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NEWS
Blue Mountain Eagle
Afghan
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was nearing the end of his
eight-month deployment, the
two had discussed that Hus-
sein’s life would be in dan-
ger as the U.S. evacuated. He
was receiving threats against
his life. He knew his time was
almost up. Paullus wanted to
help.
A 30-year member of the
Oregon Army National Guard,
Paullus wrote a letter sponsor-
ing Hussein as he immigrated
to the U.S. with his family. He
liked Hussein and vouched for
his character, work ethic and
financial stability. With Paul-
lus’ help, Hussein received
approval from the federal gov-
ernment in 2019 to move to
America with his wife and
three daughters. Now he lives
in San Diego County, selling
jewelry to get by.
“He felt that, when the
U.S. does leave, he and his
family would potentially be in
harm’s way,” said Paullus, 47,
a parole and probation officer
for Umatilla County Commu-
nity Corrections. “But as long
as he was there, he wanted
to see that good things were
done, and he did his part to
do as much as he could for
his country. At the end of the
day, if he wasn’t able to get
his U.S. citizenship, he would
have dealt with it as many of
his friends currently are.”
Running in circles
In recent weeks, Hussein has
been glued to his phone. From
nearly 7,800 miles away, he has
watched the Taliban seize the
city where he grew up. He sel-
dom goes to work, despite his
expensive rent.
He takes calls from friends
and family members, most of
whom worked for the U.S. and
fear the worst. Just a few weeks
ago, he received images from
his brother, who he said was
beaten by the Taliban while on
a grocery run.
(Hussein provided the East
Oregonian with videos and
recordings as evidence of his
family’s account. He asked the
newspaper not to publish those
images out of fear the Taliban
would find his family.)
Meanwhile, Paullus talks to
Hussein every week as he and
his family attempt to navigate
the maze of U.S. immigration
and its mountain of paperwork.
Paullus said he recently wrote
a letter to Sen. Ron Wyden,
D-Oregon, urging for his sup-
port in the safe evacuation of
Hussein’s family. He said he
feels a responsibility to Hus-
sein’s family.
“I wish there was more
I could do for Hussein and
his family,” he said. “During
COVID, the majority of the
(immigration) offices are
closed. Everything has to be
done through email. Very
few offices have anyone that
answers the phones. It goes to
a voice message. I can feel his
frustration with the process and
the circles he’s running in.”
A waiting game
Their story is not unique.
Servicemen nationwide have
been calling on dignitaries to
support the safe and quick with-
drawal of Afghan allies at risk
of the Taliban’s retribution amid
the U.S. evacuation.
The U.S. has called Afghan
military interpreters and other
close U.S. allies a priority group
in the withdrawal. Yet Ameri-
can officials are rejecting some
Afghan allies to give priority
to U.S. citizens and green card
holders, The New York Times
has reported.
Many of those allies, includ-
ing Hussein’s family, are wait-
ing for Special Immigrant
Visas. But only a fraction of the
tens of thousands of Afghans
who worked for the U.S. gov-
ernment or U.S. organizations
and applied for those visas have
been evacuated as the Taliban
has rolled into Kabul.
The Times estimates that at
least 250,000 Afghans eligible
for expedited American visas
remain in Afghanistan.
‘They treated me like
family’
In 2014, Paullus deployed
with 2nd Battalion, 162nd
Infantry, out of Springfield to
Kabul, where he would serve
for eight months. Upon arrival,
he remarked on the city’s con-
Wednesday, September 15, 2021
gested traffic, its Soviet-era
structures, its nightlife and its
air, polluted with arsenic and
lead.
As Joint Operations Ser-
geant Major at the New Kabul
Compound, his team’s mission
was the security of Kabul. They
secured the city’s entry points,
escorted dignitaries and con-
tractors and provided base secu-
rity for the compound. Among
their many projects, they helped
reconstruct a park that had been
damaged by artillery fire and
set up barriers to protect polling
sites during elections.
Paullus met Hussein in
2014. As a projects manager,
he worked with Hussein, a con-
tractor, at the New Kabul Com-
pound. Hussein cooked meals
and helped improve the base’s
infrastructure, building walls,
gates and connecting wires and
cable. He also had a small gift
shop on the base, where Paullus
would often stop by to chat.
Most of Hussein’s fam-
ily worked for the U.S. Armed
Forces. It was how they made
a living in a city where finding
good-paying work is difficult.
Prior to working for the
government, Hussein worked
eight hours a day for $5 an hour
cleaning his neighbor’s home
and taking care of their chick-
ens. He said it was just enough
to pay for bread, electricity and
rent. When he went to work for
the armed forces, he made as
much as $500 a month.
“At least I could feed my
family,” he said, adding that
servicemen such as Paullus
“treated me like family.”
To Paullus, Hussein was a
clear professional who believed
in the U.S.’s mission in Afghan-
istan. They shared values: Hus-
sein as a muslim and Paullus
with a faith in a higher power.
He appreciated Hussein’s
straight-forward demeanor and
how he helped his community,
traits he likened to his own.
Over meals and tea, the two
became friends, speaking often
of their families and children.
“His religion and him being
in Afghanistan had nothing to
do with me liking him or not,”
Paullus said. “It was about the
person and the quality they
show.”
Yearning to do more
The war in Afghanistan
ended Aug. 30 with the final
evacuation flights out of the
Hamid Karzai International
Airport, Kabul. Nearly 130,000
people were airlifted from the
country, according to the Asso-
ciated Press.
Most of Hussein’s fam-
ily, including his mother and
father, remain stuck. But a
lucky few, like his brother and
other extended family mem-
bers, escaped with the mili-
tary to neighboring countries
and America. He said he feels
some semblance of relief, but
his wife, whose family remains
in the country, cries through the
night.
Workers
every single week because we
are so short staffed.”
Continued from Page A1
Rolling with the punches
down the brewery on Tues-
days to keep what employees
she has from becoming over-
whelmed in an industry well
known for its high turnover
rate and low wages.
“I think we’ve reached the
mindset of ‘we have what we
have,’” she said. “We’ll keep
hiring as much as possible,
but we need to understand that
we’ve got to adjust with what
the situation is instead of wait-
ing for the situation to adjust
itself.”
No chance for profit
Millar is not alone. Several
restaurants across the region
have reported challenges with
hiring workers over the sum-
mer. Some blamed expanded
federal unemployment ben-
efits as the culprit for lower
workforce participation, even
though the region has seen
lower unemployment benefits
claims now than it had before
the pandemic started. Others
recognized the high cost of
living, taxes and low supply
of housing that has made rents
and home prices balloon.
Millar said, while business
EO Media Group/Alex Wittwer
Head manager Caitlyn Foley plates up dishes in the kitchen at Terminal Gravity Brewery and Pub
on Sept. 2. In a normal summer, Terminal Gravity Brewing would be busy all days of the week serv-
ing up local, handcrafted beers and traditional brewpub fare, but due to the labor shortage the
company had to cut hours during its lunch rush and close down on Tuesdays.
picked up considerably over
the summer, the lack of staff-
ing and overburdened indus-
try has a cascading effect with
other restaurants, causing a
feedback loop of demand and
short supply. As one business
cuts its hours, patrons look
elsewhere for a meal.
“It’s a funny, weird thing
where I think we would all
be excited if there were three
more restaurants because we
just need more places to send
people to eat, so it’s a unique
situation over here,” Millar
said.
Earlier this summer, Baker
City’s Main Event Sports Bar
and Eatery was experienc-
ing severe worker burnout
in June due to staffing short-
ages, which led to closing the
restaurant on Tuesdays.
Committee Volunteers Needed
Grant County is now recruiting volunteers to serve on active
boards and committees.
Obtain an Application to Volunteer from County Court,
201 S. Humbolt, No. 280, Canyon City OR 97820;
(541-575-0059) GCCourtAdmin@grantcounty-or.gov
Applications are due by Thursday, October 7, 2021
Committees are formal public bodies required to comply with
Oregon Public Meetings Law ORS 192.610 .
The situation there has
changed little. While the
sports bar is open seven days
a week, it’s had to cut evening
hours, close earlier and open
later throughout the week.
“On Sundays and Mondays
we’re one of the only restau-
rants open on Main Street,
so we’re extremely busy, but
extremely short staffed,” said
Jessica Eastland, manager at
Main Event Sports Bar and
Eatery. “If we had an adequate
staff, it would be a very prof-
itable time for us but that’s
the thing — we’ve got peo-
ple who are working over-
time hours when we could
have had other employees
working those hours, so that
we weren’t paying more in
wages. Our wages right now
are through the roof because
we have so many employ-
ees that are working overtime
For Bruce Rogers, COVID-
19 has presented the challenge
of keeping two businesses
profitable. He and his daugh-
ter, Harvest Rogers, own both
Timber’s Feedery in Elgin and
Local Harvest in La Grande.
The COVID-19 pandemic
has presented unimaginable
challenges in staffing for both
restaurants. With the short-
age of workers and revolving
mandates for public dining,
the owners have adjusted to
rolling with the punches.
“This far into it and with
what we’ve seen, the rules
have changed and the rules
are different and will change
again,” Bruce Rogers said.
“We’re just chameleons at
this point. We just change and
go with the flow while doing
our best to remain a profitable
business.”
On top of the shortage of
workers, Timber’s Feedery
is facing a hurdle as Harvest
Rogers takes maternity leave.
She said she typically works
open to close every day, and
her absence has forced Tim-
ber’s to limit orders to take-
out and outdoor dining for the
time being.
Closing indoor dining is
a technique that the owners
used on both restaurants to
save costs with a limited staff
during the early part of the
pandemic. They looked at new
ideas in order to stay afloat
during unstable times.
“When you couldn’t have
inside dining, we switched
over to to-go and delivery
only,” Bruce Rogers said.
“We had to start up a deliv-
ery service to remain competi-
Watching the news unfold,
Paullus recognizes that leaving
Afghanistan had been the plan
from the beginning. Three con-
secutive U.S. presidents had
said it was. He said he believes
the evacuation should have
been done sooner, but it’s not
his place to question the man-
ner of the pullout.
“This was what the plan
was,” Paullus said. “We knew
there were going to be reper-
cussions to that plan one way
or another as a country.”
Now that the U.S. has
departed, Paullus said he hopes
the U.S. intensifies its efforts to
bring to safety those who were
integral to its mission.
“With anyone in his situa-
tion, you wish that you could
do more to help them,” Paul-
lus said. “It’d be interesting to
meet a person that wouldn’t.
Because you know that the
potential for end of life is a
reality for them, because of
their close support of U.S.
forces.”
When Paullus told Hussein
he was preparing to head back
home to Eastern Oregon at the
end of his eight-month deploy-
ment in 2015, the Afghan
brought him a gift: a kirkuk
knife with a handle made of
rock coral, obsidian and jade.
Paullus keeps the blade in a
safe at his home in Pendleton.
Inscribed along the side in
Dari, Afghanistan’s most com-
mon language, it says: “As
friends we part.”
tive at that point, but when we
opened back up again we shut
the delivery off.”
Both Timber’s Feedery and
Local Harvest changed hours
from seven days a week to five
days a week, and both close
an hour earlier than they used
to. One advantage to owning
two restaurants is the ability to
rotate staff from one location
to another if one restaurant is
short.
“We have several employ-
ees that are able to work at
both places, mostly our top
three people are very versatile
for us,” Bruce Rogers said.
“They fill in everywhere for
us.”
Filling the gap
With
pandemic-related
federal unemployment pro-
grams ending, Bruce Rog-
ers is expecting an increase
in prospective employees. In
addition, students returning
to attend Eastern Oregon Uni-
versity in the fall are promis-
ing for filling positions.
To cope with employment
challenges, the owners have
adjusted the scope of employ-
ees compared to who they
would typically hire in the
past.
“The demographics have
changed,” Bruce Rogers said.
“We’ve started hiring younger
people, and we’ve started hir-
ing older people. When we
find people that are qualified,
we try to snatch them up.”
They hired, for example,
two 16-year-olds in the sum-
mer and had a family friend
who is a retired teacher come
work for the restaurants.
“We’ve leaned on friends
and family to help us through
this time as well,” Rogers
said.
Extension & 4-H Service District Advisory Council
Eleven members serve three year terms and meet semi-annually to provide guidance
and assistance to local OSU Extension staff in planning, developing, and evaluating
balanced educational programs directed to high priority needs of county residents.
Membership is limited to one re-appointment.
Elk
Continued from Page A1
Extension & 4H Service District Budget Committee.
Members include two advisory members and a member-at-large serving three year
terms. Annual meetings include the County Court and are held to receive, deliberate,
revise and approve the annual budget as provided by the District Budget Officer. Any
proposed programs are discussed and considered.
Fair Board
ORS 565.210. Seven members serve three year terms and meet monthly to facilitate
exclusive management of fair business operations, the fairgrounds, and other proper-
ty devoted to the County Fair. Responsibilities include public relations and other work
for the fair as needed.
Planning Commission
Nine members serve a four year term and two alternates serve a two year term,
meeting as needed to review land use and zoning applications and discuss city and
county growth issues and siting new facilities. Members must be residents of various
geographic areas within the county and no more than two voting members shall be
engaged in the same kind of business, occupation, trade or profession with agricul-
ture designations of livestock / forage crop production and horticulture / specialty
crop production. Commissioners serving in this capacity must file an Annual Verified
Statement of Economic Interest with the Oregon Government Ethics Commission.
Members must re-apply to the County Court before their term ends if they wish to be
re-appointed. The commission is a formal public body required to comply with Ore-
gon Public Meetings Law ORS 192.610.
feed,” said Robertson, a cat-
tle producer and biologist.
Farm Bureau Board
Member and local rancher
Pat Holliday noted in the
press release that this year’s
drought — hottest and dri-
est in over a century — has
brought the problem on ear-
lier and made it worse.
“Pastures
that
were
already short of feed from
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Senior Citizens Advisory Council
ORS 410.210. Five members serve three year terms and meet semi-annually to de-
fine the needs of older adults, promote special interests and local community involve-
ment, and represent senior citizens as an advocate to the local, state and federal
government and other organizations.
Wolf Depredation Advisory Committee
OAR 603-019-0015. Members include one County Commissioner, two members who
own or manage livestock and two members who support wolf conservation or coexis-
tence with wolves. These members agree upon two business representatives to serve
as additional members. The committee oversees the procedure established by Grant
County for its Wolf Depredation Compensation Program. The current vacancy is for a
business representative.
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poor growing conditions
won’t have any fall feed for
either cattle or wildlife,”
Holliday said.
Rick Henslee, a Farm
Bureau board member and
rancher from Long Creek
and Fox, said in a “good
year” the elk will devour
between 30-40% of the fall
forage on his property.
“This year,” Henslee
added, “we’ll be darn lucky
if, between the grasshoppers
and elk, we’ll have anything
left.”
He said this year is turn-
ing out to be among the
worst years he has seen.
The press release notes
that landowners, due to
extreme drought condi-
tions, should have every tool
available to prevent injury
to their properties, includ-
ing the general elk damage
tag.
Torland said that, in addi-
tion to these tags, the depart-
ment has other tools for
assisting private landown-
ers dealing with elk damage,
including controlled antler-
less elk hunts, damage tags,
emergency hunts and hazing
permits.