A18
NEWS
Blue Mountain Eagle
Broadband
Continued from Page A1
Other concerns
Bush said he has worked
with municipal corporations
before and, while they are a
good legal tool, there are long-
term ramifications he suggests
the county consider before it
gets into building out a broad-
band infrastructure.
Under ORS 190, two or
more governments can get
together and form agreements
to deal with issues of mutual
interest. In 2018, the issue of
mutual interest for John Day,
Seneca and Grant County was
expanding broadband internet
service countywide.
The board has stand-
ing members to represent the
interests of their communi-
ties. For Grant County, it is
Dan Becker, who also is the
co-chair. John Day chose
Elliot Sky, and Seneca chose
Walker.
The board has two at-large
members, Denise Porter from
Long Creek and Harsh Patel
of John Day. The standing
members appoint the at-large
positions to serve two-year
terms.
Nonetheless, Bush said, the
county needs to be thoughtful
about participating in an ORS
190 agreement.
“When you come together
with another entity and you
create something, build assets
or build infrastructure, you
have to think about the long
term,” Bush said.
The agreements, he said,
can be dissolved, and then
questions such as who owns
the infrastructure, how does it
get maintained and who pays
for it have to be answered.
“Those are all things that
need to be carefully looked
at before we make big-dollar
decisions on behalf of the tax-
payers,” Bush said.
Additionally, he said,
another question is what if the
technology changes in five
years. He said the county had
not considered those points
because it had not been given
the information.
Bush said he thought
the broadband project is
well-intentioned.
“We just have to make sure
that we’re not putting our-
selves on the hook and sup-
porting an infrastructure down
the road that we may or may
not even need,” Bush said.
Another concern Bush
had during the May 4 ses-
sion was that John Day was
the only entity listed on the
internet services agreement
between Grant County Digital
and Oregon Telephone Corp.
Walker said that was because
John Day is the fiduciary for
the EDA grant.
Becker, Grant County’s
representative on the digital
board, said John Day serves as
the planned point-of-presence
for the fiber optic network and
would house servers, routers
and network switches at the
fire hall.
“(The service agree-
ment) is not excluding Grant
County,” Becker said. “(OTC)
is delivering fiber optic access
to the firehall building that the
city of John Day is already
connected to.
“We have a room inside the
fire hall which we pay for,” he
said, “and (OTC) have infra-
structure in there with us.”
COVID relief dollars
There was a miscommuni-
cation between the county and
the city about the construc-
tion costs of the fiber optic
network.
According to Bush, he
was under the impression the
county was being asked to put
up $120,000 of its American
Rescue Plan Act funding as a
match to cover construction
costs, up from $67,000. Bush
added that the initial estimate
was from two to three years
prior, and costs for fiber and
construction have increased
significantly.
However, Bush said,
Green had not put out any
bids for the project and he
was waiting for Green to get
back to him with more doc-
umentation, including the
actual costs of the project.
Green said in an interview
that he and Bush had spoken
and cleared up the confusion.
Bush said the county needs to
know what the actual costs
are going to be, and Green
agreed.
“We can appreciate where
he’s coming from in want-
ing to give the county solid
costs,” Green said.
Green said he doesn’t
have a firm estimate of con-
struction costs for the proj-
ect yet.
One reason for that, he
added, is that the Grant
County Digital Network
board is waiting to learn
whether the county wants to
participate in the project so it
can determine where the fiber
lines need to be built.
It seemed to the board,
he said, that the top prior-
ity would be to connect the
county courthouse, airport
and industrial park and the
homes along the way.
Green added the board is
about five to six weeks out
from awarding bids for the
construction.
Like Bush, Green said
there was a miscommuni-
cation about using county
ARPA funds to cover con-
struction costs. He said both
John Day and Seneca had
put some of their own ARPA
money into the project and
the digital board would like
to see county ARPA dollars
go to expanding broadband
in the county, but it does not
have to tied to this specific
project.
Green said the county
could allocate funds to go
toward one of the CyberMill
locations or put money in a
reserve fund for maintenance
of the public fiber or future
upgrades.
“We think that if there was
a portion of their funds that
was reserved for that, there’s
a couple of different ways that
can be expanded and would
add value,” he said. “That
would be their call. We’re not
trying to pressure them.”
For his part, Grant County
Judge Scott Myers said the
county previously turned
down Grant County Digital
Network’s funding request
for $75,000 on the advice of
the county’s legal counsel.
“I’m just not convinced
that the (CyberMill) is the
best use of ARPA money
or county assets,” Myers
said. “I’m still open to be
convinced.”
Rappel
Continued from Page A1
Kahler said a rappel crew’s
specialty is roping into small,
remote, quick-response fires.
All of the training is stan-
dardized. So, when a crew is
called out, depending on the
location, they can be on a fire
in as little as an hour. That’s
why the training is so import-
ant between the multiple
crews, Kahler said.
“(Rappelling) is just a very
quick, efficient way to get
people on the ground where
they need to be,” he said.
Kahler said the rappel
crews do not bring on new
firefighters. Instead, they look
for experienced firefighters
who bring a solid skill set with
them.
Smith
Continued from Page A1
Coit writes that the file also
contains documentation of a
phone call that Palmer made
to Smith to catch him in a lie
about his whereabouts after
being informed by Smith’s
accuser of his GPS-tracked
location.
Additionally, Palmer tes-
tified that when he left the
Grant County Sheriff’s Office
after losing the 2020 election,
he put all of his employee files
in a taped manila envelope
and gave it to the county’s
human resources manager.
Jamie Kimberly, an assis-
tant Oregon attorney general
acting as a special prosecutor
in the trial, argued against the
motion to continue the case,
saying that Smith’s accuser
objects to any additional
postponement.
Kimberly said while the
state “unfortunately” discov-
ered new evidence the day
before the trial was origi-
nally set to begin back in
October, the prosecution has
since “owned” its part in its
response.
All along, however, the
prosecution has argued that
Smith’s personnel file and
items related to it are not rel-
evant to the case since the
Grant
Soil
& Water
ater
Conse
Conservation District
2022 Annual Meeting 6 PM
Wednesday, May 18th, 2022
6 PM
Grant County Fairgrounds
Pavilion, John Day, OR
Grant SWCD is pleased to present
Bayer Corporation representatives Kent Pittard,
Justin Hossfeld and Harry Quicke to discuss the
effectiveness and economic benefits of using
Rejuvra to control invasive annual grasses.
Grant Weed Control has been working with
Bayer Corporation and Oregon State
University Extension Service for several years
and witnessed the impacts on annual grasses
stands within Grant County.
All attendees are welcome to join the
District and the Bayer Representatives the
following morning (May, 19th) for a tour of
treatments areas within Grant County.
A sign up sheet will be available during the
meeting for interested parties.
Please Join us on May 18th to learn more about
this exciting opportunity to control invasive
annual grasses on Grant County’s rangeland!
Wednesday, May 11, 2022
Steven Mitchell/Blue Mountain Eagle
A rappeler dangles above the ground on Thursday, May 5, 2022,
during the U.S. Forest Service’s national rappel certification
training at the Grant County Regional Airport.
When the Forest Ser-
vice dispatches a crew to a
remote area, they have limited
supervision.
Typically, he said, each
crew is between two and four
people, and they go out in the
woods and make decisions on
their own.
“We’re looking for very
experienced, very fit people,”
Kahler said.
Oregon State Police, not
the Grant County Sheriff’s
Office, investigated the crimi-
nal allegations.
Kimberly said the prose-
cution is concerned the case
would continue to drag on
due to motions the defense
has filed based on evidence
that it retrieved through dis-
covery in another case — a
civil suit filed by Smith’s girl-
friend, Haley Olson, against
the county. Kimberly said
Smith’s attorneys have sat on
that discovery material for
months.
ing with Ladd-Dobler, which
Smith’s attorneys argue was
a violation of Smith’s Garrity
immunity rights.
Under a Garrity immunity,
an officer cannot be com-
pelled, by the threat of severe
discipline, to make statements
that may be used in a subse-
quent criminal proceeding.
In light of Carpenter’s tes-
timony, Smith’s attorneys
have filed a motion to have
Ladd-Dobler
disqualified
from the case and called as a
witness.
Circuit Court Judge Dan
Bunch has not yet ruled on
that motion.
During Monday’s hear-
ing, Bunch emphasized that
he has not seen anything to
make him question Kimber-
ly’s integrity.
He said he knew that she
was doing her “level best” to
gather information.
However, he vented his
displeasure with some of the
other parties involved in the
discovery process.
“I would have thought
high school students could
have done a better job of just
collecting the darn informa-
tion and getting it to me or to
you,” Bunch said, “and I’m
frustrated.”
As of press time, a new
start date for Smith’s trial
had not been set.
Motion to disqualify
prosecutor
In a hearing on the motion
to dismiss, Jim Carpenter,
Grant County’s district attor-
ney, testified that Palmer had
emailed him asking for assis-
tance in finding a legal avenue
to arrest Olson, who claimed
on social media that she had
documents that proved Smith
was innocent of the charges
brought against him.
Carpenter said he directed
Palmer to work with Gretchen
Ladd-Dobler, Wheeler Coun-
ty’s district attorney, one of
the special prosecutors, along
with Kimberly, who was han-
dling Smith’s case.
Palmer also testified that
he shared statements Smith
made in his Loudermill hear-