A12
OFF PAGE ONE
East Oregonian
Saturday, October 23, 2021
Local man sues West Extension
Irrigation District for $342K
Lawsuit states Oregon
Bureau of Labor
and Industries found
evidence supporting
civil action
By PHIL WRIGHT
East Oregonian
PENDLETON — Wes Brooks
of Pendleton is suing the West
Extension Irrigation District and
its director, Beverly Bridgewater,
claiming the defendants skirted
Oregon law on giving preference
to hiring veterans.
Brooks seeks $342,000 for
economic and noneconomic
damages. Brooks, through attor-
ney Marcus J. Swift of The Dalles,
filed the pleading Wednesday, Oct.
22, in Umatilla County Circuit
Court.
Brooks also is the man involved
in legal disputes with the home
construction company Adair
Homes Inc.
Brooks is a disabled veteran of
the U.S. Army. According to the
lawsuit, Brooks’ “service-con-
nected disability rating is 100%,”
and under Oregon law, he is enti-
tled to veterans’ preferences for
hiring.
Brooks on Jan. 15, 2020, applied
for an irrigation system manager
trainee position with West Exten-
sion, the court pleading states.
Bridgewater the following day
contacted Brooks and requested
more information about his expe-
rience with irrigation, which
Brooks provided. Bridgewater on
Jan. 17 informed Brooks he was
a “mid-range applicant” and the
district would not hire him.
Brooks responded with a public
records request to find out who the
other applicants were.
According to the lawsuit,
Bridgewater held a meeting in mid
to late January 2020 and stated a
district employee, Gary Kroske,
told her how to get around the state
law that requires veterans receive
hiring preference, so she would
hire Kroske’s son, Casey Kroske,
who had recently quit working for
the irrigation district.
The lawsuit does not explain
how Brooks knew about the
meeting, but states Bridgewa-
ter followed through with hiring
Casey Kroske, even though he
lacked previous management
experience.
The lawsuit also claims the
district did not post the positions
were open, did not use a hiring
process and did not implement
any preference for veterans. But
Bridgewater on Jan. 27, 2020, sent
a response to Brooks telling him
the position was closed and the
district would work on developing
a veterans preference policy.
Casey Kroske resigned in
March this year, and Bridgewater
again evaded the veterans hiring
preference, per the lawsuit, and
hired Don Gruber as an irrigation
system operator in June. Gruber
was one of the trainee applicants
in 2020.
As a result of the district and
Bridgewater’s actions, Brooks
continues to suffer economic
damages, according to the plead-
ing, including past and future
lost wages and benefits, and
noneconomic damages, includ-
ing mental anguish and loss of
enjoyment of life. In all, Brooks
seeks $342,000: $92,000 for past
economic damages, with the right
to amend that prior to or at trial,
and $250,000 for the noneconomic
damages.
The lawsuit also states Brooks
filed a complaint with the Oregon
Bureau of Labor and Industries
on June 28, 2020, and on June 29
this year, BOLI issued a “Notice
of Substantial Evidence Deter-
mination” along with a notice of
Brooks’ right to file a lawsuit.
The pleading also states Brooks
and the irrigation district agreed to
the date for filing the lawsuit.
Bridgewater said she could
not comment on the case, but the
Special District Association of
Oregon would represent the irri-
gation district in the case.
Brooks did not return a call
seeking comment by deadline
Oct. 22.
Oregon’s paid family leave program presses on
By PETER WONG
Oregon Capital Bureau
SALEM — Oregon’s program
of paid family leave is still on
track to start in 2023 despite a
complaint alleging discrimination
within the team that is building
the program and several pending
staff departures, including the
program’s acting director.
“We remain on track for the
statutory implementation dates”
of Jan. 1, 2023, for employee and
employer contributions and Sept.
3, 2023, for payment of benefits
under the program, said David
Gerstenfeld, acting director of
the Oregon Employment Depart-
ment.
Gerstenfeld said the complaint
is being investigated by a lawyer
outside state government. He
declined to describe the basis
for the complaint or whether
action has been taken against
any employees as a result. It
also is unclear whether pending
staff departures are related to the
complaint, although Gerstenfeld
said the acting
director said in
August he would
leave by Oct. 31.
Gerhard Taeubel
had come from
the Bureau of
Gerstenfeld
Labor and Indus-
tries, where in 18 years he rose
to be its wage and hour division
director.
“While I can’t talk about an
ongoing investigation, I want
to be clear that these concerns
are something I take extremely
seriously,” Gerstenfeld said.
“Having an objective external
investigation is important to us.
But we are not going to wait on
the outcome of that investigation
to take action toward culture
change within the program.”
Gerstenfeld said he has spoken
with members of the team —
which is a separate division within
the Employment Department —
and will bring in outside experts
in equity, diversity and inclusion
to review people and practices.
He said he expects to fill key posi-
tions, including the director’s job,
by the end of the year.
“Equity and inclusion are not
optional in this agency,” Gersten-
feld said.
“While people leave for vari-
ous reasons, having this many key
people leave makes it clear that
we need to make some changes
— and we are making changes.”
The 2019 Legislature added
Oregon to the ranks of states with
paid medical and family leave.
Lawmakers at their most recent
regular session put off implemen-
tation dates at the agency’s request.
The original law had called for
payroll contributions to start on
Jan. 1, 2022, and benefit payments
on Jan. 1, 2023. The projected split
is 60% from employees and 40%
from employers.
Gerstenfeld himself had led
the agency’s family and medical
leave division from fall 2019 until
May 31, 2020, when Gov. Kate
Brown tapped him to be acting
director of the agency after she
fired Kay Erickson. The agency
faced a record backlog of claims
for unemployment benefits as a
result of the onset of the corona-
virus pandemic. Gerstenfeld had
led the unemployment insurance
division, which oversees unem-
ployment benefits, from 2011 to
2019.
Gerstenfeld said the agency has
proceeded with a series of virtual
meetings to hear public comments
about the rules for the program. He
also said elements of the program,
such as employee and employer
contributions and benefit payments,
are being integrated into the agen-
cy’s computer modernization proj-
ect now underway.
“It is a rare opportunity to
build a program from the ground
up,” he said, without barriers to
people who have been historically
underserved.
Six states — California,
Massachusetts, New Jersey, New
York, Rhode Island and Wash-
ington — and Washington, D.C.
have similar programs. Connecti-
cut is set to start in early 2022,
followed by Oregon in 2023, then
Colorado in 2024.
Oregon struggling again to recover from COVID-19 spike
By GARY A. WARNER
Oregon Capital Bureau
SALEM — A week after fore-
castig the state might reach herd
immunity from COVID-19 by
Christmas, top state researchers
this week said progress on taming
the current spike in infections has
slowed.
The weekly Oregon Health
& Science University forecast,
issued late Thursday, Oct. 21, said
state hospitalizations driven by
the highly contagious delta vari-
ant won’t fall below 400 until
Thanksgiving.
Dr. Peter Graven, the lead
health metric forecaster for the
state’s top medical research
university, said people in Oregon
were returning to higher risk
Booster:
Continued from Page A1
“Certainly, from my point
of view, I really appreciated
that we were finally able to
look at, consider, and recom-
mend a mix-and-match
approach as part of our way
to boost people’s immunity,
especially for the people
who need it,” said Dr. Wilbur
Chen, professor of medicine
at University of Maryland
during the meetings closing
statements.
The panel heard testimony
and findings from several
experts in the field about
the efficacy of booster shots.
Studies had shown that the
efficacy of both the Moderna
and Pfizer vaccines had
waned over time, prompting
questions about instituting a
third dose to help wake up the
immune system and keep it
alert to COVID-19 infections.
Data presented by experts
showed the vaccine boosters
— especially the Johnson &
Johnson vaccine — provided
additional immunity to
COVID-19 on top of the
immunity provided in the
behaviors such as large indoor
gatherings faster than was
expected.
Combined with more small
group socialization, colder
weather bringing activities
indoors where contagion is more
likely, less adherence to mask
wearing and social distancing,
and a still tepid pace of vacci-
nation are pushing recovery into
2022.
“Fatigue is setting in,” Graven
said in a statement on the new
forecast. “The overall masking
rate is staying high, but other
behaviors are back to pre-surge
levels and that is going to gener-
ate more infections.”
Graven had said Oct. 17 that
177,000 more infections and up
to 700 more deaths would occur
one and two-shot series. The
Johnson & Johnson vaccine,
in particular, benefited
dramatically from the booster
shot, showing a nearly 94%
efficacy rate as compared to
far lower initial rate of 71%
against COVID-19 hospital-
izations, bringing it in line
with the Pfizer and Moderna
offerings.
“Vaccines don’t save lives,
but vaccinations do,” Dr.
Grace Lee, chair of the Advi-
sory Committee on Immuni-
zation Practices, said during
the meeting. “Our recom-
mendations are one step of
the way, but it’s going to be
so important, as everyone
mentioned, that in our imple-
mentation, patients are truly
educated about the benefit
risk balance based on their
own personal situation.”
The CDC panel also
weighed data regarding the
risk of vaccines — with
contributing experts citing a
growing number of reports
about rare systemic side
effects of vaccination such
as Guillain-Barre syndrome,
blood clots, and myocardi-
tis — an inflammation of the
muscle.
The panel spent consider-
before the state reached the level
where 85% of people are either
vaccinated or have been exposed
to the virus.
Now, those numbers are likely
too low.
Adding to the delay are reports
of waning efficacy of the initial
round of vaccines. Graven reduced
the forecast’s presumed rate of
vaccine efficacy from 95% to 90%
based on published estimates.
Putting the behaviors and
revised vaccine data together
shows 24% of the state now is
susceptible to infection.
The Oregon Health Author-
ity on Oct. 22 gave the green
light for booster shots of vaccines
following guidelines set out by the
federal health agencies.
Graven said the data he and his
team received revealed unvacci-
nated people were more likely to
visit restaurants and go to a large
event than those who are vacci-
nated.
Just under half of people who
are unvaccinated wear masks as
required in many situations under
an Aug. 13 state directive. That’s
compared to 89% of vaccinated
people.
“Unvaccinated people are
much more likely to report not
wearing a mask at all, which may
be their only defense against a
highly contagious virus,” Graven
said.
A total of 567 people state-
wide remained hospitalized for
COVID-19 as of Oct. 21, the fore-
cast said, citing Oregon Health
Authority statistics.
Race:
Continued from Page A1
Bower said Roach’s work with East-
ern Oregon Business Source is sepa-
rate from her work on the campaign.
With the latter, Bower said Roach
has provided web design and graphic
work in addition to ordering campaign
material.
Timmons, who co-owns Marv’s
Glass Shop in Milton-Freewater, has
raised nearly $3,000 while spending
a little more than $2,500. Like Bower,
Timmons expected to do a mixture
of self-funding and fundraising and
she expects her campaign to be finan-
cially in-line with recent history. Early
donors include Charles Danforth and
Paul Seaquist, both of MIlton-Free-
water.
Timmons said it was early to start
campaigning, but one of her largest
expenditures, a booth at the Umatilla
County in August, was “worth every
penny.”
“When you have a booth at the fair,
you have access to everyone,” she said.
Commissioner Dan Dorran, the
newest member on the county board,
got an early start on fundraising in
his successful effort to win the open
Position 3 seat in 2020. He opened his
campaign account in November 2019
and would go on to spend more than
$26,000.
But in 2018, Position 2 Commis-
sioner John Shafer didn’t start raising
money until February of that year. He
still managed to raise nearly $22,000
to unseat incumbent Larry Givens.
Shafer has filed to run for reelection
in 2022. No one has filed to run against
him so far and he hasn’t reported any
contributions or expenditures in 2021.
With Murdock of Position 1 retir-
ing at the end of the year, Bower and
Timmons are also joined by Alvin
Young, a manager at Elmer’s Irrigation
& Supplies in Hermiston. Young does
not have a political action committee
registered with the Oregon Secretary
of State.
Candidates have until March 8,
2022, to join the race for either Posi-
tion 1 or Position 2. Should the Position
1 race retain all its candidates or grow
further, then all candidates will run
in the May 17 primary. The top two
vote-getters will advance to a runoff
during the Nov. 8, 2022, general elec-
tion. Should any of the races feature
two or less candidates, the races will
skip the May primaries and county
voters will cast ballots on the candi-
dates during the general election.
Sams:
Continued from Page A1
“Indigenous people are protecting
Indigenous culture,” he said.
Oaster said the story of the Shoshone
and the other tribes displaced to make
way for national parks is untold at the
parks themselves, even as the park
system claims to protect and preserve
their cultures.
“That’s where they want Indigenous
people to be,” he said. “That’s where the
national park system has tried to push
Indigenous people: into a static past.”
Oaster told OPB that Sams could be
a good fit for tribes looking to have a
greater stake in modern-day National
Park Service decision making.
“Who better to facilitate that?” they
said. “That’s part of his background
and expertise, in treaties and sovereign
government-to-government relation-
ships.”
Oaster said co-management agree-
ments have worked elsewhere, pointing
to the Australian federal government,
which co-manages its national parks
with the country’s Indigenous peoples.
Alex Wittwer/EO Media Group, File
A nurse administers a COVID-19 vaccine to a student at Eastern Oregon University, La Grande,
on May 4, 2021. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention voted Thursday, Oct. 21,
to recommend Moderna and Johnson & Johnson vaccine booster shots.
able time going over rates of
myocarditis and pericarditis
symptoms following a second
dose of Moderna and Pfizer
vaccines, particularly among
young males who received
the mRNA vaccines.
Dr. John R. Su, a member
of ACIP, noted the incidents
of symptoms of myocarditis
were higher than background
incidences of the self-same
symptom, but the incidence
rate was approximately 1 in 1
million for developing symp-
toms, but could affect up to
100 per 1,000,000 in young
males. The experts further
noted 77% of patients recov-
ered from their symptoms.
A National Institutes of
Health study cited in the
presentation stated mix-and-
match booster shots showed
no increase in risk compared
to instances when vaccines
of the same type were given.
Those risks of myocarditis
and Guillain-Barre syndrome
were statistically insignificant
when compared to using the
same vaccine for both doses.
Experts who spoke to the
panel noted the public should
be aware of the risks and
benefits associated with the
vaccine.
Second doses of the
Joh nson & Joh nson
vaccine, which had previ-
ously been stopped due to
a rare blood clotting disor-
der, showed a significantly
smaller prevalence rate of
clots following a second
dose. Incident rates of
blood clots stood at 15.1
cases per million follow-
ing the first dose and 1.9
cases per million after the
second.
The panel heard data that
showed vaccine boosters
from Moderna and Pfizer-Bi-
oNTech produced the highest
levels of immunity, while the
Johnson & Johnson booster
provided the least amount of
protection.
Vaccines are available
at no cost at several loca-
tions. Specific locations
for vaccines can be found
at online at www.vaccines.
gov/search/, or via your local
pharmacy.