NEWS
MyEagleNews.com
Wednesday, June 26, 2019
A3
Zero Suicide approach to be expanded at CCS
By Richard Hanners
Blue Mountain Eagle
The benefi ts of imple-
menting the Zero Suicide
program might soon be seen
across all of Community
Counseling Solutions’ men-
tal health and health pro-
grams, executive director
Kimberly Lindsay told the
Grant County Court on June
12.
The Zero Suicide program
calls for evidence-based pol-
icies and treatments, quality
assurance to ensure policies
and treatments are being
implemented
correctly
and a higher level of train-
ing to ensure all employees
understand the policies and
treatments.
Lindsay said the CCS
board has made a commit-
ment to implementing the
Zero Suicide approach to
mental health and health
programs. When asked
about Grant County’s rank-
ing for suicide numbers
among Oregon counties,
Lindsay didn’t mince words.
“Grant County is off the
charts,” she said.
In an update on CCS’s
contract to oversee the Grant
County Health Department,
Lindsay provided the results
of a CCS customer survey
for Grant, Wheeler-Gilliam
and Morrow counties. The
staff here is doing a stand-up
job, she said.
The Eagle/Richard Hanners
From left, environmental health inspector John Combs and Community Counseling Solutions Executive Director Kimberly
Lindsay listen to Grant County Court discussion on June 12.
CCS received about
$430,000 from Medicaid
through Greater Oregon
Behavioral Health Inc. for
September-November 2018,
which was about 26% less
than claims. Lindsay noted
that it was important to
spend every dollar received
from Medicaid so as not to
lose funding the next year.
Lindsay complimented
Jessica Winegar, the county
health department man-
ager, for her grant writing,
but noted that the Healthy
Smiles Dental Clinic contin-
ued to struggle.
Dr. Michael Desjardin
comes to the clinic in the
health department build-
ing about once every few
months. Advantage Dental
handles patients using the
Oregon Health Plan but no
longer has a dentist at the
John Day offi ce.
Commissioner Jim Ham-
sher stressed the impor-
tance of dental health and
urged Lindsay to pursue
more grants. Both he and
Commissioner Sam Palmer
recounted personal stories
about people impacted by
poor dental health.
Lindsay explained the
diffi culty of pursuing grants
for continuing programs
as opposed to new ones.
The dental clinic was being
funded through the county’s
general fund because state
funds were not available,
she said.
Lindsay said she wasn’t
sure about the future of
grant funding for the dental
clinic. There is no new fund-
ing for public health and no
increase in funding for core
services, but costs continue
to increase, she said.
In a related matter, Lind-
say explained why environ-
mental health fees needed to
be increased for inspections
at bed and breakfast busi-
nesses, restaurants, motel
spas and pools, RV parks,
picnic grounds and other
places.
Annual fees in Grant and
Harney counties have not
been raised since 2012, she
said, and the Legislature is
currently considering a bill
that would establish new
marker fees for environ-
mental health. Regardless
of the bill’s outcome, the
fees needed to be increased
to cover the costs of pro-
viding inspections across a
large geographical area, she
said.
Court adopts new jail search policy
By Richard Hanners
Blue Mountain Eagle
The Grant County Court
adopted a new property
search and inventory policy
for the county jail on June
12 that brings it into compli-
ance with a state appellate
court ruling.
The Oregon State Court
of Appeals in 2018 found
the inventory policy at the
county jail to be uncon-
stitutional in the case of
a John Day man found
to be in possession of
methamphetamine.
Methamphetamine had
been found on the man by
an Oregon State Police
trooper following accept-
able search policy, and the
man was transferred to the
county jail.
During a court hear-
ing on the drug charge, the
defense counsel asked Dep-
uty Pete DeRosier, who
worked at the jail, “if there
was, say, a fi lm canister or
something in a pocket, you
would open that and look
in it?” DeRosier responded,
“Absolutely.”
The defense argued on
appeal that the inevita-
ble discovery doctrine did
not justify admission of
the methamphetamine evi-
dence “because the Grant
County Jail inventory pol-
icy impermissibly autho-
rizes searches of all closed
containers” — even though
the defendant did not have
a closed container on him
when searched.
Grant County District
Attorney Jim Carpenter told
the Eagle later that the jail
policy needed to be changed
to address the issue.
The new policy states that
all property brought to the
county jail by an inmate, or
received from the arresting
agency as belonging to the
inmate, will be thoroughly
searched, and “closed con-
tainers of any kind, designed
to or objectively likely to
contain valuables will be
searched.”
In other county court
news, Commissioner Jim
Hamsher warned about the
possibility utilities in Oregon
might declare power outages
when red fl ag warnings have
been issued.
He cited the case of
Pacifi c Gas & Electric, the
largest power company in
California, which recently
implemented the contro-
versial practice in Northern
California, cutting off elec-
trical power to 27,000 cus-
tomers in fi ve counties out
of concern that sparks from
its power lines could ignite
wildfi res.
PG&E fi led for Chap-
ter 11 bankruptcy protec-
tion in January as investiga-
tors looked into the cause of
last fall’s Camp Fire — the
deadliest fi re in California
history, which killed 86 peo-
ple and wiped out the city of
Paradise.
Since the time of the
Camp Fire, three-quarters
of PG&E’s market value
has disappeared. The com-
pany was cleared of fault
for deadly fi res in Califor-
nia wine country in 2017,
but some reports blame
PG&E transmission lines for
wildfi res.
Hamsher was concerned
that, if the Oregon Trail Elec-
trical Cooperative adopted
a similar policy, residents,
businesses and public facili-
ties in Grant County that rely
on a steady power supply
could be harmed, including
hospitals, senior homes and
emergency communications.
He also noted that, if the
county court objected and
OTEC agreed not to imple-
ment the policy, the county
could be held liable for any
deaths or damages resulting
from a wildfi re started by a
power transmission line.
Frances Preston said
she asked an OTEC offi cial
about the issue after it was
raised during OTEC’s annual
membership meeting in John
Day on May 4. She said she
was reassured OTEC had no
plans to implement a similar
policy and suggested Ham-
sher was overreacting.
Judge
Scott
Myers
noted that snags remain-
ing from the 2015 Canyon
Creek Complex fi re might
still be threatening power
lines. Hamsher and Myers
agreed to speak to OTEC,
Grant County Emergency
Management Coordinator
Ted Williams and the state
Offi ce of Emergency Man-
agement about the issue.
The Eagle/Richard Hanners
Grant County Economic
Development Coordinator
Allison Field addresses
the court about a grant for
the Heart of Grant County
shelter project.
The Eagle/Richard Hanners
Kim Puckett is the new Grant
County
administrative
assistant.
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Then it’s too late.
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DON’T MAKE THIS SAME MISTAKE
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Blue Mountain Eagle
MyEagleNews.com
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