NEWS
WEDNESDAY, JUNE 17, 2020
HERMISTONHERALD.COM • A3
Umatilla County COVID
cases continue to rise
By JADE MCDOWELL
NEWS EDITOR
Staff photo by Ben Lonergan
Elizabeth Loera leads a chant with a megaphone during a protest against racial injustice and
police brutality at Village Square Park in Umatilla on Tuesday, June 9, 2020.
Protest draws small crowd in Umatilla
By BEN LONERGAN
STAFF WRITER
More than 30 protesters
took to Village Square Park
in Umatilla on Tuesday, June
9, to protest racial injustice
and police brutality. Protest-
ers chanted and carried signs
in support of police reform
and the Black Lives Matter
movement for about an hour
at the roadside followed by
speeches in the park.
Soledad Estrada, of Uma-
tilla, took the day off from
work to come and join pro-
testers. Estrada said she had
attended protests in Herm-
iston over the last week and
felt it was important to have
her voice heard in her own
town.
“A lot of people didn’t
think our small towns would
do this, so I’m excited that
Hermiston did it and now
Umatilla is doing it,” she
said. “I’m excited that we
have people who do care.”
Estrada said she felt
driven to protest to protect
her three young sons from
racial injustice and police
brutality in the future.
“Every time I hear about
something like this happen-
ing it just hits close to home
because my sons are Black,”
said Estrada of the murder
of George Floyd. “They’re
going to grow up to be big
and they might scare some-
one and get the cops called
on them.”
Estrada said she felt it
was important to speak up
so that her sons could have a
voice and to establish a dia-
logue between police and
protesters. Estrada said she
was pulled over in Umatilla
on Monday night, June 8, for
a broken taillight and felt as
though the offi cer was afraid
to approach the car when he
saw that her boyfriend was
Black.
“It shouldn’t be like
that, we’re all people and
we weren’t doing anything
wrong,” she said. “It’s sad
that they get intimidated just
by the color of your skin.”
Estrada added that she
didn’t think the offi cer
was racist and was more a
result of the recent backlash
against police in general.
Estrada said she has always
had a pretty good relation-
ship with the police in Uma-
tilla, but felt as though it was
a dialogue that needed to be
started.
HERMISTON PROTEST
Hermiston organizers had planned the city’s third Black
Lives Matter protest for Saturday, June 13, but postponed
the event due to high winds that would make it diffi cult to
hold up signs. The protest will instead be held on Saturday,
June 20 starting at noon on the corner of Highway 395 and
Elm Avenue.
Among those organiz-
ing the protest was 17-year-
old Umatilla High School
student Alex Norris. Norris
said he was inspired to act
after seeing similar protests
in Hermiston during the last
week.
“I saw that there was one
in Hermiston and I thought
well, if Hermiston can do it,
we can too,” he said. “We
have a strong and great com-
munity here in Umatilla.”
Norris drew on his own
experience as a member of
the LGBTQ community and
the criticism he has faced
from people to motivate his
support of the Black Lives
Matter movement.
“I’m part of the LGBT
community and I’ve been
criticized before because
of who I am,” said Norris.
“I can’t say I know exactly
what they’re going through,
but I have something similar
I can compare it to.”
Norris said recent events
with the killing of George
Floyd, Breonna Taylor and
widespread protests inspired
him to help spearhead pro-
tests in Umatilla.
University of Oregon stu-
dent Elizabeth Loera helped
Norris organize the June 9
protest. Loera, who grew up
in Umatilla, said she wanted
to bring a voice to the peo-
ple of Umatilla without hav-
ing to go to larger cities.
“I thought Umatilla is a
really small town and we
haven’t seen any change
or protests going on here,”
Loera said.
Loera said she thought
that people in Umatilla
needed to know they had
support and that the Black
Lives Matter movement
wasn’t limited to big cities
adding that protesting at the
local level can often see real
change.
“It’s important to start
here locally so that we can
see actual change,” Loera
said. “I think choosing to
protest is my way of doing
something about what’s
going on.”
Loera was among several
speakers at the event and
spent much of the fi rst hour
parading the sidewalk with
a megaphone leading chants
alongside Norris.
“Being able to protest,
you can come together and
create change,” Loera said.
“We can demonstrate to the
community driving by what
we believe in and that we are
here for our Black brothers
and sisters.”
Both Loera and Norris
said that turnout was bet-
ter than expected and they
intend to continue protest-
ing and are working to orga-
nize additional protests in
the future.
“There’s change coming,
it’s an uprising,” said Loera.
“I’m looking forward to this
generation and the momen-
tum that we’re building.”
Umatilla County’s cases
of COVID-19 rose to 174
confi rmed cases and 13
presumptive cases on Tues-
day, June 16, up from 140
confi rmed cases one week
prior.
According to the coun-
ty’s daily reporting, 137
cases have recovered. The
county reported its fourth
death from the virus after an
87-year-old male resident
died at St. Anthony Hos-
pital in Pendleton on June
11. The man had underly-
ing health conditions and
tested positive on May 30,
according to the release.
Counties surrounding
Umatilla County are also
seeing increases. Morrow
County rose from 14 cases
to 19 this week.
Union County, to the
east, is currently experienc-
ing a major spike in cases,
including 99 positive tests
on June 15 and another
117 cases the next day.
The county had reported
only six cases so far in the
county as of June 9.
To the north, the Tri-Cit-
ies saw a 114-case increase
on June 16, bringing them
up to 2,226 confi rmed cases
since the start of the pan-
demic, according to the Tri-
City Herald. As a result, the
Washington Department
of Health is putting Frank-
lin and Benton counties’s
applications to move into
Phase 2 of reopening on
pause.
As of June 16, the Ore-
gon Health Authority has
reported 6,098 cases and
182 deaths from COVID-
19 in Oregon.
To combat the spread
of COVID-19, Umatilla
County Public Health offi -
cials urged people in a news
release to stay home if they
are showing any symptoms
of COVID-19 including
cough, fever, chills, sore
throat or a loss of taste and
smell.
“It is imperative that
any person who is exhib-
iting symptoms of respi-
ratory illness stay home.
UCo Health continues to
discover instances where
individuals are continuing
to work while sick,” the
department stated. “Now,
more than ever, it is import-
ant for businesses to ensure
that employees are not com-
ing to work sick. Employ-
ees may feel internal and
external pressure to work
through mild illness. Busi-
nesses are encouraged to
develop fl exible leave pol-
icies to support employees
who become ill and estab-
lish procedures for send-
ing employees who are not
feeling well home.”
City of Hermiston reopens buildings
By JADE MCDOWELL
NEWS EDITOR
The city of Hermiston
reopened many of its facil-
ities on Monday, June 15,
after Umatilla County was
approved for Phase 2 of
reopening.
City playgrounds were
already opened the week
of June 8, according to a
news release. City hall, the
Hermiston Public Library
and the Parks and Recre-
ation offi ces at the Hermis-
ton Community Center all
reopened to the public on
June 15, while the splash
pad at Butte Park reopened
June 13 and the Hermiston
Family Aquatic Center will
reopen June 24.
Hermiston City Man-
ager Byron Smith said in a
statement that the city has
maintained a “high level of
customer service” during
the shutdown while abiding
by state guidelines.
“Even as we begin to
reopen and return to nor-
mal, we encourage resi-
dents who are uncomfort-
able visiting city facilities
in person to call or email,
and we will work with
them to maintain services
in an appropriate manner,”
he said.
At the temporary city
hall, located at 215 E.
Gladys Ave., a customer
service window is avail-
able on the back side of the
building for people who
would prefer not to enter
the building.
According to the news
release, the city will main-
tain strict cleaning proto-
cols and has added Plexi-
glas dividers at customer
service desks and markers
on the fl oor to space out
customers. At the library,
there will be limits on how
many people can be in the
building at a time, and items
checked in will be quaran-
tined for three days before
returning to the shelves.
City council and plan-
ning commission meetings
will move to the Hermiston
Community Center start-
ing on June 22 to allow for
a larger audience, but the
meetings will also continue
to be available on YouTube
and the city’s website.
The municipal court will
continue to be by appoint-
ment only.
For more information,
including hours of opera-
tion for each building, visit
hermiston.or.us.
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