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.”