PRAIRIE CITY EARNS HOMECOMING WINS OVER DAYVILLE/MONUMENT
The
PAGE A9
Blue Mountain
EAGLE
Grant County’s newspaper since 1868
Wednesday, October 23, 2019
151st Year • No. 43 • 18 Pages • $1.50
MyEagleNews.com
State Justice Department investigating
Grant County Sheriff’s Office deputy
Seven months of paid administrative leave for Mobley has cost the county more than $39,000
By Sean Hart
Blue Mountain Eagle
The state Justice Department is
investigating criminal allegations
against a Grant County Sheriff’s
Office deputy.
The Oregon Department of Jus-
tice said an investigation involv-
ing Deputy Abigail Mobley was
ongoing but did not provide any
details.
Mobley was placed on paid
administrative
leave
March
18 and has remained on leave
through Oct. 17, according to
county records obtained by the
Eagle. Grant County officials
have declined to discuss the cir-
cumstances surrounding the leave.
Attorney Dominic Carollo, on
behalf of the county, said in an
Aug. 28 statement that records
requested by the Eagle regard-
ing the circumstances behind the
leave were exempt under a state
statute that shields “investigatory
information compiled for criminal
law purposes.”
“To the best of the County’s
knowledge and belief, they are
part of a pending criminal investi-
gation being conducted by a third-
party state agency,” Carollo said.
Grant
County
Human
Resources
Manager
Laurie
Wright said Oct. 17 that the “pub-
lic records requested by the (Blue
Mountain Eagle) are part of infor-
mation that was referred to the
Oregon Department of Justice.”
In response to an Aug. 21
records request from the Eagle,
a DOJ employee said Oct. 17
the agency possessed no records
related to active investiga-
tions of or complaints against
Grant County Sheriff’s Office
employees.
After further questions from
See Deputy, Page A18
Into the workforce
Students with barriers to employment
gain practical work experience
Department of Human Services Vocational
Rehabilitation Program.
This year, the Grant County Education
aul Hendrix-Mills was busy
Service District received a grant to expand
sanding down a 1948 Studebaker
YTP to all schools in the county, includ-
ing Prairie City, Dayville, Long Creek and
on Sept. 27 at 1st Choice Auto
Monument.
Body in John Day.
Tami Sasser, the youth transition spe-
The 20-year-old landed the
cialist for Grant School
job last summer after
District 3 and program
working at the auto shop
coordinator for the ESD,
through a Summer Youth
said both the summer pro-
Work Experience Program
gram and YTP “help transi-
internship.
tion students with a barrier
He is just one of many
to employment into adult-
success stories stemming
hood and help them find
from the program that
jobs or college or perma-
allows high school students
nent positions as adults.”
and young adults to brush
There have been 25 stu-
up on work skills and gain
dents, ages 15-21, over the
job experience.
past two years in Sasser’s
Being part of the pro-
gram led to a permanent
summer program.
job for Hendrix-Mills, and
Hendrix-Mills,
who
that is the ultimate goal of
earned his GED in 2018,
the program.
said the summer work pro-
gram helped him move
Similarly, the Youth
The Eagle/Angel Carpenter from a job in a fast-food
Transition Program at
Stubbs,
who restaurant to the auto body
Grant Union Junior-Senior Jessie
in
Grant shop and said he appre-
High School, which has participates
been in place for several Union High School’s Youth ciates the guidance he
years, aims to give students Transition Program, picks up receives from shop owner
opportunities to explore some birdseed to load up for Jeb Bowling and his
job interests and gain job a customer at Pioneer Feed in coworkers.
Hendrix-Mills is usu-
skills and social and cus- John Day.
ally busy prepping vehi-
tomer service skills. The
cles for paint jobs.
program expands what the
“I’m learning the right tool for the right
school’s life skills classes can provide, pre-
paring students to work at various jobs in
job will make it a lot easier,” he said.
their community.
See Students, Page A18
Both programs are funded through the
By Angel Carpenter
Blue Mountain Eagle
P
The Eagle/Angel Carpenter
Paul Hendrix-Mills sands a 1948 Studebaker on Sept. 27 at 1st Choice Auto Body in John
Day. He started the job last summer through Grant Union’s youth transition program.
Hemp: Plenty of risk, reward possible in growing newest cash crop
Top hemp states
by acres cultivated
By George Plaven
EO Media Group
When Paul McGill first
considered growing hemp ear-
lier this year, he was intrigued
by the enormous potential
payoff.
McGill and his wife,
Dianne, moved from Portland
to Salem in 2014 to buy True
North Orchards, with 3 acres of
U-pick fruit including apples,
pears and plums. The couple
immediately took to the life-
style, though they continued
to work off-farm jobs to make
ends meet.
Seeing an opportunity to
boost their bottom line, McGill
planted a half-acre of hemp in
early July. Harvest began Oct.
5, which he figures will take
about a month to finish, cutting
it by hand.
“Thus far, we’ve been
very pleased with the results,”
McGill said.
The McGills are among
(As of Sept. 2019)
Colorado*
86,234 acres
Oregon*
61,873
Kentucky
60,000
EO Media Group/George Plaven
Several hundred field workers pick hemp flowers on a late
September morning at Hemptown USA’s Oregon farm in
Central Point.
nearly 2,000 farmers taking
part in a hemp-propelled gold
rush across Oregon, where
experts predict the newly legal
crop could generate a $1 billion
farm gate value this year. That
would make it the state’s most
valuable agricultural commod-
ity — ahead of the power-
house nursery, hay and cattle
industries.
Since hemp was legal-
ized in the 2018 Farm Bill,
the floodgates have opened for
farms large and small to cap-
italize on the booming new
industry. Oregon now has more
acreage in hemp than the acre-
age devoted to potatoes and
onions combined. Only Colo-
rado, with 86,234 acres, grows
more hemp in the U.S.
Like most farmers, McGill
is growing hemp for cannabi-
diol, or CBD, an extract made
from the flowers that is said
Montana
42,000
Tennessee*
40,075
*Includes greenhouse cultivation
Source: New Leaf Data Services
Capital Press graphic
to have multiple health bene-
fits. Hemp fiber from the stalks
can also be used to make paper,
textiles, building materials and
food ingredients, among other
products.
“I don’t think they’ve even
truly reached the scope of
potential for what this biomass
can be used for,” McGill said.
While the average cost of
growing hemp is estimated at
between $8,000 and $15,000
per acre, farmers can bring in
upward of $50,000 per acre,
depending on the markets and
yields. The promise is so great
that McGill recently left his
day job at an irrigation supply
company to become a full-time
farmer.
But the high potential
rewards of growing hemp are
accompanied by equally high
risks.
First-time growers such
as McGill are learning about
hemp as they go, and mistakes
can be costly, putting huge
dents in their yields. Federal
regulations are still being writ-
ten that could crimp the indus-
try, and this year’s early rains
across the Willamette Valley
have threatened to ruin whole
See Hemp, Page A18