OREGON’S U.S. ATTORNEY HAS ‘SIGNIFICANT CONCERNS’ WITH POT REGULATION
The
PAGE A9
Blue Mountain
EAGLE
Grant County’s newspaper since 1868
W edNesday , J aNuary 17, 2018
• N o . 3
• 18 P ages
• $1.00
www.MyEagleNews.com
LEFT: Artist Kim
Randleas works
in her home
studio Jan. 10
on a series of
paintings on
copper, including
this portrait of a
Native American
child.
BELOW: The
artist at work.
‘BETWEEN
TWO WORLDS’
Eagle photos
by Angel
Carpenter
Randleas highlights heritage of a past era
By Angel Carpenter
Blue Mountain Eagle
S
unshine brightens a Native American woman’s face
as she stands confident, wrapped in the warmth of a
buffalo hide, against a snowy backdrop of forested
mountains.
“Between Two Worlds” is an oil painting in artist Kim
Randleas’ growing portfolio of western-style art.
A Canyon City resident and Grant County native, Rand-
leas began emerging as a professional artist in 2016, show-
ing at the High Desert Museum in Bend. She’s experienced
a whirlwind of activity since then.
In December, she was featured in the magazine South-
west Art.
She’ll have her biggest show to date March 14-17 at The
Out West Art Show in Great Falls, Montana.
In her home studio, flooded with natural light, Randleas
has stacks of canvases and copper panels ready for brush-
strokes to tell a tale.
Soon to be used are artist Kim Randleas’ tools.
The title of one of her paintings, “Time Traveler,” points
at the heart of what she portrays in her work, transporting
the viewer to a past era with pioneers, cowboys and Native
Americans of all ages.
See RANDLEAS, Page A18
Plastics recycling grinds to a halt
China’s ban on waste
imports started Jan. 1
By Richard Hanners
Blue Mountain Eagle
Clark’s Transfer in John Day will
no longer accept plastic for recycling.
But this is not a local problem — it’s
global in scope.
China announced last year that it
no longer wanted to be the “world’s
garbage dump,” and a ban on import-
ing 24 kinds of solid waste went into
effect Jan. 1. China had been process-
ing nearly half the world’s exports of
waste paper, metals and used plastic
— about 7.3 million tons in 2016. The
ban includes the low-grade polyeth-
ylene terephthalate used to make plas-
tic bottles.
Waste brokers have informed
Clark’s Transfer of the change. Man-
ager Farrell Clark said Western Recy-
cling in Boise has “flat out refused”
to buy mixed plastic, and Far West
Fibers in Portland wants more money
for mixed plastic than it would cost to
put the material in a landfill.
“And there would be no guarantee
the plastic would be recycled,” Clark
said.
Clark’s Transfer operates under a
state solid waste permit held by Grant
County, Clark said, and the company
is not required to recycle plastic. The
company recycles lead-acid batteries,
scrap iron, used motor oil and card-
board with mixed paper, he said.
When Chinese officials notified the
World Trade Organization of its pro-
posed ban in July 2017, they cited the
need to protect China’s environment
and improve public health. They also
complained that much of the recy-
clable material it received from other
countries was not properly cleaned or
was mixed with nonrecyclable materi-
als.
See PLASTICS, Page A18
City moving ahead with housing district
District limited to
25 percent of city
By Richard Hanners
Blue Mountain Eagle
In a busy Jan. 9 meeting that
touched on every capital project,
the John Day City Council con-
tinued to move forward with their
strategy for growth. Mayor Ron
Lundbom and Councilor Donn Wil-
ley were absent.
The council unanimously ap-
proved a professional services
agreement with Elaine Howard
Consulting of Lake Oswego and
Tiberius Solutions of Portland to
guide the city through all the steps
needed to establish a Housing De-
velopment District in John Day.
The contract is limited to
$35,000 and ends June 30. The city
will apply for a $37,800 grant from
the state Department of Land Con-
servation and Development to pay
for the services.
The goal is to promote house
construction in John Day by pro-
viding cash and tax incentives to
prospective homebuilders that the
city would recoup through the in-
creased tax revenues from the new
development.
A timeline provided by City
Manager Nick Green calls for
See HOUSING, Page A18 A for sale sign in John Day.
Eagle file photo