NEWS
A10 • HERMISTONHERALD.COM
WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 15, 2021
Digital inclusion may be on the way in Morrow County
By ERICK PETERSON
Hermiston Herald
Businesses and local gov-
ernment officials are lining
up behind a push to improve
internet access in Morrow
County.
Aaron Moss, fellow with
Lead for America and Amer-
iCorps, said better digital
inclusion — ability of indi-
viduals and groups to access
and use information and
communication technologies
— is a need he is working to
help fulfill in the county.
“Our primary goal is to
build out infrastructure to
the unincorporated, most
remote areas and homes in
the county,” he said.
Moss, who said he has
been with Lead for America
since July, lives in Heppner.
“I am stationed at the
Morrow County Commis-
sioners Office and will be
working closely with the
county government to con-
vene a broadband action
team of stakeholders and
partners throughout the
community,” he stated in an
email to The Hermiston Her-
ald. He said he is working
on “expanding broadband
access and digital skills as
well as improving the afford-
ability of internet services
within the county.”
The Tillamook Creamery
Association in partnership
with Land O’Lakes is spon-
soring the work, Moss said,
and has assistance from gov-
ernment officials.
At the height of coro-
navirus quarantines that
closed schools, some stu-
dents in Morrow County
had a difficult time learning
from home because of spotty
internet connections. Simi-
lar problems existed for peo-
ple who were trying to con-
nect with their doctors. Moss
explained the pandemic has
highlighted the importance
of internet access in educa-
tion, health care and work
life, “with rural communi-
ties facing unique barriers
to connectivity.” Parts of
Morrow County lack reli-
able internet connection, he
explained, and some parts
have no connection.
This is a problem, Moss
stated, because of the “uncer-
tainty of COVID-19 variants
and the possibility of a future
date when people once again
are pressed to depend on the
internet for school, medical
services and more.”
Angie Hanson, a grand-
mother of two boys, was
among the people who
noticed the problems result-
ing from unreliable internet
access. Local children were
not able to attend online
school from their homes, so
she organized a home school
in the Gilliam and Bisbee
Building in Heppner. There,
around a dozen local chil-
dren, including her grand-
sons, could connect with
classes online.
These students, Hanson
said, would work on their
online classes from 7:30 a.m.
to noon on school days. A
former educational assistant,
she would help them.
“I couldn’t see these kids
slip through the cracks,” she
said.
All of these children were
neighbors or family mem-
bers with one another, she
explained, so they already
were in close contact with
one another and their com-
munal schooling was not
increasing their chance of
coronavirus exposure. Not
everyone, then, was able to
be part of Hanson’s solution
to the connection problem.
Moss credited County
Commissioner
Melissa
Lindsay for playing a major
role in supporting digital
inclusion and understand-
ing the troubles. Lindsay
acknowledged the inability
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for students to connect virtu-
ally to their classes.
“A lot of kids were learn-
ing from cars in a parking
lot,” she said.
Others, such as Hanson’s
class, were meeting together
with adult leadership, she
said. Such students would
have been better served if
they had access to reliable
internet, as enjoyed in other
cities, she said.
Lindsay also said she
heard from elderly people
who were leery of going
to in-person doctors. Vir-
tual appointments could
have helped them, she said,
but they skipped appoint-
ments because, in addition
to not wanting to visit a doc-
Aaron Moss/Contributed Photo
At a broadband town hall Nov. 10, 2021, in Heppner, people
discuss the need for better internet. Aaron Moss, center,
introduces his work on expanding broadband access.
tor face-to-face, they could
not connect to the internet.
Therefore, they went with-
out medical care, the com-
missioner said.
This is why, Lindsay said,
the county started a broad-
band task force that included
the Morrow School District
superintendent and other
experts and affected local
individuals.
Moss said a “backorder of
fiber” is causing delays, but
he anticipates work to start
early next year with the lay-
ing of new line.
Eventually, he said, he
will be looking for volun-
teers to help with this proj-
ect, but for now he and oth-
ers will be working with
local chambers of com-
merce, electric cooperatives,
internet service providers
and city governments to cre-
ate new infrastructure.
He added that another
part of the plan involves rais-
ing awareness of the emer-
gency broadband benefit.
“There are a lot of afford-
ability programs out there
that currently are unknown
by people in the county,” he
said.
Also, he said, he antici-
pates public classes to edu-
cate people on working
from home and seeing doc-
tors online. These efforts,
however, are likely to hap-
pen after infrastructure is
underway.
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