Hermiston herald. (Hermiston, Or.) 1994-current, September 02, 2020, Image 3

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Hermiston herald., September 02, 2020, Page 3, Image 3

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Newspaper Page TextNEWS WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 2, 2020 HERMISTONHERALD.COM • A3 Umatilla County sees 117 new COVID-19 cases since Aug. 25 By JADE MCDOWELL NEWS EDITOR Umatilla County contin- ues to closely track COVID- 19 data as the county looks ahead to a possible return to Phase 2. Counties must go at least three weeks before moving to a new phase of reopening. Umatilla County returned to Phase 1 on Fri- day, Aug. 21, making Fri- day, Sept. 11 the three-week mark. Metrics the state con- siders when counties apply for a new phase include new case numbers per capita, the percentage of tests coming back positive, and the num- ber of cases that were able to be traced back to a speciﬁ c source. As of Tuesday, Sept. 1, Umatilla County has had 2,562 cases — an increase of 117 cases from one week prior. The news release from Sept. 1 also stated the county had 144 presumptive cases and nine hospitalizations. A total of 38 residents diagnosed with COVID-19 Staﬀ photo by Ben Lonergan A sign outside of Hermiston’s temporary city hall advises people to wear a mask on Tuesday, Sept. 1, 2020. Umatilla County has seen 117 new COVID-19 cases since Aug. 25, 2020. have died. The Oregon Health Authority has issued state- ments asking Oregonians to carefully consider their Labor Day plans to prevent a spike in cases after the holiday. “Past holiday weekends have led to outbreaks in Ore- gon among people celebrat- ing in riskier ways and led to an uptick in the number of people who have COVID- 19,” the agency stated in a recent Facebook post. During an Aug. 27 news conference, Oregon’s pub- lic health director, Dean Sidelinger, shared an exam- ple of 20 people in Oregon who rented a beach house together. Although none of them were showing symp- toms during their vacation, right afterward 12 of the guests got sick, and those 12 people were linked to ﬁ ve workplace outbreaks sick- ening more than 300 people. OHA’s guidelines ask people to consider staying home for the holiday week- end, and are asked to keep four principals in mind if they do risk travel. The ﬁ rst is that the fewer people are involved, the lower the risk. Second, out- door spaces with space to social distance and good airﬂ ow are the safest place to be around others. Third, staying 6 feet apart at all times helps lower risk of transmission. And fourth, shorter amounts of time together are less risky than lengthy visits. Umatilla County Pub- lic Health has cautioned that people coming to work while knowingly sick have contributed to outbreaks in the area. The Oregon Health Authority’s weekly report lists workplaces with at least 30 employees that have had at least ﬁ ve cases of COVID- 19 linked to them, either through an employee test- ing positive or through close contacts of those employees who test positive. The fol- lowing are the Umatilla and Fifth candidate ﬁ les for Hermiston council By JADE MCDOWELL NEWS EDITOR Five candidates will vie for four seats in November after Maria E. Durón, a fam- ily engagement specialist for Hermiston School District, added her name to the list before the election’s Aug. 25 ﬁ ling deadline. Durón said she ﬁ led to run because she is passion- ate about helping the com- munity and wanted a better understanding of how the city works. She also sees a need for more Hispanic rep- resentation on the council, which is why the announce- ment that incumbent Man- uel Gutierrez is not running again helped prod her to throw her hat in the ring. Gutierrez is planning a Durón Hardin move outside Hermiston city limits, which would dis- qualify him from holding a position on the council. He is one of two Hispanic councilors, along with Roy Barron. “I see a need for more Hispanic folks to step up to leadership positions,” Durón said. Durón has previous expe- rience as an elected ofﬁ cial through about eight years on the Hermiston School Dis- trict’s board of directors. McCarthy Peterson She resigned from that posi- tion in 2017 in order to take a job with the school district. She is one of two new faces running for the council. The other is Nancy Peterson, an accessibility specialist for Columbia Basin Col- lege who previously told the Hermiston Herald she was running because she hoped to help community members feel their voices were being heard. Incumbents Rod Hardin, Doug Primmer and David McCarthy have also ﬁ led to run again. Har- din has served 28 years on Primmer the council, while Prim- mer is running for his third, four-year term. McCarthy was appointed to ﬁ ll the seat previously held by John Kir- wan in May. Hermiston’s council con- sists of four at-large seats and four seats represent- ing speciﬁ c geographical wards within the city. The four at-large seats are up for election on Nov. 3. All ﬁ ve candidates will appear on the ballot, and the top four vote-getters will be sworn into ofﬁ ce in January. Umatilla City Council sees 3 contested races By JADE MCDOWELL NEWS EDITOR All three seats on the Umatilla City Council up for reelection in November will be contested races, with a mix of newcomers and incumbents. According to the ﬁ ling paperwork for the election, councilor Michael Rox- bury is not running again for position #2 on the coun- cil. Instead, Daren Duﬂ oth and Devon Mitchell will be vying for the seat. Mitchell said he has lived in Umatilla since 2014 and lived in Hermiston for almost a decade before that. He works for Eastern Ore- gon Telecom and the Oregon Army National Guard. He said he believes Uma- tilla has a lot of potential, and he wants to help the city continue moving in a posi- tive direction. “It’s always felt like home. It’s always been a nice place to live,” he said. “I want to see it grow and excel and if I can have a hand in that, great.” Duﬂ oth, who owns The Bridge (previously known as Riverside Sports Barand Lounge) with his wife Pau- lette, has served on the city council before and was mayor from 2017-19 before being beat by current Mayor Mary Dedrick when he ran for a second term. Duﬂ oth said he believes Umatilla is headed in a good direction and wants to be part of the “brain trust” that helps the city grow and improve. “The city is making a lot of investment in our com- munity and I wanted to be part of that,” he said. Incumbent Ashley Wheeler is running for a second term in position #4. She was appointed to the position in 2018. According to her ﬁ ling paperwork, she is a business owner and the ofﬁ ce manager at Edward Jones Investments. Wheeler is running against Isis Ilias, whose hus- band Ivan Gutierrez is also on the ballot. Ilias, a stay-at-home mother, said she and Guti- errez both decided to run because they wanted to be a voice for the community and support the city, particularly the public library, where Ilias serves on the board. “We believe in this com- munity and want to be of service to it,” she said. Gutierrez is running against Roak TenEyck for position #6 on the coun- cil. TenEyck was appointed to the council in 2013 and successfully ran to keep the position in 2017. He is a crop advisor for Simplot Grower Solutions. Travel warnings set for Labor Day weekend By JADE MCDOWELL NEWS EDITOR As Oregonians antici- pate a three-day weekend for Labor Day on Sept. 5-7, government agencies are reminding people to take precautions to stay safe and healthy. The Hermiston Police Department announced it is conducting extra patrols for impaired or distracted driv- ers from Aug. 21 through Sept. 7. The overtime is being covered by a grant from Oregon Impact, a non- proﬁ t focused on reducing impaired driving through education and enforcement. “Whatever plans you may have for this upcoming Labor Day Holiday; have fun, but please be safe and responsible,” the announce- ment on Facebook read. “Remember: DUII can also apply to other (legal and ille- gal) drugs besides alcohol.” Other law enforcement agencies, including the Oregon State Police, have announced similar patrol increases for the holiday. The Oregon Depart- ment of Transportation has announced it is expect- ing more Labor Day traf- ﬁ c on Eastern Oregon high- ways than usual because COVID-19 is prodding people to stay closer to home — causing them to drive to their destination instead of ﬂ y. A news release from ODOT described Eastern Oregon as a “favorite des- tination” for Oregonians from other parts of the state this summer and stated that such travelers have already caused “signiﬁ cant conges- tion on roads throughout the region” on other weekends. Drivers are being warned to expect heavy, slow trafﬁ c over the next week, particularly at the beginning and end of the three-day holiday week- end, and are advised to plan accordingly. “Don’t use back roads to get around trafﬁ c conges- tion; these roads are typi- cally unimproved and pres- Columbia Basin Onion (Hermiston), 24 Independent Transport (Boardman), 21 Threemile Canyon Farms (Boardman), 18 MJ’s Labor Services (Hermiston), 17 Port of Morrow Ware- housing (Boardman), 16 River Point Farms (Hermiston), 16 Oregon Potato Company (Boardman), 15 Ashley Manor (Hermis- ton), 11 Home Depot (Hermis- ton), 10 Family Health Associates (Hermiston), 9 Boardman Foods (Board- man), 8 J&J Snack Foods (Weston), 8 Keystone RV Company (Pendleton), 7 McDonald’s (Stanﬁ eld), 7 Columbia River Dairy (Boardman), 7 Garrett Packing Com- pany (Milton-Freewater), 6 Dairy Queen (Hermis- ton), 5 WORSHIP COMMUNITY First Christian Church “Proclaiming the Message of Hope, Living the Gospel of Love” Sunday School 9:15am Worship Service 10:30am 567-3013 775 W. Highland Ave., Hermiston LANDMARK BAPTIST CHURCH 125 E. Beech Ave. • 567-3232 Pastor David Dever Sun. Bible Classes...................10:00am Sun. Worship Service..............11:00am Sun. Evening Worship..............6:00pm Wed. Prayer & Bible Study......6:00pm www.hermistonlmbc.com St. Johns Episcopal Church Join Us Us Join On Our Journey With Jesus. Join us on ZOOM 9:00 AM Sunday Email: chuckb@eotnet.net for link N.E. Gladys Ave & 7th, Hermiston PH: 567-6672 We are an all inclusive Church who welcomes all. Our Lady of Angels Catholic Church 565 W. HERMISTON AVE. DAILY MASS: Monday-Friday ...............................English 7:00 am Thursday...............Spanish 6:00 pm SATURDAY:.........English 5:00 pm ...............................Spanish 7:00 pm SUNDAY:..............English 9:00 am ..........................Bilingual 11:00 am ..............................Spanish 1:00 pm Office..............................567-5812 NEW BEGINNINGS CHRISTIAN FELLOWSHIP Worship Service 10:30 AM Sunday School 9:00 AM Pastor J.C. Barnett Children’s Church & Nursery Available 700 West Orchard Avenue P.O. Box 933 Hermiston, Oregon 541-289-4774 Seventh-day Adventist Church Saturdays Sabbath School........9:30 a.m. Worship Service......11:00 a.m. English & Spanish Services 567-8241 Hermiston Jr. Academy 1300 NW Academy Lane, • Hermiston HOME MAINTENANCE CENTER 541-567-7534 PROTECT YOUR LOVED ONES WITH 100% Douglas Fir Pellets and Presto Logs PROPER PLANNING TN10 Wood Stove We specialize in: Wills and Estate Planning, Real Estate Transactions, Probate and more. ent a number of potential hazards,” the news release stated. The department is asking people to pay extra atten- tion to safe driving, includ- ing following speed lim- its and directions on signs, putting away cellphones and not driving impaired by alcohol or drugs. Travelers should pack masks, hand sanitizer and disinfecting wipes and plan their trip to maintain as much social distancing as possible, and keep their fuel tank at least half full. Morrow county worksites on OHA’s most recent list, released Aug. 26: EOCI (Pendleton), 232 cases Lamb Weston (Hermis- ton), 182 Regency Hermiston Nursing & Rehabilitation Center (Hermiston), 99 Shearer’s Foods (Hermis- ton), 68 Lamb Weston East (Boardman), 58 Walmart Distribution Center (Hermiston), 54 Walmart (Hermiston), 54 Atkinson Stafﬁ ng (Herm- iston), 54 Columbia River Process- ing (Boardman), 39 Good Shepherd Medical Center (Hermiston), 37 Lamb Weston Pac Center (Boardman), 37 TRCI (Umatilla), 33 Smith Frozen Foods (Weston), 32 Hill Meat Company (Pendleton), 32 McDonald’s (Hermis- ton), 30 Lamb Weston West (Boardman), 27 $ IN STOCK 1,099 • 10”/12” logs • 30,000 BTU Pellet Stoves $ 1,599 BENDIXSEN LAW, P.C. Heats 1800 sf 245 E. Main St., Suite E, Hermiston • 541-567-5564 Hours: Monday-Thursday 8:30am-5:00pm Other Stoves & Sizes In Stock Breckwell P22 freestanding To share your worship times call 541-278-2678