SECOND CORONAVIRUS CASE CONFIRMED IN GRANT COUNTY| PAGE A5
Wednesday, July 22, 2020
152nd Year • No. 30 • 16 Pages • $1.50
MyEagleNews.com
Back in the classroom
Schools in Grant County are planning to open their doors
By Rudy Diaz
Blue Mountain Eagle
While students around Grant
County continue their summer break
amid the ever-present limitations of
COVID-19, school administrators and
staff continue their arduous work with
the next school year on the horizon.
In a press release on July 16, Gov.
Kate Brown issued a statement on the
coming school year.
“As COVID-19 continues to
spread across Oregon, it has become
clear that school this fall will not
look like a normal year,” Brown said.
“Whether or not kids are in school
buildings this fall, we must provide
the very best possible education for
every single Oregon student, while
ensuring that the school experience is
as safe as possible for everyone.”
School administrators in Grant
County continue planning since state
guidance from the Oregon Depart-
ment of Education and Oregon Health
Administration will be updated on
July 21 past press time and again in
August. However, many schools
anticipate to provide on-site instruc-
tion while complying with the state
guidance and regulations.
Schools also plan to provide an
online or hybrid alternative class for
people who do not feel comfortable
with in-person lessons.
Grant School District 3 Superin-
tendent Bret Uptmor said its schools
plan to open.
“Right now we’re planning on
opening up our schools, and we’re
following all the guidelines for the 35
square feet per person,” Uptmor said.
“We’re trying to make as much dis-
tance as we can between kids.”
Uptmor said some furniture is
being removed from classrooms to
make space. Modifications to class
schedules for students at Grant Union
Junior-Senior High School are also
being made.
Grant Union students will be on a
four-period day, which will alternate
each day on an A, B block schedule.
“We call it an A-B block schedule
with Monday and Wednesday being A
See Schools, Page A16
IMPACT OF PANDEMIC
Contributed photo/Grant County Assessor’s Office
Oregon county fairs likely
to see funding cut in half
The fire that began at Tim Jewell’s proper-
ty near Kimberly burned a little more than
30 acres of land.
‘It’s going to be pretty
devastating for us’
Neighbors rescue
Jewell from fire
By Steven Mitchell
Blue Mountain Eagle
By Rudy Diaz
Blue Mountain Eagle
A house was destroyed by a fire near
Kimberly on July 1, but thanks to the
determined work of neighbors, a man was
saved from being engulfed along with his
home.
Tim
Jewell
noticed a fire on
his property, and
he went back to his
house to get some-
thing to extinguish
the fire. He fell in a
rut and got caught
up in a barbed-
Contributed photo/
wire fence.
Grant County
Jewell said he
Assessor’s Office
was stuck and was
unable to get up Tim Jewell’s home
and get himself to before a fire July 1.
safety. He said the
fire started to grow,
and the next thing he knew, his neighbor
Dennis Abraham was trying to pick him
up by his pants.
“I remember saying, ‘Don’t, don’t,
I’ve got a bad back,’ and he said we gotta
get outta here,” Jewell said. “The fire was
right on us. It was like Vietnam. You got a
fire fight, and here it is. We’re both veter-
ans, and we know about that.”
Jewell said that Abraham was not able
to pick him up and yelled out to Mike
Osborne, who was at the scene, for assis-
tance. They were able to get Jewell up and
take him to safety out of the fire.
While Jewell does not remember much
else of the moment, possibly caused by
smoke inhalation because he was spitting
out black residue, he can’t express how
grateful he is for their life-saving effort
See Fire, Page A16
County fairs across the state are
likely to see their funding cut in
half in December.
According to Bart Noll, chair-
man of the Oregon Fair Associa-
tion, state lawmakers intend to cut
$1 million in lottery revenue from
the county fair account, which is
the primary source of funding for
Oregon’s county
fairs.
Noll said Thurs-
day’s announce-
ment took him by
surprise because
the OFA had
assured the fund-
ing would be in the
Mindy
Winegar
budget proposal.
Noll said each
county fair receives $25,000, a
“modest amount.”
“It’s going to be pretty devas-
tating for us,” Grant County Fair-
grounds Manager Mindy Winegar
said.
Noll said the OFA has success-
fully leveraged its allocations in
years past and turned that money
into significant returns to the state
by putting on events, renting out
facilities and hosting other group
activities.
Noll said cutting a county fair’s
primary source of funding puts a
county in a situation where they
cannot turn a profit.
Eagle file photo
Grant County Fairgrounds staff are, from left, Tanni Wenger, Manager Mindy Winegar and Dusty Williams, ride
in last year’s parade.
“And so then that calls into
question: Are they going to have
the money to start up again in
2021?” he said. “If you have no
money, you can’t even open the
doors to begin with.”
Noll said the OFA has been
the first organization to take bud-
get cuts in the past to help the state
with its budget woes. That is not
the case this time.
“Now, its become an existential
thing,” he said.
Noll said the fairs do not have
the means to make the cuts.
Already, he said, aging fair-
ground facilities and rising main-
tenance costs are rendering more
fairgrounds unsuitable for public
use.
Smaller rural fairs, like Grant
County, also struggle to attract
large crowds. Last year, Win-
egar said the company con-
tracted to provide the carnival
at the Grant County Fair can-
celed and the fair could not
find a replacement, opting for
other forms of entertainment
instead.
Noll said the OFA planned to
request an additional $25,000 in
operating funds for each county
fairgrounds statewide in the legis-
lative short session this year. Noll
said OFA also requested additional
funding for a $250,000 study to
determine maintenance and struc-
tural work that needs to be done at
county fairgrounds statewide.
See Funding, Page A16
LOCAL IMPACT
Grant County Fair adapts amid coronavirus
By Steven Mitchell
Blue Mountain Eagle
Grant County Fair organizers
said they are moving forward with
a spaced-out, modified exposition
next month, scheduled Aug. 7-15,
amid the coronavirus pandemic.
Grant County Fair Manager
Mindy Winegar said the fair falls
under Gov. Kate Brown’s guide-
lines as a “Venue and Event Oper-
ator,” which allows the fairgrounds
to have 250 people.
Winegar said the fair could sep-
arate the venues as well.
“We could have 250 people at
the pavilion and heritage barn, and
then we could have 250 people at
the rodeo grounds,” Winegar said.
“We just have to make sure that it’s
completely separated.”
Winegar said the 250 cap
includes volunteers, employees and
fairgoers.
“I won’t be able to have more
than 250 bodies at a venue,” she
said.
She said the fair would not
have food vendors, rides or the
Contributed photo
Prairie City FFA member Shaine Madden was the Champion Senior Swine
Showman at the 2019 Grant County Fair.
usual entertainment.
She said she has received a per-
mit from the governor’s office to
hold a parade Aug. 15, which will
begin at 11 a.m. at Grant Union
High School and end up at Napa
Autoparts.
Winegar said the activities at
this year’s fair dwindled to team
branding, dog trials and 4-H and
FFA youth livestock and auctions.
She said team branding and dog
trials kick-off at the outdoor arena
Aug. 14 at 1 p.m.
She said she does not have the
schedule yet, but she will post it to
grantcountyoregon.net.
“Our priority is to make sure
that 4-H and FFA can put on their
show and that the youth can have
their options,” she said.
Winegar said, for some of the
4-H and FFA kids, selling their live-
stock could mean the difference
between whether they play a sport
or buy school clothes in the fall.
“It can be devastating to some
families,” she said.
Bonni Booth, 4-H/SNAP-Ed
Program coordinator for Grant
County Oregon State University
Extension Office, said they are fol-
lowing Oregon Health Authority
guidelines for 4-H and FFA activ-
ities, which were updated July 17.
Booth said the activities will be
closed to the public, and the youths
will be in “stable” groups of 10.
Each will be given a yet-to-be-an-
nounced number of guest passes,
and guests will be asked to wear
color-coded bracelets that will be
closely monitored.
The 4-H activities will be held
at Keerins Hall, and the youth
will submit static exhibits Aug.
3-4 between 9 a.m. and 1 p.m. by
appointment only. She said the kids
can pick up their exhibits on Aug.
7 between 9 a.m. and 1 p.m. by
See Fair, Page A16