A14
NEWS
Blue Mountain Eagle
Wednesday, August 11, 2021
Masks
Continued from Page A1
Haley Walker, school board
chair, said the board would not
be making any decisions at the
meeting.
Walker said the purpose of
the meeting was to get feed-
back from the community on
the district’s plan and sub-
mit it to the Oregon Depart-
ment of Education. She said
she believed the deadline was
Aug. 19.
Masks, she said, were the
“obvious” topic of conver-
sation for most, if not all, in
attendance. However, she told
the audience, masks are one
piece of an extensive plan to
prevent the spread of COVID-
19 in schools.
“Our administration is of
the belief that we have several
parameters in place to protect
our students from the spread
of communicable diseases,”
Walker said.
At the meeting, Uptmor said
he would continue to push for
local control over health and
safety policies in the district.
“I continue again to try to
fi nd that pathway so that we
can have our own local con-
trol,” he said. “And I will not
stop.”
One of the parents in the
audience said he appreciated
Uptmor’s eff orts, but, in his
opinion, the state is unlikely to
The Eagle/Steven Mitchell
From left, Grant School District board members Jake Taylor, Aaron Lieuallen, Haley Walker and superintendent Bret Uptmor listen to community feedback during the
Aug. 3 board meeting.
relinquish its control.
“I appreciate you are advo-
cating,” the parent said. “But
that doesn’t take a mask off of
my kid’s face.”
The parent told the board
the district would need to take
the control back instead.
Jessa Bigsby, a fi rst-year
teacher in the district and a par-
ent, asked the board what they
would do to protect teachers
who could be liable for stu-
dents that may not comply with
the mask rule.
Bigsby said she did not
want to require her students to
wear masks, nor did she want
to wear one as well.
She said that superinten-
dents in Prineville that she had
been in contact with had told
her they would not comply
with the state’s mandate. She
urged the board not to comply.
“We have to say no,” she
said. “We have to give par-
ents the right to choose. If we
stand for nothing, we fall for
everything.”
Uptmor said the teachers,
school staff and administrators
are all “in the same boat” when
being held liable for not enforc-
ing the mask rule.
According to Uptmor, the
entire district, including him-
self, other administrators and
teachers, are responsible for
enforcing the mandate.
He said OSHA would con-
duct an investigation and show
in its fi nal ruling that the man-
date was not being enforced.
“It doesn’t start in one spot,
or with one person or one with a
teacher,” he said.
Uptmor told the audience
that he encourages them to con-
tinue to lobby their local repre-
sentatives for local control.
Grant County’s two state
legislators, Sen. Lynn Findley,
R-Vale, and Rep. Mark Owens,
R-Crane, sent an Aug. 3 letter
to Gov. Kate Brown. In it, the
lawmakers ask the governor to
provide, immediately and to
the public, “scientifi c data spe-
cifi c to Oregon necessitating the
statewide, schools-wide, grade-
wide mask mandate.”
Findley and Owens also
called for a series of public,
in-person town halls and listen-
ing sessions to talk about the
rules and their “very serious
implications.”
“We all agree our students
cannot suff er another year with-
out in-person instruction,” the
legislators write. “We also agree
the health and safety of Orego-
nians must be a top priority. We
now need to agree that building
public trust through transpar-
ency and providing information
before regulation will be key to
slowing and eventually stop-
ping the spread of COVID-19
and its variants.”
Prairie City School Dis-
trict Superintendent Casey
Hallgarth did not respond to a
request for comment.
Contributed photo/Greateridaho.org
The Greater Idaho concept.
Idaho
Continued from Page A1
The Eagle/Steven Mitchell
From left, Jerett Waddel, Simmie Waddel, Trinity Hutchison, Wade Waddel, Tate Waddel and Riddick Hutchison on their farm in Mt.
Vernon.
Wadell
Continued from Page A1
Simmie said she made sure
the funds would be earmarked
for pediatric equipment.
She said Tate always brings
a calf to the fair so that he can be
involved. The idea to get Tate a
steer was born out of a conver-
sation she and Wade had about
giving back to the hospital.
“He just wants to be a nor-
mal kid,” Wade said. “He sees
the other kids doing something,
and he wants to be out there
too.”
4-H members and their ani-
mals must pass a series of qual-
ifi cations. In addition, animals
get weighed to ensure they are
within the ideal range for their
species, making raising an ani-
mal to take to the fair a com-
mitment that a 4-H’er has to
make throughout the entire
year.
With Tate’s disability, Sim-
mie said the work to raise
the steer, including feeding,
grooming and other needs, is a
team eff ort.
She, Wade and Tate’s sib-
lings, Trinity Hutchison, 20,
Riddick Hutchison, 16, and
Jerett Waddel, 11, have all
pitched in on the chores to take
care of the steer.
Well Child/Adolescent Visits on August 17th and 18th, at the Health Department. 
• This will include an OSAA sports
participation form (sports physical) if
needed. 
• Patients will need to come 15
minutes prior to their appointment,
they will need to fill out paper-
work, and a parent will need to sign
their OSAA sports participation form. 
• Patients 17 and under will need to
have a parent at least sign their OSAA
sports participation form although they
do not have to stay with the pt. So, parents may need to be reminded of this. (15 and older
can sign their own paperwork but a parent is encouraged to do this until age 18). 
It’s “not a big deal,” Sim-
mie said. She said the family
makes it work. At times, it can
be a juggling act, and the other
kids have had to sacrifi ce here
and there, she said, “but what
family doesn’t?”
Besides, she said, Tate’s
perseverance is infectious. She
told the Eagle that every eve-
ning, without fail, he cannot
wait to take his steer Bam Bam
out for a walk at dusk.
“We don’t want him to miss
out on something that will
make him go further in life,”
she said. “No matter how many
miles we have to drive or how
far we have to go.”
ing to serve on an advisory
committee to work on those
issues and create a gov-
ernment representing the
region’s values.
Grant County Judge
Scott Myers said the court
would need to find out how
best to create a committee
and that he did not know if
it would be wise to have a
county committee. He said
some committees are very
functional while others are
not. Myers said Friday he
is opposed to establishing
an advisory committee.
During the meeting,
Palmer asked Gilson how
she would respond to an
email that he received
from a resident in opposi-
tion who said, “If you do
not want to live in Oregon,
why not move to Idaho?”
Gilson said someone
on Facebook responded to
similar criticism by ask-
ing if they would react to
their Black neighbor with
that sentiment if they felt
uncomfortable living in
their white neighborhood.
She said the comment is
akin to telling someone to
move back to Portland if
they do not like it in Grant
County.
John Day resident Paul
Sweany said he joined via
conference call to ask the
court members to commit
a “revolutionary act.” He
asked the court to request
that the Eastern Oregon
Counties Association put
out a statement to join
Idaho.
He said elected offi-
cials have “played it safe”
to protect their positions,
budgets and livelihoods
during the pandemic and
have not lost anything
while others have. Sweany
said good people compro-
mising because of fear of
losing their budget and
livelihood is a form of
corruption.
Grant County
Health Department
528 E Main St | John Day
541-575-0429 | 888-443-9104
Open Mon.-Fri. 8am-5pm
• There will be incentives that will be
given out after the completion of an
appt. (likely a yeti bottle and
greenbucks). They will also be
entered into a drawing for likely a
paddleboard or some other cool
prizes. 
• These will be billed as well child
exams, so insurance information/
cards will be needed.
S255684-1
S254509-1
We will also be doing vision
screening, offering vaccines
including HPV, TDAP, Meningitis
and COVID-19 and any other
vaccines that are needed.