STATE RELEASES GUIDELINES FOR REOPENING SCHOOLS IN FALL | PAGE A9
Wednesday, June 17, 2020
152nd Year • No. 25 • 16 Pages • $1.50
MyEagleNews.com
Eastern Oregon county representatives fed up
with governor’s COVID-19 reopening plan
Lake County
commissioner: ‘We’re
oppressed by our state’
By Steven Mitchell
Blue Mountain Eagle
A group of Eastern Oregon county
commissioners met unannounced
Thursday in Prairie City to share
common frustrations over Gov. Kate
Brown’s closures amid the COVID-
19 pandemic.
Fed up with Brown’s unilateral
authority to reopen the state and con-
trol of how federal aid money will be
disbursed, representatives from seven
Eastern Oregon counties strategized
about getting their voices heard in
Salem and discussed what the conse-
quences of standing up to the gover-
nor might be.
Commissioners from Grant, Lake,
Deschutes, Wallowa, Harney, Union
and Jefferson counties agreed county
health departments should determine
when counties are able to open and
establish local guidelines.
Dubbed an “information seminar,”
organized by Lake County Commis-
sioner Mark Albertson, the event was
Oregon Supreme
Court sides with
Gov. Brown
Judge Matt Shirtcliff ordered
to vacate preliminary injunction
EO Media Group
The Oregon Supreme Court has decided Baker
County Circuit Court Judge Matt Shirtcliff erred in
his ruling last month that Gov. Kate Brown exceeded
her legal authority in issuing executive orders related
to the coronavirus pandemic.
The state’s highest court on Friday issued a rul-
ing ordering Shirtcliff to vacate his May 18 decision
granting a preliminary injunction to a group of plain-
tiffs, including Elkhorn Baptist Church in Baker City,
who sued the governor May 6.
The Supreme Court issued a tem-
porary stay on Shirtcliff’s ruling later
on the day he made that decision,
so the governor’s executive orders,
which limit business activity and
the size of public gatherings, among
other things, have remained in effect
over the past few weeks pending the
Judge Matt
Supreme Court’s ruling.
Shirtcliff
The lawsuit remains in effect, as
the Supreme Court’s ruling was lim-
ited to Shirtcliff’s granting of a preliminary injunction.
Shirtcliff agreed with the plaintiffs’ contention that
because Brown, in issuing several executive orders
since March, invoked the state’s public health emer-
gency law, chapter 433 of the Oregon Revised Stat-
utes, those orders were constrained by the 28-day
limit prescribed in that law.
The governor’s lawyers argued the executive
orders were not subject to the 28-day limit because
Brown, in her initial March 8 declaration of an emer-
gency related to the coronavirus, cited a different law,
Oregon Revised Statutes chapter 401, which has no
time limit.
Oregon Supreme Court Justice Christopher L. Gar-
rett filed an opinion, which Justice Thomas A. Balmer
joined, concurring with the governor’s lawyers’ argu-
ment that Brown’s executive orders are not limited to
28 days.
That wasn’t the only reason Garrett cited in deter-
mining that Shirtcliff must vacate his May 18 decision.
Garrett also wrote in his opinion that Shirtcliff
exceeded his range of discretion by failing to properly
consider the governor’s authority during emergencies
to determine what is in the public’s interest.
The Eagle/Steven Mitchell
Grant County Commissioner Sam Palmer, left, listens as Lake County Commis-
sioner Mark Albertson discusses the impacts of Gov. Kate Brown’s reopening
plans to his community Thursday in Prairie City. The meeting, which was not
announced to the public, was organized by Albertson.
not announced to the public or the
media. The Eagle and Oregon Pub-
tatives were reluctant to enter the Prai-
rie City Visitors Center.
“We did not know the press was
showing up,” Albertson said. “It’s
spooky, and it’s, to be honest with
you, it’s spooky because all of us have
been burned.”
Grant County Commissioner Sam
Palmer said after the meeting he
believes rural people and viewpoints
are often mocked in the press and not
taken seriously, much like he believes
state leaders in Salem ignore rural
sentiments.
lic Broadcasting negotiated their way
into the event as some of the represen-
See Fed up, Page A16
Commissioners disagree over
EOC budget, public meeting laws
EOC gets word it
will be reimbursed as
budget transfers needed
to shore up shortfall
By Steven Mitchell
Blue Mountain Eagle
Grant County Court mem-
bers approved a $37,000 budget
transfer to cover the COVID-
19 Emergency Operations Cen-
ter’s $75,000 budget shortfall to
make payroll, pay bills and con-
tinue functioning.
County Commissioners Jim
Hamsher, the EOC liaison, and
Sam Palmer, the EOC pub-
lic information officer, fended
off criticism and touted both
the accomplishments and fis-
cal responsibility of the EOC
during a contentious Grant
County Court session June 10.
In March, the county court
approved $125,000 — half of
the initial $250,000 former Inci-
dent Commander Dave Dobler
requested — with the plan to
reassess in 45 days.
During a May 27 update
of the EOC’s finances, Dobler
presented a document that
appeared to be working from
the $250,000 amount, a figure
not approved by the court.
Grant County Treasurer Julie
Ellison said during Dobler’s
presentation to the court that
the EOC would need a budget
transfer to make payroll and pay
bills.
Documents presented to the
court by Dobler show the EOC
obligated nearly $200,000 in
payments for personnel services
and supply procurements.
The court, when it approved
Dobler’s procurement request,
added the direction that “any
future purchases over $200
The Eagle/Steven Mitchell
Grant County Commissioner Sam Palmer, left, and County Judge Scott Myers go through county bud-
get resolutions during Wednesday’s County Court session. The court approved a $37,000 infusion
from the General Fund to fix the Emergency Operation Center’s budget shortfall.
would need to be approved by
the county court,” according to
the approved meeting minutes.
Despite the court’s direc-
tion and unanimous vote, Ham-
sher said the rule was some-
thing Grant County Judge Scott
Myers wanted. He said Oregon
law gives counties additional
flexibility with expenditures
after declaring an emergency.
“I think (the $200 limit) was
in the motion, but it doesn’t
make it, you know, make it
so,” Hamsher said Thursday.
“It’s just like we can approve
anything.”
Oregon law allows counties
to “enter into contracts and incur
obligations necessary to miti-
gate, prepare for, respond to or
recover from an emergency or
major disaster,” but the section
about county emergencies does
not mention superseding other
state laws, such as requirements
for meetings to be open to the
public, prohibitions on mem-
bers of a governing body meet-
ing in private to deliberate and
The Eagle/Steven Mitchell
Grant County Regional Airport
Manager Haley Walker asked
the County Court Wednesday
what the Emergency Operation
Center’s long-term plan will be
now that county offices have
reopened.
requirements for public notice
and written minutes.
Myers said the motion
for court approval of pur-
chases over $200 was a motion
approved by the court.
“It’s not a written resolu-
tion. It’s a motion by the court
and passed unanimously by
the court — moved, seconded
and passed,” he said. “It is not
variable.”
Hamsher said the direction
to get approval by the court for
purchases of over $200 would
not work during an emergency.
“You can’t bring (expendi-
tures of) 200 bucks to a court
meeting during an emergency,”
he said. “Especially when you
can’t have meetings (because of
social distancing guidelines), so
that’s why they have (Oregon
Revised Statutes) that allow you
to do that kind of stuff.”
Gov. Kate Brown’s exec-
utive orders allow for in-per-
son meetings with appropriate
social distancing.
Hamsher said, with the court-
house shut down under Brown’s
social distancing guidelines,
the court could not meet until
Brown passed her April 15
executive order “authorizing
See Budget, Page A16
Petition to recall Oregon governor circulating in rural counties
By Ellen Morris Bishop
EO Media Group
Oregon Republican chairman
Bill Currier is trying to unseat Ore-
gon Gov. Kate Brown again with his
“Stop the Abuse: Recall Kate Brown”
petition, and Wallowa County volun-
teers are providing opportunities to
sign it here before time runs out Aug.
31.
“We have only had the petitions
in the county for about a week,”
said Annette Lathrop, the Wallowa
County Republican chairwoman who
is spearheading the drive in Wallowa
County.
The petition was approved by the
Oregon Secretary of State’s Elec-
tions Division June 3. On June 4, the
first signature sheets were personally
delivered to Lathrop by special cou-
rier. Lathrop is leading the drive as
EO Media Group/Ellen Morris Bishop
Karen and David Wurdinger of Enter-
prise sign both the Gov. Brown recall
and Greater Idaho petitions at the pe-
tition booth in Lostine Friday.
an independent volunteer rather than
an official function of the Wallowa
County Republican Party, she said.
“The Republican Party is support-
ing this petition, but is not the driv-
ing force behind it,” she said. “Tech-
nically, it’s a non-partisan petition
drive.”
“In a week we’ve gotten between
400 and 500 signatures,” she said on
June 12. “Given what I know today,
it looks like in the first two weeks of
this petition drive, we will surpass the
numbers that we got in all of last year
in Wallowa County.”
Statewide, the petition needs
280,050 valid signatures to make the
November ballot. Lathrop said the
group’s goal is 300,000.
“Last time the petition was kind of
a quick reaction to the egregious leg-
islation (cap and trade and gun rights
restrictions) that was rushed through.
Currier and the group that were the
skeletal designers of that petition last
year have worked since that time
to put together a well thought-out,
well-structured petition drive. Imme-
diately out of the gate it had a thou-
sand volunteers on the ground, ready
to go to work. There are coordinators
in just about every county,” Lathrop
said.
According to the effort’s website,
katebrownrecall.com, Frances Preston
is the point of contact for weekly sign-
ing opportunities from 1-7 p.m. Sat-
urdays through Sept. 25 at Mountain
View Mini-Mart in Prairie City. The
phone number listed is 907-723-7613.
This time, Currier’s recall petition
is sponsored not only by the Oregon
Republican Party, but by a group of
“coalition partners” and advisers that
are part of a political action committee.
“Contributors include Timber Unity,
Slavic Vote, and a number of west-side
See Recall, Page A16