OFF PAGE ONE
Wallowa.com
Protest:
Continued from Page A1
On Aug. 19, Brown
issued an executive order
requiring public employ-
ees, such as educators, med-
ical professionals and emer-
gency services, to have
completed doses of the vac-
cine by Oct. 18 or face the
consequences, which could
include fi nes or termination
of employment. Employers,
such as schools and hospi-
tals, also could face fi nes.
The order does allow for
religious or medical exemp-
tions, although it does not
explain the details on those
or how they will be deter-
mined valid.
Action planned
But those opposing the
mandate are not sitting idly
by, Miller said.
“We are here to let you
know our stand: We will not
tolerate the threats and coer-
cion from Gov. Brown into
medical treatment,” she read
from a prepared statement.
“It strikes me to the core as
a medical professional. We
have heard our leadership in
Oregon say they are count-
ing on health care workers
‘bluffi ng.’ ... Let there be no
question: No one is bluff -
ing. A poll in our coalition
resulted in 83% of respon-
dents (said they) will not
get the vaccine despite the
mandate; 13% have already
received the vaccines and
stand against the mandate.
We are educated and intel-
ligent people in these pro-
fessions. We have either had
COVID, had the vaccine or
been off ered the vaccine.
This is not about a vaccine
at this point. Our group and
most of the members of the
health care and law enforce-
ment professions stand
with the Constitution of the
United States supporting
bodily autonomy, freedom,
the right to pursuit of happi-
Workers:
ness and liberty for all.”
Miller said the coalition
also is seeking advice and
guidance from others plan-
ning legal action to halt the
mandate.
Mandate’s
consequences
“The repercussions of
these vaccine mandates will
be severe,” Miller said. “Fire
departments and ambu-
lance services comprised
of family-like workers will
be nonexistent, leaving no
emergency response. Our
hospital won’t have staff to
care for patients and will
struggle to stay open. And, if
that’s not enough, the crip-
pling will extend much fur-
ther than just the health care
system. Teachers who hav-
en’t already retired early
or quit will leave their pro-
fession. Public schools will
shut down. State workers not
given options for exemption
will leave our state aching
for forestry employees for
prevention and protection of
forest fi res, social services,
child-protective
services,
state police, department of
transportation road services
and many more core ser-
vices that will be nonfunc-
tioning due to the mandate.
“We are standing up here
and now saying this is going
to end.”
Rogers was concerned
that critical employees could
lose their jobs.
“Just in talking to people,
one of the fears is that we
might have 25-50% of our
hospital staff get fi red; 25-35
to 40% of our teachers get-
ting fi red,” he said.
Commissioner
Todd
Nash agreed and said it goes
beyond the workers one
thinks of at the forefront.
“It goes on and on. I got
a call from one of the brand
inspector supervisors,” said
Nash, who is a cattle rancher.
“There are 16 brand inspec-
tors in the state of Oregon and
if this goes through the way it
expectations.”
‘Perfect storm’
Continued from Page A1
Just ask Robin Clement,
co-owner of Monkless Bel-
gian Ales in Bend. Clem-
ent and her husband opened
their pub just four months
before the pandemic shut it
down to reduce the spread of
COVID-19.
Fast forward to July
when tourism season in Cen-
tral Oregon hits a high note
and the state is reopening as
COVID-19 cases wane, the
Clements are scrambling to
get enough workers to keep
the brew pub open six days
a week.
In an interview with an
out-of-town worker recently
seeking a lead prep cook
position, Clement said she
made an off er on the spot to
the worker. The applicant
dined with his family for din-
ner that night.
But the next day, he told
Clement he took another
position. The job he took
off ered slightly more money
and a leadership role, some-
thing the small pub couldn’t
off er, Clement she said.
“It was really disappoint-
ing, but par for the course.
He was one of the few inter-
views that I set up who actu-
ally showed,” Clement said.
“2020 was a cake walk com-
pared to 2021.
“Customers have little
grace. Their patience is thin.
It’s been hard dealing with
Wednesday, September 8, 2021
Only 32,500 eligible
workers statewide are sitting
out the labor market wait-
ing for the pandemic to lift,
who may have health con-
cerns or child care issues,
said Gail Krumenauer, Ore-
gon Employment Depart-
ment economist. And another
12,000 workers statewide,
who had been in the leisure
and hospitality industry, now
are working in the transporta-
tion/warehousing and deliv-
ery sector because of higher
wages and benefi ts, Kru-
menauer said. The average
wage for leisure and hospi-
tality in Oregon is about $14
an hour but in transportation/
warehousing it’s $18 to $20
an hour.
“That’s a tough spot to
be in. The hiring is 1½ times
greater than we’ve ever
seen,” Krumenauer said.
“This spring we had 98,000
job vacancies. That’s a lot of
what is fueling the worker
shortage.
“That’s a perfect storm:
a lot of things happening all
at once and it makes it hard
for employers. Everyone’s
hiring.”
Layer these events on
top of one another and mix
in pent-up demand for buy-
ing and traveling and the
demand on goods and ser-
vices increases, which in
turn increases demand on the
need for more workers, Kru-
Bill Bradshaw/Wallowa County Chieftain
From left, Wallowa County Commissioners John Hillock,
Susan Roberts and Todd Nash listen to more than 150
county residents Wednesday, Sept. 1, 2021, protesting state
mandates requiring coronavirus vaccines. The grassroots
gathering asked the commissioners to support them. The
commissioners agreed to do so, but said they were limited in
what they could do.
looks right now, they’ll have
four. We don’t know how
we’d conduct commerce
with livestock. There’s a
whole litany of things. It’s
very concerning how this
thing all shakes out.”
“We don’t want this for
our community. We want to
work with you to help put an
end to this. We recognize that
your power is limited, but on
Aug. 26, the governor stated
that counties across the state
are vying for local con-
trol, but not one county has
come forward and off ered a
plan on how to control the
spread (of coronavirus.) We
view this as a huge opportu-
nity and we are seeking an
open format to dialogue and
put together a plan to pres-
ent to the governor,” Miller
said. “I know this is not
the end of mandates from
Gov. Brown. Many studies
done show masks, frequent
testing, lockdowns don’t
work and we may be look-
ing at vaccine failure with
the new variants. So let’s
not double-down on failed
measures.”
Miller asked the com-
missioners about setting up
a meeting to build a plan to
take to the governor.
“Actually, I was on that
call before the governor
came out with that state-
ment,” Nash said, “and I
said, ‘Our plan may look
diff erent than what you sur-
mise.’ So there’s a num-
ber of our businesses that
have off ered curbside ser-
vice, they’ve off ered home
delivery, there are residents
who’ve went to deliver food
or off er vaccines at people’s
homes. So our community
did work together to try to
provide for those who are
vulnerable and those who
felt threatened, and so we
did have a plan.”
He said other commis-
sioners have weighed in.
“Commissioner (Susan)
Roberts was mentioned —
as she often is — she talks
to the governor more than I
do,” Nash said. “Our vacci-
nation rate for frontier Ore-
gon is higher than most
— if not the highest — of
menauer said.
“Expanded
benefi ts
helped families in Central
Oregon and nationwide keep
food on the table and a roof
over their heads when work-
ers lost their jobs through
no fault of their own during
this public health pandemic,”
U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden,
D-Oregon, said in an email.
“Research has repeatedly
debunked the baloney that
benefi ts discouraged work.
“What’s clear in my con-
versations with Oregonians
all over our state is that the
lack of child care, housing
costs, the unique challenges
of service industry work and
other factors are what’s really
keeping many people from
returning to the workplace.”
The unemployment rate in
July was 5.6% in Deschutes
County, lower than the dou-
ble-digit rates at the height of
pandemic-related closures,
but still above February 2020
when it was 3.3.%, according
to the Oregon Employment
Department monthly unem-
ployment fi gures. Crook and
Jeff erson counties too have
seen their unemployment
levels return to near nor-
mal levels in the months fol-
lowing the business closures
imposed to slow the spread
of the virus.
Crook County’s unem-
ployment rate was 7% in
July, compared to 4.4% in
February 2020. And Jeff er-
son County’s unemployment
rate was 6.5% in July, com-
pared to 4.1% in February
2020.
In Eastern Oregon, Baker
County’s unemployment rate
was 5.4% in July 2021, com-
pared to 8.7% the prior July.
Union County’s unemploy-
ment rate was 5.8% in July
2021, down from 9.4% the
prior July. Wallowa Coun-
ty’s unemployment rate was
5.4% in July, compared to
8.3% and Umatilla County
was 5.5% in July 2021, down
from 7.3% in July 2020.
Statewide the unem-
ployment rate was 5.2% in
July, just slightly below the
national unemployment rate
of 5.4%.
“There’s no doubt that
(the federal boost of the
unemployment insurance)
is constraining the supply
of labor,” said Damon Run-
berg, Oregon Employment
Department regional econo-
mist. “But I don’t think it is
to a signifi cant degree.
“The labor market will
likely ease some as we move
into the fall, but that will be
more a refl ection of a reduc-
tion in job vacancies rather
than a massive infl ux of
workers who lost their fed-
eral unemployment insur-
ance benefi ts.”
Child care could poten-
tially get worse if the Bend
Park & Recreation District
isn’t able to hire 20 more
workers for its after-school
programs. It takes about 90
employees working part-time
hours to run the 14 programs
Commissioners’
help sought
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A5
any frontier county. The
things that we provided, she
acknowledged, but didn’t
accept that as a plan, either.”
As Roberts told the crowd
outside the courthouse after
the meeting, she’s often in
communication with the
governor.
“I’ve known the gover-
nor for 40 years and we’ve
never agreed on anything,
but at least I can talk to her,”
Roberts said, adding that
she often takes a hard stand
with Brown. “Someday, you
come up to the third fl oor (of
the courthouse) when I’m
talking to the governor and
you’ll see.”
Nash and the others
weren’t sure of anything
constructive they can do
now.
“For us to go back to her
now and for her to just say
‘No,’ it does a couple of
things,” he said. “We could
throw a plan out there —
and I think all three of us
would be amenable to look-
ing at what you might have
for an idea of a plan, but if
she chooses to reject and
she has summarily rejected
things that counties have
thrown at her, it almost
becomes empowering that
she has the power and local
control won’t get the power.
Because we’ve been try-
ing to get that from the very
fi rst.”
Commissioner John Hill-
ock agreed.
“I’m with Todd,” he said.
“We read the fi ne print after
(the governor) spoke and one
thing that comes up in the
fi ne print that some people
don’t see is that our plan has
to be in excess of her plan.
It’s like, ‘I’ll do my own
plan and we won’t make the
kids wear masks.’ Well, that
doesn’t work because that’s
not in excess of her plan. We
can send her all the plans
we want, but if we say we
don’t want to vaccinate or
whatever, she’s not going to
accept them because they’re
not in excess of her plan.”
in elementary schools, said
Julie Brown, district commu-
nity relations manager.
The district has posted
hiring signs everywhere,
even on the vehicles, posted
ads on social media, job fairs
with on-the-spot hiring, and
even raised the hourly pay,
she said.
“We’ve worked all sum-
mer long struggling to recruit
the new employees needed,”
Brown said. “These things
typically produce the results.
This situation feels diff erent.”
In letters to parents, the
park and recreation district
asked for referrals from par-
ents, she said. There are
1,000 children signed up for
after school care when school
starts Sept. 8 in Bend.
“We’ve never experienced
this before,” said Brown.
“We off er training skills for
those who want to do this
job. Most of our workers are
in their 20s, but we do have
people working in these jobs
in all ages.”
sidy subsides, she’s hop-
ing to take on a full comple-
ment of staff . She needs to fi ll
about seven positions, and
that’s keeping her from open-
ing her business seven days a
week.
Clement said the pub has
not been able to operate at
full capacity since the shut
down in March and that’s
because of staffi ng issues.
And if summer hires leave or
wait staff leave because they
don’t want to wear a mask,
she might have to consider
closing for lunch or limiting
more service.
“It’s challenging as an
employer,” Clement said.
“The worries I had in 2020
were if we were going to
make it because we were a
new brew pub. This year we
have an unprecedented num-
ber of customers and a lack
of staff that continues to get
worse. “
Sparrow Bakery’s owner
Keatman said she thinks the
stress of the pandemic is
wearing thin on workers who
have to face customers daily.
With the average age of a ser-
vice industry about 19 to 24,
Keatman said, she sees anxi-
ety at levels she’s never seen
before.
“Workers in this age
group don’t have a secure
fi nancial situation and
they’re trying to fi gure
things out,” Keatman said.
“They’re trying to fi gure
things out. Being at work
sucks.”
Most jobs returning
Nearly 18 months past
the initial business restric-
tions imposed to curb the
spread of the virus, Oregon
has regained two out of every
three jobs lost in the spring of
2020, Krumenauer said. Just
in the leisure and hospitality
sector alone, the state added
7,100 jobs in July, she said.
At Monkless, Clement
said she hopes that after the
federal unemployment sub-
Crowd frustrated
Although the commis-
sioners weren’t sure of what
they could do to fi ght the
governor’s mandate, they
agreed that protests such as
happened Sept. 1 spoke vol-
umes — but they said such
protests need to be larger
and more widespread.
Outside, Rogers agreed
and told the crowd they need
to bring in more people to
make more voices heard.
He also suggested writ-
ing to lawmakers and send-
ing letters to the editor of
newspapers.
“Actions speak louder
than words,” he said.
But that wasn’t enough
for some.
Joseph businessman Gary
Bethscheider was one of the
most vocal.
“Quit being a bunch of
sheep. Quit being sheep!
Let’s go to the sheriff ’s offi ce
and we’ll stand over there,”
he hollered. “Our sher-
iff needs to say, ‘Enough.’
We have elected him and
he needs to say ‘Enough’s
enough.’”
After someone com-
plained about schools clos-
ing because of coronavi-
rus, Bethscheider was eager
to take the protest beyond
vaccines.
“Send your kids to school
every day without a mask.
What are they going to do
about it?” he said.
Roberts again empha-
sized that as a board, the
commissioners can’t do a
whole lot beyond the public
employees they supervise —
not teachers, hospital staff or
even law enforcement, and
certainly not other govern-
mental entities.
“As a board of commis-
sioners, we don’t have con-
trol of anything,” she said,
but urged more such gath-
erings as happened Sept. 1.
“This is where the people
(say we) have had enough.”