BAKER CITY HERALD • TUESDAY, MAY 31, 2022 A3
LOCAL & STATE
Eastern Oregon University graduation
back to normal after COVID-19 hiatus
BY DAVIS CARBAUGH
The Observer
LA GRANDE — After a
three-year hiatus, the Eastern
Oregon University commence-
ment ceremony will return to
its normal routine.
The graduation ceremony
will take place at 9:30 am. Sat-
urday, June 11, at the univer-
sity’s football field at Commu-
nity Stadium — following two
years of altered ceremonies due
to COVID-19 and the field’s
turf replacement in 2019, com-
mencement will now be back
to a standard format.
This year’s graduation
marks the university’s 92nd
commencement ceremony.
EOU anticipates awarding
up to 675 degrees and certifi-
cates this academic year, with
more than 300 undergraduate
and master’s students set to
walk across the stage. All who
finished their courses in the
summer of 2021, fall of 2021
or winter or 2022 are invited
to participate in the spring
commencement ceremony.
The last two years the
COVID-19 pandemic altered
Eastern’s graduation plans,
If You Go
OHSU annual convention
and awards ceremony:
8:30 a.m., June 10
EOU student awards assem-
bly: 1:30 p.m., June 10
Master’s hooding ceremony:
8:45 a.m., June 11
General commencement:
9:30 a.m., June 11
The Observer, File
Eastern Oregon University students prepare to receive their diplomas during an outdoor commencement
on the La Grande campus in 2017.
with the university turning to
virtual gatherings and drive-
thru ceremonies.
Last year, Eastern graduates
packed their cars with family
members and received their
diplomas from EOU President
Thomas Insko on the west
side of campus. The brigade of
cars, many clad with balloons
and decorations, included
2020 graduates who did not
have a chance to receive their
diploma in person the previ-
ous year.
In 2019, Eastern gradu-
ates did not experience the
packed football stadium and
extra seating typical of a reg-
ular year’s commencement
because the university was re-
placing the football field turf,
a project that helped Eastern
continue to serve as a hub for
numerous collegiate and high
school athletic events.
According to the university’s
registrar, the 2022 commence-
ment team and university of-
ficials are still in the process
of monitoring the COVID-19
pandemic trends if any poten-
tial restrictions or attendance
routines need to be adjusted.
The in-person event is open
to the public. Seating is avail-
able on a first-come-first-
served basis with ADA seating
directly on the field. Viewers
can also tune in to a livestream
at the following link, youtube.
com/user/EOUAV.
Other commencement ac-
tivities are planned for Friday,
June 10: the Oregon Health
and Science University will
hold its annual convention and
awards ceremony at 8:30 a.m.;
the Eastern student awards
assembly begins at 1:30 p.m.;
and a special celebration for
online and onsite students is at
6:30 p.m.
In addition, prior to the
main commencement on June
11, there will be a hooding cer-
emony for master’s graduates at
Gilbert Plaza at 8:45 a.m.
With the commencement
ceremony back in its standard
form on the Eastern football
field, the university is planning
accordingly for a large crowd.
ADA assistance will be pro-
vided to transport individuals
to and from farther parking
lots. All regular campus park-
ing spaces will be free for pub-
lic usage.
During the ceremony, re-
freshments will be provided at
the stadium’s concession stand.
No photos will be allowed
on the field, as a professional
photographer will be present
to take photos of each graduate
— photos are allowed from the
stands area.
Oregon ballot fiasco highlights
the ‘invisible’ election chiefs
BY GILLIAN FLACCUS AND SARA CLINE
Associated Press
OREGON CITY — Voters in an Or-
egon county where a ballot-printing er-
ror delayed primary results for nearly
two weeks have elected the same county
clerk five times in the past 20 years de-
spite missteps that impacted two pre-
vious elections and cost taxpayers at
least $100,000.
Opponents have repeatedly tried to
unseat Clackamas County Clerk Sherry
Hall, who was first elected in 2002, fol-
lowing elections errors in 2004, 2010 and
2011 and a state vote-tampering investi-
gation in 2012.
Hall makes $112,600 a year in the
nonpartisan position overseeing elec-
tions, recording property transactions,
keeping public records and issuing mar-
riage licenses. She is running for a sixth
four-year term in November in the sub-
urban county south of Portland, and is
being challenged by a former librarian
who works in the elections department
of Oregon’s largest county.
The latest scandal in Oregon comes
against the backdrop of a polarized po-
litical landscape in which vote counts
are increasingly scrutinized. Races for
local elections clerks — who until re-
cently toiled in obscurity and relative
anonymity — are getting new attention,
particularly from right-wing voters who
deny that President Joe Biden won the
2020 election.
Local elections chiefs are the first line
of defense for elections integrity, but
most voters don’t know who their county
clerk is, or even what they do, and are
likely to skip over the nonpartisan race
on Election Day, or simply pick the in-
cumbent. Some county clerks are ap-
pointed, but in many counties in Oregon
and elsewhere they are beholden to the
whims of voters who may not be paying
attention, said Christopher McKnight
Nichols, an associate professor of history
at Oregon State University.
There’s a “myopia and invisibility
about this sort of office in American
public life,” he said.
The situation in Oregon’s third-largest
county underscores the importance of
such contests.
In the current election, tens of thou-
sands of ballots sent out with blurry bar-
codes were rejected by a vote-counting
machine. The issue affected Democratic
and nonpartisan ballots more than Re-
publican ones, state officials have said.
The fiasco forced the county to shift
nearly 200 county employees to vote tab-
ulation duties; county officials don’t yet
know the full cost of the cleanup job.
For days, workers have been trans-
ferring each voter’s intent from spoiled
ballots to fresh ones, by hand using pur-
ple markers, in a painstaking process
that might not be complete for more
than two more weeks. More than 81,000
ballots out of more than 116,000 had
been counted by early Friday, and nearly
35,000 spoiled ballots remained to be du-
plicated, according to county tallies.
The outcome of the Democratic pri-
mary for Oregon’s 5th Congressional
District — a close race between a sev-
en-term centrist incumbent and a pro-
gressive challenger — was delayed more
than a week by the blunder. The AP
called the race for challenger Jamie Mc-
Leod-Skinner on Friday.
The results of several other contests
remained undecided as the county strug-
gled to meet daily vote-counting bench-
marks laid out in a corrective plan sub-
mitted to the state.
“This affects all of us. This is voter in-
tegrity,” said Janet Bailey, a Republican
voter who protested outside the Clack-
amas County election offices Thursday
OTEC
into our local communities
directly, support local students
and return value to OTEC
Continued from Page A1
member-owners through
“We are very excited about the internship projects that
the third year of this incred-
the students will complete
ible partnership between
throughout their four years at
OTEC and Eastern Oregon
EOU.”
University,” said Lea Hoover,
The four recipients of the
OTEC’s director of member
OTEC-EOU Rural Scholar-
and strategic services. “By
ship:
allocating four of our schol-
• Maya Smith, Baker Early
College
arships to this program and
• Lauryn Pettyjohn, Grant
leveraging a matched invest-
ment from EOU we can invest Union High School
Spring is here
for ranchers...
Please watch
for animals!
• Braden Carson, La Grande
High School
• Ethan Peasley, Burns High
School
Applicants for scholar-
ships must be an active OTEC
member or a dependent or
tenant of an OTEC member
to be eligible for scholarships.
Scholarships are funded from
unclaimed capital credits.
“We congratulate all the
2022 scholarships recipients
and are proud to reward the
students for their academic
success and dedication to their
community,” said Joe Hatha-
way, OTEC’s communications
manager.
Baker County scholarship
recipients include:
• Graduating high school
seniors: Savannah Brown, Syd-
ney Lamb, Gavin Stone, all
from Baker High School.
• Returning college stu-
dents: Jayme Ramos, Eastern
Oregon University; Cheyenne
Thamert, Central Oregon
Community College.
Annual Youth Trail
Ride started in
1964 is sponsored
by the
• Lumber
• Plywood
• Building Materials
• Hardware
• Paint
• Plumbing
• Electrical
And much more!
3205 10th Street
Baker City
541-523-4422
2390 Broadway, Baker City
541-523-5223
with about a dozen others. “We, in Ore-
gon, a week ago we had our primary, and
we still don’t know the results.”
Hall knew of the problem with the
ballots on May 3, but did not take sig-
nificant action until after the election
on May 17, when it became clear the
vote tally was substantially delayed. The
Oregon Secretary of State has said Hall
refused offers of help from the state; at
least one Democratic state lawmaker has
demanded a legislative inquiry into the
ballot fiasco.
Some voters seized on the county’s
problems to demand an end to Ore-
gon’s trailblazing vote-by-mail system
and the use of electronic machinery to
count votes.
“Our votes have to count,” said Cindy
Hise, a Clackamas County voter who
wants the entire primary redone. “This
has been going on for days. We’re past all
hope of it being a true vote.”
Hall declined a phone or in-person
interview with The Associated Press for
this story but said in response to emailed
questions Thursday that she would co-
operate with any investigation. She said
she has no comment on calls from some
for her resignation.
She also addressed numerous 2020
contributions she made to national Re-
publican causes, saying in a brief email
that she “maintains neutrality.” The do-
nations to the National Republican Sen-
atorial Committee and to WINRED, a
Republican Party fundraising platform,
were all $100 or less.
“I have the right as a private citizen to
exercise free speech and association. I do
give small contributions to a large num-
ber of organizations,” she wrote. “I do not
accept endorsements of any kind.”
Controversy isn’t new to Hall, who has
overseen the county’s elections since she
took office in 2003.
Mon-Fri 7:30 am - 5:30 pm
Saturday 8 am - 5 pm
Closed Sun
Baker County
Mounted Posse
This is an outdoor camp with horseback
riding and outdoor adventure for boys and
girls ages 12-15 years old.
Cost is $ 2.00
(that's right only $2.00 dollars)
June 25-26, 2022
For more information, questions or an
application please call Jodie Radabaugh at
541-524-9358 or 541-403-4933
All state and county regulations will be followed.
Dave Killen/The Oregonian
Rev. Anthony Lathan, center, speaks as Lift Every Voice Oregon held a
press conference at Augustana Lutheran Church in Portland on Thurs-
day, May 26, 2022. A series of speakers mourned the victims of the re-
cent mass shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, and
called for action to get Initiative Petition 17, an act intended to reduce
gun violence, on the November ballot in Oregon.
Guns
Continued from Page A2
have the job,’” Wyden’s state-
ment said.
In an email Thursday,
Wyden said he is pushing to
pass gun reforms such as man-
dating universal background
checks, banning the sale of
guns to anyone under 21, and
preventing domestic violence
abusers and stalkers from ob-
taining guns.
The Rev. Anthony Lathan,
a mental health counselor and
a veteran, said the standard
weapon during his 12 years in
the military was an M16 ri-
fle, which can fire 20 rounds.
The shooter in Texas used a
30-round magazine, “10 more
rounds than someone who’s
fighting to protect our coun-
try,” Lathan said.
“This man legally purchased
a magazine and the bullets that
were designed to do one thing
— to cause maximum harm,
to commit maximum pain,” he
said. “Fifty senators and mul-
tiple governors have blood on
their hands because of their
inaction.”
Revs. Andrea Cano and
Linda Jaramillo both spoke in
Spanish as they addressed the
crowd of about 30 people in-
side the church, referencing the
pain the Texas mass shooting
inflicted upon Latino commu-
nities throughout the country.
“Weapons of war do not
belong in our homes, in our
schools, on our streets, nor
in our communities that are
in this state,” said Jaramillo,
who is the former president of
the Ecumenical Ministries of
Oregon. “We must lift every
voice and say, ‘No more.’ ‘Ya
no mas.’”
Cano, who is interim pres-
ident of the Ecumenical Min-
istries of Oregon, approached
the podium dressed in black as
a symbol of her mourning.
“La profunda tristeza nos
está tomando — that deep
grief is just crushing us,” Cano
said. “I ask — implore — not
only the Latino community
throughout Oregon but all our
communities to fill out these
petitions as soon as possible
… If we don’t sign those signa-
tures we are complicit.”
Community elder Antoi-
nette Edwards and her hus-
band, Keith Edwards, took a
moment to say the names of
each child and teacher killed
Tuesday in Uvalde, Texas. With
every name, Antoinette placed
a single red rose one by one
into a large glass jar.
“It is our job to make ev-
ery politician uncomfortable.
Make it inconvenient for them
until they do something to save
our children,” Keith Edwards
said after the jar had been
filled. “We must do this civilly,
we must do it peacefully, but
we must make them uncom-
fortable — now and until they
do the right thing.”