A7
B USINESS
THE BULLETIN • FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 5, 2021
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Johnson & Johnson
asked U.S. regulators
Thursday to clear the
world’s first single-dose
COVID-19 vaccine, an
easier-to-use option that
could boost scarce sup-
plies.
J&J’s vaccine was safe
and offered strong pro-
tection against moder-
ate to severe COVID-19,
according to preliminary
results from a massive in-
ternational study.
It didn’t appear quite
as strong as two-dose
competitors made by
Pfizer and Moderna — a
finding that may be more
perception than reality,
given differences in how
each was tested.
But the U.S. Food and
Drug Administration is
asking its independent
advisers to publicly de-
bate all the data behind
the single-dose shot
— just like its competi-
tors were put under the
microscope — before it
decides whether to green
light a third vaccine op-
tion in the U.S.
Dr. Peter Marks, FDA’s
vaccine chief, has cau-
tioned against making
comparisons before the
evidence is all in.
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CRUDE OIL
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$26.22 -.66
BY SUZANNE ROIG
The Bulletin
The owners of the three
Black Bear Diners in Central
Oregon have opted to allow
for indoor dining despite De-
schutes and Jefferson counties
being placed in the extreme
risk category for COVID-19.
The owners join a list of
seven Central Oregon busi-
nesses with complaints lodged
against them for breaking state
COVID-19 rules enforced
by the Oregon Occupational
Safety and Health Adminis-
tration.
Aaron Corvin, OSHA
spokesman, said the depart-
ment has received multiple
complaints about the Black
Bear Diners allowing indoor
dining.
“We are investigating these
open complaints,” Corvin said.
“Certainly the situation is on
our radar.”
It was mid-January when
the NE Third Street Black Bear
Diner owner Kathy Degree de-
cided to reopen the Bend and
Redmond locations to indoor
dining. The Madras location
has been opened for indoor
dining since late December
and is owned by Joe Davis,
who could not be reached for
comment.
Degree said that when they
reopened at 50% capacity
during the summer, it was a
tough.
“We maintain the same
strict guidelines that we oper-
ated under during the summer
months, said Degree who has
owned the diner since 2006.
See Black Bear / A8
Bulletin file photo
Black Bear Diner has seen success in both the Madras and Bend loca-
tions. Customers fill the Bend diner during lunch last summer.
PENDLETON
Downtown Portland offices
SOME EMPLOYEES
STICK TO ROUTINE
A worker at a Dundee
winery died earlier this
week after collapsing
while cleaning manufac-
turing equipment, offi-
cials said.
Armando Aguilar-
Yanez, a 39-year-old
McMinnville resident,
was found unconscious
at the 12th and Ma-
ple Winery Co. around
10:30 a.m. Monday, said
Sgt. Brian Hagen, a New-
berg-Dundee Police De-
partment spokesman.
Workers and emer-
gency crews attempted
to resuscitate Aguilar-Ya-
nez, Hagen said, but were
unsuccessful.
“The initial investiga-
tion by police has found
no evidence of foul play
and have determined the
death to be an unfortu-
nate industrial accident,”
Hagen said.
Laika, Phil Knight’s Hill-
sboro movie production
house, said Monday that
it will fund construction
of a stop-motion ani-
mation studio at a his-
torically Black college in
Maryland.
Bowie State University
will upgrade its existing
green screen studio to ac-
commodate stop-motion,
an old-fashioned form of
animation that involves
manipulating puppets one
frame at a time to simulate
motion. Laika said its rela-
tionship with Bowie State
started as a pathway to-
ward student internships,
then expanded to provide
a facility for students to do
their own work.
— Bulletin wire reports
EURO
$1.1966 -.0059
Black Bear Diners on OSHA radar
Worker dies
in accident at
Dundee winery
Laika will build
studio in Maryland
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COVID-19 in Bend and Redmond
BRIEFING
J&J asks for OK
of 1-shot vaccine
30-YR T-BOND
1.93% +.02
Suzie’s
Seltzer
takes on
beverage
giant
BY MAXINE BERNSTEIN
The Oregonian
Pamplin Media Group
Joseph McDonald is an attorney at Smith McDonald Vaught & Rudolph in the Standard Plaza building in downtown Portland.
COVID-19 restrictions have left many offices nearly empty, but some enjoy the quiet
BY JOSEPH GALLIVAN • (Portland) Business Tribune
T
he office used to be a compulsory home-away-from-home. You had to go in. You had to
commute. You had to look busy to get your check. It was a place to work, network, brainstorm,
gossip, banter and mingle with your unchosen family.
COVID-19 put an end to that.
Work from home has become a way
of life for anyone who doesn’t work
with their hands or directly with peo-
ple, and many folks haven’t seen their
cubicles since March.
But some are enjoying the pleasure
of slinking in to a quiet, empty office
and getting some work done. Hey,
if you can stay 6 feet apart, it’s not a
health risk, right?
The Business Tribune talked to
three Portlanders who are still punch-
ing the clock, drinking the coffee and
fiddling with the printer. And they’re
loving it.
Colleen Bastendorff
The programs and development
manager at the American Institute of
Architects, Colleen Bastendorff, had a
pleasant summer of strolling into the
Pearl District office from her home a
few blocks away. The old brick build-
ing has high ceilings and cool furni-
ture, as well as a sweet kitchen, movie
screen and sound system. The space
is used as a gallery for showing off ar-
chitectural designs, and as a classroom
for hosting architects who, pre-Zoom,
did their continuing education classes
there.
Bastendorff found she could get a
lot done in her back office in the si-
lence — more than she could at home.
See Offices / A8
Owners of a Pendleton-
based brewery bristled at an ad
that aired Jan. 24 during a na-
tionally televised NFL playoff
game and promoted Michelob
ULTRA Organic Seltzer as the
“only national USDA organic
certified seltzer.”
That’s just not true, says Suz-
ie’s Brewery.
The Oregon manufacturer
started selling Suzie’s Seltzer in
July, after receiving its own fed-
eral certification as an organic
hard seltzer. The small fami-
ly-owned company markets its
bubbly beverage as “The Of-
ficial Hard Seltzer of Mother
Nature,” urging customers to
“Crack a Cold One To The
Tune of Crickets and Frogs.”
The makers of the two selt-
zers are set for their own scrim-
mage in federal court Friday:
Suzie’s Brewery takes on An-
heuser-Busch Companies as it
rushes to block the global com-
petitor from running the same
ad on Super Bowl Sunday.
“Using the bully-pulpit its
massive national advertis-
ing budget allows, Anheus-
er-Busch has premiered a
new false and misleading ad-
vertising campaign aimed at
convincing health-conscious
drinkers that its new organic
hard seltzer is a unique, one-of-
a-kind product,” the suit says.
“To be clear, it is not.”
Suzie’s Brewery Co. filed the
suit in U.S. District Court in
Portland this week.
With a potential viewership of
99.9 million people on the line
during the nationally televised
NFL Super Bowl LV, lawyers
for Suzie’s Brewery are seeking
a court order to keep Anheus-
er-Busch from airing the ad
during Sunday’s game or during
pre- or post-game shows.
See Seltzer / A8
Ex-Nike designer accused of defrauding sneaker giant of $1.4M
BY JEFF MANNING
The Oregonian
Errol Andam’s rise from the
streets of Los Angeles to high-
level designer for Nike ended
badly Thursday when federal
prosecutors charged him with
defrauding his former em-
ployer for $1.4 million.
Andam, 49, was accused of
wire fraud, money laundering
and making false statements
on a loan application.
Prosecutors have been work-
ing the case for more than two
years since Andam left Nike
in late 2018. Nike officials al-
legedly brought the case to
prosecutors’ attention.
“He no longer works for the
company,” Nike spokesman
Greg Rossiter said in 2019. “We
will cooperate with any gov-
ernment investigation.
Andam could not be
reached for comment. Reached
Errol Andam worked at Nike for 17 years, moving up
the corporate ladder from a Los Angeles retail store to a
midlevel marketing manager’s position.
by phone months before the
criminal case was unveiled, he
told The Oregonian to leave
him alone. His attorney did not
immediately respond to a mes-
sage Thursday afternoon.
“I don’t want to talk about
this,” he said. “Please don’t call
me back.”
Andam worked at Nike for
17 years, moving up the corpo-
rate ladder from a Los Angeles
retail store to a midlevel mar-
keting manager’s position.
Federal prosecutors on
Thursday accused Andam of
defrauding the company and
essentially stealing $1.4 million
from the footwear giant. The
government alleges that in 2016
Andam recruited a childhood
friend to establish a new com-
pany, ostensibly in the business
of building precisely the kind of
temporary, or pop-up installa-
tions that Andam specialized in.
Andam secretly controlled
the company, prosecutors say,
even preparing the invoices to
Nike. He allegedly signed the
documents with a pseudonym
— Frank Little.
Andam also allegedly di-
verted sales revenue from
pop-up Nike stores, according
to the federal charges.
The big, flashy temporary
exhibits that Nike often erects
in cities hosting major athletic
competitions were his specialty.