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.