OFF PAGE ONE
A8 • HERMISTONHERALD.COM
WEDNESDAY, MARCH 30, 2022
ADVISER
Continued from Page A1
Following the SHIP dis-
cussion, the rest of the meet-
ing was relatively tranquil.
The council passed a reso-
lution to authorize issuance
of pension obligation bonds.
Among other business, the
council agreed to establish
a committee to implement
a Hermiston 2040 oversight
committee, and they heard
the monthly financial report.
Doherty’s report
Doherty said she appre-
ciated the diversity in the
council. Hermiston’s coun-
cilors appear to have varied
opinions, she said, but seem
to work together well for the
betterment of their town.
She added the meeting pre-
sented topics that were dif-
ficult to understand but con-
cepts were explained well.
“It was approachable,”
she said.
She also said she appre-
ciated the community mem-
bers who came to the meet-
ing to speak, too.
“There were heated
moments, but that was
good,” she said. “It’s good
that they were passionate.”
Erick Peterson/Hermiston Herald
Youth adviser Elizabeth Doherty, far right, attends the Hermiston City Council meeting Tuesday, March 29, 2022. This was the
first council meeting to have a youth adviser.
By coming to the meet-
ing, and voicing their frus-
trations, they were able to
bring about change. This
is how things should be,
she said.
As members packed up
their notebooks and began
leaving, she said she was
very happy for this expe-
rience. She said she sees a
possible future in which she
leaves town for college and
then returns to run for and
join the city council.
“Hermiston is a good
community,” she said. “It’s
a great place to start your
PRISON
Happy Birthday to Lilly
Continued from Page A1
Hanna largely repre-
sented himself from his
initial filing last fall until a
hearing on March 9, when
attorney Juan Chavez
helped him argue the case
before Beckerman.
“Mr. Hanna filed for
this injunction back in
October of 2021 asking
ODOC to just comply
with the same mask order
that he follows,” Chavez
said in a written statement
after the March 21 ruling.
“While waiting for this
order, he caught COVID
in January 2022. He and
so many other prisoners
have had to sit and wait
for ODOC to do the right
thing. It’s clear and unfor-
tunate that the federal gov-
Erick Peterson/Hermiston Herald
Lilly Alarcon-Strong smiles at the Hermiston City Council meeting, Monday, March
28, 2022, as attendees sang “Happy Birthday” to her. It was the first time, to anyone’s
recollection, that the song had been sang to anyone in a Hermiston City Council meeting.
She was gifted with flowers, too.
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community life.”
She expressed gratitude
to the council, the city man-
ager and her teacher, Aaron
Davis, for helping to make
this experience possible for
ernment is the only actor
to provide any oversight
of the agency.”
Beckerman also cited
examples
from
other
cases where DOC officials
described poor or improper
masking at state prisons.
Brad Cain, the for-
mer superintendent at the
Snake River Correctional
Institution, was deposed by
Chavez on Dec. 22, 2020
as part of a separate case.
“Were you told why
some staff members didn’t
want to wear a mask?”
Chavez asked.
“I’ve
heard
peo-
ple’s opinions on it,”
Cain replied. “Some peo-
ple didn’t believe in it.
They just didn’t believe
in it. They felt as if it was
against their rights. I had
a staff member tell me it
was against his religious
her and other students. She
said she and her peers will
have a lot to offer in future
weeks.
Drotzmann
compli-
mented Doherty, saying he
has known her since she
was a little girl. She was a
server at his daughter’s wed-
ding, and he has been a fam-
ily friend for several years,
he said.
“She is a phenomenal
young lady,” he said.
Smith said she is a pos-
itive influence in Herm-
iston and a good person
to join this new group of
youth advisers. He added
that other Oregon cit-
ies, including Hillsboro
and Happy Valley, already
instituted youth advis-
ers. It has worked well
in other communities,
he said, which is why he
wanted to help create one
in Hermiston.
The mayor added he
hopes the council can con-
tinue to engage young peo-
ple to give them the role
they deserve in shaping the
town’s future.
Councilor
Phillip
Spicerkuhn agreed, saying
he, too, wants to see young
people get involved in the
city’s affairs.
beliefs. I’ve had staff tell
me that it’s all political and
(COVID-19 is) not real.”
During the course of the
case, the Oregon Depart-
ment of Justice revealed
that around one-third
of the employees at the
Two Rivers prison had
received medical or reli-
gious exemptions from the
vaccine mandate. Becker-
man noted that employees
who have vaccine exemp-
tions must wear N95 masks
at work, but the prison’s
COVID compliance officer
admitted he doesn’t know
who those employees are,
making it “impossible for
him to monitor masking
compliance in any mean-
ingful way.”
Beckerman denied Han-
na’s request to apply her
order across all of Ore-
gon’s prisons.