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About The Blue Mountain eagle. (John Day, Or.) 1972-current | View Entire Issue (May 6, 2015)
A10 News Blue Mountain Eagle Wednesday, May 6, 2015 Court takes pulse on FS roads est projects. Only those who gave substantive comments at that time have standing to participate in the objection phase. At the April 29 Court By Scotta Callister meeting, Commissioner Blue Mountain Eagle Chris Labhart proposed the county seek comments. The CANYON CITY – The Court unanimously approved Grant County Court is get- a notice to that effect. ting ready to weigh in on Labhart noted the Court road changes in the Malheur needs to make a decision on National Forest’s Elk 16 and any road issues in the proj- Big Mosquito projects, as the ects and notify the Forest Forest Service objection peri- Service within the 45-day od comes to a close in mid- objection period. May. He asked for comments The Court last week put WKDWZHUHVSHFL¿FWRDSDUWLF out a call for public comment ular road or segment of road, RQ VSHFL¿F URDGV DIIHFWHG saying the Court would try by the projects, which are to visit those roads and take detailed in draft decisions a stand. issued April 1 by Malheur The process arose amid Forest Supervisor Steve Bev- ongoing discussions focusing erlin. on the County’s Ordinance The comments to the 2013-01, which states that Court were due Tuesday. all roads shall remain open The Forest Service earli- “as historically and custom- er held its own public com- arily utilized consistent with ment periods on the two for- Grant County plans and poli- Objection period ending for Elk 16, Big Mosquito 01631 cies, unless otherwise autho- rized for closure by the Grant County Court and Grant County Sheriff.” County Judge Scott Myers asked Beverlin to clarify the Court’s standing for making objections, even on topics not cited in the county’s earlier comments. Beverlin said those who commented have standing to object on any portion of the projects. Labhart noted the Court is among 15-20 people or or- ganizations that commented during the comment period, and thus has standing. He said he wanted to hear from people with concerns, even if they didn’t make their own comments during the set period. In response to a question, Beverlin said the Forest Ser- vice has taken input not only in its comment period, but throughout the scoping and development of the two proj- ects, dating back four years for Elk 16 and about two years for Big Mosquito. Some attending the Court session objected to the coun- ty’s process, and balked at any road changes. “I don’t think you can move forward with this,” said Howard Gieger, who claimed LW SRVHV D FRQÀLFW ZLWK WKH Forest Service’s travel man- agement rule. Brooks Smith, a member of the Grant County Public Forest Commission, called changes proposed for more than 300 roads in the two projects “major actions.” He said the road decisions were to be done under travel management but are instead being done “project by proj- ect.” He and others focused on the status of Level 1 roads, many of which are still in use regardless of their status on paper. However, Beverlin said those roads are currently “closed” from prior deci- sions. “We’re not closing them,” he said. “They already are.” King Williams noted a lot of the roads were built for the Phoenix timber sale and then closed afterward. While not concerned about the previously closed roads, he said he wants to look again at any currently open roads that are proposed to be closed or those that would be decommissioned, so they are not available for future use. Jim Sproul objected to the Court’s approach, saying it is not following the ordinance to keep all roads open. The ordinance says the roads are open unless authorized other- wise by the Court and sheriff. Myers said the ordinance gives the Court this oppor- tunity to seek more public input, and the Court wants FRPPHQWVWKDWDUHVSHFL¿FWR certain roads of concern. “Very simply – all of them,” replied Sproul. “It’s been put to you clearly.” Labhart noted that the projects appear to include roads closed before the coun- ty ordinance was adopted. “If they were legally closed, we don’t have a prob- lem with them,” said Sproul. Terry George said the For- est Service created its own “trap,” closing roads without showing that on the ground or on maps. To the general public in the forest, he said, those roads are open. “We’re driving on them,” George said. Myers urged people to comment, even given the short time frame to the May 5 deadline. “From here on out, we’ll try to do this earlier, so people have a reasonable amount of time to comment,” he said. Contributed photo Greg and Marla Armstrong of John Day zip along the streets of John Day toward the Strut, Stride, Straddle and Stroll finish line at Blue Mountain Hospital. STRUT Continued from Page A1 Mountain Hospital. Each adult received a tote-style backpack with snacks and a water bottle, and all the children re- ceived goodie bags. As the oldest partic- ipant, Linda Ladd was awarded a $25 gift card to Len’s Drug, and the youngest, Marshall Collier, though only a few months old, got a bike/riding toy from King’s Discount to enjoy when he gets a bit older. And for having the larg- est business contingent, Chester’s Thrifway won a certificate for two ex- tra-large pizzas from Figa- ro’s. The top prize of four ad- mission tickets to the Ore- gon Zoo in Portland went to Sierra Cates. This is the fourth year for the fundraiser, in which all the proceeds go to Hos- pice. Hospice director Sylvia Dowdy said she is grateful for the support from the community. “I love that we have the opportunity to make Hospice not sad for a day – which is how we should look at it every day,” Dowdy said. “There’s such a stigma of sadness about death, and it is so fun to see everyone enjoying them- selves while providing funds for Hospice.” After the event, Straw- berry Wilderness Commu- nity Clinic Drs. Andrew and Andrea Janssen spoke to the crowd about their family’s upcoming move to Ethiopia, to help train doctors there for the next couple of years. They wel- comed people to sign up to get email alerts on the Jans- sens’ experiences. Dowdy said the Jans- sens have been a huge sup- port of Hospice and will be missed. For more information about Home Health and Hospice, call 541-575- 1648. Horse illness leads to cleanup at fairgrounds Blue Mountain Eagle JOHN DAY – Officials say the Grant County Fair- grounds is safe for equine activities after a horse being boarded there was found to have strangles. Mary Weaver, fair- )DPLO\SKDUPDFLHVVHUYLQJ(DVWHUQ2UHJRQRYHU\HDUV Heppner and Condon, Oregon /HWRXUIDPLO\RISKDUPDFLVWVVHUYH\RX :HDUHKDSS\WRWUDQVIHUDQGPDLOSUHVFULSWLRQVDQGZRXOG ZHOFRPHWKHRSSRUWXQLW\WRYLVLWZLWK\RXDERXWRXUVHUYLFHV 541-676-9158 grounds manager, said the horse is no longer at the fairgrounds, and the staff has cleaned the area, fol- lowing instructions from the John Day Veterinary Center. “They had us take bleach water to all the drinking troughs and re- move the manure from all the pens,” Weaver said. “We raked them out well so the sunshine could take care of the rest.” She said the work was done last weekend, and she wants people who use the fairgrounds for riding activity to know the problem has been addressed. “We were in contact with the vet as soon as we were made aware of the problem,” she said. “We take these concerns very seriously.” Strangles is a contagious upper-respiratory bacterial infection that afflicts hors- es and other equines. B REAKING N EWS A LERTS myeaglenews.com/breakingnews We Gladly Accept Visa or MasterCard GROW YOUR BUSINESS Call Kim for Pricing. Last day to plant your ad in our readers are ready for sunshine! the Home, Garden & Outdoors The Blue Mountain Eagle’s Home, Garden & Outdoors section is the section: May 8, 2015 perfect advertising tool to nurture your business’s success. This section’s The section will sprout: features are the perfect complement to your advertising promotions. May 27, 2015 •••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• Don’t miss out, The Blue Mountain EAGLE Grant County’s newspaper since 1868 To find out more about advertising in our Home, Garden and Outdoor section, contact Kim Kell at 541-575-0710 or kim@bmeagle.com
