JOHN DAY — U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., met with local residents and leaders at the Grant County Regional Airport in John Day on Saturday, June 24, to answer questions, help with problems and share his funding and policy accomplishments.

Residents and leaders came to the meeting seeking help with a particular issue or roadblock that the power wielded by a United States senator might be able to overcome. Some also asked questions and shared comments over issues that concern them, such as immigration and the Greater Idaho Movement.

Mt. Vernon resident Marc LeQuieu, a former Forest Service firefighter, thanked Wyden for coming to Grant County to listen to resident concerns and shared his struggle with not being able to receive health care from the Department of Labor for the spinal difficulties he’s facing after his 20 years of service.

“The Department of Labor has an internal policy where they don’t recognize spinal cord injuries as debilitating unless you have a full-blown impediment to an appendage,” LeQuieu said. “And for my colleagues and I that have given lives of service, I’d like to bring that to your awareness so we might be able to get more assistance.”

As chairman of the Senate Finance Committee that focuses on health care, Wyden said he would see what could be done to help the former firefighter.

“Why (is the Department of Labor) saying that rules which are not clearly prohibitive can’t be used, heaven forbid, to help firefighters who have been injured?”

Grant County Circuit Court Judge Rob Raschio spoke next. He said Measure 110, which made simple possession of most drugs legal in Oregon, had significantly reduced the number of cases in his adult drug treatment court — so much so that the court, which was started two years ago, would be winding down at the end of the year. Because of this, Raschio said he had asked the Bureau of Justice Assistance if the federal grant funding for adult treatment court could be moved and used toward the region’s family treatment court instead.

“When we tried to pivot our BJA money to our family treatment court, we were told that we couldn’t use that money in that way — and family treatment courts in rural communities work and they help reunify families and they also enhance public safety, so I was hoping that you could maybe help us figure out how we can get additional federal funding for our important treatment courts,” Raschio said at the meeting.

Wyden asked his field representative to check on the funding “and see if we can move it.”

John Day City Councilor Chris Labhart came to ask for assistance with permitting for the city’s wastewater treatment plant. Construction of the plant has been delayed by the environmental review process because the city is now being required to monitor treated wastewater in order to protect salmon in the river, but it can’t because the area the city is being required to monitor is on privately owned land, he said.

“The biological assessment by the Department of Agriculture says we need to proceed … and we can’t do it,” he said.

Wyden said he’d look into it.

“When I first came to the Senate, almost by accident, I wrote a law that’s come to be most used in terms of land policy and that is that if you’re trying to achieve an objective that involves federal land, private land, state land and local land — in a number of instances you can work with the federal government together, even if it affects those other lands,” he said. “Let me do the first logical step here and try to figure out what evidence these agencies, or this one in particular, has … that there’s a problem that should keep holding you up.”

Labhart said he’d appreciate the help.

Grant County resident Shelley Wyllie said she’s part of a group called “Oregon Together,” which started in Grant County and is expanding to other counties in opposition to the Greater Idaho Movement calling for Eastern Oregon to become a part of Idaho.

“We are proposing a positive, non-judgmental conversation and really the power of collaboration,” Wyllie said, “and my question for you is … what would your recommendation be for engaging with the west side of the state in this?”

Wyden said legislators from the west side should understand that the concerns of Eastern Oregon are legitimate.

“I think it’s important that west-siders get out and listen, which is what we’re doing today, and respond with concrete examples,” Wyden said.

John Day resident Mark Lysne thanked Wyden for coming before asking about the issue of illegal immigration.

“I’m over 70 and I’ve been hearing about immigration being broken,” Lysne said. “I hear about senators who have been there for 40 years and it never gets fixed, and since Biden has been in office, the numbers are completely out of control. Millions have been admitted. People who can’t legally work. They don’t have a home. They’re unemployed. Our schools are already overtaxed and overburdened. So I would like you to tell John Day why that’s good for our country and why you continue to do nothing to change it.”

Wyden agreed the system is broken.

“Well, it’s not good for our country and I have supported a number of measures like putting billions and billions of dollars into beefing up what we’re doing at the border, so as to have the technology and the people and the like,” Wyden said. “But I’m not making any apologies for the system. It’s broken — broken, broken, broken.”

Lysne continued.

“You’re telling me it’s important to you but I haven’t seen you do anything and you’ve been (in Congress) for 42 years,” he said. “You haven’t sponsored anything.”

Wyden disagreed.

“You’ve made your points,” he said. “A number of your points are reasonable, but on the question of ‘have I done anything,’ I have authority over a key part of the challenge of fixing the system and I’ve been putting holds and blocking people for the reason that they haven’t been accountable enough, and we’ll get you the material on it.”

1188 Brewing Co. owner Shannon Adair came to the town hall to thank Wyden for earlier help finalizing a federal loan and for small business assistance during the pandemic. Adair, who lost a neighboring business in downtown John Day in an April 17 commercial fire, hopes to reopen her brewpub on July 7 after smoke damage restoration work.

“I just want to say thank you for coming and keeping a commonsense approach and keeping it positive,” she said. “Politics right now are so divisive and people aren’t willing to come down and talk about the details and come up with solutions, and I think that’s really important for all of us to do that regardless of what side you’re on. I appreciate you coming across the aisle and be willing to work with people and just coming across very positively in our community and across the state.”

Wyden responded to Adair, in part, by addressing the idea of the west-side legislators in Salem needing to better listen to the concerns of Eastern Oregonians.

“We’re going to tell these west-siders, you guys better understand that these concerns coming from the east side are real, they are not abstract and off-base, and there’s got to be ways to come together … Shannon, just know that when 1188’s up and running, I get to come back, and we’ll be in there.”