OFF PAGE ONE
Thursday, October 28, 2021
East Oregonian
A7
Lawsuit:
Continued from Page A1
East Oregonian, File
Randy Severe, then president of the Pendleton Round-Up, rides around the arena Thursday, Sept. 16, 2010, during the opening ceremo-
ny of the Pendleton Round-Up. The Pendleton saddlemaker started feeling ill Sept. 18, 2021, and had to receive treatment at a Portland
hospital, including being on a ventilator.
Severe:
Continued from Page A1
Severe’s wife, Rosemary,
and their fi ve children fi nally
got a look at Randy after a
nurse initiated a video call with
Jarad Severe, who connected his
mom and four siblings. On their
screens, they saw Randy, laying
on his stomach in his hospital
bed, tubes everywhere, with
the side of his face visible to the
camera. His back rose and fell
with each breath.
They took turns talking to
Randy, believing that down
deep he could hear them.
“We just told him about our
days and how his grandkids
were doing,” Jodi said. “We
talked about how we were miss-
ing him and how he needed to
hurry up and get better.”
Finally they were allowed
to see him in person. Rose-
mary stays close to Randy. Her
fi ve children trade off driving
to Portland and spending time
with their father. Ryan and
Darci Burgener travel from their
homes in Washington, and Ryan
Severe comes from Utah. Darla
and Jodi drive from Pendleton.
It is hard to see such a strong
and active man in such a state,
they said. For years, Severe has
built trophy saddles for champi-
ons of the Pendleton Round-Up.
He has volunteered at the rodeo
since he was a boy, when his job
was to remove rocks from the
arena.
Severe, past president of the
Round-Up Association, hosts
numerous cowboys at the bunk-
house on the second fl oor of his
saddle shop each Round-Up
week. Photos of hundreds of
rodeo cowboy guests adorn the
bunkhouse walls. The gallery
includes a shot of Casey Tibbs,
who is credited with christen-
ing the bunkhouse as Hotel
de Cowpunch and hanging a
sign with the moniker. This
year was no diff erent than the
others. Severe interacted light-
heartedly with this year’s crop
of cowboys and fixed their
banged-up saddles. On Thurs-
day of Round-Up, the Severe
Family Band held a jam session
in the saddle shop surrounded
by enthusiastic rodeo cowboys.
The band includes Randy on
guitar, Jodi, Darla and Darci on
fi ddle, Jarad on bass guitar and
grandson Ty Liddle on guitar
and spoons. Ryan is sound man.
At the rodeo this year, he
volunteered by serving as some-
thing of a utility player, fi lling
in where necessary. Mostly, he
sat in the stands and watching
rodeo action and, on the last
day, cowboys being awarded the
four trophy saddles that Severe
had created. Amazingly, one
cowboy, Stetson Wright, won
three of the four saddles after
winning bull riding, bronc
riding and all-around title.
In the wake of a wonderful
Round-Up week, Randy tried to
ignore an annoying cough and a
sense of fatigue. He went to work
Sept. 20, but came home early.
On a Sept. 21, he did the same.
The next fi ve days, he didn’t try
to work. Finally, a trip to the
hospital drove home the reality
the delta variant can topple even
someone with Severe’s level of
cowboy toughness.
Jarad, the family point man,
has chronicled much of Randy’s
journey with updates to Face-
book. Lately, the dispatches
Economy:
Continued from Page A1
In 2008, the city raised annual busi-
ness license fees so that it could fund a
newly created economic development
director position. But when Steve Chris-
man took on airport manager duties, his
salary was transferred to the airport fund.
Although the city recently hired a full-
time airport manager so Chrisman could
focus on economic development, City
include reason for optimism.
On Oct. 22: “Dad is making
small improvements and staying
stable. We have confi dence in
his strength and determination
to heal.”
Doctors, he said, had placed
a tracheotomy and removed
the ventilator tube, took him
off paralytic drugs and started
lowering his level of sedation.
On Oct. 23: “It was the cool-
est thing. He was on low seda-
tion and the nurse asked him to
open his eyes and HE DID!!”
Family members are encour-
aged, though they know Randy
must overcome profound lung
damage. His alveoli — the tiny
air sacs that allow the lungs
and blood to exchange oxygen
and carbon dioxide — are not
exchanging as quickly as they
should, so air builds up, putting
pressure on his heart. Doctors
inserted a tube to release the
trapped air.
“It’s been kind of a roller
coaster with lots of ups and
downs,” Jodi said. “It’s one step
forward and two steps back.
This is going to be a marathon.”
“Dad just had one of those
immune systems that overre-
acted to the virus,” Jarad said.
“It caused so much infl amma-
tion.”
The family has learned
some hard lessons from the
ordeal. Go for medical help
early rather than toughing it
out, they advised. Randy fi gured
he would beat it and waited too
long, they said.
“Seven days — that’s a long
time to allow the virus to take
over and do damage,” Jarad said.
Rosemary, who also got the
virus, said she got an injection
of monoclonal antibodies and
Manager Robb Corbett said his salary has
remained with the airport fund because
Chrisman continues to work extensively
with the Pendleton UAS Range.
Unlike the water or sewer fund, where
revenue must pay for utility workers or
utility infrastructure, the economic
development fund is a part of the general
fund, a pot of money that’s also shared
by public safety, parks and several other
services. That means that although the
city will generate more than $160,000
in business license revenue this year,
bounced back without needing
hospitalization.
She and her children
expressed awe at those who have
helped in a multitude of ways.
Friends and family are working
the Severe’s farm and provid-
ing security at the saddle shop.
They are helping with travel
costs, buying airplane tickets
and Uber vouchers, and doing
countless other kindnesses. Jodi
can imagine her dad’s face when
he learns of all the love coming
his way.
“He would tear up and
say how appreciative he is of
friends who stepped in to help
his family out while he’s down,”
she said.
“He has a lot of cowboy
friends out there,” Rosemary
said.
Non-cowboy friends, too.
“Dad has no enemies,” Darla
said. “He is loved by all.”
The family also thanked the
medical team working with
Randy.
“They are the soldiers on the
front line,” Darla said. “You can
see the compassion they have.”
Severe’s supporters are
fundraising to help with medi-
cal expenses. One option is
a GoFundMe account called
the Randy Severe Medical
Fund. People also can donate
to an account set up at Colum-
bia River Bank. Those wish-
ing to send a check can mail
it to Columbia River Bank,
c/o Randy Severe Donation
Account, 2101 S.W. Court Place,
Pendleton, OR 97801. A possi-
ble auction also is in the works.
On the GoFundMe site, Jodi
posted an encouraging comment
to her father:
“Keep fi ghting, cowboy.”
the revenue can be used to cover other
general fund services.
The city budgeted $43,320 for the
economic development fund in the 2021-
22 fi scal year, more than half of which
goes to a subsidy for the Pendleton Down-
town Association.
Corbett said he didn’t know how
the increase in business license reve-
nue would affect the economic devel-
opment fund and the city would need
to take a look at the fund during future
budget cycles.
Ben Lonergan/East Oregonian
Pendleton is touting an improving economy with rising home values, increased business license revenue and hundreds of job
openings as key markers of the economic progress, according to Mayor John Turner.
State or federal judges have so far made
six rulings rejecting requests for injunctions
temporarily stopping the mandate from taking
eff ect. None of the challenges has been upheld.
Most recently, U.S. District Judge Ann
Aiken last week rejected a motion from seven
state workers, all of whom have been infected
with COVID-19, seeking a temporary restrain-
ing order from the mandate.
Aiken ruled the U.S. Constitution off ers no
fundamental right to refuse a vaccination and
that the mandated shots are in the state’s inter-
est to stem the spread of disease and protect
Oregon’s citizens, The Oregonian/OregonLive
reported.
The plaintiff s in that case also raised the
issue of natural immunity due to their prior
infection.
But Aiken ruled that unvaccinated workers
should not be exempt from the mandate even
if they have already been infected.
Dr. Melissa Sutton, medical director of
respiratory viral pathogens for the Oregon
Health Authority, wrote to the judge that
immunity from natural infection is “not as
durable or reliable as the protection” from
vaccines.
The lawsuit fi led in Baker County Circuit
Court challenges that contention, noting the
mandate “ignores cases of natural immunity
in individuals.”
The plaintiff s in the lawsuit fi led in Baker
County Circuit Court:
• Arteaga lives in Baker County and has
worked as a food service coordinator at Powder
River for six years.
According to the lawsuit, Arteaga is
pregnant and has declined to be vaccinated
“because she has a family history of circulation
issues and feels the vaccine has not been suffi -
ciently tested in laboratory or other settings to
understand potential long-term side eff ects.”
In an Oct. 18 declaration included with the
lawsuit, Arteaga wrote: “Fear of losing my job
has been taking its toll on my body, and has
been mentally and emotionally taxing. I have
been struggling to deal with stress, to eat, and
adequate sleep. If I am fi red for not having the
vaccine, I will lose my medical benefi ts prior
to the birth of my child.”
In a message to the Baker City Herald on
Wednesday, Oct. 27, Arteaga wrote she was
tested for the fi rst time a couple days ago when
she was admitted to the hospital due to her
pregnancy, and the test was negative.
“Even though I have my own beliefs to not
take the vaccine I respect other people’s beliefs
to take it,” Arteaga wrote. “I truly believe it
aff ects people diff erent but I’m currently preg-
nant and was sick to my stomach when I found
out how they actually tested for safety on preg-
nancy.”
• Delve, 28, lives in Baker County and is a
correctional lieutenant at Powder River who
has previously been infected with COVID-19.
“Lt. Delve objects to being forced to vacci-
nate as a condition of his employment as it
violates his conscience and personal free-
doms,” according to the lawsuit.
In an Oct. 7 declaration included with the
lawsuit, Delve wrote: “I contracted COVID-19
in January of 2021 while working as a Correc-
tional Sergeant. I believe this mandate will
cause harm fi rst as the potential for bodily
harm and damage to my person as a young
and healthy 28 year old who experienced fewer
symptoms than a regular cold during my infec-
tion period of having the virus.”
• Klusmier lives in John Day and has
worked for fi ve years, part-time, as a dentist
at Powder River. He has been infected with
COVID-19 and “would likely have natural
immunity,” according to the lawsuit.
Klusmier, in an Oct. 7 declaration included
with the lawsuit, wrote: “I have had COVID-
19 previously. I have concerns about taking a
vaccine for a disease I already had, including
possible side eff ects such as Myocarditis etc.
Loss of this job will mean a loss of 50 percent
of my families income. Forcing me to choose
between my conscience and my employment
is wrong and I believe to be unethical.”
• Phlaum lives in Baker County and has
worked as a food service coordinator at Powder
River for nine years.
“He is concerned that the new COVID
vaccines have not been tested properly, and
also objects to taking any vaccine that has been
made or uses fetal tissue, of which the current
COVID vaccines makes use,” according to
the lawsuit.
In an Oct. 7 declaration included with the
lawsuit, Phlaum wrote: “I believe in bodily
autonomy and I believe that I should get (have
the right) to choose what is pushed into my
body. I work in a facility where Hepatitis B,
tuberculosis and even syphilis is around me,
and I have never been mandated to get those
vaccines. I provide for a family of six. If I
lose my job, I do not know what I will do for
employment in the future.”
• Wiley lives in Payette County, Idaho, and
has worked at the Snake River Correctional
Institution in Ontario for four years.
“She is a breastfeeding mother and chooses
not to vaccine due to concerns of passing the
untested vaccine to her small child,” according
to the lawsuit.
Wiley has previously been infected with
COVID-19 “and her body has already devel-
oped antibodies,” according to the lawsuit.
In an Oct. 18 declaration included with
the lawsuit, Wiley wrote: “I have contracted
COVID when I was weeks pregnant with my
son. There are more and more studies that have
shown that natural immunity should be taken
into consideration when it comes to choos-
ing to be vaccinated or not. This situation has
caused myself, my husband, and our family
stress, physical, mental and emotional harm.”