A8
OFF PAGE ONE
East Oregonian
Saturday, February 12, 2022
Forest:
Continued from Page A1
Ben Lonergan/East Oregonian
Two Rivers Correctional Institution, Umatilla, and other prisons in Eastern Oregon, saw a resurgence of COVID-19 cases in
January with TRCI reporting a peak of 286 active cases on Jan. 20, 2022.
Prisons:
Continued from Page A1
a judge on Monday, Feb. 14
for certification.
Chavez said the lawsuit,
filed in April 2020, asked
only the bare minimum from
Corrections regarding safety
procedures in combating the
spread of COVID-19. Those
measures included manda-
tory masking for correctional
officers and implementing
social distancing require-
ments.
Those requirements,
according to the lawsuit, were
widely ignored.
In the lawsuit, one plain-
tiff described an interac-
tion with staff that conveyed
DOC’s reactionary nature to
outbreaks: “I was complain-
ing that it was hypocritical we
had to wear masks but offi-
cers didn’t; that officer said
to me ‘(expletive) it, we’ll deal
with it when it comes.’”
The lawsuit also described
practices where correctional
officers would move from a
quarantined unit to an unin-
fected unit without a mask,
likely due to overtime and
staffing shortages at the facil-
ities.
“I think the (COVID-19)
situation shakes the entire
foundation,” Chavez said,
“What we were asking for
only sounds extraordinary
if we weren’t in extraordi-
nary times, and so we needed
something grander. And that
didn’t happen. A lot of people
got hurt.”
Two Rivers in
litigation spotlight
Two Rivers has been espe-
cially problematic, accord-
ing to prison attorney Tara
Herivel, who has litigated
hundreds of cases against the
Department of Corrections.
Herivel said approximately
80% of her cases are against
Two Rivers. According to
Herivel, despite the litiga-
tion and sea of lawsuits, Two
Rivers in particular is “not
afraid enough to change.”
“The conversation I have a
lot with my clients and people
I work with is why?” Harivel
said. “Why is it so horri-
ble? Why don’t they learn?
They’ve been sued so many
times, and I just don’t think
they’ve been sued enough.
I think they don’t have real
consequences, and they can
brush away these individual
suits like the kinds I do pretty
easily. They just don’t follow
court orders.”
Herivel said in addition
to filing a majority of her
prison cases against Two
Rivers, she has had contempt
of court motions against the
Elections:
Continued from Page A1
race in 2018, but he ended
up winning the election in a
contested race by a convinc-
ing margin.
Ward 3 (northeast
Hermiston)
Jackie Myers has repre-
sented Ward 3 on the council
since 1994, survived a recall
attempt in 2012 and handily
won her last reelection race
in 2018.
But Myers, who works
for Severson Accounting &
Taxes, has not submitted her
prison’s medical depart-
ment for failing to follow the
court’s orders, leading to the
release of an adult in custody
11 years before their sentence
expired.
‘We learned
the hard way’
Positive cases in staff
members at Eastern Oregon
prisons preceded every
spike of COVID-19 among
inmates in January.
The correctional facil-
ities handle medical cases
through their own health care
settings, according to Bernt.
In Ontario, Dr. Garth
Gullick, the chief medical
officer for the Snake River
Correctional Institution,
testified that a fever was not
a symptom of COVID-19,
that COVID-19 testing was
“harmful” and said it “can
be the enemy,” according to
reporting from the Malheur
Enterprise. The reporting
also indicated Dr. Warren
Roberts, Correction’s top
medical advisor, had been
ordered to stop performing
surgeries and had a history
be easy, that’s just a fact of
prison life.”
EOCI saw one case
among its staff on Dec. 23,
2021, according to the DOC
data. Six days later, the facil-
ity saw its first cases among
its adults in custody popula-
tion, before it peaked to 47
positive cases among the
adults in custody and nine
cases among the staff on Jan.
12. In October 2020, EOCI
had more than 350 active
cases.
Miles credited previ-
ous experience with the
pandemic as a key factor
for controlling the recent
outbreak.
“Part of it is vaccina-
tions, part of its precautions
we’ve taken since the very
beginning and some of it is
experience with the COVID
pandemic,” Miles said.
“No institution, no prison
anywhere in the world is
equipped for a pandemic,
so when one hits, you have
to learn what you don’t
know. We went through that
process and learned what we
didn’t know and the second
“SO SOCIAL DISTANCING
IS NOT GOING TO BE
EASY, THAT’S JUST A
FACT OF PRISON LIFE.”
— Ron Miles, EOCI
of malpractice.
“Cases are handled inter-
nally to the extent possible
through our Health Services
units and infirmaries,” Bernt
said. “If an individual’s
symptoms surpass our abil-
ity to care for them, they are
transferred to a hospital for
care.”
A spokesperson for Two
Rivers declined to comment
on the COVID-19 situation
at the facility, citing a need
to go through the Oregon
Department of Correc-
tions for a unified response.
Two Rivers officials did not
respond to an emailed list of
detailed questions about the
outbreak at the facility.
EOCI saw a milder
outbreak than it had at
the start of the pandemic,
according to Ron Miles,
supervising executive assis-
tant.
“In addition to masking,
we’ve done our best ability
to maintain social distance
or maintain 6 feet of distance
between everybody, but the
challenge with that is putting
1,700 people into a 15.2 acre
location,” he said. “So social
distancing is not going to
time around we were better
prepared for that, and vacci-
nations played a big role in
that.”
As of Feb. 8, EOCI had
zero active COVID-19
cases, according to the DOC
COVID-19 website.
“We learned the hard way,
but we did learn,” Miles said.
Powder River, Baker
City, saw an outbreak of 21
cases by Jan. 29, which fell to
eight cases on Feb. 8. Herivel
said Powder River was one
of the best prisons in East-
ern Oregon when it came to
COVID-19 safety.
On the other hand, Two
Rivers had nearly 15% of its
adult population test positive
for COVID-19 on Jan. 23.
Miles said EOCI offers
vaccines to the adult in
custody population, as well
as offering vaccine booster
clinics from time to time for
prisoners to keep up to date
with the COVID-19 vaccines.
filing paperwork and did not
return a message requesting
comment. No other candi-
dates have filed for the seat
either.
seat in 2020 and then winning
a special election for the
remainder of the term unop-
posed the following year.
Ward 4 (southeast
Hermiston)
Incumbent Councilor Phil-
lip Spicerkuhn is running
against one of his predeces-
sors in Ward 4.
David McCarthy, a sales
manager at KOHU, was
appointed to a vacant at-large
seat in 2020 only to lose the
election for a full term later
that year. Spicerkuhn, an
attorney, is relatively new to
the council himself, having
been appointed to the Ward 4
TRCI tops prisons for
COVID-19 deaths
Previous reporting by
the East Oregonian through
nu m e r o u s i nt e r v ie w s
with lawyers represent-
Municipal judge
As a judge pro tem,
Cameron Bendixsen fills in
for Municipal Judge Thomas
Creasing when he can’t hear a
case himself. Now Bendixsen
is challenging his colleague
for the top job.
After he was passed over
for appointment to the Herm-
iston City Council, Creasing
ran against the incumbent
municipal judge in 2008 and
won. He turned back a chal-
lenge from the former incum-
bent in 2010 and then ran
ing clients at Two Rivers,
as well as inmates them-
selves, had shown a lax
regard for COVID-19 safety
at Two Rivers. Inmates cited
improper mask wearing by
staff members and mixing of
COVID-19 positive inmates
with the general population
for work.
According to previous
reporting by Oregon Public
Broadcasting, Two Rivers
saw a spike in infections
during December 2020 after
two staff members tested
positive, and the facility
transferred 10 positive indi-
viduals from Deer Ridge
Correctional Institution,
Madras. The same day the
facility transferred adults in
custody from Deer Ridge,
it began seeing a spike in
cases; with 85 cases on Dec.
21, 2020.
As of Feb. 8, 10 employ-
ees at the Two Rivers had not
yet started either their vacci-
nation or exemption status.
Powder River had just two,
and EOCI had six. Out of
the 5,306 DOC employees
reported to have been under
the vaccination compliance
executive order in 2021,
nearly 20% had filed and
received a medical or reli-
gious exemption, according
to DOC data from October
2021.
The number of in-custody
deaths across the state also
appears to be increasing, with
four reported deaths within a
five day period between Jan.
27 and Jan. 31, though none of
those deaths cited COVID-19
as the cause of death. Since
the start of the pandemic,
45 adults in custody have
died after testing positive
for COVID-19, according
to DOC data, while 17 of
those deaths are from adults
in custody at Two Rivers,
the highest out of any of the
other prisons in Oregon,
despite being the third larg-
est prison in Oregon. EOCI,
which has a similar popula-
tion size of adults in custody,
had four deaths throughout
the pandemic, while Powder
River had none.
The Depar t ment of
Corrections keeps a spread-
sheet of positive tests for
COVID-19 on its website,
but that database has not
been updated since Nov.
12, 2021. Corrections offi-
cials said staffing issues and
the tediousness of enter-
ing the data by hand had
made the task too resource
intensive. Daily COVID-19
statistics and active cases
are on the Oregon Depart-
ment of Corrections website
through its COVID-19
tracker at www.oregon.
gov/doc/covid19/ Pages/
covid19-tracking.aspx.
unopposed in every election
until now.
Bendixsen also has previ-
ous political experience,
having run for Ward 4 on the
city council in 2014. He lost
that race by seven votes.
Unlike every other Herm-
iston city office, municipal
judges are elected on two year
terms instead of four.
Election information
The filing deadline for the
May 17 election is March 8. If
no candidates can clear 50%
of the vote in the primary,
then the top two vote-getters
will advance to a runoff held
during the Nov. 8 general
election.
last year that he understands
certain areas have wilder-
ness or wildlife designations
restricting motorized vehi-
cle access.But he wanted to
learn what roads are open
and what roads are closed
and why they are closed.
He said he wanted to see
which roads were closed
through the National Envi-
ronmental Policy Act and
which roads were closed by
the Forest Service adminis-
tratively.
“If t hey’re closed
through NEPA, we really
can’t get it back open unless
we go through NEPA, but
if you’re closed administra-
tively, then those are open
for a conversation on the
subject,” he said.
According to the final
document, “use restric-
tion of a road previously
reviewed and approved
through the NEPA process
should be clearly and effec-
tively posted for the public
and reflected on updated
maps.”
Elk security
The group writes that
forest road and trail system
use, density and habitat
conditions may have some
negative effects on wildlife
in general and specifically
on elk distribution.
The desired condition
is that habitat is managed
to provide a balance of
a d e q u at e nut r it ion a l
resources, cover and human
disturbance regimes that
encourage elk to remain
on public lands. Collab-
oration and coordination
occur that benefits these
desired future conditions by
addressing the many other
factors, such as predation,
hunting and private land
practices that also effect elk
distribution while provid-
ing year-round recreational
and cultural opportunities
and limiting agricultural
damage on private lands.
User-created routes
The desired condition is
to establish objective crite-
ria for user-created routes,
such as evaluating histori-
cal maps and aerial imagery
to determine if the agency
should include the forest
system.
The routes would be
evaluated and analyzed
at the project level for
social, cultural, historical,
economic, habitat and envi-
ronmental concerns while,
at a minimum, seeking to
ensure access in the general
area.
The evaluation would
coordinate with local and
tribal governments with
ample public notice and
involvement through the
NEPA process. As a result,
the public and groups that
frequent the routes would
be well informed and
allowed to comment on
changes in management
actions.
Wilderness, habitat
and set-asides
Last year the subcom-
mittee asked the Forest
Service’s Dennis Dough-
erty, a recreation planner,
Nick Goldstein, a regional
planner, and Trulock about
the process of recommend-
ing set-asides within a forest
plan.
Dougherty talked about
the difficulties during
the 2018 plan revision.
However, he told the group
his biggest takeaway was
complying and comporting
each component with the
overarching forest plan.
Dougherty said it is
important to remember the
forest plan does not desig-
nate motorized usage on
forest roads. Instead, those
provisions come from the
travel management plan.
He also told the group
that some areas are statu-
torily designated. Also, he
said, Congress identifies
certain set-asides as well.
He explained a Forest
Service document, the
“suitability-rating table,”
used during the last revi-
sion, which lists manage-
ment areas, activities, land
allocations and designa-
tions that the forest can use
to make access and land-use
recommendations.
Dougher t y said he
recognized the frame-
work as cumbersome and
complicated because of the
plan amendments over the
years. However, he said it is
the Forest Service’s general
approach to determining
land uses.
The Forest Service’s Tom
Montoya said these admin-
istrative recommendations
go through a review process
under the National Environ-
mental Policy Act.
Trulock said the goal
was to come to a collective
understanding about the
Forest Service’s process:
Even if there are no addi-
tional set-asides, they still
have to go through the anal-
ysis to get to that point and
make that recommendation.
The final draft of the
desired condition was to
understand that the forest
service has to evaluate the
suitability and eligibility
through the forest plan-
ning process for future
set-asides.
That said, the subcom-
mittee does not see the
need for any additions to
set-asides.
Baker’s minority
report
Baker County Commis-
sioner Bill Harvey submit-
ted a minority report
disagreeing with the BIC
access subcommittee’s final
draft of the desired condi-
tions document.
Har vey writes that
special interest groups,
agencies and tribes disre-
garded forest manage-
ment principles the Eastern
Oregon Counties Associ-
ation compiled in a 2019
document throughout the
subcommittee meetings.
Meanwhile, Harvey noted
that this let other counties
make too many conces-
sions.
Harvey writes that Baker
submitted several edited
versions of desired condi-
tions, and the subcommittee
offered “minimal regard”
for the county’s input.
Local gover n ments
know their counties best,
Harvey writes.
“And it’s ridiculous to
be overridden by commit-
tee members that have no
authority or knowledge of
what is best for the citizens
of this county,” Harvey
added.
Trulock said the BIC’s
charter allows for the
submission of the minority
report.
Ultimately, he said, the
Forest Service would have
to make decisions through
the forest planning effort,
which will include alter-
native drafts and a public
comment period.
Grant County Commis-
sioners Jim Hamsher and
Sam Palmer, who both
served on the BIC, said they
knew there would need to be
compromises.
“You’re never going to
get everything you want,”
Palmer said.
He said he was happy
that all of the entities began
working with each other
early in the process, which,
he said, did not happen in
2018.
“We brought all the
agencies up to the table at
the front end instead of the
back end,” Palmer said. “In
two years we had a product
when before they had one
that got scrapped after 15
years.”