GRANT COUNTY HUNTING JOURNAL INSIDE
The
Blue Mountain
EAGLE
Grant County’s newspaper since 1868
W EDNESDAY , A UGUST 30, 2017
• N O . 35
• 18 P AGES
• $1.00
www.MyEagleNews.com
John
Day man
charged
with
murder
Rylan Boggs
Blue Mountain Eagle
BACK
TO THE BOOKS
The Eagle/Angel Carpenter
Students walk to class after
PE on Monday, on their
first day back at Humbolt
Elementary School.
Grant County schools
open doors Monday
New teachers join
local districts
By Angel Carpenter
Blue Mountain Eagle
Students are hitting the books
this week as the doors to seven
Grant County public schools opened
Monday for the 2017-18 school
year.
From new students and staff to
new programs, here is an update on
each local district as the school year
begins.
Dayville School District
Kathryn Hedrick, in her third year
as superintendent/principal, said they
are moving “full-speed ahead” at Day-
ville School District.
Enrollment is at 48 students, and in-
cludes four foreign exchange students
this year. Additionally, there are 9 pre-
school students.
At the beginning of last school year,
enrollment was at 48 students.
The teaching staff is the same as last
year, and Lonnie Dickens is the new
maintenance coordinator.
The Eagle/Angel Carpenter
Fifth-grade students in Georgia Boethin’s class draw as
she reads from a book on the first day of class.
See SCHOOL, Page A18
A John Day man has been
arrested and charged with mur-
der after an incident Thursday
evening in the Dog Creek area.
Thomas Joseph Elliott,
who was born in 1962 and
resides on Marysville Lane
east of John Day, was charged
with murder, fi rst-degree man-
slaughter, fi rst-degree assault
and unlawful
use of a weap-
on Aug. 25 in
Grant County
Circuit Court,
according to
court docu-
ments.
Thomas
T h e
Joseph
charging doc-
Elliott
ument signed
by Grant County Chief Deputy
District Attorney Mara Houck
accuses Elliott of discharging
a fi rearm and intentionally kill-
ing Todd Alan Berry on Thurs-
day in Grant County.
Elliott made his fi rst appear-
ance in Grant County Circuit
Court in front of Judge William
D. Cramer Jr. Friday afternoon.
He is being held without bail.
Houck said she believed
Elliott and Berry were related
through a family member’s
marriage. She declined to dis-
cuss the details of the case.
Offi cers were dispatched
to the Dog Creek/Marysville
area just east of John Day just
before 8 p.m., according to dis-
patch logs.
Oregon State Police and
Grant County Sheriff’s Offi ce
are leading the investigation,
according to John Day Police
Chief Richard Gray. He said
OSP brought in a team to in-
vestigate.
Elliott is next scheduled
to appear in court for a status
check Sept. 1.
Eclipse profi table for local businesses
City makes thousands
from campers
Eclipse
viewers test
out their
glasses before
totality at the
John Day
Industrial Park
Aug. 21.
By Rylan Boggs
Blue Mountain Eagle
In the wake of thousands of visitors to
view the total solar eclipse in Grant County,
locals are enjoying the fruits of their labor.
John Day City Manager Nick Green
estimated the city had seen roughly
The Eagle
Rylan Boggs
10,000 visitors and made about $75,000
during the event. This came from the
city’s 157 tent sites and 161 RV sites
rented to visitors.
“I talked to locals who have lived here
their whole lives who said they had never
seen anything like this,” Green said.
The farthest visitor to John Day came
from Australia, according to Green.
He said no damage had been done
to the Industrial Park or Oregon Pine
Property and described John Day Public
Works Director Monte Legg as a “saint”
for all his and his department’s hard work
during the event.
Local businesses also made a pretty
penny.
Jessica Turner, who works at the Shell
Station in Canyon City, said they sold
roughly 12,000 gallons of fuel from Aug.
19-22. They sell an average of 600 gal-
lons a day normally, she said.
See ECLIPSE, Page A18
Collaborative membership denial causes dispute
BMFP denies claims
of discrimination
By Sean Hart
Blue Mountain Eagle
A collection of people who tried
to join the local forest collaborative
will not be allowed full membership
— for now.
County residents recently denied
voting member status in the Blue
Mountains Forest Partners Collabo-
rative claim they were discriminated
against, but offi cials from the organi-
zation maintain they were following
the intent and guidelines of the group
despite its open membership.
Formally organized in 2006, the
collaborative is a nonprofi t organiza-
tion comprised of a “diverse group”
of people, including members of the
timber industry and environmental-
ists, who work together to develop
“zones of agreement” about forest
projects based on science, Executive
Director Mark Webb said.
He said membership in the group
is open to individuals who meet par-
ticipation requirements, sign a decla-
ration of commitment and abide by
the organization’s guidelines.
At the July meeting, about nine
Grant County residents said they met
the requirements and requested to
become voting members, but the re-
quest was denied during the meeting.
Webb said membership was not on
the agenda, and most people interest-
ed in membership contact him or the
board to discuss it.
The people interested in joining
stayed after the meeting to discuss
membership further, and eventually
most were invited to individual in-
terviews with several collaborative
board members. After the interviews,
Webb said all but one person — How-
ard Gieger, who could not be reached
for comment — were denied voting
member status for now but were in-
vited to continue participating in the
meetings as nonvoting members, and
were told they may be granted voting
status later.
Webb said most of the people re-
questing to join had previously spo-
ken out against the collaborative and
the mission and scope of its work.
He said social media posts indicated
a group opposed to the collaborative
hoped to infi ltrate it to undermine its
efforts.
“You had people opposed to
BMFP who wanted membership,” he
said.
However, those requesting mem-
bership said they wanted to join to be
a part of the process, not to destroy it.
After being denied membership,
Frances Preston said she believed it
was discrimination.
“I was very surprised,” she said. “I
thought I met all the requirements. I
was sure I was going to be a voting
member.”
Preston admitted she wrote crit-
ical letters to the editor and a letter
See DISPUTE, Page A18