NATIONAL DAY OF THE COWBOY
The
– PAGE B9
Blue Mountain
EAGLE
Grant County’s newspaper since 1868
W edNesday , a ugust 1, 2018
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HORSES
Contributed photos
& HEALING
Kathy Moss
stands with
her horse Hitch
in this photo
taken in 2015.
Moss’ new book highlights therapeutic bond in the saddle
Canyon City
author Kathy
Moss, who
writes under
the pen name
‘A.K. Moss,’
signs dozens
of books for
her readers.
‘From the
Heart’ is the
final novel in
a trilogy she’s
written.
By Angel Carpenter
Blue Mountain Eagle
here are horse lovers, and then there is Kathy Moss,
whose life has revolved around horses since early
childhood.
Working with horses, writing about horses and
speaking about horses has taken her from Prairie
City to Canada to New York.
She was given her first pony, Mighty Mouse, when she was
2, and the bond went beyond competitions and ranch work.
T
Because her dad was a horse trader, she worked more horses
than she could count before age 16.
“Pop would bring in mules, draft horses, spoiled horses,
colts, mustangs, orphaned babies,” she said.
Her job was to start them — catching, haltering, leading,
saddling, harnessing, driving and loading them in a trailer.
See HORSES, Page A10
“ There is something in the brain that is therapeutic when the body feels the motion of a horse.”
Kathy Moss, author
McLeod-Skinner challenges Walden to Eastern Oregon debate
No dates set, but challenger offers EOU as a venue
By Antonio Sierra
EO Media Group
U.S. Rep Greg Walden, left, and Jamie
McLeod-Skinner.
Jamie McLeod-Skinner liter-
ally stopped traffic to get a de-
bate with Rep. Greg Walden.
As documented on a video
posted to McLeod-Skinner’s cam-
paign Facebook page, the Terre-
bonne Democrat strode up to the
cream-colored convertible Walden
was riding in during the Chief Jo-
seph Days Parade in Joseph Satur-
day and shook his hand.
“I would like to challenge
you to at least three debates
within the district,” she said. “I
will debate you in every single
county if you like.”
McLeod-Skinner continued
by telling the 10-term incum-
bent from Hood River that she
would at least like him to debate
her three times, one time each in
Eastern Oregon, Central Oregon
and Southern Oregon.
Walden seemed to answer to
affirmatively.
“I look forward to debating
you,” he said. “We’ll figure out
a schedule that works.”
Then the parade had to move
on.
See DEBATE, Page A10
Ban on publicly funded abortion heads to ballot
By Paris Achen
Capital Bureau
A constitutional amendment to
ban publicly funded abortion in Or-
egon has qualified for the statewide
general election.
The Stop Taxpayer Funding for
Abortion Act — which will likely
be called Measure 106 — had just
enough valid signatures to secure a
place on the ballot.
“We are really excited because
we have been working at this since
2012,” said Brooks resident Mari-
lyn Shannon, one of the initiative’s
three chief sponsors. “We had a lot
of road blocks.”
The measure would prohibit the
use of public funds to pay for abor-
tions, unless medically necessary or
required by federal law.
“This does not outlaw abor-
tions,” Shannon said. “It just does
not allow public money to pay for
it.”
The state spent about $1.9 mil-
lion in 2017-18 for abortions paid
for by the Oregon Health Plan, the
state’s version of Medicaid, accord-
ing to the Oregon Health Authority.
Abortion rights activists and oth-
ers have formed a coalition — the
No Cuts to Care campaign — to op-
pose the measure.
“This measure targets vulnerable
Oregonians and individuals who are
already stretched in terms of their
means,” said Emily McLain, execu-
tive director of Planned Parenthood
Advocates of Oregon. “This really
could harm their access to health
care.”
Oregonians have consistently
supported increasing access to re-
productive health care, she said.
“I am confident they will vote no
on Measure 106,” she said.
Oregon is one of 17 states that
use public funds for medically
necessary abortions; 32 states and
the District of Columbia prohibit
spending public funds on abortion,
according to the Guttmacher Insti-
tute of Washington, D.C., a research
and policy organization that advo-
cates for sexual and reproductive
health rights.
As a constitutional change, the
measure needed at least 117,578 val-
id signatures to appear on the ballot.
The Secretary of State’s Office
determined that 117,799 were valid.
The office has dismissed an elec-
tions complaint by Planned Parent-
hood alleging that the petitioners
failed to disclose that they were us-
ing paid signature gatherers. An in-
vestigation into another complaint
accusing petitioners of improper
campaign finance reporting is still
ongoing, McLain said.