NEWS
MyEagleNews.com
Walczyk
ordered
to pay
thousands in
restitution
Wednesday, January 27, 2021
A5
Canyon City councilors upset city COVID-19 allocation was given to county
By Steven Mitchell
Blue Mountain Eagle
Canyon City’s first city
council meeting of the year got
off to a lively start on Jan. 19.
Councilors Lisa Weigum
and Russ Comer fended off
criticism for each writing a
letter to Grant County com-
missioners about revisiting
Canyon City Mayor Steve
Fischer’s decision to sign over
the city’s $25,000 in COVID-
19 relief funds to the county
outside of a public meeting.
Fischer said each of the
county commissioners reached
out to him individually about
signing over the city’s relief
funds, which had to be obli-
gated by Dec. 30.
He said the city had no
“mechanism” to spend the
money and request the state for
reimbursement.
“So, the circumstances
were leading up to the fact
that we were going to lose that
money,” he said.
He said Commissioner
Sam Palmer was the first to
suggest that he sign the money
over to the county to finish
the floors at the Grant County
By Rudy Diaz
Blue Mountain Eagle
A Mt. Vernon man will
spend time behind bars
and owes thousands of
dollars in restitution after
a string of thefts.
Tanner E. Walczyk,
21, was sentenced to six
months in jail and one
year of
p o s t -
prison
supervi-
sion and
ordered
to pay
$17,128
in res-
Tanner
t i t u -
Walczyk
tion for
crimes
committed
between September 2019
and March 2020.
On Jan. 21, Wal-
czyk pleaded guilty to a
count of menacing and
two counts of conspir-
acy to commit a class
C felony—first-degree
theft, according to court
documents.
Twenty-one
counts
of first-degree theft, 12
counts of second-de-
gree theft, two counts
of third-degree theft, 27
counts of criminal con-
spiracy, 19 counts of
unlawful entry into vehi-
cle, 10 counts of sec-
ond-degree
crimi-
nal trespass, one count
of first-degree crimi-
nal mischief, five counts
of third-degree criminal
mischief, three counts of
second-degree burglary
and one count of menac-
ing were dismissed in a
plea agreement.
Fairgrounds pavilion.
He said he told Palmer that
he would talk to the council
when he had a chance, but the
court members noted that he
had to decide by Dec. 30.
Additionally, Fischer told
the council that there was no
guarantee that the city would
get reimbursed for any money
that they spent.
He said the city, at first,
thought they were going to
receive a check for $25,000
from the state.
“That didn’t happen,” he
said. “That isn’t how they allo-
cated that.”
He said Grant County Eco-
nomic Development Director
Tory Stinnett told the city they
could turn the money over to
Community Lending Works to
set up a grant program for Can-
yon City businesses as Prairie
City had. He said that did not
work out because the city did
not have an account they could
write the money out of that
they did not have budgeted.
“We weren’t going to take
any of it for the city,” he said.
“We didn’t need reimburse-
ment. We didn’t need com-
puters. We didn’t need more
internet. We already had a con-
sensus that it was going to go
to the businesses. The check
never came.”
Comer and Wiegum’s
letters
Fischer said that he had
“fires” to put out with Grant
County Court because of let-
ters that Councilors Comer and
Weigum sent to the court.
He said letters sent by
Comer and Weigum asking
the court to consider using the
funds to assist businesses and
nonprofits in Canyon City cre-
ated a liability for the town.
He said a county commis-
sioner would be “coming up”
with a letter from the county
and city’s insurance company
explaining why councilors
must not send letters to other
government agencies making
“requests or demands.”
For her part, Weigum said
she bumped into a county com-
missioner at a dinner party, and
he told her to submit a letter to
the court as a counselor-elect
to request the county spend the
money in Canyon City.
She told Fischer he had said
that he would submit a request
at the December meeting to
the county to see if they could
spend the money in Canyon
City. Weigum said the com-
missioner had told her that
Canyon City had not requested
the court spend the money in
the town.
Fischer said the commis-
sioner had since told him that
he is “new” and “unaware
of his boundaries.” Fischer
said, when he had brought
up the funds to County Judge
Scott Myers, Myers told
him the court had allocated
the funds.
Weigum said the city com-
mitted the money to the county
on Dec. 9 and then had a meet-
ing on Dec. 15. She said the
county could have adjusted
when they submitted for reim-
bursement before Dec. 30,
the deadline to submit for
reimbursement.
She said there should have
been a consensus, to begin
with, on how the city would
spend the money that came
from the city council.
Fischer asked the council
to come up with a plan in case
the state allocates the city addi-
tional relief funds.
Letter from the city’s
insurance company
County Commissioner Jim
Hamsher said he suggested
Canyon City talk to their insur-
ance company regarding how
and when councilors speak out
on issues with other govern-
ment agencies.
He said in Prairie City,
where he is the mayor, the
city’s charter states the follow-
ing when speaking to another
government agency:
“If a council member
appears before another gov-
ernment agency or organi-
zation to give a statement on
an issue, the council mem-
ber must state (a) whether the
statement reflects personal
opinion or is the official posi-
tion of the city, and (b) whether
the statement is supported by a
majority of the council. If the
council member is represent-
ing the city, the council mem-
ber must support and advocate
for the official city position on
the issue rather than a personal
viewpoint.”
Canyon City’s charter
makes no such rule for its city
councilors.
Grant County vaccinated 166 people last week
By Steven Mitchell
Blue Mountain Eagle
Grant County administered
166 vaccines last week.
“It was a busy week,” Kim-
berly Lindsay, Grant County
public health administrator,
said in an email Monday.
Lindsay said the county
received an additional 100
vaccines and that a bulk of
those doses will go to people
in Phase 1a of the state’s vac-
cine sequencing plan.
Additionally, Lindsay said,
some educators did not get
vaccinated in the previous
vaccination event.
She said the county has
determined that they need to
set some doses aside for peo-
ple who received their first
dose in one county but move
to Grant County and need to
get their second dose in the
county.
She said the remaining
doses would go to those who
are 80 years old and over, per
the sequencing.
She said the county intends
to have shots in that group’s
arms by the end of this week
or early next week.
As the county inoculates
100 more residents, Lindsay
said her staff is also focus-
ing on receiving and getting
the booster shots to those who
received their first dose.
“I do not know when we
will receive additional doses,”
she said.
Wait list established
The Blue Mountain Hos-
pital District and the Grant
County Health Department
have established a COVID-19
vaccine wait list.
A joint press release from
the health department and
hospital Thursday announced
that those interested in the
vaccine could email vaccine@
ccsemail.org.
The press release said to
include name, date of birth,
phone number, mailing
address, and interest in receiv-
ing the vaccine, and that they
will send a confirmation email
back within 48 hours.
The hospital and health
department said they would
work off the list to get people
in for the vaccine until they
received additional shipments.
“We will need to continue
to do this for the near future
until the vaccine is more
widely available,” the press
release said.
If someone is unable to
email, they may call the health
department at 541-575-0429
or Strawberry Wilderness
Clinic at 541-575-0404 and
be added to the master list,
according to the press release.
However, email is the pre-
ferred method of contact as
heavy call volume has made
it challenging to handle their
daily duties.
The hospital and health
department said they must fol-
low Oregon Health Author-
ity and the Vaccine Advisory
Committee guidelines.
“At this time, the prior
groups are health care work-
ers, Long Term Care Facility
residents, education systems,
first responders, and individu-
als aged 65 and older (with the
highest priority given to those
who are oldest in this group),”
the release states.
Dispatch
Jan. 22: Responded for a
driving complaint and civil issue
regarding ownership of a vehicle
on South Aslin Avenue.
• John Day ambulance
Jan. 18: Dispatched for
a woman with chest pain on
Southwest First Street.
Jan. 22: Responded for
a 79-year-old woman who
became unresponsive on South-
west Moore Street.
Jan. 23: Responded of a
60-year-old with trouble breath-
ing on West Main Street.
Jan. 20: Along with GCSO,
responded to a woman not
breathing on West Izee Street.
Jan. 24: Responded for a
64-year-old woman with a
fractured foot on Valley View
Drive.
COPS AND COURTS
Arrests and citations in the
Blue Mountain Eagle are taken
from the logs of law enforcement
agencies. Every effort is made
to report the court disposition of
arrest cases.
Grant County Circuit
Court
A count of driving under the
influence of intoxicants against
Patricia C. Sharp commit-
ted on Nov. 19, 2019, was dis-
missed on Jan. 25, 2021, because
she completed a diversion
program.
A count of second-degree
theft against Taylor M. Myers
committed on Sept. 19, 2019,
was dismissed on Jan. 21, 2021,
because he completed the condi-
tions of his deferred sentence.
Grant County Sheriff
The Grant County Sheriff’s
Office reported the following for
the week of Jan. 20:
Concealed handgun licenses:
9
Average inmates: 11
Bookings: 1
Releases: 4
Arrests: 0
Citations: 3
Fingerprints: 2
Civil papers: 13
Warrants processed: 0
Assistance/Welfare check: 0
Search and Rescue: 0
Matthew Upton, 18, of St.
Helens was cited for minor in
possession of alcohol.
Miranda Cook, 19, of Monu-
ment was cited for minor in pos-
session of alcohol.
A juvenile was cited for
minor in possession of alcohol.
Oregon State Police
Jan. 18: Oregon State Police
received a complaint of an indi-
vidual who posted photographs
on social media depicting a
large bull elk being spotlighted.
The individual was contacted
and warned for the potential
violation.
Jan. 21: A trooper stopped
a known suspended driver on
Highway 26 near milepost 181.
The driver, Keatley M. Wyant,
29, of John Day is a chronic sus-
pended and uninsured driver.
Wyant has been cited by the
John Day Police Department
numerous times. OSP cited
Wyant Jan. 4 for a driving while
suspended and uninsured vio-
lations. The state trooper issued
Wyant citations for driving
while suspended and uninsured.
Doug’s Motor Vehicle Repair
responded and impounded the
vehicle.
Jan. 22: A state trooper
responded to a reported non-
injury, single-vehicle crash at
milepost 157.5 on Highway 26.
Investigation revealed a vehicle
was heading eastbound when the
driver swerved to avoid a chunk
of ice on the roadway. The vehi-
cle started to slide, and the driver
was unable to recover. The vehi-
cle left the roadway on the east-
bound side of the road into a
ditch on its wheels. The driver
was able to drive the vehicle
from the scene.
John Day dispatch worked
99 calls during the week of Jan.
18-24, including:
• John Day Police
Department
Jan. 19: Advised of a hit and
run on West Main Street.
Jan. 21: Received a report of
theft at a business on West Main
Street.
Jan. 23: Responded to a
report of a person sliding across
the Seventh Street pond on the
ice.
• Oregon State Police
Jan. 22: Along with the sher-
iff’s office and John Day ambu-
lance, requested for a crash on
Highway 26.
• Grant County Sheriff’s
Office
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