The
Grant County’s newspaper since 1868
Blue Mountain
EAGLE
A view of the Strawberry Mountains from Highway 26 west of Prairie City.
W EDNESDAY , J ANUARY 20, 2016
Forest
Service
deliberates
revisions
Environmental
analysis of
Blue Mountains
plan due by
September
By George Plaven
EO Media Group
Now that the latest round
of public meetings has come
to an end, the Forest Service
says it is in “deliberation
mode,” digesting feedback
on the Blue Mountains Forest
Plan Revision.
A ¿ nal environmental
analysis of the plan is due
by September, though local
stakeholders are left wonder-
ing how and if their input will
factor into any new alterna-
tives.
Nick Smith, executive
director of Healthy Forests,
Healthy Communities, said
the current proposal leaves a
lot to be desired in terms of
active forest management. He
wants to see more thinning
of overgrown tree stands to
make the landscape more re-
silient to ¿ re, as well as create
timber jobs.
But, Smith said, it’s not
entirely clear what the Forest
Service is doing to address
those concerns. And he’s not
the only one. Lindsay War-
ness, forest policy analyst for
Boise Cascade, and Union
County Commissioner Mark
Davidson said they are also
worried about where the pro-
cess goes from here.
“Now, the question is are
they really going to listen to
us,” Davidson said. “That’s
really the frustration across
the entire interior West.”
Smith, Warness and David-
son met Tuesday with the East
Oregonian editorial board to
discuss shortcomings they see
in the current proposed Forest
Plan. All three said the Forest
Service needs to increase the
pace and scale of restoration
to improve forest health and
the rural economy.
See PLAN, Page A10
N O . 3
20 P AGES
$1.00
The Eagle/Angel Carpenter
www.MyEagleNews.com
Groups linked to Burns refuge meet with Sheriff Palmer
Eastern Oregon
commissioners
concerned protest
could migrate
By Sean Hart
Blue Mountain Eagle
Members of two groups
tied to the occupation of
the Malheur National Wild-
life Refuge met with Grant
County Sheriff Glenn
Palmer in John Day last
week.
Palmer said on Jan.
12 three members of the
group led by Ammon Bun-
dy occupying the refuge
requested the sheriff travel
The Eagle/Sean Hart
Brandon Curtiss, president of the group 3% of
Idaho, had lunch with Grant County Sheriff Glenn
Palmer in John Day Friday.
to Burns to “make a stand”
and support their cause.
Palmer told them he would
not do so without approval
from Harney County Sher-
iff David Ward, though he
referred to the occupiers as
“Americans” and “patriots.”
After the
first meeting,
Palmer said he
had been in-
vited to lunch
by
several
county resi-
Sheriff
dents he re-
Glenn
fused to iden-
Palmer
tify, and he
was unaware
members of Bundy’s group
would be there.
Three days later, the
sheriff met with the pres-
ident of 3% of Idaho,
Brandon Curtiss, who
said his group is provid-
ing a “security buffer de-
tail,” monitoring the situ-
ation to ensure the safety
of the local citizens and
the
people
occupying
the refuge. Curtiss and
Palmer both said they
had known each other for
more than a year, and the
meeting was not relat-
ed to the refuge situation.
Curtiss, Meridian, Idaho,
said he was just passing
through on his way back to
Burns.
Grant County Court
Judge Scott Myers said the
equivalent county govern-
ment leader from Harney
County, Steve Grasty, had
contacted him warning
that members of the armed
group occupying the refuge
may have been traveling to
Grant County before they
met with Palmer.
See REFUGE, Page A5
Minimum wage proposals
mean tough choices for
Oregon’s rural legislators
By Jade McDowell
EO Media Group
Photo courtesy of Grant County Sheriff Glenn Palmer
The wreckage of a 1988 Enstrom helicopter was found near Ritter Butte
Lookout in northern Grant County. The crash was reported at 10:06 a.m.
Wednesday, Jan. 13. The pilot of the helicopter, Cliff A. Hoeft, 60, Pilot
Rock, and a passenger, Cody Cole, 34, Monument, were transported
by ambulance to Blue Mountain Hospital in John Day. Hoeft was later
transferred by aircraft to St. Charles Medical Center in Bend.
Helicopter crashes near Ritter
Monument,
Pilot Rock
men taken
to hospitals
Blue Mountain Eagle
RITTER — A helicop-
ter pilot and his passenger
were injured in a crash near
Ritter Butte the morning of
Wednesday, Jan. 13.
Grant County Sheriff
Glenn Palmer said a heli-
copter being used to hunt
coyotes ran out of fuel
and crashed into sever-
al juniper trees on a rock
outcropping on property
owned by Paul Walton,
Ritter, about a half-mile
southwest of the Ritter
Butte Lookout and one-
and-a-half miles west of
Highway 395 in northern
Grant County.
The crash was reported
at about 10:06 a.m. Jan.
13, and the sheriff’s of-
fice, along with ambulanc-
es from Long Creek and
John Day, were dispatched
to the scene.
Palmer said, when he
arrived on the scene, mem-
bers of the Long Creek Fire
The Eagle/Angel Carpenter
Two ambulances responded to a helicopter
crash in Grant County Jan. 13, transporting two
men to Blue Mountain Hospital in John Day.
Department were packing
the helicopter pilot, Cliff
A. Hoeft, 60, Pilot Rock,
several hundred yards to
an awaiting ambulance.
The single passenger,
Cody J. Cole, 34, Monu-
ment, walked away from
the crash, Palmer said, but
both men were transported
to Blue Mountain Hospital
in John Day. Hoeft was
later transferred by air-
craft to St. Charles Medi-
cal Center in Bend.
Palmer, who conducted
the initial investigation,
said the men were “lucky
to be alive.” He said the
1988 Enstrom helicopter,
registered to BRD Equip-
ment in Adams, was heav-
ily damaged and is consid-
ered a total loss.
Palmer said the heli-
copter and pilot were hired
by a number of people
who were hunting coyotes
on adjoining properties in
the area. He said different
passengers were taking
turns shooting from the
helicopter, and the crash
occurred within about
1,000 yards of where the
aircraft had been land-
ing near the group of
hunters.
When it comes to a mini-
mum wage hike in Oregon,
the question these days seems
to be how, not if, it will be ac-
complished.
At least three different
plans are headed for debate
on the House and Senate À oor
during the session that begins
on Feb. 1, and activists are
gathering signatures for two
separate ballot measures.
On Thursday, Gover-
nor Kate Brown announced
her plan, calling for a sepa-
rate minimum wage inside
the Portland Urban Growth
Boundary that would reach
$15.52 by 2022. Outside the
Portland area, minimum wage
would be raised to $10.25 in
2017 and incrementally in-
crease to $13.50 by 2022.
Sen. Michael Dembrow
(D-Portland), chair of the
Senate Workforce Commit-
tee, has been working on his
own bill that would break the
state into three regions based
on cost of living.
The highest wages would
be in Multnomah, Washing-
ton and Clackamas counties.
Eleven counties on the west-
ern side of the state would fall
in the middle. Eastern Ore-
gon and sections of the coast
would fall under a lower “Tier
3” increase. Dembrow has yet
to specify how quickly wages
would rise in each tier.
A separate union-backed
bill would raise all of Or-
egon’s minimum wage to
$13.50 by 2019 while lifting
the current ban on allowing
individual cities to set their
own minimum wage higher.
If Democrats fail to build
enough consensus to raise
minimum wage signi¿ cantly
from its current level of $9.25
an hour, activists have prom-
ised to put the issue on the
ballot in November.
Raise the Wage Oregon, a
coalition of unions and polit-
ical groups, is gathering sig-
natures for a ballot measure
that would raise statewide
minimum wage to $13.50 by
2018 and end the ban on cities
setting their own, higher min-
imum wage.
Another coalition, Orego-
nians for $15, is gathering sig-
natures to raise the minimum
wage to $15 an hour by 2019.
The group has vowed to con-
tinue with the ballot measure
if the legislature settles for
anything less than $15.
The competing plans on
the table mean Eastern Ore-
gon legislators have tough de-
cisions ahead of them.
Rep. Greg Smith (R-Hep-
pner) said in his professional
life he works “every day” to
See WAGE, Page A10