ANNUAL FAMILY HEALTH GUIDE
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EAGLE
Grant County’s newspaper since 1868
W edNesday , J aNuary 31, 2018
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• 16 P ages
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www.MyEagleNews.com
‘We don’t want any other
parents to go through this’
Contributed photo
Boy dies from rare flesh-eating
bacteria days after bike crash
By Kathy Aney
EO Media Group
L
iam Flanagan seemed a typ-
ical 8-year-old boy.
The Pilot Rock sec-
ond-grader rode his bike,
scarfed down molasses
cookies after school and roughhoused
with his three stepbrothers. He loved to
wear camo and feed the animals on his
family’s farm.
But life, as the saying goes, can turn
on a dime.
On Jan. 13, Liam wrecked his bike
as he rode down a hill on his family’s
Spring Creek property. Blood seeped
from a thigh wound where the end of
the handlebar sliced through his jeans.
An emergency room doctor stitched
him up and the incident seemed des-
tined to fade from memory as just
another foible in the life of an active
young boy.
Several days later, however, Liam
found himself fighting for his life.
Flesh-eating bacteria, which likely
entered his wound from the soil, at-
tacked the boy’s soft tissue. In the days
to come he would endure four surger-
ies to remove infected tissue.
EO Media Group/E.J. Harris
Scott Hinkle and Sara Hebard of Pilot Rock
lost their son, Liam Flanagan, 8, pictured in the
cellphone photo, on Jan. 20 after an eight-day
battle with a flesh-eating bacteria. ABOVE: Liam
Flanagan lies in his hospital bed during his battle
with necrotizing fasciitis.
See LIAM, Page A16
Camo for Liam
By Angel Carpenter
Blue Mountain Eagle
The Grant Union Prospector boys basketball team
took time after their Friday night win over the En-
terprise Outlaws in John Day to show support for
young Liam Flanagan, who lost his life Jan. 21 to a
flesh-eating bacteria.
The entire team dressed in camouflage, Liam’s
favorite.
Liam, a second-grader from Pilot Rock, came
down with the infection, known as necrotizing fasci-
itis, just days after a bicycle wreck.
Prospector head coach Kelsy Wright graduated
from Prairie City High School with Liam’s mother,
Sara Hebard.
“Sara is a long time friend and classmate of mine,”
Wright said. “I told the team the story about her son
Liam.”
He added, “They wanted to show support and
honor Sara’s request to wear camo today to help raise
awareness for necrotizing fasciitis. Their compassion
for others is amazing, and I’m very proud of them.
They are fine young men.”
Hebard said her son’s pain level was higher than
she expected for the size of the injury.
Other signs to look for, which may start a few
hours after the injury, include the wound being warm
to the touch and red or purplish areas of swelling that
spread rapidly, according to the Centers for Disease
Control. Later symptoms can include fever, chills, fa-
tigue and vomiting.
Finicum family seeks $70M
in wrongful death suit
By Sean Hart
The Eagle/Angel Carpenter
The Grant Union Prospector basketball team, coaches and
assistants wear camo after Friday’s game in John Day in a show
of support for second-grader Liam Flanagan of Pilot Rock who
died Jan. 21 of a flesh-eating bacteria known as necrotizing
fasciitis. Camouflage was a favorite of Liam’s, and supporters
were asked to wear camo on Friday in his memory. Grant Union
head coach Kelsy Wright, second from left, is a friend and former
classmate of Liam’s mother, Sara Hebard, both Prairie City High
School alumni.
Blaze engulfs home on Pine Creek Road
Jensens lose
home to flue fire
By Angel Carpenter
Blue Mountain Eagle
Blue Mountain Eagle
The family of refuge occu-
pier LaVoy Finicum, who was
killed by police during a traffic
stop en route to John Day, has
filed a wrongful death lawsuit
seeking at least $70 million.
The suit against federal,
state and local governments,
government agents and oth-
ers was filed in U.S. District
Court two years after Finicum
was shot and killed by officers
while traveling from the Mal-
heur National Wildlife Refuge
in Harney County to a commu-
nity meeting in John Day.
FBI agents and Oregon
State Police officers attempted
to stop two vehicles on High-
way 395 Jan. 26, 2016. The
occupants of one vehicle, in-
cluding occupation leader Am-
mon Bundy, were taken into
custody when the vehicle was
stopped.
Finicum, driving the oth-
er vehicle, refused to comply
Eagle file photo
LaVoy Finicum’s widow,
Jeanette Finicum,
encourages attendees at
a meeting in John Day
in January 2017 to get
involved however they
can. The Finicum family
has filed a wrongful
death lawsuit for LaVoy’s
January 2016 death.
with the officers’ demands,
stating he was going to meet
with Grant County Sheriff
Glenn Palmer. Continuing
See FINICUM, Page A16
Prairie City rural volun-
teer firefighters responded
to a home fully engulfed in
flames Thursday afternoon
on Pine Creek Road be-
tween Prairie City and John
Day.
“Jim and Mary Jensen
lost their home,” said Prai-
rie City Fire Chief Marvin
Rynearson, but no one was
injured in the blaze.
After investigating the
fire with State Fire Marshal
Dave Field on Friday, Prairie
City Fire Chief Marvin Ry-
nearson said the cause was a
flue fire.
“It started by the heating
device, a wood stove with a
double-walled metal flue,”
he said.
It was undetermined if
any pets perished in the fire,
but Rynearson said a dog and
two cats were missing and
The Eagle/Angel Carpenter
Jim and Mary Jensen’s home on Pine Creek Road in
the Prairie City Rural Fire District is a total loss after a
fire Jan. 25.
were presumed to have been
in the house.
John Day dispatch re-
ceived the call at 12:17 p.m.,
Prairie City firefighters ar-
rived on scene at 12:30 p.m.,
and John Day Rural Fire De-
partment was called in for
mutual aid and arrived soon
after.
Rynearson had been out
of town when the call first
came in, and Prairie City
firefighter Chris Camarena
was first on scene.
John Day Fire Chief Ron
Smith said he was right be-
hind Camarena.
“It’s a two-story house,”
Smith said. “The roof was
pretty much gone, and it was
fully involved. Some of the
walls were gone, and some
were still standing.”
See FIRE, Page A16