GOVERNOR DISCUSSES PLAN TO REOPEN EASTERN OREGON BUSINESSES » PAGE A10
Wednesday, april 22, 2020
HermistonHerald.com
$1.50
INSIDE
FARM TO TABLE, FREE
PAYDAY
Bankers say demand was
high for the Paycheck Pro-
tection Program in Eastern
Oregon before it ran out of
money.
Page » A3
CAUTION
Guardian Angel Homes in
Hermiston is learning from
other longterm care facili-
ties’ horror stories to protect
its residents from COVID-19x
Page » A6
TESTING
Interpath Laboratory has
solved its supply chain issues
to bring more COVID-19
testing capacity to Oregon.
Page » A7
BY THE WAY
staff photo by Ben lonergan/east Oregonian
School district
offers more
Chromebooks
Hermiston
School
District is offering more
Chromebooks to families
with multiple students.
The
district
first
checked out one of the
devices per family, but is
now offering up to three
per family if the family
has more than three stu-
dents. Staff will be avail-
able to check out devices
the rest of the week
between 8 a.m. and 4 p.m.
at the district offices, 305
SW 11th St.
Families without inter-
net access can also pick
up paper packets of work.
• • •
Are you starting a new
business, moving your
business to a new loca-
tion, under new man-
agement or have other
business-related news to
announce? Starting May
6, the Hermiston Her-
ald is increasing its focus
on economic develop-
ment, including business,
agriculture and hous-
ing, and we’re looking
for new story ideas. Send
your story ideas and tips
to editor@hermistonher-
ald.com. We’re also add-
ing a regular opinion page
that will include letters to
the editor, which can also
be sent to the above email
See BTW, Page A12
Church members help to load bags of potatoes and onions into cars during a free food distribution at The Church of Jesus Christ of
Latter-day Saints in Hermiston on Friday afternoon.
Farmers adjust as pandemic changes what people eat
By JADE MCDOWELL
STAFF WRITER
When the COVID-19 pan-
demic changed life in the
United States, it changed what
people eat, too.
The sudden, unexpected
shifts in demand caused by
people eating at home more
often have left some farmers
in a difficult position.
“Potatoes, onions, milk
are all taking a beating,” said
Pat Tolman, vice president of
AgReserves, the parent com-
pany of agricultural holdings
that include AgriNorthwest
and River Point Farms outside
Hermiston.
The farms’ customers
include restaurant chains, but
with restaurants closed or
doing reduced sales via take-
out, Americans are eating far
fewer onion rings and French
fries than normal. Tolman
said processing plants in some
parts of the country are strug-
gling to stay open, adding vol-
atility to the market.
Corn has also taken a hit, as
ethanol plants that previously
converted corn into fuel have
shut down as demand and
prices for fuel have dropped.
Milk is in lower demand from
restaurants and schools, while
fruits and vegetables seem
to be a “mixed bag,” Tolman
said.
He said the bright spot in
the industry might be wheat,
which is doing well as quaran-
staff photo by Ben lonergan
A line of cars stretches through the parking lot and down Southeast Ninth Street and part of Highland
Avenue on Friday, as people wait to pick up free bags of potatoes and onions at The Church of Jesus
Christ of Latter-day Saints in Hermiston.
tined Americans are alleviat-
ing boredom by baking. Flour
is hard to find on grocery store
shelves, but the nature of agri-
culture is such that a new crop
can’t be produced in a day or
two, just like it is too late for
some farmers to change what
they planted.
“Some farms, because of
their normal rotation, have
been able to make adjust-
ments,” Tolman said. “Oth-
ers already had plants in the
ground, and that puts them in
ONION ROASTED POTATOES
2 pounds potatoes
1 large onion
1/3 cup olive or vegetable oil
salt and pepper
2 cups of shredded cheddar or pepper jack cheese
preheat oven to 450°. slice potatoes lengthwise into strips
roughly an inch thick. slice onion into strips as well. place po-
tatoes and onion into a 9x13 casserole dish. drizzle oil over the
top and add salt and pepper (or other favorite seasonings that
go well with potatoes). Mix until vegetables are coated. Cover
with aluminum foil and bake for 35-40 minutes until potatoes
are soft. remove foil and sprinkle cheese over the top. Bake for
about five more minutes until cheese is melted.
See Food, Page A12
Travel between Umatilla and Tri-Cities sparks concern
By JADE MCDOWELL
and ALEX CASTLE
STAFF WRITERS
8
08805 93294
2
When Oregon Gov. Kate
Brown and her Washing-
ton counterpart, Jay Inslee,
started issuing executive
orders to stop the spread of
COVID-19, worried rumors
flew around social media in
Umatilla that the Interstate
82 bridge over the Colum-
bia River would close.
As deaths from the virus
rise in the Tri-Cities area,
however, some Umatilla and
Hermiston residents have
started thinking it wouldn’t
be a bad idea to keep possi-
ble carriers on the Washing-
ton side of the river.
“We are hearing com-
plaints,” Umatilla City
Manager David Stockdale
said. “The most complaints
are from folks who are con-
cerned that they are seeing a
lot of Washington plates at
the golf course.”
Umatilla County’s case
numbers rose to 28 on Tues-
day, and the release of the
health department’s weekly
location trends map showed
Hermiston is still the local
hotspot with more than
10 confirmed cases, while
Umatilla has between five
and nine.
Though higher volume
of case numbers can be cor-
related to greater access to
testing in the area, Uma-
tilla County Public Health
Director Joe Fiumara said
nearly every investigation
into a confirmed case has
revealed some sort of recent
out-of-county travel. The
Hermiston-Umatilla area’s
proximity to the Tri-Cit-
ies has likely played a role
in the early trend, Fiumara
said.
“We draw these arbitrary
lines between counties and
states, but the virus doesn’t
care which side of the bor-
der you’re on or which side
you came from,” Fiumara
said.
The Benton Frank-
lin Health District has,
as of Tuesday afternoon,
announced 727 confirmed
cases of COVID-19 and 38
deaths in the two Washing-
ton counties where Pasco,
Richland and Kennewick
are located, about 30 miles
from the Oregon border.
Stockdale said some
community members who
have called city hall are wor-
ried that Washington resi-
dents are bringing COVID-
19 into town with them to
use the city’s golf course,
marina and other facilities.
Golf courses are closed in
Washington but have been
allowed to remain open in
Oregon, and while all fish-
ing is banned in Washing-
ton, fishing in Oregon has
been restricted to in-state
residents only.
Stockdale said a bigger
worry than visitors might
be that many Umatilla res-
idents work in essential ser-
vices in the Tri-Cities.
“They still commute
back and forth, and so we
are concerned about that,”
he said.
He said the city is doing
what it can to limit the
spread of COVID-19 among
residents, including closing
city-owned facilities, such
as parks and the library, and
working with the school
district on encouraging peo-
ple to stay 6 feet apart when
picking up meals and edu-
cational packets delivered
See Travel, Page A2