(Shared by Umatilla County Commissioner George Murdock.)
Note: There will be no Weekly Public Officials Update next week. We will return on April 6.
To: Public Officials
From: George Murdock
Subject: Weekly Public Officials Update – Providing Information, Advocacy and Commentary
Date: March 24, 2021 – Volume 49
Total Cases – 7,815
Deaths – 82
Recent Counts:
Week 1 – 333
Week 2 – 237
Week 3 – 155
Week 4 – 96
Week 5 – 141
Week 6 – 104
Week 7 – 66 — (including 26 inmates)
Week 8 – 70 – (including 36 at EOCI & TRCI)
Week 9 – 67 – Including 17 at EOCI & TRCI)
——————————–
Week 21 — 283
Week 22 – 233– (including 28 among the local prison population)
Week 23 – 435 – (including 170 at EOCI & TRCI)
Week 24 – 466 (including 198 at EOCI & TRCI
Week 25 – 456 (including 154 at EOCI & TRCI)
Week 26 – 231 (including 68 at the prison)
Week 27 – 171 (including 24 from the Department of Corrections)
Week 28 – 191 (including 62 from the Department of Corrections)
Week 29 – 108 (including 7 from the Department of Corrections)
Week 30 – 53 Note: The total count was 123 including two from adults in custody and 68 old cases
Week 31 – 80 (including seven from the Department of Corrections)
Week 32 – 49 (including 2 from the Department of Corrections)
Week 33 – 59 (including 4 from the Department of Corrections)
Two-week rolling average – 107-9 = 98
Medical Report
Umatilla County will be holding vaccination events in Milton-Freewater on Thursday and Pendleton on Friday in addition to the vaccinations which are available at pharmacies and with our partners on the west side including Good Shepherd and Mirasol.
All eligibility limits on COVID-19 vaccinations will be lifted in Oregon on May 1 after a federal order tied to vaccine shipments. “It’s a binding order,” Oregon Health Authority Director Pat Allen said told lawmakers Wednesday afternoon. Allen said the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has told states to remove any phased eligibility in order to continue to receive shipments of the federally controlled vaccine. The ruling reverses previous guidance from the Governor’s Office and OHA
The action is timely. I was on a call last week that included a commissioner from each county in our region and the conversation centered around roadblocks in the vaccination process caused by the fact Oregon’s vaccination priority system is out of step with the availability of vaccine and that most of our neighbors are putting vaccine into storage awaiting the green light to begin vaccinating new groups. They even went so far as to ask the state authorities on the call if they could share some of their excess with Umatilla County which we appreciated.
At the invitation of the Governor’s Office, on Friday I made a formal request to the state to move up farm workers and Group 6 to March 22, which was yesterday, rather than waiting any longer. That leaves Group 7 on April 19 and then everyone beginning May 1. In addition, based upon available supplies, Yellowhawk is continuing to cast a wider net in order to help expedite vaccinations.
We have continued to lobby for the state to accelerate vaccine supplies for the estimated 10,000 seasonal farm workers who are arriving in Umatilla County, some from other states and some who may be recent arrivals from Central America. Plans are already being created by the Umatilla County Health Department to work cooperatively with employers to provide shots at worksites.
As was reported recently, during the history of COVID in the county, farm workers and their families have been disproportionately impacted by the pandemic. Umatilla County officials are also working to secure oversight of state-contracted services in order to provide for localized coordination of the effort rather than disparate threads of service that can lead to gaps in service. We believe that if we could marshal our resources locally, we could improve our outreach.
Latest Report on Vaccination Rates for Umatilla County Seniors:
65 – 38.6%
70 – 46.8%
75 – 48.1%
80 – 53.9%
It is important to note that there are likely more individuals who have received the vaccine from places like the VA, Yellowhawk, out-of-state or other sources. Still, we are not bearing down on 70%.
Redistricting
For well over a year, Umatilla County was a statewide leader in promoting the importance of the census. Under the leadership of County Planner Robert Waldher, we were one of the first two counties to recognize the importance of the census and the need to get engaged.
Unfortunately, COVID had an impact but we continued to do everything we could to make it happen.
The census is designed to serve as a guide for the distribution of federal funds. Every resident represents thousands of dollars. It also serves as a guide for the determination of boundaries for both congressional districts and districts for Oregon’s House and Senate. Oregon is slated to get a sixth federal congressional seat for the first time in 40 years.
The task of redistricting comes along every ten years and is predicated on the outcome of the census. For the first time in history, there is no data to be had as the publication of the 2020 data continues to be pushed out. In Oregon, this means the task could fall to the Secretary of State.
In a perfect world, I think the job of redistricting should go to a group of citizens and not put it in the hands of those would design districts to favor the party in power. That’s not going to be the case and unless Oregon’s Supreme Court says otherwise, Secretary of State Shamia Fagan will be making the call. Holding sway over redistricting is a task she relishes.
Senate President Peter Courtney and House Speaker Tina Kotek are doing everything they can to have the Supreme Court extend the deadlines so that the Legislature can make the call. From my somewhat biased standpoint, that isn’t much better but given the choices I support their request. I have even encouraged the Association of Oregon Counties to join the case but so far that hasn’t happened.
I did provide testimony on the issue which was reported in the East Oregonian and apparently some other newspapers. I stand by those comments: Here’s how it was reported:
“In a written statement, Umatilla County Commissioner George Murdock struck a note between hope and resignation over the likely outcome of the process.
“My greatest concern is that our district could be gerrymandered in order to further diminish representation for a portion of Oregon that reflects ideology, values, and interests much different than the remainder of Oregon,” Murdock said.
“New districts should “geographically make sense” to retain an Eastern Oregon voice in Washington and Salem. If Oregon gets a new seat, we are not naive enough to expect more representation for Eastern Oregon, but we would like to retain what we have.”
Senate Bill 238
It appears SB238 is still hanging around in the Senate although some think it is dead. Actually, nothing is really dead until sine die.. This is the bill that would prohibit school superintendents or school boards from contracting for the presence of law enforcement officers in schools. This action is designed to eliminate school resource officers – basically a politically-motivated measure promoted by the anti-police movement. Portland and Salem School Districts have already eliminated school resource officers which isn’t surprising.
Pushback on the bill is coming from districts where law enforcement is still appreciated and many parents feel it is important to help children develop a respect for law and order by getting to know an officer. The presence of a school resource officer is also a matter of protecting the safety of children — particularly in rural districts in remote locations where response times are long.
On a related note, communities, particularly large cities, have taken drastic action to defund their police departments and in response, violent crime including murder rates across the country are skyrocketing. The residents who live with impact are crying for help. Note the following news story:
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) — Concerns over an uptick in violence and a decrease in the number of police officers on the street to combat it has residents calling for action from city leaders. Business owners are looking for help to stop the robberies and break-ins that are impacting their livelihoods….one police official said he’s lost 30% of street officers since the end of May.
One doesn’t have to go any farther than Portland to see this phenomenon in action as shootings have increased by 150 percent and homicides – at 52 for 2020 – are the highest they’ve been since 1993 when 54 people were murdered. Across the nation, in a survey of 51 cities, homicides are up by 51%.
In contrast, our residents in Umatilla County have continually called for additional deputies.
At the same time, both the commissioners and law enforcement leaders in Umatilla County are well aware of the need to be thoughtful about appropriate training procedures, racial sensitivity, appropriate responses, appropriate use of force, and awareness of new strategies for addressing calls for assistance and incidents that involve the police –particularly those that are related to mental health.
We have talked several times recently about efforts that are being made to address new ways of dealing with mental health – particularly crisis responses. Mental health continues to rise to the top of concerns in our area and we are currently involved in a nationally-funded review of new strategies. At the same time, we are exploring programs instituted in our county that include a mental health crisis response team that works in tandem with law enforcement calls.
In fact, this is an initiative which is being addressed in the creation of the new county budget as well as being part a current review underway regarding the provision of mental health services and alcohol and drug services in the county.
A Nation Once Again
St. Patrick’s Day has come and gone for another year and somehow last week I found myself revisiting a catchy little tune called “A Nation Once Again” which was written in the 1840s as part of the cause for an independent Ireland.
It is odd that freedom should become a topic in Oregon in 2021 when we live in a state that has long prided itself as a free spirit. The subject of local control and independence has always been near and dear to the hearts of local communities, school districts, and counties. There is always a pull from the state to exert more authority just as the federal government does the same thing with states.
Local control as a concept has suffered dramatically in the last year. We were placed under an emergency declaration transferring significant control and oversight to the state and in particular, the Governor. Even legislators have wondered if perhaps they should be sharing in this level of control.
At the outset, we were truly in an emergency situation which demanded authoritarian actions on behalf of citizens. But that was over a year ago and all of the entities I have mentioned continue to be under the thumb of the state. Certainly we appreciate the fact the infection rate for COVID has Oregon at or near the bottom in the nation. But that comes at a cost.
How long are we going to be content to wait for weekly press availability from the Governor and the Oregon Health Authority telling us what we can do with our schools, whether or not our businesses can be open, if we can travel, if we can worship together, if we can be with our families, and a host of other freedoms we used to take for granted. ORS 401.032(2) clearly reminds us emergency declarations are designed to be short-term with oversight and responsibility going back to the county as soon as possible.
Hearing that perhaps Americans can have a backyard BBQ with their families on July 4 provided me no comfort.
So, on Wednesday, Umatilla County joined most rural Oregon counties in signing on to a letter suggesting it is time to restore local control in our state noting we have had more than sufficient time to organize ourselves for addressing COVID and related issues. Actually, it might pave the way for more effective coordination of our efforts since right now a great deal of confusion and the lack of communication is endemic.
One of the most important concerns in the short-term is sufficient supplies of vaccine. The vaccine actually comes from the federal level and there is both plenty of informed scientific guidance from the CDC and others to help us along the way. Vaccine could be distributed on the basis of population. Under state control it certainly does not benefit Umatilla County since we are consistently lowest in per capita receipt of our fair share. Anything would be better than what exists.
When the first round of Stimulus funding came out it was filtered through the state and only a fraction found its way east of Troutdale. This new program is designed so that as planned, our share will come directly – not unlike how a stimulus check comes to those who qualify.
The election is now two months behind us so we can start making decisions based on science and reason rather than on political posturing and blaming people who are out of office.
Umatilla County Public Health has demonstrated that it has the expertise and the commitment to serve the well-being of our residents. In fact, were the county in charge, one of the most immediate results would be greater capacity to serve our minority communities because it would be clear who is responsible for serving them, not a scenario marred by the confusion of state control and intervention since OHA prefers to contract directly for services in that area and we are left mostly in the dark.
Local control means the ability to make decisions based upon local circumstances and situations. A good example was last week when there was an outbreak in an Oregon County because a basketball team from a small local community had traveled to Idaho to play in a tournament. It almost resulted in shuttering their restaurants although there was no correlation. Officials hundreds of miles away basing their decisions simply on numbers have no idea of the circumstances.
We understand and promote the importance of getting the vaccination, wearing a mask, distancing, staying home when you are ill and using common sense to avoid getting COVID. We have no desire to endanger our health and it isn’t like people from Salem are on the front lines here – it is the people who live here. Every day we see firsthand what is happening to our children and our businesses and strongly believe the decisions should include people who are suffering rather than those who have spent a year working from their dining room table and have never missed a paycheck.
“Liberty once lost is lost forever. When the People once surrender their share in the Legislature, and their Right of defending the Limitations upon the Government, and of resisting every Encroachment upon them, they can never regain it”….John Adams, 1775, in a letter to his wife Abigail.
An emergency is defined as an unforeseen combination of circumstances or the resulting state that calls for immediate action. Within a reasonable period of time those circumstances should morph into recovery and a plan for moving forward. The emergency does not last forever.
People tend to support best that which they help to create. I am confident we will emerge stronger and safer from the pandemic and the challenges that have come with it if we at the local level are charged and trusted with the authority to help control our own destiny.
Final Thoughts
Where have we gone wrong? Rather than seeking to understand and respect diverse thought and opinion we have instead resorted to demonizing those who think differently. That’s on display in the nation’s capital and in our state capital.
Once upon a time we embraced a concept called the Oregon way, a political decision-making process that aims to overcome political barriers and achieve positive results for all in a respectful and inclusive manner. Senator Ron Wyden once described it as taking good ideas, wherever they come from rather than one party or one philosophy. He added promoting inclusive politics where no one is left behind.
There is frequent lip service about a rebirth of inclusive, respectful decision-making coupled with a sense of unity but at this point in history, we couldn’t be farther from that objective.
The ability to make a profound impact on the climate in Salem or in Washington, DC is perhaps a mountain too high, but here in Umatilla County and in Eastern Oregon, all things remain possible.
