TIMBER TRUCKERS LIGHT PARADE | PAGE B2
The
Blue Mountain
EAGLE
Grant County’s newspaper since 1868
Wednesday, December 18, 2019
151st Year • No. 51 • 22 Pages • $1.50
MyEagleNews.com
City brings in $12.5 million in outside funding
Grants pushing the development of future projects
By Rudy Diaz
Blue Mountain Eagle
The city of John Day has helped
bring in more than $12.5 million to
Grant County since 2017 through
successful grant applications.
The John Day City Council
shared on Dec. 8 that the city has
applied for and received 23 grants.
There are also 10 potential grant
opportunities pending with award
decisions coming in the next fiscal
year.
A decision on the $3 million
2019 USDA Community Connect
Grant for broadband is expected
this month. This could fund a
broadband
con-
nection between
Burns and Seneca,
which would give
John Day faster
and more reliable
access to internet.
City Manager This grant is differ-
Nick Green
ent from the $6 mil-
lion USDA ReCon-
nect grant, which was recently
awarded to expand access to Sen-
eca, Long Creek and Monument.
“We’re really, really lucky
to have somebody who’s suc-
cessful and knows how to write
(grant applications),” said John
Day Mayor Ron Lundbom. “We
really couldn’t have anything
without these grants. They have
acted as match funds or they
have covered what we needed to
come up with for projects.”
Lundbom said projects in the
city are being heavily funded not
by the city, but through these grants
and other people. Interest in John
Day has risen for private investors
as well with plans for a hotel and
the purchase of the Weaver Build-
ing from the city.
See Funding, Page A12
DUI DANGERS
THE HIGH COST OF DRIVING IMPAIRED
By Angel Carpenter
Blue Mountain Eagle
I
n Oregon State Police Sgt. Tom Hutchison’s years in law enforcement, he has
seen a marked increase in cases of drivers under the influence of intoxicants,
beyond alcohol.
“Of our DUIs this year, more than
half have been DUI marijuana or con-
trolled substances — those aren’t coming
from the bar,” he said. “Most are coming
from home or traveling. A lot of people out
on road trips are either drinking and driving
or using substances and driving.”
Driving while impaired can,
of course, result in fines,
driver’s license suspensions
and jail time — or worse,
injuries and fatalities.
Hutchison, a certified
drug recognition expert,
has been the OSP ser-
The Eagle/Angel Carpenter
geant at the John Day OSP Sergeant Tom Hutchison
Work Site for seven
years and has been in
law enforcement for a total of 18 years, with all of those years
in Grant County.
On the morning of Dec. 18, 2018, Hutchison responded to a
single-vehicle noninjury crash on a snowy Highway 395 near
Starr Ridge, south of Canyon City.
He said the 39-year-old male driver from Washington
state, who had slid off the road, appeared to be impaired with
central nervous system depressants and CNS stimulants.
The driver consented to field sobriety tests, after which
the man was arrested and taken to the Grant County Jail.
“During a search of the driver and vehicle, incident to arrest,
I seized 2 grams of cocaine, lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD), 3 grams
of methamphetamines, evidence of inhalants and prescription medication
that the driver did not have a prescription for, including Valium,” Hutchi-
son said.
The driver was booked and lodged on charges of DUI-drug and unlawful
possession of controlled substances.
See DUI, Page A12
Riley man arrested for animal abuse after riding deer in video
Buck was trapped
in fenced enclosure
Blue Mountain Eagle
An 18-year-old man from Riley
has been arrested for riding a deer in a
video posted to social media.
Oregon State Police arrested Jacob
Belcher after interviewing him on a
rural ranch in Harney County, accord-
ing to an OSP press release.
The buck mule deer had trapped
itself within a fenced feeding enclo-
sure, before being ridden by Belcher,
the investigation revealed.
OSP Fish & Wildlife troopers
received information about a video
shared via social media that showed a
young adult riding on the back of the
deer.
“Throughout the video, the mule
deer buck can be heard grunting and/
or bleating and after escaping the rider,
the buck jumped into a linked fence,
multiple times, attempting to escape
the enclosure,” the release states.
The buck was eventually freed, and
its status at this time is unknown.
After reviewing the video, troop-
ers conducted further investigation and
identified two suspects from Riley.
Following interviews, Belcher
was arrested and lodged at the Har-
ney County Jail on charges of wildlife
harassment and second-degree animal
abuse.
Another suspect, who was responsi-
ble for filming the incident, was identi-
fied and interviewed as well. Charges
of aiding in a wildlife offense will be
referred to the Harney County District
Attorney’s Office.
Contributed photo
Oregon State Police arrested Jacob Belcher, 18, of Riley for animal
abuse after a video was posted on social media showing him riding
a deer.