News
Blue Mountain Eagle
Wednesday, May 2, 2018
A3
Ethics complaint against Prairie City officials investigated
Investigator:
appears no one
intentionally
violated executive
session law
By Sean Hart
Blue Mountain Eagle
State investigators are
looking into a possible ethics
violation by Prairie City offi-
cials.
The Oregon Government
Ethics Commission voted
7-1 to investigate a possible
violation of Oregon’s exec-
utive session law by Mayor
Jim Hamsher and Council-
ors Carole Garrison, Georgia
Patterson, Les Church, Frank
Primozic and Joe Phippen
Jan. 5. Oregon law provides a
narrow list of matters that en-
tities may discuss in private,
outside of open session, if
proper notice is given, but no
final decisions may be made.
Commission investigator
Michael Thornicroft told the
Prairie City officials the pos-
Eagle file photo
Prairie City Mayor
and Grant County
Commissioner Jim
Hamsher.
Eagle file photo
Prairie City City Council meets in this file photo. The Oregon Government Ethics
Commission is investigating a possible executive session violation by the city council.
sible violation did not appear
to be intentional, in a Jan. 2
letter provided by Hamsher.
“Should the Commission-
ers vote to move this matter
to an investigation, my rec-
ommendation to the Director
and the Commissioners will
be that this matter be settled
with a Letter of Education
and not a fine,” Thornicroft
wrote. “It appears from the
Preliminary Review that the
Executive Session was done
in good faith and it does not
appear that anyone intention-
ally violated Executive Ses-
sion provisions.”
Prairie City resident Dan
Becker said he filed the com-
plaint after an August city
council meeting where an
executive session was held
that was not included on the
agenda. After the executive
session, he said, the council
reconvened in open session
and voted to give a raise to the
city public works director.
He said he filed the com-
plaint in November to get the
attention of the council with-
out causing financial hardship
to the city, in hopes of getting
them to obey open meeting
laws.
“They need to allow the
public an opportunity to know
what they’re going to be dis-
cussing,” Becker said.
Oregon law requires pub-
lic bodies to provide at least
24 hours notice for meetings,
except in the case of an actual
emergency. An executive ses-
sion notice must include the
“specific statutory provision(s)
authorizing the executive ses-
sion,” according to the Attor-
ney General’s Public Records
and Meeting Manual 2014.
Hamsher said a city em-
ployee requested to discuss
personnel matters in executive
session right before the meet-
ing, and the council “didn’t
want to take the chance of
talking about personnel mat-
ters we could get sued over.”
He said, at the time, they be-
lieved the matter was a labor
negotiation — which is al-
lowed as an executive session
if negotiators from both sides
request it to be, and which is
the only executive session
allowed without public no-
tice — before learning labor
negotiations were related to
unions.
Hamsher, who is running
for county judge in the upcom-
ing election, said he believed
the ethics complaint was polit-
ically motivated.
“I think bringing this up
at this point is just trying to
smear the city,” he said. “It’s
just a way to slander me be-
fore the election.”
Superintendent reports on New publisher takes reins
school disciplinary policies
By Antonio Sierra
EO Media Group
Shelley: Some
improvements
are needed
By Richard Hanners
Blue Mountain Eagle
Grant School District 3’s
disciplinary policies are in
compliance with state re-
quirements, but some im-
provements could be made,
Superintendent Curt Shelley
told the school board during
its April 18 meeting in Sen-
eca.
The matter was brought
up at the board’s March 21
meeting by Baker City at-
torney Kyra Rohner-Ingram,
who represented a student
suspended from Grant Union
High School following an
Oct. 4 incident involving
marijuana use and posses-
sion. She told the Eagle that
district policy was not being
followed correctly.
Rohner-Ingram
was
joined by Tracey Blood and
Lisa Weigum, who expressed
concerns that the district’s
policies deprived students
of essential support services
and implemented discipline,
not intervention.
At the conclusion of the
meeting, the board asked
Shelley to review the dis-
trict’s suspension and expul-
sion policies and present a
report at their next meeting.
Shelley reported April 18
that he asked Salem-based
attorney Rebecca Jacobson
to review the district’s poli-
cies to see if they complied
with state requirements.
Jacobson found that the
district’s policies complied
with state rules, but some
policies should be included in
an updated student handbook,
Shelley said. The handbook
is available online.
The Eagle/Richard Hanners
Grant School District 3 board vice chairman Zach
Williams, left, and Superintendent Curt Shelley during
a meeting in Seneca on April 18.
Jacobson also found that
a signed agreement was
needed when alternative ed-
ucation is provided in lieu
of expulsion. This would
provide a better explanation
of what additional supports
would be available for stu-
dents under the district’s dis-
ciplinary process. A written
plan would be created, and
a copy would be provided to
parents, Shelley said.
Students receiving dis-
cipline need additional sup-
port, Shelley told the Eagle.
The district needs to work
through this matter and make
improvements, he said.
School board member
Haley Walker told the Ea-
gle the district is working
through a process to ensure
the district is in line with
state requirements and to
ensure the district is doing
what’s right for students.
“We asked the superin-
tendent to follow up on our
policies, and if we need more
we’ll ask for it,” she said.
Attention Grant County Veterans:
Blood was present at the
April 18 meeting and told
the Eagle she was encour-
aged by Shelley’s acknowl-
edgment of a need for im-
provement.
“I look forward to seeing
that happen,” she said. “I see
opportunities for the district
to improve.”
One thing Blood said
she’d like to see more of is
the trauma-informed ap-
proach to counseling, which
takes into account the long-
term effects of trauma on the
brains of young people as
they grow up. Some of the
students who get into trouble
at school need this additional
support, she said.
“I’d like to see that ap-
proach built into the dis-
trict’s disciplinary policy,”
she said.
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EOU’s Trapshooting Club made its first
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See your Grant County Veteran Services
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located at Grant County Court House.
530 E. Main, Ste. 5, John Day, OR
communities we serve and the
newspapers we produce.”
Brown said Rush was a wor-
thy successor.
“Chris is also a highly intel-
ligent, friendly and positive per-
son,” she said. “He shares our
family’s values and a passion
for community journalism, and I
expect that he will be a great fit
here in Eastern Oregon.”
Rush said he’s always been
attracted to living and working in
small communities and he intends
to keep the media group’s four
Eastern Oregon newspapers fo-
cused on community news.
Rush will arrive in Eastern
Oregon Thursday, and he and
Brown will spend the coming
weeks working on the transition
between publishers.
Brown will be stepping down
from her role as publisher of the
East Oregonian and Hermiston
Herald in order to launch a mag-
azine called “The Other Oregon,”
focusing on rural Oregon’s issues,
values, culture and lifestyle. She
will remain on the East Orego-
nian’s editorial board and will be
involved in special projects at the
newspaper. She also serves on the
EO Media Group’s board of direc-
tors as an owner of the company.
Rush will move to Pendleton
with his wife. He has two adult
children, a son who will graduate
from Oklahoma State University
this spring and a daughter attend-
ing the school as well.
appearance at national competition
Did you know Grant County Veterans
Services Officer is available to assist
YOU in applying for all VA benefits
you may be entitled to?
Katee
Hoffman
Chris Rush will be new to
Eastern Oregon, but he’s no
stranger to community journal-
ism.
EO Media Group recently
named Rush as the regional pub-
lisher and revenue director of the
East Oregonian, Hermiston Her-
ald, Blue Mountain Eagle and
Wallowa County Chieftain.
He will replace Kathryn
Brown, who has been publish-
er of the East Oregonian and
Hermiston Herald since 2013.
Brown has been interim pub-
lisher of the Eagle and Chieftain
since former publisher Marissa
Williams left in March for a new
position at the Retreat & Links at
Silvies Valley Ranch.
Rush, a 25-year veteran of
the journalism industry and na-
tive of Tulsa, Oklahoma, had an
inauspicious start to his career.
Equipped with a bachelor’s
degree from Oklahoma State
University and a master’s de-
gree from the University of
Central Oklahoma, Rush had
trouble breaking into the field
as a young man in 1993. He had
sent dozens of résumés to vari-
ous news organizations when he
applied for a reporting position
with the Sapulpa Daily Herald, a
newspaper based in a Tulsa sub-
urb of about 20,000 people.
Noticing his experience sell-
ing furniture and men’s clothing,
the Daily Herald instead offered
Rush an advertising job, which
paid a commission in addition to
a base salary.
“At that time, I had just got-
ten married, and that sounded
good to me,” he said.
His foot in the door, Rush
crisscrossed Oklahoma and Ar-
kansas as a reporter, editor, adver-
tising director and publisher.
Rush moved to Aberdeen,
Washington, in 2008 to become
the publisher of
The Daily World
and, after a brief
stint back in
Oklahoma, be-
came publisher
of The World
Chris Rush in Coos Bay in
2015.
Although Rush’s career had
been made in print journalism, in
2017 he retired from the newspa-
per business and bought a coffee
shop in Reedsport, which he ran
with his wife, Sheryl, for the past
eight months.
It was a longtime dream, but
running the Rogue River Coffee
Co. was also a rigorous enterprise.
“I got a lot of respect for any-
one who owns a business,” he
said.
All the while, Rush kept tabs
on his old profession.
He had originally thought
about taking an interim publisher
position somewhere to supple-
ment the coffee shop’s income,
but when the publishing job in
Eastern Oregon opened up, he
couldn’t pass on the opportunity.
EO Media Group officials be-
lieve Rush is the right person for
the job.
“Chris is uniquely qualified to
take on this leadership role for our
company,” said Heidi Wright, EO
Media Group chief operating offi-
cer. “He is excited to be working
with a family-held media compa-
ny that shares his passion for the
Book online, eaglecaptrainrides.com or call 800.323.7330
NOW RECEIVING APPLICATIONS FROM VETERAN HOMEOWNERS
1809 First Street • Baker City • (541)523-5439
BARGAIN MATINEE IN ( ) Adults $7
ALL FILMS $6 ON TIGHTWAD TUESDAY
MOVIE SCHEDULE MAY 4-10
AVENGERS: INFINITY WAR (PG-13)
The third and final installment of the
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The Avengers and their allies must be willing to
sacrifice all in an attempt to defeat the powerful
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FRI - SUN (4:00) 7:30
MON-THURS
7:00
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Payments may be made at the Tax Collector’s Office at
the Grant County Courthouse in Canyon City, or the
payment may be mailed and postmarked no later than
May 15th, 2018. Please remember that delinquent taxes
accrue interest at the rate of 16% per year.
If you have any questions, please call the tax
office at 575-0107 or 575-0189.
When a border dispute arises between the
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station in the disputed area.
FRI & SAT (4:20) 7:20
SUNDAY
(4:20) 7:20
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PO Box 185
Canyon City, OR 97820
55389
Community Connection has funds available for home repair
for qualified veterans in Union, Wallowa, Baker and Grant counties.
Eligible projects include, but are not limited to:
Electrical
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Foundation
Porches/Steps
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Sagging Floors
Heating System
Add Ramps
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Insulation
If you are a veteran who owns or is in the process of buying your home
and you are interested in the Veteran’s Home Improvement Program,
please call Community Connection at (541) 963-3186 for more information.
Income limitations apply.
55392