GRANT COUNTY FAIR RESULTS AND PHOTOS
– PAGES A6-7
The
Blue Mountain
EAGLE
The Eagle/Angel Carpenter
Fans dance at the front during
Lonestar’s concert in John Day.
Grant County’s newspaper since 1868
W edNesday , a ugust 22, 2018
• N o . 34
• 18 P ages
• $1.00
www.MyEagleNews.com
County finalizes objections to forest plan
Court adopts Forest Access For All’s objections
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By Richard Hanners
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Source: library.uoregon.edu
Alan Kenaga/Capital Press
Using a letter written by an East-
ern Oregon group, the Grant County
Court formalized its objections to the
Blue Mountains Forest Plan revision
during a special meeting Aug. 15.
The court’s official four-page ob-
jection letter originated with a letter
from Forest Access For All, a volunteer
group founded in April 2012 that ad-
vocates for motorized access on public
lands and provides online guidance for
people who want to participate in the
public process related to public lands
management.
Commissioner Rob Raschio told the
court many of the group’s objections
made sense.
He also noted that the Canyon Creek
Complex fire occurred one year after
the court submitted its initial comments
to the plan revision, and science shows
that built-up forest fuels create a public
safety problem, which the court is obli-
gated to address.
The Eagle/Richard Hanners
Grant County Judge Scott Myers, center, called the Aug. 15 special meeting
back in session to sign a document listing the county court’s objections to the
Blue Mountains Forest Plan Revision. Commissioners Rob Raschio, left, and
Jim Hamsher, right, joined Myers in signing the letter to the Forest Service.
Commissioner Jim Hamsher said
he’d like the court to continue accepting
public input. The objection deadline is
Aug. 28, so the court would need to hold
another emergency meeting to adopt
public input, Raschio noted.
Court’s objections
In editing the letter, the county court
replaced the group’s name and added
See PLAN, Page A18
Grant County experiencing suicide cluster
Four people committed
suicide in last seven months
By Richard Hanners
Blue Mountain Eagle
Suicide statistics for Grant
County are sobering, if not
alarming, but two visiting cri-
sis line professionals empha-
sized personal communication
and focusing on positive things
during an Aug. 15 suicide fo-
rum.
Four people completed sui-
cides in Grant County over the
past seven months when the
average has been one per year,
Community Counseling Solu-
tions Executive Director Kim-
berly Lindsay told the Eagle.
“There have been more
suicides in Grant County this
year than homicides,” she said.
“It is not a stretch to state that
Grant County has experienced,
or is experiencing, a suicide
cluster.”
A suicide cluster is defined
as multiple suicidal behav-
iors or suicides falling within
an accelerated time frame or
within a geographical area. In
the case of Grant County, it
could be called a point cluster,
Lindsay said, something that
typically occurs within insti-
tutional settings such as hospi-
tals, prisons or schools.
“These are more common
in smaller, family-like com-
munities,” she said. “Gilliam
county experienced this from
2006 to 2011 when they had
one youth suicide per year for
five years. They were off the
charts.”
Leading suicide
counties in
Oregon, 2003-12
... by suicide rate per
100,000 residents
The Eagle/Richard Hanners
Dave Dalton of Lines For Life addresses a comment during a suicide forum at the John
Day Senior Center on Aug. 15 while coworker Emily Moser listens.
Staggering
numbers
The suicide rate in Grant
County is double the national av-
erage, CCS clinical director Thad
Labhart said at the forum.
Finding an explanation for
Grant County’s high suicide
rate is not simple — Grant
County ranks 23rd out of 36
counties for health factors, 15th
for health behaviors and 31st
for social and economic factors,
but it also ranked ninth for clin-
ical care, sixth for health out-
comes and length of life, 12th
for quality of life and ninth for
physical environment.
Rank/county
Rate Deaths
1. Curry
2. Harney
3. Grant
4. Wheeler
36
32.7
32.1
29.1
77
22
22
4
... by suicide deaths
Rank/county
Rate Deaths
1. Multnomah
2. Washington
3. Lane
4. Clackamas
15.4 1,084
12.2 639
17.7 612
13.8 523
Statewide
16.4
6,145
Source: Oregon Health Authority
See SUICIDE, Page A18
EO Media Group graphic
Rapp reaches plea deal in Dixie Campground shooting
Sentencing will
take place Aug. 23
By Richard Hanners
Blue Mountain Eagle
The 33-year-old John Day man ac-
cused of shooting a Eugene man at
the Dixie Campground on Oct. 16,
2017, has agreed to a plea deal.
Kevin J. Rapp was initially
charged with attempted murder,
first-degree assault and unlawful
use of a weapon.
He was also charged with misde-
meanor possession of methamphet-
amine.
In the plea petition accepted
by Malheur County Circuit Court
Judge Lung Hung Aug. 13, Rapp
pleaded guilty to first-degree at-
tempted assault, a
Class B felony with
a stipulated sentence
of 85 months, and un-
lawful possession of
methamphetamine, a
Class A misdemean-
Kevin
or.
Rapp
The victim, Kyler
Weisenback, was the
lone camper at the campground east
of Prairie City and was shot twice in
the head with a .22 rifle, according
to a statement from Grant County
District Attorney Jim Carpenter.
One shot grazed the back of his
head, and the other entered near his
right ear and lodged in the occipital
area, damaging Weisenback’s eye-
sight, Carpenter said. The two men
had never met.
In accordance with Carpenter’s
recommendation in the plea agree-
ment, Rapp’s credit for good time
in prison would be limited to 20
percent, meaning he would have to
serve at least 68 months in prison
along with three years of post-pris-
on supervision.
Rapp would also be required to
pay restitution to Weisenback. The
state agreed to waive other finan-
cial obligations, forgo prosecu-
tion for domestic violence crimes
against Rapp’s wife, Mallory Rapp,
and return property to Rapp’s
family, including a vehicle and
firearms.
The agreement is conditional —
Rapp reserves the right to appeal a
judge’s denial of motions to sup-
press evidence — and the judge is
not obligated to honor it. If Rapp
prevails in the appeal, he could
withdraw his guilty plea.
Sentencing is scheduled for 8:30
a.m. Thursday, Aug. 23, in the Grant
County Courthouse.
During a change of plea hearing
on Aug. 14, in which Weisenback
participated by telephone, the vic-
tim agreed to go along with what-
ever the state recommended, but
said he believed the sentence was
light.
Weisenback was awoken in the
early morning hours while camping
last October and was shot.
He was flown to Bend and then
Portland for treatment.
Rapp was arrested four days lat-
er. In the plea agreement, Rapp stat-
ed that he “intentionally attempted
to cause serious physical injury to
Kyler Weisenback by means of a
deadly weapon, to wit a .22 rifle.”