Chamber gives fi re relief funds at annual dinner
The
Blue Mountain
Page A12
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Grant County’s newspaper since 1868
W EDNESDAY , S EPTEMBER 16, 2015 • N O . 37
• 22 P AGES
• $1.00
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By Sean Ellis and Tim
Trainor
Fire updates in the region
as of Tuesday, Sept. 15
Blue Mountain Eagle
JOHN DAY — The Can-
yon Creek Complex contin-
ues to burn, but many people
are already asking whether
the blaze would have been
less severe had the forest
been managed better.
Dave Traylor, a member
of the Grant County Public
Forest Commission, is one
of many voices questioning
whether enough thinning
and slash cleanup was done
in past years on the 1.7-mil-
lion-acre Malheur National
Forest.
“We’ve got to make some
changes because we’re los-
ing our forest,” he said as the
blaze reached 110,000 acres.
“What we’re doing is not
working.”
Perhaps
surprisingly,
Malheur National Forest
Supervisor Steve Beverlin
agrees.
“We do need drastic
change,” he said.
Even Aron Robertson,
communications director for
environmental group Oregon
Wild, thinks there are ways to
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precise thinning practices.
But overall, their pre-
scription for change is vastly
different.
Traylor thinks the forest
needs more active manage-
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The Eagle/Sean Ellis
Bob
Vidourek,
a
retired Bureau of Land
Management
forester
in the John Day area,
stands in front of some
of the 2,500 acres of
BLM land on Little
Canyon Mountain that
was thinned and cleared
of heavy slash buildups
several years ago.
• The Burned Area
Complex fire
Emergency
Response
Size: 110,422 acres
(BAER) team is done with
Containment: 90%
initial evaluations and is
Personnel: 186
working on implementing
Weather forecast: A mitigations.
low-pressure system is
• Parish Cabin and Starr
VLWWLQJ RYHU WKH 3DFL¿F Ridge Campgrounds are
Northwest bringing lower open to the public. Forest
temperaturers and higher Service Road 15 and the
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stronger system is moving area west of Highway 395
through Wednesday and is open to the public.
Thursday of this week with
See FIRE, Page A5
a chance of rain.
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factor in the size and severity
of the Canyon Creek Com-
SOH[ ¿UH VD\V 3UDLULH &LW\
resident Levi Voigt.
PHQWLQFOXGLQJDVLJQL¿FDQW
“The only control you
increase in grazing and log- KDYHRYHUDZLOG¿UHLVWRUH
ging.
duce the amount of fuel in the
“That means cattle in the forest,” he says. “I believe
woods eating grass down and a reduction in the amount of
not letting it just dry up and fuel out there would have re-
become fuel, and we need GXFHGWKHVHYHULW\RIWKH¿UH´
to do some logging. Not
It was Voigt who asked
clear-cutting, but spacing out Beverlin during a community
trees and taking out dying ¿UH XSGDWH PHHWLQJ LQ 3UDL
trees. We can provide jobs rie City Aug. 31 whether the
and create a healthy forest &DQ\RQ &UHHN &RPSOH[ ¿UH
WKDWLV¿UHUHVLVWDQWDQGSUR would serve as a learning les-
tects the water.”
son in forest management.
A lack of proper forest
Beverlin said it would.
management, including thin-
There is no denying that
ning, salvage sales and slash IRUHVW ¿UHV DUH LQFUHDVLQJ
in frequency and intensity
across the American West,
and it’s no different on our
local forests and rangeland.
But Beverlin says that is
mainly because we’ve been
VR JRRG DW ZLOGODQG ¿UH
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before European settlement
arrived in Oregon pre-1860,
historically 100,000 acres
burned on average each year
on the Malheur National
Forest — roughly the acre-
age burned up this year by
the Canyon Creek Complex.
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rings of virgin timber have
VKRZQ KRZ RIWHQ ¿UH FDPH
through the area.
See BURN, Page A5
D IGGING IN FOR A NEW FIRE STATION
The Eagle/Cheryl Hoefler
Representatives from John Day city, fire department, and rural fire board dig in during the Sept. 15 ground
breaking ceremony for the new John Day Fire Station on South Canyon Boulevard. Excavation for the new
facility is set to begin Monday, Sept. 21. From left, Fire Chief Ron Smith; city councilors Donn Willey, Paul Smith
and Greg Haberly; rural fire board member Dale Stennett; city manager Peggy Gray; Mayor Ron Lundbom;
city councilor Louis Provencher; firefighters Carl Metler and William Edward Reffett; rural fire board member
Dean Elliott; rural fire board chairman Bill Wilcox; and firefighters Stephen Stinnett and Ronda Metler.
S TUDENT
ART
“Kindergarten pup”
Prairie City
School
Teacher:
Becky Sharp
Tirico cleared
of all charges
Acquittal
ends 2 years
of uncertainty
for ex-chief
Blue Mountain Eagle
CANYON CITY – For-
mer John Day Police Chief
Richard Tirico has been
cleared of official miscon-
duct in a trial that ended
even before the defense put
on its case.
Grant County Circuit
Judge William D. Cramer
Jr. issued his ruling for a
directed verdict of acquittal
just four hours into testi-
mony in the Sept. 8 jury tri-
al, after the state had called
several witnesses and rest-
ed its case.
Defense attorney J. Rob-
ert Moon moved for acquit-
tal, charging that the state
had failed to produce any
evidence to support the
charges.
The acquittal ends two
years of legal limbo for
Tirico, who resigned the
chief’s job in October
2013, as a state Department
of Justice investigation
was underway in the local
department. In September
2014, a Grant County grand
jury indicted Tirico on two
counts of official miscon-
duct, a Class A misdemean-
or. He pleaded innocent to
the charges last February.
Moon said his client was
relieved at the outcome, ac-
knowledging it was “a very
difficult two years.”
“He wants to thank the
community, his family, and
especially his wife Cindy,
for their support during that
time,” Moon said.
The state alleged po-
lice work was improperly
charged to a drunken-driv-
ing enforcement grant ob-
tained by Tirico for the
City of John Day.
The grant in question
came from a program ad-
ministered at that time by
the Oregon Association
Chiefs of Police. Of the
$2,000 awarded to John
Day, the state’s case fo-
cused on about $800 in ex-
penditures claimed by the
police department.
However, Moon says
the parameters of the DUII
grant were never spelled
out, and there was no train-
ing to guide what could, or
could not, fall under the
grant.
“It was never clear to
anybody what the scope
of the grant was,” he said.
“And Rich felt what he
turned in was appropriate.”
Moon said officers
working under Tirico had
no guidance, either.
“He was completely in-
nocent,” said Moon, noting
that the city had obtained
the grants in prior years
and Tirico felt his actions
were in concert with past
grant operations under pre-
vious chiefs.
Moon stressed there was
never any suggestion of
personal gain by Tirico.
Further, he said, the
grant program paid the
money to the city without
question and never request-
ed additional paperwork or
any reimbursement.
The questions arose lat-
er, as DOJ began interview-
ing officers who apparently
mentioned
uncertainties
about how the grant was
charged or reported.
Assistant Attorney Gen-
eral Colin Benson, present-
ing the state’s case at trial,
called two police officers
to the stand during the tri-
al. One told the court Tiri-
co had done much good for
the community, and said he
felt the trial was a waste of
time.
Another testified only
after being given immunity
in the case, concerned that
if Tirico’s grant reporting
was found to be wrong, he
could face prosecution for
changing a time card sub-
mitted for the DUII grant.
Cross-examined by Moon,
the officer confirmed he
didn’t have a full under-
standing of guidelines for
the grant.
Cramer, in his decision,
agreed with the defense
contention that there was
nothing to show the terms
required for the grant re-
porting, nor was there ev-
idence of any training for
grant performance.
He issued what is called
a “directed verdict” for
acquittal, meaning a rea-
sonable jury would not
reach any other conclu-
sion based on the evidence
presented.
Motorcycle camp application rejected
Last June Ake was gearing up for a
Fourth of July weekend opening for his John
Day Motorcycle Campground, when it ran
into neighborhood opposition. The project
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couldn’t open the business without going
through the planning and zoning process.
of the proposal, but about 15 people spoke
against it, in a tense and emotional session.
The commission deliberated on provi-
JOHN DAY – Robert Ake said Sunday
sions of the code that might apply in this
he isn’t sure what’s next for his proposed
case, ultimately deciding that the camp-
motorcycle camp, now that the Grant
ground should not be allowed. The unani-
County Planning Commission has rejected
mous vote was to deny the conditional use
his application for a conditional use permit.
permit.
He’s got a week or so to
One factor in the decision
decide whether to appeal the
They saw the first word, motorcycle,
ZDVD¿QGLQJWKDWWKHRSHUDWLRQ
commission’s Sept. 10 de-
and their minds were made up.”
would adversely impact the liv-
cision to the Grant County
ability
of the surrounding area.
Court. However, he said he’s
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Ake
acknowledged there
not sure he has the stomach
seeking conditional use permit
was opposition, but said he also
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had encouragement from people
“I’m not sure whether I’ll
Hilary McNary, county planning direc- as he made his plans. He was disappointed
pursue it or not,” he said in a phone inter-
view. “I’m still digesting it all. But I guess tor, said the county received 11 complaints that only family members showed up to sup-
I’m leaning toward just letting it go. I’m about the campground, even though it was port him at the hearing.
He said his critics hadn’t given the plan
not yet in operation. Area residents cited
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Ake was seeking the permit to develop FRQFHUQVDERXWLQFUHDVHGWUDI¿FDQGQRLVH a chance.
³7KH\ VDZ WKH ¿UVW ZRUG PRWRUF\FOH
25 dry camping sites for motorcycle and bi- ¿UHGDQJHUVHZDJHDQGJDUEDJHSURSHUW\
cycle tourists on 5 to 6 acres of his 19 acres YDOXHVDQGFRQÀLFWVZLWKWKHUHVLGHQWLDOQD and their minds were made up,” he said.
Ake said he still plans to get an extension
on Trafton Lane, west of John Day. The ture of the area.
At the hearing, Ake answered questions of city water to his property, now served by a
property is zoned suburban residential with
a 1-acre minimum, and would need county but was represented by consultant Sharon well, but he said he would do that regardless
0RJJ$FRXSOHRISHRSOHWHVWL¿HGLQIDYRU of the fate of the motorcycle camp.
approval for the campsite use.
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“
Nora Donathan
www.MyEagleNews.com