SPRING BREAK AND EASTER EVENTS PAGE A7
The
Blue Mountain
EAGLE
Grant County’s newspaper since 1868
W edNesday , M arch 21, 2018
• N o . 12
• 18 P ages
SUICIDE:
• $1.00
www.MyEagleNews.com
A by-the-numbers
look at Grant County
Risk factors change
as people age
By Richard Hanners
Blue Mountain Eagle
Editor’s note: This is the second in a three-part series about
suicide.
uicide is a problem that reaches into every demograph-
ic category — age, gender and socio-economic class.
According to the Centers for Disease Control, sui-
cide in 2012 was the 10th leading cause of death in
the United States for people 16 years and older. About
three-quarters of the suicide deaths that year were by males.
The percentage of teen deaths by suicide in Oregon doubled
from 2006 to 2015, according to Children First of Oregon. At
38.3 percent, it was the No. 1 cause of death. And while the sui-
cide rate among youths 10 to 24 years stayed roughly the same
across the U.S., the rate in Oregon increased by 41 percent.
More than two-thirds of Oregon youths involved in suicide
incidents from 2002 to 2012 had cited mental health problems
before their attempts. More than a third had been diagnosed with
a mental disorder.
The youth suicide rate in Grant County is higher than the
U.S. rate, Community Counseling Solutions Clinical Director
Thad Labhart said, but the rate for Oregon as a whole is higher
than the national rate.
Nearly 80 percent of suicides in the U.S. are by men. The
cause is typically related to loss of self-esteem due to loss of
employment, becoming ill, losing a spouse or partner, an embar-
rassing public disclosure or fearing loss of control.
In Oregon, the highest suicide rate is for men over 85 years
old: 72.4 per 100,000 individuals. For women, the highest rate
was for ages 45 to 54. Men in Oregon were 3.6 times more likely
to commit suicide than women, according to the Oregon Health
S
See SUICIDE, Page A18
90
Oregon suicide rates, 2013
Oregon suicide attempts, 2013
78.4
140
(Rate by gender and age, per 100,000)
Male
120
100
51
Male: 1.8
Female: 1.3
27.1
30
5.5
112
Female
60
36.9
89.7
80
38.9
13.9
41.7
56.2
40
12.6
9.3
8.4
0
15-24
25-34
35-44
45-54 55-64
Age group
Source: Oregon Health Authority
65-74
75-84
34.1
22.2
20
6.5
5-14
49.8
54
37.7
5.6
5-14
15-24
25-34
18.9
35-44
75-84
45-54
55-64
65-74
85+
Age group
Alan Kenaga/EO Media Group
Source: Oregon Health Authority
leading cause of death
for teens in Oregon.
11.2
Male: 24.2 / Female: 25.1
0
85+
rate for Grant County
is higher than the
national rate.
• Suicide is the
62.5
62.2
60
28.9
9.9
Female
Male
88.1
28.9 29.7
7.5
(Self-harm hospitalization
rate by gender and age,
per 100,000)
116.8
• The youth suicide
Alan Kenaga/EO Media Group
• In Grant County, 22
people died by suicide
from 2003 to 2012.
County continues discussion on resource adviser
Strategy for success
resource adviser position.
The matter has been raised period-
ically at court meetings by county res-
ident Jim Sproul and others and was
addressed in a strongly worded plea by
Long Creek rancher Sharon Livingston
on Feb. 21.
Grant County Judge Scott Myers
noted at the time that the county had re-
ceived three responses to a request for
proposals that it issued last year, and all
Nick Green presents
State of the City address
Funding and politics
delay final decision
By Richard Hanners
Blue Mountain Eagle
Budget constraints and political
concerns were raised by Grant County
Court members as reasons for delaying
a decision on filling a proposed natural
three candidates for the new position
were locals. Commissioner Jim Hamsher
asked that the matter be put on the court’s
next agenda, and the court agreed.
Myers told the court March 14 that
the county budgeted $50,000 for the po-
sition last year, but the $50,000 is no lon-
ger available in the budget currently un-
der development for the next fiscal year.
See ADVISER, Page A18
Fire hall costs continue to climb
Ordinance
establishes
urban renewal
agency
By Richard Hanners
Blue Mountain Eagle
The John Day City
Council continued to strug-
gle at the March 13 meet-
ing with the rising costs to
complete the John Day Fire
Hall. The city has received
three bids to finish reno-
vating 1,473 square feet
of the fire hall as designed
in June 2015, and all were
considered far too high by
the council.
The Eagle/Richard Hanners
John Day City Manager Nick Green, left, and Mayor
Ron Lundbom prepare for the start of the March 13
city council meeting.
Pinnacle Architecture
initially solicited a bid from
Kirby Nagelhout Construc-
tion Co. of Bend, which
was the general contractor
for the fire hall and won the
bid for a seismic upgrade
project at Humbolt Elemen-
tary School to take place
this summer.
Kirby Nagelhout bid
$291,000 in May 2017, but
See COSTS, Page A18
By Richard Hanners
Blue Mountain Eagle
Getting smart about spend-
ing and adhering to the city’s
strategy for growth — that’s
the message in John Day City
Manager Nick Green’s March
13 State of the City address.
Citing a Portland State Uni-
versity report, Green said Grant
County will lose 17 percent of
its population over the next 50
years. Declining population
means less revenue for city ser-
vices.
“Does that have to be our
fate?” Green asked. “We don’t
think it does.”
Green ranked the city’s de-
partments according to their
strengths and weaknesses. The
water department is financially
strong, modern and up to date,
while street repair and con-
struction has grown more and
more expensive, he said.
The fire department is lean
and well run, but the unfinished
fire hall and expensive con-
struction bids present a burden.
The police budget has grown at
three times the rate of the prop-
erty tax base
as a result of
sharply rising
costs for health
insurance, re-
tirement, tort
claims
and
Nick Green training, which
is unsustain-
able. The 911 dispatch center
will be operated by another en-
tity altogether by June, Green
said.
Green was upbeat about
the sewer department, which
needs an expensive new treat-
ment plant. Green hopes to use
reclaimed water from the new
plant to kick-start a new indus-
try with a commercial green-
house producing vegetables for
sale.
Under state law, proper-
ty taxes are capped at about 3
percent growth per year and
amount to only 10 percent of
the city’s $2.5 million budget.
Revenue from the eclipse event
last year ranked No. 8 among
revenue sources, Green noted.
As a result, the city is looking
See CITY, Page A18