A10
STATE
Blue Mountain Eagle
Wednesday, October 20, 2021
District won’t challenge mandates Offi cials discuss
wildfi re plans
By NICOLE BALES
The Bulletin
REDMOND — On the
advice of its attorney, the
Redmond School Board has
decided not to challenge the
state’s coronavirus vaccine
and mask mandates in court.
Gov. Kate Brown in late
July announced a mask man-
date for everyone in K-12
schools. Monday is the dead-
line for K-12 school staff
and volunteers, executive
branch employees and health
care workers to get vacci-
nated against the virus or get
approved for a medical or reli-
gious exemption.
The
mandate
was
announced in August.
In response, the Redmond
School Board vowed to pursue
all appropriate actions, includ-
ing but not limited to legal
action and use of the medical
and religious exemptions.
Earlier this month, the
board hired Dan Thenell, a
Portland-based attorney, to
explore legal options.
But after an executive ses-
sion on Wednesday, Oct. 13,
the board decided against
action after hearing advice
from Thenell, who is also rep-
resenting several other groups
statewide in similar suits.
“The courts have not been
receptive so far to our argu-
ments,” Thenell told The Bul-
letin on Monday. “I just think
there should be a limit on what
the government can force peo-
ple to do in terms of medical
treatment.”
Shawn Hartfi eld, board
Nicole Bales/Bulletin fi le photo
The Redmond School Board held a special meeting Aug. 11 to
discuss Gov. Kate Brown’s mask mandate.
chairwoman, said she was glad
the board explored its options.
She was concerned the district
would lose employees as a
result of the vaccine mandate,
possibly aff ecting the ability
to keep schools open.
“Looking at any legal
path to maintain and keep our
schools open and not have
to get our kids back online,
which was not a successful
endeavor for us or successful
for our kids, was well worth
it,” Hartfi eld said.
According to the school
district, 14 employees have
not provided proof of vaccina-
tion or fi led for a religious or
medical exemption.
Of the district’s 940
employees, 82% are fully vac-
cinated against the virus and
18% have received a medical
or religious exemption.
“I’m happy that we at least
have the exception so that we
can keep them employed, and
I really hope that they will fi ll
them out so we do get the last
handful of employees so we
don’t have any other issues,”
Hartfi eld said.
The board unanimously
agreed to write to the Ore-
gon Health Authority and Ore-
gon Department of Education
laying out questions about the
methods being used to deter-
mine when decisions about
masks and vaccinations will
return to local control.
Thenell grew up in Sisters
and graduated from Redmond
High School. He is also repre-
senting Central Oregon health
care workers, police offi cers
and fi refi ghters in lawsuits
against the governor fi led in
county circuit courts through-
out the state.
Earlier this month a judge
rejected a lawsuit fi led in Jef-
ferson County by 33 Oregon
State Police troopers and two
police and fi refi ghter associa-
tions represented by Thenell.
They were requesting a tem-
porary restraining order of the
vaccine mandate.
Thenell is defending health
care workers and an Oregon
nonprofi t, Oregon Healthcare
Workers for Medical Freedom,
in a similar suit fi led in Klam-
ath County Circuit Court. The
suit was fi led against the gov-
ernor and the Oregon Health
Authority.
In another suit fi led against
the governor and the health
authority in Yamhill County,
Thenell is defending fi refi ght-
ers, emergency personnel and
health care workers.
The two latter cases were
combined in a petition to the
Oregon Court of Appeals to
halt the vaccine mandate. The
court of appeals in Septem-
ber declined to order a tem-
porary halt to the mandate and
said the petitioners have “lit-
tle-to-no likelihood of success
on the merits of their judicial
review.”
Thenell said there is a
theme with all the people that
have approached his law prac-
tice for representation.
“These are people who
have all decided to serve
other
people,
whether
they’re a firefighter, whether
they’re a police officer, a
nurse, a respiratory thera-
pist, a medical doctor. They
have chosen a path of ser-
vice to help people. And
that should not be forgot-
ten,” Thenell said. “Peo-
ple need to think about what
kind of government we want
and what kind of balanc-
ing of protecting the public,
but also protecting our own
rights. Where’s the line?
And that’s what drew me to
accept helping these people
is that concept.”
By SIERRA DAWN
McCLAIN
Capital Press
EAGLE POINT, Ore. —
Oregon Gov. Kate Brown,
Sen. Jeff Merkley, U.S.
Department of the Inte-
rior offi cials and fi re experts
Thursday visited Southern
Oregon to survey damage
from last year’s South Oben-
chain Fire and to talk about
plans for managing future
wildfi res.
According to the offi cials,
Oregon’s plan for combating
wildfi res will include expand-
ing forest treatments, paying
federal fi refi ghters a higher
wage, converting seasonal
fi refi ghting positions into per-
manent jobs and investing in
disaster recovery eff orts.
“It’s been clear for a num-
ber of years now that we are
fi ghting fi res of a new age
made much more intense by
climate change using tools
of the last century,” Brown
told attendees, including fi re-
fi ghters from the U.S. Forest
Service and Bureau of Land
Management.
Brown was surrounded by
charred hillsides, blackened
by 2020’s Labor Day fi res.
The Oregon Legislature,
Brown said, is investing $220
million in modernizing Ore-
More illness linked to Round-Up
By BRYCE DOLE
East Oregonian
Ranchers barred from wolf hearing
By DON JENKINS
Capital Press
SALEM — Ranchers have
lost their bid to oppose restor-
ing wolves to the endangered
species list at a federal court
hearing in November.
Two judges from the 9th
U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals
declined Oct. 12 to summar-
ily reverse a lower court rul-
ing barring four agricultural
groups from intervening in
lawsuits fi led by environmen-
tal groups.
In a one-page order,
Judges William Fletcher and
Jay Bybee ruled the agricul-
tural coalition could pursue its
appeal, but must follow a brief-
ing schedule that will delay
a decision past the Nov. 12
hearing.
U.S. District Judge Jeff rey
White in Oakland will hear
arguments that day. The Justice
Department has moved to dis-
miss the suits, while environ-
mental groups want White to
reinstate federal protection.
White denied letting the
American Farm Bureau,
National Cattlemen’s Beef
Association, Public Lands
Council and American Sheep
Industry Association help
defend delisting.
White already had granted
intervenor status to the
National Rifl e Association
and Safari Club International.
White ruled the agricultural
groups were adequately repre-
sented by the sportsmen.
The agricultural groups
argue White’s ruling was
wrong and sought for it to be
reversed this week to allow
them to speak at the hearing.
Fletcher and Bybee, however,
ruled there was no clear error
to allow for a reversal without
further briefs.
The agricultural groups
could still gain intervenor sta-
tus and the right to appeal
White’s ruling. The coalition
has until Nov. 23 to fi le briefs
with the appeals court.
“We are disappointed that
the courts have refused agri-
culture a seat at the table in
defending the gray wolf delis-
ting,” American Farm Bureau
senior counsel for public pol-
icy Travis Cushman said in a
statement.
“The wolf is an endangered
species success story. Its num-
bers have grown to healthy lev-
els thanks to careful partner-
ships at the federal and state
levels. Responsible manage-
ment should now continue at
the state level to ensure the pro-
tection of the gray wolf and the
private property of America’s
farmers and ranchers,” he said.
The agricultural coali-
tion argued that while sports-
men want to hunt wolves, their
members have a broader inter-
est in managing wolves to
protect livestock and see that
ranchers are compensated for
losses.
The Trump administra-
tion in 2020 delisted wolves
throughout the Lower 48.
Wolves in Idaho, Montana,
Wyoming and the eastern one-
third of Oregon and Washing-
ton already were considered
recovered.
While defending the 2020
delisting, the Biden administra-
tion has started reviewing the
status of wolves everywhere,
citing expanded wolf hunting
in Idaho and Montana.
The U.S. Fish and Wild-
life Service concluded in 2020
that wolves in California and
the western two-thirds of Ore-
gon and Washington were
extensions of a robust popu-
lation in the northern Rocky
Mountains.
Environmental
groups
argue delisting was premature
because wolves on the West
Coast and around the Great
Lakes have not colonized their
historic range.
gon’s fi refi ghting equipment,
putting more “boots on the
ground,” helping vulnerable
communities become more
fi re-adaptive and investing in
prescriptive burning and thin-
ning — work Brown called
“incredibly important.”
Merkley agreed that pre-
scribed fi re — intentional use
of fi re to clear vegetation on
the landscape — is crucial.
“I’ve noticed just a huge
shift in the attitude of the
public about prescribed burns
over this last decade,” said
Merkley. The public, he said,
is becoming more receptive.
Merkley said he’s work-
ing to secure federal dollars
for hazardous fuels reduc-
tion: $230 million in the
recent continuing resolution
package in Congress, $2.4
billion in the infrastructure
package that passed the Sen-
ate and is in the House, and
$650 million to $700 million
in the 2022 appropriations
package.
But money may not be
enough. Many prescribed
burners have told the Capital
Press that the biggest barriers
they face are legal, not mone-
tary. Under Oregon law, pre-
scribed burners carry heavy
liability risks and must com-
ply with strict air quality
laws.
PENDLETON — Coro-
navirus cases in Uma-
tilla County are on a steady
decline, but the number of
cases connected to the Pend-
leton Round-Up continues to
increase.
Data from the Uma-
tilla County Public Health
Department and Yellowhawk
Tribal Health Center on the
Umatilla Indian Reservation
show at least 247 cases have
been linked to the week-long
rodeo.
Cases from the event
spread across at least seven
counties and two states
besides Oregon, health offi -
cials reported. But the vast
majority of cases — 225 —
were among Umatilla County
residents, Umatilla County
Public Health Director Joe
Fiumara said.
Still, after a brief but sig-
nifi cant spike in cases follow-
ing an outbreak tied to the
Round-Up, the county, like
much of Oregon, has seen
cases drop day by day for
nearly two weeks, accord-
ing to data from the Oregon
Health Authority.
Umatilla County reported
just 27 cases on Friday, Oct.
15, the lowest daily total
since mid-July, and county
has been averaging roughly
50 new confi rmed and pre-
sumptive COVID-19 cases
daily, according to OHA data.
That’s the lowest average in
three weeks. It remains pos-
sible Umatilla County could
have its lowest case count in
nearly three months, accord-
ing to state data and Fiumara.
“Something would have to
drastically change for us not
to report a pretty good decline
in cases,” Fiumara said. “It’s
kind of the best case scenario
for us coming off the spike
from the Round-Up.”
The county is fortunate
the spike did not continue for
any longer than it did, Fiu-
mara noted, even though at
least one regional hospital
has reported a sharp spike in
patients hospitalized with the
virus since the outbreak.
“We were really hopeful
that, if people stayed home
and didn’t spread these
cases around, that we would
see a quick drop,” Fiumara
said. “And it looks like
we’re seeing that, which is
very good.”
This project was supported by Grant No. 2019-WR-AX-0027 awarded by the office on Violence Against Women, U.S. Department of
Justice. The opinions, findings, conclusions, and recommendations expressed in this publication/program/exhibition are those of the
author(s) and do not necesssarily reflect the views of the Department of Justice, Office on Violence Against Women.
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