GRANT COUNTY HUNTING JOURNAL INSIDE
The
Blue Mountain
EAGLE
Grant County’s newspaper since 1868
W EDNESDAY , A UGUST 31, 2016
Jury:
Peterson
guilty on
3 felony
charges
• N O . 35
• 16 P AGES
• $1.00
www.MyEagleNews.com
COOL FOR SCHOOL
Grant County educators, students hit the ground running
By Sean Hart
Blue Mountain Eagle
A 12-person jury convicted
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Roy Richard Peterson on three
felony counts related to theft
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The jury found Peterson
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possession of a stolen vehicle
Friday in Grant County Circuit
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was found not guilty of another
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theft.
The charges stem from Pe-
terson’s acquisition of resources
— money and equipment — for
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and his subsequent refusal to
turn over the resources to the
Monument Rural Fire District,
which was formed by voters in
November of 2012.
The state prosecutor, Senior
Assistant Attorney General
Daniel P. Wendel, said in his
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gree theft charge was for sub-
mitting fraudulent invoices in
excess of $1,000 with a grant
application to the Oregon De-
partment of Forestry on or about
Feb. 15, 2013. Wendel said Pe-
terson used white out to submit
the same invoice on different
grant applications in 2011 and
2012.
Wendel said Peterson dis-
played a “pattern and practice”
of fraud even before 2012 by
submitting invoices and then
canceling the order. He said Pe-
terson also paid for repairs to his
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numbers on the memo line of
those checks. He said Peterson
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sonal piggy bank.”
“From 2008 to 2012, the de-
fendant took every opportunity
he could to steal money from
the state by submitting fraudu-
lent invoices,” Wendel said.
Peterson’s attorney, D. Zach-
ary Hostetter, said Peterson
reallocated the funds to cover
attorney fees incurred rather
than purchasing the equipment
listed on the invoices. He said
Peterson also deposited his own
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count.
Hostetter said, for all of the
charges, Peterson acted under
an honest claim of right, be-
lieving he was entitled to the
See GUILTY, Page A16
The Eagle/Angel Carpenter
Students at Humbolt Elementary in Canyon City rush to their classes on the first day of school.
Classrooms open doors as summer ends
By Angel Carpenter
Blue Mountain Eagle
S
tudents in Grant County
stepped back into the class-
room this week and last, ready
to get back into the swing of
reading, writing, arithmetic
and much more.
Educators were ready for them, after
completing training over the summer
and preparing their rooms.
Prairie City School District
Prairie City School’s Superinten-
dent/Principal Julie Gurczynski said,
“It seems like just yesterday that I was
wishing everyone a happy summer”
and now she and the school staff have
their “boots on the ground and run-
ning.”
She said they are welcoming two
new teachers, Nate Barber for grades
7-12 social studies and Amelia Harmon
for grades kindergarten through 12 art.
See SCHOOL, Page A3
The Eagle/Angel Carpenter
Humbolt second-grade teacher Jan Curtis welcomes
students Monday morning. Kandice Bowe and her
daughters, kindergartner Kiah (to her left) and second-
grader Kirra, look at the new school books, along with
Silvie Holliday, left, and Kadence Smith.
Smells like savings
City manager proposes progressive solution to wastewater problem
By Rylan Boggs
Blue Mountain Eagle
John Day City Manager
Nick Green has proposed an in-
novative solution to upgrading
the city’s out-of-date wastewa-
ter treatment plant.
Green has proposed a hy-
droponic treatment plant that
would use reclaimed wastewa-
ter to help grow cash crops to
offset the cost of the facility.
Hydroponic waste water
plants are currently in use in
Europe and the United States.
The Waterhub system in At-
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nation and uses hydroponically
grown plants to recycle up to
400,000 gallons of water a day.
Built by the company Sus-
Eagle photos/Rylan Boggs
City Manager Nick Green poses for a photo next to
one of the holding ponds for the city’s wastewater
treatment plant. The pond’s close proximity to the
river is raising concerns that contaminants may
make their way into the river.
tainable Water, this type of reality, it would be the second
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needs of John Day, Green said.
The system involves grow-
If the plant were to become a ing vegetation over a series of
bioreactors so roots hang into
the reactors providing a habitat
for microbial organisms that
consume organic waste.
The plants grown could be
any number of cash crops in-
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ender, ornamental grasses and
medicinal herbs that could be
regularly harvested and sold to
offset the cost of the facility.
Additionally,
reclaimed
water from the plant could be
used for irrigation, landscap-
ing and utility operations.
The current mechanical
treatment plant on North-
west Seventh Street was built
in 1949 and last updated in
1978. The plant is currently
under administrative review
from the Oregon Department
of Environmental Quality.
“Because of our proxim-
ity to the (John Day) river,
our current facility will most
likely not meet the more strin-
gent permitting requirements,”
Green said, describing the fa-
cility as “very, very overdue”
for an update.
The hydroponic plant from
Sustainable Water could be
funded in one of two ways.
The city could privatize waste-
water management by allow-
ing Sustainable Water to build,
operate and maintain a facility
like Waterhub and pay off the
cost of the facility over a 40-
year period, while purchasing
See WASTEWATER,
Page A16
PC School shuts off water to lead-ridden fountains
Prairie City had several water sourc-
es exceeding the Environmental Pro-
tection Agency limit. Although Neil-
son Research Corporation in Medford,
By Sean Hart
which tested all the local samples, lists
Blue Mountain Eagle
an EPA limit of .02 micrograms per li-
ter, the EPA currently recommends ac-
Prairie City School District is en- tion at .015 mg/L or more.
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After a June 22 test showed high
water bottles after high lead levels lead — .0945 mg/L in the old gym
were found in several drinking foun- boys locker room and .0526 mg/L
tains.
in the new gym boys locker room
All local school districts tested — Prairie City Superintendent Julie
for lead this summer after high lev- Gurczynski shut off the water to those
els were found in Flint, Michigan, IRXQWDLQVÀXVKHGWKHV\VWHPDQGRU
city water and water at some Portland dered another test of the fountains
that showed high levels.
schools.
State board adopts
lead testing rules
The Eagle/Rylan Boggs
A Prairie City School
water fountain that tested
over the acceptable limit
for lead contamination.
In the second test, the fountain in
the girls locker room of the old gym
tested at .0285 mg/L. The drinking
fountain in elementary room 2 tested
at .0266 mg/L. The fountain in the el-
ementary hallway tested at .0244. The
fountain in the elementary library
tested at .0178. All other areas tested
below the limit.
“When I received the results from
the June 22 test, I immediately shut
the water off to the locations where
we tested over the legal limit to
minimize the exposure to students,”
Gurczynski said.
See LEAD, Page A16