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About The Blue Mountain eagle. (John Day, Or.) 1972-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 21, 2018)
A4 Opinion Blue Mountain Eagle Wednesday, February 21, 2018 Income surveys need completed E asy money is hard to come by, but for the John Day and Canyon City communities, it may simply require filling out a simple survey. Portland State University has sent income surveys to 312 randomly selected wastewater customers from the communities to determine if they would qualify for a Community Development Block Grant that could potentially provide about $2 million toward a new wastewater treatment facility. As of last week, only 72 surveys had been returned. That’s only 23 percent. To complete the study, 90 percent must be returned. If the required number is returned, Portland State will use the data to determine whether the communities’ average income would be eligible for the federal grant funding. The impact is substantial. Mt. Vernon and Seneca were recently awarded $2 million and $2.5 million block grants for major sewer projects. Without these grants, these projects would have been very costly for the cities. John Day and Canyon City are in the same situation — while knowing the permit for the current wastewater treatment facility expired in 2007 and will not be renewed. A new facility must be built. Using grant funding from a program designed to help communities with improvements such as infrastructure would dramatically reduce the burden on the residents. To qualify, the surveys must be returned. If you are one of the 312 John Day and Canyon City residents who received a survey, please complete it and return it as soon as possible. It’s that easy. T HE B ACKROADS County should be proud of local athletes By Sean Hart Blue Mountain Eagle With all of the great sports ac- complishments recently, we’ve been having a problem here at the Eagle: finding enough space to get it all in print. But it’s a problem we’ll glad- ly take, and we hope all our local teams continue to compete, for their dominance and for the inches on our pages. It’s been great to see so many athletes do so well from such a small community. Grant Union’s Drew Lusco won his first state wrestling title, and he’s only a sophomore. The boys and girls basketball teams from Grant Union both fin- ished the regular season atop the 2A Wapiti League, and both fin- ished off strong by winning the championship games at the district tournaments. As they head into this week’s state playoffs, the boys are seeded eighth, and the girls are seeded fourth. In 1A action, the Prairie City boys and girls basketball teams both made it to the state level. The boys won the district tournament and are seeded seventh going into Blue Mountain EAGLE P UBLISHED EVERY W EDNESDAY BY the playoffs. The girls placed third at the district tourney, keeping their season alive. Congratulations to everyone, and Sean Hart keep up the good work! As in life, winning in sports re- quires hard work and dedication. And these young athletes will take the lessons they’ve learned with them as they venture from the high school halls into the world. Thanks to hours and hours of commitment from coaches, offi- cials, volunteers, administrators, parents and families, we think these lessons will serve them well. And that goes for all the athletes and teams, not just those continu- ing on to the next round. So to everyone who has helped shape this future generation, thank you. Your contributions do not go unnoticed. And to the athletes moving on, good luck. Win or lose, you’ve al- ready made Grant County proud. Of course, we’d love to see you on the front page again next week. Sean Hart is the editor of the Blue Mountain Eagle. G UEST C OMMENT Firefighting costs limit other work By Steve Beverlin, Jeff Tomac and Tom Montoya To the Blue Mountain Eagle Across the nation, the 2017 wild- fire season was unprecedented in terms of dollars spent, acres burned and the increased duration of wild- fires. Even now, months later, we’re still feeling the impacts from these fires, especially financially. As wildfires grow more severe — and costly — the USDA Forest Service is struggling to adequately fund projects that are important to our communities because of soaring firefighting costs. Each year, firefighting costs con- sume more and more of the USDA Forest Service’s budget. In 1995, firefighting costs accounted for 15 percent of the Forest Service bud- get. In 2017, it was 57 percent. At the rate things are going, firefight- ing will consume 67 percent of our budget by 2021. This means less money for other priority USDA Forest Service programs and ser- vices, including recreation, visitor services and much-needed fire pre- vention work that reduces the risk of catastrophic wildfires in the first place. The Forest Service is the only federal agency that is required to fund its entire emergency manage- ment program through its regular appropriations. This includes wild- fires that are truly natural disasters — lightning starts rapidly driven by wind that burn faster and more in- tensely than firefighters can control. In the Pacific Northwest, this funding model means that proj- ects designed to actually decrease the severity of wildfire are being delayed, deferred maintenance is growing for recreation sites and critical infrastructure and damaged roads from fire or storms are going unrepaired. This means that trash at camp- grounds goes unemptied, toilets un- cleaned and we are forced to make hard decisions on whether we can safely keep roads and recreation sites open. The funding challenges directly impact our ability to pro- vide excellent and safe visitor ex- periences. With an enhancement to the way wildfire suppression efforts are funded in the Blue Mountains, the Malheur, Umatilla and Wal- lowa-Whitman national forests could focus funding on managing the land toward more resilient con- ditions by completing important restoration and thinning projects, such as implementation of some of our recently completed projects including the Malheur Ten Year Stewardship Contract, the Ten Cent Community Wildfire Protection Project and the Lower Joseph Creek Restoration Project. Additionally, we could focus on opportunities to increase the pace and scale of res- toration in those watersheds that have been identified as most at risk to wildfires and insect and disease outbreaks. USDA is dedicated to fostering the productive and sustainable use of your national forests and grass- lands. If you can’t use and enjoy your public lands to the fullest, that’s a problem. While the Forest Service is working more closely with partners and volunteers to leverage resources and accomplish more than we could by ourselves, our current fiscal path is simply unsustainable. We deeply appreciate the ongo- ing work of Congress to pass new legislation to reform the way wild- fire suppression is funded. A com- monsense approach would let us get back to the work we care about most — meeting the many different needs of the communities we serve, for the benefit of generations to come. Steve Beverlin is the supervisor for the Malheur National Forest, Jeff Tomac is the acting supervisor for the Umatilla National Forest and Tom Montoya is the supervisor for the Wallowa-Whitman National Forest. F ARMER ’ S F ATE The procrastination tree By Brianna Walker To the Blue Mountain Eagle The early bird may get the worm — but it’s the second mouse that gets the cheese. A motto I have of- ten repeated to myself when I seem to be getting behind — with life. It was in November when I looked up at the Christmas tree that had tormented my psyche all last year. Last January, it begged to stay up a little longer. In February, it joked that at least its ornaments and ribbon were red. It made green St. Paddy’s jokes in March and asked for Easter ornaments in April. Thankfully, by May, it was time to be back in the seat of my tractor, and I didn’t have to look at it any- more. Occasionally during the sum- mer, I would glance up in the loft and see the Christmas tree branches drooping farther and farther down. Many times I thought, “Tomorrow, I might have some extra time to take it down.” Funny thing about tomorrow, though. Although it is a noun, it’s really a mystical place where 99 percent of all human production, motivation and achievement are stored — and you need the correct “open sesame” password to get in. October arrived, and I am pretty sure I could hear that Christmas tree snort with laughter as I packed in two pumpkins for jack-o-lanterns. “Hey, these decorations are different!” I shouted to the tree in my head. Regrettably, the tree was right. The pumpkins are still on my porch — uncarved. “It’s just been a busy year!” my inner dialogue justi- fied to the accusing Christmas tree. Every time I walked through the kitchen, I could feel the procrasti- Grant County’s Weekly Newspaper P UBLISHER ............................... M ARISSA W ILLIAMS , MARISSA @ BMEAGLE . COM E DITOR .................................... S EAN H ART , EDITOR @ BMEAGLE . COM R EPORTER ............................... R ICHARD H ANNERS , RICK @ BMEAGLE . COM C OMMUNITY N EWS .................... A NGEL C ARPENTER , ANGEL @ BMEAGLE . COM S PORTS ................................... A NGEL C ARPENTER , ANGEL @ BMEAGLE . COM M ARKETING R EP ....................... K IM K ELL , ADS @ BMEAGLE . COM O FFICE M ANAGER ..................... L INDSAY B ULLOCK , OFFICE @ BMEAGLE . COM O FFICE A SSISTANT .................... A LIXANDRA P ERKINS , OFFICE @ BMEAGLE . COM nation jokes falling like needles from the dead and brittle Christmas tree. “You say pro- crastination, I say ingenious avoid- Brianna ance. Either way, Walker you aren’t coming down until later. I’m too busy,” I’d retort to the tree in my imaginary guilt exchange. “It’s November,” the tree gloat- ed. “You usually put up a tree the day after Thanksgiving. What are you going to do this year? Have a changing of the guard, er, tree?” “I’m taking care of my procras- tination issues. Just you wait!” I’d threaten back. And the tree would only laugh — in my mind, in my sleep, in my dreams. Have you ever had so much to do you be- came overwhelmed? I’ve learned, at those moments, you can just lay down on the floor — for a really long time — and if anyone disturbs you, call it meditating! Suddenly, it was December. And I still had last year’s tree up — ful- ly decorated. Which wouldn’t have been entirely bad — if it hadn’t started as a live tree. Although in all honesty, I don’t think it had been alive for a really long time. A fresh Christmas tree was cut and stood up in the living room. I packed the boxes of Christmas dec- orations up from the basement and felt a wave of guilt as I walked un- der the loft where the dead tree still sported his star. “I’ll get to you next!” I thought. “Right!” he chortled, “I’ve heard that for nearly a year now, procras- tinator!” “I don’t procrastinate. I just put 1 YEAR SUBSCRIPTION RATES (including online access) Grant County .....................................$40 Everywhere else in U.S. .....................$51 Outside Continental U.S. ....................$60 Subscriptions must be paid prior to delivery MEMBER OREGON NEWSPAPER PUBLISHERS ASSOCIATION Email: www.MyEagleNews.com Phone: 541-575-0710 it off till the last second because then I’ll be older and therefore wis- er, and can do the job better!” I de- fended myself senselessly against the insults in my own mind attribut- ed to the dead tree. One morning, my husband and I were planning our Christmas party. One of the games we were playing required the participants to decorate a Christmas tree, despite the many hurdles and challenges we were planning to throw at them. Like los- ing their Christmas tree. Only one team, we had decided, would actu- ally get a real tree to decorate, one group would have a wooden pallet tree, and another group would have a DIY tree — a tall smooth log, a pile of loose pine branches — and a drill. But we were still one challenge short — or we were until I glanced up into the loft. Suddenly, my procrastina- tion had found a purpose! During the party, one of the la- dies came up and complimented me on such organization and planning. I smiled and was just starting to thank her, when she continued, “I mean, to have the foresight to keep last year’s Christmas tree? That is real planning!” I walked over to the dead tree, now decorated in plastic Easter eggs and paper ribbon, “Ya hear that, killjoy? Foresight and plan- ning!” The tree made one last crack at my procrastination, but with my guilt gone, I barely could hear him. I put the pro in procrastination. I must say I no longer feel bad about keeping my current tree up through Valentine’s Day. Brianna Walker occasionally writes about the Farmer’s Fate for the Blue Mountain Eagle. Periodicals Postage Paid at John Day and additional mailing offices. POSTMASTER send address changes to: Blue Mountain Eagle 195 N. Canyon Blvd. John Day, OR 97845-1187 USPS 226-340 Copyright © 2018 Blue Mountain Eagle All rights reserved. No part of this publication covered by the copyright hereon may be reproduced or copied in any form or by any means — graphic, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, taping or information storage and retrieval systems — without written permission of the publisher. www.facebook.com/MyEagleNews @MyEagleNews
