WEEKEND EDITION
OCTOBER 16-17, 2021
146th Year, No. 1
$1.50
WINNER OF 16 ONPA AWARDS IN 2021
INSIDE
MIDWIFERY PRACTICE OPENS IN WALLOWA COUNTY A2
REMEMBERING RON MARTIN
‘THIS WAS HIS COMMUNITY.
THESE WERE HIS NEIGHBORS.’
By BRYCE DOLE
East Oregonian
PENDLETON — More than 100 people
gathered Wednesday, Oct. 13, in the Pendle-
ton Convention Center in commemoration of
Ron Martin, longtime owner of the Pendle-
ton Pioneer Chapel, Folsom-
Bishop funeral home, who
died Oct. 4. He was 69.
Mourners remembered
Martin as someone who
always went above and
beyond to help friends,
family and people who he
Martin
didn’t even know.
Martin was a member of Rotary, the Elks
and Eagles lodges, an active volunteer at
programs and events and supporter of the
Veterans of Foreign Wars. He won many
awards for his service in Pendleton, includ-
ing a Pendleton First Citizens award in 2018.
“He was always there,” said Pastor Chris
Clemons, of the Pendleton Church of the
Nazarene. “He was always involved. And
he was involved because he wanted to be.”
Martin’s casket sat at the front of the
center’s main corridor. The high-ceilinged
room was decorated with orange, red, yellow
and white fl owers. His guitar sat propped
in front of the casket. A painting of horses
looking toward green fi elds among moun-
tains in the sunlight hung above the place
where Martin’s closest friends and family
shared their memories.
Wally Ordeman, executive director of
the Oregon Funeral Directors Association,
said Martin was somebody who understood
the death care industry better than almost
anyone else; Martin expertly guided clients
through pain and grief. Several people who
attended the service said Martin was some-
one who showed up to comfort grieving
community members in the late hours of
the evening.
See Martin, Page A11
By BRYCE DOLE
East Oregonian
hospital has reported a sharp spike
in patients hospitalized with the
virus since the outbreak.
“We were really hopeful that,
if people stayed home and didn’t
spread these cases around, that we
would see a quick drop,” Fiumara
said. “And it looks like we’re
seeing that, which is very good.”
For nearly three consecutive
months, the county saw at least
350 cases each week as hospitals
were slammed with patients. Since
May 1, 90% of patients hospital-
ized with COVID-19 in Umatilla
County have been unvaccinated,
according to data from the county
health department.
PENDLETON — Umatilla Coun-
ty’s new mental health and substance
abuse provider is more than halfway
up-and-running
Kimberly Lindsay, the executive
director for Community Counsel-
ing Solutions said in an interview
the Heppner-based nonprofi t began
its substance abuse services for the
county Sept. 1 and is on track to
begin mental health services Dec. 1.
“There’s not any one thing that
hasn’t happened or is in the works,”
Lindsay said.
Sixteen employees of the county’s
former alcohol and drug program
now have started working at CCS,
Lindsay said. And of the 95 posi-
tions that make up the provider’s
mental health services, there are 19
vacancies that will either need to be
fi lled or are in the process of being
fi lled.
“It’s not great, because it’s hard
to fill these positions,” Lindsay
said. “Across the universe, it seems
like there’s not enough employees.
But the number of opportunities
for people in Umatilla County has
increased because we’re doing more
of our work local.”
That means only two of Lifeways’
former Umatilla County employees
have not transitioned, county offi -
cials say.
Lifeways, a mental health
provider that served the county for
more than 16 years, lost its contract
with the county in May when the
county chose Community Counsel-
ing Solutions to be the fi rst contrac-
tor, combining mental health and
substance abuse services under one
umbrella.
Lindsay said a few of the vacant
positions are ones CCS created,
including a “law enforcement liai-
son” that will serve as a bridge
between local police and the provid-
er’s mental health professionals.
Several law enforcement offi cials
across the county have previously
said they were overburdened with
mental health calls due to care facil-
ities closing and services shifting in
recent years. Lindsay said she hopes
the new position will help repair
what she described as a “damaged
relationship” between law enforce-
ment agencies and mental health
care in the county.
“The quality of care was concern-
ing,” she said.
See Cases, Page A11
See CCS, Page A11
Kathy Aney/East Oregonian
Funeral director Kevin Loveland pauses a moment while speaking about Ron Martin at Martin’s
funeral Wednesday, Oct. 13, 2021, at the Pendleton Convention Center.
247 COVID-19 cases linked to Round-Up
Cases on decline, but
COVID-19 has killed
at least 48 county
residents since July
By BRYCE DOLE
East Oregonian
PENDLETON — Coronavirus
cases in Umatilla County are on a
steady decline, but the number of
cases connected to the Pendleton
Round-Up continues to increase.
Data from the Umatilla County
Public Health Department and
Yellowhawk Tribal Health Center
on the Umatilla Indian Reservation
show at least 247 cases have been
linked to the week-long rodeo.
County’s
contractor
tracking
to provide
full services
by Dec. 1
Cases from the event spread
across at least seven counties and
two states besides Oregon, health
officials reported. But the vast
majority of cases — 225 — were
among Umatilla County residents,
Umatilla County Public Health
Director Joe Fiumara said.
Still, after a brief but signifi -
cant spike in cases following an
outbreak tied to the Round-Up,
the county, like much of Oregon,
has seen cases drop day by day
for nearly two weeks, according
to data from the Oregon Health
Authority.
Umatilla County reported just
27 cases on Friday, Oct. 15, the
lowest daily total since mid-July,
and county has been averaging
roughly 50 new confi rmed and
presumptive COVID-19 cases
daily, according to OHA data.
That’s the lowest average in
three weeks. It remains possible
Umatilla County could have its
lowest case count in nearly three
months, according to state data
and Fiumara.
“Something would have to
drastically change for us not to
report a pretty good decline in
cases,” Fiumara said. “It’s kind
of the best case scenario for us
coming off the spike from the
Round-Up.”
The county is fortunate the
spike did not continue for any
longer than it did, Fiumara noted,
even though at least one regional
Sams makes good on early promise
By ANTONIO SIERRA
East Oregonian
Kathy Aney/East Oregonian, File
Chuck Sams, then the communications director for the Confederated Tribes
of the Umatilla Indian Reservation, gives local high school students some
insight on tribal history and beliefs in 2018. Sams now is President Joe
Biden’s nominee to direct the National Park Service. His confi rmation hear-
ing is Tuesday, Oct. 19, 2021.
MISSION — In an announce-
ment setting a date for the confi rma-
tion hearing for President Joe Biden’s
nominee for National Park Service
director, the Senate Committee
on Energy and Natural Resources
referred to him as Charles F. Sams III.
But to the people he’s worked with
over several decades in Oregon and
on the Umatilla Indian Reservation,
he’s just Chuck.
On Tuesday, Oct. 19, Sams will
begin his public quest to convince
at least 50 senators to confirm him
to the U.S. Department of Inte-
rior position. If the Senate obliges,
Sams will become the first Amer-
ican Indian to hold the job in the
service’s 105-year history.
While Sams, an enrolled member
of the Confederated Tribes of the
Umatilla Indian Reservation, built
his local reputation as a leader
in tribal government, he will be
managing an agency that operates
on a much larger scale. The CTUIR
encompasses three tribes, a 172,000-
acre reservation, more than 3,000
members and as recently as 2018
employed nearly 1,800 people. In
comparison, a 20,000-person work-
force staff s the park service, which
spans 423 locations and 85 million
acres.
But to those who grew up and
worked with Sams on the reservation,
his appointment to a top position in a
presidential administration came as
no surprise.
See Sams, Page A11