BAKER CITY HERALD — 5A
THURSDAY, MAY 27, 2021
Man missing for
Blazers will have sections for
vaccinated fans at playoff game more than two
By Gary A. Warner
Oregon Capital Bureau
The Thursday, May 27
tip-off of the playoff game
between the Portland Trail
Blazers and Denver Nug-
gets will be the fi rst big test
for Oregon’s newly approved
vaccinated sections at arenas,
theaters and other businesses.
“We are thrilled to part-
ner with the Governor and
Oregon Health Authority as
the fi rst indoor sports venue
in Oregon with vaccinated sec-
tions,” Portland Trail Blazers
President Chris McGowan
said Monday. “Rip City has
shown us such tremendous
support throughout the
season.”
Gov. Kate Brown an-
nounced the policy early Mon-
day, May 24, saying fans going
to the Trail Blazers games at
the Moda Center would be
among the fi rst to try out the
new plan.
“When fans left the Moda
Center last March, it was one
of the fi rst signs this pandemic
was about to change our lives
in ways we hadn’t previously
imagined,” Brown said. “Vac-
cines are the key to our return
to normal life.”
Venues, businesses and
“faith institutions” can still opt
to remain with their current,
more restrictive health and
safety measures, according to
Brown spokesman Charles
Boyle. But after verifying
vaccination, those who are in
the new special sections are
not subject to mask, physical
distancing or capacity limits
that are still in place for other
sections.
Multnomah County, home
to the Moda Center, recently
hit Brown’s target of 65% vac-
cination rate among residents.
The mark triggers a drop to
the looser rules of the state’s
lower risk tier for COVID-19
infection.
The county’s status allows
venues to offer the new vac-
cination sections. Users of the
vaccinated sections must have
received both of the two-shot
Pfi zer and Moderna vaccines,
or the one-shot Johnson &
Johnson vaccine. Two weeks
must have passed since the
last shot, the minimum time
health offi cials believe is
needed for full protection from
the vaccine.
Unlike other parts of the
country, Oregon requires proof
of vaccination.
People in vaccinated sec-
tions will be required to show
a CDC-issued vaccination
Sean Meagher/The Oregonian
A handful of fans are in attendance as the Portland Trail
Blazers face the Memphis Grizzlies at Moda Center on
Sunday, April 25, 2021.
card, or a digital or printed
copy. Non-vaccinated chil-
dren up to age 15 can sit in
vaccinated sections with their
parent or guardian.
Oregon offi cials hope
televised shots of fans in what
recalls the old pre-pandemic
playoff pandemonium will
boost fl agging inoculation
rates.
Though the new policy will
make a high-profi le public
debut in the NBA playoffs, the
same rules can be followed to
experience movies, theater,
restaurants and other indoor
activities in any county that
meets the vaccination mark.
While those sitting in
vaccination sections must be
fully vaccinated, the plan is
available in any county that
has reached the state’s target
of having 65% of residents
receiving at least one vaccine
shot.
Deschutes, Washington,
Lincoln, Hood River and
Benton counties have reached
the threshold, which allowed
them to move into the lower
risk level for COVID-19 infec-
tion despite having case rates
that were higher than the
maximum requirements for
the least restrictive measures.
Multnomah joins the group
after it submits the manda-
tory vaccine equity plan to
reach underserved residents
required of each county.
Brown said the plan was im-
minent and the NBA said the
Thursday game would offer
the vaccination sections.
Boyle said OHA guidance
on the new vaccinated sec-
tions spells out the defi nitions
and requirements for indi-
viduals, groups and organiza-
tions. It covers those engaged
in “commercial, industrial, or
professional activities.” Sectors
include eating and drinking
establishments, recreation
and fi tness centers, indoor
entertainment, retail stores,
shopping centers and malls
and personal services provid-
ers.
Those in vaccinated sections
do not have to be counted in
overall capacity limits.
“A theater would need to
create a section for vacci-
nated individuals,” Boyle said.
“Individuals seated in the vac-
cinated area would not count
toward the overall capacity
limit. Individuals seated in an
unvaccinated section would
need to follow mask and phys-
ical distancing requirements
and would count toward the
overall capacity limit.”
Other larger counties
could soon join the lower risk
group. Clackamas, Tillamook,
Polk and Lane counties have
passed the 60% mark on vac-
cination.
Curry, Gilliam, Harney,
Lake, Morrow, Sherman,
Union, Wallowa and Wasco
counties are all rated as lower
risk based on their actual
infection rates.
State offi cials said Monday
that Jackson, Marion, Douglas
and Umatilla counties all
needed to vaccinate more than
20,000 residents each to meet
the 65% vaccination mark.
Besides the county-by-
county method, Brown has
said that the entire state — all
36 counties — will move into
the lower risk category if 70%
of residents age 16 and older
have received one shot. As of
Monday, 64% of those eligible
under the guidelines had
received at least one shot.
Large crowds sitting
together without masks have
attended sports events in
other states that don’t follow
the COVID-19 restrictions
required in Oregon. Political
leaders have debated health
agency warnings that such
situations could turn into
COVID-19 “superspreader”
events.
Oregon is not alone in
creating special seating for
vaccinated people at sporting,
cultural and other events. Gov.
Jay Inslee of Washington has
announced that similar oppor-
tunities for those vaccinated
against COVID-19 will be
offered in the state.
But Inslee and other politi-
cal leaders across the nation
have relied on an “honor
system” in which those who
say they are vaccinated do not
have to produce proof. Oregon
requires businesses to ask for
proof of vaccination in order
for customers to go maskless.
Some political leaders, most-
ly Republicans, have gone the
other direction and sought to
bar government or businesses
from inquiring about vaccina-
tion status or requiring proof,
which conservative groups
have branded as “vaccination
passports.” It’s the latest politi-
cal fi ght over COVID-19 policy
pitting public health against
privacy and personal choice
that has included opposition
to wearing masks and social
distancing. Decisions to open
public schools to in-person
instruction and to require
civic buildings be open to the
public without any vaccina-
tion requirements have also
split communities around the
nation.
Oregon Republicans have
criticized Brown’s emergency
orders that have given her
wide latitude over public life
in the name of preserving
public health. The new policy
has some in the GOP advocat-
ing for the honor system put
in place by Inslee, a Democrat.
“Does Governor Brown
believe that Washingtonians
are more trust worthy than
Oregonians?” Rep. Daniel
Bonham, R-The Dalles, said
in a statement Monday. “If
not, why such a dramatically
different standard and ap-
proach?”
Brown has pointed to Or-
egon’s place near the bottom of
the list of state infection rates
and deaths as proof that the
states’ risk-and-rules based
system has served residents
well. Oregon has reported
198,972 positive COVID-19
cases and 2,624 deaths since
the fi rst reported cases of the
pandemic reached Oregon
in February 2020. Nation-
wide, there have been more
than 33.14 million cases and
590,262 deaths, according to
the Johns Hopkins Coronavi-
rus Resource Center.
weeks found safe
ROSEBURG (AP) — A fi sherman missing for more
than two weeks in the wilderness of southwestern
Oregon has been found alive.
The Douglas County Sheriff’s offi ce said search and
rescue crews found 69-year-old Harry Burleigh in the
Umpqua National Forest Sunday afternoon. KOIN
reports Burleigh’s wife reported him missing on Friday,
May 7 after he didn’t return from a fi shing trip to Twin
Lakes the day before.
Authorities had been combing the forest for Burleigh
and found his vehicle May 8 at a trailhead. On Sunday,
May 16, they found they found a makeshift shelter and
a tackle box belonging to Burleigh.
A week later, at about 3 p.m. on Sunday, authorities
said a search and rescue crew found another shelter
southwest of the fi rst shelter crews found the weekend
before. The search crews called out for Burleigh and he
responded. Burleigh was walking and complaining of
minor pain, but he was in stable condition.
A helicopter transported him to a hospital for an
evaluation.
“This was the outcome we all have been looking for
in this case. It is because of our determined Search and
Rescue Teams and the partnerships we have with other
SAR teams from around the state, that Mr. Burleigh
has been re-united with his family this evening,” Sgt.
Brad O’Dell, from the Douglas County Sheriff’s Offi ce,
said.
Wolf that moved into
California feared dead
SAN FRANCISCO (AP)
— An adventurous young
gray wolf that crossed into
California from Oregon
has not been documented
since early April, spurring
speculation that he may
be dead.
Wildlife offi cials who
track OR-93 through
his radio collar said he
stopped emitting “pings”
April 5 in San Luis Obispo
County, which is roughly
midway between San
Francisco and Los Ange-
les. But offi cials also have
not picked up a “mortality
signal” from the 2-year-
old’s collar, which indi-
cates when a wolf has not
moved for at least eight
hours, the Los Angeles
Times reported over the
weekend.
The wolf’s radio collar
could be broken or mal-
functioning due to dead
batteries, said Jordan
Traverso, a spokeswoman
for the California Depart-
ment of Fish and Wildlife.
He may be dead or run-
ning wild with a Central
Coast pack that no one
knew existed, she said.
“We’re trying to keep
hope alive,” she told the
news publication.
Biologists in Oregon
fi tted OR-93 with a GPS
tracking collar in June,
near the Portland area
where he was born. He
left the pack and crossed
into California, padding
south to an agricultural
area near Fresno before
heading west to the Cen-
tral Coast. That the gray
wolf made it so far was
remarkable given that he
had to cross three busy
highways, wildlife experts
said.
State biologists in Or-
egon and California said
they plan to fl y over his
path with hopes of picking
up his signal.
Millions of wolves
thrived throughout North
America until the 19th
and 20th centuries, when
they were eradicated by
government. The U.S. Fish
and Wildlife Service re-
moved the gray wolf from
the federal endangered
species list after determin-
ing the overall population
was stable.
There are an estimated
6,000 wolves living in
the lower 48 states of the
U.S. Fewer than a dozen
wolves live in Northern
California.
Oregon House OKs election-day postmark for ballots
By Peter Wong
Oregon Capital Bureau
Oregon, the fi rst state to
conduct all elections by mail,
would join the ranks of states
accepting ballots postmarked
by election day under a bill
that has cleared the Oregon
House.
House Bill 3291 was
approved on a 39-21 vote
Monday, May 24, and goes to
the Senate.
The bill would align Oregon
with 17 states — including
Washington, California and
Nevada — that allow ballots to
count if they are postmarked
by election day. Four other
states count ballots if they are
postmarked the day before
the election. Oregon is among
the states that have required
ballots to be in the hands of
county elections offi ces by the
close of election day.
Under the bill, ballots
would have to arrive in county
An Independent
Insurance Agency
elections offi ces no later than
seven days after the election if
they are to count. States that
allow election-day postmarks
range widely from three to 20
days.
Rep. Dan Rayfi eld, a Demo-
crat from Corvallis and the
bill’s fl oor manager, said about
150 voters in Marion County
cast ballots in last year’s
general election, but they did
not count because they were
received after election day.
He said the concept of
election-day postmarks has
been on the table for two
decades, going back to when
Republicans were the majority
party in the House.
Rep. Greg Smith, a Repub-
lican from Heppner who then
was in his fi rst term, voted for
it in 2001 and now. The only
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See Ballots/Page 6A
EASTERN OREGON
2021
PHOTO CONTEST
Official Rules:
Trusted
Insurance
Help Since
1994
other Republican who voted for
it Monday was Rep. Ron Noble
of McMinnville. The other 21
Republicans voted against it.
The vote in the House Rules
Committee was along party
lines.
Photo Contest open now and closes at
11:59 pm Sunday, June 20, 2021.
Staff will choose the top 10. The public can
vote online for People’s Choice from 12:01
am Monday, June 21 through 11:59 pm
Thursday, June 30.
Digital or scanned photos only, uploaded
to the online platform. No physical copies.
Only photographers from Oregon may
participate.
The contest subject matter is wide open but
we’re looking for images that capture life
in Eastern Oregon.
Submit all photos
online at:
Entrants may crop, tone, adjust saturation
and make minor enhancements, but may
not add or remove objects within the
frame, or doctor images such that the final
product doesn’t represent what’s actually
before the camera.
The winners will appear in the July 8th
edition of Go Magazine; the top 25 will
appear online.
Gift cards to a restaurant of your choice
will be awarded for first, second and third
place.
bakercictyherald.com/photocontest