A14
NEWS
Blue Mountain Eagle
Turnkey
back to where they are com-
fortable. McKinley told him
that was not “how it works.”
Other members asked him
why. McKinley told them that
is what the law requires.
“They have to be here,” he
said. “That’s a requirement of
their parole.”
Community Counseling
Solutions Substance Abuse
Prevention Coordinator Lisa
Wiegum said local govern-
ment did not spearhead the
project at the start of Wednes-
day’s meeting.
Continued from Page A1
After an emotional —
and at times hostile — pub-
lic meeting Wednesday in the
Trowbridge Pavilion at the
Grant County Fairgrounds,
those in attendance voted
down the project 75-50.
The plan
Community
Counsel-
ing Solutions CEO Kimberly
Lindsay told the audience
that the Oregon Commu-
nity Foundation would pro-
vide $1.8 million to purchase
the Dreamers Lodge hotel in
John Day. Additionally, she
said, the grant would provide
$110,000 for startup oper-
ations, $39,000 for renova-
tions and $36,000 for deferred
maintenance.
According to the founda-
tion’s website, the Oregon
Legislature allocated a total of
$65 million for Project Turn-
key for the purpose of acquir-
ing motels or hotels for use
as non-congregate shelter for
people experiencing home-
lessness or at risk of home-
lessness in November. Two
discrete funds were provided
by the state: one totaling $30
million to be awarded in coun-
ties and tribal communities
impacted by the 2020 wild-
fires and one totaling $35
million for the remaining 28
counties in the state.
Grant County probation
officer Mike McManus said
during a public presenta-
tion Friday that the referring
entities would be the Grant
County Probation Office,
Community Counseling Solu-
tions, Families First and Veter-
ans Services.
Rhiannon Bauman with
Families First said the target
population would be Grant
County residents on parole
or probation, or those who
lost their jobs due to the pan-
demic. In addition, there are
homeless veterans coming out
of drug and alcohol treatment,
she said.
The need
Bauman said the commu-
nity lost 43 homes during the
2015 Canyon Creek Fire.
“Think of how amazing
transitional housing would
have been for those people,”
she said.
Bauman said 45% of Grant
County residents live below
the poverty line, and from
2019 to 2020, the county
saw a 30% increase in people
Wednesday, May 26, 2021
The Eagle/Steven Mitchell
Transparency and
timelines
Grant County resident Tyler
Gifford speaks at a community
meeting May 19 about a Proj-
ect Turnkey grant to convert
a local hotel into transitional
housing.
going into residential alcohol
or drug treatment.
She people returning to
the county have no housing or
support when they get out of
residential treatment.
Grant County Sheriff Todd
McKinley, who before being
elected in November served as
the county’s probation office
director, told the audience
Wednesday that there’s been
a need for transitional housing
in the county for a long time.
He said the community
expects people coming out of
prison to succeed, but society
does not give them the tools to
do so.
“I hear a large consensus
being said, ‘Well, just let them
live under a bridge,’” he said.
“Than I get these phone calls
to come deal with this guy
under the bridge because they
are tired of him being in this
area.”
He told the audience that it
is a “catch 22” because people
who get released from prison
come back to where they com-
mitted their crime. McKinley
said last year Grant County
released 12 people from prison
and institution settings into the
community.
“It happens every year,
whether you know it or not,”
he said. “We put them in
motels. We put them in rent-
als. We put them in other
places until they can get a job
and get back on their feet and
get back to being productive.”
An audience member heck-
led McKinley and told him
that was a lie. He said people
he spoke to in North Salem,
where similar projects were
started, told him not all crim-
inals go back to the places
where they had committed
their crimes. He said they go
One point of criticism the
organizers faced Wednesday
was a lack of transparency
about the project. Many in the
audience asked why they were
just hearing about the plans
within the last month.
Megan Loeb, program offi-
cer for the Oregon Commu-
nity Foundation, said part of
the reason why the timeline
was so rushed was because of
the urgency of need for shelter
and housing through this pan-
demic. She noted that nearly
half of the shelter beds in the
state are “congregate models,”
typically church halls that are
usually staffed by volunteers.
Nate Conklin, an outreach
specialist with the Fletcher
Group, said during a May
12 county court session that
McManus and Bauman first
spoke about the need for
recovery housing in October.
He said the group met with a
grant coordinator in January,
formed a steering committee
in March and received prelim-
inary approval for the project
in late April.
He told the court that on
April 23 the steering com-
mittee held a business own-
ers informational meeting and
said the feedback was “over-
whelmingly positive.”
However, Heather Swank
told the project organizers
that other businesses, such as
Mosier’s Furniture across the
street from Dreamers Lodge,
were not informed of the
project.
“You’re not informing peo-
ple,” she said. “You’re not
keeping people informed.
That is wrong. Absolutely
wrong. And shame on every
one of you.”
Weigum said the deadline
to sign the documents for the
grant would be June 15.
“I know this timeline is
uncomfortable for you,” she
said. “It’s uncomfortable for
us as well.”
Contributed photo
From left, local foster family Analisha, Isaac, Sandra, Leland, Gabriel, Julianna and Dale Smucker.
Foster
Continued from Page A1
“Preston was 5 months
old, and we had not had chil-
dren yet, so we had an ins-
ta-baby,” Lynn said. “I was a
little nervous about the learn-
ing curve, but it was fine, and
it worked out.”
The couple said taking in
the brothers has been a joy,
and it was great to keep them
together.
“They need foster par-
ents of all types, and there’s
always a need for people,”
Jason said.
Another local couple,
Leland and Sandra Smucker,
said this fall will mark their
fifth year as foster parents.
Sandra said her family, which
consists of five kids, started
fostering when acquaintances
needed a place for their chil-
dren. The Smucker family
decided to take in the kids
and become emergency cer-
tified foster parents to watch
over three teenage kids.
With eight kids in the
household, it provided chal-
lenges for the family, but they
worked together to establish
ground rules and spend time
talking with the foster kids.
“Just seeing how the con-
sistency of a stable home life
Election
Continued from Page A1
At Dayville School Dis-
trict 16J, Babette Larson
and Tina Rhoda won their
elections.
At Long Creek School
District 17, Marsiellette Wat-
son won her election for posi-
tion 3.
Other positions
RED, WHITE & ’CUE
In the Grant County Trans-
portation District, Bryan Nel-
son, Jim Jerome, Peggy Neal
all won one of the available
three at-large positions.
In the John Day Rural Fire
All-American Memorial Day
Barbecue
Tammie Blessing, the Department of Human Service’s
resource family retention and recruitment champion for
District 13 and 14, said if parents are interested in foster-
ing, they can call 1-800-331-0503. DHS also contracted
and partnered with Every Child, a nonprofit organization
to work on recruitment and retention efforts for fosters.
Every Child developed a website, everychildoregon.org/
foster-care, where people interested in fostering can sub-
mit their information and learn more about the different
foster opportunities and ways to help.
DHS then reaches out to the family to get an idea as to
what would be the best fostering opportunity for the
family.
“When children are needing to foster care, the first thing
DHS does is seek out other relatives and family mem-
bers who may be able to foster,” Blessing said. “The first
effort is to try and keep children in their family unit, or
with non-relatives that children have a relationship with.
Then we go to what we call a general applicant family.”
and love helps turn a child’s
life around and give them a
new way to respond to situ-
ations has been rewarding,”
Leland said. “It’s never been
a quick transition, but over
time, we’ve seen a lot of
good things happen.”
After fostering the three
kids, the family decided to
continue fostering and cur-
rently have two foster babies.
The Smuckers said their
own children have played a
vital part of the foster expe-
rience and bring the family
together. Sandra said their
children learned a lot from
the experience.
“A stable home life and
love from a whole family for
these children hurting makes
a huge difference in their
lives, even if it’s for a short
time,” Sandra said. “There’s
a lot of hard times and times
for praying and leaning on
the Lord for strength, but it’s
worth it because it brought
our family closer together.”
District, Bryan Nelson and
Kirk Ausland won one of the
two at-large positions avail-
able for four-year terms. Dale
Stennett won his election for a
two-year unexpired term.
Willis Kimball and Dan-
iel Koming won their bids for
an at-large position available
in the Mt. Vernon Rural Fire
District.
Lori Hire won an at-large
position in the Prairie Rural
Fire District.
Lisa Weigum, Kimberly
Hernandez and Rich Lallatin
won their elections for a spot
in the John Day-Canyon City
Parks and Recreation District.
Nancy Moore and Sue
Cannon won at-large posi-
tions in the Dayville Ceme-
tery District.
Dick Galbreath won an
at-large position in the Fox
Cemetery District.
Jacqueline Burnette and
Valores Hall won their elec-
tions for at-large positions
in the Long Creek Cemetery
District.
Dorman Gregory and
Ben Lindley won their elec-
tions for at-large positions in
the Mid-County Cemetery
District.
Marlene Woodley won her
election for an at-large posi-
tion in the Prairie Cemetery
District.
The willingness of America’s
veterans to sacrifice for our
country has earned them
our lasting gratitude.
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