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
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ABOVE AND BEL iterranean in October.
ed
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rn
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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