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OCTOBER is Breast Cancer Awareness Month Wednesday, October 7, 2020 152nd Year • No. 41 • 18 Pages • $1.50 MyEagleNews.com GRANT COUNTY SHERIFF McKinley makes second bid for sheriff Former undersheriff says sheriff’s office should be a public office, not ‘their own club’ By Steven Mitchell Blue Mountain Eagle ELECTION In his second bid to unseat incum- bent Sheriff Glenn Palmer, Grant County Community Corrections Director Todd McKinley said his campaign has been mostly “quiet and mellow.” “My opponent seems to be doing most of the campaigning for me,” he said. “Why should I get in the way of that? He is digging his hole, and I’m not gonna step in the way.” McKinley said people had approached him, fed up with how, 2020 GRANT COUNTY SHERIFF in their opinion, Palmer has brought negative publicity to the county. He said a lawsuit and complaints alleging multiple incidents of miscon- duct by law enforcement officials in Grant County has earned the area the nickname “Hazzard County” after the 1980s sitcom “Dukes of Hazzard.” The show, which followed two “good old boys,” cousins Bo and Luke Duke, and their scrapes with the fictitious corrupt and incompetent local law enforce- Todd ment in rural “Haz- McKinley zard County” mir- rors a lot of what people see from outside of the county, McKinley said. “People are tired of this county having that kind of a stain on it,” he said. Having lost by such a narrow margin in 2016 — 2,208 to 2,065 — he said he needs roughly 75 peo- ple to change their minds to win next month’s election. “I think a lot more than that have come to me just saying, ‘We’re done,’” he said. He said a lot of people have asked him to keep his campaign mellow and quiet, stating they’re going to vote for him. “They don’t want to have signs in their yard because they are honestly concerned about repercussions from the current administration,” he said. “And it shouldn’t be that way.” McKinley said he has not wanted to “bash the current administration and the sheriff’s office.” “There’s many people in there, if I get elected I’m going to have to work with, and I get to work with. And there’s some good people there,” he said. Another reason why McKin- ley said he has been low-key in his approach to the election is that many in the community, in his opinion, regret voting for Palmer. “They’re glad I’m not sitting there with my finger in their face saying, ‘See, I told you so,’” he said. “ And I’m not going to do that, because they are also the citizenry I plan on serv- ing. I’m fairly confident that I’ll pre- vail this go-round, and there are just enough people, like I say, who are fed up.” He said he might never win over Palmer’s inner circle of supporters, and he is fine with that reality. He said he would serve all the See McKinley, Page A18 Grant County Sheriff Glenn Palmer declines to comment The Eagle reached out to Grant County Sher- iff Glenn Palmer Sept. 17 to schedule an inter- view about his campaign for reelection. Palmer responded to the Eagle’s request Sept. 21 with the following: “Due to the many past articles that were not always accurate, I am requesting all of the questions you are proposing to ask be in writing. I will respond in writing so that there is a record of what was asked and what was said and what the conversation consisted of. I will attempt to answer what I can that falls within ethical and legal con- fines and limitations to person- nel and legal matters that are pending.” While the Eagle was pre- paring the questions, Palmer replied Sept. 23, stating he Glenn Palmer changed his mind: “With respect, I am going to say that I decline to be interviewed by a news outlet that has chosen on multiple occasions to misrepre- sent facts, and twist words to fit what appears to be personal agendas of (its) reporters. In recent years, the BME has fallen away from trusted, unbiased reporting relied upon by so many in the past. In a rush to win the next investigatory news award, it rushes to print headlines and stories alleging misconduct by me, yet time and (again) those complaints, investigated by a third party agency, are proven to be false. Any Grant County resident who wants to come to my office for a respectful, two way conversation is welcome.” Eagle Editor Sean Hart sent an email to Palmer Sept. 23 inquiring about the claims of inaccuracy: “You claim the Eagle has ‘misrepre- sented facts’ on multiple occasions and that we ‘twist words.’ Accuracy is very important to us, and if you believe we have published something inaccurate or out of context, we’d like to know what it is so we can correct it. Please let us know what you’re referring to, and we will address it ASAP.” Palmer has not responded as of Oct. 6. Surviving breast cancer Moore shares her journey from diagnosis to thriving 10 years later By Ruthie Moore I f you were to read only the first sentence of my story, this is what I would want you to take from my breast cancer journey: Early detection is the best protection! That being said, I will now tell you my story. One in every eight women will get breast cancer during their lives, and every three minutes a woman in the United States is diagnosed with breast cancer. On Oct. 19, 2010, at 3:21 p.m., I was the Ruthie Moore woman who would become one of those statistics. I was sitting at my desk at work when the phone call came. and I would hear the words, “Unfortunately, Mrs. Moore, your results came back pos- itive.” I had prepared myself for this conversation, playing out both a pos- itive and negative diagnosis, but I had not prepared myself for the instant numbness I was feeling. A numbness that I would learn to live with for months to come. Back up my story a bit — I was always good at having an annual Contributed photo Local breast cancer survivors pose for a photo: from left, Jackie Haff, LaRue Pryse, Tami Kowing, Carole Garrison, Etoile Benge, Arleta Porter, Ruthie Moore and Jane Moore. October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month. mammogram. Cancer of any kind was not prevalent in my family, with just one aunt having had breast can- cer, but I always felt the need to get that much-dreaded annual squeeze. At the time of my diagnosis, I was actually feeling healthier than I had felt in years, starting a healthy diet and walking regimen at the begin- ning of that year. No aches, no pains, no suspicions of any kind to make me believe that the mammogram I was receiving on Sept. 30, 2010, would be any different than all of my others. The day after my mammogram, I would receive a call from my doc- tor’s nurse telling me that my mam- mogram was abnormal and that I would need additional tests. I was in shock. I never expected this at all! I did take some comfort in knowing that, with only 15 months between my mammograms, I knew that no matter what was lingering in my breast, was caught early. The next six months of my life looked like this: Doctor appoint- ments galore — I am so thankful for such caring, knowledgeable medi- cal people, both local and in Bend, who traveled my cancer journey with me. Also along for my cancer roller coaster ride were beautiful family members and friends who provided me with the greatest support team. Dr. Thomas would explain to me that I would have to make a choice between a lumpectomy and radia- tion or a mastectomy. After much research, knowing that my cancer was caught so early, I chose to have a lumpectomy where I would then spend a very long week waiting for results, yet a week like no other — it was filled with so much earthly love and so much heavenly peace. I would learn at that appointment the details of my cancer: stage one invasive breast cancer, with a tumor 8 centimeters in size with clear mar- gins. I was also hormone receptor positive, and no cancer was found in my lymph nodes. In the cancer world, that is a very good diagnosis. I would then find myself sitting in an oncologist waiting room, which was truly the most surreal of all the surreal moments I experienced. As I waited my turn, I hear a woman See Cancer, Page A18 Officials uncertain about COVID-19 expenditure discrepancy $35,000 in county court labor reimbursement remains in question By Steven Mitchell Blue Mountain Eagle Confusion remains regarding $35,000 received by Grant County in reimbursement for COVID-19 count court labor expenditures. Grant County officials appear to have requested reimbursement for 12 weeks of county court wages for the 11-week reimbursement period while also requesting reimbursement for the county judge’s full 40 hours per week, even though he only logged 46.5 hours of COVID-19-related hours in the 11-week period. The Eagle submitted a public Eagle file photo From left, Grant County Commissioner Sam Palmer, County Judge Scott Myers and Commissioner Jim Hamsher during a June session of county court. records request for documentation related to the county court labor reim- bursement on July 16. As of press time, no documentation has been provided. Grant County requested reim- bursement through the CARES Act for $35,268 in county court COVID- 19 labor costs from March 1 to May 15, but that number does not match the hours for which the commissioners said they were being reimbursed. Witt O’Brien’s — the company the county contracted with to submit reim- bursement documents — removed the entire county court labor cost entry from an updated version of a summary of final costs. In the original “Summary of Costs” document provided by Witt O’Brien’s on July 14, county court labor costs are listed as $35,268 — an explanatory document stating, “Figure provided by (former COVID-19 Emergency Oper- ations Center finance employee) Jodi Cook, no backup.” In an updated version of the docu- ment provided by Witt O’Brien’s on Sept. 1, the county court’s labor costs were omitted under labor and payroll fees, and the total is $35,268 less than the original. County Commissioner Jim Ham- sher, the court’s EOC liaison, and Cook both said documents the EOC submitted for county court labor costs included documentation, however. “There is no missing documen- tation,” Cook said. “The incompe- tence displayed after the core team left should not reflect on the impeccable See County, Page A18
