INSIDE: ODFW approves killing two wolves in Umatilla County | PAGE A3
E O
AST
145th Year, No. 150
REGONIAN
TUESDAY, OCTOBER 5, 2021
$1.50
WINNER OF 16 ONPA AWARDS IN 2021
Cases decline
slightly after
Round-Up
spike eases
By BRYCE DOLE
East Oregonian
Ben Lonergan/East Oregonian
A covered wagon ferries
attendees at the Morrow
County Harvest Festival Sat-
urday, Oct. 2, 2021, at the
SAGE Center in Boardman.
CELEBRATING THE SEASON
The Morrow County Harvest Festival was a success, organizer says
By ERICK PETERSON
East Oregonian
BOARDMAN — More than
1,000 people showed up Saturday,
Oct. 2, for the return of the Morrow
County Harvest Festival.
The SAGE Center in Board-
man was the site for the eighth
festival, which went on hiatus in
2020 due to the pandemic. Harvest
Festival ran 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., and
Breena Beck, SAGE Center assis-
tant manager, said she was happy
to bring back the Harvest Festival
for its eighth year and set an atten-
dance goal of 1,000.
Attendance neared that mark by
2 p.m.
“We’re so excited to be back in
full force,” Beck said.
Pleasant weather — tempera-
tures were in the 70s — helped
make the Harvest Festival a
success, according to Beck, and
the vendors created fun for people.
New vendors included sign makers,
jewelers and clothing makers. Beck
said she believes lockdowns may
have inspired people.
“I think the quarantines have
brought out the makers in all of
us,” she said.
The number of returning
vendors was another point of pride,
Beck said.
Around 30 vendors — including
general vendors, food vendors and
volunteer groups at Kid’s Corner
— participated in the festival.
That was a drop from 2019, when
40 vendors set up, although Beck
said the decline was expected as
Harvest Festival was using only its
outdoor space. Organizers closed
off the inside area because of the
pandemic.
Live music, mule-drawn wagon
rides, food and children’s activi-
ties were present. There also was
a pinewood derby race, which
was new to the festival. Sponsors
included Amazon Web Services,
Ben Lonergan/East Oregonian
Makenzie Karl, 10, ropes a plastic steer Saturday, Oct. 2, 2021, during the annual Morrow County Harvest
Festival at the SAGE Center in Boardman.
Lamb Weston, Threemile Canyon
Farms and Wildhorse Resort &
Casino.
Sierra Simmons, Irrigon High
School sophomore, was among
local 4-H members who were in
attendance. Simmons was show-
ing goats and cattle, which she
described as “pretty fun.” She said
she especially liked introducing the
animals to small children who had
never seen such critters up close.
Harold Rietmann, Ione resi-
dent and self-described hobby-
ist, brought his woodcrafts to the
Harvest Festival. Among the items
he was selling were earrings and
necklaces. He said he started this
work in the 1980s and began sell-
ing his products at events in 2010.
See Festival, Page A9
PENDLETON — Umatilla County
health offi cials have traced nearly 180
COVID-19 cases to events that occurred
during the week of the Pendleton
Round-Up.
But the initial spike in cases that
followed the week-long rodeo seem to
be on a slight decline, said Umatilla
County Public Health Director Joe
Fiumara.
“I’m hoping we’ve gotten past the
initial bump,” Fiumara said after report-
ing the 179 cases. “Time will tell. It will
be important for people who are sick to
stay home.”
Cou nt y
Unvaccinated
of f icials
w e r e
people
expecting
account
to report a
for 85% of
record-high
COVID-19
COVID-19
case count
cases linked
last week,
but as the
to outbreak
week wore
on , ca se
counts began to lower. Last week’s
total amounted to 487 cases, making it
the county’s third most infectious week
since the pandemic started.
It’s a positive sign after an alarming
initial bump in cases, Fiumara said, but
infection rates remain far higher than
they were before the delta variant surge
began in mid-July.
“It’s hard to be happy with cases
dropping to 50 or 60 each day,” Fiumara
said.
The decrease, Fiumara said, also
doesn’t mean increased COVID-19
hospitalizations and deaths won’t
follow, as they have after previous
pandemic surges.
“Both of our hospitals have seen
cases and hospitalizations go up a little,”
Fiumara said of Good Shepherd Medi-
cal Center, Hermiston, and CHI St.
Anthony Hospital, Pendleton.
Harry Geller, St. Anthony’s pres-
ident, said in an email that the hospi-
tal has seen a “signifi cant increase”
in patients admitted to its emergency
department during the past two weeks.
Staff are treating between 45 to 55
patients per day.
“During normal times, we average
32 patients per day,” Geller said.
As of Monday, Oct. 4, 10 out of the
hospital’s 18 in patients had COVID-19.
“With 25 inpatient beds set up and
staffed, we have not yet gone over
capacity,” Geller said. “We’ve come
close on many occasions, but so far, so
good.”
Unvaccinated account for 85%
of cases from Round-Up
Ben Lonergan/East Oregonian
Painted pumpkins sit below an irrigation line Saturday, Oct. 2,
2021, at the SAGE Center in Boardman during the Morrow County
Harvest Festival.
Data provided by the county health
department late last week showed
85% of COVID-19 cases traced to the
week-long rodeo were among unvacci-
nated people. Health offi cials have said
some of the cases came from people
who had COVID-19 symptoms prior
to Round-Up but still chose to come.
See Cases, Page A9
Redistricting draws new lines, new questions
By ANTONIO SIERRA
East Oregonian
UMATILLA COUNTY — Redis-
tricting made little change to North-
eastern Oregon’s political trajectory.
Congressionally and legislatively,
Republicans will continue represent-
ing Umatilla and Morrow counties
into the foreseeable future.
But the Legislature ended its
session in acrimony as Republicans
alleged Democratic gerrymandering
and a broken promise from House
Speaker Tina Kotek. While most of
the political battles were over how to
divide the growing Willamette Valley
and Central Oregon regions, state
Rep. Greg Smith, R-Heppner, became
directly involved when he secured a
last-minute appointment to the House
redistricting committee.
Smith explained his role on the
committee and how he viewed the
contentious end to the special session.
A 20-year veteran of the House,
Smith and the rest of the Legisla-
ture made signifi cant changes to his
district and opened up new questions
about a potential confl ict of interest.
What changed?
Starting in 2022, residents living
on the south side of Milton-Freewa-
ter’s Southeast Eighth Street will
have a diff erent legislative represen-
tative in the Oregon House of Repre-
sentatives than those who live on its
north side.
It’s one of the more unusual
changes to the state’s new legisla-
tive maps, which the Oregon Legis-
lature approved and Gov. Kate
Brown signed Sept. 27. The House
map maintains the east-west split in
Umatilla County that was introduced
in 2011, but moves around some of
the lines.
House District 58, represented
by state Rep. Bobby Levy of Echo,
is largely unchanged. The new 58
swaps Helix for Stanfi eld with neigh-
boring District 57 and gains a south-
ern section of Milton-Freewater. But
besides some of those minor alter-
ations, District 58 retains the rest of
eastern Umatilla County as well as
the entirety of Union and Wallowa
counties.
The changes to District 57 are
more drastic.
Smith’s district retains the north-
ern part of Milton-Freewater and
gains Helix in Umatilla County while
adding Wheeler County, almost all
the land in Wasco County outside of
The Dalles and Mosier and sections
of Jeff erson, Marion and Clackamas
counties that are largely aligned with
the Warm Springs Reservation.
With House districts 57 and 58
combining to form Senate District 29,
state Sen. Bill Hansell’s constituency
now stretches from where the Oregon,
Idaho and Washington borders meet
to well into the Columbia River
Gorge. An east-west trip from one
side of Hansell’s district to the other
would span more than 300 miles by
road, a nearly seven hour trip by car.
Congressionally, Umatilla and
Morrow counties will remain in the
conservative 2nd District. Legisla-
tors made the district even redder
by moving Bend and Hood River
to diff erent districts while adding a
section of Douglas County and the
entirety of Josephine County.
See Redistricting, Page A9