POLICE CHASE ENDS WITH SUSPECT DEAD, A3
TUESDAY, JANUARY 4, 2022
LIGHTING UP
THE NEW YEAR
Fireworks explode over the Festival of
Lights in the early minutes of Saturday,
Jan. 1, 2022, to ring in the new year at
the Eastern Oregon Trade and Event
Center, Hermiston.
Ben Lonergan/East Oregonian
146th Year, No. 31
WINNER OF 16 ONPA AWARDS IN 2021
$1.50
COLD,
COVID-19
infections
on the rise
WET and
WINDY
Umatilla County
has the third highest
weekly average, just
more than 402 cases
Winter storm leads to closures
of roads, schools, state off ices
By GARY A. WARNER
Oregon Capital Bureau
Photos by Ben Lonergan/East Oregonian
An Oregon Department of Transportation truck Monday, Jan. 3, 2022, blocks
Highway 11 near its intersection with Highway 331. State and county roads were
closed in much of Eastern Oregon due to winter weather.
By ANTONIO SIERRA
East Oregonian
U
MATILLA COUNTY — If the early
parts of the cold weather season were
relatively mild, winter came back
with a vengeance at the end of 2021
and into the early days of 2022.
Signif icant snowfall was
followed by subzero temperatures
and gusts as high as 50 mph that
created hazardous conditions in some parts of
Umatilla County.
Pendleton on Thursday, Dec. 30, had a
low of 10 degrees, according to data from
the National Weather Service in Pendleton.
But on Dec. 31, the low dropped to minus
7, the coldest temperature of the month
and 3 degrees shy of the coldest tempera-
ture on that date set back in 1978.
Jan. 1 reached a low minus 5 in Pend-
leton, but that was 7 degrees warmer
An abandoned car sits in a snow
drift along Mann Road on Monday,
Jan. 3, 2022, near Adams.
See Winter, Page A9
SALEM — Oregon is in the
midst of a sixth wave of COVID-
19 infections as the world marked
the two-year anniversary of the
pandemic on Friday, Dec. 31.
The Oregon Health Authority
report on Dec. 30 recorded 2,948
new cases and 15 deaths. Hospital-
izations for COVID-19 climbed to
440 people, up 21 from Dec. 29.
Oregon has recorded 421,263
infections and 5,655 deaths
from COVID-19, which was
fi rst reported in China two years
ago Dec. 31. The U.S. Centers
for Disease Control and Preven-
tion reported 488,000 new cases
nationwide, a new record. The
World Health Organization said
new infections were a “tsunami”
sweeping the globe.
The Dec. 30 report said the
seven-day daily average of new
cases in Oregon rose to 1,532. The
per capita rate is 251.3 cases per
100,000.
Deschutes County continues
to be the state’s leading COVID-
19 hot spot, with the top infection
rate of any county when adjusted
for population. Deschutes County
has a weekly average of 565.4 cases
per 100,000 residents. Sparsely
populated Grant County has a
See COVID-19, Page A9
Kentucky fi refi ghter fi nds new home in Pendleton
By ANTONIO SIERRA
East Oregonian
PENDLETON — Manny Kirk-
land was in the middle of telling his
life story when he had to cut himself
off : There was an emergency he
needed to respond to.
For the past six months, Kirk-
land, a fi refi ghter and paramedic
with the Pendleton Fire Depart-
ment, has been responding to the
city’s emergencies at the drop of
the hat. After tending to the call for
service and then fi tting in a train-
ing session, Kirkland was ready to
fi nish his story about how some-
one from Kentucky ended up in the
Round-Up City.
Kirkland fi rst grew interested
in firefighting and emergency
response as a teenager, he said,
when he noticed the way a friend
of the family was acting after retir-
ing from the Lexington Fire Depart-
ment in Kentucky.
“There was almost a sadness
about retiring,” he said.
The fact the friend found the job
of fi refi ghting so compelling that
he was sad to end his career was
compelling to Kirkland, but he put
that dream on hold while he worked
in his family’s catering business.
It wasn’t the most direct route to
fi refi ghting, but Kirkland found a
tongue-in-cheek throughline.
“The fl ip side is fi refi ghters love
to eat,” he said.
Like so many Eastern Oregon
transplants, Kirkland’s journey
to the region was made possible
through family.
While Kirkland grew up in the
See Firefi ghter, Page A9
Ben Lonergan/East Oregonian
Manny Kirkland, a fi refi ghter and paramedic with the Pendleton Fire Depart-
ment, poses for a portrait Tuesday, Dec. 28, 2021, at Pendleton Fire Station
No. 1. He moved to Pendleton in 2021 from Kentucky with his wife, Amity
Kirkland, who grew up in Union.