OFF PAGE ONE
Saturday, April 30, 2022
East Oregonian
A9
Charity:
Continued from Page A1
Baker City Herald, File
Search and rescue members practice near Phillips Reservoir in 2019. A 10-county training
exercise is scheduled in the same area Friday through Saturday, April 29-May 1, 2022.
Training:
Continued from Page A1
There also is cell service
in the area, he said, so partici-
pants can be reached if a work
or family issue arises over the
weekend.
Ash said officials at the
Baker County Sheriff’s
Offi ce have been designing
the scenarios since January.
The focus, he said, will be
on honing skills needed for
a multi-day search involving
two command teams.
On the evening of April 29,
the first team was briefed
about the situation, which
involves a missing person or,
potentially, more than one,
Ash said.
The command team will
then devise a strategy for a
search that commenced Satur-
day morning.
The exercise is designed to
keep searchers busy at least
through the afternoon, Ash
said.
If they happen to fi nd the
“victim” relatively soon, there
are alternatives to extend the
exercise, he said.
The command team will
be given the sorts of informa-
tion typically available at the
outset of a search, such as the
last point at which the person
or people were seen.
The search area will be
limited to about 3,000 acres,
Ash said.
“We’ll have some clues
Dollars:
Continued from Page A1
to be a county commissioner
because I possess a skill set
that can help the county get
where it needs to be.”
Bower also has the most
significant deficit from the
campaign, having raised
$2,450, ranking her fourth in
campaign contributions.
Barton ranks second in
expenditures and contribu-
tions, having spent $6,735
and raised $7,400 following a
$3,000 donation from his own
business, Barton Laser Level-
ing.
Local candidates funding
their own raises is a common
practice.
Shafer follows Barton for
all nine candidates, ranking
third in contributions and
expenditure, spending $4,900
and having raised $4,800.
Shafer has the support of
several civic and community
figures, including outgoing
county Commissioner George
Murdock, who donated $1,000
to the reelection eff ort, and
Echo farmer Robert Levy,
throughout the scenario for
them to fi nd,” he said — a
piece of clothing, for instance.
“We’re not setting them
up for failure, but it is a real
scenario where they will have
to use their skills to fi nd the
person,” Ash said.
He said the scenarios are
intended to be challenging.
Ash, who has participated
in many searches during his
law enforcement career, said
almost every incident involves
some unexpected twist.
Earlier this month, for
instance, when volunteers
from the Baker County Sher-
iff ’s Offi ce Search and Rescue
team were summoned to look
for a Pendleton couple over-
due on a turkey hunting trip
near Balm Creek Reservoir,
northeast of Baker City, they
were initially searching for a
Dodge Dakota pickup truck.
But the couple, who spent
the night in their vehicle and
were found safe the next
morning, were actually driv-
ing a Subaru.
Later on April 30, follow-
ing the search, participants
will gather near Union Creek
for a technical rope rescue
exercise at a cliff .
The “victim” in this case
will be a mannequin, Ash
said.
On Saturday evening,
responsibility for the search
will be transferred to the
second command team — in
eff ect a continuation of the
exercise earlier in the day.
The new command team
will oversee another search on
Sunday morning.
This task will have an addi-
tional challenge, Ash said.
The subject of the search
is a person with a prosthetic
leg, and the fi ctional scenario
is that the person had the limb
severed during an accident.
That will require searchers
not only to fi nd the person, but
to “treat” the patient for severe
injuries before loading the
person on a litter for transport.
Other activities
In addition to the training
exercises, Ash said a Life-
Flight helicopter is scheduled
to land Friday afternoon at
Union Creek for a program
about working safely around
helicopters.
Also, FirstNet, an AT&T
service designed to supply
wireless communications
to public safety agencies in
the fi eld, will have a mobile
communications truck partic-
ipating in this weekend’s
training, Ash said.
He said the Baker County
Sheriff’s Office is consid-
ering joining the First-
Net network. The service
supplies mobile trucks to
provide wireless commu-
nications in places that lack
reliable cell coverage — a
frequent issue in search and
rescue missions in remote
Eastern Oregon. The service
also allows command teams
to track the movements
of all searchers through
their cellphones.
no longer provided us with
onions and potatoes,” he
said. “One of our staff ers got
Riverpoint Farms to donate
some onions for a while.
The loss of Shearer’s also
hurt. Not only did we lose
a source of donations, but
then the employees who lost
their jobs needed our help.”
Shearer’s Food lost its
facility in Hermiston in
an explosion and fire on
Feb. 22, putting 231 people
out of work.
Infl ation and the infl ux
of migrant workers from
the easing of coronavi-
rus restraints increased
demand as well, Gomolski
continued, and homeless-
ness jumped up to about
200 per month from 30 to
40.
“In 2021, our aver-
age number of house-
holds served was 428, with
1,397 people,” he said. Last
month’s (March 2022) stats
were 850 households and
3,002 individuals.
The food bank also relies
on 26 to 37 volunteers on
average, he said, working
about 160 hours per month.
Ab e r c r o mbie w it h
the Irrigon Emergency
Assistance Center cited
increased numbers of
homeless people passing
through her service area.
“They stay a few days
or a week or two,” she said.
“We make sure that they
have easily prepared food.”
And there has been a
“pretty big uptick” in emer-
gency aid, she added.
“Rent has gone up.
Donations from big corpo-
rations have fallen. We still
get help from local busi-
nesses and the state,” she
said. “I also write grants.”
But less federal aid has
caused more families to
return to the center.
“All the pantries have
seen large increases in
demand,” Patton added.
“We have made up more
food boxes than ever. Last
month was a record 166
East Oregonian, File
Maj. DeWayne Halstad hands out a boxed lunch at the
Pendleton Salvation Army in March 2020 at the start of the
coronavirus pandemic. Now in April 2022 as the pandemic
ebbs, local charities report several factors are pushing an
increase for their services.
food boxes. Our boxes don’t
have random contents.
They contain the ingredi-
ents for a meal.”
The U. S. Department
of Agriculture raising the
amount of food aid for
which people are eligible
has helped, she said, and
explained about 80% of
the Neighborhood Center
of South Morrow Coun-
ty’s food comes from
the Oregon Food Bank,
via Community Action
Program of East Central
Oregon, and 20% from
local donations and sources.
“We buy from local
groceries, so that monetary
donations stay local. We are
a concierge of services,”
Patton said. “Besides our
pantry and thrift store, we
provide emergency aid and
help people fi nd the support
they need.”
Working with
partners, outreach
essential
Gomolski cited part-
nerships, such as with Jose
Garcia’s New Horizons for
outreach to farm workers.
County coronavirus relief
funds also helped Agape
House get an enclosed
trailer to deliver food to
migrant workers in the fi eld
on Fridays.
“The workers’ hours and
our open schedule mean that
they can’t come to Agape
House, so we reach out,”
he said. “Now it’s planting
season, so the number of
migrant workers’ families
has grown from 120 to 300.”
Agape House also runs
a backpack’ program for
youths, Gomolski said,
that covers 270 students
per week in Hermiston,
Echo, Stanfield and Irri-
gon. The program’s cost
has ballooned from $4,000
to $9,000.
“Amazon donated to this
program,” he said. “We’re
grateful for every partner.”
Gomolski said Agape
House also has partnered
with the American Legion
in outreach programs for
needy veterans. Seniors on
fi xed incomes now benefi t
as well.
“Inf lation makes it
harder to serve people,
while increasing their
needs,” he concluded.
“Peanut butter costs $3 per
container. Even little boxes
of raisins are hard to fi nd. It
might sound trivial, but it’s
a real problem.”
Patton said some clients
struggle with asking for
help, so outreach is crucial
to these eff orts.
“Asking for help feels
like begging to them,” she
said. “So we have to reach
out, let them know what’s
available and that we under-
stand that almost everyone
needs help sometime, espe-
cially in tough economic
times like these.”
UMATILLA COUNTY COMMISSIONER
CANDIDATES CAMPAIGN FINANCES
Cindy Timmons,
Position 1 candidate
Total contributions: $8,550
Total expenses: $8,827.55
Susan Bower,
Position 1 candidate
Total contributions: $2,450
Total expenses: $23,200
Bob Barton,
Position 1 candidate
Total contributions: $7,400
Total expenses: $6,735
John Shafer,
Position 2 incumbent
Total contributions: $4,800
Total expenses: $4,900
husband of State Rep. Bobby
Levy, has donated $500 to
Shafer’s campaign.
Pullen stands at fifth
behind Timmons in campaign
spending with $2,000 and fi fth
behind Bower in contributions
with $2,250. His primary
benefactor is Larry Givens,
former Umatilla County
commissioner who lost reelec-
tion in 2018 to Shafer, the man
Pullen is looking to defeat this
year. Givens has contributed
$2,000 in-kind for radio ads
Rick Pullen,
Position 2 candidate
Total contributions: $2,250
Total expenses: $2,000
Position 1 candidates
Jesse Bonifer, David
Nelson and Alvin Young
and Position 2 candidate
HollyJo Beers have report-
ed no campaign donations
or expenditures.
Source: ORESTAR, the Oregon
Secretary of State’s website
for campaign fi nance activity.
to Pullen’s campaign.
Bonnifer, Young and Beers
have not broken the threshold
to report earnings or spending
throughout the race.
And Nelson, a former state
senator, has not broken the
threshold to report expenses
or contributions. He said he
has run several radio ads
and attended some candidate
forums but has not attempted
to campaign in any other way.
He would be 85 years old at the
end of his term if wins.
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