A16
NEWS
Blue Mountain Eagle
Wednesday, August 24, 2022
Rookstool
Continued from Page A1
new administrative hire as Rhonda
McCumber left the Grant School
District to take over as the elemen-
tary principal in Prairie City.
While all Grant County schools
are holding in-person classes, the
ongoing COVID-19 pandemic
brings questions of what schools
have planned in the event cases
and hospitalizations spike again as
they did in the beginning and inter-
mediary portions of the pandemic.
Cases are up, but hospitalizations
and severe sickness from the dis-
ease remain relatively low.
Prairie City Superintendent
Casey Hallgarth said COVID con-
tingency plans can be viewed on
the school’s website at www.pcsd4.
com.
Dayville Superintendent Dav-
ida Irving said the school would be
looking to the Oregon Department
of Education and Oregon Health
Authority for COVID guidelines
during the 2022-23 academic year.
Grant School District Superin-
tendent Louis Dix said the district
didn’t have plans in place at the
start of the week but that COVID
contingency plans would be dis-
cussed at a meeting on Tuesday,
Aug. 23.
Along with the administra-
tive hires, schools throughout the
county hired a number of new
teachers for the 2022-23 academic
year.
Grant School District has the
largest number of students enrolled
in the county at 465. Prairie City
has the second-largest enrollment
with 252 students enrolled.
Both Monument and Day-
ville have just under 60 students
apiece, with Monument hav-
ing 57 enrolled students and Day-
ville having 59. Eff orts to reach
Long Creek schools for enrollment
numbers before press time were
unsuccessful.
“We checked to make sure
there was no noxious weeds
because bulldogs have sensi-
tive skin,” Rookstool said. “We
checked off every box we could
think of. A weed, a sunburn, even
a car accident. … People keep
coming at me with all these diff er-
ent ideas and I’m like, ‘You’re not
helping, we’ve already done that.’
Unfortunately, nobody wants to
think about it, but it’s looking like
something was put on her skin.”
The incident has left Rook-
stool wondering if she needs to
look over her shoulder now and
possibly carry Mace everywhere
she goes. If it was a deliberate
attack, Rookstool said, it won’t
deter her from continuing to be
the lone “no” vote in city coun-
cil meetings if her convictions tell
her she needs to be. If anything,
she said, the incident has inspired
her to continue doing what she is
doing and has given her an added
drive.
Despite that added drive,
Rookstool said she never thought
her position and votes at city coun-
cil would lead to her family being
put in danger. “I never thought
being on city council would make
me fear for my safety in my own
community,” she added.
Rookstool said if the individual
who attacked her dog is reading
this article, she wants to tell them
that the way they’re going about
things isn’t going to bring change.
“You’re not going to make any
changes hiding behind this, so
confront it face to face but don’t
be a coward. It’s hard to put into
words that are respectful because
there are so many things I would
love to say to this person and I
hope I get to say to this to them,”
Rookstool said.
There is a $550 reward
for information that leads to
the arrest of the individual
or individuals responsible for
the suspected chemical attack
on Rookstool’s dog.
260.532 and ORS ORS 260.537. Mor-
ris said Weigum called herself the “elec-
tions authority” and that these actions
were done to mislead voters and cause
confusion.
Morris also accused Weigum of vio-
lating ORS 294.414, which covers the
appointment of a budget committee,
pointing to Weigum’s role as the JDCC
Parks and Recreation District’s budget
offi cer. Morris said she felt she had to
fi le the recall petition because she and
others have been ignored when voic-
ing concerns to both the John Day City
Council and the JDCC Parks and Recre-
ation District board.
“They ignore us — not just the parks
and rec district, but the city council,” she
said.
Morris added that she and her hus-
band, John, have been ostracized for
expressing dissenting views about the
pool proposal, but she said that won’t
keep her from speaking out.
“Yeah, we’ve already had an anon-
ymous letter telling us we’re the most
hated people in Grant County,” Morris
said. “So this community just isn’t like
it used to be and that creates some anxi-
ety in speaking, standing up and speak-
ing out, but I have learned I can do that.”
Weigum responded to Morris’s alle-
gations in a written statement.
“I can’t say I’m that surprised con-
sidering the harassment from Mrs. Mor-
ris over the last year. We were told they
fi led complaints with the Oregon Gov-
ernment Ethics Commission, she’s
showed up at my place of employment,
fi led complaints with the district attor-
ney, we went to Circuit Court, and this is
actually the second recall petition she’s
fi led for me. Those complaints, which
are basically the same complaints in
this recall petition, were all dismissed,”
Weigum said.
“We’re a volunteer board with only
two full-time staff and none of us are
public policy experts. It takes us a little
longer to go through some of these pro-
cesses. Sometimes we stumble along
the way, and of course there are things
we could do better, but we’ve never
knowingly or intentionally been out of
compliance with an ORS. It’s disap-
pointing that Mrs. Morris has decided to
make this so personal. I’m not sure why
she’s singled me out, but if she thinks
she can do a better job as a board mem-
ber, then I encourage her to run for a
position on the board as opposed to con-
tinuing to waste taxpayer dollars with all
of her unsuccessful complaints.”
In order for the recall eff ort to make
the ballot, Morris must collect at least
289 valid signatures from registered
voters within the parks and rec district
by Nov. 8. Brenda Percy, the county
clerk, would have 10 days after that to
validate the signatures. If enough valid
signatures are collected, Percy would
then have 35 days to conduct a special
election in which voters would weigh in
on the recall question.
Weigum’s seat on the board will
come up for election in 2025.
Justin Davis/Blue Mountain Eagle
Christie Winegar interacts with her fi rst grade class on the fi rst day of school in Prairie City. School resumed for most students in Grant County on Monday, Aug. 22, 2022.
School
Continued from Page A1
school year. Grant School District
also has a new student services
director in Shannon Northway.
Other personnel changes in the
Grant School District include Andy
Lusco, who is now the assistant
principal and athletic director at
Grant Union High School.
Dayville made one new admin-
istrative hire for the 2022-23 school
year with new superintendent Dav-
ida Irving.
Prairie City also has a single
Recall
Continued from Page A1
was required in the normal course and
means.”
Orchard added that this is especially
true if a quorum of board members was
involved in the email communications
that occurred in drafting the ballot mea-
sure’s language.
Also alleged are violations of ORS
192.314 to ORS 192.335, which cover
access to public records and the timely
dissemination of public records.
Morris also claims that Weigum
prepared an additional notice of bal-
lot title that was published in the Blue
Mountain Eagle in violation of ORS
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66. One who is not
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67. A power to
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70. Proclaim out
loud
CLUES DOWN
1. Hits
2. Bathroom
accessory
3. Young
4. Beef cattles
5. It’s often in soap
6. For each
7. Innermost
membrane
41. Influential group
CLUES ACROSS 22. Asserts to be
enveloping the
(abbr.)
the case
1. One point north
brain
23. Type of infection 42. Used to chop
of due west
8. A way to leave
43. It comes as a
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4. Indigenous peo-
9. Emaciation
case
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ples of northern 28. Chinese philo- 44. Challenges
10. Punish with
Scandinavia
a fine
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9. Popular Califor- 29. Early multi-
11. Steeds
49. The Golden
nia/Nevada lake
12. Having eight
State
media
14. Go quickly
13. Greek goddess
30. Employee stock 50. Peyton’s little
15. Fatty acid in
of the dawn
brother
ownership plan
soaps
19. Mature repro-
31. He investigated 51. For walking in
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Alaska
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55. Buddhist honor- 21. Armadillo
tration
17. State of fuss
species
ific titles
33. Shells
18. Romance
58. Lively ballroom 24. Ancient country
37. Six
novelist
dance
38. Snakelike fish
in what is now
59. Capital of
20. Members of a
39. Capital of
Romania
Albania
Kenya
household
25. Extreme greed
26. Stars
27. Poems
31. Places to sit
32. One from the
Lone Star State
34. Small rails
35. One quintillion
bytes (abbr.)
36. Where coaches
work
40. Indicates
position
41. Mammals
45. Resembling a
wing
47. Beliefs
48. Hindu male reli-
gious teachers
52. Mischievously
53. Where athletes
want to end up
(abbr.)
54. Large,
deep-bodied fish
56. Horned squash
bug genus
57. Excessively
sentimental
59. Shared verbally
60. You can put it
on toast
61. Data mining
methodology
(abbr.)
62. Resinlike
substance se-
creted by certain
insects
63. Mauna __, Ha-
waiian volcano
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