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Spilyay Tymoo, Warm Springs, Oregon
March youth rodeo
postponed for a time
The spring Junior Rodeo season was to buck this
month at the Jefferson County Fairgrounds arena in
Madras. This has now been delayed into April, at the
earliest, due to the virus pandemic.
Events will include bareback, ranch and saddle
bronc, mini- and junior bulls, barrels, poles, team
roping and breakaway. All events will be 18 and
under. Riders will be able to enter each event twice
unless the event fills up. This is going to be an Inter-
national Miniature Rodeo Association (IRMA) ro-
deo. As the event day approaches, call or text entries
to 541-280-1342; or see ‘kokelsoutlawponies’ on
Facebook. Entries will be $45 for rough stock; $50
a run for breakaway; and $60 a team.
Heart of Oregon cancellation
Dear Partners,
Due to the COVID-19
crisis, all Heart of Oregon
Corps youth programs and
events have been canceled
and or postponed. This can-
cellation includes the
YouthBuild information ses-
sion on March 31, and our
Home Completion Cer-
emony for our Prineville
House on April 3.
Please let the youth and
families that you work with
know that they have been
canceled, and that they can
attend an information ses-
sion in April. We will con-
tinue to monitor the situa-
tion and as soon as we get a
go ahead we will be adding
new dates, possibly in April.
Thank you so much!
War m regards, Kara
Johnson, program director.
Coronavirus layoffs: What
to do if you’ve lost your job
Until recently more than
155,000 people in Oregon
were working in restaurants
and bars. There are a num-
ber of examples on the res-
ervation: At the Cotton-
wood Restaurant and Juni-
per Grill, Eagle Crossing, Re-
Use It, and the food carts,
for example.
Across Oregon many
employees, and the establish-
ment owners, have lost or
soon will lose their liveli-
hoods.
In emergency response
to the coronavrius, Gov.
Kate Brown last week or-
dered all eating and drink-
ing establishments shut
down, except for takeout
and delivery service.
This was done to help
control the spread of the
coronavirus. The economic
fallout is, and will continue
to be severe.
Some of the dramatic
events throughout the state:
Powell’s Books laid off hun-
dreds of employees, shutting
its five landmark stores in
the Portland area. Apple,
Nike and many other retail-
ers have also closed their
stores.
The NBA is closed down,
as are concerts, leading the
Moda Center to stop work
indefinitely.
Museums—including the
Museum at Warm Springs—
amusement parks, movie
theaters and many other at-
tractions are also closed, with
employees at home.
Then last week: The sud-
den surge in layoffs triggered
a massive rise in jobless
claims, overwhelming the
state’s website for filing un-
employment insurance
claims.
The site was intermit-
tently offline last week.
Before the coronavirus,
the Oregon jobless rate was
at an all-time low of 3.3 per-
cent.
And an added worry:
Expect higher unemploy-
ment numbers in the com-
ing weeks.
No one knows for sure
how the situation will de-
velop: It all depends on
how widespread the out-
break becomes, and how
long it lasts.
The Oregon Employ-
ment Department website is
a good place to start:
oregon.gov/employ/un-
employment/
The department offers
this initial guidance:
Is anybody hiring?
Amazon, Fred Meyer
and Safeway-Albertsons
are all struggling to keep
up with customer demand,
and want nearly as many
workers as they can hire.
Amazon says it will hire up
to 100,000 and is offering
a temporar y, $2 hourly
raise.
Safeway and other gro-
cery stores want to hire
employees immediately. See
their site. The jobs include
everything from check-out,
stocking, and meat cutter to
cake decorator.
Where do I file for ben-
efits?
Unemployment insur-
ance is available for most
workers who lose their jobs
“through no fault of their
own.”
File online and do it as
soon as possible: It takes a
week for benefits to kick in,
and three weeks before pay-
ments start.
Do I need to seek a new
job if my layoff is tem-
porary?
The Employment De-
partment says that if an em-
ployer expects a layoff will
last for four weeks or less,
workers do not need to seek
a new job to receive unem-
ployment benefits, so long
as they’re in contact with
their employer and available
to return to work when
called.
What if I’m sick or quar-
antined, or want to stay
away from work so I’m
not exposed to the virus?
See UNEMPLOYMENT on 7
March 25, 2020
OSAA spring suspension through April
The Oregon School Ac-
tivities Association—the
OSAA—has extended the
suspension of inter-scholas-
tic practices and contests for
sports and activities for all
member schools at least
through April 28.
The action of the OSAA
follows the March directive
from Gov. Kate Brown.
The OSAA executive
board has clarified the lan-
guage regarding usage of
high school facilities and
communication between
coaches and participants
during the moratorium-like
suspension period.
The OSAA Executive
Board had general discus-
sion around each spring ac-
tivity and sport, and issues
with following Center for
Disease Control, state and
local protocols for gather-
ings—especially given event
formats, and that some
events are indoor and some
outdoor.
The board made the fol-
lowing determinations re-
garding the ‘Speech’ and
‘Solo Music State Champi-
onships’:
Speech State Champi-
onships, were scheduled
for April 23-25: Only four
of the 14 special districts
were able to complete quali-
fying events prior to the
school closures.
The event’s cutoff date
for entries of April 11, and
the event itself fall within
the school closure window.
Western Oregon Univer-
sity remains open but delay-
ing the event does not fit
within the school’s current
schedule of events.
Due to these factors,
along with no clear option
for technology solutions to
be implemented, the OSAA
executive board voted to
cancel the Speech State
Championships for 2020.
Solo Music State
Championships, sched-
uled for May 2: All 15 Or-
egon Music Education As-
sociation districts were able
The following are fre-
quently asked questions re-
lating to OSAA’s policies
regarding the COVID-19
outbreak. If you have a
question, please contact
Pe t e r
Web e r
at
peterw@osaa.or g or con-
tact the OSAA office at
503-682-6722.
Question:
May
schools participate in out-
of-state practices or con-
tests and events during
this suspension period?
Answer: No, the sus-
pension period for prac-
tices, contests and events
applies to all OSAA mem-
ber schools, regardless of
where the practice, con-
test or event occurs.
Quesion: May coaches
hold ‘voluntary’ or ‘op-
tional’ practices during this
suspension period?
No, coaches are not
able to work directly with
students during this sus-
pension period. Coaches
may not be involved in
circumventing this policy.
May coaches commu-
nicate with students and
to complete qualifying
events prior to the March
17 district deadline.
The rest of the deadlines
for submitting school infor-
mation,
accompanist
changes, etc. all fall within
the statewide school closure
window.
Pacific University has no-
tified the OSAA that all on-
campus events are can-
celled, and the OSAA Solo
Music State Championship
cannot be held on their cam-
pus.
The OSAA relies heavily
on the arts programs at Pa-
cific University, along with
staff and student personnel,
to facilitate the event.
Due to these factors,
along with no clear option
for technology solutions to
be implemented, the OSAA
executive board voted to
cancel the Solo Music State
athletes?
Coaches can communi-
cate with students in accor-
dance with local school dis-
trict policy, but not organize
or participate in workouts.
We encourage coaches to
provide support to students
during this stressful time.
Does this suspension pe-
riod apply to public schools
only?
The suspension period
applies to all OSAA mem-
ber schools, public and pri-
vate, in all OSAA-sanc-
tioned activities.
How should schools cor-
rectly mark baseball and
softball games during the
suspension period on the
OSAA website?
Games should be
marked as cancelled, not de-
leted. This keeps the game
on a team’s schedule in case
it’s able to be made up at a
later date.
May students or coaches
access school facilities dur-
ing this suspension period?
During this moratorium-
like period, there shall be no
high school facility usage by
activity or athletic staff and
students or teams. Field
maintenance is allowed.
May groups of students
gather to workout?
A. While the OSAA en-
courages students to stay
active, we discourage
groups of students from
getting together in align-
ment with local and fed-
eral social distancing
guidelines.
Will OSAA State Cham-
pionships that have been
cancelled be rescheduled?
No, due to the numer-
ous issues regarding re-
scheduling including, but
not limited to, site availabil-
ity, staffing, scheduling con-
flicts, etc., cancelled OSAA
State Championships will
not be rescheduled.
Does the suspension
period apply to off-season
fall and winter activities?
All OSAA sports and
activities fall under this
guidance. There will be no
practice or gatherings for
any OSAA sports or activi-
ties. This includes Rule of
Two, 6A/5A Pilot, and in-
dividual sports.
Championships for 2020.
“As parents and former
participants, the executive
board and staff share in the
disappointment of students,
schools and communities re-
garding the cancellation of
these state championships,”
said Peter Weber, OSAA ex-
ecutive director. “We all re-
main committed to the
health and safety of stu-
dents throughout Oregon
during this evolving public
health emergency.”
The OSAA executive
board has committed to
meeting on April 1, and
again on April 15, to re-
evaluate the suspension of
spring activities and sports,
along with the remaining
Spring State Championships.
This will allow the board to
review any updated guide-
lines and directives in col-
laboration
with
the
Governor’s Office, the Or-
egon Health Authority, the
Oregon Department of
Education, the OSAA
Sports Medicine Advisory
Committee and member
school administrators from
throughout the state as this
situation continues to
evolve.
The OSAA Track and
Field State Champion-
ships, originally scheduled
to be held at the University
of Oregon, will be split out
and moved to different ven-
ues due to construction
timelines for the completion
of Hayward Field.
New arrangements have
the 6A, 5A, 4A events being
held at Mt. Hood Commu-
nity College and the 3A, 2A,
1A events at Western Or-
egon University, both on
May 29-30.