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.