BLACK BUTTE FIRE GROWS TO 20,000 ACRES | PAGE A5
Wednesday, August 18, 2021
153rd Year • No. 33 • 14 Pages • $1.50
MyEagleNews.com
The Eagle/Steven Mitchell
MadiLyne Cearns, 11, of Prai-
rie City poses with her sheep.
Cearns earned a blue ribbon.
The Eagle/Steven Mitchell
Jonathan Leighty, 12, of Prairie
City poses with his sheep.
Steven Mitchell/Blue Mountain Eagle
Samantha Adams-Choate, 18, of Monument won the Grand Champion in Showmanship.
The Eagle/Steven Mitchell
Tate Waddel, front, and Simmie
Waddel with his market steer.
Youth Livestock Auction
raises more than $500,000
By Steven Mitchell
Blue Mountain Eagle
T
The Eagle/Steven Mitchell
Buyers Nick and Amy Stiner pose
at the Youth Livestock Auction.
he Grant County Fair Youth
Livestock Auction netted
upwards of $500,000, more
than $200,000 over last year.
Shannon Springer, Grant
County Auction Committee treasurer,
said while she does not know if this year’s
number broke a record, she said this was
the most money the auction has brought
in since she has been on the committee.
Scott Offi cer, who awards a stu-
dent in 4-H or FFA with the Delly Offi -
cer Memorial for courtesy and sports-
manship, presented the award to Parker
Manitsas. Offi cer said Manitsas was
nominated three times for the honor.
Offi cer said a three-person panel
interviews each nominee. Typically, he
said it is a four-person panel, but this
year it was three. The winner is usually
presented with a pocket knife and a tro-
phy with a hunter safety message, but he
could not order it this year. So Manitsas
was presented with the award.
Offi cer said the award is in memory
The Eagle/Steven Mitchell
Scott Offi cer, left, presents Parker
Manitsas with the ‘Delley Offi cer
Award.’
of his “brother and best friend” Delly,
who was accidentally shot by a hunter in
1984.
Springer shared a summary of the
number of animals sold and the total dol-
lar amount the auction brought in.
2016: 106 animals, $170,010.30
2017: 122, $198,895.56
2018: 115, $220,204.40
2019: 118, $277,564.50
2020: 114, $302,623.50
2021: 126, $505,545.00
See Auction Page A14
The Eagle/Steven Mitchell
From left, Scott Offi cer, Parker
Manitsas, Emma Lynne Northway
and Treyton Brown.
A roaring-good parade
Grant County Fair
parade rolls through
John Day
By Steven Mitchell
Blue Mountain Eagle
The Eagle/Steven Mitchell
Old West Federal Credit Union’s fl oat trots along Saturday during
the Grant County Fair parade.
It was a “rip-roaring good
time” Saturday as horses, kids
and many others made their way
through downtown John Day for
the Grant County Fair parade.
The parade left from Grant
Union High School at 11 a.m. and
made its way down Canyon Bou-
levard to Main Street, and ended at
Chester’s Thriftway,
Grant County Sheriff Todd
McKinley led the convoy with the
stars and stripes fl apping in the
wind on the right side of his rig
with his lights fl ashing.
Grant County Fair grand mar-
shal Bonnie Nance soon followed
in a cattle truck driven by the fair
board.
Various businesses, organiza-
tions and groups participated in
the parade.
A few fl oats and participants
protested Gov. Kate Brown’s
recent pandemic restrictions, hold-
ing up signs reading “Freedom not
Force,” “Media is the virus” and
other anti-masking messages.
The Eagle/Steven Mitchell
Dirt bike riders of all
age roll through the
parade Saturday.
DELTA
BLUES
School offi cials, teachers and parents call on county to fi ght for local control
By Steven Mitchell
Blue Mountain Eagle
Grant County parents and school
district offi cials continued to push
back against Gov. Kate Brown’s mask
mandate for students and staff in
schools during the Aug. 11 session of
Grant County Court.
Based on Centers for Disease Con-
trol recommendations, the governor’s
mandate responded to the highly con-
tagious delta variant of coronavirus.
Like many district leaders across
Oregon, Prairie City School District
Superintendent Casey Hallgarth was
frustrated and puzzled about why the
state stripped the district of local con-
trol seemingly out of nowhere.
“Why are we starting back at
Ground Zero?” Hallgarth said. “Why
is it a top-down decision?”
The Eagle/Steven Mitchell
Casey Hallgarth, Prairie City School
District Superintendent, at Grant
County Court Aug. 11.
Hallgarth said last year he and the
district would base their decisions on
the data and said they have a good
relationship with the county’s health
department.
Hallgarth said Prairie City School
District never had a large outbreak last
year and leaned on the health depart-
ment for guidance.
He said the district is frustrated and
supports those who choose to wear a
face covering and supports those who
do not want to wear one. And, Hall-
garth noted, he made that “perfectly
clear.”
“It should be a choice, though,” he
said. “And that’s where we stand at the
school.”
Concerned parents
Ryan Courtney told the court that
he and his wife have been home-
schooling their two kids and had
intended on sending them to in-per-
son classes in the fall, but now, after
Brown’s announcement face cover-
ings would be mandated, he and many
parents that could not be at county
court are having second thoughts
unless they see pushback against the
“continued madness” from the state.
Courtney said he hoped to gain the
court’s support in getting local control
decision-making back to the districts
and out of the hands of the state.
“We have smart administrators
who have been working tirelessly
with their staff , school boards, and
parents to create an atmosphere where
kids want to learn and want to come
to school, but still provide for COVID
safety,” Courtney said.
Hamsher told Courtney that the
Eastern Oregon Counties Association,
which represents more than 10 coun-
ties, would be sending a letter that
Grant County signed to ask for local
control of school districts.
County Judge Scott Myers told
See Masks, Page A14