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About The Blue Mountain eagle. (John Day, Or.) 1972-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 13, 2019)
BLUE MOUNTAIN EAGLE FAMILY HEALTH GUIDE • INSIDE The Blue Mountain EAGLE Grant County’s newspaper since 1868 Wednesday, February 13, 2019 151st Year • No. 7 • 16 Pages • $1.00 BlueMountainEagle.com RODEO ROYALTY Rowdy Israel to be crowned Junior Miss Rodeo Oregon March 2 By Angel Carpenter Blue Mountain Eagle Twelve-year-old Rowdy Israel of Dayville will celebrate her birthday in grand style next month as she’s crowned 2019 Junior Miss Rodeo Oregon in John Day — and the community is invited to the bash. Israel will hold a coronation party and fundraiser at 6 p.m. Saturday, March 2, at the Grant County Fairgrounds in John Day, the day after her 13th birthday. Tickets are $12 each, which includes a taco bar dinner and birthday cake for dessert. The highlight of the evening will be Israel’s offi cial crowning by the 2018 Junior Miss Rodeo Oregon Lauren Gibson of Junc- tion City. Festivities also include silent and live auctions and a chap parade where Israel will show- case her custom chaps made by Shasta Leatherworks in Prineville. Visiting royalty and other youths are invited to join in the parade to show their chaps, ropes and Western attire. An after party for families includes corn hole, dummy rop- ing and music. Spitfi re Cocktails will also serve drinks for the 21-and-up crowd. Israel won the Junior Miss Rodeo Oregon title on July 14 last year at the conclusion of the two-day pageant held in con- junction with the Philomath Frolic and Rodeo in Philomath. Along with the state title, Israel won the categories of Contibuted photo/Tanni Wenger Photography Rowdy Israel of Dayville will be crowned Junior Miss Rodeo Oregon at a coronation party on Saturday, March 2, at the Grant County Fairgrounds pavilion in John Day. The party starts at 6 p.m. horsemanship, photogenics and appearance. Israel competed in the event the previous year when Gibson won and said she decided to try out again. “It was so much fun the year before, and I love to promote the sport of rodeo,” she said. In 2017, she was crowned Little Miss Northwest Profes- sional Rodeo Association. The Dayville School sev- enth-grader, daughter of Nicole Israel, said she learned to ride horses before she could walk. Locals have seen her riding in dozens of Grant County parades since she was 2 years old, and she has also competed in horse shows since that time. She is a regular competitor in the Cinnabar Mountain Play- days Youth Rodeo Series held June through August at the Grant County Fairgrounds rodeo arena. She said she enjoys all eight events, including barrels, pole bending and dummy roping. She placed fourth last year for the season out of 11 competitors in the intermediate division. Israel will travel with her two horses this year during her reign, a 24-year-old American paint horse, Peanut, and a 13-year-old American paint, Clair. As queen, she will travel to rodeos, parades and luncheons throughout Oregon and in Wash- ington and Idaho. She’ll also volunteer at various events during the year. Her adviser and coordinator is Angie Vachter of Scio. At rodeos, Israel will do a run-in during the grand entry, sometimes carrying a fl ag, and she’ll help move cattle out of the arena when needed. “What I love about rodeos is the passion that everyone has for the dust, dirt, the 100-degree weather and the Western way of life,” she said. “I’m excited to travel and go to all the different rodeos and meet new people — By Richard Hanners Blue Mountain Eagle Residents of Prairie City received good news after years of water short- ages during drought years. On Dec. 14, the city was notifi ed by Business Oregon that it had been awarded a $550,000 grant and a 30-year $950,000 loan at 1.7 percent interest to develop the Fainman Springs well site. Then one week later, on Dec. 21, the city was notifi ed by the U.S. Depart- ment of Agriculture-Rural Develop- ment offi ce in Portland that it had been awarded a $1 million grant that could be used to offset the state loan and the cost of hauling water during last sum- mer’s water emergency. The Eagle/Richard Hanners Prairie City’s $2 million sand fi lter system along Dixie Creek Road went into operation in 2008. A water shortage occurred after the creek went dry, and debt from this project made it diffi cult to fi nd solutions. Water shortages The city was unable to notify the public about the federal emergency grant award because of the partial gov- ernment shutdown that began Dec. 22 and ended Jan. 25. Based on state estimates to repay the loan, the city expected to raise water rates by $7.60 per month, but the state grant and the federal emergency grant together should enable the city to cover the costs of developing Fainman Springs. Water problems have plagued Prai- A 2017 law review article that looked at Baker County’s 2015 Natural Resources Plan could provide some insight on the Grant County Court’s current discussion about “invoking coordination” to improve its standing in public land-use planning. Authors Michael Blumm and James Fraser, at the Lewis and Clark Law School, found Baker County’s plan lack- ing in legal authority and suggested the plan, like other coordination ordinances found across the West, was based on a “fl awed understanding of what ‘coordi- nation’ means under federal law.” Similar language In particular, the authors of “‘Coor- dinating’ with the Federal Govern- ment: Assessing County Efforts to Con- trol Decisionmaking on Public Lands” noted that Baker County’s plan “dupli- cates the language (and the font) describ- ing coordination in the Public Lands Council’s 2012 ‘Beginner’s Guide to Coordination.’” They also noted that a natural resource plan developed by 11 Grant County resi- dents deputized by Sheriff Glenn Palmer and presented to the Grant County Court in September 2015 “copied the text (and the font) of the Baker County ordinance.” Palmer said he was invoking coor- dination when he asked for the court’s support for the plan on Sept. 30, 2015. Critics noted that the plan was drafted in secret, and Ron Yockim, the county counsel, said the sheriff had overstepped Proponents say bills would fi nish the process of legalizing marijuana By Aubrey Wieber Oregon Capital Bureau his authority by creating the plan. The plan was never presented to Grant County voters after Circuit Court Judge William D. Cramer Jr. ruled that the peti- tion initiative for the plan did not meet the state’s constitutional requirements. But a new effort to invoke coordination was presented to the county court by Commis- sioner Sam Palmer on Jan. 23. The new effort is infl uenced by a primer on coordination written by Boise, Idaho, attorney Fred Kelly Grant, a past president of American Stewards of Lib- erty. According to Blumm and Fraser, both the Public Lands Council and Amer- ican Stewards have provided materials to Western counties urging them to enact coordination ordinances. See Review, Page A16 See Pot, Page A16 See Rodeo, Page A16 rie City for years. City Recorder Bobbie Brown said Dixie Creek, a main source of city water, has run dry every year for the past 11 years. Low snowpack and summer drought conditions are blamed for water short- ages, but a lightning strike caused addi- tional problems in June 2017. Electrical control equipment was damaged, and the water level in the city reservoir tank fell to 4 feet. Mayor Jim Hamsher declared a water emergency on Aug. 6, after out- put from infi ltration galleries in Dixie Creek dropped to 15-20 gallons per minute and the reservoir level fell to a foot and a half. To keep the city prepared for a wild- fi re emergency, Hamsher arranged for tenders to haul water from John Day to Prairie City. John Day provided the treated water for free, and the Grant County Road Department and Prairie City Fire Department transported water See Grant, Page A16 Law review article suggests misunderstandings about ‘coordination’ By Richard Hanners Blue Mountain Eagle Bill would prevent employers from banning off- duty pot use Oregonians would no lon- ger be compelled by employers to avoid off-duty use of mari- juana under a proposal being considered at the Legislature. Legislators also are con- sidering opening the door to exporting the state’s mari- juana crop, which far exceeds demand in the state. Senate Bill 379 would make it illegal for employers to tell employees they can’t use mar- ijuana outside of work hours. Senate Bill 582 would allow the governor to make agree- ments to buy and sell marijuana with other states. The Senate Judiciary Com- mittee heard testimony on both Thursday morning. Both bills would confl ict with federal law, which prohib- its marijuana consumption. While the state allows Ore- gonians to buy and use mari- juana, many Oregon employ- ers don’t. Workers can be fi red for test- ing positive for marijuana. The law revision being proposed would make it illegal to require employees to refrain from any substance legal in Oregon as a condition of employment. It would continue to allow prohi- bitions against being impaired at work. More than a dozen wit- nesses testifi ed against the pro- posal, most working in the con- struction industry. “You guys are scaring the bejesus out of all my clients,” said Darrell Fuller, a lobbyist representing several business associations opposed to the pol- icy change. Witnesses said workers in the construction sector operate heavy machinery, drive large trucks and do other jobs that require attention and sobriety. Cristina Reyes, an attorney for construction giant Hoff- man Construction Company, said the company has a strict anti-drug policy. Drug testing allows it to catch users of mar- ijuana and other substances. If testing wasn’t allowed, those workers could still be on job sites causing a safety hazard. Marijuana can stay in the system for around a month, and there is no test that can easily determine whether someone is impaired, or just used the sub- stance a few days ago while at Prairie City awarded $1M emergency grant Federal funding will cover well development, water delivery costs EO Media Group fi le photo Marijuana plants grow in a high tunnel at a farm near McMinnville.
