NEWS
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
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541-567-7534
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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
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To share your
worship times call
541-278-2678