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REGION, A3
E O
AST
REGONIAN
145th Year, No. 146
SEPTEMBER 25-26, 2021
$1.50
WINNER OF 16 ONPA AWARDS IN 2021
‘IT’S BEEN A LIVING HELL’
Legal case continues
for local man and
housing company
By NICK ROSENBERGER
East Oregonian
Ben Lonergan/East Oregonian, File
PENDLETON — Two-and-
a-half years on and Wes
Brooks, a disabled veteran,
and Adair Homes Inc., a
homebuilding company based
in Washington State, remain
locked in a legal battle over a
home the company built near
Pendleton.
Brooks and his wife, Ashley,
contracted with the company in
December 2017 to build a house
after a fi re tore through their
previous home. But he said
things weren’t going right with
Adair Homes from the start.
“We tried to stop the build,”
Brooks said, “and they wouldn’t
let us because of the contract
that we signed. They reassured
us several times, ‘this all will
get fi xed, you won’t have any
issues.’”
But, a litany of unaddressed
issues with the house has
continued to plague the couple
and their two young children,
Jaxx and Raiden. From uneven
walls and house siding that fl ies
off in the wind to incomplete
floors and uneven trim, the
problems are apparent as soon
as you step foot in the house.
“It’s been a living hell,”
Brooks said.
When Brooks decided
to create the public Face-
book group Quality of Adair
Homes’ Reviews to publicize
his complaints, the company
responded with a defama-
Galen Thompson, left, a registered nurse at
St. Anthony Hospital, receives her initial dose
of the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine on Dec. 28,
2020, from infection prevention nurse Tracy
Wart at the hospital in Pendleton. According
to the Oregon Health Authority, more than
a quarter of health care workers in Umatilla,
Union and Morrow counties remain unvac-
cinated ahead of Gov. Kate Brown’s Oct. 18,
2021, vaccine mandate deadline.
Health crisis
in the making?
Ben Lonergan/East Oregonian
Wes and Ashley Brooks pose for a portrait with their children Jaxx and Raiden on Thursday, Sept.
23, 2021, in front of their Adair Homes built house in rural Umatilla County. The Brooks have been
stuck in a protracted legal battle with Adair Homes over the construction of the home and Brooks’
decision to speak out against Adair’s construction practices.
tion lawsuit for $550,000 in
damages.
According to the lawsuit,
the company alleges Brooks
has “instituted an active smear
campaign against Adair” with
his Facebook group.
The lawsuit states Brooks
created a Facebook page
improperly using Adair’s
trademarked name and that it
contains false and inaccurate
statements. Adair said some of
these false statements include
that the HVAC system was
incorrectly sized and insuffi -
cient for the home, that “Adair
is ripping them off by their
subcontractor’s fudging the
numbers” and items still are
not fi xed because Brooks told
the company to take no action.
On Monday, Sept. 20,
Brooks fi led an answer in the
Umatilla County Circuit Court
denying these allegations.
In an interview, Brooks said
he never made a comment that
HVAC system was incorrectly
sized or insuffi cient. Instead,
“My argument was that the
HVAC system wasn’t what we
had purchased in the original
plans,” he said.
As for the subcontractor
“fudging the numbers,” Brooks
said it was not
a statement
he made.
Instead,
it was a
subcontractor who got on the
Facebook group and posted a
screenshot of a text exchange
he had with an Adair superin-
tendent who he claimed shorted
him $3,500. Brooks said he
commented on the post to clar-
ify the subcontractor’s message.
And while it’s true that items
still are not fi xed, Brooks said
he told them that he’d prefer the
subcontractors stopped because
they were doing more damage
every time they came to work.
“They would come out
to rip out the kitchen floor
and then damage the wall as
they’re doing it,” he said. “So
I was getting kind of tired of it
because they kept sending the
same subcontractors out every
time.”
See Home, Page A9
Ben Lonergan/East Oregonian
Several siding planks sit loose or
missing on Thursday, Sept. 23,
2021, the side of Wes Brooks’
home in rural Umatilla
County. According to
Brooks, the siding
blanks have blown
away in the wind
and continue to
come loose and
drop off .
Oct. 18 deadline for health
care workers comes at critical
time in Umatilla County
By BRYCE DOLE
East Oregonian
PENDLETON — Eastern Oregon’s health
care system could see a mass exodus of work-
ers come Oct. 18, the deadline for Gov. Kate
Brown’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate.
More than a quarter of all health care work-
ers in Umatilla, Union and Morrow counties
remain unvaccinated, according to the Oregon
Health Authority. All would be fi red or forced
to resign under the mandate.
“It’s like a big game of chicken,” said Dr.
Jon Hitzman, Umatilla County’s public health
offi cer. “Who’s going to relent fi rst?”
Hospitals across the three counties say they
are working to comply with the mandate, but
none would disclose any specifi c plans for how
they would adjust or alter operations if there is
a shortage of workers.
“We understand this new requirement
has been welcomed by some and has caused
great concern for others,” said Mardi Ford,
spokesperson for Grande Ronde hospital in
La Grande. “While we value every one of our
employees and support their right to make
that choice; as a private, not-for-profi t Critical
Access Hospital, we must follow this govern-
ment directive to continue caring for our
community. We do not want to lose a single
member of our team.”
Regional hospital offi cials in recent months
have said they already were struggling with
a shortage of workers. Staff have said they
are exhausted after the delta variant ripped
through the region, hospitalizing large swaths
of unvaccinated people. In Umatilla County,
the unvaccinated have accounted for about
49 out of every 50 hospitalizations this year,
according to county data.
Hitzman said he’s concerned a mass layoff
would only exacerbate the problems the
healthcare system is facing during the latest
pandemic surge.
See Crisis, Page A9
A changing demographic
Trades, too, are
having a tough time
fi nding workers
By BILL BRADSHAW
AND ALEX WITTWER
EO Media Group
WALLOWA COUNTY
— It’s no secret that employ-
ers across the state are
struggling to fi nd workers.
Business owners collec-
tively furrow their brow at
the trickle of job applications
as more and more businesses
open and the share of work-
ers seems to be vanishing into
thin air.
For some, that means clos-
ing restaurants entirely — but
far more often the eff ects of a
tightening labor market mean
that expansion of operations
becomes diffi cult.
“It’s pretty much across
all industries,” said Stacy
Beckman, general manager
of Wallowa County Grain
Growers in Enterprise.
“Managers I’ve talked to are
having diffi culty trying to get
help.”
He said the business he
runs didn’t actually lose any
workers to the pandemic, but
expanding his workforce has
been a challenge.
“Trying to add (workers)
is tough,” he said. “It’s even
tougher in a smaller commu-
nity like we are.”
Cindy Ellis, who owns and
EDITOR’S NOTE
This is the fourth in a
fi ve-part series by EO Media
Group looking at the issue of
the lack of workers for jobs in
Central and Eastern Oregon
— why workers are not
returning to previously held
jobs and how businesses are
pivoting to function without
being fully staff ed.
operates Heavenly's Restau-
rant in Enterprise, switched
to takeout only when the
pandemic fi rst struck, but was
able to resume indoor seating
as businesses were allowed
to reopen. But then reliable
employees became scarce.
“We had to cut our indoor
Bill Bradshaw/Wallowa County Chieftain
Cindy Ellis, co-owner of Heavenly's Restaurant in Enterprise,
greets customers through the takeout window Sept. 15,
2021. At times, takeout has been the only way Heavenly’s
Restaurant could serve, partially due to the lack of employ-
ees to man the inside seating.
seating because someone we
hired didn’t show,” she said.
Ellis said Heavenly's
Restaurant was open for
indoor seating when inter-
viewed on Thursday, Sept. 16.
“We got a lot of folks from
Elgin,” she said, and despite
a small workforce, “we were
swamped.”
See Workers, Page A9