Grant Union girls undefeated in Blue Mountain Conference
The
PAGE A10
Blue Mountain
EAGLE
Grant County’s newspaper since 1868
Wednesday, January 23, 2019
151st Year • No. 4 • 18 Pages • $1.00
BlueMountainEagle.com
AMONG THE
BEST
Contributed photo/David Zaitz
LEFT: Chipping onto a
green at The Retreat &
Links at Silvies Valley
Ranch.
ABOVE: The Chief Egan
mountain meadow 9-hole
golf course at The Retreat &
Links at Silvies Valley Ranch.
Contributed photo
Silvies Valley Ranch
Silvies recognized by golfi ng magazines
By Richard Hanners
Blue Mountain Eagle
T
he Retreat & Links at Silvies Val-
ley Ranch, operating since a
soft opening in 2017, has caught
the eye of golfi ng professionals
across the U.S.
The boutique resort south of Seneca
recently was recognized by two nation-
wide magazines, while the resort’s chef
was given a top award by the Oregon Beef
Council.
Golf Magazine, with a circulation of
‘ I played most of the great golf
1.4 million, recognized the resort’s
McVeigh’s Gauntlet 7-hole ridge course as
“the best new golf experience of the year.”
The 1,177-yard McVeigh’s Gauntlet
course includes par-3 and short par-4 holes
and features goats as caddies. The leashed
goat-caddies can tote a handful of clubs in
leather golf bags up and down the course’s
steep, rugged terrain.
See Silvies, Page A18
courses in the United States, and
many in Europe, in my 40 years in golf
course management. Nowhere else
will you fi nd an experience like this.’
Sean Hoolehan,
past president of Golf Course Superintendents Association of America
Legal challenges to county
measures, ordinance dismissed
By Sean Hart
Blue Mountain Eagle
Mark Webb
Legal challenges to two
Grant County measures and one
ordinance have been dismissed,
but the judge did not rule on
whether the laws were valid.
County resident Mark Webb
sought an order from the Grant
County Circuit Court declar-
ing measures 12-37 and 12-40
and Ordinance 2013-01 invalid
because of procedural errors
and confl icts with state law and
state and federal constitutions.
Measure 12-37 declared
Grant County a United Nations-
free zone, which Webb
argued confl icts with the U.S.
Constitution.
Measure 12-40 directed the
county to petition Congress for
title to public land within the
county, which Webb argued was
improper because it compelled
an administrative, rather than
legislative, act.
Ordinance 2013-01 prohib-
its road closures on public land
without authorization from the
Grant County Court and the
sheriff, which Webb argued was
preempted by state and federal
law.
Former county counsel Ron
Yockim fi led motions on behalf
of the county to dismiss Webb’s
complaint on several grounds,
including that Webb failed to
See Legal, Page A18
School board to ask for $700,000 bond
By Richard Hanners
Blue Mountain Eagle
The Dayville School
Board will ask voters to
approve a $700,000 bond
for school improvements
in the May election.
The cost of the bond is
estimated to be $168 per
year for a $100,000 home.
The board vote on Jan. 8
was unanimous, School
Superintendent Kathryn
Hedrick told the Eagle.
If successful, the bond
could raise $1.4 million
with an Oregon School
Capital
Improvement
Match grant. The OSCIM
grant could match up to $2
million.
A needs assessment
by Straightline Architects
of Boise identifi ed some
expensive
renovations
and remodeling that could
have required a higher
bond request.
The school board,
however, pared down
the request by eliminat-
ing things like parking
lot paving and installing
lights on the football fi eld,
which had never been seri-
ously considered by the
board, Hedrick said.
While the board has not
yet specifi ed what needs
they hope to address,
they will likely include
roof repairs to the main
building, which was built
in 1924, and electrical
upgrades to the elemen-
tary school, which was
built in 1953.
It’s possible needed
structural repairs to the
gym could be paid for
through a seismic upgrade
grant that the school board
will apply for later this
year, Hedrick said.
The school board has
been talking to com-
munity members about
the importance of these
repairs for some time and
will actively promote the
May bond election, Hed-
rick said.
“They’re not looking at
new buildings,” she said.
“They’ll do everything
they can to make it cost
effective and safe for the
students.”
Hemp farmers look
to Prairie City
and Mt. Vernon
Plants must
contain less than
0.3 percent THC
By Richard Hanners
Blue Mountain Eagle
New state and federal
laws that protect hemp
farming have come on the
heels of a rapid growth in
the industry.
In the U.S., hemp sales
topped $820 million in
2017 while the global mar-
ket was estimated to be
$3.9 billion. In Oregon, the
number of hemp farming
permits doubled from 2017
to 2018.
Tai Ma Oregon LLC,
which has been developing
an industrial hemp farm in
Prairie City for the past two
seasons, plans to grow hemp
on a 10-acre hay fi eld just
south of the fi re hall in Mt.
Vernon. The narrow prop-
erty extends along Beech
Creek nearly all the way to
the city’s sewage lagoons.
Mt. Vernon reaction
Mt. Vernon Mayor
Kenny Delano said the city
learned about the compa-
ny’s plans in December
when Tai Ma Oregon LLC
presented the city with
a land-use compatibility
statement from the Ore-
gon Department of Agri-
culture to show that they
complied with local zon-
ing regulations.
Hemp growing is reg-
ulated, but hemp farm-
ers are no longer required
to provide a compatibil-
ity statement to the state,
ODA Director of Com-
munications Andrea Can-
tu-Schomus told the Eagle.
Only hemp handlers, who
process hemp products
from farmers, are required
to provide the compatibil-
ity statement, she said.
The Mt. Vernon City
Council took up the mat-
ter at their Jan. 8 meeting,
where it encountered some
vocal opposition. David
Kilpatrick and Chauncey
Groves, partners in the
Tai Ma Oregon business,
attended the meeting.
Kilpatrick
assured
the council that indus-
trial hemp does not have
a strong odor, like recre-
ational or medical mari-
juana, and they had heard
no complaints in Prairie
City. He also said anyone
who steals hemp and tries
See Hemp, Page A18