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About The Blue Mountain eagle. (John Day, Or.) 1972-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 17, 2016)
OCCUPATION ENDS Land management issues persist By George Plaven EO Media Group A The Grant County’s newspaper since 1868 Blue Mountain The Eagle/Cheryl Hoefler EAGLE W EDNESDAY , F EBRUARY 17, 2016 The sun rises over the Silvies Valley just south of Seneca near the border of Grant and Harney counties. The standoff at the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge near Burns ended after 41 days. N O . 7 20 P AGES “ $1.00 File photo Picketers stand in the back of the room during a meeting in John Day Jan. 26 where refuge occupiers were expected to speak before being arrested en route. Grant County is considering a resolution condemning the occupation to deter militia from relocating. County residents speak out against armed militia County Court considering resolution condemning illegal occupation By Sean Hart Blue Mountain Eagle E ven after the remaining refuge occu- piers surrendered Thursday morning, *rant &ounty of¿ cials plan to contin- ue working on a resolution condemn- ing the occupation. County Judge Scott Myers said he was pleased the 41-day occupation of the Malheur 1ational :ildlife 5efuge had ¿ nally ended. He said, however, he was concerned militants might be considering a new location to target, and he did not want that to be Grant County. “It’s the logical procession, to some, in that our courthouse is 67 miles from there,” he said. “I think concern and awareness should be heightened.” Myers said minor revisions are being made to the draft resolution, but he and the other two County Court members said they would vote to adopt the ¿ nali]ed version, likely at the next meeting Wednesday. Many residents attended the Feb. 10 meeting to discuss the initial draft. The vast majority of those who spoke out praised the fter 41 days, 25 indictments and one man killed, the armed occupation of a federal wildlife refuge near Burns has come to an end. The four remaining holdouts surrendered peacefully Thursday. The underlying issues of rangeland man- agement, however, won’t be going away any- time soon. John O’Keeffe, president of the Oregon Cat- tlemen’s Association, said things are far from perfect between ranchers across the West, the Bureau of Land Management and U.S. Forest Service. Environmental regulations are mak- ing it harder to get rangeland improvement projects done quickly. Wildfires are getting bigger and hotter, We have scorching hun- dreds of thousands a lot of of acres. Noxious issues to sort weeds continue to spread, choking out with the out native vegeta- agencies, but tion for gra]ing. Yet O’Keeffe we absolutely was quick to con- intend to do it demn the militants who came mostly through legal from out of state channels.” to the Malheur National Wildlife John O’Keeffe, Refuge, where president of the Oregon they protested the Cattlemen’s Association sentences of Har- ney County ranch- ers Dwight and Steven Hammond and called for federal land to be returned to private citi]ens. “What happened in Burns is outsiders coming in and occupying a refuge illegally,” O’Keeffe said. “We have a lot of issues to sort out with the agencies, but we absolutely intend to do it through legal channels.” O’Keeffe runs cattle on about 75,000 acres of public land near the tiny community of Adel in iso- lated south-central Oregon — an average si]e fam- ily ranch, he says. His operation includes gra]ing permits with both the BLM and Fremont-Winema National Forest. Ranchers understand the need to support multi- ple uses on public land, such as recreation and wild- life habitat, O’Keeffe said. But he worries further restrictions might become too much to take. “There’s no guarantees,” O’Keeffe said. “Should these government regulations become too burden- some, ranchers could go away. That would create a whole new set of problems.” commissioners for considering the resolution, and many said the language should be even stronger. Janine Goodwin, Prairie City, said the word “illegal” should be added when de- scribing the occupation. She said the county should emphasi]e that militia groups would not be welcome here. “There has in fact been considerable chat- ter openly on the Internet — and, of course, who knows how much behind the scenes — about Grant County as a possible next target,” she said. See SPEAK, Page A18 Building relationships The BLM manages gra]ing permits and leases on roughly 14 million acres in Oregon and Washing- ton. That breaks down to a total of 951,000 permits for the region. Of those, about 20 belong to Jacob Ferguson. Ferguson is a rangeland management specialist for BLM Vale District in southeast Oregon. His area encompasses 850,000 acres south of Jordan Valley and east of the Owyhee River. From May through October, he travels usually once per week to visit his permittees and monitor conditions on the ground. See ISSUES, Page A18 New faces join Grant County corrections team By CKeryl HoeÀ er Blue Mountain Eagle CANYON CITY — Two new faces have recently joined the Grant County Community Corrections staff. Todd McKinley, former Grant County undersheriff, is the new director at the depart- ment, and Mike McManus is the adult probation of¿ cer. McKinley began his new job on Dec. 28. The position was vacated by Dean Hooden- pyl, who retired on Dec. 1. “He (Hoodenpyl) will be missed and his time committed to the citi]ens of Grant County greatly appreciated,” McKinley said. McManus has been on the Corrections staff since Septem- ber 2014, a job previously held by Jim Gravely. He worked at the Harney County Jail for seven years, and prior to that, the Grant County Jail for ¿ ve years. Other corrections staff mem- bers include Cindy Tirico, juve- nile counselor; Roni Hickerson, administrative secretary and case aid; and Charissa Palmer, community service supervisor. McKinley, a 1990 graduate of Mt. Vernon High School, be- gan his law enforcement career in 2000 as a reserve deputy with the Grant County Sheriff’s Of- ¿ ce, and was hired as a full-time deputy in 2001. He had been the undersheriff since 2008. McKinley said he pursued the job at Community Correc- tions because he wanted to get hands-on knowledge of how this side of the criminal justice system works. So far, he’s learned that it’s a busy position, one that values the support of the community. “We are all working together to have a safer, better function- ing society,” McKinley said. “Positive input into individu- al lives is a must, as continual negative input is counterproduc- tive.” McManus, who graduated from high school in Halsey, ¿ n- ished from the corrections acad- emy in 2003 and the probation academy in October 2015. Community Corrections is responsible for supervising felons, misdemeanants, regis- tered sex offenders and juve- nile offenders and supervised bench community service. See TEAM, Page A18 The Eagle/Cheryl Hoefler The Grant County Community Corrections staff, from left, Cindy Tirico, juvenile counselor; Roni Hickerson, administrative secretary/case aid; Charissa Palmer, community service supervisor; Todd McKinley, director; and Mike McManus, adult probation officer. Prairie City man injured in welding-related blast Donation account set up for Brian Johns By Angel Carpenter Blue Mountain Eagle Contributed photo Prairie City resident Brian Johns suffered serious injuries after a welding accident on Thursday. He was flown to a Portland hospital. Those wishing to help with medical expenses can contribute at the Brian Johns Medical Fund account at GoFundMe.com. PRAIRIE CITY — Brian Johns of Prairie City was injured after a 55-gallon drum he was welding exploded at about 5 p.m. Thurs- day outside his Bridge Street home. Prairie City resident Chase McClung, who was staying next door, said several neighbors came to assist. One neighbor, who didn’t want to be named, pulled Johns out of the fire, and Dean Hicks used a fire extinguisher to put out the flames. John Day Police; Prairie City Volunteer Fire Department, including Fire Chief Mar- vin Rynearson; and John Day Ambulance responded. Damon Rand of JDPD said, among other injuries, the blast caused significant damage to Johns’ lower jawbone area. McClung said Johns was flown to a Port- land hospital. Donations may be contributed to the Johns Family Medical Fund at GoFundMe. com which was set up by McClung. “Anyone that knows Brian, knows he is an outstanding member of the commu- nity,” McClung wrote on the donation website. “He is the kind of guy that would give the shirt off his back to anyone in need.”
