WEEKEND EDITION Gravel pickup begins Monday in Pendleton
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REGION, A3
FEBRUARY 26 – 27, 2022
146th Year, No. 54
COVID-19
Masks off
in Oregon
March 19
IN FIRE’S WAKE
Shearer’s Foods, local governments commit
to helping the processor’s 230 employees
Gov. Kate Brown
also ending state
of emergency
By ERICK PETERSON
East Oregonian
H
ERMISTON — The
day after an explo-
sion and fi re at Shear-
er’s Foods, Hermiston,
smoke still rose from
the scorched ruins.
Umatilla County Fire District
No. 1 fi refi ghters, having spent a late
night at the scene Tuesday, Feb. 22,
returned at 10 a.m. Feb. 23, sorting
through rubble to put out remain-
ing hot spots. Fire offi cials said they
expected to remain working at Shear-
er’s “for a while,” stating they were
not quite sure when work would be
complete.
Jimmy Davis, operations chief for
the district, said he was weary, and he
was not the only one who felt this way.
“Our guys are exhausted,” he said.
By DIRK VANDERHART
Oregon Public Broadcasting
SALEM — Oregon’s masking
rules now have a fi rm expiration
date: March 19.
As COVID-19 infections and
hospitalizations plummet across
the state, the Oregon Health
Authority will lift requirements
for masks in indoor public spaces
and schools earlier than expected;
the mandate had been scheduled to
lapse by March 31.
At the same time, Gov. Kate
Brown announced Thursday,
Feb. 24, that she will rescind her
COVID-19 state of emergency
declaration on April 1. By then the
declaration will have lingered for
more than two years, allowing the
governor to take unprecedented
actions to stem the spread of the
virus.
Taken together, the moves are
the most signifi cant curtailment
of COVID-19 restrictions that
Oregon has seen since the arrival
of the virus in March 2020. Brown
previously revoked masking and
distancing requirements last
summer as cases dropped, only to
reinstate them weeks later as the
delta variant of the virus took hold.
Despite those fl uctuations, the
governor has repeatedly extended
the emergency declaration that has
allowed her to wield broad powers.
Brown cautioned Feb. 23 that her
decision to lift it now was not a
sign Oregon is in the clear.
“Lifting Oregon’s COVID-19
emergency declaration (Feb. 23)
does not mean that the pandemic is
over, or that COVID-19 is no longer
a signifi cant concern,” Brown said
in a written statement. “But, as we
have shown through the delta and
omicron surges, as we learn to live
with this virus, and with so many
Oregonians protected by safe and
eff ective vaccines, we can now
protect ourselves, our friends, and
our families without invoking the
extraordinary emergency author-
ities that were necessary at the
beginning of the pandemic.”
Oregon’s current masking
requirements are not authorized
under Brown’s emergency order.
They are public health rules the
Oregon Heath Authority put in
place. The agency said in a state-
ment of its own Feb. 24 that model-
ing suggests Oregon will see
pre-omicron levels of the virus by
March 20. The OHA still is recom-
See Masks, Page A7
$1.50
WINNER OF 16 ONPA AWARDS IN 2021
A hard day at
Shearer’s Foods
TOP: Umatilla County Fire District No. 1 fi refi ghters
sift through the wreckage Wednesday, Feb. 23, 2022,
to put out remaining fi res from an explosion the day
prior at Shearer’s Foods, Hermiston. ABOVE: Remains
lay twisted and smoldering Wednesday, Feb. 23, 2022.
BELOW: Smoke continues to waft Thursday, Feb. 24,
2022, from the site of a massive fi re.
Photos by Erick Peterson/East Oregonian
Davis said the work was espe-
cially diffi cult on the fi rst day of the
fi re because the inside of the build-
ing collapsed. When the fi re was at its
greatest, the walls remained, he said.
According to Davis, this situation
made it so fi refi ghters had diffi culty
reaching certain sections.
This was not the only problem
fi refi ghters faced, Davis said, and
fi refi ghters pulled out of the scene at
around 10 p.m. Feb. 22.
“We weren’t making much prog-
ress,” the operations chief said.
Water valves on the fi re trucks
were freezing in the cold tempera-
tures. Firefi ghters were “exhausted
and cold,” too, he said.
There were 73 fi refi ghters at the
scene, according to Davis. These
firefighters came from “all over”
Umatilla and Morrow counties. Nine-
teen fi refi ghters, he said, worked on
water shuttles, bringing much-needed
water to the fi re.
The engine to the pump of the
facility’s water supply broke, he said,
and there was only one hydrant fi re-
fi ghters could access on the road. The
lack of water was signifi cant in the
attack on the blaze.
“We knew we weren’t going to be
able to put it out,” he said.
Firefi ghters worked to protect large
tanks on the property that store chem-
icals, he said, and fi refi ghters held the
fl ames back from nearby totes that
also contained fl ammable materials.
“We were able to keep it away
from that,” he said. “That was the big
thing.”
The Shearer’s Foods explosion
could have been even worse, he said,
especially when considering air qual-
ity.
“Don’t get me wrong, whatever
was in there and burned was putting
up some nasty stuff ,” he said.
Looking at the wreckage of Shear-
er’s, Davis said the fi re had “burned
through a lot of what could burn.”
The work on Feb. 23
Davis said he left Shearer’s at
2 a.m. on Feb. 23. He woke at 6 a.m. to
take his children to school and begin
Day 2 at the fi re scene. By 10 a.m., he
was able to acquire an excavator and
bring it to the site. Four or fi ve fi re-
fi ghters were with him.
See Fire, Page A7
Early learning center principal announces retirement
By ANTONIO SIERRA
East Oregonian
PENDLETON — After more
than 30 years in local education,
Pendleton Early Learning Center
Principal Lori Hale is calling it a
career.
Hale submitted her retirement
letter to Pendleton School District
Superintendent Chris Fritsch on
Jan. 5, and on Feb.14, the school
board approved the personnel
move, eff ective June 30. In her
letter, Hale wrote about the experi-
ence of becoming the early learn-
ing center’s fi rst principal.
“I was given a gift from this
community to help in creating a
caring, loving and high-quality
school that I will never forget,” she
said. “I will forever be grateful for
the incredible opportunity to open
this building. There has been no
greater professional gratifi cation
than to be a part of this journey.”
In an interview Wednesday,
Feb. 23, Hale said making the
decision was diffi cult because of
how much she loved her job, and
East Oregonian, File
Principal Lori Hale reads a clue for a group of kindergartners on a scav-
enger hunt during their fi rst day of school in 2018 at the Pendleton Early
Learning Center. Hale, who has served as the center’s principal since its
opening in 2015, is retiring after a career of 38-years in education.
although she went back and forth,
she ultimately decided 38 years in
education was enough and she was
ready to hand over leadership to
someone else.
Hale got started as a teacher
in Beaverton in 1984 before
making the move to Pendleton
in 1988. Except for her fi rst year
with the district, Hale spent her
entire teaching career working in
kindergarten. With kindergarten
still on half-days, Hale said she
worked part-time, splitting her
time between home and work.
But by 2015, kindergarten was
starting to look diff erent. That was
the fi rst year the state was requir-
ing every school to off er full-day
kindergarten. Pendleton antic-
ipated the move by making the
Pendleton Early Learning Center
one of the centerpieces of its 2013
bond campaign.
After voters passed the bond,
the district renovated the former
Hawthorne School and turned it
into a centralized kindergarten for
all of Pendleton’s 5- and 6-year-
olds and other early childhood
services, such as Head Start and
the federal Special Supplemental
Nutrition Program for Women,
Infants and Children.
By that time, Hale left the class-
room for administration and was
serving as the principal of Lincoln
Primary School. With Lincoln set
to close and turn into the district’s
central offi ce, Hale was tapped to
See Principal , Page A7