SOFTBALL SEASON STARTS WITH SEVEN-GAME STREAK
The
PAGE A13
Blue Mountain
EAGLE
Grant County’s newspaper since 1868
• N o . 14
W edNesday , a Pril 4, 2018
Secure Rural
Schools
funding
restored for
two years
• 18 P ages
• $1.00
www.MyEagleNews.com
Presidential wallet
17 years of
crime and
punishment
Sgt. Damon
Rand hangs up
his badge
By Richard Hanners
By Richard Hanners
Blue Mountain Eagle
Blue Mountain Eagle
Grant County will receive
more than $3.7 million in
federal funding from the Se-
cure Rural Schools act (SRS)
and payment-in-lieu of tax-
es (PILT), the Grant County
Court learned last week.
As provided in the 2018
Omnibus Appropriations Bill
signed by President Donald
Trump March 23, SRS pay-
ments were reauthorized for
fiscal years 2017 and 2018.
SRS funding helps provide
resources for essential local
services like schools, roads
and law enforcement in Ore-
gon’s rural forested commu-
nities, Rep. Greg Walden said
in a press release. As chair-
man of the House Energy
and Commerce Committee,
Walden authorized the sale
of a portion of the nation’s
strategic petroleum reserve
to pay for the two-year SRS
extension.
Grant County’s estimat-
ed SRS payment for fiscal
year 2017 is $3.1 million.
The county’s estimated PILT
payment for 2018 will be
$651,861.
According to data provid-
ed by Grant County Treasurer
Julie Ellison, the county re-
ceived $3.5 million from the
Department of Agriculture
for fiscal year 2017 but only
$200,248 for fiscal year 2018.
The county court had a mixed
reaction to the news.
“It’s a good deal for us,”
Grant County Judge Scott
Myers told the Eagle. “It’s not
a permanent fix by any stretch
of the imagination. We need
timber receipts — activity on
the forest with monetary ben-
efits to the county.”
Myers said he admired
the forest stewardship work
performed by Iron Triangle,
but that provided local em-
ployment without bringing in
timber receipts. He recalled a
time when local timber mills
were busy and more logs were
coming in from the forests.
“It made a big difference
— more money was available
for schools, roads and Grant
County’s cities,” he said.
Commissioner Jim Ham-
sher applauded the reauthori-
zation.
“It’s very good news,” he
told the Eagle. “It will make
a world of difference for the
small cities and schools.”
en-year-old entrepreneur Sawyer Quinton is taking to heart
some encouraging words in a personal letter from President
Donald Trump.
Quinton launched SQ Wallets last year, creating wal-
lets from duct tape, and was inspired when he came across
a roll of tape featuring an American flag pattern. He said the design
made him think of the president, so he made a wallet, emblazoned with
“Trump,” and sent it to 1600 Pennsyl-
vania Ave.
“Because he’s a businessman, I
thought it would be cool to send him a
wallet,” he said.
In his letter to Trump, Quinton
told the president about his business
and said he is “making America Great
Again one wallet at a time.”
“I would just like to thank you for
making America Great Again,” Quin-
ton wrote, “... I would like you to have
this duct tape wallet that I made.”
The Eagle/Angel Carpenter
Quinton said he sent the wallet to
Sawyer Quinton received a letter Trump in early December and checked
encouraging him to follow his
the mail daily, hoping to hear back.
dreams from President Donald
In February, a manila envelope ar-
Trump after sending a duct tape rived. It was from the president.
wallet he made for the president
In a letter, Trump thanked Quinton
to the White House.
for the wallet and said he loved the pa-
triotic design.
“Your craftsmanship and business spirit are impressive,” Trump
wrote. “I am inspired every day by the inventiveness of young Ameri-
cans, like you, who take the initiative to create products and start busi-
nesses. You are a very promising entrepreneur.”
The president congratulated Quinton for his success and wished
See FUNDING, Page A18
See WALLET, Page A18
The Eagle/Angel Carpenter
Ten-year-old Sawyer Quinton,
who sent President Trump a
handmade duct tape wallet
with a patriotic design, shows
another one of his many
creations.
After 17 years with the
John Day Police Department,
Damon Rand
has given his
notice
and
moved on. His
last day with
the department
was March 5.
“I saw the
Sgt.
handwriting on
Damon
the wall,” he
Rand
said. “I wanted
to be ahead of
all that.”
Rand said he was con-
cerned with the direction City
Manager Nick Green was tak-
ing the department. His de-
parture left the city with two
full-time certified officers,
down from four in 2017.
Long-held goal
President Trump lauds Canyon City
boy’s craftsmanship and inventiveness
By Angel Carpenter
Blue Mountain Eagle
T
Contributed photo
Sawyer Quinton was 9 years
old when he sent this wallet to
President Trump.
The Eagle/Angel Carpenter
Sawyer Quinton shows the
inside of one of his handmade
duct tape wallets.
The Eagle/Angel Carpenter
Sawyer Quinton of Canyon
City shows a collection of SQ
Wallets he made.
Rand moved to Grant
County in 1992 and graduat-
ed from Long Creek School
three years later. His stepfa-
ther, John Pebley, was a Grant
County sheriff’s deputy, and
his aunt is Valerie Maynard,
the John Day 911 dispatch
manager, but Rand said his
interest in a law enforcement
career started when he was
young.
After high school, he
worked at the Prairie Wood
Products mill and then with
Dakom Logging before land-
ing a job as a corrections dep-
uty at the Grant County Jail.
He signed on as a reserve of-
ficer with the John Day Police
Department in 2001 and five
years later became a certified
police officer.
Rand took on acting chief
duties in October 2013 after
Chief Richard Tirico sudden-
ly resigned and Sgt. Richard
Gray was away elk hunting.
On Sept. 1, 2014, after four
weeks at the police academy
in Salem, Rand was promoted
to sergeant.
“As officers, we’re always
studying, keeping up on case
law and training,” he said.
During his time at John
Day, Rand served as the de-
partment’s evidence tech, log-
ging in evidence and tracking
items sent to the state crime
lab — and making sure prop-
erty was returned to its own-
ers after a case closed.
Rand also managed the
department’s shooting range.
See RAND, Page A18
Kitzhaber agrees to settle ethics case for $20K
By Paris Achen
Capital Bureau
Capital Bureau/Paris Achen
Former Gov. John Kitzhaber speaks to the Oregon Ethics
Commission in Salem in February.
Former
Gov.
John
Kitzhaber has agreed to settle
a state ethics case against him
for $20,000.
The proposed agreement
between the Oregon Ethics
Commission and the former
governor who resigned in
February 2015 amid an influ-
ence-peddling scandal is 20
times more than a previous
proposed settlement, which
the commission rejected.
In February, the ethics
commission voted to pursue
10 alleged violations of state
ethics law by Kitzhaber.
The “preliminary findings
of violation” were based on
a 135-page report released in
February by state investiga-
tors.
Kitzhaber violated law
prohibiting use of his office
for personal financial gain
at least twice when he took
actions that benefited his fi-
ancée, Cylvia Hayes’s envi-
ronmental consulting firm, 3E
Strategies, investigators wrote
in the report. Hayes lived in
the governor’s residence in
Salem with Kitzhaber, and her
payments from clients were
counted as part of the couple’s
household income in manda-
tory statements of economic
interest.
“The commission made no
finding that former Governor
Kitzhaber intentionally used
his position as governor to ad-
vance the financial interests of
Ms. Hayes or 3E Strategies,”
states the proposed stipulated
final order, released March
28. “Such intent is not a nec-
essary element.”
As governor, he was “per-
sonally responsible to ensure
that he did not engage in any
policy decisions, discussions,
speeches, meetings, directives
to staff or official actions that
would further the financial in-
terest of 3E Strategies,” they
wrote.
Kitzhaber attended meet-
ings for which Hayes was ei-
ther being paid or was seeking
contracts with environmental
See ETHICS, Page A18