TRACK TEAMS COMPETE IN PRAIRIE CITY
The
PAGE A10
Blue Mountain
EAGLE
Grant County’s newspaper since 1868
W edNesday , a Pril 11, 2018
• N o . 15
• 18 P ages
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www.MyEagleNews.com
Court members face off for county judge position
Hamsher running for judge
Concerned about
mandates and
regulations
By Richard Hanners
Blue Mountain Eagle
Grant County judge candidate Jim
Hamsher, 52, Prairie City, was born
and raised in the Prairie City area. Af-
ter graduating from Prairie City High
School, he worked in ranching, at local
sawmills, as a fuel truck driver and for a
helicopter company with Forest Service
contracts.
Hamsher is in his first term as Grant
County commissioner. He also served
one term as a Prairie City councilor and
is in his third term as Prairie City mayor.
The need for more jobs is a main
issue facing the county,
he said, but he also cit-
ed unfunded mandates
and too many regula-
tions coming from state
and federal government.
Many state laws nega-
Jim
tively impact rural East-
Hamsher
ern Oregon, he said, but
the eastern counties get
“out-voted” in Salem.
“We need to get more involved in the
legislature,” Hamsher said. “We need
more voice in the legislature. It’s the
only chance we’ll have.”
Hamsher is concerned the county
court did not perform its due diligence
when it joined the Grant County Digital
Network Coalition to bring broadband
to the county. He wanted to see more
Election 2018
EDITOR’S
NOTE
If either can-
didate receives
more than 50
percent of the
vote in the May
primary, as is
likely, that person
will win the
election outright,
and the position
will not appear
on the ballot in
November.
See HAMSHER, Page A18
Myers running for re-election
Touts experience,
common sense
and patience
By Richard Hanners
Blue Mountain Eagle
Scott Myers, 63, Canyon City, is run-
ning for a second term as Grant County
judge. Prior to that, he served two six-
year terms as a county commissioner.
After graduating from high school,
Myers worked for 10 years in construc-
tion before landing a job at the Malheur
Lumber Co. mill in John Day, where he
worked from 1983-1998. He’s been a
self-employed building contractor since
then.
The biggest issues facing Grant
County are jobs, housing and public
safety, he said.
“In any order,” he
added.
Myers has support-
ed John Day’s proposal
to bring broadband in-
ternet service to Grant
Scott
County, including the
Myers
county’s participation in
the Grant County Digi-
tal Network Coalition
with John Day and Seneca.
“I think we need it,” he said. “We
need competition. The small communi-
ties at the will of the internet providers
need help.”
Myers has been at the table re-
viewing options to replace the ex-
isting 911 dispatch center now
operated by the city of John Day
See MYERS, Page A18
Saving Bates Pond, and the fish
Changes will improve stream health
By Richard Hanners
Blue Mountain Eagle
M
ore than a year after a collaborative group could
not agree about whether to tear down the dam at
Bates State Park and return Bridge Creek to its
natural flow, consensus was reached at a fourth
meeting in March — the dam and the pond behind
it will stay.
Scott Nebeker, the park development administrator for the Or-
egon Parks and Recreation Department, delivered the news during
a presentation at the Grant County Court March 14.
Competing interests
The court has a stake in the outcome — it backed a $400,000
loan in 2007 so the Bates Park and Museum Foundation could
purchase the former town
and mill sites for a future
park. Commissioner Boyd
Britton was a member of the
foundation’s board.
But soon after the state
purchased the land from
the county for $406,612 in
lottery funds, and plans for
Eagle file photo a state park progressed at
A plan to improve fish habitat
“light speed” under Gov.
will retain Bates Pond by
Ted Kulongoski’s “park-
improving the fish ladder and
a-year” plan, a political
creating a bypass channel for
division formed between
Bridge Creek. Construction
passionate supporters of cul-
could begin in 2020.
ture, history and recreation
and equally passionate sup-
porters of native fish and free-flowing streams.
Friends of Bates State Park wanted to honor the memory of the
little company town and the mill that supported it from 1917 to
1975, and the county court and OPRD wanted to add the site to a
historical grouping that boasted Canyon City’s gold rush days, the
Sumpter Valley Railway and dredge site and the Kam Wah Chung
State Heritage Site. Federal, tribal and non-governmental entities,
however, aligned themselves in favor of fish.
See POND, Page A18
Eagle file photo
Bates State Park, about 17 miles north of Prairie City, is one of
the newest gems in the Oregon State Park system.
The Eagle/Sean Hart
Contributed image
A conceptual image of Option A for improving the mill pond at
Bates State Park.
The fish ladder at Bates Pond. The
ladder would be improved or replaced
under a plan to retain the pond and
improve fish passage.
Motions heard in Elliott manslaughter case
Parties agree to
a May settlement
conference
By Richard Hanners
Blue Mountain Eagle
Grant County Circuit Court Judge
William D. Cramer Jr. listened to oral
arguments April 6 in the case of a John
Day man accused of shooting and kill-
ing a neighbor near Dog Creek Road
and Marysville Road on Aug. 24.
Thomas J. Elliott, 55, faces three
charges in the shooting death of Todd
Alan Berry. As amended in a March
1 indictment, he faces two counts of
first-degree manslaughter with a fire-
arm, one recklessly with indifference
to the value of life and one intention-
ally while under the influence of emo-
tional disturbance,
as well as one count
of unlawful use of a
firearm.
Cramer appeared
by video from the
Harney
County
Thomas
Courthouse. Elliott
Joseph Elliott
and about 20 people
were in the court-
room as Grant County Sheriff’s Depu-
ty Dan Komning and former John Day
Police Officer Mike Durr testified on
the stand.
Defense attorney Matthew Baugh-
man had filed a Jan. 17 motion to
suppress portions of the police inter-
rogation that took place after Elliott’s
arrest. In court, he conceded that
Komning’s body camera recorded
the deputy giving Elliott his Miran-
da warning, but Baughman requested
that any statements made after Elliott
invoked his right to silence after being
transported to Blue Mountain Hospital
not be admitted.
Colin Benson, an Oregon Depart-
ment of Justice attorney assigned by
Grant County District Attorney Jim
Carpenter to prosecute the case, re-
sponded to Baughman’s motion on
Feb. 2, citing Komning’s body camera
recording at the scene.
“The deputy asked the defendant
if he understood his Miranda rights,
and the defendant replied by nodding
his head,” Benson said in his motion.
“Komning then asked the defendant
if, with those rights in mind, the de-
fendant wanted to continue talking to
him. The defendant replied by saying
‘sure.’”
According to Benson’s motion, the
defendant’s son then approached and
warned Elliott not to say anything
without a lawyer. Elliott replied, “It’s
OK” and “Everything is going to be all
right.”
Elliott showed signs he was intox-
icated and admitted to consuming five
or six drinks. He also told Komning
that he had been assaulted by Berry
and had sustained injuries.
Elliott was transported to the hos-
pital for treatment where he spoke
with Durr and Oregon State Police
Senior Trooper Erich Timko. Grant
County Sheriff’s Deputy Tyler Smith
was also present. Benson cited Durr’s
body camera recording in his response
motion.
Benson concluded that Elliott,
“having been given his Miranda
warnings by Deputy Komning, hav-
ing been asked if he understood those
rights and answering ‘sure,’ and even
after having had the benefit of his son
See ELLIOTT, Page A8