WEEKEND EDITION
NOVEMBER 13-14, 2021
146th Year, No. 12
INSIDE
$1.50
WINNER OF 16 ONPA AWARDS IN 2021
HEPPNER, WESTON-MCEWEN MEET IN 2A QUARTERFINALS, B1
A United States fl ag fl utters in the
late afternoon sun Wednesday,
Nov. 10, 2021, along Midco Lane at
Pendleton High School. Students
in the high school’s leadership
class placed the fl ags along the
driveway leading up to the school
in honor of Veterans Day.
HEIDI
WRIGHT
LIBRARIES PROVIDE —
COUNT Y WIDE!
Ben Lonergan/East Oregonian
Tax credit
will keep a
light on our
democracy
I
magine this page was blank
except for one question:
“What if there were no local
reporters?” That was the front-
page question posed by our friends
at Pamplin Media last week.
It’s a good question and regard-
less of how you get local news —
by watching TV, listening to local
radio or reading a story in the
newspaper or on a news organiza-
tion’s website — it’s not hyperbole
to say communities suff er when
there is no local news coverage or
when independently owned media
companies are gobbled up by
hedge funds that gut newsrooms.
And it’s a timely question
because there is a bipartisan
provision in the federal budget
reconciliation bill working its
way through Congress that will
give media companies a tempo-
rary payroll tax credit to hire and
retain journalists. Oregon’s Sen.
Ron Wyden, D, chairs the Senate
Finance Committee that will have
a great deal of say on whether this
provision makes it through to the
fi nish line.
Wyden is a co-sponsor of the
bill written by Sen. Maria Cant-
well, D-Washington. Being the
son of a prominent journalist,
he is a longtime champion of a
free press. In a recent interview
with the Seattle Times, Wyden
responded to a question about
the potential for some to dislike
government helping the press. He
said, “This is not the government
putting its hand on certain types
of speech. This is about generally
empowering local journalism in
a big way. By the way, there are
plenty of local journalism outlets
that span across the political spec-
trum, left, right, center, you name
it.”
On the House side, the bill
was co-authored by Rep. Dan
Newhouse, R-Washington, and
Rep. Ann Kirkpatrick, D-Ari-
zona, and is strongly supported by
two key Oregon representatives —
Peter DeFazio and Earl Blume-
nauer.
For anyone who follows the
challenges of media companies
and the reality of growing news
deserts around the country, this
temporary tax credit known as the
See Democracy, Page A10
DAY FOR OUR VETERANS
Flag displays,
breakfast,
parade and
solemnity mark
Veterans Day
By BRYCE DOLE AND
ERICK PETERSON
East Oregonian
U
MATILLA COUNTY
— Pendleton High
School students lined
the fi elds outside their
school with dozens of
United States fl ags on
Wednesday, Nov. 10,
in a gesture of appreci-
ation and support for local veter-
ans.
Roughly a dozen leadership
students took part in the activity
celebrating Veterans Day. They
walked along the roads, staking
the small fl ags into the ground
while laughing and chatting on
the clear, sunny fall afternoon.
This was one of several local
Veterans Day events to recognize
those who served.
Students with family members
who served in the armed forces
shared what the federal holiday
means to them. Sauren Garton,
a senior at the high school, said
she felt it was important to recog-
nize the people who fought for the
country.
“I’m about as American as they
get,” Sauren Garton, a senior at
the high school said. “I think it’s
really important that kids get
reminded that we didn’t get all
Kathy Aney/East Oregonian
A member of the Hermiston VFW plants a POW MIA fl ag at the start of
a Veterans Day breakfast on Thursday, Nov. 11, 2021, at the Hermiston
Community Center.
these things for free.”
Curt Thompson, assistant prin-
cipal at Pendleton High School,
said placing the fl ags instills in
students a sense of pride in their
country after years of political
division.
“Things like this are a good
reminder to all of us that we’re all
part of the same country and we
need to be working together and
support each other,” Thompson
said.
Sam Jennings, a senior leader-
ship student and track athlete, said
serving in the armed forces is an
important part of his family. He
struggles to count how many of
his family members have served,
but estimates there are at least six.
“It’s nice to have a day for
them, to honor their willingness
to serve,” Jennings said. “They
deserve it.”
Jennings said the flags this
year are a step-up from eff orts
the school has made in the past to
show support. He said he gladly
would have dug trenches and
staked 10-foot fl ags, “but this is
just as good.”
Rylee Demianew said the
fl ags are a physical reminder for
students leaving school that Veter-
ans Day isn’t simply a day off . To
her, it’s a day to show veterans the
students are thinking of them.
Breakfast and
camaraderie
In Hermiston, Aaron Wetter-
ling and around 140 other veter-
ans shared food and camaraderie
during a breakfast.
“It’s always a great time,”
Wetterling said about the annual
event, and he credited Hermiston
Parks and Recreation Depart-
ment employees, including Diana
Picard, recreation coordinator,
and Kelly Schwirse, clerk, for a
“fantastic job helping us.”
Brandon Artz, the parks and
recreation department’s interim
director, explained that his
department took over the break-
fast to keep it from being a drive-
thru event. His department got
together with sponsors, includ-
ing Hale’s Restaurant, the Pheas-
ant Blue Collar Bar & Grill and
Vern’s Food Service, he said. He
added that volunteers, such as the
Hermiston Kiwanis Club, helped
make the breakfast possible.
Wetterling, who served in the
Marines from 1966 to 1970, told
stories of his service during the
Vietnam War. His service made
a lasting impact, he said, which
included 20 years of “jungle rot”
on his feet that mostly went away.
The larger eff ect was on his
personality, he said. Wetterling
described a “military bearing,”
which to this day even infl uences
how he dresses.
His service, he said, also links
him to other service members,
whom he interacts with as “old
friends,” even when he does not
know their names. Wetterling
said he talks with these friends
about family members and shared
acquaintances, reminiscing over
old times and discussing life
events.
One of these fellow vets at
the event was William Hill, 74,
of Hermiston, who served in the
U.S. Army during the Vietnam
War. He said he is proud to have
served and he is happy for oppor-
tunities such as the breakfast,
which allow him to meet other
veterans.
An honor guard member for
American Legion Post 37, Herm-
iston, Hill said he is not accus-
tomed to talking about his Army
days.
“It was a million-dollar expe-
rience,” he said, “but I’d hate to
have to spend a million dollars to
do it again.”
Artz said he hopes next year’s
event can include more people.
Pre-pandemic, the Veterans Day
Breakfast did not try to limit the
number of attendees, he said.
See Veterans, Page A10
Worshipping behind the mask
Some local churches
continue to take
precautions against
the coronavirus
By ERICK PETERSON
East Oregonian
HERMISTON — On Sunday,
Nov. 7, Pastor Patty Nance and two
young children in suits began a
morning service by walking up to
the front of their church and light-
ing candles. They were all wear-
ing masks, trying to reduce the
chance of COVID-19 transmission,
and they were not alone in their
mask wearing.
Every single person in Hermis-
ton First United Methodist Church,
191 E. Gladys Ave., Hermiston,
was wearing a mask. During the
entire service, the only time anyone
removed a mask was when speaking
at the front of the church, behind a
lectern or at the altar.
This comes at a time mask-wear-
ing has become politicized, and
some television evangelists have
decried both masks and vaccina-
tions. First United, however, has
sided with precautions, accord-
ing to the pastor. For not only was
everyone masked, but the church
had other signs of the seriousness by
which they are taking COVID-19.
See Masks, Page A10
Ben Lonergan/East Oregonian
A stained glass window illuminates churchgoers Sunday, Nov. 7, 2021, at
the Hermiston First United Methodist Church in Hermiston, where all of
the congregants continue to wear masks for services.