REGION
Tuesday, March 1, 2022
East Oregonian
A3
Trucker convoy heads through Eastern Oregon Morrow County
ditches dispatch of
Boardman EMS
By ALEX WITTWER
EO Media Group
PENDLETON — A
nationwide protest will make
its way through Eastern
Oregon beginning Tuesday,
March 1.
According to a fl yer shared
around social media, the
American Freedom Convoy
will head from Troutdale to
Washington, D.C., stopping
March 1 for the night at the
Arrowhead Travel Plaza on
the Umatilla Indian Reser-
vation near Pendleton before
driving along Interstate 84 and
Interstate 80 on its way to the
nation’s capital. The convoy
will contain a mix of vehicles
and is not limited to semitrail-
ers.
Residents of Baker and
Union counties will be able
to show their support for the
convoy on March 2.
Paul Veluscek, a strong
supporter of the convoy
from Creswell said the spirit
of the convoy will be about
freedom, citing mask and
vaccine mandates as the
cause. The protest comes
just after the U.S. Centers for
Disease Control and Preven-
tion announced on Feb. 25 it
was no longer recommending
indoor mask mandates.
“It’s all peaceful. It’s all
legal,” Veluscek said “They
pulled permits or rented huge
areas, venues where they can
park along the way of these
routes. It’s almost a humani-
tarian eff ort. They’re saying
when we get to D.C., let’s
spread the love. Let’s try to
By ERICK PETERSON
East Oregonian
Alex Wittwer/EO Media Group, File
Semitrailers line up at the Flying J Travel Center, La Grande, on Jan. 5, 2022. A nationwide
protest convoy is making its way from Troutdale to Washington, D.C., starting Monday,
March 1, 2022, and will pass through Eastern Oregon.
take care of people.”
Masks, vaccines and social
distancing have been proven
to be eff ective at curbing the
spread of the virus, according
to numerous scientifi c studies
and virology experts.
Veluscek said he’s looking
forward to the trip.
“I wish it had happened
earlier,” he said. “I just want
to see as many people stand
up and do something. It’s been
too long.”
The convoy will pass
through La Grande and Baker
City before briefl y stopping
in Boise and continuing on to
Little America, Wyoming.
Joining the convoy will be
country music singer Jessie
Leigh, an Estacada native
who was flying back from
Nashville to join the protest,
along with carrying a special
American fl ag given to her by
a close friend that she hopes
will inspire people on the road.
“The goal and mission is to
have this particular fl ag used
for unity and to be touched by
as many Americans as possi-
ble and to unify people,” she
said. “Despite what side of
the aisle, it doesn’t matter.
We’re all Americans. We’re
all human, and we all stand
together. And for at least a
moment, we can stand under
the flag and sing a song
together.”
Leigh said a break in her
schedule is what allowed her
to join the convoy.
“We have these open dates
on the schedule and they
reached out to ask if we would
be the caretakers of the fl ag on
this convoy,” she said.
A me r ica n Fre e dom
Convoy is an offshoot of
several other protests across
the nation against vaccine
and mask mandates due to the
COVID-19 pandemic. The
convoy follows weeks after
truckers in Ottawa, Canada,
shut down commerce and traf-
fi c in the city.
A separate convoy, The
People’s Convoy, already
started driving toward Wash-
ington, D.C., and is sched-
uled to reach Indianapolis by
March 1.
The American Freedom
Convoy is scheduled to arrive
at Peoria, Illinois, on March 5.
Afterward, the convoy will
rendezvous with other partic-
ipating truckers from across
the nation.
LOCAL BRIEFING
Pendleton starts
upgrades on
S.E. Byers Avenue
PENDLETON — City of
Pendleton crews began work
Monday, Feb. 28, on South-
east Byers Avenue.
Pendleton Public Works
Director Bob Patterson in
a press release reported the
work is related to storm
system upgrades from Main
Street to Southeast Seventh
Street and water system
upgrades from Main Street
to Southeast Fourth Street.
The city anticipates the
project will be ongoing
through March and April
and is completing the work
in preparation of the South-
east Byers Avenue recon-
struction project later in
2022.
City staff will communi-
cate with aff ected property
owners during this construc-
tion, according to Patter-
son. The city will set up
traffi c control and detours,
and the work involves
periodic closures of inter-
sections along Southeast
Byers Avenue.
City crews will try to
maintain access to all prop-
erties as the utility work
allows.
Once they complete
the work on Byers, crews
will move on to Northwest
Despain Avenue. Patterson
said the city will provide
more information on that
project in the future.
— EO Media Group
BOARDMAN — The
Boardman Fire Rescue
District in a press release
Friday, Feb. 25, announced
the Morrow County Sheriff ’s
Offi ce no longer dispatches
the district to medical calls.
Morrow County Sheriff
Ken Matlack on Feb. 28 said
meetings were planned for
this week to resolve this situ-
ation. He added that Board-
man residents are not likely to
see a diff erence in emergency
services in the meantime.
“All of Boardman Fire
calls are being sent to them,”
he said. “All incidents on the
freeway, accidents, gas spills,
chemical spills, anything to
do with the fi re department,
everything hasn’t changed
at all.”
He explained all emer-
gency service entities have
the ability to monitor one
another’s radio traffi c, includ-
ing calls for emergency
medical services. The fire
department monitors the traf-
fi c, and it can respond.
The only diff erence, he
said, is the fi re department is
now not relying on the sheriff
offi ce’s dispatch to respond to
emergencies.
“Right now, we don’t have
any decision-making, if they
want to self-initiate and go
and do what they would typi-
cally do or standby. Whatever
they feel they’re going to do,
that’s their decision,” Matlack
said.
He stated this is a tempo-
rary situation.
Matlack informed Board-
man Fire Rescue District
Chief Hughes on Feb. 22
about the change, accord-
ing to the press release, due
to a complaint from Donna
Sherma, the emergency
medical services coordina-
tor of the Morrow County
Health District had with the
way fi re district’s personnel
provided medical treatment
to a patient.
However, according to the
press release, neither Matlack
nor Sherman have been will-
ing to provide sufficient
details for the fi re district to
investigate this complaint.
Matlack said he would
not give details about the
complaint at this time.
Boardman Fire Rescue
District reported that since
March 16, 2020, it has
responded to 630 fi re calls
and an additional 814 EMS
calls.
The fi re district requires
all full-time fi refi ghters to
be state licensed emergency
medical technicians or higher
and provides 24/7 service
from the Boardman fire
station, according to the press
release, with assistance from
volunteer fi refi ghters/emer-
gency medical technicians.
“The Boardman Fire
Rescue District has set and
maintained a minimum
response time of 90 seconds
or less for staff to be en route
to emergency calls, from
the Boardman station,” the
release stated. “This allows
the fire district to provide
the highest level of care and
assistance to the commu-
nity in times of emergency
or crisis.”
Neither the Morrow
County Sheriff ’s Offi ce nor
the Morrow County Health
District manage the fire
district. Instead, an elected
board of directors oversees
the district.
“The Boardman Fire
Rescue District is diligently
trying to work out the issues
at hand in order to continue
to provide the best emer-
gency medical care when
seconds matter,” according
to the press release. “Public
safety and patient care is our
highest priority.”
March
26-27
Saturday 9:00 am–5:00 pm
Sunday 9:00 am–3:00 pm
DESCHUTES COUNT Y
FAIR & EXPO CENTER
REDMOND
•
OREGON
PRESENTED BY
5 Buck Breakfast
SAT. MORNING 8–10
While supplies last
Sponsored by McDonalds
All proceeds to benefit Perfect Balance
Good Shepherd
Outreach & Events
KIDS’ ZONE
PROJECTS AND FUN ACTIVITIES
ALL THINGS AGRICULTURE
Clint Johnson Working
Dog Demonstrations
SAT. 11–NOON • SUN. 10–11
Early Day Gas Engine
and Tractor Display
with Demonstrations
March is National Colorectal Awareness Month
Good Shepherd’s Community Health & Outreach
offers free Colorectal Cancer Screening Kits.
Contact us to learn more!
Diabetes Prevention Program
Starts April 14th
Walk with Ease
March 21st – April 29th, M/W/F
GOOD SHEPHERD
COMMUNITY HEALTH & OUTREACH
541-667-3509 | healthinfo@gshealth.org