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About The Blue Mountain eagle. (John Day, Or.) 1972-current | View Entire Issue (Aug. 9, 2017)
News Blue Mountain Eagle Wednesday, August 9, 2017 Walden introduces legislation to aid vets Blue Mountain Eagle U.S. Rep. Greg Walden (R-Oregon) has intro- duced a new piece of legislation aimed at helping veterans in rural areas receive better health care. Walden introduced the Doctors for Veterans Act early this month. “This bipartisan legislation is a product of feed- back I’ve heard from veterans themselves and VA officials throughout our district about the difficul- ties providing veterans in rural Oregon with timely access to quality care,” Walden said. “... Especially in rural areas, our veterans are underserved and VA facilities in Oregon face difficult recruiting chal- lenges. This bill will help the VA compete with the private sector for qualified physicians to adequately staff their health centers in underserved areas and bring veterans the care they deserve.” The bill would allow the VA to better recruit medical providers by offering student loan repay- ment benefits comparable to what is offered in the private sector. It proposes to increase the maximum student loan benefit that the VA can offer through its Education Debt Reduction Program, which could help the VA recruit and retain medical providers. The legislation intends to address the VA’s provider shortage by improving its ability to at- tract qualified medical providers, and ultimately improve access to quality, timely care for Oregon veterans. The bill provides additional help to rural and underserved VA centers and clinics, where the provider shortages are often more severe due to in- creased challenges with recruitment and retention. A separate piece of legislation Walden intro- duced — the VA Medical Scribes Pilot Act — re- cently passed the House of Representatives unani- mously. This legislation would implement a pilot program for medical scribes at VA facilities, which intends to administratively unburden VA doctors and allow them to see more veterans. Both the VA Medical Scribes Pilot Act and the Doctors for Veterans Act seek to address issues Walden has heard about during his recent meetings with veterans and officials at the VA SORCC and throughout his district. A5 OEA drops tax petition for technical error By Paris Achen Capital Bureau The Eagle/Rylan Boggs U.S. Rep. Greg Walden (R-Oregon) speaks to community members during a town hall meeting in Mt. Vernon earlier this year. Walden recently introduced legislation to help rural veterans receive better health care. Airport implementing restrictions for eclipse Grant County Regional Airport is restricting access to runways and terminals during the weekend of the total solar eclipse, Aug. 19-21. Blue Mountain Eagle To ensure safety, the Grant County Regional Air- port will only be allowing fire aviation, medical avia- tion and pilots with confirmed reservations and prior permission to land Aug. 19 through 5 p.m. Aug. 21. The airport terminal will be restricted Aug. 21, the day of the eclipse. Only airport employees and volunteers, local han- gar owners, Forest Service airbase employees and contractors and emergency personnel will be allowed access to the airport. For more information, call the airport at 541-575-1151. Eagle file photo A technical error has prompted the Oregon Education Associa- tion to withdraw a petition for a ballot measure to enact a 0.95 percent sales tax on corporations with annual sales of more than $5 million. Initiative Petition 27 created a tax framework for corporations with annual sales of more than or less than $5 million. However, corporations with sales of exactly $5 million would have had to pay nothing, due to an error in the ini- tiative’s language, said OEA Presi- dent John Larson. OEA, the state’s largest teach- ers’ union, plans to file paperwork for a new initiative after correcting the proposal’s wording. “We are not abandoning the concept,” Larson said. Petitioners had already col- lected more than 1,000 signatures at the time of withdrawal Friday, Aug. 4. The OEA filed paperwork for the tax measure after it became un- likely that state lawmakers would raise new revenue for schools. The teachers’ union also backed corpo- rate sales tax Measure 97, which failed in the November 2016 elec- tion. Union leaders maintain that Oregon corporations fail to con- tribute their “fair share” to state tax revenue. The proposal would levy a 0.95 percent gross receipts tax on cor- porations with annual sales great- er than $5 million. The initiative’s sponsors want all of the revenue to go toward K-12 and higher educa- tion. Another ballot measure propos- al by the OEA — Initiative Petition 26 — is still in play. The initiative would eliminate the constitutional requirement to garner a three-fifths majority vote in both chambers of the Legislature to pass new taxes, when educational funding dips un- der than a certain threshold. The threshold is “a sum of money suf- ficient to ensure the state system of public education meets quality goals established by law.” C OPS AND C OURTS Grant County Sheriff The Grant County Sher- iff’s Office reported the fol- lowing for the week of July 27 to Aug. 2: • Concealed handgun li- censes: 8 • Average inmates: 16 • Bookings: 5 • Releases: 6 • Arrests: 1 • Fingerprints: 3 • Civil papers: 19 • Warrants processed: 1 • Asst./welfare check: 4 THE NUT JOB 2 PG Surly and his friends must stop the mayor from destroying their home to make way for an amusement park. FRI - THURS (12:45) (4:20) 7:10 9:35 DETROIT R The story is centered around the Algiers Motel incident, which occurred in Detroit, Michigan during the racially charged 12th Street Riot of 1967. Directed by Kathryn Bigelow. FRI - THURS (12:45) (4:00) 7:30 9:35 DUNKIRK PG-13 Allied soldiers from Belgium, the British Empire and France are surrounded by the German army and evacuated during a fierce battle in World War II. FRI - WED (12:45) (4:10) 7:00 9:30 THURSDAY (12:45) (4:10) 7:00 9:30 $9 Adult, $7 Senior (60+), Youth 06003 Justice Court The Grant County Justice Court reported the following fines and judgments: Violation of the speed limit: Santo Domingo Vargas Sanbria, 34, Medford, June 27, fined $200; Gabriel Jack- son Helwig, 21, Belleville, Illinois, 65/35 zone, July 8, fined $260. Violation of the basic rule: Dalton James Reimers, 21, John Day, 70/55 zone, fined 541-523-6377 Vernon, June 6, fined $435. Failure to drive within lane: Ben G. Luethe Jr., 73, Mt. Vernon, July 18, fined $260. Dispatch John Day dispatch worked 172 calls during the week of July 31 to Aug. 6. Along with the various traffic warnings, trespassing, injured animals, noise complaints and juvenile complaints, these calls included: • John Day Police De- partment July 31: Dispatched to a re- port of a dispute at America’s Best Value Inn. Responded to an accident at the stoplight in John Day. Aug. 3: Received a report of kids jumping off the Patter- son Bridge. Received a report of a month-old shoplifting in- cident at Suzie Q’s. Aug. 4: Responded to a non-injury hit and run acci- dent in John Day. Aug. 5: Responded for Grant County Sheriff’s Office with Oregon State Police and Burns/Paiute Tribal Police to a report of domestic violence in Canyon City. Responded to a report of abuse in Strawber- ry Village. 541-963-6577 541-573-6377 Aug. 6: Received a report of a gunshot wound from the hospital, but no crime had been committed. Arrested a 57-year-old Salem resident for failure to renew sex of- fender registration and cited him for speeding. • Grant County Sheriff’s Office July 31: Dispatched to a report of a dispute in Canyon City. Took a report of harass- ment in Mt. Vernon. Aug. 5: Removed haz- ard cows from Highway 26 near milepost 198. Arrested a 31-year-old Eugene resident on a warrant after responding to a report of harassment. Aug. 6: Advised of a report of illegal hunting. • John Day ambulance Aug. 1: Responded for a 73-year-old male who was unresponsive. Aug. 4: Responded with Long Creek ambulance, Long Creek Fire Department and Oregon State Police to a sin- gle vehicle accident on High- way 395 North. Aug. 5: Responded with Long Creek ambulance for a 71-year-old male with a pos- sible heart attack. Responded with Prairie City ambulance for a 51-year-old man who injured himself getting off a roof. • Oregon State Police Aug. 5: Responded to a re- port of a bull in the highway. Aug. 6: Received a com- plaint of a bull on Highway 26 near Belshaw Bridge. • John Day Public Works July 31: Responded to a re- port of a broken water line on Lamford Road. • Long Creek Fire De- partment Aug. 4: Received a report of a tractor fire on Vaughn Road in Fox. Benefit Dinner & Raffle (do not need to be present to win) for Cory Holland OCT. 7, 2017 time and location to be announced. Watch for more details in upcoming issues of the newspaper 06000 Oregon State Police Arrested Jack Norris Haughton, 44, Bend, for driv- ing under the influence of al- cohol on Friday, Aug. 4. $160; Morgan Mae Jenson, 18, Bend, 83/55 zone, July 28, fined $260. Exceeding speed limit: Jonathan Aaron Frohnmayer, 45, Eureka, Montana, 52/35 zone, July 10, fined $135; Sue Marie Robinson, 72, Eugene, 50/35 zone, June 19, fined $135; Jose Manuel Gutuerrez, 34, Eureka, Cal- ifornia, 45/35 zone, July 7, fined $110. Driving uninsured: Robert James Bryant Jr., 20, Prairie City, June 3, fined $130; Da- neta Dawn Lewis, 43, Prairie City, July 8, fined $130. Careless driving: Ernest Zuniga, 62, Mt. Vernon, July 9, fined $370. Exceeding max weight limit: John Weatherman, 61, Prineville, July 11, fined $150. Driving uninsured: Logan William Ortmann, 27, John Day, July 21, fined $130; Jackson R. Stephenson, 25, Asheville, North Carolina, June 28, fined $130. Operate without prop- er fenders: Jordan Rachelle Dibartolo, 21, Tygh Valley, July 1, fined $160. Driving while suspended: Caleb Joe Vielma, 28, Mt. 06005 Arrests and citations in the Blue Mountain Eagle are taken from the logs of law en- forcement agencies. Every ef- fort is made to report the court disposition of arrest cases. 541-576-2160 06008
