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News
Blue Mountain Eagle
VETERAN
PLAN
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veterans through word of
mouth, and sometimes by
just striking up a conver-
sation with them — “just
not being afraid to say,
when you see somebody’s
hat or shirt, to say, ‘When
did you serve?’”
“In order to help vets,
you have to have a good
network,” she said. “You
have to know who to call
for transportation or call
the local hospital to sign up
for the Choice Card.”
She plans to attend two
meetings to further her
ability to help other veter-
ans, including a conference
in Florence in mid-October
and a training meeting in
Salem later that month.
Hoffman said she en-
joys helping other vets be-
cause it’s the right thing to
do.
“It’s my passion,” she
said. “I’m a disabled vet,
and nobody helped me. I
won my (claims) through
trial and error.”
The new office hours
are Mondays and Tuesdays
8 a.m. to 2 p.m., Wednes-
days noon to 6 p.m. and
Thursdays and Fridays 11
a.m. to 5 p.m.
Her office number is
541-575-1631, and her
work cellphone number is
541-620-8057.
“If the flag is out, I’m
in,” she said, adding, “If a
vet cannot come in, I will
go to them.”
planer shed that could be used
for farmers markets and other
community or tourist-related
events, and a large shop build-
ing that the city plans to use as
a replacement for its existing
shop. The city has requested a
$519,000 loan from Business
Oregon, a state agency, to reim-
burse it for the initial payment
for the site.
A driving need behind the
project is to replace John Day’s
wastewater treatment plant on
the 30-acre city property north
of the river. The plant’s op-
erating permit, issued by the
Oregon Department of Envi-
ronmental Quality, expired in
2007 and will not be re-issued
because of the plant’s age and
proximity to the river.
Wastewater plant
The new wastewater treat-
ment plant will be modeled
after the Water Hub facility in
Atlanta, Georgia, and use hy-
droponics to produce Class
A water that can be used for
greenhouses and botanical gar-
dens. John Day’s municipal
wells produce about 80 million
gallons of water per year, much
of which could be reclaimed
and re-used after treatment.
“Water is a scarce commod-
ity here,” Green told the Eagle.
A feasibility study for the
treatment facility began in Sep-
tember, with contracts awarded
to Anderson Perry Associates
of La Grande and Sustainable
Water of Glen Allen, Virginia.
Company representatives
Wednesday, October 4, 2017
loans. Green said he will pro-
vide more details on project
financing at the Oct. 10 council
meeting.
The Eagle/Richard Hanners
The city of John Day acquired the sawmill, in the back,
and the planer shed when it bought the former Oregon
Pine mill for the Innovation Gateway project.
will attend the Nov. 14 city
council meeting, and the Or-
egon Department of Environ-
mental Quality will review
permitting requirements for
the new treatment plan on Nov.
15. Preliminary engineering is
slated to begin in 2018, and the
project is targeted to be com-
pleted in 2021.
Reclaimed wastewater will
be used by a commercial green-
house to be built near the for-
mer planer shed. A 5,000- to
6,000-square-foot greenhouse
operating year-round could
produce 31 tons of vegetables,
which is what the local commu-
nity consumes in a year, Green
said.
Additional
greenhouses
and botanical gardens using
reclaimed wastewater could be
built for research purposes once
the city’s current treatment
plant is cleared away, making
land available for an academic
campus.
OSU partnership
Green recently traveled to
Oregon State University to
explore potential partnerships
for an academic campus and
learned the institution is inter-
ested in expanding its opera-
tions into rural Eastern Oregon.
“Oregon State doesn’t have
this type of facility,” Green
said. “This will draw attention
to John Day.”
The city could qualify for
up to $2 million in Communi-
ty Development Block Grant
funding from the U.S. Depart-
ment of Housing and Urban
Development to help finance
the new wastewater treatment
plant. The council has budget-
ed $8,000 for an income survey
that Portland State University
will conduct in February or
sooner to determine if the city
is eligible for the grant.
According to the last feder-
al census, about 40 percent of
the city’s residents fell under
the low- or moderate-income
brackets, but the figure needs to
be at least 51 percent to qualify
for the block grant, Green said.
The new survey will provide
a more accurate income mea-
surement, he noted.
“It’s going to be tight,”
Green said. “It’s one of those
weird situations where you
hope to do poorly.”
Funding for the new waste-
water treatment plant could
include grants and low interest
ADAIR
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space for the digital network
would be “the cleanest way
to finish this building.”
“Sounds like a great mar-
riage to me,” Smith said.
In addition to improving
Other facets
Land development for the
overall 83-acre project will
include construction of a riv-
erside trail system, extending
Seventh Street west along the
north side of the John Day Riv-
er to Patterson Bridge Road,
building parking lots and in-
stalling underground utilities,
Green said.
The project will affect
neighboring properties, but the
city is not ready to handle land
exchanges and annexations,
he said. Planning under a state
Transportation and Growth
Management grant the city
received in September might
not be completed until March
2019, according to a time line
Green presented to the city
council.
“It’s hard to gauge impacts
to neighboring properties right
now,” Green told the council,
noting that some owners cur-
rently pay higher water bills
and may want to volunteer for
annexation.
In addition to land exchang-
es, the city has asked the Fed-
eral Emergency Management
Agency to amend the flood-
plain map for the project area.
According to Grant County
Assistant Planner Shannon
Springer, the existing map was
created in the mid-1980s using
data from the 1970s, but the
area has been re-mapped since
then using more accurate LI-
DAR, a remote-sensing system
carried by aircraft.
The deadline for removing
internet access for county
residents, the new optical
fiber cable could provide
redundancy for the area’s
two telecommunication pro-
viders, CenturyLink and
Oregon Telephone Corp.,
Green said. A damaged Cen-
turyLink optical fiber line
about 10 miles from Bates
Intermountain Law, PC
Welcomes
Krischele Whitnah, Attorney at Law
Krischele Whitnah has joined our firm effective October 1, 2017.
She is licensed in Oregon and has been practicing law since 2006.
Her practice will emphasize family law (divorce/custody/support),
guardianship and third-party custody, and estate planning.
Intermountain Law, PC
David R. Auxier ~ Andrew G. Martin
Martin Leuenberger ~ Krischele Whitnah
3370 10th Street, Suite H, Baker City, Oregon 97814 (541) 523-6535
1513 North Whitley Drive, Fruitland, Idaho 83619 (208) 452-6535
16225
www.bakercitylaw.com
Are you or someone
you know the victim of
physical or emotional
abuse?
Do you find yourself
being abusive toward
your partner?
GET HELP TODAY
AND COMMIT TO A BETTER LIFE FOR YOURSELF AND YOUR CHILDREN.
CALL NOW OR CONTACT YOUR LOCAL DOMESTIC VIOLENCE
CENTER FOR THE HELP YOU NEED TO MAKE A CHANGE.
HEART OF GRANT COUNTY: 541-620-1342
GRANT COUNTY VICTIM ASSISTANCE PROGRAM: 541-575-4026
This project was supported by Grant No. 2015-WR-AX-0008 awarded by the Office on Violence Against
Women, U.S. Department of Justice. The opinions, findings, conclusions, and recommendations expressed in
this publication/program/exhibition are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the
Department of Justice, Office on Violence Against Women.
The USDOJ and Grant County Victim Assistance Program are prohibited from discriminating on the basis of
race, color, national origin, disability, religion, sex, or age.
15099
equipment from the sawmill
was extended to Oct. 23. If
the deadline isn’t met, the city
can keep the contents, and DR
Johnson Lumber will forfeit
$58,000 from the purchase
agreement.
Mayor Ron Lundbom said
he doubted the equipment
could be removed in time, and
Councilor Paul Smith asked
if any of the equipment had
historical value for tourists.
Green told the Eagle that a pri-
vate investor would likely be
more interested in the former
sawmill if the equipment was
gone.
Other components of the
project include marketing and
branding the launch of the In-
novation Gateway project.
“Areas to explore include
regional agritourism, recre-
ational tourism and marketing
our locations as a destination
for corporate retreats,” Green
said in a memo to the council.
Green said he’d like to see
harvesting at the greenhouse
by August 2018. He said he’d
bring the council a proposal
for a kick-off event that could
include music and a barbecue
contest.
Monte Legg, the city’s pub-
lic works director, recently
traveled to Central Point for
the Battle of the Bones bar-
becue contest and brewfest.
The sanctioned contest drew
17 teams and 89 sponsors, the
parking lot was full, and on-
line tickets were sold out for
the event.
Legg said the event’s orga-
nizer believed a similar event
could be held in John Day next
year with six to eight teams and
double that the following year.
caused extensive landline
and internet outages in Grant
County for much of the day
on Sept. 20, including 911
dispatch in John Day.
The council also learned
the Oregon Department of
Transportation’s position on
a proposal to place a cross-
walk on South Canyon Bou-
levard at the fire hall and
to extend the 25 mph speed
limit zone south to Third Av-
enue.
John Eden, ODOT’s per-
mitting specialist, told the
city that ODOT in general
discourages marking cross-
walks at uncontrolled inter-
sections, such as the mid-
block location by the fire
hall. Encouraging pedestri-
ans to cross where emergen-
cy vehicles may emerge at
any time was also a concern.
“Marking a crosswalk at
an inappropriate location
may in fact put a pedestrian
more at risk than if it were
not marked at all, as it may
give the pedestrian a false
sense of security,” Eden
said.
Green suggested the city
wait until sidewalk con-
struction along South Can-
yon Boulevard is completed
before following up on the
proposals. Councilor Dave
Holland said he wasn’t sur-
prised at ODOT’s response.
“We could push back,”
Green said.
15571
For breast cancer prevention and
detection, Dr. Keith Thomas suggests:
• Have a yearly mammogram at 40 years of age and every
year after.
• Participate in self breast awareness and talk with your
doctor if you notice any changes.
• See your family doctor for a yearly check or even sooner
if you haven’t been feeling well.
14827
Keith J. Thomas, MD, FACS
Board-Certified General Surgeon
Blue Mountain Hospital • 170 Ford Road, John Day • 541-575-1311