A18
News
Blue Mountain Eagle
Wednesday, June 27, 2018
GUNS
Continued from Page A1
Several weeks ago, sup-
porters of that campaign were
still sanguine about their
prospects to gather the need-
ed signatures in time.
Rev. W.J. Mark Knutson,
of Portland’s Augustana
Lutheran Church, who is
a chief petitioner of IP 43,
says supporters are still “tre-
mendously” optimistic about
the petition’s prospects.
The Lift Every Voice cam-
paign has trained 700 people
to train even more people
in how to properly gather
signatures, Knutson said.
He believes the campaign
has laid the groundwork to
quickly get enough signa-
tures, from having a printer
ready to print petitions at a
moment’s notice to holding
signature-gathering trainings
throughout the state.
And he says the political
atmosphere is primed for the
petition, about four months
after a gunman at Marjo-
ry Stoneman Douglas High
School killed 17 people in
Parkland, Florida, galvaniz-
ing a new wave of gun con-
trol activism.
“It’s one of those moments
in time when people are
ready to act,” Knutson said
of the initiative. “There’s an
EO Media Group
The fire danger in the John Day area was average or even below average in May and
early June.
WILDFIRE
Continued from Page A1
Weather trends
Summer
temperatures
in the Oregon, Washington
and Idaho region, gathered
by the National Climate
Data Center from hundreds
of reporting stations, have
shown an upward trend over
the past 25 years, said John
Saltenberger, a fire weath-
er program manager for the
Predictive Services depart-
ment at the Northwest Coor-
dination Center in Portland.
From 1950 to 1995, there
were roughly the same num-
ber of above-average June to
August temperatures in the
three-state region as there
were below average, he said.
“It was roughly balanced,
about what you would ex-
pect,” he said. “Then some-
thing changed.”
Since 1995, below-av-
erage August temperatures
were reported only in 1995,
2002 and 2010. Every other
year had above-average Au-
gust temperatures, and 2017
saw the warmest August on
record, Saltenberger said.
This May was also one of
the warmest on record. The
warm and dry conditions
led to elevated fire danger
in June for much of Oregon,
Saltenberger said. Condi-
tions in the John Day area,
however, are not as severe
yet, he said. The fire danger
in the John Day area was av-
erage or even below average
in May and early June.
“The higher elevations
captured more moisture,”
he said. “The fire danger is
below average because of re-
cent moisture.”
Those conditions will
change, he noted. The fire
danger is expected to esca-
late in July and August, with
above-average temperatures
continuing into September.
“Every data source I look
at says this,” he said.
Saltenberger noted that
above-average fire danger
conditions existed across
the region in 2015, 2016 and
2017, and he expects 2018 to
be the same.
Fire dangers
The Oregon Department
of Forestry manages fires on
private forest lands in Grant
County, which falls within
ODF’s John Day Unit in the
Central Oregon District.
The district saw 114 fires
in 2017, which burned near-
ly 2,500 acres. The 10-year
average is 11,600 acres. Sev-
enty of last year’s fires were
human caused, above the 10-
year average of 68.
State Forester Peter
Daugherty declared the start
of fire season in the Central
Oregon District on June 1,
which initiated restrictions
JAIL
on debris burning and some
activities by industrial oper-
ations.
“Across the district,
spring has brought limited
rainfall and right now we are
seeing fuel conditions drier
than they were at this time
last year,” District Forester
Mike Shaw said in a June 1
press release. Rain which fell
in late May “was really lo-
calized, with very little soak-
ing in due to how quickly it
came down in many areas.”
John Day Unit Forest-
er Ryan Miller said several
small fires had been reported
since June 1, including four
lightning-caused starts over
the June 16-17 weekend.
“They were all under a
tenth of an acre,” he said.
As of June 20, more than
200 wildfires were reported
on lands protected by ODF
across Oregon, burning
about 200 acres. More than
80 percent of the fires were
human caused.
On the Malheur National
Forest, seasonal restrictions
on campfires began June 1
and continue through Oct.
31. Campfires must be at-
tended at all times and com-
pletely extinguished prior
to leaving. Anyone with a
campfire outside of a spec-
ified developed recreation
site must have a tool that
serves as a shovel and one
gallon of water in their pos-
session.
Continued from Page A5
pocket, you would open that
and look in it?” DeRosier re-
sponded, “Absolutely.”
In closing, the defendant’s
attorney argued that the jail
policy “even if it was an au-
thorized policy ... it’s an un-
lawful policy, it’s overbroad
under both the (state and fed-
eral constitutions) because
it does allow things such as
searches of closed containers,
according to Deputy DeRosi-
er’s testimony.”
Grant County Circuit
Court Judge William D. Cra-
mer Jr. ruled against the mo-
tion to suppress. While he
found that the search was
not justified under the officer
safety exception and was not
a search related to the crime
for which Steele was arrested,
harassment, Cramer conclud-
ed that the methamphetamine
inevitably would have been
discovered during a search of
Steele’s belongings at the jail.
On appeal, the defense
argued that the inevitable
discovery doctrine did not
justify admission of the meth-
amphetamine evidence “be-
WOLF
Continued from Page A1
In his letter to ODFW re-
questing a kill permit, owner
Rod Childers said the impact
to his business far exceeds in-
jured or missing animals.
“This harassment of my
cattle has caused a change in
their demeanor making them
more difficult to handle, nearly
causing injury to myself while
sorting,” Childers wrote. “Ad-
ditionally, these wolf problems
are causing great problems in
my ability to utilize my spring
range effectively.”
The permit issued by
ODFW extends not only to the
pasture, but also an adjacent
public forest allotment. It ex-
pires July 10, when Childers
plans to remove his cattle from
the pasture.
The action has stirred debate
about wolf management in Or-
egon at a time when ODFW is
in the midst of updating its wolf
plan, which was last updated in
2010. Since then, wolves were
removed from the state endan-
gered species list in 2015.
The species remains feder-
ally protected west of highways
395, 78 and 95.
George Rollins, a Baker
County rancher and Eastern Or-
egon wolf committee chairman
VETERANS APPRECIATION SHOOT
July 1, 2018 at 9:00AM
Grant County Shooting Sports presents a
“Benny Says” - A clay target game just for
US Military Veterans
Fun and games for all shooters (non veterans) at normal cost
Targets and 12 ga ammo provided until gone.
A time to meet service men & women and friends,
shoot, have lunch and visit.
At the Seneca Range • 541-820-4624
Dry camp, bring water.
PLAN
64069
Continued from Page A1
in new income in the forest
products, livestock and rec-
reation sectors compared to
the current plan, according
to the Forest Service.
The plan could double
the annual timber harvest
from a recent average of
EO Media Group
Supporters of IP 44, a proposed ballot measure that
would require gun owners to secure weapons in a
lock box or by using a trigger or cable lock, say they
don’t have enough time to gather signatures to get the
measure on November’s ballot.
anxiousness to move, not to
wait.”
The campaign is focusing
on the weekend before Inde-
pendence Day — they’re call-
ing it a “signature sabbath”
— as a key period in which to
gather signatures.
Initiative Petition 44 would
have required gun owners to
secure their firearms in a lock
box or using a trigger or cable
lock.
It would also require them
to report if one of their guns is
stolen or lost within 24 hours
of learning of the theft or loss.
Failure to comply with
those requirements would be
considered a violation, not a
crime.
The measure would have
also held gun owners civilly
liable for five years following
an incident for injuries result-
ing from a failure to comply
with the measure’s require-
ments, except when injuries
resulted from self-defense.
The Oregon Supreme
Court approved the ballot ti-
tle for the measure June 18,
despite several legal chal-
lenges filed by representa-
tives of groups including the
National Rifle Association
and the Oregon Firearms
Federation.
cause the Grant County Jail
inventory policy impermissi-
bly authorizes searches of all
closed containers” — even
though Steele did not have a
closed container on him when
searched.
Citing precedent, the de-
fense argued that “if any part
of the inventory policy is in-
valid ... then any evidence dis-
covered must be suppressed
as part of an unlawful inven-
tory.”
The state argued that the
jail policy says nothing about
searching closed containers.
The testimony “shows that
this particular deputy may
have believed he was required
to search all closed contain-
ers,” the state argued. “That
does not speak to the require-
ments of the policy itself.”
Writing for the appellate
court, Judge Steven R. Pow-
ers cited precedent that the
scope of an inventory “must
be limited to that — an inven-
tory,” and that an inventory
policy “that requires police
to open all closed containers,
regardless of whether they are
likely to contain valuables, is
overbroad.”
Powers also noted that the
state never raised the argu-
ment during the suppression
hearing that DeRosier’s tes-
timony did not establish that
the jail policy was overbroad.
“That is, the state never
attempted, by redirect exam-
ination, to qualify or clari-
fy DeRosier’s admission or
to offer any other evidence
pertaining to the policy’s
prescribed procedures for in-
spection of closed containers
during intake,” Powers wrote.
While he concurred with
Powers, Presiding Judge Joel
DeVore noted in his separate
conclusion that the defense
did not show that Steele had
suffered a deprivation of a
substantial right.
“At least to me, to argue
that defendant was harmed by
an unconstitutional part of the
policy that did not direct the
inventory assumes too much,”
he wrote.
The appellate court re-
versed Judge Cramer’s rul-
ing and remanded the case.
Following the ruling, Grant
County District Attorney Jim
Carpenter filed a motion to
dismiss the possession charge,
stating that he did not intend
to retry the case.
for the Oregon Cattlemen’s
Association, said the group is
advocating wolf management
zones with population targets,
which would open the door to
more lethal control and, possi-
bly, hunting.
“These management zones
would be established, and with
local decision making, the
number of wolves can be man-
aged so that we can reduce po-
tential conflicts,” Rollins said.
Environmental
groups,
however, oppose killing any
wolves, arguing the overall
population is still too small and
fragile. Oregon had 124 offi-
cially documented wolves at
the end of 2017 — an 11 per-
cent increase over 2016.
Furthermore, Sean Stevens,
executive director of Oregon
Wild, said the next iteration
of the wolf plan should have
stronger requirements allowing
non-lethal deterrents the chance
to work before rushing to kill
wolves.
“According to ODFW’s
own reports, depredations
appear to have stopped af-
ter non-lethal deterrents were
put in place. Yet a week after
the last conflict with wolves,
ODFW is issuing a kill permit
anyway,” Stevens said. “This
permit is unnecessary. It’s the
latest proof that the wolf plan
needs to be strengthened, not
weakened.”
The Oregon Fish and Wild-
life Commission indefinitely
postponed its vote on the wolf
plan revision earlier this year.
ODFW recently hired a profes-
sional mediator, Debra Nudel-
man of Portland, to work with
groups to reach a broader con-
sensus. Those meetings have
yet to be announced.
In addition to manage-
ment zones, Rollins said OCA
wants to see at least one wolf
in each pack fitted with a GPS
tracking collar, and local agen-
cies — such as county sheriffs
— given greater control over
wolf-livestock investigations.
“These people investigate
murders and robberies and ev-
erything else,” Rollins said.
“My goodness, they should be
able to do a wolf investigation.”
Derek Broman, state car-
nivore biologist, has taken the
lead on the wolf plan revision
since Russ Morgan retired last
year. He said the plan may be
ready to present to the Fish and
Wildlife Commission as early
as September, and possibly ad-
opted before the end of the year.
“We feel like we’re in a
good spot,” Broman said.
“We’re still seeing increases
in wolf numbers. Last year, we
saw a decrease in depredations.
... We still have a pretty good
plan to be working with.”
100 million board feet to
205 million board feet and
maintains recent grazing
levels. An additional 70,500
acres would be recommend-
ed for a wilderness designa-
tion.
A 60-day objection-fil-
ing period is scheduled to
begin June 30 for people
who provided substantive
comments during the 2010
scoping period or the 2014
formal comment period. A
90-day objection-resolution
period will follow.
After resolution of the
objections, Peña will sign a
final record of decision for
the revised plan for each
forest.
For more information,
visit fs.usda.gov/goto/Blue-
MountainsPlanRevision.
The ruling