NEWS
MyEagleNews.com
Wednesday, August 10, 2022
A7
Grant to fund supportive housing
By STEVEN MITCHELL
Blue Mountain Eagle
CANYON CITY — The Ore-
gon Health Authority awarded Com-
munity Counseling Solutions a $1.4
million grant on Wednesday, Aug. 3,
to purchase a pair of homes in Grant
County to provide supportive transi-
tional housing for people with behav-
ioral health issues.
Kimberly Lindsay, CCS chief
executive offi cer, said the plan is to
off er longer-term transitional hous-
ing to CCS clients, primarily those
struggling with mental illness. The
program’s focus, she said, would be
on families and veterans.
Lindsay said CCS has not yet
selected the sites of the houses. How-
ever, she said the homes would likely
have two to three bedrooms, depend-
ing on the price.
Lindsay said she wants to see the
program come to fruition in Grant
County and thinks CCS can do an
excellent job delivering services.
However, she said, the location of
the homes would make or break the
Steven Mitchell/Blue Mountain Eagle, File
Kimberly Lindsay, Community Coun-
seling Solutions chief executive offi -
cer, speaks during a 2020 session of
Grant County Court.
program’s success. The houses, she
said, could not be isolated from the
rest of the community.
“We cannot put people 20 miles
outside of town,” she said. “These
are people who are lower-income.
We are not talking about middle-in-
come folks.”
Lindsay said the homes need to
be in a place that is accessible for
families with children. There are
many people who lack adequate
transportation.
While it’s not yet clear where the
houses will be or how soon they will
be available for use, Lindsay said the
criteria for who will qualify for the
housing are specifi c and straightfor-
ward. The housing is only for cli-
ents of CCS struggling with behav-
ioral health issues. That could mean
mental health, including depression,
anxiety or other conditions. Addic-
tion also falls under the umbrella,
although Lindsay pointed out that
the number of people coming in for
addiction treatment has dropped
signifi cantly.
Lindsay said this means that a
person not enrolled with CCS who is
looking for a free place to live cannot
randomly show up and be allowed to
simply move in.
“(Supportive housing) is not
going to be for anyone,” she said.
“If you were homeless, you couldn’t
just say, well, ‘I’d like to be living
there.’”
Longer-term transitional
housing
Lindsay said the plan moving
forward is to off er low-cost transi-
tional housing for up to a year. Ten-
ants will be responsible for paying
below-market rent and covering the
cost of utilities each month.
She said CCS will hire a man-
ager to oversee multiple transitional
homes in Grant, Morrow, Wheeler
and Gilliam counties. The hous-
ing manager will put together the
details of the program for the homes
in the four counties, including the
length of time people can stay at the
houses.
Typically, Lindsay said, peo-
ple live in transitional housing for a
month. Unfortunately, she said, that
short window does not allow some-
one to make meaningful changes
and get on solid fi nancial footing.
Allowing people to stay up to a
year provides enough time to make
meaningful life changes, Lindsay
said. Moreover, keeping the rent
low allows tenants to save money
for when it comes time to move out
and live independently.
Lindsay said a fair number of
the people eligible for the hous-
ing are parents of a child struggling
with a mental health condition such
as attention defi cit hyperactivity
disorder.
Lindsay said that most of the peo-
ple CCS is seeing now have mental
health issues. That said, it is safe to
say that most people who would be
accessing supportive housing will
have mental health issues, such as
depression and anxiety.
The supportive housing fund-
ing comes from a spending package
north of $500 million that state law-
makers set aside to improve behav-
ioral health services.
Oregon has one of the high-
est rates of mental illness in the
U.S. According to a Kaiser Family
Foundation survey, Oregon has the
fi fth-highest unmet need for mental
health treatment in the nation.
Bend may restrict homeless camps
By ANNA KAMINSKI
The Bulletin
Dean Guernsey/The Bulletin
Megan Leeann Teeter is handcuff ed by law enforcement offi cers
outside a Bend home after she surrendered during a standoff
that lasted several hours Wednesday, Aug. 3, 2022.
Woman arrested
after Bend standoff
By JOE SIESS
The Bulletin
BEND — A woman who
allegedly fi red a handgun
15 times into a Bend home
owned by a relative surren-
dered to law enforcement
Wednesday morning, Aug. 3,
after an hourslong standoff
with heavily armed offi cers in
front of a house on Chuckanut
Drive in southwest Bend.
No one was injured in the
shooting.
“We are defi nitely glad
no one was injured. It was a
super dangerous call, obvi-
ously, in a residential neigh-
borhood, so we are very fortu-
nate for that and fortunate that
she was willing to surrender,”
said Bend Police Lt. Brian
Beekman.
Megan Leeann Teeter, 26,
of Bend, was arrested and
faces charges that include the
unlawful use of a weapon,
reckless endangering and
attempted murder, police said.
At
about
3:19 a.m.
Wednesday, law enforcement
offi cers were called after shots
were fi red into a house at 2277
NE Scarlet Court, a residential
area off Northeast 27th Street
on the east side of Bend,
Beekman said. Police said the
home is owned by one of Tee-
ter’s relatives.
“We went out there, the
sheriff ’s offi ce went out there,
there was evidence that a
handgun was fi red multiple
times into this residence,”
Beekman said. “The residence
was empty, fortunately, so
nobody was hurt.”
Based on available infor-
mation and witness accounts,
law enforcement offi cers
were able to identify Teeter
as a suspect and determine
she was related to someone
who lived at the Scarlet Court
home, Beekman said.
Police said Teeter fi red 15
rounds from a .380 handgun at
the Scarlet Court home, then
drove off in a Jeep before offi -
cers arrived. Several rounds
struck the home and a vehicle
parked there, police said.
By 6:30 a.m., detec-
tives had tracked her down
to 61140 Chuckanut Drive,
Beekman said.
Beekman said around 35
law enforcement offi cers from
the Bend Police Department,
the Deschutes County Sher-
iff ’s Offi ce, and Oregon State
Police responded to the call
and engaged in the standoff in
front of the Chuckanut Drive
residence.
By 7 a.m., law enforce-
ment offi cers, including the
Central Oregon Emergency
Response Team, tried to get
Teeter to come out of the
house.
Beekman said Teeter sur-
rendered to offi cers around
9:30 a.m. Soon afterward,
offi cers recovered a handgun
in the home.
“At this point our detec-
tives have taken over the
case,” Beekman said. “They
are trying to determine what
her motivation was or what
the issue was that started this
whole thing at 3:30, so those
are kind of unknowns at this
point.”
After surrendering, Teeter
was taken to St. Charles Bend
for evaluation.
Kristoff er Wright, who
lives next door to the house on
Chuckanut Drive with his wife
and two children, saw several
heavily armed law enforce-
ment offi cers — many wear-
ing tactical gear — armored
vehicles, and drones fl ying
overhead. Eventually, he saw
a law enforcement offi cer on
a megaphone attempting to
negotiate with Teeter.
“It was obvious that this
was a big thing, and it was
escalating,” Wright said.
At one point, Wright and
his family were ordered by
police to the other side of their
property to avoid “crossfi re,”
he said.
“That was verbiage that
was immediately concern-
ing,” he said. “Then this was
before I knew anything about
what was going on, what the
lady did, why they were even
really there.”
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BEND — Under a proposed change
to Bend’s city code, homeless campers
would not be allowed near the Deschutes
River, in residential areas or within sev-
eral hundred feet of schools and parks,
after lengthy discussions by the City
Council Wednesday, Aug. 3.
Councilors agreed that banning camp-
ing in residential areas and near the river
made sense as public safety was their
main priority.
Councilors disagreed when it came to
the size of the buff ers around parks and
schools, and if they should even have
them.
Mayor Pro Tem Anthony Broadman
was in favor of keeping campers away
from schools.
Councilors Megan Perkins and Mo
Mitchell felt that banning campers from
schools perpetuated the notion that those
experiencing homelessness are inherently
dangerous.
No offi cial decisions were made at the
meeting. Councilors only meant to narrow
the focus of what will be allowed in the
proposed code.
“People do want to camp,” said Mitch-
ell. “If you have a choice, people are going
to want to camp and not be in a shelter.
In the code, there has to be some space
where people can camp for the night.”
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Tents line the sidewalk as people gather
along Second Street in Bend in January.
Camping during the day and for long
amounts of time, like several days in a
row, would not be allowed under the new
code.
Councilors also discussed a seasonal
approach and modifying the times camp-
ing would be allowed based on available
daylight.
The council also must consider
enforcement. During the meeting, coun-
cilors questioned where the line of com-
pliance ended and the line of punishment
began.
Because the camping rules could be
amended into city code, homeless camp-
ers could receive civil sanctions that are
not criminal. Councilor Barb Camp-
bell argued that civil sanctions are still a
punishment.
“We’ve got to make sure it’s actually
workable,” said Campbell. “These peo-
ple exist in the world, and we have to
have some idea of what we’re thinking
Hello Grant County,
Thank you Members!
Thank you to all of our wonderful
members who have renewed their
membership! We appreciate each
and every one of you. Remember,
all Chamber members have a page
on the Chamber’s website – www.
gcoregonlive.com. Check them out!
Please check your page and let us
know if you want to change anything.
It’s Fair Time!
Wow! It’s Fair time! The Fair Rodeo
was a BIG success, and Mindy and
Dusty have been working hard all
year to bring us the best Fair ever.
Let’s show them our support for all
their hard work. If you see either of
them down at the Fair, let them know
you appreciate the great job they
have done!
Cycle Oregon Jobs Still Available
We still have some jobs available for
local groups to earn some money
for their organizations, sports teams
and clubs. Please let me know if you
are interested and I will be happy to
show what we have.
Cycle Oregon will be here September
11-17.
Our volunteers are the best!
Last month, I inadvertently left Larry
Christensen out when I was naming
and thanking our volunteers. Larry
has been volunteering at the Cham-
ber since August, 2015 and he does
a fantastic job for us! Thank you Lar-
ry! We appreciate you!
Chamber Board to Meet
Our next Chamber Business meet-
ing will be Thursday, August 18th.
The board meets at 10:30 AM at the
Chamber Office.
Enjoy the 113th Annual
Grant County Fair!
Go see Eddy Montgomery
and Jessie Leigh in concert!
Tammy Bremner
Executive Director
about for enforcement offi cers.”
The caveat with the proposed code, as
determined by court cases out of Boise,
Idaho, and Grants Pass, is that it can-
not be enforced unless shelter space is
available for campers who are being
displaced. The court cases determined
that criminalizing homelessness was
cruel and unusual punishment under the
Eighth Amendment.
To ensure these proposed rules can be
reasonably followed by campers, Assis-
tant City Attorney Ian Leitheiser said
they need to defi ne what exactly camp-
ing and being homeless mean.
“The idea is that people should be
cited for conduct, not status,” said Lei-
theiser during the meeting. “If some-
body is houseless, they don’t have any-
where else to go. The only option they
have to seek shelter is going to be in a
public place.”
Councilor Melanie Kebler clarifi ed
that the proposed code only pertains to
camping outside of vehicles. The coun-
cil intends to develop a separate code for
in-vehicle camping.
Councilors decided last month to
speed up the process of developing a
camping code so they could vote on
adopting the code as early as October.
City Manager Eric King said that a ques-
tion-and-answer session for community
members and city councilors could be
available in the near future.
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