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About The Blue Mountain eagle. (John Day, Or.) 1972-current | View Entire Issue (July 4, 2018)
HAPPY INDEPENDENCE DAY The Blue Mountain EAGLE Grant County’s newspaper since 1868 W edNesday , J uly 4, 2018 • N o . 27 • 16 P ages • $1.00 www.MyEagleNews.com Local gun initiative shot down Judge Cramer cites superior state laws, limitations to county authority By Richard Hanners EO Media Group file photo Blue Mountain Eagle An initiative aimed at prohibiting enforcement of laws that restrict gun possession in Grant County will not appear on the November ballot after Grant County Circuit Court Judge William D. Cramer Jr. determined it was pre-empted by state law. In a June 29 decision, Cramer said the proposed ordinance would have violated a state statute prohibiting counties from regulating firearms, components and ammunition, and the initiative would have confused voters about limitations to county authority. The Second Amendment preser- vation ordinance, which could have appeared on the ballot this fall as Measure 12-72, was submitted by Ron Rue of Prairie City and was chal- lenged by Mark Webb of Mt. Vernon May 14. According to an initiative sum- mary provided by the Grant County District Attorney’s Office, the pro- posed ordinance would make uncon- stitutional in Grant County “any law or regulation that restricts a person from possessing firearms, ammuni- tion and firearms accessories” and “would require the Grant County sheriff to review federal, state and lo- cal laws affecting firearms, firearms accessories and/or ammunition.” Initiative review In his petition, Webb maintained that “given the scope of its subject matter,” Rue’s initiative “goes well beyond the matters of county con- cern” allowed under the state’s ini- tiative process. Some of the initiative’s language was so broad that substantive legal changes to existing statutory and constitutional law would occur if it IP 43 supporters throw in the towel on 2018 measure By Claire Withycombe Capital Bureau Supporters of an initiative petition to ban certain firearms in Oregon say they’ll withdraw the initiative, but maintain efforts to restrict fire- arm possession in the state. Initiative Petition 43, an effort to ban certain types of semiautomatic firearms and magazines holding more than 10 rounds, was proposed by a coalition of faith leaders in the wake of the shooting that killed 17 people at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, on Feb. 14. Supporters were enthusiastic, but encountered legal opposition to their efforts when gun rights advocates filed challenges at the Oregon Supreme Court against the language used to describe the measure. See IP 43, Page A16 See GUNS, Page A16 FIRST CLASS Graduates of 2018 first not to attend Mt. Vernon Middle School T he first graduating class at Grant Union not to attend Mt. Vernon Middle School recently turned their tassles. The Grant Union class of 2018 was the first to attend six full years at Grant Union. At the close of the 2010-11 school year, the sixth- through eighth-grade middle school, part of Grant School Dis- trict 3, closed its doors because of budget cuts. In fall 2012, the class of 2018 stayed By Angel Carpenter Blue Mountain Eagle on at Humbolt Elementary School for sixth-grade, while seventh- and eighth-graders joined the newly named Grant Union Junior-Senior High School. Grant Union PE teacher Doug Sharp, who taught at the middle school back then, said it was a difficult transition. “It was hard to give up Mt. Vernon because the middle school kids had their own facility and identity,” he said. “Change is always hard, but it’s worked out.” He said there were worries about bul- lying, recess, lunchtime and how athlet- ics would work, but he added, “All in all, it’s been nice.” “I tell the kids look for the good in everything, and don’t focus on the nega- tive,” he said. Grant Union history teacher Cin- dy Dougharity-Spencer, who also once taught at the Mt. Vernon school, said there were “definitely some growing pains” but the transition worked out fair- ly well. “The big thing is, the students missed See CLASS, Page A16 Contributed photo/Tanni Wenger Photography The Grant Union High School class of 2018. Design chosen for sewer treatment plant particularly for promoting water reuse and conservation. He said the goal is to finance 80 percent of the project with grants and the other 20 percent with loans, which could finance the plant at or near current sewer rates for residents. By Richard Hanners Blue Mountain Eagle A new sewer treatment plant in John Day could cost $10.3 million, the John Day City Council learned June 26, but complete financing for the crit- ical infrastructure project has not been nailed down. “The key to implementing part or all of the John Day wastewater system improvements project ... is the ability of the city to acquire a low-interest loan coupled with grant funding,” the engi- neering firm Anderson Perry concluded in their draft feasibility study. City Manager Nick Green told the Eagle the city will also be looking into nontraditional funding sources, includ- ing the New Markets Tax Credit Pro- gram, which provides private invest- Contributed photo A conceptual rendering from Sustainable Water of the proposed wastewater treatment plant in John Day with a hydroponic greenhouse behind. ment to distressed communities, and new programs from the Oregon Water- shed Enhancement Board and Senate Bill 839, which allows government sup- port of water projects with economic, environmental and community benefits, Alternative designs Anderson Perry studied three alter- natives. Two are not considered viable because the engineers were unable to find available land needed for a large lagoon despite a decade-long search. The cost of the least expensive alter- native, which called for spray-irrigating effluent on a 45-acre pasture, would have been $6 million. The cost of the third alternative, a mechanical system using a membrane bioreactor with a large lagoon for winter storage, would have been $13.7 million. The selected alternative calls for re- placing the existing percolation ponds with either a mechanical treatment fa- cility or a hydroponic treatment facility designed and prefabricated by Sustain- able Water. Either facility costs $10.3 million. No storage lagoon would be included. Class A or B effluent could be pro- duced with either system, and the cost for producing Class A or B effluent would be about the same, Anderson Perry’s Brett Moore told the council. Class B effluent could be used to irrigate the city golf course, landscap- ing around the proposed Innovation Gateway project, non-residential toilet flushing, log deck watering at Malheur See SEWER, Page A16
