GRANT UNION SWEEPS CONFERENCE – PAGE B1
The
Blue Mountain
EAGLE
Grant County’s newspaper since 1868
W edNesday , o ctober 17, 2018
• N o . 42
• 20 P ages
• $1.00
www.MyEagleNews.com
Larson, Palmer face off
for county commissioner
Two candidates face off this fall for the Grant County commissioner seat formerly held by Boyd Britton.
The Grant County Court appointed attorney Rob Raschio interim commissioner on July 3 to fill out the remainder of Brit-
ton’s term. With a 65.8 percent turnout in a six-way May primary election, Sam Palmer received 42 percent of the vote and
Gordon Larson received 34 percent, moving both on to the November election.
Larson wants to
end divisiveness
By Richard Hanners
COUNTY
COMMISSIONER
Palmer wants better
forest management
By Richard Hanners
Blue Mountain Eagle
G
ordon Larson, 54, of Canyon City
grew up on a dairy farm in Scap-
poose. He was serving in
the National Guard when
he was recruited by the
Oregon State Police
in 1987. Larson re-
tired from OSP in
2014 after serv-
ing on a gang
strike
force
and a multi-
state
drug
task force, as
outpost com-
mander in John
Day and as re-
gional commander
based in La Grande.
He served on the Grant
School District 3 board for
12 years, 10 years as chairman.
He now runs a ranch south of Canyon
City.
Larson said he’s been campaigning
hard across the county. All communities
matter and bring value to the effort to
bring prosperity to the county, but resi-
dents in outlying communities feel they
lack a voice in the county court, he said.
He suggested having a representative
from these communities address every
other county court meeting over speak-
erphone to inform the court about infra-
structure issues.
Blue Mountain Eagle
The legal settlement in lawsuits in-
volving Sheriff Glenn Palmer are wa-
ter under the bridge now, Larson
said. Hopefully, the parties
learned something about
public process and
those kinds of cas-
es can be avoid-
ed in the future,
he said. It’s the
obligation
of
elected officials
to operate with-
in best-practic-
es guidelines so
they can better
serve their com-
munities, he said.
Larson said the
county is better served
by relying on a number of
highly qualified agencies and in-
dividuals for context on natural resource
issues rather than appoint new com-
mittees. If elected, he might be open to
hiring a natural resource advisor, but the
role would need to be carefully crafted to
avoid any special agendas, he said.
Joining the Grant County Digital Net-
work Coalition was the right thing for the
county, Larson said. In order for all com-
munities to thrive, they must have access
to modern technology, including broad-
See LARSON, Page A10
Counties and cities need to work together
S
am Palmer, 53, of John Day was
born and raised in John Day and is a
graduate of Grant Union
High School and Blue
Mountain Communi-
ty College.
He’s
been
a registered
nurse for 30
years
and
worked
both locally
and around
the
U.S.
in “frontier
medicine,”
including
a
stint as a flight
nurse in Las Ve-
gas. He works sever-
al days a week in Burns
and will retire soon.
Palmer said he’s been traveling around
the county meeting with people. He said
he turned down an invitation from the
Grant County Chamber of Commerce to
debate Larson because the chosen date
conflicted with chemotherapy training
sessions he had arranged long ago. In any
event, ballots would have already been
mailed out by the time the debate took
place, he said.
Palmer said people have asked him to
take on so many issues that he’s turned to
prioritizing them. He said he’s focused on
“knowns,” such as forest management,
the economy, funding schools and fund-
ing jobs.
Management of national
forest lands is a major con-
cern for Palmer, and he
blames federal man-
agement for wildfires.
He said he put him-
self through college
fighting fires when
they were typically
1,000 acres in size.
Now fires range up
to 100,000 acres
and are killing peo-
ple, he said.
Private landown-
ers don’t manage their
property by closing access,
and they reduce forest fuels by
cutting timber and grazing, Palmer
said. The county court should invoke co-
ordination rules to give the county a voice
in federal land management at the local
level, he said.
Palmer strongly supports the idea of
establishing a natural resource adviser
position with the county. He said it’s not
a question of whether to establish the posi-
tion but how to fund it. As for a proposed
water resource advisory committee, Palm-
er said he needs to learn more about it.
See PALMER, Page A10
County needs to return to its economic roots
Prairie City mayor race contested
Garrison and Preston on ballot, Hamsher as write-in
By Richard Hanners
in campaign.
Blue Mountain Eagle
Carole Garrison
Two candidates will appear
on the ballot for a two-year
term as Prairie City mayor,
Carole Garrison and Frances
Preston. Mayor Jim Hamsher
did not file for re-election but
recently has mounted a write-
Garrison has been on the
Prairie City Council since she
was appointed in 2008. She
grew up in central California
and had a long career in ed-
ucation as a counselor and
helping deaf people learn to
read and write.
She and her husband were
active in horsepacking, fly-
fishing and team roping. They
retired to Prineville in 2001
and then moved to Prairie
City five years later when
Prineville “got too big,” she
said.
Presently the longest serv-
ing city coun-
cilor, Garrison
has served as
council pres-
ident, mayor
pro tem, mu-
seum commis-
Frances
sioner, office
Preston
commissioner
and on vol-
unteer committees. Serving
on the council has been her
main
focus
since moving
to Prairie City,
and she has no
hidden agenda,
she said.
Garrison
Carole
said residents
Garrison
often contact
her to find out
what’s going on with city
government because she’s
Jim
Hamsher
known in the
community
for her trans-
parency. Dis-
pelling rumors
is a common
task, she said.
The city
has
several
large
infra-
See MAYOR, Page A10
Torrefaction plant awaiting permitting
Planning commission to hear
zoning request
By Richard Hanners
Blue Mountain Eagle
Eagle file photo
While plans for a torrefaction plant in John Day
are moving forward, with some new equipment al-
ready in John Day, the companies’ conditional-use
zoning application must go before the Grant County
Planning Commission after neighbors raised issues
about emissions, traffic and noise.
The torrefaction plant will be owned and oper-
ated by Restoration Fuels LLC, a subsidiary of the
U.S. Endowment for Forestry and Communities, a
501(c)3 public charity. The facility is expected to an-
nually produce about 90,000 tons of torrefied wood
briquettes for use as an alternative fuel for coal- or
biomass-fired energy facilities.
The raw material, small-diameter biomass pro-
A hearing will be held Oct. 18 on a conditional
use permit for a torrefaction plant planned at
the Malheur Lumber Co. mill in John Day.
duced by current forest health restoration projects and
stewardship contracts, will be trucked to the facility
and then heated and compressed into energy-dense
coal-like briquettes.
Restorations Fuels operations manager Joseph
Koerner told the Eagle the torrefaction plant could be
operating by the second quarter next year, depending
on permit approval. Final design of the densification
equipment, and resulting total production, will de-
pend upon customer demand, he said.
Torrefaction addresses two important concerns,
Koerner noted — what to do with small woody mate-
rial removed to improve forest health and how to get
large energy facilities off coal, which is blamed for
global warming. Japanese companies were the most
likely customers for the product, but U.S. companies
have also expressed interest, he said.
Planning report
According to the Grant County Planning Depart-
ment’s staff report, the companies need a condition-
al-use permit for the torrefaction plant because the
parcel is adjacent to a residential zone. The county
planning commission hearing will take place at 5:30
p.m. Thursday, Oct. 18, in the John Day Fire Hall.
The torrefaction plant will be located on Malheur
Lumber Co.’s 68.25-acre mill site and will operate
in conjunction with existing operations, the report
said. The new equipment will be located as far from
See PLANT, Page A10