Wednesday, April 20, 2016 A5
News
EBT cards help streamline WIC services DA not consulted about sheriff’s tort notice
Blue Mountain Eagle
Blue Mountain Eagle
JOHN DAY — Grant
County residents with Women,
Infant and Children beneits
can use a new way to shop for
WIC food using an electronic
beneit transaction card.
Grant County Health De-
partment manager and WIC co-
ordinator Jessica Winegar said
the state has done away with
paper vouchers, and implement-
ed cards, similar to a SNAP card
on March 7 for Grant County.
The program allows participants
to use a phone app to scan bar
codes of grocery items to see
if they are WIC-approved, and
help keep better track of the
monthly food balance.
We’re “excited to offer a
new, convenient way for our
families to shop,” Winegar said.
The 2015 WIC statistics
show that 241 women, infants
and children participated in
WIC, including 172 infants
and children
under 5 and
69 pregnant,
breastfeeding
and post-par-
tum women.
WIC ben-
eits can be
Joanne
used in Grant
Moles
County at two
WIC-authorized stores, four
vendor booths at the John Day
Farmers Market and a sepa-
rate farm stand.
There were 88 WIC fam-
ilies served in the county,
including 77 percent which
were working families.
WIC provides services at
more than 100 clinic sites
throughout Oregon and
serves 161,000 lower-in-
come pregnant women, in-
fants and children under age
5. These WIC families shop
at more than 500 Oregon
grocery stores, pharmacies,
farm stands and farmers’
markets, and spend $64.7
million a year with their
WIC food benefits.
According to statistics, par-
ticipants spent $91,123 last
year at local WIC stores and
farmers markets for food in
Grant County.
The Grant County Health
Department has been offering
participant-centered
nutri-
tion education, healthy food,
breastfeeding support and has
been serving as a gateway for
preventative health for almost
40 years.
For more information about
WIC, contact the health depart-
ment at 541-575-0429 or visit
www.healthoregon.org/wic.
Winegar said Joanne Moles,
ofice support specialist at the
health department, has been in-
volved with assisting WIC fam-
ilies for nearly 18 years.
“She has a passion for help-
ing our community,” Wine-
gar said, “and this shows in
the way she helps our WIC
clients.”
C OPS & C OURTS
Arrests and citations in
the Blue Mountain Eagle are
taken from the logs of law
enforcement agencies. Every
effort is made to report the
court disposition of arrest
cases.
Grant County Sheriff
CANYON CITY — The
Grant County Sheriff’s Ofice
reported the following for the
week of April 8-14:
• Concealed handgun licens-
es: 10
• Average inmates: 13
• Bookings: 16
• Releases: 11
• Arrests: 1
• Citations: 1
• Fingerprints: 4
• Civil papers: 10
• Warrants processed: 7
• Asst./welfare check: 4
LETTERS
Continued from Page A4
‘No Threats,
No Intimidation,
No Militia’
To the Editor:
Since I was singled out
in Tad Houpt’s letter to the
Eagle last week, I am taking
this opportunity to reply.
I was only one of 11 peo-
ple who peacefully and legal-
ly demonstrated against the
presence of this group and
their presentation at the Mt.
Vernon grange on Feb. 22.
We were there to discourage
and call attention to the thin-
ly veiled attempt to “educate”
ranchers into tearing up their
grazing permits. This travel-
ing show included Todd Mac-
Farlane, Angus McIntosh and
a militia presence of at least
four men who hastened to
“greet” us, all displaying ei-
ther an Idaho 3% or Tri-Coun-
ty 3% logo. Anyone can read
for themselves the association
of MacFarlane with the Bun-
dy and Finicum families, and
• Search and Rescue: 1
• Cited Robert Bryant, 18,
Prairie City, for second-de-
gree criminal trespassing on
April 14.
Dispatch
John Day dispatch worked
161 calls during the week
of April 11-17. Along with
the various trafic warnings,
trespassing, injured animals,
noise complaints and juvenile
complaints, these calls includ-
ed:
• John Day Police:
April 11: Hit-and-run report-
ed at Len’s Drug in John Day.
April 12: Disorderly conduct
reported at Meadowbrook
Apartments in John Day.
April 13: Arrested a John
Day man on a Grant County
warrant.
April 14: Hit-and-run re-
ported at Main Street and
North Canyon Boulevard.
April 15: Hit-and-run report-
ed at Main and North Can-
yon; cited a John Day wom-
an for maintaining a dog as
a public nuisance.
April 16: Burglary reported
at the West Shell station.
• Grant County Sheriff:
April 11: Criminal mischief
reported at Grant Western.
April 13: Assault reported in
Mt. Vernon.
• John Day ambulance:
April 12: Responded for an
83-year-old man.
• Prairie City ambulance:
April 13: Dispatched for a
woman in a bicycle accident.
April 17: Transported a
woman with leg pain to the
hospital.
the history of similar presen-
tations given by McIntosh.
Mr. Houpt stated there
were 65 people in attendance.
The head count inside actu-
ally was at most 45 people.
After subtracting MacFar-
lane, McIntosh, one assistant,
the four militia “greeters,” a
member of the press and four
of our group who went inside
to listen when the presenta-
tion started (and provided
the head count), that number
seems more fairly put at under
35. Several local ranchers left
part way through.
Mr. Houpt is also incorrect
about the wording on my sign.
It actually read, “No Threats,
No Intimidation, No Militia.”
Some examples of what oth-
ers had were, “Grant County
Ranchers Have Their Own
Voice,” “Ripping up Permits
Will Hurt Not Help,” “Solve
Problems Legally,” and “Lo-
cals Work Together – Outsid-
ers Divide Us.”
I am only one member of
a group that since Jan. 26 is
continuing to grow and now
stands at more than 90 people.
The community will be
RE-ELECT
CHRIS
eomediagroup.com
Grant County District
Attorney Jim Carpenter said
he was not consulted about
the sheriff’s tort claim
against John Day and did
not personally feel threat-
ened when the two traveled
together to a roadblock after
the law enforcement action
against the refuge occupa-
tion leaders Jan. 26.
Sheriff Glenn Palmer re-
cently served the tort claim
notice required before su-
ing a public body to the
city of John Day, claiming
among other things that
actions by city dispatchers
“knowingly and reckless-
ly” endangered him and
Carpenter.
The district attorney,
however, said in an email he
never felt uncomfortable.
“I was not consulted
regarding a tort claim, nor
will I be part of it with re-
gard to questions about my
personal safety,” he said.
The notice cites a com-
plaint filed against Palm-
er by dispatch manager
Valerie Luttrell, in which
she states dispatchers be-
lieved Palmer may have
been traveling with a ref-
uge occupier to an Oregon
State Police roadblock
near Seneca and “were so
concerned that we sent a
message to OSP troops
notifying them that he
was enroute to their loca-
tion with what we thought
might be a militia mem-
ber.”
Palmer requested an
update on the situation
from a dispatcher while en
route, but the dispatcher
did not provide him with
the information, accord-
ing to both Luttrell’s com-
plaint and Palmer’s tort
hearing much more from
Grant County Positive Rural
Action in the coming weeks.
Working to keep our commu-
nities safe and free of negative
inluences that divide and tear
down is not “nonsense,” nor
does it make us “crackpots.”
Judy Schuette
John Day
Editor’s note: This letter
was allowed in excess of the
one-per-month policy as a
rebuttal because Tad Houpt
made claims about Schuette
by name.
Eagle file photo
Grant County District Attorney Jim Carpenter, left,
and Sheriff Glenn Palmer pose for a photograph
when Palmer received his deputy medical
examiner certificate in 2015.
notice. The notice states
this led officers at the road-
block to be “under the false
impression that a militia
member was riding with
Palmer.”
Carpenter said the offi-
cers were “alert and cau-
tious” when he approached,
as he expected them to be,
but he never felt threat-
ened.
“At no time did I per-
ceive that I was in danger
at the roadblock on Jan.
26,” he said. “... Once I
was identified, I was able to
walk among them, ask ques-
tions, share information and
talk freely with them.”
Carpenter said he did
not have the necessary
information to comment
about the rest of Palmer’s
tort notice. He also said he
never believed they were
headed to meet any occupi-
ers, nor did Palmer “make
any statements in my pres-
ence in support of them.”
Pro Saw
Shop and
a Whole
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Talents & Treasures & the Prairie
City Senior Center Present
The 6th annual
Evening of
Entertainment !
Comedy and Music
LABHART
COUNTY COMMISSIONER
Listening and working for all the people of
Grant County
Did You Know...
There is going to be
a candidates forum on
Every Vote
Counts,
Make Sure
Yours Is In!
Saturday, April 23
at 1:00 p.m.
The most valuable and
respected source of
local news, advertising
and information for
our communities.
By Sean Hart
Blue Mountain Eagle
02131
By Angel Carpenter
at the Canyon City
Community Center
This event is sponsored
by the Mt. Vernon Grange
Jack Southworth is the moderator.
Integrity • Honesty • Respectful • Experienced
Paid for by the Committee to Elect Chris Labhart.
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Saturday, April 23
Prairie CitySenior Center
204 N McHaley
Finger Foods & Desserts
6:30 pm
Showtime at 7:00 pm
$6 per person
$15 per family of
three or more