Blue Mountain
JOURNEY THROUGH
GRANT COUNTY
EAGLE
The
Things to do ... things to see!
– JOURNEY
SECTION
Grant County’s newspaper since 1868
W EDNESDAY , J ULY 29, 2015
• N O . 30
• 26 P AGES
• $1.00
www.MyEagleNews.com
Sheriff OK following hazmat incident
FBI and state police head up what has
now become a statewide investigation
By Dave Fisher
Blue Mountain Eagle
CANYON CITY – Grant Coun-
ty Sheriff Glenn Palmer was back
on the job Tuesday morning fol-
lowing a harrowing incident that
took place less than 24 hours ear-
lier in the same office.
It was about 11:30 a.m. Monday
morning when, after opening an
envelope the department received
The Eagle/Dave Fisher
by mail, Palmer suddenly noticed a
burning sensation on his arms and
forehead.
“I had a metallic taste in my
mouth and my lips were numb,”
Palmer told the Blue Mountain Ea-
gle.
The letter, he said, appeared
to be nothing more than political
ramblings and, judging from the
envelope, appeared to be regular
mail. There was nothing particu-
larly suspicious about it. However,
Palmer didn’t take the time to read
it, instead sealing it in an evidence
bag, washing his hands and having
his wife drive him to Blue Mountain
Hospital in John Day. Later that af-
ternoon, he would learn as others did
this was not a local isolated event.
Other counties throughout Oregon,
including several Eastern Oregon
counties, reported receiving similar
mysterious envelopes through the
mail addressed to Oregon sheriffs or
their of¿ ces, according to the )BI.
See HAZMAT, Page A16
Sheriff Glenn Palmer was at his desk Tuesday morning after a harrowing incident involving mail
that took place at the Sheriff’s Office less than 24 hours earlier.
Long Creek rancher
questions new Clean
Water Act rule
A leading voice of
the cattle industry,
Sharon Livingston
hopes WOTUS
gets derailed
By Dave Fisher
Blue Mountain Eagle
SHOWTIME!
For the Andersons of Izee, the county fair is an animal – and family – affair
By &heryl +oeÀ er
Blue Mountain Eagle
IZEE — What would the
Grant County )air be without
the sights, sounds and – yes,
the smells – of animals?
)or some families the fair
revolves around animals, with
the Heritage Barn their home
for the duration of the fair.
However, long before that
animal ever gets to the show
ring, there is much work and
preparation involved.
The Eagle asked siblings
Cinch, 13, and Raney, 10, An-
derson of Izee to talk about
some of those preparations
and share their experiences
with showing animals at the
county fair.
Q. How long have you
been showing animals?
Cinch: I’ve been showing
for seven years.
Contributed photos/Cori Anderson
Top: Raney, 10, left, and Cinch, 13, Anderson show
off two of the cattle entries they are planning to show
at this year’s county fair. Above: Cinch Anderson,
13, of Izee, gives his steer a daily grooming in the
weeks prior to the county fair.
Raney: I started showing
when I was 7, when I had my
¿ rst heifer.
Q. What animals are you
showing this year?
Cinch: Beef – a market
steer, a heifer, and a cow and
calf.
Raney: A market steer and
a breeding heifer. My heifer
is bred from one of the cows
I owned and showed a couple
of years ago.
Q. Where do you get your
animals and how did you get
interested in doing this?
Both Cinch and Raney said
they buy their animals from
their parents, and said their
mom grew up showing cattle
and her parents did it, too.
Cinch: My mom’s taught
me everything I need to know.
Raney: I had quite a bit of
help from my mom.
Q. How long does it take
you to prepare for the county
fair?
A: Cinch: In October we
start them on feed and hal-
ter-break them. Then we take
them to a few jackpots and
See FAIR, Page A16
Peterson plea hearing delayed
By Dave Fisher
Blue Mountain Eagle
CANYON CITY – The plea
hearing for Roy Richard Peter-
son of Monument, originally
scheduled July 23 at Grant Coun-
ty Courthouse, was rescheduled
for Thursday, Aug. 6, at 2:30 p.m.
by Judge William D. Cramer Jr.
Peterson, once the central
¿ gure in a drive to bring rural
¿ re protection to the Monument
area, was previously indicted
on 10 felony charges stemming
from the acquisition of equip-
ment for a ¿ re district.
As proceedings got under-
way in the courtroom July 23, it
was evident that something was
amiss. Peterson sat by himself
as defense attorney Benjamin
Boyd of the Enterprise-based
¿ rm of Hostetter Law Group
LLP, spoke to the court by tele-
phone. At issue was whether or
not a court document that in-
cluded motions against the in-
dictment had been ¿ led by the
defense.
“It’s unclear an actual order
was signed and entered into the
record,” said Cramer, noting he
had nothing in his ¿ le to support
the defense’s claim.
Boyd replied that it had been
emailed to the court in a timely
manner.
The state’s attorney, Senior
Assistant Attorney General
Daniel P. Wendel, informed the
court that, for his part, he had
not seen the documentation and
questioned whether it had been
submitted by the defense.
)rustrated by the back-and-
forth wrangling between pros-
ecution and defense that stems
from Peterson’s ¿ rst appearance
before the court in early )ebru-
ary over a missing signature on
the indictment, Cramer remind-
ed Wendel and Boyd that he, as
presiding judge, controlled the
court docket.
“I am not impressed by
what’s going on,” he said, add-
ing that an emailed version of
motions against the indictment
from the defendant’s legal coun-
sel didn’t suf¿ ce.
“You Boyd have ¿ ve days
to get the order to me,” said Cra-
mer, who set a new date – Aug.
6 at 2:30 p.m. – for Peterson’s
plea hearing. “I expect that (hard
copy) order to be in early next
week.”
In setting a new date for
the hearing, Cramer reminded
counsel, “Once I take a plea, ne-
gotiations are over.”
Asked if the state had any
inclination to refer the case back
to the grand jury, Wendel said it
was his intent to proceed with
the original indictment.
“We (the state) don’t intend
to refer back to the grand jury.
We understood today was to en-
ter a plea.”
LONG CREEK – Add the
name Sharon Livingston to
the list of critics who say the
EPA and Corps of Engineers
rely on trust that doesn’t exist.
A long-time Long Creek
area cattle rancher, Livingston
is gravely concerned that a
new rule de¿ ning the waters
of the U.S. protected under
the Clean Water Act, com-
monly referred to as WOTUS
for short, is one more instance
of the federal government
butting in where it doesn’t
belong.
“WOTUS scares the heck
out of me. The federal gov-
ernment I don’t think is oper-
ating in our best interest and
is taking away state rights to
manage their water.”
Livingston is not alone.
The new rule has generated a
À ood of criticism and a grow-
ing number of legal challeng-
es from farmers, ranchers and
irrigators across the country.
They claim that the Envi-
ronmental Protection Agen-
cy and U.S. Army Corps of
Engineers, which wrote the
rule, are participating in a
“land grab” to “regulate every
farmer, every ditch and every
irrigated pasture,” and that en-
forcement of the rule is open
to interpretation by govern-
ment of¿ cials.
EPA of¿ cials say the new
rule includes exemptions for
agricultural activities and that
nothing will change for farm-
ers and ranchers, but Living-
ston isn’t buying in.
“Water is our lifeline,”
said Livingston, who, like
other area ranchers, uses the
resource on her property to
water her herd and irrigate to
raise hay to feed her cattle.
“If you can’t use the water,
you’re in trouble… water is
essential.”
The Clean Water Act
makes it illegal to discharge
any pollutant from a single
source into navigable wa-
ter without a permit. Permits
are costly and ¿ nes are hefty.
Until recently, agriculture has
operated for nearly 40 years
under a de¿ nition of naviga-
ble waters and exemptions for
normal practices.
The new rule, critics
maintain, expands that reg-
ulatory jurisdiction to any
water with even a remote
connection to those naviga-
ble waters and doesn’t clear-
ly define protected waters,
leaving determinations up to
the agency.
EPA officials disagree.
They say the new rule is
intended to clarify which
waters are protected in re-
sponse to Supreme Court
decisions and the public’s
demand for greater clarity,
consistency and predictabil-
ity in jurisdictional determi-
nations.
The agencies’ new rule
— which was published in
the federal register on June
29 and becomes effective at
the end of August — has al-
ready generated 11 lawsuits
against EPA and the Corps
from 28 states, agricultural
organizations, other land-
use industries and private
landowners. And it has
spurred legislation in both
the U.S. House and Senate
that would require the agen-
cies to withdraw the rule
and start over.
Livingston wants Ore-
gon to be added to the list of
states opposed to WOTUS
and, at a recent meeting of the
Grant County Court, lobbied
Judge Scott Myers to contact
Governor Kate Brown on the
matter.
See RANCHER, Page A16
The Eagle/Dave Fisher
Ranching is in Sharon Livingston’s blood. She
accompanied her parents to the Long Creek area
when she was six years old and has lived on the
multi-generational family-owned ranch ever since.