August 12, 2021
Masks:
Continued from Page A1
everything they can to make sure
they are able to stay open,” which
includes requiring masks.
“It was such a hit to our local
businesses when everything was
shut down and nobody could go
inside,” he said. “I’ve heard from
business owners who said, ‘We
couldn’t survive another shut-
down.’ For those businesses, yeah,
when I walk in there I’ll be wear-
ing a mask.”
Oregon will become the third
state, along with Hawaii and
Louisiana, with a statewide mask
mandate.
The action Aug. 11 was a policy
U-turn for Brown and the Oregon
Health Authority, who had relin-
quished decisions on COVID-19
restrictions to county supervisors
as of June 30.
With the delta variant rapidly
filling hospitals to capacity across
the state, Brown urged counties to
require masks indoors in public
spaces. Only Multnomah County,
which includes Portland, did so.
Multnomah County’s infection
rate was reported at 5.3% in the
latest OHA weekly report. That
is nearly half the state average of
9.5%, which is twice the maximum
5% that epidemiologists says will
keep spread of the virus under
control.
Counties with high infection
rates, low vaccination numbers and
swamped health care centers were
not budging, despite calls from the
governor and OHA about the criti-
cal hospital situation in their areas.
“I expected local elected offi-
cials to step up and do the right
thing,” Brown said. “What is clear
is they are not taking action. That
is why we are moving forward.”
Shafer disagreed with Brown’s
comments during the press confer-
ence that county officials haven’t
taken sufficient action to curb the
spread of infection. He pointed
to mask requirements in county
buildings and recent vaccine incen-
tives at the county fair as exam-
ples of the county’s action. He said
he isn’t sure how much more the
county could do to recommend
masking.
Meanwhile, Shafer said he
wouldn’t mandate COVID-19
vaccinations among county offi-
cials.
“That’s a bridge too far. I’m OK
with recommending a vaccine, and
I’m on the record recommending
the vaccine,” he said. “What I will
not be on the record for is mandat-
ing a vaccine.”
Ben Lonergan/East Oregonian
A sign on Tuesday, Aug. 10, 2021, lists the Hermiston FFA section at the Umatilla County Fair in Hermiston.
Fair:
Continued from Page A1
After last year’s showing went
virtual, Carolyn said she felt sad
and furious. She had worked hard
getting her pig ready, bathing, walk-
ing and feeding it from early morn-
ings through the heat of the day. She
was sure her pig would place well
at the fair.
But as she watched her pig
take fourth place over livestream
last year, for once, she didn’t cry.
Because of the pandemic, she felt
less connected and committed to
her animal.
“We would just feed them and
then we would go,” Carolyn said.
“We didn’t stay and bond with them
as much. COVID just made a real
dent with me and my animal.”
It’s been two years since she
last competed at the fair. This year,
Carolyn’s nervous. Her days begin
around 4:30 a.m. so she can be one
of the first people in the barn. Then
she does her daily chores to get the
pig ready. All the while, she’s think-
ing about the judge and the spec-
tators.
“It feels like it’s our first year
again,” she said.
Carolyn is a member of the Barn-
yardigans 4-H club. She grew up
on a farm off of Highway 395 in
Hermiston, where the family raised
lambs, horses, pigs, cattle, chickens
and where more than 100 feral cats
roam. Her father is a butcher, and
being a part of 4-H is a family tradi-
tion she said she was glad to uphold.
She said it’s taught her to be humble
and brave.
“It teaches me that I can do
anything,” she said.
Watching Peach go, Carolyn said
she’s sure she’ll cry this year. She’ll
miss calling Peach over and running
around and playing games with her.
But in just a few months, she’ll have
a new pig, and she couldn’t be more
excited.
“My dad always tells me not to
name my animals because I’ll get
too attached,” she said. “But you just
can’t resist their cute little faces.”
Unlike some of of her fellow
competitors, Leathers, who
described herself as a “city kid,”
began her experience with the
Hermiston FFA as a freshman
in high school and has spent the
Ben Lonergan/East Oregonian
Weston Golightly, 11, of Hermiston, sits with his goat Friend 2.0 on Tues-
day, Aug. 10, 2021, at the Umatilla County Fair in Hermiston.
last three years learning the ropes
and encouraging others to join the
program
“A lot of the kids competing
against me have been doing this
since they were 7,” she said. “It
really opened my eyes to the fact
that any kid can do this.”
Leathers said her experiences
with FFA have encouraged her
to pursue a career in agriculture
education to help others under-
stand and work with animals. She
added her first year in the program
was a learning experience and
required work to create a pen and
facilities for her hog.
“They don’t come with a
manual,” Leathers said. “Doing
this is about the love you have for
your project.”
‘Any kid can do this’
Like many others showing live-
stock at the fair this week, Alexis
Leathers, 18, will spend the next
few days caring for, showing and
attempting to keep her hog cool
as temperatures climb to triple
digits. But the heat had already
taken a toll on her hog Lady. High
temperatures earlier this summer
meant neither Leathers’ nor her
brother’s hogs made sale weight.
“The heat was really hard on the
animals,” Leathers said.
Despite the missed weight,
Leathers decided to stay and show
her animal as practice for the
Pendleton Junior Livestock Show
next month, where she hopes to be
able to sell Lady.
Round-Up says vaccinating
‘up to you’
Within hours of the Aug. 11
press conference, the Pendleton
Round-Up posted a video on its
Facebook page to Jimmy Durante’s
rendition of the popular song “I’ll
be seeing you.” The video includes
images of past events, and ends
with what appears to be the image
of a Band-Aid, the words “It’s up
to you” and “COVID-19 Vaccina-
tion,” and a link to a vaccine infor-
mation site.
No ban on county fairs, the
Pendleton Round-Up, the Oregon
State Fair in Marion County,
Oregon Ducks and Oregon State
Beavers and other college football
games, concerts or other major
events in Oregon was in the works
“at this time,” Brown said.
The Pendleton Round-Up,
the major event of the year in the
area, held in mid-September, was
cancelled in 2020 because of the
pandemic. Amid months of declin-
ing infection rates, Brown earlier
this summer said “Let ‘er buck,” a
popular saying of fans of the event,
which draws more than 50,000 to
the region.
With the delta variant hitting
Umatilla County especially hard,
the pandemic was once again rais-
ing questions about large-scale
events.
In an Aug. 10 newsletter for
local officials, Umatilla County
Commissioner George Murdock
said the rising infection levels and
low county vaccination levels were
not going without notice in Salem.
“Putting an event in jeopardy
that means $60 million to the local
economy is dangerous, particu-
larly knowing that for some of our
businesses, it could be the final nail
in their coffin,” Murdock wrote.
“In the coming weeks, we need to
Park:
Continued from Page A1
Brown said the Stillman facil-
ity would serve 60-70 children, a
smaller number than what the center
planned when it sought to partner
with the Pendleton School District.
In June, Brown pitched the Pend-
leton School Board on leasing the
property near the Pendleton Early
Learning Center, land that once
featured the district’s central office
and Hawthorne Alternative High
School but has been empty since
the passage of the 2015 bond. Under
the proposal, the children’s center
would pay a nominal rent and place
a new building on the property that
would serve 150 children.
The board didn’t commit to the
center’s proposal, but would later
talk about it privately at a subse-
quent meeting. The board didn’t
provide a public response until
Aug. 10, when the board voted to
formally reject the proposal.
In a memo to the board, Super-
intendent Chris Fritsch wrote the
property was appraised for $375,000
in 2018 and its value likely would
increase in the future. The district
is anticipating up to several million
dollars in facility costs over the next
five to seven years, a number that
could be offset by selling the prop-
erty.
“Leasing the property to a third
party to develop would essentially
amount to ‘gifting’ of publicly
owned property,” he wrote. “Once
developed, the property may be of
little use to the District. Additional
Ben Lonergan/East Oregonian
A section of chain link fence surrounding the Stillman Park tennis courts
sits in disrepair Wednesday, Aug. 11, 2021, in Pendleton. The Pendleton
Parks and Recreation Commission during an Aug. 10 meeting recom-
mended the city approve leasing a section of the park to the Pendleton
Children’s Center.
nonprofit’s pursuance of building
space at Blue Mountain Commu-
nity College.
The center had discussed launch-
ing its services at BMCC as a stop-
gap measure while it raised money
for a permanent facility, but Brown
said the Stillman facility would
offer more space than what BMCC
had available. Brown added the
children’s center still would like
to eventually relocate to a larger
facility, but the Stillman building
would offer Pendleton residents a
sound proof-of-concept that afford-
able child care was worthy of
further investment.
expenses may be incurred should
the property revert back to the
District in the event the project was
unable to identify sustainable fund-
ing for ongoing operations.”
The board for the children’s
center attempted to preempt the
school board vote by writing an
Aug. 7 letter rescinding its request
for the school property. But the
school board decided to vote on the
issue regardless, broadening the
language of the action to indicate
the district would not entertain any
offers on the property at this time.
The center’s potential partner-
ship with the city also would end the
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Brown on Aug. 10 ordered all
state executive branch employees
will be required to get the COVID-
19 vaccine by Oct. 18.
“Delta is a different virus — it
has changed everything,” Brown
said.
The mask rules will go into
effect Friday. The state will not
immediately enforce the rules as
people and businesses make the
change.
But the order does not have a
target end date, as the delta vari-
ant’s impact is still being gauged
by state officials.
OHSU officials on Aug. 10 said
the peak of the current wave is
expected around Sept. 7, with its
effects continuing at least into the
late autumn.
Oregon Health Authority
Director Pat Allen said the state
would be sending nurse crisis
teams to areas where the medical
workforce is “overwhelmed and
overtaxed” by the non-stop flow
of new patients.
OHA will work to free up more
hospital space in other health care
facilities that could be used for
recovery after the most acute phase
of the infection recedes.
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dramatically increase our vacci-
nation rates to demonstrate we are
serious and that we care.”
The most recent spike in East-
ern Oregon was pushed higher by
the Pendleton Whisky Music Fest,
an outdoor concert last month that
attracted more than 12,000 people
to Pendleton. Umatilla County
Public Health Director, Joseph
Fiumara, said 66 cases are tied to
the festival, according to KATU,
and five of those were vaccinated.
But state officials did not step in to
block the Umatilla County Fair this
week or similar events in high-in-
fection areas.
OHA and OHSU officials have
pointed to several counties where
no action was taking place despite
having infection rates double the
state average of 9.5%. The state
percentage already is twice the
OHA target of no more than 5%
that epidemiologists say is the
highest rate at which growth of
the virus can be kept under control.
Statistics show the highest
rates concentrated in two areas —
Umatilla, Baker, Union, Malheur
and Wallowa counties in Eastern
Oregon, and Jackson, Josephine,
Douglas and Curry counties in
Southwestern Oregon. Crook
County in Central Oregon also has
twice the state rate.
Nearly all are in areas that
have been resistant to masking
mandates and other restrictions
throughout the pandemic.
Vaccination rates were low in
part because of what Allen, during
testimony this spring before the
Legislature called, “vaccine bellig-
erence” by activists and some offi-
cials.
Though Brown had ceded daily
control to the counties, her emer-
gency order dating back to March
2020, and renewed by her several
times since, allowed the state to
take back control at any point.
In recent weeks, Umatilla Coun-
ty’s case rates have surged to the
highest levels since the pandemic
began, and to some of the highest
levels in Oregon. CHI St. Anthony
in Pendleton recently reported its
largest spike in patients hospital-
ized with COVID-19 since the
pandemic began. And last week,
the county surpassed 10,000 total
cases, meaning more than one in
eight residents have had the virus.
A COVID-19 death reported this
week brought the county’s total
death toll to 95 since the pandemic
began.
“We are hopeful that the mask
mandate will reduce the spread of
COVID in our area and help take
some of the burden off hospitals,”
Emily Smith, a spokesperson for
CHI St. Anthony in Pendleton,
said in an email. “We are continu-
ing to experience high volumes
of COVID inpatients and Emer-
gency Room patients daily. We
urge everyone to wear their mask
and get vaccinated.”
Health officials have pointed to
the delta variant spreading rapidly
through the county’s unvacci-
nated residents as what’s driving
the surge.
“We’re highly encouraging
people to get the vaccine,” Shafer
said.
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