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About Hermiston herald. (Hermiston, Or.) 1994-current | View Entire Issue (May 13, 2020)
WEDNESDAY, MAY 13, 2020 HermistonHerald.com EasternOregonMarketplace.com UPDATES ELECTION DAY IS TUESDAY Oregon’s primary elec- tion is next week on Tues- day, May 19. If you are a registered voter, you should have received a bal- lot by now. Ballots can be mailed without a stamp, but must be received, not just post- marked, by 8 p.m. on May 19 to be counted. You can also drop off ballots until that deadline at secure drop boxes at: Staff photo by Ben Lonergan Dave Meade, the owner of Columbia Harvest Foods in Umatilla, updates a sign limiting shoppers to two packages of each variety of meat available at the store. Shoppers are limited to no more than two packages per family of beef, pork, and chicken. WHERE’S THE BEEF? COVID-19 outbreaks at meat packing plants disrupt supply By ANNIE FOWLER FOR THE HERMISTON HERALD hat’s for dinner? “It depends on what’s available at the local market” is going to be the answer for a while. Consumers of beef, chicken and pork are being are being limited to how much they can buy during their trip to the gro- cery store, as processing plants have been shut down or have limited staff because of COVID-19 safety measures. “This time of year, the 14 major (beef) processing plants would do about 640,000 animals a week,” said Pat Mal- lon, owner of Pat-N-Tam’s Beef in Stanfi eld. “Last week, it was 420,000. There’s a lot of cattle, but beef process- ing is down a third.” That has people reaching out to privately owned businesses, such at Mallon’s. Mallon, who sells to local establish- ments like the Broken Barrel in Stan- fi eld, and Prodigal Son Brewery and Pub in Pendleton, also does a brisk W Staff photo by Ben Lonergan A sign limiting shoppers to two packages per family on freshly packaged pork, beef and chicken hangs in the deli aisle at Columbia Harvest Foods in Umatilla on Monday afternoon. business selling to individuals. And, they will deliver your order. Mallon raises his own beef, and has it processed through smaller U.S. Depart- ment of Agriculture-inspected plants. With the COVID-19 issues, plants are running at less than 100%, and it’s tak- ing longer than normal to fi ll orders. “They are totally booked,” Mallon said. “Right now, we are out of specifi c cuts. We are selling more sides of beef, and we have a burger and roast program, which has 60 to 80 pounds of meat. We are fi guring out ways to address our See Beef, Page A10 • Hermiston City Hall, 180 NE Second St. in Hermiston • Umatilla City Hall, 700 Sixth St. in Umatilla • Stanfi eld City Hall, 160 S Main St. in Stanfi eld • Echo City Hall, 20 Bonanza St. in Echo • Morrow Count Board- man annex, 101 NW Boardman Ave. in Boardman • Morrow County Irrigon annex, 205 NE 3rd St. in Irrigon If you believe you should have received a ballot but did not, you can check on your voter registration sta- tus and the status of your ballot by visiting www.ore- gonvotes.gov and click- ing on “My Vote,” or calling 1-866-673-8683. It is not too late to request a new ballot if yours was lost. It is too late to regis- ter to vote in this election, but if you register now through the website above you can be eligible to vote in the general election in November. You can also use the “My Vote” feature to change your party affi lia- tion or update your address or other information at any time. Election results will be posted online Tuesday eve- ning on the Hermiston Her- ald’s website at www.herm- istonherald.com. Business owners call for lifting all COVID-19 restrictions in Hermiston By JADE MCDOWELL NEWS EDITOR As the fi rst phase of reopening businesses in Oregon approaches on May 15, some Hermiston busi- ness owners want to see the government go much farther. They have coalesced around a Facebook page called “Reopen Hermis- ton & Eastern Oregon.” There, Hermiston-area res- idents share YouTube vid- eos that support putting an end to social distancing — some of which have since been removed from social media platforms that say they spread false informa- tion — and news stories INSIDE about business owners in other parts of the country that have defi ed shutdown orders. The group had more than 900 members as of Monday. Members have been talking about holding an in-per- son rally in Hermiston in defi ance of restrictions on large gatherings, and Colin Hodges, who runs the page, said the date they are cur- rently looking at is May 30. “Where our heads are really at with this thing, is we’d like to see congrega- tions come back, gatherings come back,” Hodges said. “Things like charity din- ners, lifestyle events, the fair and rodeo.” Umatilla County has submitted a reopening plan to Gov. Kate Brown, which county commission- ers have agreed won’t hap- pen without state approval. That plan calls for allow- ing businesses, such as hair salons, to reopen with social distancing require- ments in place on May 15. A second phase would open up schools and allow gath- erings of up to 50 people, while the third phase would allow gatherings of up to 250 people. Brown has stated that counties will only be able to move on to the next phase once they have shown a steady decrease in COVID- 19 hospitalizations and emergency room visits for A3 Housing projects are moving forward despite pandemic Staff photo by Ben Lonergan The Pheasant Bar and Grill is among a group of Hermiston businesses and residents pushing to reopen the town. respiratory illnesses over 14 days. She said the ban on mass gatherings, such as fairs and sporting events, will stay in place until at least September. The idea behind a slow A4 Senior citizens miss socializ- ing after senior center closes rollback of restrictions is to keep cases from rising to the point that hospital resources are overwhelmed and there are not enough ventilators or ICU beds to treat everyone who needs A6 First phase of reopening excludes aquatic centers them, as has happened in some parts of the country. Fatality rates of the virus have been higher in those circumstances. See Restrictions, Page A10 A7 The Riverside in Umatilla removes adult entertainment
