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About The Blue Mountain eagle. (John Day, Or.) 1972-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 19, 2016)
The Blue Mountain EAGLE VOTE See our Election Guide on pages 8-11 Grant County’s newspaper since 1868 W EDNESDAY , O CTOBER 19, 2016 • N O . 42 • 22 P AGES • $1.00 www.MyEagleNews.com EXPERIENCE VS. A FRESH PERSPECTIVE Democratic newcomers seek to unseat longtime GOP lawmakers U.S. REP. GREG WALDEN W. MARK STRINGER By Rylan Boggs Blue Mountain Eagle Blue Mountain Eagle W . Mark String- er, the Democrat underdog running against incumbent Republican Sen. Ted Ferrioli for Oregon Senate District 30, has been traveling the state in a whirlwind of appearances in preparation for the November election. Stringer worked as a school teacher for nearly three decades, has By Rylan Boggs been a rancher and is a former may- Blue Mountain Eagle or of Nyssa. He grew up in Eastern Oregon and promises to represent ed Ferrioli is up for his sixth the interests of the people. He said term as state senator for he is all for small business and in- Senate District 30, and this dustry and against over-regulatory time, he has an opponent. government. Despite being consistently elect- Stringer, if elected, plans to ad- ed since 1996 dress issues like and becoming the election fi nancing ranking Republi- and term limits, Oregon Senate can in the Senate, among others. he said he always “We’re meant District 30 campaigns seri- to be a citizen leg- ously. islature,” Stringer “If you’re not running like you’re said. 10 points behind, people assume you He wants to cap election spend- don’t care,” Ferrioli said. ing, stating current levels take the One issue he is concerned with is opportunity of elected offi ce out of the current management of national the hands of the people. forests in Oregon. He points to the He has quite literally put his increased wildfi res and loss of tim- money where his mouth is and ac- ber production as symptoms of an cepted no contributions from busi- unsustainable relationship where the nesses, unions, the Oregon Educa- people of Eastern Oregon aren’t al- tion Association or the Democratic ways considered to be a factor. Party, he said. “The question that’s not getting “I am beholden to no one,” he an affi rmative is do these commu- said. nities have a right to be sustained,” Regarding term limits, he points Ferrioli said. to Ferrioli as an example of a prob- He asserts the “move or starve” lem not having limits can cause. model of thinking doesn’t work for Though Stringer describes him as everyone, that some people don’t “very congenial and a nice fellow,” want to live in the city and shouldn’t he also said, “If I didn’t know he STATE SEN. TED FERRIOLI T See STRINGER, Page A12 U .S. Rep. Greg Walden, chairman of the Nation- al Republican Congres- sional Committee from Oregon’s Second Congressional District, is seeking re-election and believes his record speaks for itself. Walden, who was fi rst elected to the large district encompassing all of Eastern Oregon in 1998, said in By Rylan Boggs a statement he has passed more bills Blue Mountain Eagle through the U.S. House of Repre- sentatives than any other member of im Crary, a Democrat, is the Oregon House delegation in this running for U.S. Congress term and all terms. in Oregon’s Second Con- This term, he said he’s passed gressional District. seven bills, more than 94 percent of Crary doesn’t have an exten- the other House members, includ- ing helping bring sive background in commercial air ser- politics, something Oregon’s 2nd vice back to Klam- he said might give Falls, accessing him an advantage Congressional ath funding for bridg- against his oppo- es in the Columbia nent, Rep. Greg District Gorge and helping Walden, whom he improve rural inter- describes as a “ca- net service for consumers. reer politician.” “Throughout my time in public Though Crary considers him- service, I’ve worked very hard to be self an underdog, he said this in- the voice for the people of the enor- spires him to work even harder. If mous Second Congressional District elected, Crary promised to repre- and solve problems so that we can sent the people and not special in- better care for our veterans, grow terests. He said the biggest issue he our economy, better manage our would tackle while in offi ce would lands, and fi ght threats to our safe- be campaign fi nance reform. ty and security,” he said. “... I often “I am so angry, upset and dis- hear the same frustrations from resi- gusted with how much money is dents: concerns about an overreach- in politics right now,” he said. ing federal government stifl ing rural “It’s obscene as far as I’m con- economies and livelihoods.” cerned. It gives people that have Walden said federal agencies the money an inordinate amount need to do a better job listening to of infl uence.” local communities affected by land He wants to propose a consti- management decisions. He said tutional amendment that would JIM CRARY J See FERRIOLI, Page A12 See CRARY, Page A12 Patriotic disputes ‘Beyond Burns’ attendees disagree about nature of ‘patriot’ movement By Rylan Boggs Blue Mountain Eagle The Canyon City Com- munity Hall was packed Fri- day Oct. 7 for a presentation covering the ongoing “patri- ot” movement in Oregon. Jessica Campbell, orga- nizing director for the Rural Organizing Project, shared “Beyond Burns,” a brief pre- sentation of the recent patriot activity in the Oregon area, hosted by Grant County Pos- itive Action. Campbell gave brief over- views of incidents at the Sug- ar Pine Mine in Josephine County and the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge in Harney County. She identi- fi ed militia groups, such as III Percent of Idaho and Or- egon, the Oathkeepers and others as key players in these events and cited the Bundy Ranch standoff in Nevada in 2014 as a place where many patriots met with like-mind- ed people and formed con- nections. Federal offi cials eventu- ally backed down in the Ne- vada standoff surrounding rancher Cliven Bundy and disputes with the government over grazing fees, though ar- rests were made and charges fi led after the occupation of the Malheur National Wild- life Refuge earlier this year by Bundy’s sons and others. That standoff, in which armed protesters occupied the refuge in protest of fed- eral land management and extended jail sentences for two Harney County ranchers, lasted 41 days before the last holdouts gave up and were arrested. The trial for many of the key occupiers is cur- rently underway. Campbell asserted the patriot or militia groups are See PATRIOT, Page A3 See WALDEN, Page A12 21st century policing John Day hopes policies reduce crime, distrust By Rylan Boggs Blue Mountain Eagle In order to combat a ris- ing local drug problem and increased national scrutiny of police, the John Day Police Department is looking at re- vising police practices. These changes would re- fl ect policing practices rec- ommended by the President’s Task Force on 21st Century Policing. The recommendations are centered around six pillars: building trust and legitima- cy, policy and oversight, technology and social media, com- munity polic- ing and crime Richard reduction, of- Gray fi cer training and education and offi cer safety and well- ness. The task force states these recommendations are in re- sponse to “recent events that have exposed rifts in the re- lationships between local po- lice and the communities.” Though the program is aimed at larger departments serving larger communities, John Day See POLICE, Page A3