HAPPY
INDEPENDENCE DAY
Wednesday, July 1, 2020
152nd Year • No. 27 • 18 Pages • $1.50
MyEagleNews.com
RIDING
The Eagle/Steven Mitchell
Grant County Sheriff’s Office escorts riders through John
Day to the Elk’s Lodge for a sign dedication and luncheon
Sunday as the Oregon Veterans Motorcycle Association
dedicated Highway 26 a POW/MIA memorial highway.
FOR THOSE WHO CAN’T
Highway 26 dedicated to prisoners of war and servicemembers missing in action
By Steven Mitchell
Blue Mountain Eagle
The Eagle/Steven Mitchell
Cliff Brumels, left, and Larry Moyer, orga-
nizers with the Oregon Veterans Motorcycle
Association, dedicate the POW/MIA sign in
front of the John Day Elks Lodge Sunday.
R
oughly 80 motorcycle rid-
ers from the Oregon Veterans
Motorcycle Association passed
through John Day Sunday to
dedicate Highway 26 to
prisoners of war and servicemembers miss-
ing in action as community members lined
the streets with flags to honor them.
With a sheriff’s escort, the riders stopped
at the John Day Elk’s Lodge for lunch and
a sign dedication.
Grant County Sheriff Glenn Palmer,
a veteran, said it was an honor to escort
the caravan of motorcyclists through the
county.
“I have always believed that it is our
duty as public servants to be giving of our
time and resources to those who have and
most likely with the MIA’s and POW’s,
gave the ultimate sacrifice in service to our
nation and it’s citizens,” he said. “I don’t
believe that we should turn our backs on
County department heads criticize court
over lack of leadership and communication
By Steven Mitchell
Blue Mountain Eagle
Grant County department heads last
week criticized county court members
for lack of leadership and transparency
regarding operations of the county amid
the global pandemic.
Eric Julsrud, Grant County water-
master, said he participated in a session
of county court May 27 and asked many
of the same questions and they were not
answered then.
Julsrud said Grant County Commis-
sioner Jim Hamsher emailed the depart-
ment heads a “draft” of policies and
procedures pertaining to operations of
county departments.
“I’m confused why draft documents
would be sent out to department heads,”
he said. “That is not direction, direction
would be, ‘We are gonna do this, folks.’”
Hamsher said the reason why depart-
Eric
Julsrud
Kathy
Stinnett
Sam
Palmer
ment heads received the document was
so they could give feedback before the
draft was turned into a policy. Hamsher
said all departments operate differently,
and he did not want the county to turn
out a finalized, “one-size-fits-all” policy.
Julsrud said Hamsher’s email did not
ask for feedback.
Hamsher said the county’s insurance
company still has not come out with
guidance for the county.
Myers said he was on a call with the
fairgrounds, the extension office and the
county’s insurance carrier, and the insur-
Jim
Hamsher
Hailey
Boethin
ance company said, at least on that call,
that as long as the county follows the
governor’s COVID-19 guidelines they
would be covered on a claim.
Myers said, despite not wiping down
surfaces as well as they should as the
guidelines dictate, the county is not in
violation of any of Gov. Kate Brown’s
guidelines.
“As long as we can assure social dis-
tancing, I think we are doing a pretty
good job of it,” he said. “Except for the
See Court, Page A18
Grant money available for
local small businesses July 6
Application window is July 6-12
By Steven Mitchell
Blue Mountain Eagle
Small businesses in Grant County will
be able to apply for grant money July 6.
Stephanie LeQuieu, Grant County rural
venture catalyst with Oregon RAIN, said
the state of Oregon’s COVID-19 Emer-
gency Grant is for small businesses that
were adversely impacted by economic
conditions associated with the COVID-19
pandemic that have not received federal
emergency assistance under the federal
CARES Act or other federal programs to
date, which include the Payroll Protection
See Money, Page A18
The Eagle/Steven Mitchell
Stephanie LeQuieu, Grant County rural
venture catalyst with Oregon RAIN, during
Wednesday’s County Court session.
these folks, which also goes to show for
those who have served and are no lon-
ger living and those currently serving or
those who may serve in the future — gives
a sense of understanding to those that
we will never forget what they gave and
where they have been and what they have
done and for some what they have been
through.”
See Riding, Page A18
Masks now required in indoor
public spaces statewide
Brown: Modeling
shows hospitals could
be overwhelmed within
weeks without action
By Gary A. Warner
For the Oregon Capital Bureau
All Oregon residents will
be required to wear masks or
face coverings in indoor pub-
lic spaces starting Wednes-
day to help curb the spread of
COVID-19, Gov. Kate Brown
announced Monday.
“Over the last month, we
have seen the disease spread at
an alarming rate in both urban
and rural counties,” Brown said
in a statement announcing the
mask order.
While
state
officials
expected to see an increase in
positive cases following the lift-
ing of restrictions “reopening”
the state, the rate of increase
comes as the state heads into
the July 4th holiday weekend,
which Brown called “a critical
point” in the pandemic.
The mandate is already
required in eight counties
including Multnomah, Marion,
Polk and Washington counties.
The move aligns Oregon with
neighboring California, which
has ordered masks be worn
indoors.
Oregon Occupational Safety
and Health will take the lead in
enforcing face covering require-
ments, along with other state
and local agencies, Brown said.
The governor has repeatedly
said she did not want to use a
heavy hand in enforcement,
hoping that Oregonians would
voluntarily follow the face-cov-
ering edicts.
“Modeling from the Oregon
Pamplin Media Group photo
Governor Kate Brown wears a
mask May 7.
Health Authority shows that, if
we don’t take further action to
reduce the spread of the disease,
our hospitals could be over-
whelmed by new COVID-19
cases and hospitalizations within
weeks,” Brown said in the
release. “The choices every sin-
gle one of us make in the coming
days matter.”
Even top national health
experts are unsure that Ameri-
cans will heed the advice.
Dr. Anthony Fauci, the top
U.S. infectious-disease expert,
said earlier this week that he
was concerned at attitudes in the
country that have made wearing
masks into a political issue.
“One of the problems we face
in the United States is that, unfor-
tunately, there is a combination
of an anti-science bias that peo-
ple are — for reasons that some-
times are, you know, inconceiv-
able and not understandable
— they just don’t believe sci-
ence and they don’t believe
authority,” Fauci said on a pod-
cast from the U.S. Department
of Health and Human Services.
See Masks, Page A18