WINNER OF THE 2020 ONPA GENERAL EXCELLENCE AWARD
WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 21, 2020
HermistonHerald.com
EasternOregonMarketplace.com
First local students return to classroom
Special education and ‘Newcomers’ are in school again
By JADE MCDOWELL
NEWS EDITOR
For the fi rst time since March,
some of the desks at Hermiston
School District schools have stu-
dents in them again.
The return to classes is
extremely limited — less than 100
children in a district of more than
than 5,000 students — but district
administrators hope it is a gateway
to something more.
“We really have done a thor-
ough job of getting staff and stu-
dents ready because we want this
to be successful,” Assistant Super-
intendent Bryn Browning said.
For all students to return, school
districts must meet a list of strict
metrics, including fewer than 10
new confi rmed COVID-19 cases
per 100,000 people in the dis-
trict’s county and fewer than 5% of
COVID-19 tests conducted in the
county coming back positive. But
the Oregon Department of Edu-
cation has told districts they can
begin “limited in-person instruc-
tion” for certain groups of stu-
dents if no students enrolled in
the district or staff employed by
the district have tested positive for
COVID-19 in the past 14 days.
Umatilla County Public Health
only releases general numbers for
COVID-19 not tied specifi cally to
school districts, so the Hermiston
Herald and East Oregonian have
not been able to track the metrics
for limited in-person instruction in
the same way the public can track
the metrics for general cases per
100,000 and test positivity in the
county.
Browning said Hermiston
School District brought back spe-
cial education students and stu-
dents in the Newcomers program,
which is for students who have
lived in the United States for less
than a year.
Ben Longergan/Hermiston Herald, File
See Schools, Page A14
Some selected students are returning to the classroom for two hours a
day in Hermiston School District.
UPDATES
Ballot
drop boxes
provided in
area cities
Ballots for the 2020 gen-
eral election are due on
Nov. 3, 2020, by 8 p.m.
Ballots should be fi lled out
and placed in the envelop
provided, and the envelop
must be signed in the appro-
priate place for the ballot
to be counted. They can be
mailed back using the U.S.
Postal Service by drop-
ping them in a mailbox (no
postage required) but must
be received, not just post-
marked, by Nov. 3.
Ballots can also be
placed in a secure dropbox,
where they will be picked
up and taken directly to the
county elections offi ce as
long as they are dropped in
by 8 p.m. on Nov. 3.
Ballot drop boxes for the
2020 elections are at the fol-
lowing locations, according
to the Oregon Secretary of
State’s website:
Umatilla County
• Athena City Hall,
Athena
• Confederate Tribes
Nixyaawii Governance
Center, Pendleton
• Echo City Hall, Echo
• Hermiston City Hall,
Hermiston
• Milton-Freewater
City Hall and Police Sta-
tion, Milton Freewater
• Pilot Rock City Hall,
Pilot Rock
• Stanfi eld City Hall,
Stanfi eld
• Umatilla City Hall,
Umatilla
• Umatilla
County
Courthouse, Pendleton
Morrow County
• Ione Dropbox, 260
Spring St., Ione
• Morrow County Bar-
tholomew
Building,
Heppner
• Morrow
County
Boardman
Building,
Boardman
• Morrow County Plan-
ning Department, Irrigon
• Morrow County Pub-
lic Works Building,
Lexington
If you have not received
your ballot, or it has been
damaged, contact your
county elections offi ce for
a replacement. Umatilla
County elections offi ce:
541-278-6254 or elec-
tions@umatillacounty.
net. Morrow County elec-
tions offi ce: 541-676-5604
or bchilders@co.morrow.
or.us.
INSIDE
Hermiston Herald, File
The Portland General Electric coal-fi red plant in Boardman went offl ine permanently on Thursday, Oct. 15, 2020.
Coal plant closes
Boardman Generating Station
powers down permanently
By JADE MCDOWELL
NEWS EDITOR
Associated Press, File
The Boardman Coal Plant closed on Thursday, Oct. 15, 2020, as a part of
the federal government’s plan to reduce carbon output.
Hermiston Herald, File
A stacker reclaimer digs up scoops of coal to feed a conveyer belt that
fuels the Boardman Coal Plant in this undated fi le photo.
A3 Umatilla City Council candi-
dates make their case in a candidate
forum
A7 Smitty’s Ace Hardware plan-
ning a Boardman location
As Morrow County Commis-
sioner Melissa Lindsay drove past
the Boardman Generating Station
on Friday, Oct. 16, she felt a little
sad.
The station had provided a
steady supply of high-paying jobs
since the station came online in
1980. But on Thursday, Oct. 15
Portland General Electric powered
the station down for good, leaving
Oregon with no more coal-burning
plants in the state.
“It’s the end of an era,” Lind-
say said. “PGE and the plant have
been great partners.”
The plant, located just south of
Boardman, was the last coal-fi red
generating plant in the state and
could burn as much as 8,000 tons
of coal per day. According to the
Oregon Department of Environ-
mental Quality, it was the largest
single source of greenhouse emis-
sions in Oregon.
It was those emissions that
caused PGE to strike a deal with
regulators in 2010 that the plant
would stop burning coal in 2020.
“Our customers are counting
on us to deliver a clean energy
future,” PGE President and CEO
Maria Pope said in a statement on
A8 School districts’ report cards
from the state have little informa-
tion this year
Oct. 15. “PGE’s Boardman clo-
sure is a major step on our path
to meeting Oregon’s greenhouse
gas emission reduction goals and
transforming our system to reli-
ably serve our customers with a
cleaner, more sustainable energy
mix.”
The plant employed 110 PGE
employees and a variety of con-
tractors in its prime, and had 67
employees remaining at the time
of its closure. “Many” of the
plant’s employees have transferred
to jobs at other locations within the
company or retired, according to a
news release, while others will no
longer be employed by PGE.
Although the plant will no lon-
ger be generating power, some
employees will remain at the site
over the next year to complete
cleanup operations in prepara-
tion for a planned demolition and
removal of the plant in 2022.
Spokesman Steve Corson said
the jobs at the plant were techni-
cal, skilled positions that often
paid more than $100,000 a year.
The utility offered employ-
ees several resources in deciding
on their next steps, including set-
ting up a scholarship fund at Blue
Mountain Community College
See Boardman, Page A14
A10 October is Domestic
Violence Awareness Month