NEWS
MyEagleNews.com
Continuing to build a
community-driven Firewise program
By Rudy Diaz
Blue Mountain Eagle
Wednesday, December 25, 2019
A3
Justice Court looking for more
hours with increasing case load
By Rudy Diaz
Blue Mountain Eagle
Communities in Grant County see
progress as they continue to become
Firewise.
Irene Jerome, Grant County’s
Community Wildfire Protection Plan
and Firewise coordinator, updated the
county court on Dec. 11 on the prog-
ress communities are making.
“We’ve been enormously suc-
cessful through a group effort in the
county, and we are going to continue
on that trajectory,” Jerome said.
Over the year, Jerome has worked
with Deputy Dave Dobler of Grant
County Search and Rescue and
assisted them with mapping. There
was also a mock wildfire evacuation
in the Middle Fork Firewise commu-
nity in Galena. The team learned how
the community can improve, accord-
ing to Jerome.
Firewise community members
also talked to the Forest Service about
fuel reduction along their boundar-
ies, and the Forest Service responded
and plans to clear some of the fuel by
summer 2020 to help the community.
“They (Forest Service) did
that because the community was
Firewise,” Jerome said. “Firewise
communities have enough of a frame-
work and push from a well-informed
group that the Forest Service and the
Bureau of Land Management can
support them and their requests.”
While establishing a Firewise
community has its benefits, Jerome
has looked into additional ways to
inform the public about preventing
fires. Jerome met with Mark How-
ell, a prevention officer for the For-
est Service in the Blue Mountain Dis-
trict, to inform Grant County students
on fire behavior and the excess of fire
fuel in the forest.
“We did a ‘What’s involved in
fire prevention’ workshop at Grant
Union, and the John Day fire depart-
ment came with one of their structure
engines, and Dave Fields, the former
state fire marshal, also came,” said
Jerome. “Getting kids involved is
what really makes it work.”
Jerome has also reached out
to teachers to see if any students
would be interested in doing a
senior project where they can go out
and gather information on fire haz-
ards in communities.
The biggest trial in forming
The Eagle/Rudy Diaz
Irene Jerome, Grant County’s Com-
munity Wildfire Protection Plan and
Firewise coordinator, updated the
Grant County Court on Dec. 11 on
Firewise communities.
a Firewise community has been
communication. A misunderstand-
ing has been that the cities are in
charge of promoting Firewise, but
the program is driven by commu-
nity members.
“The point of the program is to
help folks who can’t help them-
selves,” Jerome said. “I need some-
one from a community to say, ‘I’ll
help you do this’ and show a little bit
of initiative. The program falls down
when they want me to do it all.”
If a community has a project or
needs additional funds to complete
fire prevention, Jerome can approve
the project and then reimburse the
money needed to hire the contrac-
tors. Such projects as brushing road-
ways, providing improved mapping
and clearing fire fuel near homes
can be reimbursed, but the amount
varies per project.
“I do all the bookkeeping for this,
and some of the folks wanted to do
some of the work themselves and
have me pay them, but that is not what
the program is designed for,” Jerome
said. “If you want to hire somebody
and choose a contractor and make a
deal with them, I’ll make an agree-
ment with the resident, on behalf of
the county, that they will keep up with
the project.”
Jerome plans to visit areas that
have expressed interest in joining
Firewise such as Canyon City, Mon-
ument, Canyon Creek Lane, Prairie
City and several neighborhoods.
For more information about estab-
lishing a Firewise community, call
Jerome at 541-575-2210.
One item on the agenda for
the Grant County Court meet-
ing had nearly every seat filled
in the room.
Justice of the Peace Kathy
Stinnett talked to the county court
on Dec. 18 to increase the hours
for the Justice Court clerk from
32 to 40 hours to address the rise
in new cases filed per year. Over
the last 11 years, the amount of
new cases have been on the rise
with 854 cases filed in 2009 and
1,404 cases filed for 2019 as of
Dec. 17.
Stinnett said, if additional help
is not provided in the office, ser-
vices will be cut back. Traffic
violations could become a lower
priority, she said.
“It would be up to the district
attorney to decide whether the
case can be filed in circuit court
or not,” said Stinnett. “I would
simply have to make a request for
him to please not file cases in my
court. That’s not a threat; that’s a
reality.”
The Justice Court also han-
dles cases that are based on
small claims, landlord and tenant
issues, traffic, probable cause
affidavits and search warrants
and some misdemeanors such
as criminal trespass and certain
cases of second- and third-de-
gree theft. Another problem that
would arise from cutbacks would
be cases taking longer to address.
“With Circuit Court judge
time split between Grant and Har-
ney Counties, these cases would
not get on the docket as quickly
as they do in Justice Court,” said
W.D. Cramer, the Circuit Court
Judge, in a support letter given to
the court. “Moreover, the litigants
would not get to see a ‘judge’ as
often as those cases would be
directed to the alternative dispute
procedures such as mediation.
All of these things require staff
to process. Without good sup-
port, I know Justice Stinnett can-
not continue to maintain her cur-
rent caseload.”
The amount of cases have
also impacted fines and the over-
all balance owed from claims. In
The Eagle/Rudy Diaz
John Day Police Chief Mike Durr spoke in support of Justice of the
Peace Kathy Stinnett at the Grant County Court meeting Dec. 18.
The Eagle/Rudy Diaz
Justice of the Peace Kathy Stin-
nett requested the Grant Coun-
ty Court increase the hours for
the court clerk Dec. 18.
2019, the total fines imposed
for cases was $181,361, and
$163,214 is still owed. In 2018,
the total fines imposed for cases
was $161,995, and $125,666 is
still owed.
“Collections is a whole other
beast in itself,” said Trista Col-
lins, the Justice Court clerk. “The
process for our office to get cases
to collections requires so many
letters sent to each person in a
timely manner. We have to get
court dates set, talk to attorney
offices, talk to the District Attor-
ney’s office, and then pull out
drawers and drawers of old cases
that I have to get all those letters
sent to before they get sent to a
collection agency.”
Collins said, if a person has
15 fines, a general letter covering
every fine cannot be sent. Each
fine must have its own docket
number and its own letter before
it’s sent to collections. There is
so much work involved that Col-
lins worked 27 hours of compen-
sation time in the last pay period,
she said.
Multiple people spoke in sup-
port of Stinnett including Roger
and Meredith Ediger, Collins
and John Day Police Chief Mike
Durr. Letters of support came
from Cramer, Len’s Drug and
Chester’s Thriftway.
“Without proper conse-
quences, shoplifting will con-
tinue to escalate as they will feel
they can get by with it,” said
Marla Armstrong, president of
Len’s Drug. “We spend a lot of
time following people because
we need to catch them because
they continually steal and if we
cannot catch and have them pros-
ecuted for theft, we have no rea-
son to follow but will have to
raise prices to cover the theft that
occurs.”
The county court approved
an increase in time for the court
clerk from 32 to 40 hours per
week and for the assistant clerk
from 19 to 20 hours. There are
future plans to continue discus-
sions between the Justice Court
and county court on improving
the situation.
Prescription Drug Program Available to
Grant County Residents
Thank You
Because of a partnership between Blue Mountain Hospital
District and Len’s Drug, Grant County residents have access to
lower prescription drug costs through the 340B Program. This
program has been available locally since 2017 and has been a
huge help for patients that are uninsured and have a hard time
affording their prescriptions. The 340B program is a nation-
wide program that requires pharmaceutical drug manufacturers
to offer discounted prices to health care organizations that care
for uninsured and low-income patients.
The savings on these costs for both Blue Mountain Hospi-
tal District and Len’s Drug have helped expand services and
increase access to care for patients. In the past, patients have
had to make vulnerable choices between their budget and their
prescription care/treatment plan. With access to this program,
we have seen much healthier outcomes for patients. Another
great benefit of this program is there is no cost to taxpayers or
local businesses.
To find out if you qualify, talk to your Doctor or their Med-
ical Assistant at your next appointment at Strawberry Wilder-
ness Community Clinic. If you are 340B eligible, you can fill
your prescriptions at Len’s Drug to receive the lower prices.
Prescriptions filled at other pharmacies will not be eligible
due to program requirements and the partnership between Len’s
Drug & BMHD.
Canyon City would like to thank
everyone who aided in the completion of
the Inland Bridge project. We would also
like to thank everyone for their
patience and cooperation.
Grant School District
Grant County Court
Grant County Road Department
IMI Industrial Services Group
Sisul Engineering
Imperial Concrete LLC
High Desert Aggregate
Canyon City Public Works
Citizens of Canyon City
Merry Christmas
& Happy New
Year
S161331-1
S161745-1