UMATILLA COUNTY
WEDNESDAY, JULY 13, 2022
HERMISTONHERALD.COM • A11
Umatilla County receives state matching
grant to create digitized map of roads
BY JOHN TILLMAN
Hermiston Herald
Mackenzie Whaley/Hermiston Herald
Umatilla County Commissioner Dan Dorran poses for a photo July 5,
2022, in his office at the Umatilla County Courthouse, Pendleton. Dorran
is overseeing the county’s project to create a digitized, real-time map
of its roads, bridges and culverts.
Umatilla County plans
no stricter measures
after CDC issues alert
for high COVID-19 areas
BY JOHN TILLMAN
Hermiston Herald
The U.S. Centers for Dis-
ease Control issued a corona-
virus alert July 5, recommend-
ing indoor masking for 24
Oregon counties with “high”
COVID-19 community levels.
The warning applied to East-
ern Oregon counties, including
Umatilla and Morrow.
The CDC recommends
wearing a mask indoors in
public, staying up to date with
COVID-19 vaccines and get-
ting tested if you have symp-
toms, at the high alert level.
Additional precautions may be
needed for people at high risk
for severe illness.
Umatilla County Board
of Commissioners met July
6. There was no item on the
agenda dealing with masking
up. Board Chair John Shafer said
speaking for himself prior to the
meeting, he has no appetite to
see the return of any restrictions.
The county updates its
COVID-19 dashboard Monday
through Thursday during the
recent surge rather than weekly
on Wednesday, county public
health department epidemiolo-
gist Mike Stensrud said.
Umatilla County reported
88 new COVID-19 cases July
5, which included the holi-
Umatilla County is undertaking a pilot
project to create a digitized, real-time map of
its roads, bridges and culverts.
The county board of commissioners at its
June 29 meeting accepted a $250,000 grant
from the Oregon Department of Adminis-
trative Services for the project. The county
intends to match this state funding.
“I’m excited about this initiative,” said Dan
Dorran, the county commissioner oversee-
ing the project. “Whether you’re hauling po-
tatoes, wheat or you’re FedEx, the data will
be available to all.”
The pilot project is one of the first in the
nation, Dorran reported. When completed,
it should allow county road users to identify
in real time all the information they might
need to plan their best route. The digitized
map is to appear initially on a website, but
later on will be available as an app, he said.
“Users will be able to look at county roads
like they can now for state and federal high-
ways,” Dorran explained. “It’s not just GPS,
but will include load limits, traffic data,
weights, number of axles and trip counts.
That’s done at the federal level. We want to
transfer that capability to counties.”
Dorran cited Smith Frozen Foods’ need to
haul waste from its Weston plant to a Herm-
iston area feedlot. The map app with digi-
tized data would permit the company to op-
timize routes for its trucks.
“It could save them two-and-a-half hours
and keep 1½ tons of carbon from going into
the air,” he said.
A farmer harvesting wheat could look at
the app and find the best route to follow.
Local agriculture industry has expanded
over the past 30 years, Dorran noted. Pub-
lic and private investment in irrigation sys-
tems and value-added development in fresh
packed and frozen foods have totaled $400
million.
“Our roads date from the late 1800s,”
he pointed out, “but we’re hauling 40 to
60 tons of wheat on some of them. Hav-
ing real-time data would let us prioritize
maintenance money.”
The county isn’t in the same flood and
emergency system as the state and federal
government, Dorran said. The digitized
mapping is to include those levels, but 99.9%
will be devoted to Umatilla County roads.
The pilot project for transportation plan-
ning will serve as a platform upon which
other counties around the country can build,
Dorran observed.
The commissioners selected DKS Asso-
ciates as consultant on the project, thanks to
their expertise in transportation and con-
nections with software engineers. The firm
specializes in “smart mobility”, with eight
offices in California, Oregon, Washington
and Texas.
The board received a single bid for re-
placing the bridge on Mac Hoke Road near
Nolin. Costs will be shared between the
county and state, using an Oregon opportu-
nity grant, reported Commissioner George
Murdock.
The county’s timeline called for “soon,” so
far just one bidder responded to its request
for proposals: Ariz Co. LLC bid $934,850.
Pendleton airport passenger traffic up 32%
day weekend. The recent high
was 34 new cases June 25. No
new deaths were reported. The
county has recorded 229 total
deaths related to COVID-19
to date.
Hospitalizations for
COVID-19 in Region 9 still
are below their peaks in Octo-
ber 2021 and February 2022.
Baker, Malheur, Morrow, Uma-
tilla, Union and Wallowa coun-
ties compose Region 9. Pa-
tients hospitalized with positive
COVID-19 peaked at 45 in Re-
gion 9 on Feb. 4. On June 25, 12
were hospitalized in the region,
up from 0 on April 30 and some
other days that month.
Umatilla County Pub-
lic Health continues to offer
COVID-19 vaccines at Pendle-
ton, Hermiston and other loca-
tions, said Alisha Southwick, the
department’s deputy director. It
resumed automatically mailing
test kits to people exposed to
COVID-19-infected individuals
in response to the surge. The kits
also are available for businesses.
“We provide support to out-
breaks in vulnerable sites, such
as long-term care facilities,”
she added.
The county continues to
monitor case reports and the
wastewater sample data from
Hermiston and Pendleton .
More people flying
in first half of 2022
than same time
period in 2021
BY JOHN TILLMAN
Hermiston Herald
Air travel at Eastern Ore-
gon Regional Airport, Pend-
leton, was up in the first half
of this year compared to last.
Departing and arriving
passengers were higher ev-
ery month in 2022 than in
2021 Enplanements were
up 31.6% and deplanements
were up 32.5% for the six-
month period, according to
data from the city.
There were no delayed or
canceled flights during the
Fourth of July weekend, ac-
cording to Boutique Air’s
records, despite widespread
chaos in the national air
transport system.
Steve Chrisman, Pendle-
ton economic development
director and interim airport
manager, Erica Stewart, ad-
ministrative specialist, re-
ported Boutique in 2021 had
4,108 boardings and 3,994
disembarkations. The first
six months of last year saw
1,725 passengers deplane
and 1,803 board. In the first
half of this year, 2,372 pas-
sengers departed and 2,285
arrived.
Former airport manager
John Honneman provided
figures for previous years of
Boutique’s service. The effect
of the pandemic on flights
was dramatic, crashing from
561 boardings in January
2020 to 58 in April.
Passenger numbers have not
yet recovered to their pre-pan-
demic peak of 642 enplane-
ments in October 2019. That
year, 6,763 passengers boarded.
Enplanements fell to 3,565
in 2020, then rose to 4,108 in
2021. If the trend for the first
half of this year continues, 2022
could register more than 5,400
boardings.
Follow us on
Facebook!
CONCEALED CARRY
PERMIT CLASS
JULY 16 TH • 9AM
Hermiston Ranch-&-Home
Kids ages 4-7 years weighing 55 lbs. or less
24 contestants will be chosen from a blind draw
Multi-State $ 80
MUTTON BUSTIN’ SIGN-UPS
Oregon Included No Fee
Oregon Only $ 45
EOTEC
MULTI-STATE
RODEO MERCANTILE
1705 E Airport Rd
Hermiston, OR 97838
Valid 35-States, including Washington
July 14, 2022
Sign up - 6:00 pm
Draw - 6:30 pm
Shaun
Shaun Curtain
Curtain 360-921-2071
360-921-2071
Child and parent/guardian must be
present for sign-ups and weigh-in.
Insurance documents must be signed.
or or email:
email: ShaunCurtain@gmail.com
ShaunCurtain@gmail.com | www.ShaunCurtain.com.com
| www.ShaunCurtain.com.com
Coffee Break!
63. Hyphen
CLUES ACROSS
1. Absence of
difficulty
5. Preserve a
dead body
11. Gratitude
14. The act of
coming togeth-
er again
15. More cushy
18. Visionaries
19. Large,
fish-eating bird
21. Indicates near
23. NY Mets leg-
end Tommie
24. Icelandic
books
28. Pop
29. Hammer is
one
30. Sense of
self-importance
32. Thyrotrophic
hormone
33. Can’t be found
35. Electronic data
processing
36. Passports and
licenses are
two
39. Snake-like
fishes
CLUES DOWN
1. Body part
2. Mimics
3. Expel large
quantities
4. Sea eagle
5. Genetically dis-
tinct varieties
6. Dialect of
Chinese
7. Famous Mr. T
character
8. Consumed
9. Chinese
dynasty
10. Menace to
yards
41. Air Force
12. Ireland
42. Popular
13. Palm trees
computers
16. Fungal
44. Intermediate
disease
ecological
17. Willis and
stage
Robert are two
46. Wings
20. Affirmative!
47. Used in combi-
(slang)
nation
22. It shows who
49. Laid back
you are
52. Jewelled
25. The First State
headdress
(abbr.)
56. Slow
26. Get older
58. Famous Falls 27. Associations
60. Reassertions 29. Woman
62. Periods of time
(French)
31. Sunscreen
rating
34. Brew
36. Leader
37. Plants in the
legume family
38. Burn with a hot
liquid
40. Junior’s father
43. Scads
45. Morning
48. Length of a
line (abbr.)
50. Double curve
51. Small, thin
person
53. Worn by
exposure to the
weather
54. Mars crater
55. Humanities
57. Word element
meaning ear
58. To the __
degree
59. Residue of
something
burned
61. It cools your
home
Be our exclusive Coffee
WORDS
ANTHOCYANINS
ANTIOXIDANTS
BAKING
BENEFITS
BLUEBERRY
BUSH
COGNITIVE
COMPOUNDS
FIBER
FLAVONOL
HEART
JAM
JELLY
JUICE
MANGANESE
MYRICETIN
NUTRITIONAL
POLYPHENOLS
PURPLE
QUERCETIN
SERVINGS
SUPERFOOD
SWEET
VITAMINS
Break
Reach over 7,000 print and
digital readers each week in the
all new Hermiston Herald
sponsor!
Call
Angel Aguilar
today at
541-564-4531
for more
information
on this
new weekly
feature!