OFF PAGE ONE
Thursday, October 7, 2021
East Oregonian
Flight:
Homes:
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Since 2016, JCS has been prepar-
ing students interested in aerospace
to take flight in its New Heights
Aviation Program. Students develop
skills for aeronautics both in the
classroom and through hands-on
experiments and construction of
aircraft. They also are encouraged
to develop skills that are necessary
to be successful in the field such
as communications, logistics and
thinking outside of the box.
Construction of the Career and
Technical Education Building at the
school began in early April 2019.
A Federal Aviation Administra-
tion-approved simulator was added.
Wallowa and Enterprise high school
students and community members
were to be able to use the facilities
by appointment.
Toby Koehn, a former instructor
at JCS, got the program off to its start
in 2016. Primarily a vocational agri-
cultural instructor, he extended the
program into aviation and manufac-
turing/engineering technology.
Koehn, who retired midway
through last year, was followed by
J.D. Clay, who kept the program
going last year, Homan said. The
program was cut back to just one
class because of the COVID-19
pandemic, he said.
Rindfleisch said she has only 15
students in the two aviation classes
— Aviation 1 and Aviation 2 — as
the program was on hold until she
was hired.
“They didn’t know if they were
going to have an aviation teacher, so
they weren’t sure how many classes
they would be able to offer,” she said.
“Hopefully, next year the schedule
will be designed so that the classes
will be available to more.”
The first-year class caters primar-
ily to freshmen and sophomores,
while the second year is for juniors
and seniors.
Aviation background
Rindfleisch always wanted to be a
pilot, but she wanted more than that.
“My dad’s a pilot and he did a lot
of backcountry flying when I was
a kid in Idaho, mostly in the Frank
Church/River of No Return Wilder-
ness,” she said. “We lived about 15
miles upriver from Riggins. … I
wanted to fly. … But I like to under-
stand it. I took ground school in
Hood River. … I told my dad, ‘I
need to know how they work.’ If I
fly in the backcountry and some-
thing breaks down, I need to know
how to fix it.”
That led her to the two-year
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She said the business would need
to consistently exceed $1,000 to get
by. Henshaw said she would need to
cut labor to pay herself. But that’s
not an option. She only has three
employees: her mother, sister and
sister-in-law.
And she has to be extra careful
to not get sick.
“Staffing is just scary in general
with COVID right now,” she said. “I
have to be so careful and so respon-
sible, because if I get sick, this place
has to close, because no one else can
be me right now.”
A national supply shortage has
made things even harder. Henshaw
said she often has to race to Walla
Walla and back to get meat, lemon
juice and many other supplies.
Cases:
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OHSU researchers under-
line that each forecast is just
that — a model based on
data. Each week’s forecast
includes a graph overlaying
prior forecasts.
Graven said the model
was at a “tipping point”
driven by both the resilience
of the virus and weariness
of the population. Oregon
is wobbling in a “fright
and fatigue” cycle in the
pandemic.
When the delta variant
skyrocketed in July, many
parts of the state returned
to masking and limiting
contacts. The slow growth in
immunization rates started to
increase in July and August,
even in counties where
vaccine hesitancy or resis-
tance was widespread.
OHSU said “break-
through” cases of infec-
tion in people who had been
vaccinated has risen to 20%
of new cases. But the worst
outcomes have remained
steady, with stark differ-
ences for the vaccinated and
those who are not. OHSU
Bill Bradshaw/EO Media Group
A metal lathe, left, and a drill press are two of the machines aviation students learn to use in Lexi Rindfleish’s avi-
ation classes at Joseph Charter School.
Aircraft Maintenance Technology
program at Idaho State University
in Pocatello.
“When I moved back to Idaho,
I bought a house … and decided I
was going to go back to school to
continue my education,” she said.
“Eight weeks later, I was accepted
into the program at ISU.”
Rindfleisch was eager to get the
job at Joseph.
“My husband’s cousin, who lives
in Enterprise, said, ‘I’ve got this
perfect job for you.’ So I talked to
Lance Homan, the superintendent
here, and sent him my resume, and
he was like, ‘When can we meet?’”
Her husband, Josh Rindfleisch, is
a freelance videographer/photogra-
pher, she said.
She also is working on her pilot’s
license, but still lacks several hours
in the air before that’s achieved.
The program
Rindfleisch said that even once
she gets her pilot’s license, she’s not
sure she’ll be able to teach flying as
part of the school program. She did
say it’s conceivable she could teach
the ground school portion of learn-
ing to fly.
“I don’t know if that’s some-
thing we can do on school time, but
we may be able to introduce them
to pilot’s certification and if that’s
something they want to do, we could
help them get scholarships,” she said.
“Obviously, that would be working
“I feel like I’m trying to beat all
the other business owners to Cash
& Carry before they take the last
turkey or the last whatever,” she
said.
Henshaw said she wants to give
customers the quality experience
the restaurant has dished out for
years. She isn’t willing to settle for
meager supplies. So, like several
other Pendleton businesses, she’s
upped her prices.
Meanwhile, she’s tried to spread
word about her business, talking
to locals and posting on social
media. She said she continues to be
surprised how many people don’t
know about the business, but said
Pendleton Round-Up week helped
bring notoriety, even if it was stress-
ful and busy.
“I want to eventually start paying
myself,” she said. “I want to get us
T-shirts with the business name on
said unvaccinated people
accounted for 95.5% of
severe cases and more than
99% of deaths.
Those numbers hold up as
September’s 498 COVID-19
deaths statewide make it the
second most deadly month in
the 19-month pandemic.
While hospitalizations
have taken a steep dive, it
is from the highest point in
the COVID-19 crisis. If this
forecast holds up, it will take
over a month just to get below
the peak of the 584 hospital-
izations a day during last
winter’s surge.
The OHSU forecast
pointed to some troubling
areas. Estimated mask usage
dropped from 84% to 81%.
Based on an analysis of
social media traffic, people
are becoming more active
and getting together in larger
groups. With the colder
weather starting to take hold,
researchers worry that will
drive activity indoors, where
the virus can spread more
rapidly.
Vaccinations also slowed
their pace of growth. A quar-
ter of all adult Oregonians —
just less than 1 million people
— remain unvaccinated
more than nine months after
with their families.”
In addition to the simulator —
which still needs to be calibrated
before it’s usable — there are “parts
of” three aircraft in the CTE Build-
ing. One of them is a Fisher Exper-
imental with a Subaru automobile
motor that has been retrofitted for
use in the aircraft.
The students will be learning
about aircraft mechanics in a truly
hands-on way at the school. Rind-
fleisch said that once a plane is
airworthy, the wings can be removed
and it can be taken to the Joseph
State Airport to fly. But that’s still
in the future.
She hopes to see the school’s
aviation program expand to K-12.
“The goal is to expose kids to all
types of aviation, from the mechan-
ics side, the NOAA (National
Oceanic and Atmospheric Adminis-
tration), the weather side, the pilot’s
side, air-traffic control — all of those
pieces,” she said. “That would be a
beginning-aviation course work and
classes and then actually dive into
what they’re really interested in.
Eventually, I’d like this to be a K-12
aviation program.”
Plans for the latter are under-
way.
“We’re already working on little
lesson plans for (younger students)
for this year, but hopefully it will be
something that they do more often,”
she said.
‘Community of aviators’
Two of the students with Rind-
fleisch during the Sept. 23 interview
covered the gamut from “would like
to” take aviation to one who already is.
“I have pilots in my class,” Rind-
fleisch said.
“I remember graduating from
aviation my freshman year,” said Jett
Peterson, who proudly showed off
his student pilot’s license. “It’s just
like a learner’s permit only to fly.”
Savanah Seeley, on the other
hand, has yet to try her wings in the
program.
“I want to take it, but I haven’t
yet,” she said.
The two youths — and the other
aviation students — are part of
an active aviation community in
Wallowa County. Although there
are but the two public airports — in
Joseph and Enterprise — there are
a number of private landing strips
scattered around the county.
“This is such a community of avia-
tors. After I get myself a little more
with them and their vision for it as
well, and where they see themselves
fitting,” Rindfleisch said. “I certainly
am not an expert in all things avia-
tion and I want the people who are
helping, as well, and involved with
the kids and getting them excited. It’s
going to be a community process. In
terms of the ground school, they can
take ground school and take flying
lessons at the same time.”
Ben Lonergan/East Oregonian
Loaves of bread line a shelf Wednesday, Oct. 6, 2021, at Eden’s Kitchen in
Pendleton. The local eatery changed ownership in June.
it. We’ve never had uniforms or
anything. I want to build a brand
COVID-19 vaccines first
became available.
The state is seeing a drop
in infections and hospital-
izations overall. But parts of
Eastern Oregon are seeing an
increase in infections, which
some local health authorities
have tied to outbreaks from
the Pendleton Round-Up in
mid-September.
An exception to the drop
in hospitalizations is Region
7, which includes Deschutes,
Crook, Jefferson, Grant,
Harney, Klamath, Lake and
Wheeler counties. After
showing a decline along with
the rest of the state, hospi-
talizations edged upward
in Region 7 while declines
continued in other regions.
Part of the region has some
of the lowest rates of vacci-
nation in the state. Lake has
the second lowest percent-
age of eligible adults who
have been vaccinated, 41.7%
as of Thursday, according
to Oregon Health Authority
reports.
Grant is one of the four
counties in the state where
less than half of eligible
adults have been vacci-
nated. It’s at 47.1%. Harney,
at 50.3%, just crossed the
threshold last week, nine
for the place. We have big plans.”
Part of those plans is to expand
months after vaccines first
became publicly available.
After seeing two consec-
utive weeks of a decline in
cases, Grant County quadru-
pled in cases from 30 to 116
between the weeks ending
Sept. 15 and Sept. 22. The
case rate per 100,000 people
— a way to measure the
level of infection between
areas with different popula-
tion sizes — was 1,596. The
percentage of tests that were
positive tripled from 5% to
14.6%
The highest infection
rate in the state is in Harney
County, where one out of
every four tests was posi-
tive. Harney’s infection rates
remained high for the month
of September, the the survey
at the end of the month
showed it with a state-lead-
ing 1,675.8 cases per 100,000
people.
Deschutes County has
the fifth highest vaccina-
tion rate in the state at 77%
of eligible adults. Jefferson
is at 62%, while Crook is
58%. The positive infection
rates continue to be high
in all three, according to a
recent OHA County Covid-
19 Community Transmission
Report. Crook is at 15.1%,
A7
With buildable, bare land
hard to come by in Pend-
leton, the city has long
targeted the area for hous-
ing. In February, the coun-
cil agreed to donate land for
the South Hill Commons, a
70-unit affordable apartment
project also located east of
Highway 11. But building
the new road has the poten-
tial to bring an even larger
development. Patterson said
the road and utilities opens
up 250 acres for develop-
ment, estimating developers
could fit 1,500 to as many as
2,100 single family homes.
In comparison, the city of
Pendleton serves 4,800 resi-
dential units currently.
But there’s still hoops to
jump through and questions
that need to be answered
before developers can break
ground on new homes.
“We have a lot of work to
do,” Patterson said.
The city won’t pay any
money for the easements, but
the deal between the city and
the land owners is contin-
gent on the city surveying
the land and documenting
exactly what easements it
needs. Patterson said the
land is a mix of residential,
commercial and light indus-
trial land, and the owners
would need to rezone some
of it before proceeding.
But the city also will
need to determine how to
pay for the road. While the
city is planning to pay for
the booster station with a
Business Oregon grant, the
city is considering several
options on paying for the
road, including securing
an appropriation from one
of the infrastructure bills
being debated in Congress
or having a future developer
reimburse the city for the
costs.
Unlike previous major
developments, the city
isn’t leveraging one of its
own properties for hous-
ing. Patterson said the
land owners are in negoti-
ations with developers on
acquiring their properties,
but when and how the land
will be developed is at their
discretion.
the business to a new section of
the building, which would extend
Eden’s lobby. Henshaw said she
isn’t sure how much that would cost,
but she’s made the expansion a goal.
“We’ve been outgrowing this
building for years,” she said, adding
the current layout often fills with
customers quickly and is too small
to work in.
“It’s really tiny for how much
production we do,” she said.
Growing up in a family where
homemade meals were a tradition
at big family gatherings, Henshaw
has aspired to cooking high-qual-
ity dishes for residents. She said
she has come to care deeply about
the restaurant since becoming an
employee several years ago.
“I know I’m not going to get rich
doing this,” she said. “I just do it
because I love it and I love making
people happy with food.”
Jefferson at 12.1% Deschutes
at 10.8%. The statewide aver-
age is 8.9% and OHA has
said throughout the pandemic
that any positive test rate
above 5% allows for signif-
icant growth in cases.
The statewide impact of
the Pendleton Round-Up
outbreak that began last
month still is not completely
known, state officials said
last week. While many of
the Eastern Oregon counties
have low populations, they
can be a harbinger of new
statewide spikes because
of the large percentage of
unvaccinated residents.
That’s what happened
with the Pendleton Whisky
Music Fest outbreak in July.
With infection rates at a
low point in early summer
and the statewide adult vacci-
nation level near 70%, Gov.
Kate Brown on June 30 lifted
most restrictions on busi-
nesses and events across the
state.
The move came despite
wildly different levels of vacci-
nation and infection among the
32 counties at a time when the
highly contagious delta variant
had swept across the country
and into Oregon.
The Whisky Fest, an
outdoor music event on July
16, attracted up to 12,000
people to Umatilla County.
The county’s vaccination
rate was under 50% at the
time (it’s now 51.5%). An
outbreak of cases after the
event swamped hospitals in
Eastern Oregon and spread
to the rest of the state.
Each rise in infections
targets the most vulnerable,
those who have neither vacci-
nation or exposure.
OSH U puts out an
“Immunity Index,” which
combines the number of
people vaccinated, exposed
to the virus, or both. Some
level of immunity occurs
when a person is infected
with COVID-19 and is
asymptomatic, has more
mild symptoms or has severe
illness but survives. Of the
4.24 million Oregonians of
all ages, OHSU estimates
44% of the population is
vaccinated, 23% have been
infected at some point, and
11% have been vaccinated
and infected. That leaves
23% of the population as
unvaccinated and unin-
fected. These “susceptible”
residents are the ones the
delta variant will continue
to hit the hardest.