RODEO KIDS RUSTLE UP SOME FUN
Blue Mountain
– PAGE A9
EAGLE
The
Grant County’s newspaper since 1868
W EDNESDAY , J ULY 22, 2015
• N O . 29
• 18 P AGES
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www.MyEagleNews.com
John Day ¿ re hall FonstruFtion to start soon
By Dave Fisher and Tim Trainor
Fire Hall facts
Blue Mountain Eagle
JOHN DAY – With $1.2 million in
taxpayer dollars to work with, an amount
approved by voters in the May 2014 pri-
mary election, the John Day city and rural
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According to John Day city manager
Peggy Gray, demolition, which occurred
last week, will be followed by dirt and
foundation work. The building’s exterior
is expected to start going up in late Au-
gust, and the goal is to have the roof on
and the walls buttoned up by the time win-
ter arrives, said John Day Fire Department
chief Ron Smith. Smith said the hall could
be fully operational by February.
See HALL, Page A8
NOVEMBER BOND
RESULTS
An artist
rendering of the
new fire hall.
In John Day:
305 approved
198 opposed
In John Day Rural Fire
District:
242 approved
180 opposed
Contributed graphic
Crews demolished
the building that
was formerly El
Cocinero Mexican
Restaurant to
make way for a
new John Day Fire
Station.
Total cost: 1.8 million
Total raised by bond: About
$1.2 million
Cost to taxpayers: At the start
of the 20 year bond, 61.5
cents per $1,000 of property
valuation, decreasing to about
42 cents per $1,000.
The Eagle
Cheryl Hoefler
JD looks to
‘opt out’ of
Measure 91
County could
do the same as
elected officials
mull their options
By Dave Fisher
Blue Mountain Eagle
JOHN DAY – If you were
thinking of cashing in with the
passage of Oregon’s marijuana
initiative, think again. You may
have to set up shop somewhere
else other than John Day and,
perhaps, even Grant County.
By a 6 to 1 vote, the John
Day City Council at its July 14
meeting decided to move ahead
with plans to exercise its local
option to draft an ordinance that
prohibits the establishment of
one or more of the following in
the area of the city’s jurisdiction:
• Marijuana processing sites,
• Medical marijuana dispen-
saries,
• Marijuana producers,
• Marijuana processors, and
• Marijuana wholesalers and/
or marijuana retailers.
The ordinance, if approved,
would effectively negate most
of the provisions of Measure
91, the marijuana initiative, ap-
proved by Oregon voters in the
November 2014 election.
City Attorney Jeremy Green
advised the city regarding HB
3400, signed into law by Gov.
Kate Brown on June 30, which
allows “qualifying” cities or
counties to adopt an “opt out”
ordinance in those localities in
which no less than 55 percent of
votes cast were in opposition to
Measure 91.
The measure was soundly
defeated in Grant County with
almost 65 percent of voters op-
posed to the marijuana initiative.
See POT, Page A8
Whiskey Gulch demo derby still going strong
Story and photos
by Angel Carpenter
J
Blue Mountain Eagle
OHN DAY – Fans got what
they came for last Saturday
at the 26th annual Whiskey
Gulch Gang Demolition Derby.
Aggressive drivers, 11 of
them, had a bang-up good time
too, putting on a show for the
crowd that packed the grand-
stands at the Grant County Fair-
grounds.
Eric Johnson of Walla Walla,
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of $1,500, Jason Ward of Burns
was second with $1,000, and Ty-
ler Nodine of John Day was third
with $500.
Besides winning third place,
See DERBY, Page A8
Cars collide during the derby Saturday.
An exciting moment
in the first heat of
the Whiskey Gulch
Gang Demolition
Derby had No. 338
Nick Dieter of Burns
pushing No. 10 Wayne
Saul of Mt. Vernon on
the logs. Dieter won
the heat with Saul in
second place. Both
came back for the
main event and Dieter
was awarded Most
Aggressive Driver.
S TUDENT ART
Lexi Helmick
Humbolt Elementary
7riangle 2il Gisputes D(4 ¿ nGings
Between 1,000 and 5,000 gallons released, according to agency
By Angel Carpenter
Blue Mountain Eagle
JOHN DAY – After months of in-
vestigation and calling Triangle Oil a
“possible responsible party,” the De-
partment of Environmental Quality
(DEQ) is now saying the John Day
gas and oil distributor is responsi-
ble for the release of 1,000 to 5,000
gallons of “fresh” gasoline into the
ground along the 400 to 600 block of
South Canyon Boulevard.
“The estimate that I came up with
was very rudimentary, “ said Bryn
Thoms, DEQ’s project manager. “We
assume gasoline is a millimeter thick
on the surface of the groundwater in
an area that covers about two blocks.”
When asked about what is meant
by “fresh,” Thoms said the ground-
water, in speaking of just a few in-
stances, smells like gasoline from the
pump at a gas station.
we’re not responsible for it, and it’s
Meanwhile, Triangle Oil, which an ongoing investigation.”
has cooperated since the beginning
Triangle Oil is located on the east
when
property
side of Canyon
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Triangle
Oil’s Boulevard.
ticed noxious va-
“They’re (Tri-
data suggests it angle Oil) cooper-
pors emitting from
their
basements
is not responsible ating and doing the
and crawl spaces,
work,” said Thoms.
for the vapor issue “Eventually, Trian-
continues to con-
duct its own in-
on the west side of gle Oil will take
vestigation under
over on the work in
the highway.”
a unilateral order
the neighborhood.
issued by DEQ, ac-
We’re just doing a
Brooks Foster
cording to Brooks
control part, asking
Chenoweth Law Group, P.C them to do an addi-
Foster of the Port-
land-based
law
tional assessment
¿UP &KHQRZHWK /DZ *URXS 3& and cleanup.”
that now represents Triangle Oil.
That’s, however, if Triangle Oil is
“Triangle Oil’s data suggests it is the responsible party, an issue that re-
not responsible for the vapor issue mains unresolved, according to their
on the west side of the highway,” attorney.
said Foster. “So far, our data suggests
Meanwhile, DEQ is still waiting
“
for additional lab results and the
investigation continues at Triangle
Oil.
Thus far, all groundwater samples
taken by DEQ down-gradient from
Triangle Oil were contaminated.
“None up-gradient (samples) were
contaminated. That’s our main indi-
cator,” said Thoms. The other indica-
tor, according to Thoms, is no other
source has that capacity of gasoline,
noting they found nothing at Ed Staub
and Sons Petroleum to the south.
For his part, Russ Young, presi-
dent and owner of the company, em-
pathizes with those inconvenienced
in any way.
“As a small, close-knit communi-
ty, we are all affected by this situa-
tion. Triangle Oil, Inc., is committed
to determining whether the recent
gasoline odors along South Canyon
are in any way related to its bulk
plant facility,” Young told the Eagle
in an earlier statement.