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Wednesday, September 8, 2021
WINNER OF THE 2020 ONPA GENERAL EXCELLENCE AWARD
Anger in Wallowa County:
Protesters reject mandate
Jonathan
Bork
Redmond, Wash.
Part-time
resident
has deep
roots here
ENTERPRISE — Jonathan Bork
doesn’t live in Wallowa County, but he
has long experience and deep roots here.
His mother, Diane Swedk, owns a
ranch of about 300 acres off of Peak Lane
north of Enterprise where Jonathan’s
brother now lives with their mother.
Their grandparents once worked and
farmed there.
“I’ve been up here ever since I was
6 years old,” the retired construction
inspector from Redmond, Washington,
said.
Bork said he is helping his brother
winterize the ranch where their mother
now lives and, at about 90, needs some
looking after.
“The house is sitting there idle and
waiting for some kind of life to happen,”
he said, adding that it’s not up for sale.
“It’s got a $10 million view of the moun-
tains up there.”
He recently shared his thoughts
about his time in Wallowa County.
What’s your favorite thing about
Wallowa County?
We’re looking at it right now — the
sun’s shining. ... I’ve never been up here
when the sun wasn’t shining, even in
the wintertime. And I like that when you
drive down the road, people wave at you.
... That’s something you don’t get in the
metro area. And they don’t give the sin-
gle-fi nger salute. Of course, there’s a
lot of silence at night and you can actu-
ally see the Milky Way. Haven’t seen that
since the last time I looked for it up here.
What are your thoughts as the
20th anniversary of 9/11 is here?
The current administration is a dis-
appointment. We look pretty poorly in
the world’s eyes right now. As far as 9/11
goes, I feel sadness and I don’t feel Amer-
ica’s resolved a lot of the issues that were
created from that. ... We paid a pretty
high price. We’ve learned, as a nation,
that no place is safe from terrorism and
our government’s doing the best job
they can.
Are you concerned about the
recent coronavirus spike?
Yes, I’m vaccinated and I intend to get
any boosters that they off er. I don’t know
if it’s protecting me, but so far, so good.
(The medical community) they’ve done a
fantastic job. My daughter’s a nurse and I
was afraid for her.
What do you think of the
renewed mandates on face
masks?
It doesn’t hurt, but it doesn’t work
unless people start using it. Social dis-
tancing is a good deterrent. It’s hard
to tell; I don’t think they know enough
about masks.
Bill Bradshaw/Wallowa County Chieftain
Todd Rogers, of Help Our Kids Succeed, lower left, reads a statement to protesters against state mandates requiring coronavirus vaccinations
Wednesday, Sept. 1, 2021, outside the Wallowa County Courthouse. Rogers and Hilary Miller of the Stop the Mandates Coalition addressed
the county commissioners later.
More than 150
residents gather
in heated protest
at courthouse
By BILL BRADSHAW
Wallowa County Chieftain
E
NTERPRISE — Wal-
lowa County is angry.
At least, the more than
150 protesters were who gath-
ered on the courthouse lawn
Wednesday, Sept. 1, to regis-
ter their objections to Gov. Kate
Brown’s mandate requiring all
public employees get vacci-
nated against coronavirus.
Two of their number attended
the meeting of the Wallowa
County Board of Commission-
ers that morning to address the
situation. But the commission-
ers weren’t sure they could do
anything more than they’ve
already done.
“I’m here to speak on behalf
of friends, family, businesses,
teachers, the state and others,”
Bill Bradshaw/Wallowa County Chieftain
“Quit being sheep!” shouts Joseph businessman Gary Bethscheider
from a crowd of more than 150 people gathered Wednesday, Sept.
1, 2021, outside the Wallowa County Courthouse. The grassroots
gathering was there to protest state mandates requiring coronavirus
vaccines and sought help from the county commissioners.
said Todd Rogers, of Help Our
Kids Succeed. “I’d like to give
my time over to Hilary Miller,
who has a nice presentation for
you guys.”
“Everybody has the right
to choose the vaccine if they
want it and everybody has the
right to not choose it if they
don’t want it,” Miller said prior
to the meeting. “We are not an
anti-vaccination group. We are
a pro-medical choice and bodily
autonomy group.”
As she told the commission-
ers, “I’m a wife, mother, regis-
tered nurse, veteran and co-cre-
ator of — and Wallowa group
leader of — the Northeastern
Oregon Stop the Mandate Coa-
lition. I am speaking on behalf
of this coalition.
“We are a grassroots group
erected from the recent COVID-
19 vaccination mandate from
Gov. (Kate) Brown, which
threatens our livelihoods and
liberties. With almost 500 mem-
bers just by word of mouth, we
are comprised of health care
workers, law enforcement offi -
cers, state workers, teachers and
others aff ected by this mandate.
In addition, we are joined out-
side by members of the HOKS
group — Help Our Kids Suc-
ceed — this Northeast Oregon
coalition is a tri-county coali-
tion, but just within Wallowa
County, between our numbers
and the HOKS group makes up
almost 300 Wallowa County
citizens.”
See Protest, Page A5
Workers in short supply amid year of great job growth
“It’s common for people to
come and begin training and then
get another job off er that competes
with wages,” she said. “There’s no
allegiance. It’s a competitive mar-
ket for employers.”
By SUZANNE ROIG
The Bulletin
Editor’s note: Today starts
Part One of a fi ve-part series by
EO Media Group to publish over
the next fi ve weeks, looking at the
issue of the lack of workers for
jobs in Central and Eastern Ore-
gon; why workers are not return-
ing to previous-held jobs and how
businesses are pivoting to function
without being fully staff ed.
BEND — With record job
growth in Oregon, Whitney Keat-
man never imagined she would
have problems fi nding workers for
her Scott Street location of Spar-
row Bakery.
And she didn’t.
Worker
It
was getting
Shortage
them to stay that
has plagued her
long-time
Bend
business.
FIRST IN A 5-PART SERIES
In the past year
Keatman, a co-owner, made 117
job off ers and most were accepted.
But after just three months, only
about 42 workers remained. The
Finding workers a challenge
Dean Guernsey/The Bulletin
Co-owners of Sparrow Bakery in Bend, Whitney, left, and Jessica Keatman
with their sons, Brooks and Abel are at the Scott Street bakery location,
which is closing due to a worker shortage.
bakery needed a minimum of 20
workers at the Scott Street loca-
tion and by the end of this summer
there were six.
So, she made a hard decision:
She will close the bakery at the Old
Iron Works Arts District.
“We’ve been struggling for seven
years with moments of success,”
Keatman said. “Over the years
we’ve had on again and off again
good managers. When you don’t
have the right management, you
have a hard time retaining workers.
During a year of record job
growth in Oregon, employers like
Keatman have had the hardest time
fi nding workers to fi ll positions.
Companies across the state, partic-
ularly in the leisure and hospitality
industries, are scrambling to fi nd
workers.
The hospitality, hotel, restaurant
and tourism-related industries added
6% more jobs this year, economists
say. Hiring is more competitive than
ever as employers raise wages, off er
signing bonuses, referral bonuses,
improved benefi ts, even subsidies
for housing. But those incentives
also have to compete against federal
unemployment benefi ts, an increase
in household income from federal
stimulus funds and retirements.
See Workers, Page A5