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About The Blue Mountain eagle. (John Day, Or.) 1972-current | View Entire Issue (April 8, 2020)
A14 NEWS Blue Mountain Eagle Wednesday, April 8, 2020 Schools Continued from Page A1 The Eagle/Steven Mitchell Sheriff Glenn Palmer meets with a citizen Thursday. In a Face- book post, the sheriff said he deputized his brother Sam Palmer, a county commissioner who serves as the public information of- ficer of the emergency operations center, and County Commis- sioner Jim Hamsher, who serves as the county court’s liaison to the sheriff’s office. Virus Continued from Page A1 the county’s emergency oper- ations center is working to fill open positions. “We have no full-time vol- unteers at this time,” Sam Palmer said. “That could change as our needs change. We get volunteers from time to time, nothing regular.” He said the Grant County Health Department does have volunteers who take phone calls. Sam Palmer said an email was sent out to county employ- ees asking about their avail- ability to help at the EOC after County Judge Scott Myers suggested county employees who are unable to work from home remotely be used to fill EOC vacancies. “The EOC needs skilled staff to help with most tasks which require specific and specialized pre-existing train- ing, like finance,” Sam Palmer said. Myers said Economic Development Director Allison Field has helped at the EOC. Some other county employees have not been utilized. “I have offered to help through the week if they need me, but they have not called,” said Fairgrounds Manager Mindy Winegar. “My other employee has a compromised immune system and cannot.” Sam Palmer said the EOC relocated to the Grant County Regional Airport at the begin- ning of the month to avoid pay- ing $10,800 per month in rent to stay at the Forest Service building. Airport Manager Hailey Walker said the EOC is using most of the terminal and that the EOC is closed to the gen- eral public. Sam Palmer said the EOC plans to continue to hold meet- ings with economic devel- opment, finance and medical groups and coordinate infor- mation via phone, email and through their website: gc-or- covid-19.info. Hamsher said the EOC is working to get more personal protective equipment. “We only got a small amount last time,” he said. “Last week, we only had enough PPE for around eight to 10 tests.” Hamsher said the state assigns the PPE based on pop- ulation. He also said that the EOC is working on getting COVID-19 antibody tests. Grant County Health Department Director Kim- berly Lindsay said she does not know about the condition of the county’s positive COVID- 19 case. “The health department, in its function of conducting investigations, has information on positives and does the con- tact tracing/investigation,” she said. “They are not the treat- ment provider of these individ- uals and, as such, do not have information on the status of the condition of the individual.” Sam Palmer said the per- son did not sign a waiver to have their information shared with law enforcement and first responders. who planned to start distance learning on April 8. While Long Creek is providing online classes for students, those who do not have access to technol- ogy are receiving hard-copy packets from the classes. “We have electronic classes, and (for) those stu- dents who do not have access to technology, pack- ets are being created from the lessons in the electronic classes,” said Karl Coghill, Long Creek superintendent. Grant Union Junior-Se- nior High School Principal Ryan Gerry said the teach- ers for grades 7-12 would be using Google Class- rooms for classes and then using Zoom for meetings and office times. The plan is for students to have access to their educational materi- als and submit assignments through Google Classrooms. “We’ve contacted every single family to see if they have a device and have con- nectivity, and if they didn’t have a device we loaned one of our devices that we have here,” Gerry said. “Right now we’re down to eight households that don’t have connectivity so we’re work- ing with various providers on trying to see how we can have that taken care of.” Schools and staff have also been heavily focused on students’ well-being. Schools are working hard to have weekly contact with students, whether it be via Resources Continued from Page A1 COVID-19 in Grant County and provide information and links to help guide peo- ple through the programs and resources from the SBA. Click on “help” and then “businesses” to access busi- ness resources. A misconception that In the worst of times, newspapers rise to the occasion. The Eagle/Rudy Diaz Workers in a bus delivering school work packets April 1 wore face masks and gloves while hand- ing out materials. phone call, Google Class- room or visiting a household if needed. “We want to provide edu- cation to students but under- stand the circumstances right now. We’re not here to give them a full load and try to overwhelm them,” Hallgarth said. “That’s not our goal here (at Prairie City). Our goal is to pro- vide them some sort of sta- bility through learning. Our main thing is to make con- tact with the parents and kids and make sure they’re doing well.” Gerry said, “This is new for everybody, and we want our students to know we care about them, we’re thinking about them and we’re going to make it through this.” As schools progress through the pandemic, lead- ers have expressed their gratitude for the help from the community and the chance to work through this together. “The entire commu- nity of Monument School has been nothing less than amazing — students, par- ents, and staff! Everyone is helping out where needed and working to ensure the best outcomes for the stu- dents in this less than ideal situation,” Thomas said. “We are supporting our community. We are small and we rely on each other as a community. I think, even with social distancing, we are becoming a tighter com- munity,” Coghill said. Field has heard is that there are only loans available to help small businesses, but she said there are also forgivable loans and grants. She said more grants may be available in the near future. For example, the SBA Economic Injury Disas- ter Loan advance for up to $10,000 does not need to be repaid if the money is spent on paid leave, maintain- ing payroll, increased costs due to supply chain disrup- tion, mortgage or lease pay- ments or repaying obliga- tions that cannot be met due to revenue losses, according to Greg Smith, director of the Eastern Oregon University Small Business Development Center. “Funds will be made available within three days of a successful application, and this loan advance will not have to be repaid,” according to the SBA’s website. Another recent change is that business owners who have had to lay themselves off can now file for unem- ployment, which was not pos- sible before Congress passed the CARES act March 27, Field said. “Right now, there is a lot of information coming out from state senators and rep- resentatives that updates us almost daily, and we are try- ing to put that information out to the businesses,” Field said. Along with the EOC and Economic Development, Oregon RAIN has provided help by sharing emergency funding opportunities with entrepreneurs, launching virtual workshops through Zoom, collecting stories of impacted entrepreneurs, pro- viding weekly support groups and remote one-on-one consultations. “As we navigate these unprecedented times, it is more important than ever to support each other and con- tinue moving forward in every way we can. Oregon RAIN is here to help,” said Stephanie LeQuieu, Grant County’s Oregon RAIN rural venture catalyst. Field said, although the future may be uncertain, help is available for busi- nesses by contacting these organizations. While everyone struggles to understand “flattening the curve” and social distancing, who will provide you with the information about what is happening in your community? Serving Grant County Since 1898 MyEagleNews.com 195 N. Canyon Blvd. John Day Oregon 97845 www.nsvrc.org/saam #SAAM #IAsk © 2020 National Sexual Violence Resource Center. All rights reserved. S181243-1 Heart of Grant County, 541-620-1342 • Grant County Victim Assistance Program, 541-575-4026. This project was supported by Grant No. 2015-WR-AX-0008 awarded by the Office on Violence Against Women, U.S. Department of Justice. The opinions, findings, conclusions, and recommendations expressed in this publication/ program/exhibition are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Department of Justice, Office on Violence Against Women. Designed by the Blue Mountain Eagle. Remember: sex without consent = sexual assault S181104-1