WINNER OF THE 2020 ONPA GENERAL EXCELLENCE AWARD
WEDNESDAY, DEC. 15, 2021
HermistonHerald.com
EasternOregonMarketplace.com
Clinic addresses disparity
in COVID-19 vaccinations
By ERICK PETERSON
Hermiston Herald
Erick Peterson/Hermiston Herald
A camera and sensor are on a light
post at Funland Playground on
Friday, Dec. 10, 2021. Each light
post has two cameras that record
24 hours a day.
Funland
gets boost
in security
By ERICK PETERSON
Hermiston Herald
Funland Playground in Hermis-
ton is getting more measures to keep
vandals and trespassers at bay.
Brandon Artz, director of Herm-
iston Parks and Recreation, said the
park is a community gem and he
wants to keep it from unnecessary
damage, particularly in the wake of
a recent social media storm about
the park.
A warning of possible theft
The initial Facebook post was
from a sharp-eyed community
member who noticed bolts were
loose on a piece of equipment, the
treasure chest. This citizen voiced
concerns to parks and rec on Face-
book. Artz said the public grew wor-
ried someone was preparing to steal
the chest, then it disappeared from
the park, which seemed to confi rm
some suspicions.
However, Artz said, the culprit
was parks and rec. After recognizing
the chest was loose, he said he had
staff remove the chest until it could
be properly reinstalled.
Even after Artz issued the expla-
nation, Facebook commenters
voiced distress about security at the
park.
According to the director, though,
there is plenty of security for the
playground and more on the way.
Playground security
Each light pole around the perim-
eter of the playground has two video
cameras recording 24 hours a day.
And the light posts have sensors
that turn on at night and set up a
“geo-fence.”
The geo-fence, Artz explained,
is a set of lasers. When someone
breaks the beams, an alert goes to
the Hermiston Police Department.
“The fi rst week, the cameras
were tripped and alerts were sent
to the PD,” he said. “A person
with eight unrelated warrants was
arrested here.”
Artz said police arrested the tres-
passer on the warrants.
W
alking to the door of a
recent pop-up COVID-
19 vaccination clinic in
Hermiston, Maria Ugarte
admitted to feeling emotional about getting
a shot.
“I’m scared,” the Umatilla resident said.
“But I’m going to get done with it. I’m
going to get the shot.”
Ugarte’s story
Initially afraid of how the vaccine would
aff ect her disabled daughter, she and other
family members did not get vaccinated. She
said she thought her family would not need
to be vaccinated, as long as they followed
other guidelines. So, they were careful to
wear masks, wash their hands and social
distance wherever possible, Ugarte said.
And still, the infection reached their
home, she said.
She said she got sick and was bedridden
for 21 days. Also, her daughter came down
with COVID-19, Ugarte said, and she had
a bad experience at Good Shepherd Med-
ical Center, Hermiston. The hospital was
stretched thin at the time of her daughter’s
arrival, she said. Ugarte described the hospi-
tal as lacking beds and equipment, as other
patients were also being treated.
“I thought I had lost her,” she said.
“Thank God she’s OK.”
After they recovered, family mem-
bers started getting vaccinations, she said.
Ugarte got her fi rst Pfi zer shot in October.
She said she wanted to wait until she was
feeling well before getting the necessary
second shot. It is only now, she said, that
her “foggy brain,” fatigue and cough, symp-
toms of COVID-19, have passed.
“I just want to tell everybody that this
thing is freaking real,” she said of COVID-
19, “and they should be afraid because they
can die of it.”
Ben Lonergan/Hermiston Herald
Jose Garcia carries a vaccination clinic sign Friday, Dec. 10, 2021, while setting up for a
free COVID-19 vaccination clinic at New Horizons drug and alcohol rehabilitation center in
Hermiston.
Ben Lonergan/Hermiston Herald
Setting up for the shot
New Horizons drug and alcohol reha-
bilitation center in Hermiston provided its
space for the clinic. Center Director Jose
Garcia greeted Ugarte and welcomed her to
fi ll out paperwork and then get her shot.
This was Garcia’s fi fth vaccination
event at New Horizons, he said. He pro-
vided space for health care providers to vac-
cinate individuals. Meanwhile, he off ered
visitors air purifi ers, hand sanitizer, masks
and more. He passed out information about
COVID-19 prevention in English and Span-
ish. He set out boxes of food, made avail-
able by Agape House in Hermiston.
County public health boss looks into the
numbers
According to Joseph Fiumara, public
health director for Umatilla County Pub-
lic Health, around 34% of Hispanic peo-
ple in the county are vaccinated against the
coronavirus. In contrast, 43% of the coun-
ty’s white population is vaccinated, he said.
These numbers may not be precise, he said,
because they are from a survey in which
Hispanic people were overrepresented.
Another survey, conducted over the
phone, showed a higher percentage of His-
panic people than white people are vac-
cinated, he said, but he was not confi dent
Jose Garcia, right, and Andrea Odle, the Oregon Health Authority assistant regional
COVID-19 testing and vaccine coordinator, talk to the Spanish language radio station Radio
La Ley during a COVID-19 vaccination clinic Friday, Dec. 10, 2021, in Hermiston.
these numbers accurately represents the
entire county.
The best numbers, he said, show His-
panic people are less vaccinated than other
groups. Still, he said, the county is closing
the gap on this diff erence and more His-
panic people are getting vaccinated.
The director gave reasons for the dispar-
ity. For one, he said, the diff erence between
ethnicities in vaccination rate “started that
way.” The virus hit the Hispanic commu-
nity very hard, he said, infecting workers in
agriculture and food processing, jobs people
cannot do at home.
Vaccines during the onset of their rollout
went to hospital workers, fi rst responders
and teachers, he said, jobs that tend to have
more white people.
There are other barriers to vaccination
among Hispanic people, he explained, such
as wariness of a new vaccine, distrust of
government and a language barrier.
As his department and others have tried
to address issues of vaccination among His-
panic people, the diff erence between ethnic
groups is closing, he said. Twenty-four per-
cent of all vaccinations are being given to
Hispanic people, who represent 28% of the
population, he said.
The director credited the work by com-
munity organizations, which have educated
individuals and made vaccinations more
available than they had in the past. Vaccina-
tion events, often staff ed by Spanish-speak-
ing people, are taking place. Also, several
local businesses have hosted clinics for
workers to get vaccinated while remaining
on the clock, Fiumara said.
Worries with vaccination
At the New Horizons event, Garcia
agreed with Fiumara’s assessment of barri-
ers to vaccination. He added, though, there
are other concerns, including immigration.
Some people, he said, do not want to get
vaccinated because they are undocumented.
They worry about putting their names down
on lists the government can track and later
use to deport them. Also, Garcia said, many
people are in the process of gaining citizen-
ship and they worry that receiving any aid
at all, even vaccination services, will cancel
See COVID-19, Page A8
Playground dangers
More recently, Artz said, a local
noticed two dogs loose and growl-
ing at children. Artz heard the
report, checked the cameras and
took screenshots of a dog urinating
on a piece of equipment fashioned to
look like an onion. Nothing escapes
the watchful eye of the cameras or
the department, the director said.
In addition to theft and unleashed
pets, he said there are other con-
cerns. Rough usage, as when adults
overextend the rocking horses, is
troublesome. The orbit spinner is
sometimes abused, too. Also, he said
he sees vandalism as an issue.
Vandal strikes
Walking through the playground,
he pointed at one piece of equipment
with damage he said he suspected is
the result of a strike from a baseball
bat. Artz expressed frustration over
See Funland, Page A8
INSIDE
Bringing in the green
Christmas tree sellers face
higher costs, competition
with artifi cial trees
By ERICK PETERSON and BEN LONERGAN
Hermiston Herald
Despite industry-wide supply
chain issues, increased wholesale
prices and more competition, local
Christmas tree vendors reported
they have plenty of tress, but
prices at some lots are higher than
in past seasons.
Mike Frink, the tree lot coor-
dinator at the Hermiston Kiwanis
Club tree lot, said Dec. 4, his lot
had sold more than 100 of its 430
trees. The lot, in the parking lot of
A3  Former Echo boys basketball
coach sues for more than $200K
the Hermiston Community Center,
has been selling trees since the late
1970s, Frink said.
Organizers planned to close
their lot on Tuesday, Dec. 14. By
early this week, they had sold
nearly all of their trees.
In the early 1980s, when Frink
was selling trees, they cost around
$20 or $30. Now, they carry prices
between $40 for a traditional
Douglas Fir to $140 for a 10-foot
tree. In this price range, there are
a variety of types — Douglas fi r,
grand fi r, noble fi r and Nordmann
fi r.
Frink said the Nordmann trees
are popular and new to the lot
this year; there were only a dozen
See Green, Page A8
A6  Hermiston personal
trainer returns to her roots
Ben Lonergan/Hermiston Herald
Kiwanis member Mark Rose unwraps a Christmas tree Dec. 4, 2021,
before adding it to rows of trees at the Hermiston Kiwanis Club Christmas
tree lot in the Hermiston Community Center parking lot.
A7  Umatilla High School
starts a new esports team
A9  BMCC hires new COO
amid more structural changes