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About The Blue Mountain eagle. (John Day, Or.) 1972-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 30, 2016)
PRAIRIE CITY BASKETBALL PREVIEWS The – PAGE A10 Blue Mountain EAGLE Grant County’s newspaper since 1868 W EDNESDAY , N OVEMBER 30, 2016 • N O . 48 • 18 P AGES • $1.00 www.MyEagleNews.com High-speed chase, DUIIs keep offi cers busy By Rylan Boggs Blue Mountain Eagle The Eagle/Rylan Boggs Owners Cindy Kidd, left, and Haley Olson stand for a photo in Rocky Mtn. Dispensary, Grant County’s first medical marijuana dispensary. County’s fi rst medical marijuana dispensary to open By Rylan Boggs Blue Mountain Eagle Preparations are under- way for Grant County’s fi rst medical marijuana dis- pensary. Owners Haley Olson and Cindy Kidd said Rocky Mtn. Dispensary will focus on Cannabidiol (CBD) oils, topicals and edibles for humans and animals alike, and they hope to open the family-owned business as early as Jan. 1. Olson said the county approved their proposed site on Wilderness Road near Mobile Glass of Ore- gon, and the business has applied for state certifi ca- tion. The owners said they plan to build their busi- ness using local materials, services and labor. They emphasized selling locally grown marijuana, as long as it met set standards. “We need something to spur the economy here and to keep people from having to travel out of the area, es- pecially in the wintertime,” Olson said. “You’ve got cancer patients trying to make that drive in the win- tertime, and it’s not safe.” The dispensary will also regularly host traveling doctors from The Hemp and Cannabis Foundation so people can get their medical marijuana cards locally. There are rough- ly 150 cardholders in the county, according to Olson, and they hope to help more people acquire access to medical marijuana. The building will fea- ture hefty security measures mandated by state law. Product will be protected by multiple key-coded doors, See POT, Page A18 Local police offi cers were busy this holiday weekend with a high-speed chase involving meth and a stolen vehi- cle, unruly subjects and motorists driv- ing under the infl uence. Following a vehicle chase on Nov. 26, John Day police arrested JT Lee Knutson, 22, of Burns for possession of methamphetamine, two counts of attempting to elude police, fi rst-degree criminal mischief, unauthorized use of a motor vehicle and reckless driving. Heather Marie Brown, 27, of Jefferson was also arrested for unau- thorized use of a motor vehicle, possession of John Day Police Chief methamphetamine Richard Gray and attempting to elude police. John Day Police Chief Richard Gray said offi cers ran the license plate of a Ford four-door pickup, discovered it had been stolen from Baker City and initiat- ed a traffi c stop. Brown and Knutson fl ed in the vehicle and drove south on High- way 395 and then west on Forest Road 16 reaching speeds of 80 mph during the pursuit. Grant County Sheriff’s Offi ce deputies assisted in the pursuit, and the vehicle swerved off the road and struck a power pole, at which time the two fl ed on foot. Both subjects had felony war- rants and were apprehended, and meth was found in the vehicle, Gray said. On Nov. 25, police arrested Ernest Andrew Chivara, 37, of Chico, Cali- fornia, for driving under the infl uence, according to dispatch logs, and Grant County Sheriff’s Offi ce deputies re- sponded to a rollover crash with injuries on Ingle Creek Road and arrested David Edwin Hall, 22, of John Day for driving under the infl uence of intoxicants. On Nov. 26, police arrested Josh- ua Haskins of Prairie City for disor- derly conduct after John Day Police Department and Oregon State Police responded to a 911 call of an intoxicat- ed pedestrian with a knife on Highway 26 near milepost 172.5, according to Gray. Monument, EOU alum shares path to becoming documentary fi lmmaker By Kelly Ducote For Eastern Oregon University W hen Skye Fitzger- ald broke his hand in a bicycle race, he had no idea his Portland specialist would be- come the subject of his next documentary. In his consultation with surgeon Hisham Bismar, Fitz- gerald learned the orthopedic hand specialist is from Syria, and the appointment evolved into a conversation about the Syrian conflict, the region’s medi- cal needs and Bis- Skye mar’s desire to volun- Fitzgerald teer his aid. Six months later, Fitzgerald heard from the doctor, and soon enough they were en route to the Syrian border. Fitzgerald, a 1993 graduate of Eastern Oregon University and this year’s recipient of EOU’s Distin- guished Alumni Award, enjoys the success of “50 Feet From Syria,” not for his own benefi t but for the story it tells. “I do it because I have to do it,” the fi lmmaker said. The 2015 fi lm highlights Bis- mar’s journey to Turkey — near the Syrian border — where he vol- unteers his time and expertise to numerous patients affected by the violent authoritarian regime of Syr- ian President Bashar al-Assad. “I’m drawn to crises in some ways that are diffi cult to under- stand, but are important to under- stand,” said Fitzgerald, who recent- ly returned to La Grande for EOU’s Homecoming and the Eastern Or- egon Film Festival, with a special “50 Feet From Syria” screening on See FILM, Page A18 Contributed photo filming Skye Fitzgerald um al t en um on M OW: ABOVE AND BEL iterranean in October. ed M rn he ut in the So scue operation a search and re ‘50 Feet from Syria’ voted onto Oscar shortlist for Best Documentary Short, 2016 New hospital CEO sees ‘opportunity and potential’ Daly: Stability, confidence and public relations top priorities By Sean Hart Blue Mountain Eagle New Blue Mountain Hospital Chief Executive Offi cer Derek Daly said his top priorities are ensuring stability in the health system, promoting confi - dence in the hospital and improving public relations. “I know we’ve been through some challenges, and I’m working hard with The Eagle/Sean Hart New Blue Mountain Hospital CEO Derek Daly says big-picture goals include stability in the health system, confidence in the hospital and public relations. people to reach solutions,” he said. Daly started Oct. 17 and said he spent his fi rst month learning about the hospital and establishing relationships with employees and community mem- bers. He said he has visited the outlying towns in the county and likes the area. Originally from Sioux Falls, South Dakota, Daly said he is looking forward to the weather here. With an interest in being outdoors, hiking and sightseeing, he said Grant County had exactly what he was looking for. With a college football coach for a father, Daly said he also enjoys sports and travel, when he has the time. Being young and single allowed him to take advantage of this opportu- nity in Grant County, Daly said, and he has rural health care experience. Daly earned an undergraduate de- gree in business administration at Au- gustana University in Sioux Falls. He then obtained a master’s of health ad- ministration at the University of Iowa while also working for the Academic Medical Center for the university’s hospital and clinic. After receiving his degree, he re- turned to South Dakota and began working for Sanford Health, a large ru- ral health system with a network of crit- ical access hospitals like Blue Moun- tain Hospital. He moved up within the organization and most recently was the See CEO, Page A18