News
Blue Mountain Eagle
HAMMONDS
MERKLEY
Continued from Page A1
Continued from Page A1
range-management purpos-
es.
The Oregon Farm Bu-
reau, which gathered more
than 25,000 signatures
online in support of the
Hammonds, said the law
was never intended to ap-
ply to ranchers protecting
their land. President Barry
Bushue said the organiza-
tion will continue working
“to ensure that this injustice
is never repeated.”
State Sen. Cliff Bentz,
state Rep. Lynn Findley and
the nonprofit cattle trade
association R-CALF USA
also applauded the decision.
Other groups said the
Hammonds should not
have been pardoned. West-
ern Values Project said in a
statement the Hammonds’
case “inspired the armed
takeover of Malheur Na-
tional Wildlife Refuge.”
After the resentencing,
a peaceful protest was held
in Burns in support of the
Hammonds in 2016. Some
of the protesters later took
over the refuge near Burns,
demanding the Hammonds
not be re-imprisoned and
that federal lands be trans-
ferred to local control.
The Hammonds did not
participate at the refuge
and turned themselves in to
serve their sentences early
in the occupation that ended
up lasting 41 days, even af-
ter the arrest of occupation
leaders Ammon and Ryan
Bundy Jan. 26, 2016. Oc-
cupier LaVoy Finicum was
shot and killed that day by
Oregon State Police during
the police action, which
investigators said was jus-
tified.
After the occupation,
some of the occupiers
pleaded guilty to crimes re-
lated to the occupation, but
most were acquitted at trial.
Western Values Project
noted the Hammonds were
convicted by a jury and said
“other anti-government ex-
tremists took up the Ham-
monds’ case as a rallying
cry and violently occupied”
the refuge.
“By pardoning the Ham-
monds, President Trump
is telling anti-public land
zealots there are no conse-
quences for undermining
every American’s birthright
to our shared public lands
and national parks,” Exec-
utive Director Chris Saeger
said in a statement. “What’s
just as bad is that it shows
Department of Interior em-
ployees who face serious
threats from anti-govern-
ment extremists like the
Hammonds that the ad-
ministration does not have
their backs. This pardon is
a direct threat to America’s
public lands and our shared
national treasures.”
In March, Merkley an-
nounced that the proposed
Farm Bill includes $667 mil-
lion in budget authority for
grants and loans to expand
broadband in rural areas —
a $600 million increase over
the previous fiscal year.
“It is anticipated that the
funding level in the spend-
ing bill will leverage more
than $1.8 billion in grants
and loans,” he said.
As a member of the Sen-
ate Appropriations Com-
mittee, Merkley said he’s
been trying to find ways to
include grants for infrastruc-
ture. Included in the pro-
posed Interior Department’s
appropriations bill is $63
million for the Water Infra-
structure Financing Innova-
tion Authority Act, which
Merkley wrote in 2012 to
ensure funding for public
drinking water and wastewa-
ter infrastructure projects.
“Combined with previous
appropriations, WIFIA can
now issue over $6 billion in
low-interest loans for criti-
cal water infrastructure proj-
ects,” Merkley said.
Wednesday, July 11, 2018
Eagle photos/Sean Hart
Malheur Lumber Managing Director John Shelk, left, gives Sen. Jeff Merkley a tour of
the John Day mill Friday.
way to provide logs to mills
with a long-term contract.
“The stewardship pro-
gram provided the best solu-
tion,” he said.
Noting that the Farm Bill
has yet to go to the White
House, Merkley said this
year’s Farm Bill moved
forward much faster than
last year’s, which involved
significant changes and ne-
gotiations. This year’s bill
is more of a continuation of
previous programs, he said.
Timber funding
Also included in the Inte-
rior bill is $500 million for
Payment in Lieu of Taxes
funding for rural counties
with significant federal
land holdings, along with
increased funding for the
Forest Service and Bureau
of Land Management to sup-
port forest health restoration
and collaboration programs
that reduce forest fuels.
This additional money
would maintain funding for
the Collaborative Forest
Landscape Restoration Pro-
gram, which includes the
stewardship project on the
Malheur National Forest.
Provisions in the 2018 Farm
Bill would double funding
for the collaborative pro-
Lumber mill tour
U.S. Sen. Jeff Merkley, D-Oregon, toured the Malheur Lumber
mill Friday with Managing Director John Shelk, right.
gram to $80 million and ex-
tend it through 2023.
“Collaborative
forest
management strategies have
proven successful on many
levels: thinning overgrown
forests and creating better
timber stands, improving
ecosystems, building better
fire resistance, and creating
more jobs and more saw logs
for mills,” Merkley said.
Merkley told the Eagle
that, during a visit to John
Day in 2011, he told timber
workers he would look for a
Merkley toured the Mal-
heur Lumber Co. mill in John
Day with Managing Direc-
tor John Shelk and General
Manager Rich Fulton.
“It’s a pleasure to see the
mill running and providing a
market for all the fiber com-
ing out of the forest,” Merk-
ley said.
The various parts of the
plant have been working
single shifts with about 150
employees altogether, Shelk
said.
“We could use seven to
10 more workers but can’t
find them locally,” he said.
The mill takes in pine
logs and produces dimen-
sional lumber for companies
that produce millwork, such
as door and window framing.
Wood chips are turned into
pellets or bricks for wood-
fired stoves and furnaces, as
well as shavings for animals.
Some material is shipped
to Boise Cascade in Idaho to
make paper, Shelk said, not-
ing that a boom in internet
shopping has increased de-
mand for cardboard to make
shipping boxes.
Bark from the mill and
other woody debris is burned
in the boiler, which provides
steam to heat the drying kiln.
Shelk said the current boil-
er might be replaced with a
larger one that would serve
both the sawmill and a new
torrefaction plant.
The Forest Service’s
stewardship contract with
Iron Triangle has been good
for the forests, Shelk said
— cleaning out forest fuels
and improving forest health
— but the small-diameter
logs coming out of that work
don’t meet the needs of the
sawmill.
“We need larger-diam-
eter, merchantable logs,”
Shelk said. “Logs end up be-
ing about two-thirds of our
cost.”
Merkley expressed inter-
est in the juniper market and
was shown two pallets load-
ed with juniper wood milled
for fence posts or landscap-
ing timbers. Shelk explained
that sand gets into the juni-
per trunks as they grow and
damages saw blades.
“Loggers don’t want to
cut juniper,” he said.
He noted that the mill was
expecting six truckloads of
juniper logs every week this
spring but only saw six for
the whole month of June.
BRITTON
Continued from Page A1
Advocating for collabo-
ration has sparked some ani-
mosity locally.
“The last few years, my
big concern is the divisiveness
and vitriol that has come out,”
Britton said. “That disturbs
me, and it doesn’t need to be
that way. We should be able to
disagree without hating each
other. We’re becoming a com-
munity that we didn’t used to
be.”
He said he was proud of
the way the county came
together against the Aryan
Brotherhood, who tried to set
up a headquarters in the area.
“Grant County politely let
them know that there was no
place for them here,” he said.
The Eagle/Angel Carpenter
Boyd Britton and his wife, Bonnie, stand together at their
welding business in John Day.
Britton was the announcer
at many local parades, includ-
ing the ’62 Days, Grant Coun-
ty Fair and Timber Truckers
Light parades.
Behind the scenes, as a
licensed pyrotechnician, he
said he often helped Prairie
City put on their fireworks
display.
He said he was honored
when asked to provide funeral
services for Lois Hill, Dollina
Humphreys and Earlene Holl-
iday over the years.
Bonnie said Boyd has cre-
ated many welding structures
and signs over the years.
“Boyd’s legacy for being a
welder will be here forever,”
she said, adding he made the
welcome sign for Prairie City,
signs for the Forrest Conser-
vancy and Oxbow for the
Confederated Tribes and ag-
ricultural support signs (near
Picture Gorge and Bear Val-
ley), as well as private pieces
of art such as elk, eagles and
crosses.
He also made the rappel
tower for the Forest Service in
2001. His most recent weld-
ing jobs were installing hand-
The Eagle/Angel Carpenter
Boyd Britton announces at the 2017 ’62 Days Parade in
Canyon City.
rails for the Monument Senior
Center and making head gates
for the Oxbow Ranch on a
property near Baker City.
Britton employed a book-
keeper, two welders and a
machinist through his shop.
He said he’s enjoyed his cus-
tomers.
“They’ve been great,” he
said. “They’ve been loyal.
We’ve tried really hard to take
care of our customers.”
Britton said he and Bon-
nie enjoyed a visit to Show
Low while visiting her sister
nearby, and that started their
interest in a move to Arizona.
Boyd said he plans to work as
a welder there.
“I couldn’t have done what
I’ve done as a businessman
and a county commission-
er without Bonnie — we’re
a team,” he said. “We really
love Grant County, but it’s
time for the next chapter of
our lives.”
HOME SCHOOL PARENTS
Home school students are required by law to be tested by a qualified neutral person following
grades 3, 5, 8, and 10. [OAR581-021-0026 (5) (a) (A)] However, students who participate
in interscholastic activities are required by OSAA rules to be tested every year and
must score in the 23 rd percentile to be eligible to participate in interscholastic activities.
Grant ESD will offer assessment testing for home school students finishing grades 3, 5, 8, and
10. Cost is $20.00 per student. Payment is due at the time of testing. Register your student for
assessment testing by calling Grant ESD, 541-575-1349, on or before July 24, 2018.
Testing Dates:
68072
July 25, 2018 – 8:30am to 2:00pm
July 26, 2018 – 8:30am to 2:00pm
If you have any questions you may contact:
Robert Waltenburg or Jo Sproul
Grant County ESD
541-575-1349
66208
A16