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137th Year, No. 28
Wednesday, October 20, 2021
wallowa.com
Local schools meet vaccine deadline
Administrators say
faculty are vaccinated
or exempted
By BILL BRADSHAW
Wallowa County Chieftain
Brad
Elson
Enterprise
He loves
the quiet
of the
county
ENTERPRISE — Brad Elson loves the
peace and quiet of Wallowa County.
He’s been enjoying that peace and
quiet in Enterprise for the past 10 years.
Born and raised in San Diego, he moved
here both to get away from the big city
and to help out his parents. They are
both now deceased.
Retired now from work in water
treatment, he has a daughter who is
going to school in North Carolina to
become a makeup artist in the movie
industry. She’s expecting, so Elson will
have his fi rst grandchild soon.
He recently shared his thoughts
about living in Wallowa County.
What’s your favorite thing about
Wallowa County?
The quiet. I remember in San Diego
living along one of the main highways,
7-Eleven and everything else, 24 hours
of noise, all night, guns, sirens, cars
honking — it didn’t stop. The fi rst time
I heard quiet was on the way here and I
thought something was wrong because
my ears were ringing so loud because of
the quiet.
As we move into fall, what’s
your favorite season? Why?
I like the summer, even if it is
short — but then I’m from California.
Although, it’s kind of fun when there’s
too much snow out there in the drive-
way to get on my three-wheeler and just
tear the crap out of the snow so it would
melt faster. That’s fun.
Are you concerned about the
recent coronavirus spike?
Not as much as other crap. I didn’t
get vaccinated. My dad did, but he died
after my mom. He was 94.
What do you think of
government mandates on face
masks and vaccinations?
Why don’t we just call them the
Stasi? I don’t think the government
should be telling us that ****. They tell
us enough.
With summer now over, what
was your favorite experience?
I had to move, so it wasn’t a very fun
summer, but it was an adventure.
What’s your advice for people
who are thinking about moving
here?
Leave what you’ve got there behind.
… If you bring all that **** here, it won’t
be like it is now. It’s been changing a lit-
tle bit.
ENTERPRISE — Nearly all
faculty and staff at schools in Wal-
lowa County have complied with
Gov. Kate Brown’s mandate that
they receive the coronavirus vac-
cine or obtain medical or religious
exemptions to the requirement,
school administrators said.
Brown issued the executive
order requiring the anti-virus mea-
sure Aug. 13. Under it, all teach-
ers, educators, support staff and
volunteers in K-12 schools were to
be required to be fully vaccinated
by Monday, Oct. 18, or six weeks
after full Food and Drug Admin-
istration approval of a vaccine,
whichever was later, according to
Oregon.gov.
The order also provides for
exceptions to vaccination based
on medical conditions or religious
convictions.
Tom Crane, the new interim
superintendent
at
Enterprise
schools, said the 55 faculty and
staff there all have complied with
the mandate.
When interviewed last week,
Crane said the district was still
waiting on one person to provide
documentation of either vaccina-
tion or a permissible exception. On
Monday, Crane said that person
had come into compliance.
“So we’re all good to go,” he
said.
Lance Homan, superintendent
of Joseph Charter School, said the
K-12 school with about 280 stu-
dents has about 35 faculty and
staff . He said Monday that he did
not expect anyone to have to resign
because of noncompliance with
the governor’s mandate.
“At this time, we do not,”
Homan said Monday. “We’re
going to open up tomorrow as
normal.”
Tammy Jones, superintendent
at the Wallowa School District,
said the schools have just over 200
students as of early October, an
increase from the prior year. The
See Mandate, Page A7
Back to beginnings
Former elementary teacher Tom Crane takes job as interim superintendent
By BILL BRADSHAW
Wallowa County Chieftain
ENTERPRISE — Tom Crane
is having a hectic but enjoyable
time getting settled into his new
role as the interim superintendent
for the Enterprise School District
and interim elementary school
principal.
He said Thursday, Oct. 14, that
he keeps running into old acquain-
tances from his years here as a
teacher. He came to Enterprise
decades ago for his fi rst teaching
position, as he taught fourth grade
for 12 years followed by a year in
sixth grade from 1982-95. He also
coached junior high sports during
those years.
Old acquaintances
“The opportunity to see all
these people again and their kids
and their grandkids, it’s just been
a blur,” he said. “I’ll talk to peo-
ple and walk away and think of 29
things about that person. One lady
who works over at the ESD (Edu-
cation Service District) said, ‘You
know, I was in your class the sec-
ond year you were here.’ She told
me who she was and I remembered
her. She said, ‘But that’s not what’s
important. What’s important is my
husband was in your fi rst class and
I’ll bet you don’t remember, but he
told me he made a paddle for you.’
I said, ‘I know exactly who you’re
talking about. I still have the pad-
dle.’ It was a work of art. In my 34
years in education, no student ever
gave me a paddle, so that has been
with me my entire career.”
Did he ever use it?
“It’s not my thing and I wasn’t
part of that generation,” Crane said.
“I was just amazed that that little
boy, that fourth-grader, he and his
dad went out in the shop and made
that paddle and painted it up and
brought it to me. My goal now is
I’m going to go home — it’s out in
my shed — and I’m going to bring
it back so that he can see it. That’s
the kind of moments I’ve been
having. It’s just been incredible.”
But his job has entailed much
Bill Bradshaw/Wallowa County Chieftain
Zane Anderson, left, hands a paddle he made decades ago to his then-fourth-grade teacher Tom Crane when Crane
was in his fi rst year as a teacher at Enterprise Elementary School. Crane, who is the new interim superintendent of
Enterprise schools, has kept it all these years and wanted to show it to Anderson on Monday, Oct. 18, 2021.
Bill Bradshaw/Wallowa County Chieftain
Tom Crane, left, the Enterprise School District’s new interim superintendent,
talks over technology issues with information technician Brant Gorham on
Thursday, Oct. 14, 2021, at Enterprise High School. Crane started Tuesday,
Oct. 12, and also is the new interim principal for the elementary school.
more than reminiscing. Since he
started Oct. 12, he’s been in nearly
constant meetings learning what
he needs to know for the job.
“I’m really excited about being
here the past two days,” he said. “I
was here 40 years ago and I left 26
years ago. It’s great to be back to
Wallowa County. It’s great to be
back to Enterprise.”
Even his interview with the
Enterprise School Board was
pleasant.
“Even the interview was fun
because one of the board mem-
bers introduced herself with her
married name. I said, ‘It’s nice to
meet you,’ and she said her fi rst
name and her maiden name and I
just couldn’t believe it. I said, ‘Are
you kidding me?’ and after that,
the interview was a lot of fun. A lot
See Crane, Page A7
COVID-19 case count slows in the past week
Weekly total of
21 cases half
of the previous
week, which
saw 49 cases
By RONALD BOND
Wallowa County Chieftain
ENTERPRISE — A
corner may be turning on
COVID-19 cases in Wal-
lowa County.
The Oregon Health
Authority reported Mon-
day, Oct. 18, just three
new COVID-19 cases in
the county, on the heels of
two cases reported Friday.
The total number of cases
is currently at 673. There
have been no new deaths,
keeping the number of
COVID-related fatalities
at 12. The county’s overall
infection rate since the start
of the pandemic, per the
OHA, is 9.4%. It’s above
the state average, which
is 8.25%, but ranked 19th
among counties. In all, 17
counties have a rate above
10%.
After a highly concern-
ing start to October, the
case count in the past week
(from Oct. 12-18) was just
21 cases — fewer than half
of the 49 cases reported
the previous week. For
the month of October,
there have been 90 cases
reported. The daily aver-
age for the month, which a
week ago was up to 6.9 per
day, is now at 5.3 per day.
The counts for the past
week were as follows: fi ve
on Oct. 12, four on Oct.
13, seven on Oct. 14, two
on Oct. 15 and three on
Oct. 18 from the weekend.
There has not been a dou-
ble-digit day of cases since
Oct. 8, when 11 cases were
reported.
Statewide COVID hos-
pitalizations totaled 561,
according to Monday’s
OHA report, and 140
COVID-19 patients were
in an ICU bed.
Region 9 hospitals,
which had dropped sig-
nifi cantly from their pan-
demic high of COVID-
19 patients, have seen an
uptick, with 27 COVID
patients in hospitals as of
Monday.
Wallowa County also is
inching higher in the vacci-
nation rate. As of Oct. 16,
there were 3,795 individu-
als 18 and older — 65.9%
of that part of the popula-
tion — who had received at
least one COVID-19 shot,
and 61.3% of the demo-
graphic has been fully vac-
cinated. When looking
at the overall population,
there have been 3,979 peo-
ple — 55.6% of the popu-
lation — with at least one
shot, according to OHA
data, and 51.4% fully
vaccinated.
The latest COVID-
19 breakthrough report,
with data current through
Oct. 9, shows there have
been a total of 86 break-
through cases in Wallowa
County — cases of peo-
ple who have received full
COVID-19 vaccination but
still contracted the disease.
That number is up by 14
from the prior report.
At the time of the report,
there were 30,687 break-
through cases reported.
Last week’s percentage
— 2,490 out of 9,141,
or 27.2% — is the high-
est percentage of break-
through cases in Oregon
to date. There have been
breakthrough 292 deaths,
putting the survival rate
of breakthrough cases at
99.05%.