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About The Blue Mountain eagle. (John Day, Or.) 1972-current | View Entire Issue (April 20, 2022)
A14 NEWS Blue Mountain Eagle Wednesday, April 20, 2022 Empathy Continued from Page A1 Hannah added that her family was supportive and did not want to make her any more scared than she already was. In times of trouble, Heather said, everyone in their family always comes together, and they all told Hannah that, no matter what, everything would be OK. She said her husband, Mike, was the anchor of the family and stressed that everyone not get ahead of themselves. “He was our rock,” Heather said, “and the more level-headed one.” Hannah said that her dad provided comic relief to lighten the situation. When she looks back, she said, that was what really helped keep her mind off of it. Raising her game There is a one-in-eight chance that a woman in the United States will develop breast cancer, making it the most common cancer for women in this country. Hannah said that from here on out, should she ever recognize any kind of abnormality, she will have to go in to see a specialist. “It is something that I will have to deal with for the rest of my life,” she said. “So knowing that, (my experi- ence) helps me to realize that I know I’m not alone, but also other people in the world or the community are not alone.” Motivated by her own close call, Hannah, a volleyball player who had always wanted to get involved in her school’s annual Dig Pink game, said the experience confi rmed that desire all the more. So last fall, she made it her senior project. Internet Continued from Page A1 Unity, Mt. Vernon and Day- ville, according to Bott. Monument City Recorder Dorthy Jordan says the com- munity wasn’t interested in the project at fi rst, but as more residents became aware of the plan, excitement for the deal began to grow. “We can’t wait.” Jordan says the fi ber optic network will be a signifi cant improvement over the satel- lite internet service the com- munity largely relies on now. “Internet is at best very slow. It’s been a hindrance to this community because there are a lot of people that work from home and rely on the faster internet to work from home.” Jordan also says people would pass Monument by as a place to live if they have to work from home due to the slow or nonexistent inter- net service currently avail- able in the community. The fi ber optic network will also be boon to students in the local school, allowing them to conduct research at a much faster pace than they do now, Steven Mitchell/Blue Mountain Eagle Hannah Wall, right, with her mother, Heather Wall. When her daughter found a lump in her breast four years ago, Heather said, it was “terrifying.” The Dig Pink game is organized by the Side-Out Foundation, a nationwide project that hosts over 9,000 events across the country and helps programs raise money to donate to breast cancer research. Both Grant Union and Prairie City high schools have organized Dig Pink games for a number of years to increase awareness of breast cancer, and proceeds from the games recently helped purchase a 3D mammography machine for Blue Mountain Hospital. While Hannah said she always knew that the Dig Pink games were for breast cancer, she said her mind was blown by the amount of time and dedication required to pull off the fundraiser. That dedication, she said, included help from each of her teammates and Teri Bowden, owner of A Flower Shop N More “IT’S AN INCENTIVE TO GET THE PROJECT DONE ON TIME. WE’RE PREPAYING A MILLION DOLLARS FOR SOMETHING THAT WE DON’T HAVE.” Nick Green, John Day City Manager according to Jordan. “I personally think it will be an asset to the commu- nity,” Jordan said. “I haven’t heard a negative thing yet.” The addition of the fi ber optic network could lead to growth for Monument as well, as people decide to move to the small and sce- nic community to work from home after the addition of high speed internet. Green says the Grant County Digital Board of Directors needs to ratify the agreement with the city in order for the deal to go through. “We ratifi ed the deal on Tuesday (April 12). Grant County Digital will ratify the deal next Tuesday (April 19), and then we can wire the funds to Oregon Telephone.” Green says the forgivable interest on the loan was a necessity to ensure the work gets done in a timely fashion. “It’s an incentive to get the project done on time. We’re prepaying a million dollars for something that we don’t have.” Bott acknowledges the $8 million price point sounds high, but he says it is really a bargain considering the num- ber of communities served by the project. “An $8 million project to serve the number of locations and the mileage — I won’t say it’s unheard of, but it is an extremely good deal to deliver fi ber to the home to as many places that are there,” he said. “We’ve been in busi- ness for over 100 years and we have a pretty good reputa- tion for providing high-qual- ity services at a reasonable price.” in John Day, who donated pink balloon decorations and a great deal of her time. Heather put a fine point on it when she said there would not have been a Dig Pink game with- out Bowden. Blue Mountain Hospital Dis- trict CEO Derek Daly said the Dig Pink games create awareness around breast cancer, which he said is an important topic. “Obviously,” he said, “we are thrilled and fortunate to benefit from some of the proceeds from those fundraisers.” Moreover, Daley added, Blue Mountain Hospital is one of a small number of rural hospi- tals with a 3D mammography machine. That technology, he said, “has enabled us to provide a big-city type of service in Grant County.” Budget Continued from Page A1 of linking county road fund money to police services. For his part, citizen bud- get committee member and chairman Bob Quinton said last month that commingling road fund dollars and police services was a nonstarter for him. McKinley said there still is hope that John Day might be able to transfer a three-year, $375,000 fed- eral Community Oriented Policing Services grant to the Grant County Sheriff ’s Offi ce. McKinley said the COPS grant would pay for one patrol deputy per year. He said he would know more about the viability of the grant after a conference call with the grant administrator this week after the newspa- per’s press time. In a letter submitted to the budget committee, McKin- ley said the Grant County Sheriff ’s Offi ce is fi elding 20 calls per day that it must respond to. He said these calls typically fall on one patrol deputy. “The ability to handle those calls, with some exper- tise and with some care, is getting greatly dimin- ished because you have one individual responding to those calls,” he told the committee. McKinley told the com- mittee that the offi ce now has to prioritize calls, responding Steven Mitchell/Blue Mountain Eagle Grant County Commissioner Jim Hamsher speaks during a county bud- get committee session on Wednesday, April 13, 2022. fi rst to emergency calls when there is reason to believe a threat to life exists. Kreger asked if the county could go out for a bond levy to help fund the Sheriff ’s Offi ce. She said a bond levy could be a long-term, stable solution where each commu- nity would be paying a fair share of the cost. County Commissioner Jim Hamsher said that would not be fair to some outly- ing areas that do not have very many law enforcement issues. Kreger replied that when those smaller outlying areas need the police, they need the police. County Judge Scott Myers said asking people to pony up for law enforcement services at this point might be an unpopular idea. Quinton said the county has non-mandated depart- ments costing thousands of dollars a year that many res- idents likely do not use. That money, he said, could be used for law enforcement. “I guess the citizens of the county need to decide do you want police patrols,” he said, “or do you want a depart- ment that very few people use but costs the county a lot of money?” The budget committee’s next meeting will be held at 9 a.m. May 11 at the Grant County Courthouse, 201 S. Humbolt St., Canyon City. GRANT COUNTY AWARDED FEDERAL FUNDS ARPAR SSA ALLOCATION OF THE EMERGENCY FOOD AND SHELTER NATIONAL BOARD PROGRAM Grant County has been selected to receive an award of $4,953 for the Emergency Food and Shelter National Board Program to supplement emergency food and shelter programs in the county. The selection was made by a National Board that is charged by the Department of Home- land Security’s Federal Emergency Management Agency and consists of representatives from The Salvation Army, American Red Cross, Council of Jewish Federations, Catholic Charities USA, National Council of Churches of Christ USA, and United Way of America. The Local Board was charged to distribute funds appropriated by Congress to help ex- pand the capacity of food and shelter programs in high-need areas around the country. The Local Board will determine how Grant County's award is to be distributed among emergency food and / or shelter programs run by local service agencies. The Local Board is responsible for recommending agencies to receive federal funds made available through the ARPAR SSA Allocation. Under the terms of the National Board award, local organizations chosen to receive funds must be a private voluntary non-profit or unit of government eligible to receive federal funds, with an accounting system and federal employer identification number. Organiza- tions must demonstrate the capability to deliver qualified emergency food and/or shelter programs. Private voluntary organizations must have a voluntary board and practice non-discrimination. Qualifying agencies are urged to apply. Grant County has distributed Emergency Food and Shelter funds previously to the Grant County Food Bank, Prairie City Baptist Church Food Bank and Monument Food Bank. These agencies were responsible for providing food to qualifying local citizens. Public or private voluntary agencies interested in applying for Emergency Food and Shelter Pro- gram funds under the ARPAR SSA Allocation may request an application by contacting 541-575-0059, Grant County Court Office, 201 S. Humbolt Street, No. 280, Canyon City, OR 97820. Completed applications are due before 5:00 pm Wednesday, April 27th, 2022.
