112TH GRANT COUNTY FAIR ROARS TO LIFE | PAGE A2
Wednesday, August 11, 2021
153rd Year • No. 32 • 14 Pages • $1.50
MyEagleNews.com
Mad
about
masks
The Eagle/Steven Mitchell
Tate Wadell, 10, brushes his steer, ‘Bam Bam.’ He plans to donate the sale proceeds to Blue Mountain Hospital’s Rehabilitation Services
Department.
Larger service
Wadell to donate proceeds from Youth Livestock
Auction to hospitals rehabilitation department
By Steven Mitchell
Blue Mountain Eagle
fi rst-year 4-H’er is living
out his pledge to service.
Tate Wadell will pay it
forward by donating the
proceeds of his market
steer from the Youth Livestock Auction
to Blue Mountain Hospital’s Rehabilita-
tion Services Department.
Tate was diagnosed with cerebral
palsy, and his parents, Wade and Sim-
mie Wadell, said because of the hospi-
tal’s growing rehabilitation facility with
physical therapists with pediatrics expe-
rience, they no longer have to make trips
to Bend every two weeks.
According to the Megan Pass, the
hospital’s rehabilitation services man-
ager, about 12% of the patients are pedi-
atric patients — under 21 — at any given
time. She said the hospital is grateful for
this idea and everyone who helped make
it happen.
“Our primary goal in Rehab Ser-
vices is to serve all the patients of Grant
County, with a specifi c focus in the last
several years on bringing in rehab ther-
apists that are able to treat the pediatric
population,” she said. “These families
have so many challenges to overcome,
and the best thing we can do is provide
the best pediatric physical therapy, occu-
pational therapy and speech therapy in
our own community.”
Wade, a deputy with the Grant
County Sheriff ’s Offi ce, said they want
to see the donation to the hospital to ben-
efi t other kids and their families.
The owners of Pioneer Feed, Old
Hickory, Ace Hardware and Helena
Agri-Enterprises each pitched in to
pay for Tate’s steer. Additionally, Sim-
mie said, Associated Feed and Supply,
a California-based company, donated
the feed. She said 100% of the proceeds
would go to the hospital.
A
See Wadell, Page A14
Parents push back against
Gov. Brown’s mandate for
masks to be worn in schools
By Steven Mitchell
Blue Mountain Eagle
Parents railed against Gov. Kate
Brown’s decision to mandate masks for
students in kindergarten through 12th
grades during Grant School District’s Aug.
3 school board meeting.
Grant School Superintendent Bret Upt-
mor said the governor’s directive went into
eff ect on Aug. 2 and would be subject to
enforcement on Aug. 12.
John Day dentist Dr. James Klusmier
read a statement urging the board to resist
the mandate.
“Over 100 years of our virology informs
us that this virus is going to do what it is
going to do,” he said. “A mask is not going
to stand in its way.”
Klusmier said he wears a mask every
day at his dental practice and emphasized
that he is not “anti-mask.”
He said vaccines, natural immunity,
handwashing and staying home when sick
stem the spread of the virus.
Uptmor said the district faces potential
consequences for failing to comply with
the new state mandate, including Oregon’s
Occupational Safety and Health Adminis-
tration fi nes, civil penalties, personal lia-
bility and teachers putting their licenses at
risk.
He told the audience that the rule comes
from the Oregon Health Authority, not the
state’s education department.
One of the parents in the audience asked
when the board would decide on mask
mandates. The person said a group of par-
ents would pull their kids out of school if
masks would be required in the fall.
See Masks, Page A14
The Eagle/Steven Mitchell
The Eagle/Steven Mitchell
Tate Wadell, 10, walks his steer, Bam Bam. The fi rst-year 4-H’er plans to donate 100% of the proceeds
from the sale at the Youth Livestock Auction to Blue Mountain Hospital’s Rehabilitation Services De-
partment.
John Day dentist Dr. James Klusmier spoke
out against a mask mandate for students
in schools at a Grant school board meeting
Aug. 3.
Grant County holds fi rst mandated meeting about joining Idaho
Grassroots group leader
volunteers to serve on
advisory committee
By Steven Mitchell
Blue Mountain Eagle
Residents met with Grant Coun-
ty’s commissioners in a packed
county courtroom Aug. 4 to study a
plan to fl ip Eastern Oregon counties
into Idaho.
The meeting came after just over
60% of people who voted in Grant
County approved a measure requiring
county commissioners to meet three
times a year to discuss a proposal to
include 18 Oregon counties, includ-
ing Grant, as part of Idaho.
According to the initiative, the
county will meet the fi rst Wednes-
day of April, August, and December,
The Eagle/Steven Mitchell
Sandie Gilson, a leader with Move Or-
egon’s Border for Greater Idaho Grant
County, during a special meeting of
Grant County Court to discuss if it is in
the best interest of the county to relo-
cate the Oregon-Idaho border.
“to discuss whether it is in the best
interest of Grant County to promote
the relocation of the Oregon-Idaho
border.”
Shifting the borders would require
the approval of both the Oregon and
Idaho legislatures and Congress.
Sandie Gilson, a county resident
and one of the leaders of the grass-
roots group Move Oregon’s Bor-
der for Greater Idaho Grant County,
said Grant is one of seven counties
to require county offi cials to study
or promote joining Idaho. The others
include Wasco, Malheur, Baker, Jef-
ferson, Sherman and Union.
She said Harney County would
vote on the measure in November,
and Klamath County voters will see it
on their ballots next year in May.
Gilson said the idea behind becom-
ing a part of Idaho is about having the
kind of government they want in the
region.
She said many issues aff ect many
people, whether schools, land use
laws or homelessness.
One example she mentioned was
the Oregon Legislature’s law that
mandated that all municipalities,
including states, cities and counties,
allow homeless camping on public
property.
Under House Bill 3115, local gov-
ernments would be prohibited from
making it a crime for people to camp
or rest on public property when shel-
ters are full and they have nowhere
else to go. The bill goes into eff ect in
July of 2023.
Commissioner Sam Palmer said
during the July 28 county court ses-
sion that the voters spoke, and he
wanted to hear what citizens in the
county have to say.
Gilson said many people had asked
her what would happen to the Oregon
Public Employee Retirement System
for Oregon’s state employees if they
were to become Idaho residents.
Gilson said she would be will-
See Idaho, Page A14