PC football: Panthers beat Locomotives 55-24 in six-man action
The
PAGE B1
Blue Mountain
EAGLE
Grant County’s newspaper since 1868
Wednesday, October 2, 2019
151st Year • No. 40 • 20 Pages • $1.50
MyEagleNews.com
Environmentalists seek reversal of Hammonds’ grazing permits
Groups argue reinstatement
decision violated federal laws
By Mateusz Perkowski
EO Media Group
After winning a court order limiting
grazing, environmentalists are now seek-
ing to overturn the federal government’s
grazing authorization for two Oregon
ranchers convicted but later pardoned for
arson.
Dwight and Steven Hammond, a father
and son who own a ranch near Diamond
in Harney County, recovered their grazing
permits in early 2019 after
receiving a full pardon
last year from President
Donald Trump for setting
fire to public rangelands.
Both were released
from prison in July 2018
Dwight
before completing their
Hammond
full five-year mandatory
minimum sentences, but
they were still prohibited from running
cattle on four U.S. Bureau of Land Man-
agement allotments near their ranch.
Former Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke,
who oversaw the BLM, decided to rein-
state their grazing permits in January
because the pardons “con-
stitute unique and import-
ant changed circum-
stances” that warranted a
reversal of the agency’s
2014 denial of their per-
mit renewal request.
Steven
Several environmen-
Hammond
tal groups — Western
Watersheds Project, Cen-
ter for Biological Diversity and Wildearth
Guardian — filed a lawsuit earlier this
year arguing that Zinke’s decision vio-
lated federal environmental laws.
See Hammonds, Page A12
Capital Press
U.S. District Judge Michael Simon is considering a
bid by environmental groups to overturn Dwight
and Stephen Hammond’s grazing permits.
Feasibility study to clarify questions regarding
A POOL IN GRANT COUNTY
Study will recommend how to request funding from voters next year
By Rudy Diaz
Blue Mountain Eagle
A
new feasibility study will provide recommenda-
tions on future pool options in Grant County and
how to put a funding mechanism before voters
next year.
Representatives from Grant County Court,
John Day-Canyon City Parks and Recreation District,
the city of John Day and Grant School District 3 dis-
cussed pool options at a county court work session Sept.
24 at the Grant County Regional Airport.
A majority of stakeholders present were support-
ive of having a pool, but discussions continued on how
a pool would be financially supported and what fund-
ing plan should be placed before voters for approval in
2020.
Aaron Lieuallen, John Day’s senior project manager,
said a six-month feasibility study will begin in October
that can answer questions such as recommended options
on location, timing, organizational structure, how it
impacts a taxpayer and how to prepare the information
from the study to request funding from voters.
The feasibility study will cost $50,000, which will be
covered by a $40,000 planning grant the city received
from the Oregon Parks and Recreation Department and
$10,000 from the city of John Day.
The study will include recommendations on what
voters will see on their ballot.
“I was told that they’re prepared to put a package
together that’s gonna tell us how big the district should
be, who should pay for it, who should be included, who
shouldn’t, what type of owning we can afford and pre-
pare a package to put to the voters in May or November
and let the voters say yes or no,” said John Day Mayor
Ron Lundbom.
Keeping Gleason Pool in its current location will
be an option in the feasibility study, he said, but it will
prevent the planned expansion of the Kam Wah Chung
State Heritage site by the Oregon Parks and Recreation
Department.
“I think we’re prepared to move forward with the
sale (of the current pool property to the state) if we can
See Pool, Page A12
The Eagle/Rudy Diaz
With Gleason Pool in John Day
closed for the year, officials have
commissioned a feasibility study to
determine future options for a pool
in Grant County.
Large federal grant will repair north apron at airport
Discretionary funding will
improve safety during fire
operations
By Rudy Diaz
Blue Mountain Eagle
In more good news for the airport, a large
federal grant will improve safety during fire
operations.
The U.S. Department of Transportation has
awarded a $950,000 discretionary grant to
reconstruct the north apron at the Grant County
Regional Airport in John Day.
“The apron reconstruction project is greatly
needed to increase safety for our airport users,
and this federal government grant funding with
additional funding from the Oregon Department
of Aviation, and the Grant County government
will provide a safe area for at least the next
twenty years,” Grant County Regional Airport
Manager Haley Walker said in a press release.
Contributed image/Haley Walker
The north apron at the Grant County Regional
Airport will be reconstructed after a large federal
grant was awarded.
“As a result, the Grant County Regional Air-
port can safely serve our local customers and
attract new business while meeting and exceed-
ing expectations.”
U.S. Rep. Greg Walden said the large discre-
tionary grant was great news.
“Improving the airport’s infrastructure will
help provide economic opportunity by improv-
ing the flow of goods to the region while also
aiding federal and state agencies with wildfire
suppression efforts,” he said.
Oregon’s Democratic senators also lauded
the appropriation.
“Regional airports play a critical role in con-
necting our communities with economic oppor-
tunities and critical resources,” said Sen. Jeff
Merkley who sits on the Senate Appropriations
Committee.
Walker discussed with the Grant County
Court on Sept. 25 the north apron project and
several proposals available to address the cur-
rent pavement issue.
“When I started over three years ago, this
was the one project from the users of the air-
port, in particular the hangar users, that I
needed to make sure was improved for safety
reasons,” Walker said regarding the north apron
project.
See Airport, Page A12