NEWS
MyEagleNews.com
Wednesday, September 22, 2021
A3
County hires new emergency manager
By STEVEN MITCHELL
Blue Mountain Eagle
CANYON CITY — Grant County
has a new emergency manager.
Eric Bush, a former brigadier gen-
eral in the National Guard and former
Prineville chief of police, has been
on the job for two weeks.
Amid wildfi res and a pandemic,
Bush said he has “jumped into the
deep end” of emergency manage-
ment in Grant County.
Bush, who was Prineville’s chief
of police for upwards of a decade
and oversaw troops in the Oregon
National Guard, said there is a lot to
learn in any new job. Grant County is
no diff erent.
Bush said he is working on sev-
eral things at once.
He said one of the most import-
ant things is just making sure the
county has good accountability of
all the property belonging to emer-
gency management. Additionally,
he said he is responsible for ensur-
ing the county has sound systems in
place when it comes to emergency
management.
Part of the learning curve, Bush
said, is getting to know the policies
and procedures of Grant County.
Steven Mitchell/Blue Mountain Eagle
Eric Bush is Grant County’s new emergency manager.
Every jurisdiction is a little bit diff er-
ent, according to Bush.
Bush said another item he is
working on for the long term is a
capabilities assessment. He told the
Eagle that the evaluation would be
based on feedback from stakeholders
within the county, and it would look
at where are the county’s gaps based
on safety hazards. Moreover, he said,
it will look at what the county can
do to mitigate those gaps in the near-
term and long-term future.
Bush added that he is responsible
for ensuring that all of the department
heads in the county have what they
need to do their job. To that end, he
is conducting an inventory of all of
the emergency management equip-
ment, including the property the
county acquired through the Emer-
gency Operations Center, to respond
to COVID-19.
“I’ve got a good jumpstart on
it,” he said. “It’s hard to tell exactly
how far I am through it because I
just don’t have my arms around the
whole thing yet.”
The EOC, which the Grant County
Court established in 2020 amid the
COVID-19 pandemic, came under
a barrage of criticism when it over-
spent its $125,000 budget by almost
$75,000, including nearly $92,000
on supply procurements. In addition,
the EOC purchased various items
without pre-approval from the court,
including at least 11 laptops and six
speakerphones for $900, plus $90 for
two-day shipping.
Bush said the coordinated
response to COVID-19 trickles down
from the federal government, state
government and counties. And, he
said, there are multiple lines of eff ort
on the county’s part in making sure
that the public is doing everything
correctly from the perspective of
legal authority and public health.
Bush said from a county perspec-
tive, the health department is the lead
in pandemic response.
“They’re the experts in health,”
he said.
Eagle’s Kim Kell named
Oregon ad exec of the year
Blue Mountain Eagle
JOHN DAY — The Ore-
gon Newspaper Publishers
Association has honored Blue
Mountain Eagle advertising
representative Kim Kell with
its fi rst-ever Christine Moore
Advertising Executive of the
Year Award.
The
recognition,
announced last week, was one
of 18 awards the John Day-
based newspaper brought
home from the ONPA’s
annual Better Newspaper
Contest.
Beating out ad execs from
newspapers of all sizes around
the state, Kell was nominated
for the inaugural award by a
combination of four manag-
ers and executives within the
EO Media Group, the Eagle’s
parent company.
Kell, a Grant County
native and 13-year employee
of the Eagle, serves as the
only advertising rep for the
weekly publication with a cir-
culation of 1,900.
In 2020, hardly a banner
year for advertising, Kell car-
ried an average of 112 adver-
tisers per month, 15% of the
Contributed photo
A totaled truck sits on the side of Highway 26 on Sept. 15 after striking three horses.
Blue Mountain Eagle/Steven Mitchell
Blue Mountain Eagle advertising representative Kim Kell has
been named Advertising Executive of the Year by the Oregon
Newspaper Publishers Association.
total businesses in Grant
County. So when the pan-
demic hit and in-person sales
calls turned into phone and
email outreach, her eff orts
remained eff ective because
of the relationships and the
trust she had built with her
clients.
All told, the Eagle
picked up 18 awards in
the ONPA’s annual com-
petition, including seven
first-place honors in cate-
gories such as best enter-
prise reporting, best gov-
ernment reporting and best
writing.
Three horses killed on Highway 26
By STEVEN MITCHELL
Blue Mountain Eagle
MT. VERNON — Three
horses were struck by a car
and killed at Laycock Creek
Road and Highway 26 on the
morning of Sept. 15 after fl ee-
ing from a pasture nearly six
miles away.
In a press release, Grant
County Sheriff Todd McKin-
ley said that both lanes of
Highway 26 had to be closed
for roughly one hour.
McKinley’s press release
also noted that one of the
horses had to be euthanized at
the scene after the collision.
According to McKinley’s
press release, an attempt was
made to locate the owners of
the horses that ran east of High-
way 26 to no avail. Addition-
ally, the press release noted that
it is unknown what spooked the
horses to fl ee the pasture.
McKinley thanked Dr.
Colleen Robertson from John
Day River Veterinary Clinic,
Nick Steiner and the Oregon
Department of Transportation
for their help at the scene.
Lake Creek Camp puts out a call for volunteers
Blue Mountain Eagle
Lake Creek Youth Camp is looking
for volunteers to help build a kiosk
and repair a fence on Sunday, Oct. 3,
and Saturday, Oct. 23.
The camp, located about 30
miles southeast of John Day
in the Malheur National For-
est, is run by a private nonprofit
organization.
In a Facebook post, the group’s
board of directors said that they
understand that this can be a busy
time of year for people but asked
that people with even a tiny amount
of time to spare reach out to
volunteer.
“We value the efforts of our many
volunteers and appreciate any time
that is shared working on this beauti-
ful property.”
The Lake Creek board can be
reached at 541-575-4031
Monday - Thursday
7am-
6pm
Monday
- Thursday
7am-
6pm
Friday
8am
- 5pm
Friday Sharpe
8am - 5pm
Mendy
FNP
Mendy
Sharpe FNP
Apppointments
available
•
•
•
•
•
Shawna Clark, DNP, FNP
541-575-1263
235 S. Canyon Blvd. John Day, Oregon 97845
S258721-1
Accepting new Patients! Go to:
www.canyoncreekclinic.com
Living in Community,
Loving People
Roofing
• General Construction
Remodeling
Fences
Decks
Storage Sheds
Andy Wolfer
541-910-6609
S258711-1
139101
STRUCTION, LL
N
O
C
C
AW
Featuring:
and
Much
More!
S258723-1
CCB#186113
Heartfelt
We were so blessed. Thursday evening we
had a fire started by lightning on a ridge on
our hill property. Thanks to the
Mt. Vernon Rural fire, John Day Rural fire,
the State Forestry and the many friends
and neighbors that came to help, the fire
was brought under control fairly quickly!
Where else besides Grant County can yhou
find such caring individuals? Our heartfelt
thanks to each and every one of you.
Richie, John Day Taxi, 541-620-4255.
Roger and Meredith Ediger
S260959-1
With my wife's nursing, prayer from
church, meals & support from friends &
neighbors, I beat a bout with Covid 19.
The thing I missed most during my
quarantine was the ability to just go to the
store; so during this terrible time, if you are
quarantined with Covid, give me a call &
I will pick up & deliver to you fare free any
small item or two you may need from
Chester's or even prescriptions from Lens.
No tobacco or alcohol please, thank you.
S261460-1
S261690-1