GRANT UNION WINS FIRST HOME TRACK MEET SINCE COVID-19 | PAGE A9
Wednesday, May 12, 2021
153nd Year • No. 19 • 16 Pages • $1.50
MyEagleNews.com
COVID-19
kills fi fth
Grant
County
resident
Turning the tassel
89-year-old man
died May 5
Grant County high schools have
all made plans for outdoor graduation
ceremonies this year.
Grant Union Junior/Senior High
School Principal Ryan Gerry said
they will have graduation at 10 a.m.
June 5 outdoors on the football fi eld.
They have 31 seniors this year
at Grant Union. Gerry said in a let-
ter to parents that each graduate will
be allotted 15 tickets for fi eld level
entrance at the graduation ceremony.
The graduate’s family or friend
By Steven Mitchell
Blue Mountain Eagle
Another Grant County resi-
dent has died of COVID-19.
The Oregon Health Author-
ity reported Friday that an
89-year-old man from Grant
County tested positive April 12
and died May 5 at his residence.
OHA reported he had underly-
ing conditions.
The death was one of eight
announced Friday and brings
Grant County’s death toll to
fi ve.
Grant County Health offi -
cials reported 18 cases in the
last week. The county’s rate of
COVID-19 infections was 180
per 100,000 people as of May
10, the third highest in the state.
The Centers for Disease
Control reported that Grant
County has inoculated 30.9%
of its residents, and the county
remains among the least vacci-
nated in Oregon. However, the
county fully vaccinated more
than half of the county’s seniors
over 65 as of Monday, the CDC
reported. In addition, the CDC
noted that roughly 30% of
Grant County residents 18 and
over had received the vaccine.
In Grant County’s region
seven, shared with Deschutes,
Harney, Klamath, Jeff erson,
Klamath, Lake and Wheeler
counties, the Oregon Health
Authority reported 15 vari-
ant cases. The CDC identi-
fi es B.1.526 — which has been
identifi ed in Grant County — as
a “variant of interest,” which is
being monitored, but not a “vari-
ant of concern” that has been
shown to cause increased trans-
missibility or disease severity.
Region seven has two inten-
sive care unit beds and 53 non-
ICU beds available.
St. Charles Hospital in Bend
reported Monday that the hos-
pital had nearly 40 COVID-19
patients, with six in ICU and
fi ve on ventilators.
Grant County is one of
three counties that will drop
in risk level Friday, Gov. Kate
Brown announced Tuesday.
The county will move from
high risk to moderate risk, eas-
ing restrictions on businesses.
Restaurants will be able to seat
people indoors at 50% capacity
up to 100 people, and up to 150
people outdoors. Closing time
remains 11 p.m.
Grant County schools
prepare for graduation
By Rudy Diaz
Blue Mountain Eagle
groups will be assigned certain seat-
ing sections on the fi eld.
Drive-in and additional seating
will be available in the football stands
area separate from the fi eld area. The
ceremony will be live-streamed on
the NFHS Network and on the Grant
Union Facebook page. Masks will
be required for people in attendance
during the ceremony, according to the
letter.
“It has been a very unique and
challenging year in general with
COVID, so we are really looking for-
ward to having the opportunity to cel-
ebrate our seniors and their accom-
plishments at this year’s graduation
ceremony,” Gerry said.
Contributed photo/Tanni Wenger Photography
See Graduation, Page A16
Graduates from Prairie City School toss their caps in the air at their 2020 grad-
uation ceremony.
Locked and unloaded
EOMG fi le photo
Two gun proposals were combined in a fi nal bill headed to Gov. Kate Brown for signature.
Senate vote sends gun legislation to Gov. Brown
By Peter Wong
Oregon Capital Bureau
ov. Kate Brown is the fi nal stop for
the Oregon Legislature’s major gun
legislation of 2021.
The Senate voted Wednesday,
May 5, to accept the House version
of a bill that combines requirements for locks
and safe storage of fi rearms with a narrowed
ban on concealed-handgun license holders bring
fi rearms into some public places, notably the
Capitol and the Portland airport.
The vote was 17-7. Sen. Betsy Johnson of
Scappoose was the lone Democrat to join six
Republicans in opposition to the revised Senate
Bill 554. Five Republicans and one independent
were recorded as excused or absent.
Sen. Floyd Prozanski, a Democrat from
Eugene and chairman of the Senate Judiciary
Committee, said the bill follows the principles
laid out by a 2008 U.S. Supreme Court decision.
The court for the fi rst time concluded there was
an individual right to bear arms under the Sec-
ond Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, but
that right can be regulated.
“What we do know is that reasonable regu-
lations can be placed on these individual rights
we have,” Prozanski said. “The bottom line
is that we have a bill that does in fact address
certain areas that we feel as a state need to be
regulated.”
Oregon would join 11 other states with some
form of requirements for locks and safe stor-
age of fi rearms, according to the Kaiser Fam-
ily Foundation.
As for the narrower scope of the ban on guns
G
“IT CLEARLY INFRINGED
“SAFE STORAGE SAVES
ON THE RIGHT TO PEOPLE’S LIVES, HELPING PREVENT
SELF-DEFENSE. I VOTED
UNINTENTIONAL
TO SUPPORT WOMEN
SHOOTINGS AND FIREARM
AND MINORITIES IN MY
SUICIDES. IT WILL MAKE IT
DISTRICT WHO WANT THE
HARDER FOR POTENTIAL
OPPORTUNITY FOR SELF-
SCHOOL SHOOTERS TO
DEFENSE FOR THEMSELVES
AND THEIR FAMILIES AS THE OBTAIN A GUN, AND IT WILL
SUPPORT RESPONSIBLE
OREGON CONSTITUTION
GUN OWNERSHIP.”
ALLOWS FOR.”
—Sen. Tim Knopp of Bend
—Henry Wessinger, State of Safety Action president
in some public places, Prozanski said it was a
compromise. The original Senate version would
have left it to all local governments to decide
restrictions for themselves; the fi nal version
limits the option to school districts, commu-
nity colleges and state universities. The option
for cities, counties and special districts was
removed.
The ban still applies to the Capitol in Salem
and the passenger terminal at Portland Interna-
tional Airport.
As a state representative in 1995, Prozanski
voted for a law that pre-empts local govern-
ments from regulating fi rearms, other than dis-
charging them in public.
“But I will tell you that even though I thought
it was the best decision I could make at that
time, today is a diff erent day,” he said.
State of Safety Action, a nonprofi t that advo-
cates prevention of gun violence, issued a state-
ment of support after the vote.
“Safe storage saves lives, helping prevent
unintentional shootings and fi rearm suicides,”
Henry Wessinger, the group’s president, said. “It
will make it harder for potential school shooters
to obtain a gun, and it will support responsible
gun ownership.”
Senate Republican Leader Fred Girod of
See Guns, Page A16