OFF PAGE ONE
Tuesday, January 18, 2022
Hospitals:
Continued from Page A1
and communications direc-
tor with Good Shepherd in
Hermiston, said the hospital
is expecting six guard member
to support the hospital.
Wallowa Memorial Hospi-
tal welcomed five soldiers on
Jan. 17, the day before dead-
line.
“Wallowa Memor ial
Hospital was grateful to
welcome five National Guard
members,” said Brooke Pace,
director of communica-
tions and public relations at
Wallowa Memorial Hospital
“We plan to utilize this addi-
tional personnel in various
departments, from Environ-
mental Services to hospital
and clinic screening. The pres-
ence of five additional staff
members helps ensure that
we will continue to provide
premier care to the people of
Wallowa County in the face of
yet another COVID-19 surge.”
“Grande Ronde Hospital
and Clinics is extremely grate-
ful for the guard members
Plowing:
Continued from Page A1
In winter, he commands a
nearly 30-ton piece of machin-
ery down Interstate 84.
It’s not hard to understand
the comparisons between
spaceships and the industrial-
ized behemoths ODOT uses to
clear roads.
At highway speeds, snow
resembles trailing stars
after the Millennium Falcon
engages hyperdrive. The plow
even has wings — blades
attached to the side of the vehi-
cle that extend just shy of 24
feet for clearing snow. As it’s
pushed away, the snow forms
wakes like those of a naval
ship pulling into port. A pair of
bright green laser pointers —
which keep track of where the
wings are — pierce through
the blanket of night.
Hurd said his job is to drive
in the worst weather condi-
tions every night.
On nights when the snow
falls unrelentingly, Hurd
spends the entire shift behind
the wheel. His only commu-
nication once his shift starts
might be through the CB
radio, which has a local chan-
nel for ODOT operators in the
field and a channel for relaying
information to dispatch about
road conditions.
The snow was falling fast
— though milder than previ-
ous nights — as he worked to
clear I-84 on Wednesday, Jan.
5.
“When it’s snowing like
this, there will be lots of calls
for crashes or disabled vehi-
cles,” Hurd said.
He passed a semi that
appeared to be disabled and
alerted dispatch.
Snowplows are sentries for
ODOT capable of calling in
stuck or stranded vehicles —
or unchained semis.
Unchained
According to Oregon
State Police Capt. Stepha-
nie Bigman, troopers issued
Maj. W. Chris Clyne/Oregon National Guard Public Affairs
Staff Sgt. David Seymour, from C Company 3rd Battalion, 116 Cavalry Brigade, Oregon Army
National Guard, informs soldiers of mission requirements at the Anderson Readiness Center
in Salem on Wednesday, Jan. 12, 2022.
we will be receiving here to
help us with staffing short-
ages in several of our key
support services that have
been severely impacted by the
current labor market,” Mardi
Ford, director of communi-
cations and marketing, said.
“GRH is, and always has been,
proud and supportive of our
military.”
32 violations and warnings
between Jan. 1 and Jan. 6 for
commercial vehicles that did
not carry or use chains when
required. A number of those
violations occurred along I-84
in Northeastern Oregon, which
had been closed on Jan. 5 at one
point due to unchained semis
blocking the route at Cabbage
Hill near milepost 224.
The fine for unchained
commercial vehicles is $880
per occurrence, up from
$440. The change occurred in
September 2021.
“Commercial trucks not
chaining up when required is
a major contributing factor for
freeway closure that occur in
the mountain passes of East-
ern Oregon,” Tom Strandberg,
public information officer for
ODOT, said. “Once a truck
starts sliding or jackknifes it
can quickly block lanes and
close down the freeway. It can
much liability on us.”
Schaffer stated the liabil-
ities for truck drivers can be
severe if they are involved in
any accident, so he avoids the
issue entirely by keeping off
the road.
If a truck is involved in
a crash where failure to use
chains is a factor, there could
be additional costs for the
motor carrier, according to a
press release from ODOT.
Helping where they live
But as to why the Oregon
A Sisyphean task
Inside, the cockpit of the
snowplow is kept blisteringly
warm. It isn’t for comfort —
Hurd said he sheds jackets and
layers and opens the windows
even when it is below freezing
outside, and getting colder.
If it weren’t for the heat, he
wouldn’t be able to see out of
the windshield.
“You can see the snow on
the windshield,” he said. “It
“ONCE A TRUCK STARTS SLIDING OR
JACKKNIFES IT CAN QUICKLY BLOCK
LANES AND CLOSE DOWN THE FREEWAY.”
— Tom Strandberg, public information officer for ODOT
then take several hours to get
the proper tow service provid-
ers to respond to the scene and
move the disabled vehicle.
Depending on the location and
duration of the closure, it can
impact hundreds or thousands
of motorists.”
According to an ODOT
press release, the estimated
cost of delays caused by trucks
failing to follow Oregon chain
laws is more than $8 million
a year — to the motor carrier
industry and other highway
users.
“When it comes to chain-
ing, I don’t chain — I don’t
want to hurt anybody — I
park it,” Samuri Schaffer, a
truck driver of more than 15
years, said on Jan. 5 at the
Flying J Travel Center outside
La Grande when he was wait-
ing out the snowstorm that had
closed Interstate 84. “I don’t
deal with it until they take
off the chain laws. There’s so
will just freeze there, and it
will keep building and build-
ing until you have to get out
and clear the windshield every
few miles.”
Already an hour into his
shift, ice had begun to amass
on the corners of the wind-
shield. The windshield wipers
squeaked incessantly as they
battled the accumulating snow.
If not addressed, the wind-
shield would freeze over until
just a small circle of visibility
remained. At least one second-
ary headlight was completely
encased in ice; the other was
encased in snow.
Hurd resigned to leaving
the wipers on despite the noise
— a chirping metronome for a
long night.
It’s a Sisyphean task to keep
the roads clear during heavy
snowfall.
ODOT plow operators are
assigned sections of the inter-
state and state roads to keep
National Guard deploys
soldiers to support and logis-
tical assignments at the
hospitals instead of ones
with medical training has a
surprising reason behind it,
according to guard officials.
clear. Mostly, they handle I-84,
but they also are responsible
for plowing La Grande’s Island
Avenue. Sometimes, they pair
up when conditions are poor,
running tandem down the
freeway and clearing it all in
one fell swoop.
“You can only plow so fast,
so you just keep making laps
and keep plowing and plow-
ing,” Hurd said of plowing
during heavy snowfall. “Hope-
fully you don’t have to close
the freeway down.”
If the road maintenance
department was short-staffed,
the drivers might not be able
to keep up with the snow. The
EO Media Group recently
reported on a possible shortage
of ODOT snowplow operators.
Craig Slipp, the manager for
ODOT Region 5 — the area
encompassing most of East-
ern Oregon — told EO Media
Group there were 12 open
road maintenance positions.
Hurd said his department in
La Grande was fully staffed,
however.
When it’s snowing, the
plow operators lay down sand
for traction; they use salt in
drier conditions. Hurd said he
had seen firsthand the immedi-
ate impact sand can have when
freeing stuck motorists.
ODOT keeps barns full of
both materials for plows to
refill. The sand and salt also
fulfill a secondary purpose of
increasing the weight of the
snowplow, increasing its indi-
vidual traction capabilities. It
is difficult to extricate a snow-
plow that has been disabled by
the snow.
Hurd said there were a
number of reasons why ODOT
makes the decision to close the
interstate. Recently, unchained
semis had closed down the
freeway, as did snowdrifts
formed by heavy winds and
fresh snow, creating whiteout
conditions on the interstate —
for motorists and snowplow
operators.
“If we can’t see and we’re
running off the road,” Hurd
said, “we’ll make the call to
close it.”
East Oregonian
A9
Medical staff in the Oregon
National Guard often hold
positions at local hospitals for
their non-military job, Clyne
said.
“We would basically — if
we did that — we’d be robbing
Peter to pay Paul,” Clyne said
of activating clinical guard
members to support hospi-
tals, “because we would
take somebody that’s in that
position in their civilian job
and then just move them to
another location.”
Many citizen-soldiers will
be deployed to the communi-
ties in which they live, accord-
ing to Clyne.
“One of the efforts that
we’ve been making is to try
to get (soldiers) in the loca-
tion where they live,” Clyne
said. “One of the things that
we pride ourselves in is that
we serve in the communities
where we live. That’s one of
the efforts and priorities that
leadership has made, (to give
guard members) that chance
to serve as close to home as
possible.”
The omicron variant has
been rapidly spreading across
Oregon and the nation, driv-
ing record-breaking infection
rates and leading to shortages
of testing kits and long lines
at drive-thru testing clinics.
According to OHA data, it
is the prevailing variant in
Oregon as of Jan. 2, account-
ing for nearly all new infec-
tions. At least one sequenced
infection has been traced to
Eastern Oregon, according to
the OHA.
Data shows hospitaliza-
tions from the new circu-
lating variant are lower, but
the higher number of people
infected has led to hospitaliza-
tion levels similar to the previ-
ous delta variant.
The number of hospital-
ized patients at Oregon hospi-
tals due to COVID-19 is 811
and climbing, as of Jan. 14,
according to OHA data. The
previous peak in hospitaliza-
tion was on Sept. 1, 2021, with
1,178 patients hospitalized due
to the delta variant.
The Oregon National
Guard was called in last
August to help understaffed
hospitals during the delta
variant surge. Those soldiers
remained at the hospitals until
mid-December.
Funding:
in six-month increments
over two years provided
the winners are able to
keep consistent hours of
operation, provide exam-
ples of their marketing ,
show evidence of positive
financial results or antici-
pated positive results and
stick with their business
plan. The winners will be
expected to put up $5,000
of their own money to
match the loan, meaning
they should start their busi-
ness with at least $25,000
in capital.
Denight said the Jump
Start Committee chose
to offer forgivable loans
instead of grants because it
gave the committee a way
to stay connected with the
businesses, ensure they stay
the course and offer assis-
tance if needed. Contest
winners won’t be prevented
from applying to the devel-
opment commission’s other
grant and loan programs,
potentially adding more
money to the pot.
If the development
commission approves the
contest, the Jump Start
Committee intends to
advertise it to students at
BMCC and Eastern Oregon
University.
After the commission
meeting ends, commis-
sioners will switch to their
primary role as city coun-
cilors and take action on
several issues, including
the hiring of a planning
consultant for a bus barn
project and renewing their
funding agreement with the
Umatilla County Special
Library District.
T he development
commission meeting will
be at 6 p.m. at the coun-
cil chambers in Pendleton
City Hall, 500 S.W. Dorion
Ave. The commission
meeting will be immedi-
ately followed by a city
council meeting at 7 p.m.
Both meetings can also
be accessed virtually via
Zoom at bit.ly/3zZlbJb.
Continued from Page A1
a week later, the agenda
item was pulled before
the meeting started while
the proposal was further
refined. The Jan. 18 meet-
ing will include a new
proposal from City Manager
Robb Corbett and Charles
Denight, the associate direc-
tor of the commission.
The proposal from staff
equates to $80,281 in addi-
tional funds. In an inter-
view, Denight said rather
than pore over Moto Stuff’s
receipts and records, staff
met with the city’s commu-
nity development depart-
ment to calculate the
increase in costs based
on the Construction Price
Index. Using the index
and comparing costs from
late 2020 to late 2021, staff
concluded that costs rose
by 16% and applied it to the
original grant amount, lead-
ing to the $80,281 figure.
Althoug h the new
proposal is up for consider-
ation, Corbett and Denight’s
staff report does not recom-
mend the commission take
action one way or another.
After a potential deci-
sion on Moto Stuff, the
commission will be asked
to approve a new contest for
new business.
A collaboration between
the development commis-
sion, the Pendleton Cham-
ber of Commerce, the
Pendleton Dow ntow n
Association and the Small
Business Development
Center at Blue Moun-
tain Community College,
the Jump Start Commit-
tee’s contest would solicit
proposals from entre-
preneurs to launch new
businesses in downtown
Pendleton.
The three winners would
be provided a $20,000
forgivable loan, parts of
which will be forgiven