News
Blue Mountain Eagle
Malheur County voters
voice resounding ‘no’
to Owyhee monument
By Amanda Peacher
Oregon Public Broadcasting
An overwhelming majority of vot-
ers in Malheur County rejected the idea
Tuesday of a national monument in a
corner of southeast Oregon known as
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The vast and rugged area is known
for its stunning red rock geology and
canyons, extreme remoteness and wild-
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The idea of an Owyhee Nation-
al Monument is championed by Keen
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ny led a petition campaign to convince
President Obama to designate the mon-
ument, using his executive authority
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Malheur County leaders decided to
put the idea to citizens with an advi-
sory vote, and County Clerk Deborah
DeLong says voter turnout was high for
a special election — higher even than
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of voters rejected the monument propos-
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“It’s amazing to me that the differ-
ence in the vote was 90 percent no and
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Malheur County resident Tim Davis
leads the grassroots group Friends of the
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yes on the monument proposal, because
he said it’s important “to have areas like
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“Now that the people of Malheur
“
It’s amazing to me
that the difference
in the vote was 90
percent no and 10
percent yes. That’s a
huge statement.”
Deborah DeLong,
Malheur County clerk
County have spoken loudly and clearly
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against it as well,” said Steve Russell,
Chairman of the Owyhee Basin Stew-
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egon already has millions of acres of
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Conservation proposals for wilder-
ness or monument designations in the
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The Oregon Natural Desert Associa-
tion has been talking about wilderness in
the Owyhee for years, but that can only
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President Obama has not given any
indication that he plans to designate
the Owyhee a national monument, as
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has already created or expanded 19 na-
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Sally Jewell said last week that she is PRQXPHQWSURSRVDO
not aware of any coordination between
The Malheur County vote is advisory
her office and the White House on a RQO\DQGKROGVQROHJDOZHLJKW
Wednesday, March 16, 2016
A7
Malheur County water
situation may improve
By Sean Ellis
EO Media Group
ONTARIO
—
The
Owyhee Reservoir could pro-
vide the 1,800 farms in East-
ern Oregon and part of Idaho
that depend on it for irrigation
a normal water supply for the
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The reservoir provides
water for 118,000 irrigated
acres in Malheur County in
Eastern Oregon and around
Homedale and Marsing in
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Snowpack levels in the
Owyhee Basin, which feeds
the Owyhee River and the
reservoir, have been bleak
the past four years and the
Owyhee Irrigation District
has only been able to provide
the irrigators who depend on
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reduced portion of their nor-
mal 4 acre-foot allotment the
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As a result, farmers have
left a lot of farm ground idle
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less water-intensive crops that
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But snowpack levels were
well above normal for much
of this winter and the reser-
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cantly better than last year,”
said Oregon farmer Bruce
Corn, a member of the OID’s
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Capital Press/Sean Ellis
Potatoes are harvested
in a field near Ontario
in August. Farmers in
Eastern Oregon and
southwestern Idaho
who get their irrigation
water from the Owyhee
Reservoir are looking
at a much better water
supply this year.
The reservoir peaked at
205,000 acre-feet of usable
storage water last year but
was already closing in on
300,000 acre-feet as of March
8, according to OID Manager
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“We’re feeling pretty good
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have varied between 3,000
and 5,000 cubic feet per sec-
ond recently, which means the
reservoir is receiving between
6,000 and 10,000 acre-feet of
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Chamberlin said it takes
more than 400,000 acre-feet
in the reservoir for every OID
patron to receive their full 4
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The OID will hold its an-
nual meeting March 22 at the
Four Rivers Cultural Center in
Ontario and could announce a
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Group support ban on daylight saving time falls back
By Paris Achen
Capital Bureau
SALEM — A ballot ini-
tiative to end daylight saving
time in Oregon is on hold until
Medford resident David
Miles launched a petition
drive in November to abolish
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Miles said his force of about
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signatures to place the measure
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of Sunday, the group had col-
lected about 1,000 signatures,
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“We have our sights set on
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to look at it realistically, as
much as I would have loved to
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Miles said he plans to start
a Go Fund Me page to raise
money to hire paid petitioners
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The community service
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ed the initiative after feeling
tired of complaining every
year about losing sleep and
adjusting clocks and deciding
he should do something about
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Adjusting the clock for-
ward in the spring may cause
spikes in workplace accidents
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ing to multiple bodies of re-
search, including one by the
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A University of California
Berkeley study found that a
two-month extension of day-
light saving time in Australia
during the Sydney Olympic
Games in 2000 failed to cur-
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Lawmakers in several
states, including California,
have proposed alternatives
to daylight saving changes or
asked that voters decide on
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“What I would really
like to see the country say
is enough is enough and end
daylight saving nationally,”
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He said, if more states opt
to abolish the practice, there
may be more momentum for
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er, R-Keizer, introduced a bill
in January 2015 that would
have let voters to decide
whether to abolish daylight
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Dozens of Oregonians tes-
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The legislation stalled in
the Senate Rules Commit-
tee because some lawmakers
were concerned about being
Medford resident
David Miles launched
a petition drive in
November to abolish
the tradition by 2018.
Miles said his force of
about 20 volunteers was
insufficient to gather
the required 117,578
signatures to place the
measure on the ballot in
November.
Submitted photo
out of sync with Washington
and California, according to
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The country had an on-
and-off-again
relationship
with daylight saving time
until 1966 when Congress
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fy a confusing patchwork of
different time zones across
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territories have chosen to re-
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The No More Daylight
Saving Time in Oregon ini-
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“I’m not upset it didn’t
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³,OHDUQHGDORW,XQGHUVWDQG
that some of my goals were
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of an ability to be successful
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In the meantime, he main-
tains a Facebook page where
he’ll give supporters updates
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