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About The Blue Mountain eagle. (John Day, Or.) 1972-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 27, 2019)
Happy Thanksgiving The Blue Mountain EAGLE Grant County’s newspaper since 1868 PRAIRIE CITY SPORTS PREVIEWS | PAGE B1 Wednesday, November 27, 2019 Phone scammers are after your precious information By Rudy Diaz Blue Mountain Eagle What began as an entic- ing conversation with an unknown phone number ended in deception, hun- dreds of gift cards and over $25,000 stolen. C a r l Kalteich, 75, of Day- ville has been a vic- tim of fraud and has Carl Kalteich been chas- ing lies for over four years. “I was vulnerable,” Kalteich said. “I’m a lonely man, and I don’t like being alone. These scammers got into conversations with me. They pretend to be women, since some of them are men, and they will sweet talk you and tell you how much they love you. That is when they hooked me, and I was stupid enough to give my bank account numbers so I could deposit checks they sent me.” Every check he received from the scammers was voided, and he was left on the hook for the funds. The scams began with a text message Kalteich received from an unknown number. The message announced that he won thousands of dollars and could claim the money if he paid a $900 delivery fee and gave his card number over the phone. Kalteich did not fall for that attempt, but the initial contact with the scammer alerted other scammers that Kalteich answers their mes- sages. With this informa- tion, scammers began send- ing him more messages that were denied by Kalteich until a woman who went by the name of Sarena Flou- rence messaged him. “I had a gal that con- tacted me named Sarena, See Scams, Page A12 151st Year • No. 48 • 20 Pages • $1.50 MyEagleNews.com Patrolling the streets The Eagle/Rudy Diaz Officer Sam Stinnett has been a part of the John Day Police Department for over a year. The Eagle/Rudy Diaz Officer Sam Stinnett speaks on the radio in his John Day Police Department vehicle. Stinnett reflects on life as a police officer By Rudy Diaz Blue Mountain Eagle W hile 12 p.m. marks the start of a lunch break for many, it marks the beginning of a 10-hour shift for Offi- cer Sam Stinnett. With an energy drink in the console, Stinnett turns his focus to the streets of John Day. As an officer for the John Day Police Department, he carries out various tasks such as patrolling the streets and taking calls, but anything can happen at any moment. “You get to work every day, and you got your plan of what you’re going to do through- out your day,” Stinnett said. “About 4 p.m., a call comes in, and we end up heading to the hospital. We were there dealing with the situ- ation until 10:20 p.m. You never know what you’re gonna do.” During a two-hour ride along with Stinnett, he shared his experience on the force while waving back at the people who gave him kind gestures on the road. Some people smiled at Stinnett, some waved, some gave a one-finger sway with the pointer finger, but no matter the type of kind gesture received, he did his best to return a kind gesture to each person he saw. He was born in Canyon City and has moved back and forth between Grant County and places like Bend and Idaho, but he always found himself back in the county. His interest in the legal system started when he worked at the Grant County Jail. “I found it interesting how the legal system worked because I had never been a part of it,” Stinnett said. “I always said I was never a peo- ple person, but working at the jail, you had no options. You had to talk to people there. When I figured I was kind of good at that, the next step was to be in law enforcement and talk to peo- ple on the streets.” He also has friends and family members on the force that motivated him to join. One of the best parts of the job for Stinnett is the opportunity See Officer, Page A12 Youths explore careers at Blue Mountain Hospital By Angel Carpenter Blue Mountain Eagle Students from every high school in the county received a crash course in health care job opportunities at the Nov. 14 Rural Health Career and Col- lege Day held at Blue Moun- tain Hospital. A total of 75 students, mainly freshmen and sopho- mores, attended the four-hour event from Grant Union, Prai- rie City, Dayville, Monument and Long Creek, and one stu- dent taking online courses also attended. Breakout sessions were held every 20 minutes with visits to various departments, including nursing, laboratory, emergency medical services, rehabilitation services, phar- macy and more. Groups also joined mainte- nance director Steve Hall for information about the many duties and projects his team handles, including operating the boiler, maintaining equip- ment, troubleshooting break- downs and coming up with innovative solutions and con- struction designs for improve- ments to indoor and outdoor areas of the hospital. A panel of 11 Blue Moun- tain Hospital staff members who graduated from Grant County schools spoke about the directions they took that led to their career at the Blue Mountain Hospital District and answered the students’ ques- tions. Some on the panel com- pleted a college or university degree, while some moved into a job at BMH from high school. Representatives from Cen- tral Oregon Community Col- lege (Bend), Oregon State See Careers, Page A12 The Eagle/Angel Carpenter Blue Mountain Hospital District Maintenance Director Steve Hall, left, shows students proj- ects he and his team have tackled around the hospital. Students from left: Aiden Taylor, Jes- se Douglass, Ethan Walker, Ian Coombs, Kate Hughes and Parker Neault.