JOURNEY THROUGH GRANT COUNTY AND BEYOND | INSIDE
Wednesday, July 28, 2021
153rd Year • No. 30 • 16 Pages • $1.50
MyEagleNews.com
Ballots mailed
for John Day
police levy
Five-year tax would fund
city police department
By Steven Mitchell
Blue Mountain Eagle
The Eagle/Steven Mitchell
Car No. 12, driven by Josh Pierson of Klamath Falls, crashed into Car No. 29, driven by Rudy Morris of Forest Grove.
Demolition derby a destructive delight
By Steven Mitchell
Blue Mountain Eagle
wo brothers from Idaho placed fi rst and
second at the Whiskey Gulch Gang’s
Demolition Derby Saturday in front
of a packed arena at the Grant County
Fairgrounds.
Roughly 1,800 turned out to watch Matt and Jake
Petero take the top spots in the annual event that
was on hiatus last year due to pandemic restrictions,
according to Colby Farrel from the Whiskey Gulch
Gang.
Matt took home $2,000 while Jake earned
$1,000. Ed Moulton of Hines took third place and
$500.
During halftime, Luke Claughton of John Day
won the barrel race on his dirt bike, performing a
Tanner Morris’ car at the Whiskey Gulch Gang Demolition Derby.
wheelie while exiting the arena.
Mark Williams of Homedale, Idaho, won the fi rst
heat in the wild, smashing start to the derby while
Chris Folger, also of Homedale, took the second
heat. Moulton took the fi nal heat.
The Whiskey Gulch Gang thanked Ace Hardware
and John Day True Value for their donations for the
drivers’ raffl e and most aggressive driver award.
“We appreciate their support every year,” they
said.
They also thanked the Grant Union High School
wrestling team for serving up snow cones and ham-
burgers. Additionally, they thanked the Grant County
Road Department and Bill Sproul for a water truck
and John Day-Canyon City Parks and Recreation for
the bleachers.
The Eagle/Steven Mitchell
Finally, they thanked Iron Triangle and Seth Bar-
rietua for using his equipment and all that he does to Luke Claughton of John Day pops a wheelie
Saturday on his way out of the Grant County
support their events.
T
Results
Heat 1 winner: Mark Williams, Homedale, Idaho
Heat 2 winner: Chris Folger, Homedale, Idaho
Heat 3 winner: Ed Moulton, Hines
Main event
First: Matt Petero, Payette, Idaho
Second: Jake Petero, Payette, Idaho
Third: Ed Moulton, Hines
Most aggressive driver
Jake Petero
Hard luck driver
Rudy Morris, Forest Grove
Beauty contest winner
Josh Pierson, Klamath Falls
Half-time barrel racing winner
Luke Claughton, John Day
Fairgrounds arena after winning the halftime
barrel race during the Whiskey Gulch Gang
Demolition Derby.
The Eagle/Steven Mitchell
The Eagle/Steven Mitchell
Derby fans await the start of the fi rst heat
Saturday at the Grant County Fairgrounds
arena.
John Day voters will decide whether
to approve a tax to keep the city police
department next month as ballots go out
in the mail today.
The John Day City Council April
27 chose to pursue a local option levy
of 45-50 cents per $1,000 of assessed
property value for fi ve years.
A double majority — more than
50% of registered voters need to vote,
with more than 50% in favor of passing
the measure — will be required.
Green said, if the measure does
not pass, the department will close,
and the remain-
ing three police
offi cers’ last day
of employment
with the city will
be Aug. 31. The
plan would be to
consolidate the
department with
the Grant County
Sheriff ’s Offi ce.
The Eagle
In the mean-
Steven Mitchell
time, Green said
the city is still A sign in John Day
fi scal
recruiting for a promotes
police chief and responsibility and
is still interview- states the city of
ing chief candi- John Day should
dates to replace amend its budget
outgoing John to maintain its po-
Day Police Chief lice department,
Mike Durr, who rather than try for
is retiring in Sep- a tax levy.
tember should the
levy pass.
Green said the city has applied for
a Community Oriented Policing Ser-
vices grant through the Department of
Homeland Security to fund the depart-
ment $125,000 a year for three years.
He said it is three times the amount
they are asking residents to pay to off -
set operating costs. Green said the city
would not know if the grant is approved
until roughly October.
Green said they will not make plans
to transition anything until they know
the outcome of the cops grant because
that would allow the city to rehire
the laid-off employees at the police
department.
Arguments for the police levy
both of which Robertson submitted
electronically.
The Eagle obtained both emails.
However, neither Kreger nor com-
mittee members Rob Stewart and
Bob Quinton appear to be on either
of the email threads.
Robertson emailed the Farm
John Day City Manager Nick Green
said the most salient argument for the
levy would be to have additional pub-
lic safety in the community and more
responsiveness from law enforcement.
Grant County Sheriff Todd McKin-
ley told the Eagle in April that the level
of service currently provided in John
Day would decrease.
“It would be essentially what we’re
doing for those other cities, which are
emergent calls only,” McKinley said.
“There won’t be anybody in the inter-
section changing the tire. There won’t
be a person showing up on the doorstep
when there’s a call... Your service level
is going to drop signifi cantly.”
According to Green, cities that have
outsourced their law enforcement tend
to complain about a lack of responsive-
ness from law enforcement offi cials.
“That is what you would proba-
bly hear if you talked to residents in
any of our Grant County communi-
ties,” he said. “But you also hear it from
places like Lakeview and other com-
munities that have outsourced their
departments.”
Green said the decision tends to put
the community in a position where they
do not have many measures to enforce
accountability other than pulling their
contracts.
Green said, though it’s taxpay-
er-funded, the police department does
contribute to local employment. He
said they are local jobs for residents that
know the community.
Additionally, Green said the stu-
dent resource offi cer with the John
Day Police Department works directly
with business owners, giving them the
See Control, Page A16
See Ballots, Page A16
The Eagle/Steven Mitchell
Car No. 46, driven by derby winner Jake Petero, of Payette, Idaho, smashes into a car Saturday in
the arena of the Grant County Fairgrounds during the Whiskey Gulch Gang Demolition Derby.
Farm Bureau clarifi es position on predator control
Budget Committee members say they misspoke
By Steven Mitchell
Blue Mountain Eagle
Members from the Grant County
Budget Committee said they mis-
spoke when they said the Grant
County Farm Bureau would help the
county establish a taxing district to
fund a predator control program.
In a May 19 budget session, com-
mittee member Amy Kreger and
County Commissioner Jim Hamsher
said the Farm Bureau would do the
work to establish a taxing district if
the county would make a commit-
ment to the fund predator control
program for two years, as confi rmed
by the Eagle’s recording.
The committee decided to budget
$35,000 for the program.
In a June 15 email, Shaun Rob-
ertson, Grant County Farm Bureau
president, said the Farm Bureau had
not contacted the county with a pro-
posal to create a taxing district to
support the program. He said that
would require a vote from the Farm
Bureau board of directors.
Hamsher said it was his mistake
to say the Farm Bureau would sup-
port the taxing district.
Kreger told the Eagle that she
discussed taxing with Hamsher and
County Commissioner Sam Palmer
in earlier budget meetings. Still, she
said she thought the information had
come from USDA Wildlife Services
District Supervisor Shane Koyle, not
the Farm Bureau.
She said her comments might
have come out wrong.
“Maybe I said it wrong because I
was over the meetings at that point in
time.” she said. “If I misspoke, I mis-
spoke. I am going to own it.”
Hamsher said it was a “big
misunderstanding.”
He said he confused Robert-
son’s testimony on April 29 with his
April 14 Farm Bureau testimony —
Eagle fi le photo
County Commissioner Jim Hamsher