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Opinion
Blue Mountain Eagle
Wednesday, April 22, 2015
Reach out
to calm
fears when
threats call
t’s a sad state of affairs, but
the threat-induced lockdown
last week at Prairie City
School is becoming almost a rite
of spring in schools across the
state and nation – an unwelcome
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The disturbing events
began after an anonymous call
threatening violence against
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and set in motion procedures
designed to keep students and
staff safe while police moved in to
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A lockdown at two other
schools, Humbolt and Grant
Union, was just a precaution, but it
was warranted, given the inter-
relatedness and close connections
of the Prairie City and John Day
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This phone threat, like ones
reported elsewhere, coincided
with the anniversary of the
Virginia Tech mass shooting, the
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Washington prompted lockdown
and evacuations at the Long
Beach Peninsula Schools that
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Both there and in Prairie City,
police are saying the threats likely
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But as our sister newspaper, the
Chinook Observer noted, such
events feel like anything but a
prank to the affected students and
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When students must be
shepherded into their classrooms,
told to shelter in place, and then
released under the watchful eye of
law enforcement, it is bound to be
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possibility of a real assault, such
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In Prairie City, some
students didn’t think there
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the reality – this was not a
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unsettling for many of the
older students, the fear was
particularly noticeable in some
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No one wants to cause that kind
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the reality of school violence seen
elsewhere in recent years means
no threat can be taken lightly, even
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are as much a need in our remote
corner of the world as they are
in more urban and suburban
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So what can we do? Just as the
schools and police are embracing
relatively new obligations –
planning drills and emergency
responses – parents have a new
challenge to talk with their kids
about these situations, unpleasant
as the topic may be, and the
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conversations, in age-appropriate
terms, can help kids cope with their
fears and navigate what seems at
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The silver lining in last week’s
situation was that authorities
responded quickly, and the threat
turned out to be one of words,
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C OMMENTARY
Collaboration, seeking
balance in forestry
By Dave Hannibal
To the Blue Mountain Eagle
Collaboration could well be the
most effective tool to come along in
my 30 years of work in the national
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The Blue Mountains Forest Part-
ners formed in John Day almost
10 years ago in an effort to end the
timber wars that were strangling the
local community and to deal with
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It has been a huge success – albeit a
success that has been acknowledged
regionally and nationally far more
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I was disheartened to hear us re-
ferred to as an “environmental group”
during a recent meeting at the Court-
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a little more about what we do and
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Our members are loggers, timber
company and service contract reps,
retired Forest Service employees,
ranchers and others – yes, some en-
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these people work to move important
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This is a big change from “the old
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move away from the viewpoints of
our interest groups and compromise,
but often it is the only way to make
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While many of us have spent long
hours in meetings, others have not
been so involved, and some have just
Who will decide?
Blue Mountain
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needs and made the best sense on the
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Evaluating roads at the project
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of national, or even forestwide, direc-
tives can be ineffective or inappropri-
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may have been built in a bad location
long ago or are just no longer appro-
priate, while others may need to be
built to maintain the access many of
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ing “access” groups could be of great
help evaluating these with us, and are
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In all of our collaboration to date,
road closures amounted to a very small
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As an avid off-roader, I like my
roads and trails and I spend a lot of
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and the hype that we are being locked
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save every foot of road ever made on
the Malheur, but rather do my best
to help wisely manage the forest and
maintain the recreational opportuni-
ties so many of us enjoy, while tak-
ing into account the myriad of laws,
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The BMFP meets at the Grant
County Regional Airport the third
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Dave Hannibal is a board member
of the Blue Mountains Forest Part-
ners.
L ETTERS TO THE E DITOR
To the Editor:
The county ordinance pertaining
to public road closures states “all
roads, trails … across public lands
within Grant County shall remain
open unless otherwise authorized for
closure by the Grant County Court
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This ordinance was only signed
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None of the managers of the impact-
ed “public lands” had a place to sign,
nor is there any guidance included
in the ordinance on how it might be
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Here are some facts that might be
of interest:
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86 &RQVWLWXWLRQ KDV EHHQ FRQVLV-
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preme Court “that state laws that
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86
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Constitution it states “The Congress
shall have the power to dispose of
and make all needful rules and reg-
ulations respecting the territory or
other property belonging to the Unit-
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My fear is that if local people
continue to advocate that the Grant
County Court “enforce” our local
road closure ordinance, the road clo-
sure issue will end up being decided
by parties outside Grant County!
I believe that if all interested lo-
cal parties were to start working to-
gether they could have a much better
chance of “deciding what is best for
Grant County” rather then trying to
“enforce” a local ordinance that has
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Mike Cosgrove
John Day
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welcome to participate, although it’s
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In the early years, the extreme
views of a few seemed the hardest to
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standpoint, and that remains the case
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and far right, but anytime one person
demands his ideals be heard above
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The advantage of our process is
we have almost always been able to
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knowledge of the evolution of for-
estry, forest systems and related eco-
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derstanding by inviting top scientists
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Our agreements have resulted in
numerous large-scale projects hitting
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local economy is in better shape than
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The prescriptions and treatments are
good for the forest and the economy,
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While BMFP has primarily
worked on vegetation treatments, the
road systems in the project areas are
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included some minor closures along
with some new road construction,
some temporary road construction,
some open roads moving to closed,
and some closed roads moving to
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Partners meeting, Mark Webb was
appointed to a position of eminence
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mentally-led and Forest Service-fed
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rided the Grant County Ordinance
2013-01 which was designed to
protect access to our lands in Grant
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Forest Partners hope to promote with
their dealings to control our land,
which I choose to interpret as “to
hell with what people want”?
More questions address the sub-
ject of forest road density that has
appearance of being the driving force
for the Forest Service’s attempts at
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How did the Forest Service deter-
mine this density? Who derived the
formula? Were certain areas selected
as targets? Did the density include
the wilderness, proposed roadless,
and roadless area in the calculations?
Is the data still valid after the indis-
criminate, unauthorized closing of
roads by various forest districts?
This is a game of catch-up with
reality, and I believe all levels of
nationwide and local government
are mired in pursuit of their own
self-serving achievement in county
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2015 East Oregonian: “The Blue
Mountains are an integral part of
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Outdoor recreation is a major draw,
not only for residents but for visitors
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Road density
This doesn’t seem to be a consid-
mystery?
eration of the Forest Service, which
To the Editor:
apparently doesn’t care about our
Questions just keep coming about HFRQRP\
Judy Kerr
the welfare of our county and cit-
Canyon City
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To the Editor:
We would like to express our
deepest appreciation to Judge My-
ers and Commissioners Britton and
Labhart, and to the entire courthouse
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local outreach center after the ESD
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Because of the gracious invitation
and quick action of the Court and the
ESD staff, we were able to regroup
and carry on services to local college
students in just a few short days, in
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We owe special thanks to Hilary
McNary and Shannon Springer in
the Planning Department for being
so welcoming and inviting to BMCC
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It was a great location for us and
for our local students, and we en-
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miss the fantastic Christmas potluck!
$ GLI¿FXOW H[SHULHQFH ZDV PDGH
much better by the kindness and gen-
erous support of all of the courthouse
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Grant County is a wonderful
place to live and work – and to get
a college degree! Please come visit
us in our beautiful new location in
the rebuilt ESD, 835 South Canyon
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Ashley Armichardy
BMCC Center Coordinator
Chris Cronin
EOU Regional Center Director
etters policy: Letters to the Editor is a forum for Blue Mountain Eagle readers to express themselves on local, state, national or world issues. Brevity
is good, but longer letters will be asked to be contained to 350 words. No personal attacks; challenge the opinion, not the person. No thank-you letters.
Submissions to this page become property of the Eagle. The Eagle reserves the right to edit letters for length and for content. Letters must be original and
signed by the writer. Anonymous letters will not be printed. Writers should include a telephone number so they can be reached for questions. Deadline is 5
p.m. Friday. Send letters to editor@bmeagle.com, or Blue Mountain Eagle, 195 N. Canyon Blvd., John Day, OR 97845; or fax to 541-575-1244.