LOCAL
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 8, 2020
HERMISTONHERALD.COM • A3
COLUMN
The Hermiston Herald will be free starting in May
n a column last week I
cles published in our sister
teased that exciting new paper the East Oregonian —
plus the same display and
changes are coming
for the Hermiston Herald,
insert advertising that you
and this week I’m ready to
have come to expect.
announce it:
Content will
Starting the fi rst
include many popu-
full week of May, the
lar features we have
Hermiston Herald
already been offer-
will transform from
ing, ranging from the
a small-circulation
Hermiston History
paid newspaper to a
column to obituar-
mass distribution free
ies. A few items, such
Jade
product mailed to a
as local sports cov-
McDowell
majority of house-
erage, puzzles and
NEWS EDITOR
holds (nearly 11,000)
the Screen Time sec-
in western Umatilla
tion, will migrate to
and eastern Morrow coun-
being reserved for paid sub-
ties, and distributed for free scribers of the East Orego-
at rack locations throughout nian. But we will also be
the area each week.
adding new features, such
The new Herald will fea- as a weekly full-page opin-
ture unique local reporting
ion page, and will have an
— different from the arti-
increased focus on coverage
of economic development
news about business, hous-
ing and agriculture.
Our website, social
media pages and mobile app
will remain active, with the
paywall removed (a devel-
opment that should bring
joy to the many people who
have expressed their dis-
pleasure about said paywall
over the years).
In addition, all Hermis-
ton Herald paid subscribers
will automatically be con-
verted to East Oregonian
customers. There you will
continue to fi nd even more
breaking news, sports, and
features, served up three
times a week in print (Tues-
days, Thursdays and Satur-
days) and 24/7 across the
website, e-edition, email
I
newsletters, social media
and more.
If you would like to cre-
ate an account to access
the digital news services
included in your new East
Oregonian subscription,
please call our customer
service center at 800-781-
3214. Subscribers can also
activate their digital sub-
scription via the website at
eastoregonian.com, or via
e-mail us at circulation@
eomediagroup.com.
This transition likely
brings up a lot of questions,
and we will be attempting
to answer all of them over
the next month. Feel free to
contact me directly at jmc-
dowell@eastoregonian.com
or 541-564-4536 with ques-
tions or feedback.
One question I know will
likely be on many people’s
minds — particularly those
who have seen me argue on
social media and in these
pages about the impor-
tance of paying for news
— is how we will continue
to fund the reporting, edit-
ing and production of the
Hermiston Herald without
paying subscribers.
While those operations
will continue to cost us
money, tearing down the
barriers of cost and inter-
net access to make Herm-
iston news more accessi-
ble than ever before is a
gift to the community, but
it is also a gift to adver-
tisers, such as candidates
for offi ce, local businesses
and nonprofi ts looking for
a way to get their message
in front of everyone in the
greater Hermiston area. We
hope they’ll see it that way,
and will support this new,
much-expanded access to
news in the greater Herm-
iston area and northeast-
ern Morrow County through
advertising. Knowing
Hermiston’s famed gener-
osity, we have also added a
button to our website where
people can support local
journalism through a direct
fi nancial contribution.
Thank you for being a
newspaper reader and an
informed citizen. We look
forward to serving as your
local news source for many
years to come in both the
new Hermiston Herald and
the East Oregonian.
Hermiston offers help for small
businesses seeking stimulus aid
Umatilla County to give emergency
relief grants to small businesses
By JADE MCDOWELL
NEWS EDITOR
By ALEX CASTLE
STAFF WRITER
Before
the
federal
government opened up
$349 billion in funding for
small businesses on Fri-
day, the city of Hermis-
ton, Hermiston Chamber
of Commerce and Hermis-
ton Downtown District were
encouraging business own-
ers to talk to their banks
about it.
Businesses that have
a utility account with the
city or are members of the
chamber or downtown dis-
trict received calls Thurs-
day and Friday to discuss
how they can access the
Paycheck Protection Pro-
gram included in the recent
$2 trillion stimulus package
known as the Coronavirus
Aid, Relief, and Economic
Security (CARES) Act.
The Paycheck Protec-
tion Program allows small
businesses and nonprof-
its — those with fewer than
500 employees — to bor-
row up to 2.5 times their
monthly payroll in order
to pay employees, rent and
other fi xed operational costs
through June 30.
Businesses in the hos-
pitality industry, including
restaurant chains, can con-
sider each separate location
its own “business.”
According to the Small
Business Administration,
“The loan will be fully for-
given if the funds are used
for payroll costs, inter-
est on mortgages, rent, and
utilities” if at least 75% of
the forgiven was used on
payroll.
The amount of the loan
that is forgiven will be
reduced if, during the two-
month period of the loan,
full-time employee head-
counts decline or wages
decrease.
The loan has a maturity
of two years and an inter-
est rate of 0.5% with pay-
ments deferred for the fi rst
six months.
The SBA is waiving its
normal requirements for col-
lateral and will not charge
any fees.
Small businesses in
Umatilla County now have
another resource for some
economic relief during the
COVID-19 pandemic.
The Umatilla County
Board of Commission-
ers redirected the $68,000
remaining in its economic
development grant fund on
April 1 into an emergency
relief grant fund for small
businesses suffering during
the outbreak.
“We’re trying to get it
spread out to as many peo-
ple as we can to help, but
also help them take advan-
tage of other current fund-
ing that’s starting to become
available,” said Gail Nel-
son, economic development
coordinator with the county.
Applications open on
April 7 and are due by
April 21. They can be
found at www.umatilla-
county.net/grants. Appli-
Staff photo by Jade McDowell
A sign in the window of Neighborhood Books and Gifts in
downtown Hermiston announces it is closed during the
pandemic.
“WE WANT TO DIRECTLY
CONTACT ALL OF OUR LOCAL
BUSINESSES AND ENCOURAGE
THEM TO TALK TO THEIR
BANKING PARTNERS.”
Mark Morgan, assistant city manager
“This is a huge Federal
spending bill which sounds
too good to be true, and is
therefore sure to generate
a large degree of disbelief
from businesses, and unfor-
tunately give rise to a large
sub-industry of scammers,”
Mark Morgan, assistant city
manager, said in a statement.
“That’s why we want to
directly contact all of our
local businesses and encour-
age them to talk to their
banking partners.”
According to a news
release, city staff whose
normal job duties have been
affected by COVID-19 clo-
sures, such as parks and rec-
reation staff and librarians,
helped the chamber make
the calls.
They encouraged busi-
ness owners to contact their
bank immediately to dis-
cuss applying for the pro-
gram, which began tak-
ing applications on Friday.
The release states that while
many fi nancial institutions
are working to become eli-
gible to assist in the PPP,
as of last week the only
certifi ed banks with phys-
ical
branches
located
in Hermiston are Ban-
ner Bank, Columbia State
Bank, Umpqua Bank and
U.S. Bank. Businesses that
bank with other institutions
should check with them on
their eligibility.
They will not ask busi-
nesses for bank account
numbers or other sensitive
information, and business
owners should be aware
of scammers posing as the
Small Business Adminis-
tration who may ask for
such information over the
phone. Instead, businesses
should deal directly with
their lender in applying for
the loan.
Morgan said a “huge
thanks” is owed to the
offi ces of Senators Ron
Wyden and Jeff Merkley, as
well as Representative Greg
Walden for helping local
businesses have access to
the opportunity.
On a statewide level,
businesses are encouraged
to visit oregon4biz.gov to
see what aid may be avail-
able to help with COVID-
19 impacts.
cants must be a business
in Umatilla County with
25 or fewer employees that
can show a direct impact
from COVID-19 and can
show they have applied for
at least one other source of
relief funding.
The Umatilla County
Economic Development
Grants Committee coor-
dinates the quarterly grant
program, which is funded
by the Oregon Lottery and
distributed to small busi-
nesses to stimulate eco-
nomic development, pro-
mote tourism and support
community development in
the county.
Now, the committee will
help coordinate the dis-
tribution of $1,000 grants
to small businesses that
are struggling due to the
pandemic, using a lottery
system.
The idea is for busi-
nesses to utilize these
grants in addition to incom-
ing help from the $2 trillion
stimulus package coming
from the federal govern-
ment later in April.
“I still would hope that
we give careful atten-
tion to what kind of busi-
nesses, sole proprietor
or otherwise, that might
have been overlooked in
the help packages,” Uma-
tilla County Commissioner
George Murdock said.
Umatilla County Com-
missioner John Shafer
emphasized
businesses
from each community in
the county will be eligible.
“The biggest thing I
wanted to make sure was
everyone in the county had
access to it,” he said.
Nelson said the num-
ber of relief grants distrib-
uted to each community
in the county will be tied
to the percentage of the
population that commu-
nity represents, which is
the same as the usual eco-
nomic development grant
program.
There’s
no place
like home
to slow the
spread of the
coronavirus.
PET OF THE
W EEK
Millie is very timid and needs to have a few
meets with any potential adopter. She is
approx 1 1/2 years old, spayed, microchipped
& vaccinated. She is house and leash trained,
hates a crate, afraid of cats, does need
another dog to play with in the household. Has
separation anxiety, so someone needs to be home
most of the day with her.
Social distancing is the most eff ective tool we
have for slowing the spread of the coronavirus.
And that means staying home, if you can.
Work from home. Play at home. Stay at home.
If you must go out, keep your social distance—
MILLIE
Mark Sargent, DVM • Brent Barton, DVM
Eugenio Mannucci, DVM, cVMA • Jana von Borstel, DVM, cVMA
Small and Large Animal Care
Mon: 8-6
Tue - Fri: 8-5
Sat: 8-12
Emergency Service
541.567.1138
MEET
80489 Hwy 395 N
Hermiston
www.oregontrailvet.com
Due to the
COVID-19
pandemic, animal
shelters need
our help more
than ever. Please
donate to your
local shelter, or
offer to foster an
animal in need.
If interested please go to fuzzballrescue.com and fill out an application.
If you are not able to adopt, but would like to foster or donate, visit fuzzballrescue.com
or you can mail in donations to Fuzz Ball Animal Rescue, PO Box 580, Hermiston, OR 97838
six feet, or two arm-lengths apart. Young.
Elderly. In between. It’s going to take every one
of us. If home really is where the heart is, listen
to yours and do the life-saving thing.
Visit Coronavirus.gov for the latest tips and
information from the CDC.
#AloneTogether
TOGETHER, WE CAN HELP SLOW THE SPREAD.