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About The Blue Mountain eagle. (John Day, Or.) 1972-current | View Entire Issue (April 24, 2019)
EASTER BUNNY VISITS LOC AL EGG HUNTERS PAGE A3 Blue Mountain The EAGLE Grant County’s newspaper since 1868 Wednesday, April 24, 2019 151st Year • No. 17 • 18 Pages • $1.00 BlueMountainEagle.com ODFW releases draft of updated wolf plan By George Plaven EO Media Group A long-awaited update of Ore- gon’s Wolf Conservation and Management Plan could fi nally be adopted in June, though not without controversy. The Oregon Department of Fish & Wildlife released its latest draft of the revised plan April 15, nearly fi ve years after it was fi rst due. The Fish and Wildlife Com- mission is expected to vote on the proposal at its June 7 meeting in Salem, which will include public testimony. One major confl ict remains the ability of wildlife managers to kill wolves that repeatedly prey on livestock. Wolves in Eastern Ore- gon are managed under Phase III of the current plan, which defi nes “chronic depredation” as two confi rmed attacks in any period of time. The revised plan would change the defi nition to two attacks in nine months. Ranchers have long argued they need the ability to kill certain wolves as a management tool to protect their animals. Gray wolves are still federally protected west of highways 395, 78 and 95, and can only legally be killed in cases of self-defense. However, the U.S. Fish and Wild- life Service has proposed delist- ing wolves across the Lower 48 states, which would place the ani- mals under state management. ODFW released its annual report earlier this month, showing an increase in the minimum pop- ulation to 137 wolves in 2018, up 10 percent over the previous year. The number of confi rmed attacks on livestock also increased 65 per- cent over 2017, with 28 incidents. More than one-third of those were attributed to the Rogue pack near Crater Lake in Western Oregon. Agency offi cials spent months working with hunters, ranch- ers and environmental groups to reach a compromise on the most contentious parts of the plan revi- sion, including how best to min- imize livestock losses. The state spent more than $100,000 to hire a professional mediator, who facilitated meetings between August 2018 and January 2019. By the end, each of four envi- ronmental groups — Oregon See Wolf, Page A18 The Eagle/Angel Carpenter Mr. North (Sierra Cates), left, and King Cotton (Erika Dickens) clash in a Grant Union Drama Club performance April 10. GRANT UNION DRAMA CLUB PERSONALITIES SHINE By Angel Carpenter Blue Mountain Eagle he Grant Union Drama Club kept their audi- ence chuckling with a double feature April 10 on stage at the school in John Day. Grant Union English teacher Angela Smith and Span- ish teacher Kathy Sherwood directed the plays, which included a total of 25 actors. “Middle School Dating Game” by Jennifer McVetty was presented by students in grades 6-8 with “contes- tants” hamming it up on stage, and high school students per- formed a satirical piece “The Complete Tale of the American T The Eagle/Angel Carpenter Reporters in the play, from left, Mariah Kerr, Ashleigh Ostberg and Katie Johnson, give an overview of the Civil War. Civil War (Abridged)” by Eddie McPherson. Smith said this was a fi rst play for many of the middle school actors, and they worked hard to develop the characters they portrayed. “It’s wonderful to watch the students grow and develop in drama,” she said. “The confi - dence they gain from participa- tion in drama will help them in many aspects of their lives.” Ms. South was played by Erika Dickens. Mr. North (Sierra Cates), Plantation Owner (Ellie Justice), Abe Lin- coln (Will Carpenter) and oth- ers took the stage as army lead- ers, soldiers, factory workers, reporters and more. Carpenter also voiced the part of Yoda, adding another layer of humor. A pause amidst the light- hearted and abbreviated retell- ing was a memorial of the many lives lost in war. See Play, Page A18 Proposed city budget 21 percent larger Additional revenue and grant proceeds to be used for capital improvements By Richard Hanners Blue Mountain Eagle John Day’s proposed oper- ating budget for the next fi scal year is about 21 percent higher than last year because of addi- tional revenue and grant pro- ceeds that will be used for cap- ital improvement projects, City Manager Nick Green said in his budget message. “Since launching our strat- egy for growth in 2017, we have taken on several signifi cant cap- ital improvement projects and a few internal restructurings that have changed the way we oper- ate as a city,” Green said. The $13.9 million proposed budget was presented to the city’s budget committee during its fi rst meeting April 16. Com- mittee members include Tom Olson, Vincent Maurer, Darin Toy, Robert Raschio, Katrina Randleas, Ron Hasher, Mike Miller and Beth Spell. The city council will hold a budget hear- ing May 28 and adopt the pro- posed budget June 12. Public safety “Prior to my administra- tion, the city had become over- extended, particularly in public safety spending,” Green said. “In 2017, our total public safety expenditures exceeded $1 mil- lion for the fi rst time. We were providing too many services for too many external organizations with too little cost recovery.” The city addressed this prob- lem by discontinuing 911 dis- patch service for the county, police service for Prairie City, victims assistance service for the district attorney and See Budget, Page A18 Eagle fi le photo John Day Fire Chief Ron Smith, left, will retire this year. John Day Police Chief Mike Durr, center, is also the school resource offi cer at Grant Union Junior-Senior High School. Valerie Maynard is now the dispatch manager at Grant County Emergency Communications Center, which moved from the John Day City Hall to the fi re hall April 10. In loving memory of Dennis Reynolds A celebration of life will be held at the Heritage Barn in the Grant County Fairgrounds on April 27th at 1 p.m. followed by a dinner
