A18
NEWS
Blue Mountain Eagle
Wednesday, March 23, 2022
Ballot
Continued from Page A1
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Over the past month, the average price of a gallon of gas
has risen from $3.52 to $4.27 nationally, with prices topping
$4.50 in Grant County.
Fuel
Continued from Page A1
Uptmor and Simmons
took a measured view of ris-
ing fuel prices. Citing prior
budget adjustments and the
fl uid nature of fuel costs,
both were mindful that any
sudden reaction now might
appear as an overreaction
were prices to again stabi-
lize in the coming months.
John Day city account
clerk Chantal DesJar-
din expressed similar sed-
iments, stressing that the
budget isn’t due until April
this year, so the raw impact
of rising fuel costs on the
city’s fi nances won’t be
completely known until
then. DesJardin also said
she hasn’t “heard of gas
prices impacting the city
budget enough to warrant a
supplemental budget.”
“Things like this are
factored into budget esti-
mates,” DesJardin says.
“We’ll estimate a 10%
increase in costs and budget
for a 15% increase.”
This type of contingency
planning by both the school
district and city government
has largely cushioned those
institutions from the imme-
diate impact of sharply ris-
ing fuel costs.
For her part, Angie
Jones, director of the Grant
County People Mover, said
there had not been any cuts
to services or fare increases
due to the jump in fuel
costs.
However, Jones noted
that on Jan 3, the People
Mover had been paying
$3.30 per gallon for diesel
and by March 5 it was pay-
ing $4.49.
Jones said that given that
fuel prices were at a pretty
steady incline, she was not
surprised.
Jones said the People
Mover would have to look
at increasing its fuel budget
in the next fi scal year.
“What we planned on
originally or thought would
happen with the market
clearly didn’t happen, and
things are really remain-
ing uncertain at this point,”
she said. “So we’re going to
have to be a little bit more
on the conservative side
speculating our budget next
year.”
While she did not have
the budget before her, she
said she anticipated the Peo-
ple Mover would need to
increase its fuel budget by
roughly $12,000-$15,000
because its routes have not
changed. She added there is
no plan to discontinue any
services.
Grant County Sheriff
Todd McKinley said that
while fuel costs are up sub-
stantially, his deputies have
not decreased their patrols.
Like the People Mover,
McKinley said the Grant
County Sheriff ’s Offi ce
would need to increase its
fuel budget.
He said the agency cur-
rently budgets for roughly
$40,000 in fuel costs per
year. If fuel prices continue
to rise at the same rate they
have been lately, he said,
the cost could balloon to as
much as $130,000 — espe-
cially if he is able to add
more patrol deputies.
“And we’re a small
agency,” McKinley said.
“Imagine what a bigger
agency would be like for
just fuel.”
“This is asking for quite a
shift from the norm, and I think,
like with any social change, it’s
controversial,” he said. “But
every social justice movement
in history has been met with
controversy, unfortunately.”
Michelson noted a peti-
tion to allow women to vote
in Oregon faced similar politi-
cal headwinds in the early 20th
century, but the story of how
women fought for suff rage in
Oregon has been inspirational
to the Portland-based activ-
ist, who said he would “like
to see this (initiative) as being
part of that history of progres-
sive ballot measures that push
us forward.”
But even if the initiative
fails to muster the signatures
necessary to reach the ballot
this November, Michelson has
his eyes set on 2024.
“We are planning, as we
have always planned, to sub-
mit our initiative for 2024
with the anticipation that even
if we qualify for 2022, it is
unlikely that it’ll pass on the
fi rst attempt,” Michelson said.
“Speaking back to the initiative
that gave women the right to
vote, it was voted on in six con-
secutive election cycles before
it fi nally passed. It was voted
down fi ve times. If our initia-
tive does not pass this Novem-
ber, we want to make sure it’s
on the ballot again in 2024.”
Alex Wittwer/EO Media Group
A cow and a smattering of calves rest in a fi eld along Peach Road, La Grande, on Thursday, March
17, 2022. A controversial animal rights initiative, known as IP13, appears to have been stalled as
organizers failed to gather the signatures necessary to put it on the ballot this November.
‘Their hearts are in the
right place’
Farmers balked at the pro-
posal, stating it wouldn’t be
worth the eff ort or the ink to
do a story about the initiative.
Prominent La Grande hunter
Steve West, of the TV show
“Steve’s Outdoor Adventures,”
said the proposition likely
would fail to gather enough
signatures to even make it on
the ballot.
“The people who come up
with this, their hearts are in the
right place because they’re so
attached to animals,” he said.
“The reality is they will never
get enough votes to pass some-
thing like this. I just don’t see
any chance in hell that they
even get 100,000 signatures to
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A caw drinks from the marshland along Peach Road, La Grande,
on Thursday, March 17, 2022. Under IP13, slaughtering cattle
might be considered a violation of animal cruelty laws.
even get it to a ballot. It’s just
so out there.”
West said proposals like
these have an unintended side
eff ect of uniting groups that are
opposed to similar initiatives.
“If anything, my bet is this
is something that would solid-
ify and unite the ranchers,
farmers and hunters,” he said.
“It’s probably going to unite
the other side just to stamp it
out once and for all.”
Offi cials from the Con-
federated Tribes of Umatilla
Indian Reservation said they’re
not worried about the initia-
tive, citing treaties that would
supersede the law. They are,
however, watching closely in
the event the tribes need to take
a reactionary approach to the
proposal.
“We’re continuing to watch
and see how far it goes, and see
what happens in July to see if
they get their initiative fulfi lled
with the required signatures,”
said Jiselle Halfmoon, interim
communications director for
CTUIR. “Then, of course,
we’ll readdress it, but at this
time we’re pretty secure in our
situation.”
Law experts say
the proposal is
misunderstood
5 Buck Breakfast
Russ Mead, a professor
of law at Lewis & Clark Law
School in Portland, said what
the proposal says it will do and
what the two opposing factions
for the proposition say it will
do diff er greatly.
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“Oregon’s animal cruelty
laws have a long list of excep-
tions,” he said. “For example,
hunting and killing livestock is
exempt from Oregon’s animal
cruelty laws. IP13 removes
these exemptions. The result
is not that hunting and killing
livestock will be illegal if IP13
passes, it is just that when you
hunt, you need to be humane.
When you kill livestock, you
need to be humane.”
The website for IP13 states
its goal is to enact legislation
that would make it so that “ani-
mals on farms, research labs,
exhibitions and in the wild
would no longer be allowed
to be intentionally injured or
killed.” However, Mead dis-
agrees with the drafters of
IP13 and their proposed mis-
sion statement on the IP13
webpage. The law as it is pro-
posed, he said, would need to
be considered in courtrooms to
fi nd the exact limitations and
framework.
“Anyone who says any
activity will become illegal
with the passage of IP13 is
just fl at wrong,” he said. “With
the animal cruelty exemptions
removed, the Oregon courts
will need to decide what ani-
mal cruelty is.”
How animal cruelty is
defi ned in the law, Mead said,
is open-ended.
“Animal cruelty statutes
seldom defi ne what is cruel
and what is humane,” Mead
said. “For example, statutes do
not specify that beating a dog
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to death with a baseball bat is
cruel. Or that killing a dog by
lethal injection is humane.”
Mead stated if the proposal
did muster up the signatures,
and passed in the November
ballot, the proposal wouldn’t
turn hunters into criminals
overnight.
“The Oregon courts will
need to decide what, if any,
hunting and fi shing practices
violate Oregon animal cruelty
laws,” he said. “I could well
see the courts fi nding leg-hold
traps are cruel. But, I would
be shocked if the courts found
a father and daughter fi shing
with a cane pole animal cru-
elty. ”
Michelson said one of the
secondary goals of the pro-
posal is to help draw attention
to exemptions in Oregon stat-
utes regarding animal abuse,
and how the animal abuse laws
give protections to pets, but not
to livestock.
“We’re one of the few states
that acknowledges that ani-
mals are sentient in our state
statutes,” Michelson said. “Yet
our animal cruelty laws largely
only protect our companion
animals. All the other animals,
whether they’re in farms or in
research labs or in the wild,
or in rodeos and exhibitions,
they’re exempt from those
same protections.”
Michelson noted the ulti-
mate goal of the campaign
would be to ensure all animals
in Oregon have the same rights
and protections that companion
animals enjoy.
“Largely, what our cam-
paign is focused on is the right
for animals not to be killed or
injured, to not be neglected,
and to not be forcibly impreg-
nated or forcibly mastur-
bated,” he said. “Our focus is
very intentionally on that, and
so we will continue the cam-
paign until those rights are
achieved.”
As of Tuesday, March 15,
the IP13 Facebook page has
344 followers, and its postings
attract more negative comments
than supportive ones. If the pro-
posal passes — either now or
in 2024 — it likely would face
lengthy legal scrutiny, accord-
ing to Jacob Mannis, the deputy
district attorney for Oregon who
handles animal cruelty cases.
“It would require a lot of
things to happen before it would
become the law,” he said. “I
assume that there would be a
round of lawsuits before any-
thing gets enforced, and then
there would have to be a law
enforcement agency that would
investigate, a prosecutor that
would prosecute and ultimately
a jury that would convict,
because anybody in Oregon
who’s been accused of a crime
has a right to a trial by jury.”
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