A10
News
Blue Mountain Eagle
Wednesday, May 2, 2018
Fire tanker demo impresses crowd
Landowners, state
forest officials
meet at airport
Blue Mountain Eagle
The East Oregon Forest
Protection Association held
its 50th annual membership
meeting April 24 at the Grant
County Regional Airport con-
ference room in John Day.
There were 65 landowners
and state fire and forestry offi-
cials in attendance, including
State Forester Peter Daugherty.
Cooperator reports were
given as well as a history pre-
sentation by Mike Dykzeul of
Wilsonville who covered the
past 50 years of the EOFPA.
The attendees gathered
on the tarmac after the meet-
ing for a fire tanker air drop
and a helicopter bucket-drop
demonstration.
Flying from Redmond
Airport, an MD-87 airtanker
made a low flyby, dropping
3,000 gallons of water.
GUNS
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The Eagle/Angel Carpenter
Two spectators take video of a low-flying MD-87 fire
bomber during an airdrop demonstration at the Grant
County Regional Airport.
The Eagle/Angel Carpenter
An MD-87 fire tanker owned by Erickson Aero Tanker flies by, making a 3,000-gallon water
drop for a crowd of spectators April 24 at the Grant County Regional Airport in John Day.
A visiting Baker Aircraft
helicopter took off from the
Malheur National Forest air-
base, part of the local airport
and, after filling up nearby,
made a bucket drop of water
for the crowd.
Oregon Department of
Forestry aviation manager
Neal Laugle of Salem said
the demonstration provided
an opportunity for a close
look at the equipment used in
firefighting, including the big
OFFICER
Continued from Page A1
officer or arming teachers and
staff.
Larry Maplesden spoke in
favor of arming teachers at the
meeting. He said the teachers
must be willing and trained.
“If someone in the school
is armed in an active-shooter
situation, you have some kind
of stopping power,” he told
the Eagle. “A school resource
officer might not be in the
right place.”
A school aide said she’d
feel safer if armed teachers
were in the building. She said
Humbolt holds lockdown ex-
ercises and “we feel like sitting
ducks.” A teacher said she’d
rather see a child protected
than hiding under a chair.
Izee rancher M.T. Ander-
son noted that a lot of good
points had been brought up at
the meeting — especially the
district’s poll of students and
staff. He supported arming
teachers if they receive proper
training.
“Nobody expects teachers
to be bodyguards, just to be
there in case of an emergency,”
he said.
Opponents’
concerns
Darin Toy said he had a
5-year-old in school and was
a gun owner, but he was op-
posed to arming school staff.
He said he was concerned
about the level of training
teachers get for education, let
alone for firearms use.
Savanna Randleas, the only
student to address the school
board, said she didn’t think
arming teachers was necessary
and wanted the district to take
other measures.
“We’re teachers, not law
enforcement,” Kris Beal, re-
tired school teacher and prin-
cipal, said. She also noted that
she had concerns about some
of the teachers or staff who
might volunteer to be armed.
Beal said she wouldn’t
want to work in a place where
people carried guns, and she
expected children would be
scared by the sight of guns.
School resource officers pro-
vided the “best bang for the
buck,” she said, and arming
teachers would create a culture
she didn’t favor.
Cindy Dougharity-Spencer
asked how the district would
pay for all the training and the
safes. She said she had talked
to other staff about the matter
911
Continued from Page A1
window to negotiate a new
contract.
The IGC is not required
to participate in the Oregon
Public Employees Retirement
System (PERS), Delano said.
It was too early to know for
sure, he said, but he had been
told both the IGC and the dis-
patchers could benefit from a
401(k) retirement system in-
stead.
“The main concern is
where to house the center and
grant funded. When the grant ran out, Grant
County funded the position for one year
more and then the position went away.
Mike Durr, who began work at the John
Day Police Department May 1 and will be
appointed interim police chief, noted that an
SRO is not needed at the schools during the
summer, and the fourth police officer could
be available for the city during the busy
tourist season.
water drop from the MD-87
next-generation airtanker.
“Landowners rarely get
to see what their fire patrol
assessment brings to bear on
fires,” he said, noting the Ore-
gon-based company Erickson
School Superintendent Curt Shelley said
the district has set aside $45,000 in next
year’s budget for an SRO, but the school
board still needs to approve the budget. He
noted that funding from the Oregon State
School Fund will be higher than expected
for next year, which could help cover the
SRO cost.
Shelley said he’d also like to see an SRO
for Humbolt Elementary and Seneca School,
and he noted that providing an SRO didn’t
rule out other school safety measures, such
as securing access to buildings and arming
teachers.
Audience survey *
An interactive survey using smartphones was conducted during
an April 25 meeting about arming teachers. There were
approximately 50 people in attendance.
Question: Would you support the district hiring a school
resource officer?
Unsure: 8%
Yes: 92%
The Eagle/Richard Hanners
Grant School District
3 board member Zach
Williams.
and felt it would be better to
address access and security
issues and hiring a school re-
source officer first.
Kristi Moore, a teach-
er at Grant Union who once
taught in large urban schools,
said she was concerned about
anyone getting shot in school
and wanted the district to take
other steps before “jumping to
the extreme” of arming school
staff.
Full-time teachers already
have a big job, and adding
the responsibility of firearms
training would just increase
their workload, Sena Raschio
said. She said she was un-
comfortable around guns and
couldn’t believe they were
talking about this. She said
hiring a school resource officer
would be great.
Ken Olson, a certified fire-
arms instructor, said he hadn’t
made up his mind yet about
arming school staff. He cau-
tioned the school board to take
its time making a decision. A
handgun is a bad choice for a
weapon, Olson noted.
“You use your pistol to
fight your way to your rifle,”
he said.
With adrenaline flowing
during an active-shooter event,
he expected many armed
school staff would miss their
targets.
Question: Do you support arming school staff?
Yes: 43%
Unsure: 25%
No: 30%
Question: Do you support keeping guns locked in a
safe or carried on person?
Unsure: 12%
Safe: 62%
Carried: 27%
Question: Should school staff have a mental health
evaluation before being armed?
No: 4%
Yes: 96%
*Totals may not equal 100 due to rounding.
Source: Grant School District
EO Media Group graphic
School board vice chairman
Zach Williams said he wanted
people safe, but he also want-
ed teacher support, should the
idea move forward. He said he
wanted input from all the staff
before making a decision. The
idea was “not half-cooked,
not even in the oven,” he said,
and he was not “hellbound” to
make a decision by June.
Superintendent
Curt
Shelley said the propos-
al raised numerous ques-
tions, concerns and other
considerations:
insurance
costs for the school and in-
surance availability for in-
dividual teachers carrying
firearms; hiring a John Day
police officer as a school
resource officer; allowing
concealed-carry or locking
firearms in a safe; securing
access to schools (Grant
Union has 13 doors, he not-
ed); installing alarm systems
separate from fire alarm sys-
tems; installing more secure
fencing or metal detectors;
locking doors more regu-
larly; and holding monthly
lockdown drills.
Shelley explained, if guns
are locked up in school,
it would likely be in a
thumb-operated safe that could
be opened quickly. But teach-
ers might not always be near
the safe, he said. They might
be with students on the play-
ground, in the cafeteria or in
the library.
He noted that attitudes are
changing and huddling in a
corner doesn’t work — “We
need to fight back,” he said.
But concerns exist that a
teacher might shoot the wrong
person or leave a firearm unat-
tended, he said.
“Are guns helpful or harm-
ful?” he asked, adding that
probably both answers are
true.
Staff who volunteer to car-
ry a firearm would undergo a
background check and regular
training, Shelley said. They
also would undergo annual
mental health evaluations. The
matter would be a policy issue
decided by the school board,
he noted.
Grant School District 3 will
further discuss the school safe-
ty matter at the May 16 board
meeting.
budgeting,” Delano said, add-
ing that the transition will not
be as complicated as many
had feared.
“Let’s work together and
get this done,” Canyon City
Fire Chief Matt Turner said.
Turner had played an ac-
tive role in helping reestablish
the council and the board. He
told the Grant County Court
at its April 25 meeting that
it didn’t make sense to ship
$310,000 per year of spend-
ing for dispatch out of the
county.
The Frontier offer was
attractive to some 911 User
Board members at its March
20 meeting, and the offer got
better after Frontier offered
Grant County a voting posi-
tion on its board. Turner told
the court that Frontier said
its offer would still be good
three years from now. Turner
warned the court, however, if
911 dispatch leaves the coun-
ty, it likely will never come
back.
Delano told the joint meet-
ing that John Day had offered
to let the dispatch center con-
tinue to operate at its current
location while the IGC finds
and equips a new location.
Maynard said she had a
$30,000 estimate for moving
all the dispatch equipment
to a new location, including
some wiring and moving the
backup generator, if neces-
sary. That estimate depended
on the state Office of Emer-
gency Management approv-
ing the new site and picking
up some computer costs, she
said.
Six locations that were
discussed included the coun-
ty’s L Building on East Main
Street and a former road de-
partment building south of the
courthouse. Prairie City of-
Complex issue
Aero Tanker, has a contract
with ODF.
District Forester for North-
east Oregon Joe Hessel said
the big airtankers are used in
initial attacks, and can be in-
strumental in big fires as well.
“These aircraft have made
a huge difference in our abil-
ity to catch fires before they
become an issue,” he said.
METH
Continued from Page A1
drug-related counts, all
felonies. He faces multi-
ple charges of possession,
manufacture and delivery
of meth and one count of
civil forfeiture.
The state alleges that
the following property is
subject to civil forfeiture:
$270 in cash; the land,
improvements and sin-
gle-wide trailer at a site
on East Riverside Street
in Mt. Vernon; a white
1986 Ford pickup; and
a black Toyota Corolla.
Tietjen is being held in
Grant County Jail on a
$240,000 bond.
• Olle L. Starnes, 47,
John Day, was charged
with 11 drug-related
charges, including seven
felonies. Several charges
allege possession, man-
ufacture and delivery of
meth, and one count is
for criminal conspiracy
with Nicole Shaffer, who
was also arrested and
charged.
Starnes
was
also
charged with one count
of frequenting a place
where controlled sub-
stances are used. That
place is a house on High-
way 26 west of John Day.
The state filed a criminal
forfeiture charge alleging
that the John Day proper-
ty is subject to forfeiture
to the state. Starnes is be-
ing held in Grant County
Jail on a $150,000 bond.
• Elizabeth Pace, 40,
John Day, was charged
with eight drug-related
counts, including three
felonies. In addition to
charges of possession
and delivery of meth, she
faces one charge of tam-
pering with physical evi-
dence by allegedly trying
to destroy meth and one
charge of frequenting a
place where controlled
substances are used, that
is the same house on
Highway 26 west of John
Day.
The state also filed a
criminal forfeiture charge
seeking forfeiture of $148
in cash; the property on
Highway 26 west of John
Day; and a 2008 Lexus
E35. Pace is being held
in Grant County Jail on a
$95,000 bond.
• Katie M. Watt, 31, Mt.
Vernon, was charged with
nine drug-related counts,
fered a building rent-free, and
John Day offered to rent space
in its new fire hall after remod-
eling is completed in Septem-
ber. Space in the federal build-
ing was available for $25 per
square foot per year.
Todd McKinley, a member
of the John Day Rural Fire
Protection District knowledge-
able about radio communica-
tions, noted that line-of-sight
with Eagle Peak was need-
ed for good communication,
something both the L Building
and the Prairie City site lack.
Both the John Day Fire Hall
and the former road depart-
EOFPA treasurer Lance
Barker of Canyon City said
the nonprofit corporation is
made up of members who are
private landowners who are
not in a fire district.
He said the visitors were
impressed by the airport fa-
cility and added, “Having the
state forester there was quite
an honor for us.”
including five felonies.
In addition to unlawful
possession, manufacture
and delivery of meth, she
faces one count of crimi-
nal conspiracy, one count
of frequenting a place
where controlled sub-
stances are used, that is
the house on Ingle Street
in Mt. Vernon, and one
count of endangering the
welfare of a child. Watt
is being held in Grant
County Jail on a $125,000
bond.
• Nicole C. Shaffer, 21,
Mt. Vernon, was charged
with five drug-related
counts, including three
felonies. In addition to
possession and delivery
of meth, she faces one
count of criminal conspir-
acy with Starnes. Shaffer
is being held in Grant
County Jail on a $90,000
bond.
• Mitchel D. Long, 47,
John Day, was charged
with three drug-relat-
ed counts, including one
felony charge of meth
possession and two mis-
demeanor counts of fre-
quenting a place where
controlled
substances
are used, that is on North
Mountain Boulevard in
Mt. Vernon and the same
house on Highway 26
west of John Day. He
is being held in Grant
County Jail on a $35,000
bond.
• Aaron M. Rose-
berry, 31, Canyon City,
was charged with felony
possession of meth and
a misdemeanor count
of frequenting a place
where controlled sub-
stances are used, that is
on Ingle Street in Mt.
Vernon. He is being held
in Grant County Jail on a
$15,000 bond.
• Kathy L. Meyer, 45,
Mt. Vernon, was charged
with felony criminal con-
spiracy with Tietjen that
involved the delivery
of meth and possessing
materials for packaging
meth. She is being held
in Grant County Jail on a
$20,000 bond.
• Glen Wadley is list-
ed in the Grant County
Sheriff’s Office’s press
release as part of the drug
bust, but no court infor-
mation was available at
press time. He is being
held in Grant County Jail
on a probation violation,
according to the jail ros-
ter.
ment building had good line-
of-sight opportunities with Ea-
gle Peak, but the best location
in the long term would be a
lot in the John Day Industrial
Park near the airport, he said.
That would eliminate layers of
communication relaying need-
ed at the current dispatch site.
Delano said the IGC need-
ed to get up and running now
and could look at a capital in-
vestment in an airport site five
years from now.
“We need a quick decision
now,” Delano said. “The IGC
has zero money, and John Day
is helping us transition.”