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NEWS
Blue Mountain Eagle
Wednesday, December 30, 2020
Good news
Highway 26 salutes
prisoners of war and
service members missing
in action
Continued from Page A1
Covering the need:
Volunteers make masks
for health care workers
Sylvia Ross, the direc-
tor of Blue Mountain Home
Health and Hospice, said that
70 people — from local com-
munity members to those
who live out of town and have
family working at the hospital
— made masks or gowns for
the Blue Mountain Hospital,
according to an article from
April 15.
Jessica Moore, a Grant
County resident, shared her
story on providing a little over
120 masks for the hospital at
the time of the interview.
“I always find joy stand-
ing back and looking at the
big picture of how strongly
this community pulls together
when there is a need. Not sur-
prisingly, we had a need, and
our community does what our
community does: rose to the
occasion,” Ross said.
Drive-in ceremonies for
graduation
COVID-19
presented
challenges for graduation cer-
emonies, but schools in Grant
County developed ways to
recognize the seniors safely,
according to an article from
May 5.
Grant
Union
High
School’s graduation cere-
mony was “drive-in style” as
Eagle file photo
Contributed photo
Tanni Wenger Photography
Graduates from Prairie City
School toss their caps in the
air at their May 29 graduation
ceremony.
parents and graduates parked
in the Grant Union parking
lot to recognize seniors.
Prairie City School held a
graduation ceremony in their
football field as a drive-in cel-
ebration. Both Grant Union
and Prairie City followed the
graduation ceremony with a
parade.
Eagle file photo
A caravan of motorcycle riders with the Oregon Veterans Motor-
cycle Association ride through John Day to dedicate Highway
26 as a POW/MIA highway. A sign dedication ceremony and lun-
cheon was held at the John Day Elk’s Lodge.
A team of seniors
delivered a swing set for
a 7-year-old boy with
cancer
A team of up to 15 seniors
delivered and assembled a
swing set to a Wyatt Sim-
mons, 7, of Mt. Vernon who
won his battle with cancer so
far, according to an article on
June 10.
Professional
photogra-
pher Tanni Wenger formed
the Wyatt Strong Senior Proj-
ect team and the group came
together to carry out the
project.
“I just wanted these kids
to give back to the commu-
nity,” Wenger said. “This lit-
tle community does so much
for them.”
After providing project
ideas to the seniors, she said
they decided on a project for
Simmons.
Wyatt’s mother, Areah
Anderson, said the support
from the community kept her
and her family going since
Wyatt was airlifted from
Contributed photo/Tanni Wenger Photography
From left, Kaden Madden, Cinch Anderson, Shaine Madden,
Maddy Way, Tanni Wenger holding Wyatt Simmons’ younger
brother Blanton, Rylee Browning, Tiler Voigt, Lauren Wenger,
Ray Wenger, Noah Simmons, Wyatt Simmons, Jesse McKinley
and Averie Wenger all took part in the Wyatt Strong project.
Burns to Portland after seeing
the family doctor for appendi-
citis, but later turned out to be
a Wilms tumor. This rare kid-
ney cancer is said to be highly
treatable.
“We just barely moved
here, and it has meant a lot
to all of us,” Anderson said.
“The boys love their swing set,
and everything that they’ve
done is amazing.”
mitted an application to the
city for a store in John Day,
according to an article on June
10.
John Day City Manager
Nick Green updated the coun-
cil on the Dollar General on
Oct. 27 and said that all the
permitting with the city was
completed.
Dollar General submits
application for store in
John Day
Roughly 80 motorcycle
riders from the Oregon Vet-
erans Motorcycle Associ-
ation passed through John
Day to dedicate Highway
The Zaremba Group, on
behalf of Dollar General, sub-
Investigative
Highway 26 dedicated to
POW/MIA
Gray, who took over the depart-
ment Aug. 3, said the coronavirus is a
“public health issue.” He developed a
“unified command” between the health
department and the county.
“We will not be running (the EOC)
the way it was before,” Gray said Aug.
5.
Continued from Page A1
Secret county commissioner
meeting
Eagle file photo
Grant County Court Judge Scott My-
ers during a May session of County
Court
Upwards of 20 hours per week of
overtime for EOC leaders and allocat-
ing 100% of county court labor costs
to Grant County’s COVID-19 response
with scant documentation could raise
questions from federal or municipal
auditors, according to a report from
the Oregon Secretary of State’s Office
obtained by the Eagle.
The county hired a new emer-
gency manager in August, former Har-
ney County Emergency Manager Paul
Gray.
In June, the Eagle reported 12 East-
ern Oregon county commissioners,
two of them from Grant County, met
unannounced in Prairie City.
It was dubbed an “information sem-
inar” and organized by Lake County
Commissioner Mark Albertson. The
Eagle and Oregon Public Broadcasting
negotiated their way into the event as
some of the representatives were reluc-
tant to enter the Prairie City Visitors
Center.
“We did not know the press was
showing up,” Albertson said. “It’s
spooky, and it’s, to be honest with you,
it’s spooky because all of us have been
burned.”
Grant County Commissioner
Sam Palmer said after the meeting he
believed rural people and viewpoints
were often mocked in the press and not
taken seriously, much like he thinks
state leaders in Salem ignore rural
sentiments.
Winegar
Continued from Page A1
for reporting
cases or deaths.
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26 to Prisoners of War and
service members missing in
action as community mem-
bers lined the streets with
flags to honor them, accord-
ing to an article from July 1.
Larry Moyer, president
of the Central Oregon Chap-
ter of the VMA and a Per-
sian Gulf War veteran, said
each rider has a personal
reason for participating in
the ride.
COVID-19
The new facility for
the Heart of Grant Coun-
ty’s domestic trauma ser-
vice center in John Day
is under construction,
according to an article
from Aug. 26.
The new center, the
Meredith House, will fea-
ture improved privacy to
talk to victims, a con-
ference room to have
more group activities in
a private settings and the
capability to house up to
two to three families.
“There is a need here,
and I know a lot of peo-
ple don’t want to recog-
nize it, but some of the
stuff that goes on here,
the domestic violence,
the sexual assault and the
human trafficking is all
here,” said Heart of Grant
County Director Beth
Simonsen.
The commissioners expressed their dis-
appointment with the response to COVID-
19 spearheaded by Gov. Kate Brown.
Circuit court candidate
backgrounds
Looking into the Grant County cir-
cuit candidates’ backgrounds, the Eagle
reported that Grant County District
Attorney and circuit court judge candi-
date Jim Carpenter was publicly repri-
manded by the Oregon bar for dishon-
esty in 2004.
In 2001, Carpenter played what he
characterized as a practical joke on a for-
mer high school acquaintance, a teacher
at the time. According to the Oregon
State Bar Bulletin in 2004, Carpenter
posed as the teacher via a classmates.
com account and implied the teacher
had sexual relations with a student.
Circuit court judge-elect Rob Raschio
was arrested for driving under the influ-
ence of intoxicants in 2009. Interviews
with references and Raschio revealed the
future judge had problems getting along
with opposing attorneys in the past,
according to Oregon State Police’s back-
ground check ordered by the governor as
part of her appointment process.
Deputy recorded having ‘sex
talk’ with inmate paid $117,000
on leave
After an investigation of more than
Despite a statement from
the state as to the reasons why
it tracks people who died with
COVID-19, Winegar said she
received nasty text messages
from people she thought were
A MAN
WAKES
UP in the
morning
after sleeping on...
an advertised bed, in advertised
pajamas.
Roughly 50 people came
out to honor prisoners of war
and service members miss-
ing in action at the John Day
Elks Lodge parking lot as John
Day and five other cities dedi-
cated Highway 26 a POW/MIA
Memorial Highway, according
to an article from Sept. 23.
John Day resident and
Vietnam veteran Robert Van
Voorhis said the purpose of the
POW/MIA Memorial High-
way 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 dedi-
cated to POWs/MIAs.
Thanksgiving to go
Over 30 volunteers served
upwards of 300 Thanksgiving
dinners at the Elks Lodge, accord-
ing to an article from Dec. 2.
Elks Lodge member Chuck
Howe said the volunteers
served over 400 pounds of tur-
key, 60 pounds of ham and all
of the fixings, including mashed
potatoes, gravy, green bean cas-
serole, sweet potatoes, rolls,
stuffing, cranberries and pies.
The annual event, free and
open to the public, was by take-
out or delivery only.
A convoy of Christmas
cheer
Grant County residents got
into the Christmas spirit at the
Timber Truckers parade, accord-
ing to an article on Dec. 16.
“This has been one of the best
years ever,” said Leslie Traylor,
an event organizer.
Traylor said there were 29
entries.
The parade brought back a
sense of normalcy in a year like no
other, where people’s lives slowed
to a near halt with school and
restaurant dining closures, bans on
gatherings and other restrictions.
a year, the Eagle uncovered that the
county paid a Grant County Sheriff’s
Office deputy over $117,000 while
on administrative leave after she was
recorded having sexual conversa-
tions with an inmate at the jail. Mob-
ley resigned from county employment
Dec. 26.
After investigations by the
Deschutes County Sheriff’s Office,
the Oregon Department of Jus-
tice and the Umatilla County Sher-
iff’s Office, Deputy Abigail Mob-
ley was on administrative leave from
March 18, 2019, to Dec. 26 and was
paid between $117,000 and $149,000
while on administrative leave for 21
months. The DOJ concluded, despite
the “sex talk” recorded on the jail
phone, there was not enough evidence
that custodial sexual misconduct
occurred. The county has denied the
Eagle’s records requests for the other
agencies’ investigations.
A lawsuit also accused Carpenter
and outgoing Sheriff Glenn Palmer
of disseminating private informa-
tion obtained from a cellphone, and a
complaint filed with Oregon’s police
licensing agency alleged Palmer dis-
criminated against a whistleblower.
Carpenter and Palmer denied the
accusations, and Palmer filed a
countersuit for defamation. The
suits are ongoing.
her friends at one point in her
life. But, she said, the health
department has received
encouraging messages from
others in the community as
well.
“I’ve lived here long
enough to have gone through
events that have split the
community,” she said, “but
you always see people pull
together here and that’s what
I love about our community.”
Winegar said the Canyon
Creek Complex fire in 2015
was an example of Grant
County pulling together.
“It’s hard when you have
negativity, but that’s just a
part of everything that hap-
pens in life,” she said.
Winegar starts her last
semester the second week of
January.
Plectrum
Music Company
29 W. Washington St., Burns, OR 97720
Phone: (541) 589-4952
www.plectrummusiccompany.com
• Authorized Teton Guitar dealer.
He will bathe in an ADVERTISED TUB, shave with an ADVERTISED RAZOR,
have a breakfast of ADVERTISED JUICE, cereal and toast, toasted in an
ADVERTISED TOASTER, put on ADVERTISED CLOTHES and glance at his
ADVERTISED WATCH. He’ll ride to work in his ADVERTISED CAR, sit at an
ADVERTISED DESK and write with an ADVERTISED PEN. Yet this person
hesitates to advertise, saying that advertising doesn’t pay. Finally, when his
non-advertised business is going under, HE’LL ADVERTISE IT FOR SALE.
Then it’s too late.
AND THEY SAY ADVERTISING DOESN’T WORK?
DON’T MAKE THIS SAME MISTAKE
Advertising is an investment, not an expense. Think about it!
Monday - Thursday
7am-
6pm
Monday
- Thursday
7am-
6pm
Friday
8am
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Friday
8am
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Mendy Sharpe 5pm
FNP
Mendy
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available
S218714-1
139101
according to County Judge Scott
Myers.
Grant County’s EOC had as many
as 12 full-time and part-time employ-
ees, 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 com-
munity-wide scrutiny in June for
overspending its $125,000 budget
by almost $75,000. At issue were the
out-of-court purchases made by court
members.
When the county court approved
Dobler’s request, they added the direc-
tion that any purchases over $200
would need to be approved by the
county court, according to the approved
meeting minutes — that didn’t happen,
even for a $35,000 software program
and up to $6,100 in laptop computers
and printers.
The county also requested excess
reimbursement for county court labor
costs — about $15,000 too much,
according to Treasurer Julie Ellison.
A state report showed Grant Coun-
ty’s COVID-19 federal reimburse-
ments could be at risk for a federal
audit.
From left, American Legion
past commander Charles
Schmidt greets, Vivian Rook-
stool, widow of Melvin Rook-
stool, who was taken as a pris-
oner of war in the Korean War.
Meredith House breaks
ground
Blue Mountain Eagle
MyEagleNews.com
• New and vintage guitars, basses, ukuleles. Acoustic and electric sales and repair.
• Martin, D’Addario, and GHS strings. Fender and Silvertone guitars.
Special Holiday Hours through January 2.
S222769-1
Executive Director Han-
nah Hinman was happy at the
response from the community
with tickets being oversold,
businesses donating and great
sponsorships.
“Every year I’m always
kind of stressed coming into
this fundraiser, but every year
I am reminded of the gener-
osity and support the commu-
nity has for us,” Hinman said.
Don’t get left behind, call today! Kim Kell 541-575-0710
Closed
the 20-21:
31st and
1st.
December
Closed
December 22-23: 10AM-7PM
January 2nd: open 10-7
December 24: 10AM- 4PM
Christmas
As of January Closed
4, 10am
to 6 pm Weekend
Tuesday -Saturday.
December 28-January 2: 10AM- 7PM
Find us on Facebook!
https://www.facebook.com/plectrummusiccompany
S221872-1