A6
Election 2018
Blue Mountain Eagle
Wednesday, April 18, 2018
Five vie for county commissioner
Richie Colbeth
Tanner Elliott
Gordon Larson
Colbeth: keep
costs down
Elliott: economy
is No. 1 issue
Larson: economy
restored
Osburn: diversified Palmer: impact
of unemployment
economy
Will bring eclectic
experience to
the table
Offers ‘youth,
idealism and
fresh ideas’
Offers lengthy
experience in
government
Rancher opposes
natural resource
adviser position
Archie Osburn
Sam Palmer
Suicide and child
abuse rates
far too high
By Richard Hanners
By Richard Hanners
By Richard Hanners
By Richard Hanners
By Richard Hanners
Blue Mountain Eagle
Blue Mountain Eagle
Blue Mountain Eagle
Blue Mountain Eagle
Blue Mountain Eagle
C
ommissioner
candidate
Richie Colbeth, 79, John
Day, grew up in New Jer-
sey and retired from the Air Force
as a non-commissioned officer in
charge of administration and per-
sonal affairs after 20 years in the
service. He’s worked as a school
bus trainer, a union representa-
tive, an airport security screener
and a paralegal.
Colbeth moved to John Day
about 10 years ago and current-
ly owns and operates John Day
Taxi. He has degrees in adminis-
tration, electronics and theology
and hosted the “Cowboy Chapel
Chaplain Richie” radio show on
KJDY for seven years.
He’s served on numerous
boards and committees, including
the John Day Budget Committee,
Republican Precinct Committee,
Senior Citizen Advisory Board
and a local ministerial associ-
ation. He’s volunteered at the
Grant County Historical Muse-
um, the Grant County Ranch and
Rodeo Museum, Grant County
Hospice and the Grant County
Chamber of Commerce.
“I’ve been a very busy boy,”
he said.
One of Colbeth’s top concerns
is the kind of proposals coming
from John Day City Manager
Nick Green. He wanted to know
who will pick the vegetables
in the city’s “greenhouse on a
swamp.”
Providing broadband internet
to the county is not an important
issue, he said. He said he’s happy
with the fiber optic cable Ortel-
co ran to his house on Seventh
Street.
When asked about whether
911 dispatch should be kept local
or outsourced to Frontier Region-
al 911, Colbeth replied, “Send it
to Condon.” Maintaining dis-
patchers with local knowledge is
not important, but keeping costs
down is, he said.
Colbeth opposed the idea of
establishing a natural resource
adviser position to advise the
Grant County Court. In addition
to costing money, the position
would likely become political.
“I don’t like it,” he said. “En-
vironmentalists would end up
steering it.”
His vision for the future is to
grow the timber industry, which
would benefit the entire economy
and help reduce fire dangers.
“Let the loggers loose,” he
said.
He also opposes legalizing
marijuana, which alters people’s
minds, and he wants more secu-
rity at school entrances, but no
armed guards inside.
“I’m the most qualified be-
cause I have the most eclectic
experience,” he said.
C
ommissioner
candidate
Tanner Elliott, 18, John
Day, is a junior at Grant
Union Junior-Senior High School
and serves on the county’s Plan-
ning Commission and 4-H Advi-
sory Council.
He was elected freshman and
sophomore class presidents and
is the current vice president of the
high school’s Associate Student
Body. He is a 4-H county ambas-
sador and member of the Future
Business Leaders of America
program. He has worked in lawn
maintenance and as a lifeguard.
The big issue facing Grant
County is the economy, Elliott
said.
“We’re going the wrong di-
rection and lack leadership,” he
said. “While the U.S. economy is
booming, ours is shutting down.”
The county needs more job
diversity and a better education
system. When people consider
moving to Grant County, they
look at schools, health care, op-
portunities for work and cultural
or recreational amenities, he said.
Elliott said he opposes a gov-
ernment-owned broadband net-
work because it will lead to high-
er prices and poorer service. He
cited similar networks that failed
in Burlington, Vermont, and
Provo, Utah. Private companies
should provide broadband, if at
all, he said.
“We don’t have the economy
here to support broadband,” El-
liott said. “We don’t need it to
survive. It’s not a top priority.”
Elliott said he’d prefer to keep
911 dispatch local, but if the
county can’t afford to do that,
then it should accept the offer
from Frontier Regional 911 for
contracted services. He also said
he’d like to see the county’s nat-
ural resource adviser position
filled.
“It would be good to have an
expert to advise the county court
on minerals, timber, grazing and
water,” he said.
Elliott didn’t believe the posi-
tion was a political issue.
“We have a ton of natural re-
sources here, and we need to put
them to use,” he said, adding that
he wanted to see them used prop-
erly.
Elliott’s vision for the county
is to bring back another timber
mill, which would lead to big-
ger schools, more jobs and more
competition between existing
businesses. He said he supports
the Initiative 12-71 to legalize
recreational marijuana in Grant
County because it will create jobs
and provide tax revenue to the lo-
cal community.
He believes he can be an asset
to the county court.
“I have youth, idealism
and fresh ideas,” he said. “I’m
self-funded and not owned by
anyone. And I have no self-inter-
est conflicts.”
C
ommissioner
candidate
Gordon Larson, 54, Can-
yon City, grew up on a
dairy farm in Scappoose. He was
in the National Guard when he
was recruited by the Oregon State
Police in 1987.
Larson retired from OSP in
2014 after serving on a gang
strike force and a multi-state
drug task force, as the outpost
commander in John Day and as a
regional commander based in La
Grande.
He served on the Grant School
District 3 board for 12 years, 10
years as chairman. He now runs a
ranch south of Canyon City.
The foremost issue facing the
county is economic decline, but
positive trends can be found in
recent state statistics, he said. The
divided community is also a major
issue.
“It’s been slow to heal follow-
ing the Canyon Creek Complex
fire,” he said. “Neighbors no lon-
ger wave to neighbors. People
view each other through a polit-
ical prism rather than if they are
good neighbors.”
Larson supports the county
court’s decision to join the Grant
County Digital Network Coali-
tion, which is one piece in a larger
solution to an ailing economy. As
for the government’s role in the
broadband project, he compared
it to the Pony Express, interstate
highways and rural electrification.
Noting his lengthy experience
with emergency dispatch, Larson
said he supports keeping 911 dis-
patch local and not outsourcing it
to Frontier Regional 911.
“Seconds matter,” he said. “It’s
critical to have local dispatchers
providing this service.”
He was optimistic that the ded-
icated first responders at a recent
911 User Board meeting, which he
attended, will resolve the dispatch
question.
Larson sees merit in creating a
natural resource adviser position
with the county, comparing it to
the county court providing fund-
ing for a federal animal damage
control agent. He said it’s critical
the adviser does not make poli-
cy or speak for the court, but he
saw benefits coming from a well-
trained and well-educated person
in the position.
Larson said he’d like to see the
local economy restored to its 1950
level, with more than 8,000 resi-
dents and a diversified economy
that was more resistant to down-
turns. He wants to explore the op-
tions, including providing broad-
band to attract telecommuters.
He said he offers more than 20
years with executive-level leader-
ship experience. He’s served on
numerous boards and committees
and has testified in the legislature
and helped write legislation.
“I want to capitalize on these
experiences,” Larson said. “My
heart is in Grant County.”
C
ommissioner
candidate
Archie Osburn, 61, Mon-
ument, has been working
on his family’s ranch for most of
his life. He graduated from Mon-
ument High School with hon-
ors and attended Blue Mountain
Community College for a time
before returning to the ranch.
“I’ve had the same address
since 1967,” he said.
Osburn’s ranch employs eight
people. He also operates a wild-
fire support business and an agri-
cultural trucking service.
He was elected and served for
several terms on the boards for
Monument School and the Mon-
ument Soil and Water Conserva-
tion District. He’s also served on
the Farm Service Agency since
the 1980s, which handles disaster
relief funds for fires and floods,
and loans for conservation proj-
ects, student education and 4-H
projects.
“Through my ranch and fire-
fighting business and my work
on the Farm Service Agency, I’ve
brought several million dollars
into Grant County,” Osburn said.
“No other commissioner candi-
date can say that.”
The biggest issue facing Grant
County is jobs, he said.
“We need employees who are
qualified to do the jobs that al-
ready exist here, and we need to
diversify the local economy to
attract skilled workers,” he said.
It’s important that Grant
County holds onto the skilled
workers who live here now, but
there is a lack of opportunities.
Bringing broadband internet here
is one thing that will help achieve
that goal, he said.
“Broadband access is neces-
sary — it’s our new highway,”
Osburn said, adding he believes
access will eventually branch out
from John Day to the rest of the
county.
“Lack of good internet access
has stopped economic develop-
ment in Monument,” he said.
Osburn also supports creating
a countywide special district for
911 dispatch in Grant County to
protect existing dispatcher jobs
and to ensure calls are handled
by people who are knowledge-
able about local geography and
people.
He strongly opposes the cre-
ation of a natural resource advis-
er position for the county. He said
he leases large tracts of land in
two counties from the Bureau of
Land Management, and he didn’t
want anyone interfering in his re-
lationship with the agency.
“I’ve put my whole life into
working with them,” he said.
Osburn said his 45 years of
business experience would be an
asset for the county court.
“I don’t feel like any other
candidate has that kind of expe-
rience,” he said.
C
ommissioner candidate Sam
Palmer, 53, John Day, was
born and raised in John Day
and is a graduate of Grant Union
High School and Blue Mountain
Community College.
He’s been a registered nurse for
30 years and worked locally and
around the U.S. in “frontier med-
icine,” including a stint as a flight
nurse in Las Vegas. He works three
days a week in Burns and will re-
tire in about a year.
Palmer sees three main issues
facing Grant County — a lack of
jobs, a high suicide rate and a high
child abuse rate. They’re interre-
lated, he said, noting that Grant
County and Harney County have
been No. 1 or No. 2 in unemploy-
ment among Oregon counties for
35 to 40 years.
“Now they have the highest
suicide and child abuse rates,” he
said. “Those are my issues because
I care. I’ve done well here, and I
want to give back.”
Palmer said he has some con-
cerns about the current proposal to
bring broadband to Grant County
— hanging a main fiber optic ca-
ble on power poles doesn’t seem
secure, and evolving technology
could make the proposal soon ob-
solete.
“Grant County needs some-
thing,” he said, noting that his new
home on Marysville Road doesn’t
have good internet access and he’s
trying to take classes online. Wire-
less might be the solution, he sug-
gested.
Palmer said he favors keeping
911 dispatch local in order to pro-
tect jobs, but as a team leader on
the county’s Search and Rescue
team with extensive experience in
the forests, he doesn’t believe the
argument that local dispatchers are
needed to help first responders lo-
cate incident sites.
At a public meeting, he pro-
posed putting 911 dispatch under
the Grant County Sheriff’s Office
and then contracting service with
local cities and users.
Palmer strongly supports the
idea of establishing a natural re-
source adviser position with the
county. He said it’s not a question
of whether to establish the position
but how to fund it. The adviser
would help bridge the gap between
county, state and federal govern-
ments, he said.
Palmer’s vision for the econo-
my is growth. Burning down for-
ests and locking up forest roads
will not lead to prosperity, he
said. Instead, he’d like to see bio-
mass-powered generating plants in
Long Creek, the John Day Valley
and around Seneca to power new
industry.
“I bring open-mindedness,” he
said. “I listen to all sides before
making a decision. As a trauma and
emergency nurse, I dealt daily with
conflict resolution. I want to be a
servant of the people. I’m not in it
for personal gain.”
PRIMARY ELECTION RULES EXPLAINED
By Richard Hanners
Blue Mountain Eagle
Rules governing how county candidates
win primary elections have changed over
the years in Grant County.
Here’s how the winner is determined,
according to Grant County Clerk Brenda
Percy.
In the case of the county treasurer, county
clerk and sheriff, the winner cannot be deter-
mined by the May primary election. If there
are two or less candidates, their names do not
appear on the primary ballot, and the winner
Rose withdraws from
commissioner race
Dave Rose, Canyon City, has with-
drawn from the Grant County commis-
sioner race. He cited unexpected circum-
stances for his decision.
is determined in the general election held in
November. That’s the case this year, as Percy
is running unopposed for re-election.
If there are three or more candidates for
treasurer, clerk or sheriff, their names will
appear on the primary ballot, and the top-two
vote-getters will compete in the general elec-
tion, where the winner is determined.
For all other county positions, a candidate
can win in the primary election by garnering
50 percent of the total vote plus one vote
more. If no candidate meets that threshold,
then the top-two vote-getters go on to com-
pete in the general election.
In the case of this year’s races for Grant
County judge and Grant County justice of
the peace, it’s likely one of the two can-
didates will earn more than 50 percent of
the vote and win the race in the primary
election.
That’s not the case in the race for Grant
County commissioner, where five can-
didates vie for a single seat and winning
half or more of the vote could be more dif-
ficult. So it’s likely the top two commis-
sioner candidates will face off in the fall
election.
Unlike statewide elections and some
Oregon counties, all county races in Grant
County are nonpartisan. The county com-
missioner race was the last to change to
nonpartisan, Percy said.