Last week’s lead story focused on the so-called “sex talk” scandal, which involved an inappropriate relationship between a former Grant County corrections deputy and a jail inmate under her supervision — including more than 100 phone calls, many of them sexual in nature, that the inmate made from the jail to the deputy on her personal cellphone.

Some readers will wonder why we’re reporting on this issue at all, given the personal and embarrassing nature of the allegations. The answer is: It’s our job. One of the fundamental roles of a newspaper is to act as a watchdog on government agencies. In this case, investigators determined that the deputy violated multiple policies governing the conduct of law enforcement officers, and one has to wonder whether that level of familiarity with a jail inmate could ultimately have put other law enforcement officers in danger.

Others will ask why we’re reporting on this issue now, some three years after the deputy was placed on leave while the claims were investigated and more than a year after she resigned following a 30-day suspension. The answer to that question is: Because that’s how long it took to get the information. As you might imagine, most public agencies are not eager to advertise the fact that one of their own may have committed policy violations or criminal acts. And with 600-plus exemptions to Oregon’s public records law, it’s all too easy for public officials who don’t want to release information (or who are simply confused by the byzantine provisions of the law) to say, “I can’t tell you.” It took my predecessor, Sean Hart, two months and more than four dozen emails to state and county officials just to get confirmation that the deputy was under investigation by the Oregon Department of Justice. 

Even then, more than a year would pass before the outcome of the internal and external investigations into the deputy’s misconduct — all of it public record — would be released. Just as county officials were preparing to make the information available, the former deputy went to court to keep the records secret. That case did not conclude until February of this year.

So no, our goal here was not to reopen old wounds. It was simply to give the public all the information it needed to understand the extent of misconduct by a public official in a position of authority, as well as the discipline meted out for that misconduct. Like you, we are frustrated that it took so long to be able to do that.

Last week’s paper also included stories on Grant County declaring a drought emergency, local senior centers reopening for in-person activities, a new website for the city of John Day and plans to begin long-delayed repairs to Southwest Fourth Street.

Coming up this week, we’ll have stories on a local high school student who responded to a cancer scare by helping raise funds for a new mammography machine at Blue Mountain Hospital, a Prairie City man who’s being inducted into the state wrestling hall of fame, the county budget talks and a proposed land deal that could lead to a new county library.

As always, I want to take this opportunity to thank our subscribers for their support. We can’t do this work without you!