GO! EASTERN OREGON MAGAZINE | INSIDE
Wednesday, November 16, 2022
154th Year • No. 46 • 12 Pages • $1.50
MyEagleNews.com
ELECTION 2022
Rookstool unseats Lundbom
John Day will have a new mayor after fi rst of the year
Contributed Image
This conceptual drawing shows what the proposed aquatic center
would look like from the front.
Pool bond goes
down, again
By JUSTIN DAVIS
Blue Mountain Eagle
Justin Davis/Blue Mountain Eagle, File
Councilor Heather Rookstool speaks during the Oct. 11, 2022, John Day City Council session. The fi rst-term city councilor de-
feated incumbent Ron Lundbom for the offi ce of mayor in the November election.
By JUSTIN DAVIS
Blue Mountain Eagle
L
ongtime John Day Mayor
Ron Lundbom had never had
a challenger for the offi ce
— until this year, when City
Councilor Heather Rook-
stool threw her hat into the ring.
The vote was close, but Rookstool
was winning by a 398-350 margin in
unoffi cial returns on election night,
Tuesday, Nov. 8.
An updated vote count on Monday,
Nov. 14 saw Rookstool’s lead decrease
by a single vote. The margin now stands
at 301-354 in favor of Rookstool.
The election of Rookstool brings an
end to Lundbom’s decade-long run as
the mayor of John Day.
The city will likely take a new direc-
tion with Rookstool at the helm coupled
with the ascension of two new city coun-
cilors that had campaigned with her in
the lead-up to the election.
The victory likely carries some sort
of vindication for Rookstool, whose
ability to defeat the longtime incumbent
was doubted from the start of her cam-
paign. Rookstool’s platform of civil-
ity and transparency carried the day,
however.
Rookstool said she was feeling
excited and nervous following the result
Lundbom
of the election. “Probably more excited
than nervous,” she said.
The fi rst item on Rookstool’s agenda
will be rebuilding the relationship
between the city and the county, fol-
lowed by taking a look at the city’s
fi nances.
Rookstool said she texted Lundbom
and thanked him for keeping the race
civil and added that she seeks to con-
vince those whose votes she did not
receive that she is the right person for
the job at this time.
“I respect and thank him for his 20
years of service to the city, and I hope that
I can do what I’ve set my goals at. I hope
that the people who didn’t vote for me
will watch what I do over the next four
years and hopefully grow to understand
why I wanted to be a mayor,” she said.
Rookstool also addressed doubts
about her campaign and her ability to
defeat Lundbom some in the community
had.
“The numbers prove who won, and
I think, too, that the community was
ready for the change,” she said. “We are
at a point in our life in Grant County as
a whole where we needed to make some
serious changes, and what has been hap-
pening a stagnant eight, 10 years needs to
change. I think the community saw that.”
With a number of major but unfi n-
ished projects in the works, Lundbom
expressed concern over the direction the
city might take under a new mayor and
revamped city council.
“I think the people of John Day lost.
... I’m more disappointed for the city of
John Day, not for myself,” he said.
Lundbom also voiced concerns that
some of the city’s partners in various
projects might decide to back away if
support for those projects is eroded on the
council and in the community.
“People will (say), ‘Well, if they (John
Day) don’t like the direction they’re
going and we’ve been helping them go in
that direction, why should we continue to
help them go in that direction?’”
Rookstool will be sworn in as mayor
at the beginning of 2023.
JOHN DAY — The second time did not turn out to be the charm
for the pool bond. The $4 million property tax measure failed in its
second appearance on the ballot.
Measure 12-85 was going down by 78 votes, 1,108 to 1,030, in
unoffi cial returns on Monday, Nov. 14.
The fi rst vote in May resulted in an 802-802 tie, which meant the
measure failed. That result led to a massive eff ort by bond supporters
to prove the measure had enough backing within the community to
justify putting it back on on the ballot just six months later.
Plans called for a six-lane, 25-yard pool suitable for competition to
be built at the Seventh Street Complex in John Day to replace the old
Gleason Pool, which was demolished this spring. The facility was to
include a building with a lobby, locker rooms, restrooms, offi ce space
and a multipurpose room.
Had the bond passed, residents in the John Day/Canyon City Parks
and Recreation District would have seen their property taxes rise by
70 cents for every $1,000 of assessed value over the 20-year life of the
bond. A home valued at $150,000 would have seen its property taxes
go up by $8.75 a month or $105 per year.
The bond measure’s failure also almost certainly means the loss of
$2 million in state grant funds the city of John Day was awarded to
help with the project’s construction. The grant came with a “use it or
lose it” time limit that required the city to identify a viable pool proj-
ect to spend the money on by Jan. 15 of next year. The city has already
expended $320,000 to cover preliminary design costs and will now
have to repay that money from its own budget unless a new pool plan
can be adopted by the deadline.
Cost estimates for the construction of the pool have risen sharply
over the past few months, now topping $7 million. City offi cials have
been quick to point out that those numbers were estimates and that the
price could have come in lower than that once fi rms began to bid on
the project.
City offi cials were also quick to point out that despite rising con-
struction costs associated with the pool project, the $4 million bond
levy would not have increased to match those rising costs.
The failure of the bond on Nov. 8 closes the chapter on one of the
most divisive ballot measures Grant County has seen since the hospi-
tal bond 20 years ago.
The political action committee supporting the pool, Friends of
JDCC Parks and Rec, spent just over $13,000 in support of the bond
during this election cycle. It is unclear how much money the PAC in
opposition to the pool bond, Grant County for Fiscal Responsibility,
spent in trying to defeat the bond this election cycle; as of Monday,
that organization had not reported any contributions or expenditures
to the Oregon Secretary of State’s Offi ce.
SEE MORE ELECTION COVERAGE | PAGES A8, A12
BENTZ, WYDEN COAST TO VICTORY | PAGE A8
DEMOCRATS KEEP MAJORITIES IN LEGISLATURE | PAGE A8
JOHN DAY COUNCIL SEES TURNOVER | PAGE A12
PRAIRIE CITY GETS NEW MAYOR | PAGE A12
A DAY OF HONOR
Twin ceremonies held in tribute to Grant County veterans
By JUSTIN DAVIS
Blue Mountain Eagle
PRAIRIE CITY — A stead-
fast commitment to preserving
freedom.
That is a quality shared by
American veterans new and
old, Richard Friese said in a
speech during a Veterans Day
ceremony at the old Texaco sta-
tion in Prairie City.
Friese, a member of Prai-
rie City American Legion Post
No. 106, really drove home the
meaning of the holiday, add-
ing that just exercising the free-
doms we all have as Americans
is in itself an act of defending
those freedoms.
Veterans Day is the day in
which we honor those whose
sacrifi ces have allowed us to
have and exercise the freedoms
we all enjoy and, at times, take
for granted. Prairie City Amer-
ican Legion Post No. 106 spent
Justin Davis/Blue Mountain Eagle
Members of Prairie City American Legion Post No. 106 stand
in front of the old Texaco on Front Street with the fl ags of the
various branches of the US armed forces during a Veterans Day
ceremony on Friday, Nov. 11, 2022.
the chilly morning of Friday,
Nov. 11, doing just that.
A color guard and small
rifl e salute detail composed of
post members descended on
the old Texaco station on Front
Street in Prairie City for a short
ceremony that reminded those
in attendance of the sacrifi ces
veterans have made in secur-
ing our way of life. The speech
given by Friese opened the cer-
emony at 11 a.m.
Post No. 106 Commander
Ed Negus then ordered the sev-
en-man, three-volley salute
detail to aim before three sep-
arate orders to fi re in salute of
veterans. Following the cere-
mony, the detail was dismissed
and made their way to the Prai-
rie City American Legion Post,
where they exchanged stories
of their exploits during their
own stretches in the military.
While that ceremony was
going on, another ceremony
honoring veterans was taking
place at the memorial fl ags at
the Seventh Street Complex
in John Day. Bob Van Voorhis
gave a brief speech, and a rifl e
salute was performed by John
Day American Legion Post No.
77. Ed Heiple played taps at the
ceremony.
A lunch of biscuits and
stew was served to veterans
and their families at the John
Day Elks Lodge following
the ceremony at the Seventh
Street Complex.
Negus was appreciative of
the turnout for the ceremony
in Prairie City and mentioned
that he was happy fears that
he wouldn’t have enough peo-
ple to perform the ceremony
weren’t realized. “I appreciate
everyone showing up. I always
worry we won’t have enough
guys, and you see what we
got,” he said.
Veterans Day was origi-
nally called Armistice Day and
marked the end of major hos-
tilities during the First World
War. Hostilities ended on the
11th hour of the 11th day of the
11th month in 1918.
Grant County is home to an
unusually high number of vet-
erans. In the last census, some
744 individuals — nearly 13%
of county residents — iden-
tifi ed themselves as veterans.
Nationally, veterans make up
just over 7% of the population.