GRANT COUNTY FAIR EVENTS ALL LINED UP
PAGES A6 & A16
The Eagle/Steven Mitchell
Youth show their lambs at the
Grant County Fairgrounds Sun-
day during a youth livestock
show. Shows continue through
Friday and can be viewed on-
line. Public Grant County Fair
events kick off Friday.
Wednesday, August 12, 2020
152nd Year • No. 33 • 16 Pages • $1.50
MyEagleNews.com
OSAA moves fall high school sports to spring 2021
Football, volleyball and
cross country on hold
EO Media Group
The Oregon School Activities
Association executive board voted
Wednesday, Aug. 5, to move high
school football and other fall sports
to the spring of 2021.
This
decision
affects
Aasness named
grand marshal
of 111th Grant
County Fair
cross-country, soccer and volley-
ball as well.
“Today’s decisions by the exec-
utive board provide a framework
to maximize the potential oppor-
tunity for students in Oregon to
participate in three seasons during
the 2020-21 school year,” OSAA
Executive Director Peter Weber
said in a press release. “The board
recognized that a one size fits all
approach isn’t what’s best for stu-
dents across the state. By waiving
policy to allow regional participa-
tion this fall, local school districts
will have the discretion for partic-
ipation in those areas that are able
to do so safely per state directives.”
Practices for those sports can
start on Feb. 22, 2021, according
to the schedule the OSAA execu-
tive board approved.
The OSAA’s new calendar
provides for three distinct sea-
sons from late December to late
June with limited overlap between
seasons.
Traditional winter activities
will take place in January and Feb-
ruary, followed by fall activities in
March and April, with spring activ-
ities occurring in May and June.
Each season will feature
an equitable seven-week regu-
lar season, with adjusted contest
limitations.
Eagle file photo
Prairie City/Burnt River Panther Jayden Win-
egar (5) deflects a ball intended for Triangle
Lake receiver Ben Wyse (87).
“WE WILL NOT BE RUNNING (THE EOC) THE WAY IT WAS BEFORE.”
—Paul Gray, Grant County emergency management coordinator
By Steven Mitchell
Blue Mountain Eagle
Grant County Fair grand mar-
shal John Aasness, who moved to the
area in 1957, said it was an honor to
be named grand marshal for the 111th
Grant County Fair Parade.
The longtime Grant County resi-
dent and veteran of ranching and log-
ging industry said,
over the years, the
fair was always the
place to be toward
the end of August
and beginning of
September.
“All of the ranch-
ers would be there
John
Aasness
with their families for
the rodeo after they
were done with their haying,” he said.
“It was always a big family affair.”
Aasness, a former deputy sheriff,
has been involved with the fairgrounds
over the years, overseeing a commu-
nity service work crew with “local fel-
ons,” which raked leaves and took care
of the grounds.
He said two of the people on those
crews were certified carpenters and
built nearly 50 picnic tables.
“I spent 10 years as a deputy under
four sheriffs,” he said. “I knew the
legal limitations and what I could do
with them.”
See Fair, Page A16
Eagle photos/Steven Mitchell
An airplane prepares to take off from the Grant County Regional Airport Thursday to respond a fire.
New emergency coordinator
recommends EOC move out of airport
Paul Gray, who started Aug. 3, says center will have one paid staffer and, if needed, a volunteer
By Steven Mitchell
Blue Mountain Eagle
The county’s newly hired emer-
gency management coordinator
said Aug. 5 that he plans to move
the county’s COVID-19 Emer-
gency Operations Center out
of the Grant County Regional
Airport and into the Office of
Emergency Management at the
L building on Main Street.
Paul Gray, who took over the
department Aug. 3, said the corona-
virus is a “public health issue” and
that he is looking to develop a “uni-
fied command” between the health
department and the county.
“We will not be running (the
EOC) the way it was before,” Gray
said.
In addition to moving the EOC
to the L building, Gray said the staff
would consist of himself and a yet-
to-be-named EOC manager, and vol-
unteers if he sees a need.
Gray said, as Harney County’s
A helicopter takes off from the Grant
County Regional Airport Thursday
to respond to one of several fires re-
ported after a lightning storm.
emergency management coordina-
tor, a post he held for three years, the
department spent less than $10,000
on its COVID-19 response.
He said Harney’s EOC operated
with a skeleton crew that consisted
of him, a 911 dispatcher who came
in on her days off and a volunteer
who came and helped distribute per-
sonal protective equipment to the
community.
“I’m not looking at having a
mass amount of people work-
ing under me unless we have
a major disaster,” Gray said.
“This (COVID-19) is still a
disaster, but it’s not to the point
where I need more people there
than I need. I’m not just going to
throw people in just to have people
there.”
Grant County’s EOC had as
many as 12 full-time and part-time
employees, with some working over-
time, costing the county more than
$100,000 in personnel costs alone in
12 weeks, from March through May.
The county’s EOC faced commu-
nity-wide scrutiny in June for over-
spending its $125,000 budget by
almost $75,000.
See EOC, Page A16
MEET PAUL GRAY
Grant County has
hired Paul Gray as
emergency manage-
ment coordinator. Gray,
an Army veteran, has 20
years of FEMA experi-
ence and is a state-certi-
fied incident command
instructor.
The Ohio native said
he eats, sleeps and
breathes emergency
management. He said
he found himself in the
office on his last vaca-
tion and has always,
as far back as he can
remember, been drawn
to emergency response
and preparedness. Gray
spent three years as
Harney County’s emer-
gency manager.
A helicopter prepares to take off Thursday from the Grant County Regional Airport. Airport manager Haley Walker says the Emergency Operations Center,
which has been at the airport since April to respond to the coronavirus, would make aviation at the airport “difficult.” New Emergency Management Coor-
dinator Paul Gray plans to move the EOC from the airport to the Emergency Management office.