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About The Blue Mountain eagle. (John Day, Or.) 1972-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 14, 2020)
ELECTION COVERAGE ON PAGES A3, A6-A9 Wednesday, October 14, 2020 152nd Year • No. 42 • 18 Pages • $1.50 MyEagleNews.com Election 2020 Alex Spenser makes Cliff Bentz plans to underdog run for 2nd take lessons learned Congressional District in Oregon to Congress Klamath Falls Democrat calls for ‘path to unity’ Republican contender hopes GOP-held Senate, presidency will provide leverage in House Spenser says she wants to go to Congress to help By Steven Mitchell unify the country after four lex Spenser, a writer years of divisiveness under Blue Mountain Eagle and political cam- President Donald Trump paign strategist from and his Republican allies in ith U.S. Rep. Klamath Falls, is the Demo- Congress. Greg Walden cratic candidate for the 2nd retiring, voters “We need a path to Congressional District. in rural Oregon will elect a unity,” Spenser said in a Spenser’s political statement for the 2020 Vot- new leader to Congress for role in the past has been ers Pamphlet. the first time in over two behind the scenes. She The coronavi- decades. rus pandemic coached Jamie Former state that has killed McLeod-Skin- Sen. Cliff ner, the CD2 over 212,000 Bentz, who Democratic Americans won a nominee in this year has crowded 2018, on pub- upended the Republican lic speaking way lawmak- primary in ers should and debates. May, will face approach their Spenser had Democrat Alex jobs, Spenser said. signed on as 2020 Spenser for the Cliff “ T h e campaign open seat to rep- Alex Spenser resent Oregon’s ‘COVID-19 manager for 2nd Congressional District. Revolution’ that has been Raz Mason of The Dalles. When Mason dropped thrust upon us has left us Based on the demograph- ics of the historically conser- out before the primary for needing leadership-leaders vative district, Bentz is the personal reasons, Spenser willing to stay in the room frontrun- jumped in and ran herself. and do the ner. She won the May 19 pri- hard work mary with 32.1% of the of com- 2ND CONGRESSIONAL a Bentz, vote, outpacing her near- m u n i c a - law- yer from est challenger, Central Point tion,” she Ontario, business consultant Nick said. served 10 Spenser Heuertz, by 797 votes. A native of Dallas, said the years in Texas, Spenser earned an pandemic has shown the the state’s House of Repre- sentatives in District 60. He associate degree in biology need for universal health resigned in 2018 after being from Richland College in care so that all Americans appointed to Oregon’s Sen- Dallas and studied English can get treatment for the ate District 30. He stepped at Texas A&M University in virus, not just those able down from that seat earlier College Station. She moved to use influence or money this year to campaign full west, working at Lava Beds to get top doctors and time. National Monument and medicines. Bentz played an instru- Death Valley National Park. “We need health care as a mental role in 2017 by get- Spenser has lived in matter of good government ting Republicans and Dem- Klamath Falls for 10 years. infrastructure,” she said. ocrats in the Legislature A single mom, she has “Just as good government to come together to pass a homeschooled her daughter See Spenser, Page A18 landmark $5.3 billion trans- to the fifth grade. By Gary A. Warner Oregon Capital Bureau A W DISTRICT portation package. The bill included taxes and fees to fund congestion-reducing projects, highway and bridge improvements and transit projects across the state. Bentz said he learned some valuable lessons about bipartisanship. “The party in power has to be in some fashion moti- vated to work with a party that’s not in power,” Bentz said. Bentz was one of 11 law- makers to leave the Bentz state last year after negotia- tions with Democrats broke down over a proposed cli- mate bill. He continued working on climate legis- lation from March through December of last year — including 16 round-trip flights from Boise to Port- land and another seven by car — but said he was “frozen out” of the cli- mate change discussions in December. He said, despite the expertise he brought to the talks, Democrats kept him out solely because he was a conservative. “They couldn’t bring a bill into the committee and keep all of their environmen- tal organizations with them if a Republican helped put it together,” he said. “Didn’t matter if I was Einstein.” See Bentz, Page A18 Half a pound of meth, cash and vehicle seized Oct. 2 Lucas, Bryan arrested on multiple charges Blue Mountain Eagle Nearly a half-pound of methamphetamine was seized Oct. 2 in Grant County. The Grant County Inter- agency Narcotics Team seized the drugs, cash and a vehicle the afternoon of Oct. 2 during drug operations, according to a press release from Undersheriff Zach Mobley. Brandie Lucas, 44, of Long Creek was arrested for delivery of methamphet- amine, possession of meth- amphetamine, criminal conspiracy to deliver meth- amphetamine and manufac- ture of methamphetamine, according to the release. Kenzon Bryan, 53, was also arrested for delivery of methamphetamine, posses- sion of methamphetamine and criminal conspiracy to deliver methamphetamine. The press release states the case is ongoing and more information will be released in the future. Kenzon Bryan Brandie Lucas EOMG file photo Trees are logged in an Oregon forest with a feller-buncher. Ore- gon’s Board of Forestry has voted to proceed with a habitat con- servation plan analysis opposed by the timber industry. Oregon to proceed with ‘habitat conservation plan’ process Plan would absolve ODF from liability for incidental take ceptable to us,” Storm said. Under the ODF’s interpre- tation, logging would initially Oregon forest regulators decline under the HCP but the have unanimously rejected the plan would eventually result in timber industry’s arguments a larger volume of timber har- against moving forward with vest over 75 years compared a “habitat conservation plan” to the current “take avoidance for several protected species strategies.” The agency claims the on state forestlands. On Oct. 6, the Oregon HCP will provide “increased Board of Forestry voted in certainty” compared to other favor of proceeding with an forest management methods, environmental analysis of the which will also likely result in plan, which timber advocates reduced logging as more spe- wanted to prevent due to fears cies are listed and more acre- age must be of reduced log- ging and harm to “DO I CARE protected. The Oregon rural economies. ABOUT Forest & Indus- The habi- tat conservation tries Coun- plan, or HCP, ENDANGERED cil, which rep- the would aim to SPECIES? YES, resents timber industry, mitigate harm to BUT THERE counters that the 16 species that sets aside are listed under IS ALREADY HCP too much for- the Endangered estland for con- Species Act or SO MUCH servation with- could gain fed- GROUND SET out taking into eral protection. However, the ASIDE FOR account the plan would adverse impacts absolve the Ore- THAT NOW.” to the threat- gon Depart- ened spotted Mike Pihl, logger from ment of Forestry, owl from the Vernonia and president which manages more aggressive of Timber Unity barred owl. the forestlands, The organization also wor- from liability for “inciden- tal take” — the killing of pro- ries that ODF’s data mod- tected species or destruction els and logging projections of their habitat. are flawed, which will result Currently, ODF manages in greater-than-anticipated the affected 640,000 acres to restrictions on timber harvest avoid incidental take, which when the HCP is implemented. “We have a lack of confi- the HCP anticipates will be dence in the harvest numbers,” tougher to do in the future. Representatives of the tim- said Seth Barnes, OFIC’s for- ber industry and rural com- est policy director. munities argue the plan is too Representatives of state restrictive compared to simi- and federal agencies, which lar HCPs on private and pub- have been developing the lic property elsewhere in the HCP since 2017, testified in support of conducting a fed- Northwest. “Do I care about endan- erally required environmen- gered species? Yes, but there tal analysis under the National is already so much ground Environmental Policy Act. Only after that NEPA eval- set aside for that now,” said Mike Pihl, a logger from Ver- uation is complete in mid- nonia and president of the 2022 will the Board of For- Timber Unity group, which estry decide whether to advocates on behalf of rural implement the plan. The HCP will reconcile communities. Much of Oregon’s forest- competing demands for wild- land is under federal owner- life habitat, clean water, tim- ship and effectively cannot ber revenues and other pub- be logged, while the state also lic values, said Paul Henson, has extensive regulations for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife harvesting timber on state and Service’s state supervisor for Oregon. private lands, he said. The plan “does the most “We already have tons of protection in place,” Pihl said. benefit for the greatest group The plan ignores the eco- of folks,” he said. nomic and social needs of Members of the Board of rural communities while tak- Forestry ultimately agreed ing a hands-off approach to with proponents of the HCP, management that has led to voting 6-0 to proceed with fire danger and other problems the NEPA analysis at the con- on federal property, said Rex clusion of the Oct. 6 online Storm, lobbyist for the Associ- hearing. ation of Oregon Loggers. The environmental anal- “This HCP would repeat ysis will provide more the failures of federal forest See Plan, Page A18 management, which are unac- By Mateusz Perkowski EO Media Group
