A18
News
Blue Mountain Eagle
Wednesday, February 15, 2017
WINGS
WALDEN
Continued from Page A1
Continued from Page A1
be addressed through the consti-
tutional initiative process.”
The new petition came af-
ter Grant County Circuit Court
Judge William D. Cramer Jr.
ruled in 2016 the measure ap-
proved by county voters in 2002
to create a forest commission
should not have been placed on
the ballot because it conflicted
with paramount federal and state
law by asserting authority to
manage all public lands within
the county. Residents can form
a commission “to develop plans
for future management” or “to
provide advisory information” to
the Grant County Court, Cramer
said in the ruling, “but any such
measure should clearly state the
commissions (sic) limits, must
meet the procedural require-
ments in its inception and vali-
dation, and must not violate other
superior or paramount laws.”
Traylor was also the chief
petitioner for the 2002 measure.
Except for a slight change from
“shall assume the responsibility
to manage public lands within
Grant County” in the 2002 initia-
tive to “shall assume the respon-
sibility to manage any and all
public lands ceded to the County
at any point in the future,” the ini-
tiatives are very similar.
The initiative sought to es-
tablish a publicly elected sev-
en-member board with the re-
sponsibility of managing land
and resources ceded to the coun-
ty, allowing hiring of personnel,
distribution of revenue, purchase,
trade and sale of public lands and
reallocation of any federal fire-
fighting funds to the commission.
Traylor said he was not sur-
prised by the decision. He said he
plans to try to meet with Yockim
to establish a clear criteria for a
petition.
“We got set back, but we’re
not done yet,” Traylor said.
“It’s time to get out of the saddle and hang
it up,” he said.
JD Rents owner Robert Watt quite literally
hung up Feiger’s wings for him.
Feiger had gone into JD Rents for a new
chain for his chainsaw and remarked to Watt
he planned on using it to cut up his plane after
he finished with the firewood. Watt thought
it would be a shame to see a perfectly good
plane cut to pieces and proposed hanging it
in his store.
Watt removed the engine, leaving the
plane at about 500 pounds, and used scis-
sor lifts and fork lifts to raise and rotate the
plane before hanging it from the ceiling with
cables.
“I just enjoy everything aviation, and to
have something that somebody put so many
hours in that looks so immaculate, it would
be sad to destroy that kind of project.” Watt, a
former airplane mechanic, said.
The plane has a 22-foot wingspan and is
mostly wood, Feiger said.
Unable to afford a new or used aircraft,
he built the plane from a kit in his garage for
about $7,000. When a Federal Aviation Ad-
ministration inspector looked at the plane, he
said the workmanship was in the top 10 per-
cent of aircraft he had reviewed, Feiger said.
“This isn’t a project you take lightly,” Watt
said. “Every joint he laminated and glued and
fastened had to be right.”
The small plane has a cozy cockpit, from
which Feiger remembers flying all over the
region. Before the days of GPS he would fly
using landmarks and a stopwatch to navigate.
He moved to the area in 1976 to work for
the Forest Service as Prairie City’s first sil-
viculturalist. Feiger began work on his plane
in 1981 and finished in 1984. Before starting
on the project, he had only flown model radio
control planes. Halfway through, he began
taking flying lessons from Bill Krayer, a for-
mer Navy pilot.
“Good training from one helluva good pi-
lot,” Feiger said.
After 30 years of flying and 1,500 hours
in his plane, Feiger said he’s ready to call it
quits. However, a trip down memory lane is
never far away.
“Whenever I get the urge in my old age to
have another look at it, all I have to do is drive
down to JD Rents,” he said.
Continued from Page A1
and bogged down with reg-
ulations and bureaucracy, all
of which could lead them to
non-logical decisions. He asked
what could be done to help the
agencies function more effec-
tively.
Walden said people voted
for President Donald Trump be-
cause they wanted change, and
could expect it to happen under
his administration. One exam-
ple he gave was better fire pre-
vention through management.
Walden claimed it’s four times
cheaper to prevent fire through
proper management than to
fight it. He said over time this
management would pay for it-
self. Grant School District No.
3 Superintendent Curt Shelley
said he approved of Walden’s
work on education but said
the local school system was
strained and underfunded and
that unfunded mandates were
a huge problem. Grant Union
social sciences teacher Cindy
Dougharity-Spencer said she
was fearful of Secretary of Edu-
cation Betsy Devos’ past histo-
ry and called on Walden to help
defend public education for all.
Walden sympathized with
them and said the state’s Public
Employee Retirement System
placed a huge burden on the
schools and the state in gener-
al. He pledged to communicate
their needs in Washington, D.C.
Resident Sharon Livingston
thanked Walden for his service
and expressed her repulsion
at the treatment of Trump’s
cabinet nominees. Both she
and Frances Preston called for
Walden to free Dwight and Ste-
ven Hammond, Burns ranchers
who were imprisoned after a
fire burned from their property
onto federal lands.
Walden said he supported
freeing the Hammonds, and it
was an ongoing concern of his.
Livingston also said she did
not want the federal govern-
ment controlling water and wa-
ter rights in rural communities.
Walden said President
Barack Obama’s administra-
tion had fought rural values and
tried to shut down the local way
of life. Another resident voiced
concerns about the federal hir-
ing freeze enacted, specifically
regarding the local Natural Re-
source Conservation Service
office, which he said was being
run by a “skeleton crew.”
Walden assured him the hir-
ing freeze was only temporary
and had been put in place to pre-
vent the remnants of the Obama
administration from hiring peo-
ple to serve during the current
presidential administration.
In response to a question
about Oregon’s status as a sanc-
tuary state — which would not
help the federal government
deport illegal aliens if their only
crime was being in the country
unauthorized — Walden said
he was unsure if Gov. Kate
Brown even had the authority
to declare Oregon a sanctuary
state. However, he said there
was a nexus in place used in the
past to remove federal funds to
states, if needed. He mentioned
examples when it had been used
to lower speed limits or raise the
drinking age.
The issue of broadband con-
nectivity was brought up, and
Walden said there were federal
programs in play that would
help rural communities increase
connectivity in the future.
Grant County Commis-
sioner Boyd Britton voiced
concerns about whether or not
the county would continue to
see Payments in Lieu of Taxes
funding. Walden assured the
commissioner they would con-
tinue to receive PILT funds.
At the end of the meeting,
Walden took time to answer
follow-up questions and confer
with those who still had con-
cerns before leaving for Baker
City for another meeting.
The Eagle/Rylan Boggs
JD Rents owner Robert Watt (left) and Dave Feiger stand for a
photo in front of Feiger’s retired plane, which now hangs in JD
Rents. Watt wanted to see the plane hung instead of scrapped.
Contributed image
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