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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