Business
AgLife
B
Thursday, May 13, 2021
The Observer & Baker City Herald
COVID-19
Oregon
extends
workplace
mask rule
Despite flood of protests,
requirements for masks,
social distancing remain
in place ‘indefinitely’
By SARA CLINE
Associated Press/Report for America
the frames that go underneath
them — the pedestal,” he said.
“That turns us multiple millions
of dollars a year.”
In fact, the payroll for his
100-plus employees is around $3
million a year, he said. He offers
a full slate of benefits to hourly
and salaried employees.
“I’m basically just the presi-
dent and CEO, and I let them do
their jobs,” he said.
Of course, most of that pay-
roll won’t be in Wallowa County,
but a large portion will be. He
said his two shops on the west
side are buried in back orders
and he plans to direct the over-
flow here. He has a fleet of about
50 trucks that can haul raw mate-
rials and finished products.
LaFave said he’s planning to
hire almost entirely local people.
The only person he plans to
bring from the west side is Greg
Doty, who will serve as shop
foreman.
“Experienced welders, they’re
going to range anywhere from
$18.50 to $24 an hour, depending
on what they know,” he said.
Welders don’t have to be
experts in the work they’ll do at
RDF&P. He said he plans to have
PORTLAND— Oregon last
week adopted a controversial rule
that indefinitely extends corona-
virus mask and social distancing
requirements for all businesses in
the state.
State officials say the rule,
which garnered thousands of
public comments, will be in place
until it is “no longer necessary to
address the effects of the pandemic
in the workplace.”
“We reviewed all of the com-
ments – including the many com-
ments that opposed the rule – and
we gave particular consideration
to those comments that explained
their reasoning or provided con-
crete information,” said Michael
Wood, administrator of the state’s
department of Occupational Safety
and Health. “Although we chose
to move forward with the rule, the
final product includes a number of
changes based on that record.”
Oregon, which has been among
those with the country’s most
stringent COVID-19 restrictions,
had previously had a mask rule for
businesses, but it was only tem-
porary and could not be extended
beyond 180 days. That prompted
Wood to create a permanent rule
with the intent to repeal it at some
point.
“To allow the workplace
COVID-19 protections to simply
go away would have left workers
far less protected. And it would
have left employers who want to
know what is expected of them
with a good deal less clarity than
the rule provides,” Wood said.
But the proposal prompted a
flood of angry responses, with
everyone from parents to teachers
to business owners and employees
crying government overreach.
Wood’s agency received more
than 5,000 comments —mostly
critical — and nearly 70,000 resi-
dents signed a petition against the
rule.
Opponents raised concerns that
there is no sunset date or specific
See, Wages/Page 3B
See, Masks/Page 3B
Bill Bradshaw/Wallowa County Chieftain
Rick LaFave stands by the control computer for the burn table at his Renaissance Design, Fabrication & Powder Coating business just outside Joseph on Wednesday, May 5,
2021. He plans to open the shop about May 20.
Metal and money
New business to bring living wage jobs to Wallowa County, owner says
By BILL BRADSHAW
Wallowa County Chieftain
JOSEPH — Rick LaFave is
bringing to Wallowa County
something many have noted the
county sorely needs — jobs that
pay a living wage to as many as
25 people.
His said his Renaissance
Design Fabrication & Powder
Coating company is set to open
at the end of Russell Lane just
outside of Joseph about May 20.
“I’m not going to base the
wages on what they are in Wal-
lowa County,” he said. “My
wages are going to be based
on what my company does as
a whole. So if I have a welder/
fabricator making, say, $22 an
hour over in Forest Grove doing
the same job, he’s going to be
making $22 an hour here. It’s the
scale of how the company is set
up. It doesn’t matter if it’s here,
North Plains or Forest Grove.
I’ve got three shops, and they’re
all on the same scale.”
The Joseph operation will be
LaFave’s third such shop. He and
wife, Carey, also own a couple
restaurant/bars and a commer-
cial/residential painting company
on the west side of the state, as
well as two holding companies
through which he’s bought com-
Bill Bradshaw/Wallowa County Chieftain
Rick LaFave describes the operations of the press brake that bends metal at his Renais-
sance Design, Fabrication & Powder Coating business just outside Joseph on Wednes-
day, May 5, 2021. He seeks employees before opening the shop about May 20.
mercial properties. The couple
also recently purchased the
Imnaha River Bed & Breakfast,
which Carey will operate.
LaFave said the 17-year-old
RDF&P largely caters to the
high-tech industry.
“Everybody from Micron,
Intel — anybody who’s big into
the high tech, we supply them
with the goods to build ‘clean
rooms’ where they make (com-
puter) chips,” he said. “They
build a plant and I supply a lot of
the steel stuff that goes into those
plants.”
LaFave said his shop is spe-
cialized in terms of the equip-
ment it uses for computer chip
machines, and these tool pedes-
tals always are being upgraded.
“Most often, when that hap-
pens, they change out the whole
tool and every tool has a dif-
ferent footprint and it sits on a
raised-access floor and I build
Grass seed dealer agrees to $300K settlement in mislabeling case
By GEORGE PLAVEN
Capital Press
SALEM — A Willamette
Valley grass seed dealer accused
of mislabeling more than 8 mil-
lion pounds of seed has reached a
settlement with state agriculture
officials.
Dynamic Seed Source LLC
and owner Trevor Abbott have
agreed to pay $300,000 in fines
to to the Oregon Department of
Agriculture as part of the deal.
The company also will have its
wholesale seed dealer’s license
suspended for one year, effective
June 30.
ODA initially alleged Dynamic
Seed Source and Abbott in 2019
had mislabeled 124 seed lots as
Kentucky 31, or K-31, a popular
variety of tall fescue used for live-
stock forage, manicured lawns,
erosion control and turf.
Investigators later determined
the company mislabeled 161 seed
lots as K-31, totaling 207 infrac-
tions. Each lot equals up to 55,000
pounds of seed.
False labeling is a violation
of both the Federal Seed Act and
Oregon seed laws, regulating the
sale and commerce of agricultural
seed crops.
“It’s all about consumer protec-
tion,” said Elizabeth Savory, Seed
Regulatory Program manager at
ODA. “You want to make sure
Capital Press, File
This undated file photo shows the harvest of grass seed in a Willamette Valley field. Dy-
namic Seed Source LLC and owner Trevor Abbott agreed to pay $300,000 in fines to to
the Oregon Department of Agriculture for mislabeling millions of pounds of seeds.
what’s on the label, that’s the seed
they’re getting.”
Savory made the compar-
ison to someone buying a bag of
M&Ms, only to open the bag and
find out there were Skittles inside
— they’re both round candy, she
said, but not the same thing and
not what the person thought he
was buying.
K-31 is sought after for its heat
and drought tolerance, low main-
tenance and durability, fetching a
premium price for growers.
About half of all K-31 grass
seed comes from Missouri,
Savory said, and the other half is
grown in Oregon. In 2017, Mis-
souri experienced a record-low
harvest caused by several years of
difficult weather. The shortage led
to a spike in demand and prices.
ODA began an industry-wide
investigation in 2018 at the
request of the Oregon Seed Asso-
ciation to root out bad actors mis-
representing K-31 seed, based on
anomalies in the market.
The Seed Regulatory Program
has reviewed thousands of records
from 214 registered wholesale
dealers, Savory said, making it the
largest investigation in the pro-
gram’s history.
The violations allegedly com-
mitted by Dynamic Seed Source
and Abbott occurred between
2016 and 2018. Under the terms
of the settlement reached May 6,
Abbott and the company neither
admit nor deny any wrongdoing,
but agreed to pay the combined
$300,000 in fines and a one-year
license suspension.
In a statement, Abbott and
Dynamic Seed Source said ODA’s
case was “unnecessary,” and
they were always willing to pre-
pare their labels per the state’s
specifications.
“ODA sued anyway, and after
two years of litigation the parties
settled,” the company stated. “The
settlement did not require Trevor
Abbott or Dynamic to admit fault.
They are glad the lawsuit is over
and look forward to putting it all
behind them.”
Once their license is reissued,
Dynamic Seed Source and Abbott
will be placed on three years of
probation. Conditions of the pro-
bation will include twice-yearly
records audits, participation in at
least one workshop or training on
Oregon Seed Laws and at least
one in-person examination of
records annually.
Savory said no other viola-
tions have been uncovered to
date, though the investigation is
ongoing.
Angie Smith, executive
director of the Oregon Seed Asso-
ciation, said the group is so far
pleased with the state’s review.
“It was at the request of the
Oregon Seed Association’s mem-
bers that we asked ODA to look
into the sales of K-31,” Smith said.
“We look forward to the outcome
of that continued investigation.”
ODA Director Alexis Taylor
said the agency takes complaints
See, Settled/Page 3B