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
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© 2020 National Sexual Violence Resource Center. All rights reserved.
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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
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