TIMBER TRUCKERS LIGHT PARADE
The
– PAGE A7
Blue Mountain
EAGLE
Grant County’s newspaper since 1868
W edNesday , d ecember 13, 2017
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Strep
throat
cases on
the rise
Antibiotics, rest
and better hygiene
recommended
By Richard Hanners
Blue Mountain Eagle
The Grant County Health De-
partment reports seeing an increase
in cases of strep throat in the com-
munity and advises people to take
steps to prevent the disease from
spreading.
The health department has seen
an increase in the number of chil-
dren and adults with sore throat
complaints that tested positive for
strep throat.
Health Department Manager
Jessica Winegar told the Eagle that
people should not be alarmed but
should step up hygiene around their
homes and businesses and go to the
doctor when certain symptoms ap-
pear (see box on Page A10).
April Gillette at Blue Mountain
Hospital told the Eagle they haven’t
seen a recent uptick in strep throat
cases, but she acknowledged that
they see a different population than
the county health department.
Strep throat is a bacterial infec-
tion and can be treated with anti-
biotics, pain medicine and rest, ac-
cording to information provided by
the health department. People with
strep throat can transmit the disease
to others for 24 hours after starting
antibiotics, so children should be
kept out of school or daycare for at
least one full day after starting an-
tibiotics.
Frequent hand washing with
soap and reducing germs in bath-
rooms and kitchens by cleaning with
soap or cleansers is also important.
When possible, people should avoid
anyone in the home who is sick.
Winegar said about three to four
people a day have been showing up
at the health department complain-
ing of sore throats that tested posi-
tive for strep throat.
See STREP, Page A10
Eagle file photo
The Grant County Health
Department at 528 E. Main Ste. E
in John Day. Health department
staff report seeing an increase in
strep throat cases.
EARNING FOR
LEARNING
The Eagle/Richard Hanners
Prairie City School
sophomore Lucas
McKinley explains
his FFA cow project
Dec. 7 while his cow
devours grain.
Prairie City School will receive
grant for new barn and equipment
By Richard Hanners
Blue Mountain Eagle
C
hristmas came early at Prairie City School — and in a big
way.
The school recently received a $336,286 career read-
iness grant from the state aimed at increasing hands-on
learning and building skills to retain quality jobs.
Superintendent Julie Gurczynski said Lindy Cruise, the school’s
agricultural science and technology instructor, “put in many hours
preparing and writing” the successful grant application.
“The overall goal is to provide students with post-high school
skills and training,” Cruise said. “There’s been a trend where students
go on to trade schools lacking the management and work ethic skills
needed to get ahead.”
The plan is to invest the grant money in three areas: 1) build a live-
stock facility to provide a supervised ag experience where students
can practice industry-recognized skills; 2) update some of the wood
and metal shop equipment, including purchasing a CNC (computer
numerical control) machine for cutting wood and metal; and 3) re-
place the current greenhouse with a larger one.
The state’s Career and Technical Education Revitalization Ad-
visory Committee reviewed 64 applications totaling $21 million in
requests and granted $10.3 million to 205 middle and high schools
across Oregon.
See GRANT, Page A10
The Eagle/Richard Hanners
Carson McKay, a sophomore at Prairie City School, shows his
FFA steer to his ag science class Dec. 7. He and his seventh-
grade sister, Laken McKay, each have a steer in a small pen in a
neighborhood in Prairie City.
Ranchers, environmentalists voice objections to Wolf Plan update
Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife planning to revise the plan
By Mateusz Perkowski
Capital Bureau
Environmental groups are alarmed
by a proposal that would authorize
lethal control of wolves in Eastern
Oregon after only two livestock kills
under “extreme circumstances.”
The regular threshold would be
three livestock kills in 12 months, but
the current draft of the Oregon Wolf
Conservation and Management Plan
would reduce it to two kills if non-le-
thal methods proved ineffective or
couldn’t be implemented.
“It moves too quickly to lethal con-
trol,” said Noah Greenwald, endan-
gered species director for the Center
of Biological Diversity, during a Dec.
8 hearing in Salem.
Wolves in Eastern Oregon have
been delisted under the federal En-
dangered Species Act, but they’re still
regulated by the state government.
Representatives of livestock and
hunting groups also found plenty they
didn’t like about the plan, which the
Oregon Department of Fish and Wild-
life is updating.
For example, the plan sets a min-
imum population threshold of 300
wolves through 2022, but it doesn’t
ensure that any particular zone doesn’t
See WOLF, Page A10
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