INSIDE: recap of 2021 pendelton round-up winners | PAGE A10
E O
AST
145th year, No. 144
REGONIAN
Tuesday, sepTember 21, 2021
$1.50
WINNER OF 16 ONPA AWARDS IN 2021
THE WRIGHT MAN
A lifetime of
making the
crowds laugh
record-setting season
continues for stetson
Wright with 3 titles at
pendleton round-up
‘Pinky’ Christopher reflects
on career as a rodeo clown
By ANNIE FOWLER
East Oregonian
PENDLETON — Gerald “Pinky”
Christopher has spent his life making
others laugh. With fritzy eyebrows and
wire-rimmed glasses peeking out from
under his cowboy hat and a mischie-
vous grin crowned by a white horseshoe
mustache, Christopher is the definition of
old school cowboy.
From his red kerchief to his cowboy
boots, the soon-to-be 87-year-old’s life as a
rodeo clown is etched into him. His youth-
ful energy goes against a lifetime spent
helping build the foundations of Oregon
rodeo.
born in Kansas in 1934, Christopher
wasn’t even a year old when he and his
mom, dad, two brothers, and uncle piled
into a Model-A truck and moved across the
country to Oregon, where they settled in
the Willamette Valley. Outside of eugene,
his father owned a ranch that ran up against
the nearby logging camps during World
War II, but sold it and moved to Redmond
after the war ended.
“On Friday I was going to high school
in elmira, Oregon, and monday I was
going to Redmond, Oregon,” Christo-
pher said, “and so I finished high school
in Redmond.”
It was as a senior in high school when
Christopher truly began a lifetime in rodeo.
When visiting Tygh Valley for a rodeo,
he drew War paint — the famous saddle
bronc who won the Professional Rodeo
Cowboys Association Bucking Horse of
the year award in 1956, 1957 and 1958 and
is preserved at the pendleton round-up
Hall of Fame.
By NICK ROSENBERGER
East Oregonian
peNdLeTON — There’s one
thing you’ll find out about Stetson
Wright if you spend more than 10
minutes with him — he does not
brag. He lets his riding do the talking
for him.
The 22-year-old cowboy from
milford, utah, who comes from
a family steeped in rodeo history,
won the saddle bronc and bull riding
titles on saturday, sept. 18, for his
first Pendleton Round-Up titles.
With those titles at the 111th
round-up came the coveted
all-around title — an honor won
a record seven times by Trevor
brazile.
Wright respects brazile, who’s
won 26 world titles, but said he is
nothing like the legendary cowboy.
“I’d like to think of myself as
being the next Stetson Wright,” he
said. “I am totally different than they
are, I go about things differently, and
I am in totally different events.”
Wright, who won the world
all-around titles in 2019 and 2020,
and the bull riding title in 2020,
broke Brazile’s record for all-around
money earned heading into the
NFr. To date, Wright has earned
$308,906.
brazile held the record of
$218,852 in the regular season in
2015.
Wright’s $22,476 all-around
money at Pendleton also broke
Trevor brazile’s 2012 record of
$20,205.
Wright is the first cowboy to win
three pendleton titles in one year
since Lewis Feild won the bareback,
saddle bronc and all-round in 1989
— well before Wright was born.
Ben Lonergan/East Oregonian
See Wright, Page A9
Stetson Wright, of Milford, Utah, poses for a portrait with the East Oregonian trophy after winning
All-Around Cowboy on Saturday, Sept. 18, 2021, at the Pendleton Round-Up.
See Pinky, Page A9
Police patrol quiet Friday night of Round-Up week
pendleton police
department relies
on emphasis team
to quell problems
before they begin
By BRYCE DOLE
East Oregonian
Ben Lonergan/East Oregonian
Calvin Meade, left, a detective with the Umatilla County Sheriff’s Of-
fice, Riley Studebaker, a Hermiston Police patrol corporal, and Joshua
Paullus, a parole and probation officer for Umatilla County Corrections,
patrol Crabby’s Underground Saloon on the evening of Friday, Sept. 17,
2021. The three officers, members of the Pendleton Police Department’s
emphasis team, were among several groups patrolling bars and the
downtown area during the Pendleton Round-Up.
peNdLeTON — It was
a relatively quiet night polic-
ing the crowds that flocked
to downtown pendleton on
Friday, sept. 17.
Teams of law enforce-
ment officials from at least 10
agencies patrolled the streets
through the evening. They
were the emphasis teams, the
patrol units that for the past
several years have worked
to stop crimes before they
happen as crowds fill the bars
at the end of the pendleton
Round-Up week.
by increasing police pres-
ence and keeping in touch with
local bars and restaurants, the
e-teams, in the parlance of the
pendleton police department,
are an effort to take the burden
off local police and keep things
calm as the party rages on.
“It’s morphed into a great
example of collaboration,”
said Rick Jackson, detec-
tive sergeant with pendleton
police.
See Police, Page A9
Kellie Ridenour/Contributed Photo
Retired rodeo clown Gerald “Pinky” Chris-
topher, 87, poses with tribal members on
Thursday, Sept. 16, 2021, at the Pendleton
Round-Up.
Umatilla man experiences breakthrough case of COVID-19
Approx. 49 of 50
hospitalizations in
umatilla County
this year were
unvaccinated
By ERICK PETERSON
East Oregonian
Erick Peterson/East Oregonian
Andrew Morris, of Umatilla, takes a rare step out of
doors Monday, Sept. 20, 2021. He has been sick for
two weeks with a breakthrough case of COVID-19.
u m aT I LL a — Two
weeks af ter cont racting
COVId-19, umatilla resi-
dent Andrew Morris is sick
and feeling more than a little
frustrated. He said he did
everything right, including
getting vaccinated, and he
still became ill.
Morris is one of the unlucky
few breakthrough cases, people
who were vaccinated but came
down with COVId-19 anyway.
“This is worse than any flu
I’ve had,” Morris said.
He had trouble recalling
a comparable illness. After
some thought, he compared it
to epstein-barr virus infection,
which also was painful.
With COVId-19, morris’
body aches. He cannot taste his
food, he cannot smell and his
throat is sore. He spends most
of his days and nights in bed, as
even walking to the bathroom
is difficult.
bedridden, he continuously
questions himself: “What did I
do wrong?”
Joe Fiumara, Umatilla
County Public Health direc-
tor, said roughly 1 out of every
50 people hospitalized with
COVID-19 since January in the
county were vaccinated against
COVID-19, or approximately
49 of 50 hospitalizations in the
county this year were unvacci-
nated.
morris received his first
shot of the moderna vaccine in
March, when it was first avail-
able to him, then followed up
with his second jab in April.
even after the final shot, he
continued to wear masks most
of the time, he washed his
hands frequently and made
regular use of hand wipes.
“Possibly, I let down my
guard,” he said.
See Case, Page A9