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About The Blue Mountain eagle. (John Day, Or.) 1972-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 16, 2020)
LOCALS DONATE AS OREGON FIRES BURN 1 MILLION ACRES, KILL AT LEAST 10| PAGE A2 Wednesday, September 16, 2020 152nd Year • No. 38 • 16 Pages • $1.50 MyEagleNews.com Keys, laptops, receipts remain unaccounted for at EOC Emergency manager moved supplies out of the airport amid reports of people entering the airport terminal after hours By Steven Mitchell Blue Mountain Eagle Keys, laptops, receipts and daily activity reports related to the nearly $250,000 spent by the Grant County COVID-19 Emergency Operations Center remained unaccounted for Thursday. Paul Gray, the county’s new emer- gency management coordinator, said he moved the EOC out of the Grant County schools adjusting to a COVID-19 year Online or in-person, the new school year is underway with something new at each building By Rudy Diaz Blue Mountain Eagle Offline or online, education in Grant County valiantly persists amid COVID- 19 as students and staff adapt to the changes of a new school year. The new year also means new enroll- ment numbers, staff members and more for each school district. County Regional Airport. Amid reports that people were let- ting themselves into the airport termi- nal after hours and going into offices where the county had stored recently purchased communications equip- ment, Gray said he moved the office sooner than he had planned. Initially, he said he wanted former EOC staffer Seth Klingbeil to go through the sup- plies with him to see if other depart- ments checked out anything and if anything was missing, but said he did not want to take the chance with the county’s investment. “I just wanted to get this stuff out,” he said. “I was being told that people were up there quite a bit, and I didn’t want to leave it up there and have people going through there and taking stuff.” Airport Manager Haley Walker said 14 master keys to the airport were issued, but so far, only six have been returned. She said the airport will be changing its locks. Gray said Klingbeil told him in an email four were locked in Paul Gray a safe, but Gray does not have the combination to verify whether they are there. Both Gray and County Commis- sioner Jim Hamsher were also wait- ing for Klingbeil to share passwords to the EOC finance team’s computers so they could retrieve documentation sent to the state from Witt O’Brien, the service the county contracted with to prepare reimbursement doc- uments for COVID-19 expenditures. In July, the Eagle filed a pub- lic records request for the electronic file the county used to determine COVID-19 expenditures to the state for reimbursement. Paperwork sent to the state on behalf of the county from Witt O’Brien states Grant County is track- ing labor costs, which include “Daily Activity Reports (214’s), employee names, dates.” See EOC, Page A8 ‘Sex talk’ Deputy recorded on jail phone having sexual conversations with inmate paid over $100,000 during 18-month leave Prairie City School Superintendent Casey Hallgarth said the new school year presented new habits and adjustment that students are still get- ting used to. However, staff and faculty continue to help kids with reminders of the guidelines and providing options for students. Hallgarth said students have three face covering options to choose from, which are face masks, face shields or face shields that go over the rim of a hat. “Normally we don’t let them wear their hats in school, but this is an adjust- ment. If you want to have your face shield over your hat, then you’re allowed to wear a hat,” Hallgarth said. “I’m not speak- ing for every school, but I imagine this is a learning curve for a lot of school dis- tricts, and we’re doing our best to adhere to Gov. Brown’s guidance for schools.” Hallgarth said it’s important to note that no kid is going to be in trouble if they use one of the three options. The school is adjusting to the higher need of cleaning and hired another person to help with the demand. The cleaning crew does the spot cleaning for the bath- rooms, the door knobs, high traffic spots and wipes down the playground equip- ment after every recess and more. Betty Ann Wilson, 15, a sophomore, said the school year has been going well and that wearing masks hasn’t been her favorite, but staff are doing a great job making sure people have masks on. “It’s not terrible, and I’m just glad to be here instead of online,” Wilson said. “It’s nice to be here.” See School, Page A8 Sheriff Glenn Palmer The Eagle/Rudy Diaz The Grant County Sheriff’s Of- fice Sept. 15. A lawsuit accuses Sheriff Glenn Palmer of dis- seminating explicit photos, but Palmer denies the accusation. District Attorney Jim Carpenter Lawsuit, complaint claim sheriff discriminated against whistleblower, disseminated underage nude photos Tyler Smith By Sean Hart Blue Mountain Eagle ex talk” recorded between a deputy and emailed questions, but his attorney has filed an inmate, allegations another deputy a motion to dismiss the lawsuit on procedural faced retaliation for reporting it and that grounds. the district attorney and sheriff’s office dissemi- Palmer’s attorney said the sheriff “never pos- nated underage nude photos — a recent lawsuit sessed or reviewed any of the material” Olson and complaint allege alleges and that he multiple incidents of intends to file a coun- DOZENS OF PHONE CALLS terclaim for slander misconduct by crimi- BETWEEN MOBLEY AND nal justice officials in against her. Grant County. Olson said the MORTIMORE WERE RECORDED information John Day resident on her Haley Olson claims phone also indicated ON THE JAIL PHONE, Grant County Sher- she was in a rela- FREQUENTLY INVOLVING iff Glenn Palmer and tionship with for- mer sheriff’s deputy Grant County District ‘SEXUALLY EXPLICIT Tyler Smith, and text Attorney Jim Carpen- DISCUSSIONS.’ ter violated her rights messages between by obtaining and dis- them discuss Smith seminating private materials from her cellphone reporting to the Oregon Department of Justice in 2019, including nude photos of her when she that Deputy Abigail Mobley was having an inti- was younger than 18, in an Aug. 28 complaint in mate relationship with an inmate and using drugs from the evidence locker, according to a Jan. 5 U.S. District Court in Pendleton. Carpenter said he reviewed the data from complaint Olson filed with the licensing agency her cellphone, “clearly personal in nature,” and for Oregon police officers. deleted it without sharing it, in a Dec. 4, 2019, See Sex talk, Page A6 letter to Olson. Carpenter did not respond to ‘S Haley Olson Abigail Mobley Darren Mortimore