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A16 News Blue Mountain Eagle Wednesday, July 4, 2018 CLASS Continued from Page A1 the middle school experience,” she said. She added facing the big de- velopmental difference between 14- and 19-year-olds is some- times difficult for teachers, but students have had opportunities for advanced classes and those who have difficulty transition- ing to a new building have six years in a familiar environment. A positive Dougharity-Spen- cer saw this year was the senior class finishing with the same number they started with. “A 100 percent graduation Contributed photo/Tanni Wenger Photography rate — all 35 graduated,” she Eight Grant Union seniors received recognition for competing in three sports a year for four years at the June 2 graduation ceremony. From left: Whitney McClellan, Mariah Moulton, Duane Stokes, Cauy Weaver, Wade Reimers, Hadley Boethin, Cameron Hallgarth and Zack Deiter. Principal said. Salutatorian Maggie Justice Ryan Gerry is a far left in back, and Athletic Director/Dean of Students Jason Miller is at right. was one of them. She said the nior-senior high school. school blending was a positive experience. during lunch time. decision to merge schools was a good idea. “You have the same teachers throughout, so “I know there was a lot of fear that middle “It’s put our district in a good position finan- At the time, Shelley was Grant Union princi- your seventh-grade math teacher might be your schoolers couldn’t handle being around high pal, and Mark Witty was superintendent. cially to not have to continue to make cuts, and 10th-grade math teacher,” she said. There have been supervision challenges, but it allowed us to have offerings that we wouldn’t schoolers — it’s a maturity thing,” she said. “It She added the sixth-grade teachers worked wasn’t an issue for me.” he said they created designated areas for seventh- have been able to continue,” he said at the end of hard to prepare them for the transition to ju- Former Superintendent Curt Shelley said the and eighth-graders for recess time and games the school year. GUNS Continued from Page A1 passed, Webb said. Voters should be provided fair no- tice of that possibility under the “full text requirement” for prospective initiatives, he said. In addition, requiring the sheriff to review federal, state and local laws affecting fire- arms would expand the sher- iff’s statutory responsibilities to include judicial review, Webb said. It is Grant County Clerk Brenda Percy’s responsibility to review submitted initia- tives. In a May 31 declaration, IP 43 Continued from Page A1 Opponents said the pe- tition language didn’t ade- quately describe the types of firearms banned by the measure or the extent of its proposed registration re- quirements. The measure would have Percy explained how she de- termined that Rue’s initiative met constitutional and statuto- ry provisions. While she found that the petition measure satisfied those requirements, her deci- sion “was not, however, with- out doubt.” She noted that the measure “lacked clarity and was subject to differing inter- pretations.” Percy said she sought le- gal advice from Grant County Counsel Ron Yockim about portions of the initiative and was told the Oregon Supreme Court had ruled “that when faced with such doubt, and the need to make assumptions, that any doubt should be resolved in favor of the exercise of the right of initiative.” required people who already own the firearms specified to register them with state police if they wish to keep them legally. Going forward, Oregonians wouldn’t be able to buy those guns, and could only legally obtain them by way of inheritance. Supporters may propose another petition, or multiple petitions, in 2020, says chief petitioner Rev. W.J. Mark Knutson. Knutson and other sup- porters say they made prog- ress in the months since the initiative was first proposed. “Every appeal process was used against us, a lot of money was used against us,” Knutson said. “We have no apologies for our process. We heard the voices of the young Judicial review Noting that state law can preempt county ordinances, Judge Cramer cited the full text of state law prohibiting coun- ties from regulating firearms, components and ammunition. “This initiative is not vague,” Cramer said. “The plain reading of Measure 12- 72 violates this statute and by definition enters it into an area that by law is not of county concern.” Cramer also noted that the initiative contained provisions that were not legislative by na- ture and so were not proper for an initiative. Assigning duties to a county sheriff is adminis- trative in nature, he said. The initiative also “violates numerous constitutional provi- sions and awards powers to the office of sheriff that are not au- thorized by statutes that define that office,” he said. Cramer said he recognized Percy’s careful approach in consulting Yockim and ex- plaining her reasoning in detail. But this was not a case of stat- utory ordinance interpretation where a law already exists, in which case it is assumed those passing the law “intended it to fit within the existing laws that are superior to it,” Cramer said. He was also concerned about the impact on voters. “In this instance, we are at the stage where voters are making a choice,” Cramer said. “They have a right to have a reasonable opportunity to un- derstand what they are voting on and what its legal effect will be.” No reasonable voter could read the initiative and under- stand that it only affected the ability of the county court to pass laws on this topic, Cra- mer said, or that it could only address the county’s ability to regulate the possession of load- ed firearms in public places. “That appears to be the re- maining area left to county action — and only outside in- corporated towns within the county,” Cramer said. Instead, a voter reading the initiative “most likely would believe it would enable Grant County residents to interpret laws, establish new duties for the sheriff including constitu- tional interpretation of state and federal laws, control county budgets where gun use is in- volved, including the county jail and etc. None of which is accurate,” Cramer said. A voter deserves a reason- able opportunity to understand what they are voting on and its legal effect, and the initiative failed in that attempt, Cramer concluded in denying the initia- tive’s placement on the ballot. and we moved right in.” Supporters were already contending with a tight turn- around time to get enough signatures by July 6 to make it to the November ballot. They needed 88,184. That timeline became more daunting after multiple legal challenges were filed to the ballot title language, and on Wednesday, when the Or- egon Supreme Court said that the ballot title needed signifi- cant changes before the peti- tion could be circulated. At best, that gave peti- tioners one day to gather the signatures they needed to qualify for the ballot, since the Attorney General needed time to change the ballot ti- tle and for a public comment period. Supporters of another gun control initiative petition, IP 44, which would have im- posed new storage require- ments on gun owners, with- drew the petition last week because of time constraints and said they’d lobby for those changes in the 2019 session and try to get on the ballot in 2020. Secretary of State Dennis Richardson advocated for changes that would allow supporters of a petition to gather signatures after a bal- lot title has been approved for a petition, but before any legal challenges have been resolved. He took the opportunity Thursday to tout his efforts to reduce barriers to petition circulation. “Whether I agree or not with a particular cause, I strongly believe Oregonians should have the right to pe- tition their government with- out the deck stacked against them,” Richardson said in a statement. “I urge the Legis- lature to adopt the grassroots petition protections that I have consistently advocat- ed.” SEWER Continued from Page A1 Celebrate Freedom Lumber Co. and noncontact heating or cooling at a hydro- ponic greenhouse growing pro- duce for human consumption. In addition to those uses, Class A effluent could be used for irrigating public parks and sports fields, as process wa- ter for a proposed torrefaction plant and for growing produce in the city’s future greenhouse. Moore noted that Class A water could be consumed by humans in some states but not Oregon. Reclaimed water This 4th of July, take a moment to remember the brave men and women who served and sacrificed for our freedom. Like a good neighbor, State Farm is there. ® Jeanette Hueckman, Agent 101 W Main Street John Day, OR 97845 Bus: 541-575-2073 jeanettehueckman.com 1001106.1 State Farm, Home Office, Bloomington, IL Eric Lohan from Sustain- able Water said his company is constructing their fourth treat- ment plant. The 7,000-square- foot facility proposed for John Day would feature advanced controls and redundancy so parts of the process could be shut down temporarily for re- pairs. For aesthetic reasons, reac- tor tanks with large green plants could be located along outside walls, with other equipment lo- cated further inside. Green not- ed that the John Day Waterhub facility might attract visitors and boost local ecotourism. Moore pointed out that Anderson Perry’s role was to ensure the facility will last 30 years or more, in addition to finding financing and obtaining permit approval for the project. A “purple pipe” system would connect the new treat- ment plant to locations where the reclaimed water could be put to use. The cost of the sys- tem’s 13,000 feet of 8-inch pipe, along with pumps and controls, was estimated at about $1 million. While summertime us- age was estimated to range from 120,000-420,000 gallons per day, usage from October through March would be neg- ligible. Winter time discharge could be dumped in the river, The Eagle/Richard Hanners From left, Eric Lohan from Sustainable Water and Brett Moore and Mike Lee from Anderson Perry presented preliminary results from a feasibility study for a new wastewater treatment plant during the John Day City Council’s June 26 meeting. but that would entail a compli- cated permit process involving state and federal regulators, Moore said. An alternative would be to inject the clean discharge into 600-foot-deep wells. That choice also would involve reg- ulators, but Green noted that the city could draw an equal amount of water back out of the deep aquifer for use in summer- time. In either case, it could be years before regulators approve a wintertime discharge option. In the meantime, the city sim- ply could dump wintertime discharge in the existing perco- lation ponds under an adminis- trative extension. Finding financing A recent income survey of John Day and Canyon City residents found the city could qualify for certain grants or funds, but also that the city was unable to fund the project on its own. Anderson Perry’s report described numerous state and federal grants and low-interest loans that could be used to finance the project. “It appears that more than one funding source is avail- able to the city,” the engi- neers said. “However, most agencies require a sewer rate that will support a loan for wastewater system improve- ments, both as a condition of receiving monies and prior to being considered for grant funds.” The report, based on tradi- tional funding methods, con- cluded user rates would need to increase to $50-70 per month — but also noted a $24 rate hike over the current rate of $46 was not feasible. Green said discussion about rates was premature until the city has evaluated all of its funding options, including the nontraditional methods, which will take several months. He said the city would qualify for the alternative funding methods at its current rates. Anderson Perry also noted that Canyon City historically contributed about 15 percent of the revenue for the current treatment plant. “Participation from Can- yon City is vital for the city of John Day to be able to fund the selected alternative,” the engi- neers said. Councilor Paul Smith ex- pressed his support for the proj- ect, calling it an “innovative showcase” and “the wave of the future.” Recognizing the challenges ahead, Mayor Ron Lundbom said the city didn’t want to fail just because of high costs. The council directed Ander- son Perry and Sustainable Wa- ter to move ahead with plans for the selected alternative and to present ideas to the appropri- ate agencies.
