Grant County’s newspaper since 1868
W EDNESDAY , M ARCH 4, 2015
• N O . 9
• 18 P AGES
• $1.00
www.MyEagleNews.com
Witty takes Baker school job
Blue Mountain Eagle
BAKER CITY – Grant
School District No. 3 Superin-
tendent Mark Witty has accept-
ed the top job at Baker School
District 5J.
The Baker School Board
decided last Thursday night to
offer the superintendent job to
Witty, and he accepted the next
day. He will succeed Walt We-
gener, who is retiring.
Witty has been with John
Day-based
District
3
for about 17
years, the past
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intendent.
He said
Mark
this
week
Witty
he is excit-
ed about the
opportunity to lead the larger
Baker district, but he has mixed
emotions about the change.
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here with my wife and family,
and to be able to raise our four
kids here,” he said, noting they
had an excellent education in
the local schools.
He expects the strengths of
District 3 to continue, and he
lauded the school board and
the “wonderful staff” for work-
ing to enhance the educational
offerings.
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said he saw the Baker job as
an opportunity for professional
growth that would allow him
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Oregon.
Chris Cronin, District 3
School Board chair, said the
district will begin working out
the details of the next steps to
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“We’re happy for him,” she
said. “This is a great opportu-
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sad to see him go. He’s done an
outstanding job for District 3.”
She noted Witty has been
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district, but for schools across
Eastern Oregon. In his new
job, he will be able to continue
that effort, and it will still ben-
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she said.
“We’re not going to lose
that,” she said.
Witty’s contract with Dis-
trict 3 runs through June 30,
although the Baker district is
See WITTY, Page A10
MIX, BAKE,
‘DOUGH-NATE’
Students learn to
bake bread, with
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By Angel Carpenter
Blue Mountain Eagle
C
ANYON
CITY
– Humbolt Ele-
mentary
School
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The students learned all the
steps to baking bread Wednes-
day, Feb. 25, at the school cafe-
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help from an adult.
Fifth-grade teacher Georgia
Boethin was instrumental in
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school to present the engaging
demonstration.
Part of the program, called
See DOUGH, Page A10
Eagle photos/Angel Carpenter
Presenter Nate Sandel
shows the crowd how
to knead bread dough
as Humbolt sixth-grader
Summer Keith gets ready
to give it a try.
Humbolt fifth-
grader Aiden
Taylor throws
dough for pizza,
helping with a
King Arthur Flour
demonstration
Feb. 25 at the
school.
S TUDENT A RT
By Scotta Callister
Blue Mountain Eagle
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members of the Grant Coun-
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Board resigned en masse last
week at the Grant County
Court meeting.
The resignations triggered
a wide-ranging discussion
among Court members and
citizens that touched on road
decision frustrations, Forest
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rorist beheadings.
The action began at the
Grant County Court’s Feb. 25
meeting, when Jim Sproul, the
board chair, read a resignation
letter aloud to the Court. The
letter, which claims the Coun-
ty Court has “ignored or mar-
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road issues, was signed by
Sproul, Howard Geiger, Bil-
lie Jo George, Judy Kerr and
Tom McHatton.
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Parsons and Mark Pengelly.
The letter said members
of the board had been threat-
ened, ridiculed and accused
of lying, and it accused the
Court of going against the in-
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of your cronies and the agen-
cies.”
“Maybe in the future you
should follow some of the
rules of the Blue Mountains
Forest Partners that you so
admire,” the letter said, “Spe-
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lowing: #1 respect for board
member both in and out of
meetings. #2 No back door
dealings. #3 personal attacks
shall not be tolerated.”
The Court has had its own
concerns about personal crit-
icisms in recent meetings,
with commissioners caution-
ing at least two access board
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ments to or about others. The
increasing tensions prompted
a discussion at the end of one
February meeting as other
citizens pressed the Court to
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ceedings.
Last week, after reading
his letter, Sproul tossed the
board’s Courthouse mailbox
key onto the table and strode
out, saying he was going “to
go saddle a new horse.”
See ROAD, Page A10
Sanders gets prison for Seneca shoot-up
By Scotta Callister
Blue Mountain Eagle
Leif Rausch
Grade 4
Prairie City
School
Teacher: Sue Thompson
The crowd
applauds
the helpers
during the
King Arthur
Flour demo.
Access
panel
members
hit the road
– in protest
CANYON CITY – Shane
Lee Sanders has been sen-
tenced to six-plus years in
prison for his late-night shoot-
ing spree last October at the
Timbers Inn and RV Park in
Seneca.
Appearing last Thursday in
Grant County Circuit Court,
Sanders pleaded guilty to two
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ed assault and two counts of
coercion. The pleas were part
of a settle-
ment agree-
ment ham-
mered out in
a three-hour
closed con-
ference before
Shane Lee YLVLWLQJ -XGJH
Sanders
Michael C.
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tenced Sanders to a total of 73
months in prison.
Sanders has been in the
Grant County Jail since the
Oct. 8 incident, when gunshots
punctured the night silence in
Seneca.
Authorities said the uproar
began when Sanders was with
his girlfriend, Tammy Moyer,
in a cabin at the Timbers; he
checked her cell phone and be-
came enraged about a text mes-
sage he found. District Attor-
ney Jim Carpenter said Sanders
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pulled the trigger, but the gun
didn’t go off.
Moyer escaped to the next
cabin, where her son and a
girlfriend were staying. The
Blue Mountain Hospital Presents:
Zachary Bailey, MD * Shawna Clark, FNP
David Hall, MD * Nora Healey, FNP
Andrea Janssen, MD * Andrew Janssen, MD
Emily Lieuallen, MD * Keith Thomas, MD, FACS
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shots into the cabin, at a nearby
trailer and at a pickup truck.
When Undersheriff Todd
McKinley responded, he was
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across the nearby golf course
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gering a daylong search and
a blockade of the roads into
town. He turned himself in
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See PRISON, Page A8