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
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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
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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-
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Heppner and Condon, Oregon
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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
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