WINNER OF THE 2020 ONPA GENERAL EXCELLENCE AWARD
WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 15, 2021
HermistonHerald.com
Umatilla
County OKs
site to take on
homelessness
By ERICK PETERSON AND
BRYCE DOYLE
EO Media Group
See Shelter, Page A8
Driver
of 2019
fatal hit-
and-run
remains a
mystery
Area veterans
enjoy Umatilla
fi shing event
County, local cities work
to establish a regional
homeless shelter
The Umatilla County
Board of Commissioners
on Sept. 8 agreed to allow
a warming station and tem-
porary living huts to go on
10 acres the county owns.
The site is at the inter-
section of Lind and Ben-
sel roads, Hermiston.
Umatilla County acquired
the land in 1935, and
the county Public Works
Department has used the
site to store aggregate stor-
age, and Granite Construc-
tion leases part of the site
for equipment, rock and
gravel storage.
Commissioner George
Murdock said the county
has been working with
Umatilla, Hermiston, Echo
and Stanfi eld on a site for
temporary shelters to help
take on homelessness.
Commissioner Dan Dor-
ran at the meeting said the
land is fl at and usable and
near Highway 395, which
makes it good for transpor-
tation to towns as far away
as Milton-Freewater.
Umatilla County would
own the shelter and con-
tinue to own the land.
Hermiston City Man-
ager Byron Smith said
the project is largely a
response to a new law the
Oregon Legislature passed
in June that mandates cit-
ies codify ordinances that
would protect people from
fi nes and fees for sleeping
on public lands if a local
government fails to pro-
vide other viable alterna-
tives. Cities have two years
to comply with the law.
The local plan at this
stage calls for a modu-
lar building to act as a
warming station that also
would provide showers,
restrooms and meeting
areas. The site would need
to connect to infrastructure
for water and power, and
and pumping truck would
provide sewage services.
Funding for the project
could come from grants
but also local cities.
EasternOregonMarketplace.com
By ERICK PETERSON
Editor/Senior Reporter
Erick Peterson/Hermiston Herald
Randy Hurley, Danny Jacobson, Shaley Larson, Travis Larson, Chris Hurley and Mike Larson were among the participants
and volunteers Saturday, Sept. 11, 2021, on the Columbia River near Umatilla for the annual Fish’n the Brave.
Fish’n the Brave attracts
more than a hundred anglers
By ERICK PETERSON
Editor/Senior Reporter
More than 100 area vet-
erans and fi shing guides
converged Saturday, Sept.
11, on the Columbia River
for the sixth annual Fish’n
the Brave.
Tony Fisher of Fishers
Catch Outfi tters founded
the angling event and once
again organized Fish’n,
with the help of volun-
teers and sponsoring
organizations.
Early in the morning,
he was directing volun-
teers at the start point, the
Umatilla Marina & RV
Park, when he spoke of
his feelings as they pertain
to veterans. Not a veteran
himself, Fisher still val-
ues veterans. He said his
father was a veteran of the
Vietnam War.
“I honor him and
appreciate him,” Fisher
said. “This (event) is a
simple way for us to give
back. A lot of these guys
and gals have had some
experiences. This gives
them a way to get away
for the day, go out, have
a good day and clear
their thoughts.”
See Fishing, Page A8
Erick Peterson/Hermiston Herald
Fish’n the Brave organizer Tony Fisher, left, instructs a
volunteer Saturday, Sept. 11, 2021, at the annual angling
event on the Columbia River near Umatilla.
A hit-and-run driver more
than two years ago in Herm-
iston killed Antonia “Toni”
Minne Cobarubias. Ore-
gon State Patrol Sgt. Seth
Cooney said, to date, author-
ities have not found the per-
son responsible.
“There have been no fur-
ther developments,” Cooney
said. “We have received
no information, despite
a reward off ered by the
family.”
Cobarubias, 41, was a
Hermiston resident, born
in Nampa, Idaho. She was
pushing a grocery cart on
Highway 395, near Sherrell
Chevrolet, when she was hit
from behind by a red car.
The driver did not stop at the
scene of the crime.
“That’s pretty cold,”
Cooney said. He added,
he does not often see cases
like this. For a person to hit
a pedestrian and then drive
away is not commonplace.
He said he doubts the
crime was intentional. When
traveling up the hill, the
lights of the dealership and
other businesses limits vis-
ibility at night, he said. It
is possible the driver could
not see Cobarubias. Another
possibility is the driver
was impaired, he added.
Such impairment would
reduce the reaction time of a
driver, leading to a potential
accident.
Not knowing the condi-
tion of the driver, Cooney
does not know all of what
might have happened.
It seems clear, he said, the
driver knew, at some point,
he had struck a person. The
driver stopped at the nearby
Rocket Mart gas station,
where he checked his vehi-
cle. If he did not, at the time,
see signs he struck a per-
son, he would have seen
those signs later, in the light
of day.
“There would be some-
thing left on that vehicle,
considering the damage,”
he said.
See Hit-And-Run, Page A8
Eastern Oregon sheriff s won’t enforce mask mandate
By ALEX WITTWER
EO Media Group
LA GRANDE — Eastern Ore-
gon sheriff ’s offi ces reaffi rmed
they would not enforce the mask
mandates Gov. Kate Brown set
in place. As well,
a number of sher-
iff s across Eastern
Oregon, including
in Baker and Union
counties,
have
addressed the matter
in letters to the gov-
Rowan
ernor stating they
will not be enforcing
any mask mandates.
But the governor
never asked them to
do so.
The
enforce-
ment of mask man-
dates falls under the
Matlack
supervision of the
Oregon
Occupa-
tional Safety and Health Adminis-
tration, not local law enforcement,
according to the governor’s offi ce.
INSIDE
“The mandates don’t provide
authority to me to do anything,”
Umatilla County Sheriff Terry
Rowan said in a previous inter-
view with the East Oregonian.
There is one exception — the
sheriff s said they would continue
to handle issues of trespass-
ing wherein a patron of a busi-
ness refuses to wear a mask after
being asked to by the business
— but that is the ultimate extent
to which the law enforcement
agencies have said they would
intervene.
“Business and property own-
ers have a right to set ground
rules for how people behave
in their businesses,” Morrow
County Sheriff Ken Matlack said.
“When a person becomes disrup-
tive because of this issue, in that
situation, it’s not really a mask
mandate. It becomes an issue of
trespassing or harassment, and
we would get involved in those
situations as a matter of law.”
The fi rst sheriff to pen a letter
opposing the new mask mandate
was Union County Sheriff Cody
Bowen, who took offi ce at the
beginning of 2021.
“I believe that as Americans,
we have a right to choose,” Bowen
said in a previous interview. “This
isn’t a law, and it hasn’t been voted
on by the people.”
Bowen’s letter urged residents
to “stand up” against the rules
passed down amid the worst surge
of COVID-19 infections in East-
ern Oregon and across the state,
owing largely to the delta variant
and far surpassing previous infec-
tion rates, according to Oregon
Health Authority data.
Chorus against masking up grows
Bowen told The Observer on
Sept. 1, that when the mask man-
date arrived in Union County, he
had felt a personal responsibility
to respond against it — for him-
self and for the majority of Union
County residents — so he penned
the letter addressing the governor
and sent it via registered mail to
her offi ce.
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Rivercrest Behavioral Health
“We haven’t really had a voice
in this. It’s not really our fi ght, if
you will. And then when it became
the homefront of our children, and
my own child in school having to
wear masks, it put that fi ght right
in my living room,” Bowen said. “I
wanted to stand up and be a voice
and let folks know that I supported
the majority of Union County res-
idents — the strong majority of
Union County residents — that it
should be an individual’s choice
and we shouldn’t be masking our
children.”
Soon after, nearly a dozen sher-
iff s across the state — including
those in Douglas, Lake, Malheur,
Columbia and Tillamook counties
— joined in a cacophony of open
letters stating their offi ces would
not enforce mask mandates even
though no government agency
asked them to do so.
“I’ve not had any contacts
with the governor’s offi ce ask-
ing us to do anything. We’ve not
had any requests or demands,”
Matlack said.
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Matlack emphasized he is ask-
ing his offi cers to mask up and
sanitize while at work and prop-
erly adhere to guidelines set by the
OHA. Across the nation, COVID-
19 was the cause of more than half
of all offi cer line-of-duty related
deaths in 2020, according to a
study by National Law Enforce-
ment Offi cers Memorial Fund.
“It’s actually a civil issue and
we play no role in enforcing civil
penalties,” Grant County Sher-
iff Todd McKinley said. That’s an
OHA rule, so OSHA has the ability
to enforce the OHA mask rule. It’s
not our role.”
McKinley further said the
belief that sheriff s offi ces would
be responsible for enforcement of
mask mandates is a “misnomer.”
“What’s great about this country
is everybody gets a chance to make
a choice, so make your choice,” he
said. “If you’re sick, stay home.
Don’t make others be exposed. If
you’re sick just stay home until
you’re better. It’s a health issue,
treat it as such.”
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