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About The Blue Mountain eagle. (John Day, Or.) 1972-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 23, 2020)
KEEPING STUDENTS HEALTHY DURING THE PANDEMIC LOO INSIDE K IN SIDE FOR REG ION AL H EALT H ST ORIE S AN D M EDIC AL E XPE RT C OLU MNS SCH NU OOL RS KEE HEA PING STU ES LE DE LT TH RNING HY F NTS E PA DU OR ND RING EM IC A PAG E Wednesday, September 23, 2020 10 152nd Year • No. 39 • 12 Pages • $1.50 MyEagleNews.com Who is running for local office? By Rudy Diaz Blue Mountain Eagle The Eagle/Steven Mitchell Veterans bow their heads in prayer Friday ahead of the POW/MIA sign dedication at the Elks Lodge parking lot. POW/MIA Memorial Highway 26 salutes prisoners of war and service members missing in action By Steven Mitchell Blue Mountain Eagle R oughly 50 people came out to honor prison- ers of war and ser- vice members miss- ing in action Friday at the John Day Elks Lodge parking lot as John Day and five other cities dedicated Highway 26 a POW/MIA Memorial Highway. John Day resident and Vietnam veteran Robert Van Voorhis said the purpose of the POW/MIA Memo- rial Highway is to honor Oregon’s nearly 1,000 POWs, of whom 200 died in captivity. He said Highway 26 is the eighth highway in Oregon dedicated to POWs/MIAs. The new POW/MIA Memorial Highway came about because of a request to the Legisla- ture by the Bend Heroes Foundation in 2019. John Day resident and Vietnam veteran George Wright, who served from 1971 to 1973, said the cere- mony honors veterans like him who, when returning home from Vietnam, were looked down upon. “People didn’t talk to you back then,” he said. “In the airports, they’d yell all sorts of insults and spit on you.” Prairie City resident and Korean War POW Melvin Rookstool was honored Friday. Rookstool joined the Army at 16 and was taken pris- oner with approximately 400 oth- ers. Out of those 400 prisoners, Rookstool was one of 21 who were liberated. Rookstool was awarded the Pur- ple Heart, Oak Leaf Cluster, Pris- oner of War Medal, Army of Occu- pation, President’s Citation, Korean Service Medal and Combat Infantry Badge. Another Grant County resident, Oscar “Whitey” Lent, a POW, was See Highway, Page A12 Many seats in Grant County are up for grabs this election year with 37 people filing for various positions. Residents can still try write-in campaigns to vie for open positions, but these are the names that will appear on the ballot. G r a n t County Sher- iff Glenn Palmer filed for re-elec- Todd tion, and Todd McKinley McKinley, the head of Grant County Com- munity Cor- rections, filed to run against Palmer for the four-year-posi- Sheriff Glenn tion. Palmer Julie Elli- son filed for re-election as the Grant County treasurer with nobody else filing for the four-year position. City councils The Eagle/Steven Mitchell Robert Hornbeck, left, honor guard of the American Legion, visits with Vivian Rookstool ahead of Friday’s dedication of Highway 26 as a POW/MIA Memorial Highway. Her late husband, Prairie City resident and Korean War POW Melvin Rookstool, was honored at the event. The Eagle/Steven Mitchell The Eagle/Steven Mitchell John Day resident and Vietnam veteran Neale Ledger- wood takes in Friday’s ceremony when Highway 26 was designated as a POW/MIA Memorial Highway. Charles Schmidt, American Legion past commander, ad- dresses the crowd Friday at the POW/MIA sign dedication at the Elks Lodge parking lot. City councils around the county saw 23 candidates fil- ing for open positions. John Day has three posi- tions at large for the city council with four-year terms and four candidates who filed to run: David Holland, Elliott Sky, Heather Rookstool and Chris Labhart. Prairie City has two seats in the city council at large for four-year terms with Brook Williams, Jenny Shaw and Candy Reagan filing for the positions. Canyon City has two seats in the city council at large for four-year terms with Lisa Weigum, Russ Comer and Rachelle Simmons filing for the positions. Mt. Vernon has two seats in the city council at large for four-year terms with Mike Cearns, Lori Kerr, Kelly Fla- nagan, Jan Lowry and Judi Bennett filing for the open positions. Dayville has Position 1 and Position 5 in the city council open for four-year terms with Tiffnie Schmadeka filing for Position 1 and Skip Inscore filing for Position 5. See Election, Page A12 Lamborn pursuing write-in campaign for circuit court judge By Rudy Diaz Blue Mountain Eagle Former judicial candidate John Lamborn is getting back in the race. Lamborn, an attorney from Burns, told the Eagle he will be pursuing a write-in campaign to be circuit court judge for Grant and Harney counties after he said candidate Jim Carpenter informed him he was suspending his campaign and endorsing Lamborn for the position. Carpenter, Grant County’s district attorney, did not respond to requests to confirm the suspension of his cam- paign. On the “Elect Jim Carpenter” Facebook page, a link was shared to Lamborn’s Facebook page for his write-in campaign. Carpenter is also the first listed name under endorse- ments on Lamborn’s campaign web- site, lambornforjudge.com. Eagle file photo Contributed photo District Attorney Jim Carpenter John Lamborn Grant County Clerk Brenda Percy said Carpenter has not told her person- ally about the suspension of his cam- paign, but it would have been too late to change the ballot or the voters pam- phlet. Percy said Carpenter will still appear as an active candidate on the ballot because Carpenter missed the withdrawal date. “From what I understand, he’s just not campaigning,” Percy said. “There’s specific dates that are man- dated that you have to meet to actually withdraw as a candidate.” In the May primary for the circuit court judge for the 24th district, John Day attorney Rob Raschio received 46.8% of the votes, followed by Car- penter with 32.6% and Lamborn with 20.3%. Because no candidate received 50% of the vote, Raschio and Carpen- ter will appear on the November ballot. Lamborn provided the Eagle with a signed letter he said Carpenter sent him Sept. 18. “After much careful thought and prayer, and having conferred with peo- ple close to me, I announced to my election committee members that as of Sept. 3, I had decided to suspend my efforts to campaign for the posi- tion,” the letter states. “I am announc- ing today my full support and endorse- ment of John Lamborn, who is running as a write-in candidate for the position of Grant-Harney County Circuit Court Judge.” See Judge, Page A12