WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 2, 2022
HERMISTONHERALD.COM • A3
Two join fi eld for Umatilla County Commission
By ANTONIO SIERRA
Hermiston Herald
Two conservative activists have further
expanded the fi eld for the two seats on the
Umatilla County Board of Commissioners
up for election in May.
HollyJo Beers is making another run at
county offi ce by challenging incumbent
Position 2 Commissioner John Shafer, who
is running for a second term.
Beers lists “not employed” under her
occupation, but has been associated with
the Oregon Three Percenters, a right-wing
Beers
Bower
Timmons
group. She’s also been involved in anti-
COVID-19 lockdown and vaccine man-
date protests among other demonstrations.
A former Pilot Rock city councilor who
also lived in Milton-Freewater, Beers now
resides in Pendleton, according to her fi ling
paperwork.
The other new candidate is Jesse Bonifer,
an Athena business owner and city councilor
running for the open Position 1 seat on the
Board of Commissioners. Like Beers, Bon-
ifer has been involved in the Three Percen-
ters and helped organize a campaign to pass
the Second Amendment Sanctuary Ordi-
nance in 2020.
Commissioner George Murdock holds
the Position 1 seat. He is retiring from the
board, leaving the seat open. Bonifer joins
Susan Bower, the owner of Eastern Ore-
gon Business Source in Pendleton, Cindy
Timmons, the co-owner of Marv’s Glass
Shop in Milton-Freewater, and Alvin
Young, the manager of Elmer’s Irrigation
in Hermiston, as a part of the fi eld vying
for the seat.
If the Position 2 race stays at just two can-
didates, Shafer and Beers won’t be on the
ballot until the Nov. 8 general election. With
the candidate pool for Position 1 now at four,
all candidates will be listed on the ballot for
the May 17 primary election. Regardless of
the results, the top two-vote getters advance
to a run-off during the general election.
Hermiston shop, lean-to burn
Hermiston Herald
Ben Lonergan/Hermiston Herald
A roadside sign advertises Hermiston’s temporary daytime shelter Jan. 14, 2022, at the
former Sears location along Highway 395 in Hermiston.
IN FROM
THE COLD
By ERICK PETERSON
Hermiston Herald
Ben Lonergan/Hermiston Herald
A sign marks the entrance to a temporary daytime shelter
Jan. 14, 2022, on the door of the former Sears building on
Highway 395 in Hermiston.
among the people who
helped make the shelter
possible. She credited mul-
tiple people in the commu-
nity for their work. Cathy
Lloyd, of Stepping Stones,
also thanked people for
their help.
“We’ve really appreci-
ated all of the people, the
volunteers who have given
hours and the people who
have donated supplies,
food and drink,” Lloyd
said. “And the cities who
have come through with
volunteers, they’ve been
great. People have been
very positive and helpful.”
Barnum and Lloyd said
Mike Atkinson, of Atkin-
son Staffi ng, was import-
ant to the station’s exis-
tence because he provided
the building. He was plan-
ning renovations for the
structure, but had no other
use for it during Janu-
ary. In addition, he off ered
electricity and supplies.
Others helped, too.
Umatilla and Hermis-
ton city governments pro-
vided staffi ng during the
early days of the daytime
warming station. And the
city of Umatilla covered
the costs of cab service to
the shelter.
The Hermiston Warm-
ing
Station
provided
cots, Joe Sharon and The
Church of Jesus Christ of
Latter-day Saints sent vol-
unteers, local businesses
and individuals sent food.
This was a group eff ort,
according to Lloyd.
“People were really
good about stepping up,”
she said.
Two
people
who
stepped up recently were
at the daytime warming
station and spoke of their
time there. Michelle Sand-
ers and Lua Seteni both
were volunteers. Ready
to provide for needy peo-
ple, they sat at tables that
were fi lled with food and
supplies.
“I have a friend who
does it, and they said they
didn’t have enough peo-
ple,” Sanders said.
This being the case, she
decided she would help.
A member of the LDS
church, she said she is
responsible to assist other
people.
Seteni said she also is
a member of the church,
and she said she feels aid-
ing others is something she
should do.
“It means a lot,” she
said, “to serve other
people.”
The Echo School district
has denied it discriminated
against the former coach of
the Echo High School boys
basketball team when he
didn’t get the job to coach
the girls basketball team.
Aaron Noisey in early
December fi led a lawsuit
in Umatilla County Circuit
Court alleging the district
did not hire him as the girl’s
coach because of his gen-
der. He is seeking $203,391
— $2,391 in economic dam-
ages and noneconomic dam-
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The
district
denied
Noisey’s allegations in a
response Jan. 11.
“Except as specifi cally
admitted herein, defen-
dant denies each and every
other allegation, matter and
thing set forth in plaintiff ’s
complaint, and the whole
thereof,” according to the
court fi ling.
The district admitted it
interviewed candidates in
2020 for the position of head
coach of the girls’ basketball
team and Noisey did not get
the job.
Noisey in his lawsuit
claimed the district wanted
a female coach for the girl’s
team. The district in its
response reported it received
a complaint from Noisey
regarding the hiring process,
conducted an investigation
and found no gender dis-
crimination in that process.
Following the 2020-21
school year, Noisey resigned
and took a job as the head
coach of the boys basket-
ball team for the Nixyaawii
Community School.
State court records show
the case next has a confer-
ence call Feb. 10 for the
attorneys.
COVID-19 claims lives of three
more Umatilla County residents
Hermiston Herald
Umatilla County since
Wednesday, Jan. 26, added
four more fatalities to its
COVID-19 death count,
bringing the total to 194.
Umatilla County Public
Health on Jan. 31 reported
the latest death is a 56-year-
old-man who tested positive
on Jan. 13 and died Jan. 27
at Riverbend Medical Center,
Eugene.
Last week, the county
health department reported
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Umatilla County Fire District No. 1/Contributed Photo
Firefi ghters early Friday, Jan. 28, 2022, handle a fi re in a metal
shop and a lean-to on Hornsby Lane, Hermiston.
Echo School District denies former
coach’s discrimination allegations
By PHIL WRIGHT
Hermiston Herald
Community comes
together for daytime
warming station
Throughout
January,
area businesses, govern-
ment and private citizens
came together to fi ll a
need in their community.
Thanks to their eff orts,
homeless people received
shelter during hours when
there was not another place
for them to go.
They recognized a need
exists that had not been
covered by the Hermiston
Warming Station, which
is open through the night.
Guests check in at the lit-
tle blue building at 1075 S.
Highway 395 at 7:30 p.m.,
and they stay through the
night. At 6:30 a.m., they
have to leave.
Guests at the station
express gratitude for the
shelter and for the volun-
teers for their work. How-
ever, come closing time,
they were out in the cold.
This past winter, when
temperatures
dropped
below freezing, existence
became
uncomfortable,
they said.
Seeing this, multiple
community-minded peo-
ple stepped up to help to
open and maintain a day-
time warming shelter in
Hermiston.
The warming shelter
opened Jan. 3 at the former
Sears building on Highway
395 in Hermiston. Cots,
food and board games
were available to people in
need. At fi rst, it was open
during hours when the
Hermiston Warming Sta-
tion was closed. Some peo-
ple traveled from one sta-
tion to the other, avoiding
the cold.
In recent weeks, the
shelter has been open
from 6:30 a.m. to noon,
daily. Organizers said they
lacked enough volunteers
to keep it open all day. It
closed for good at the end
of January.
Organizers reported 37
individuals stayed at the
shelter during January, and
many of them stayed mul-
tiple days.
Kris
Barnum
was
A fi re early Friday,
Jan. 28, 2022, burned a
metal shop and lean-to in
Hermiston.
Umatilla County Fire
District No. 1 responded to
the fi re on Hornsby Lane
at 4:37 a.m., according to
the district’s post on its
Facebook page. Engine 22
arrived fi rst, and found fi re
burning a 30-foot by 30-foot
metal shop and fl ames
totally engulfi ng a 12-foot
by 30-foot lean-to.
Crews knocked down the
fi re in the lean-to and made
entry into the shop to extin-
guish the fi re there.
The Umatilla Rural Fire
Protection District and Echo
Fire Department provided
an engine and a water ten-
der. There were no injuries,
Fire District 1 reported, and
the cause of the fi re is under
investigation.
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three deaths: a 69-year-old
woman who tested posi-
tive on Dec. 6 and died Dec.
13 at Oregon Health & Sci-
ence University, Portland; a
66-year-old man who tested
positive on Nov. 3 and died
Dec. 13 at Good Shepherd
Medical Center, Hermiston;
and a 92-year-old man who
tested positive on Jan. 21 and
died the same day at Provi-
dence St. Mary Medical Cen-
ter, Walla Walla.
The county on Jan. 31
also reported 267 new cases,
increasing the total num-
ber of cases for the county to
20,054 since the start of the
pandemic.
Morrow County added
30 cases to its total Jan. 31,
according to the Oregon Health
Authority, bringing its total to
2,826, including 26 deaths.
Statewide, the total num-
ber of cases as of Jan. 28 was
650,652 according to the Ore-
gon Health Authority, and
the total number of lives lost
to the disease in Oregon was
6,086.
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360-921-2071
or or email:
email: ShaunCurtain@gmail.com
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