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About The Blue Mountain eagle. (John Day, Or.) 1972-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 7, 2022)
PENDLETON ROUNDUP MAGAZINE | INSIDE Wednesday, September 7, 2022 154th Year • No. 36 • 16 Pages • $1.50 MyEagleNews.com Oregon Capital Bureau Candidates for governor: Republican Christine Drazan, left, Democrat Tina Kotek and non-affi l- iated Betsy Johnson. Contributed Photo/Cycle Oregon Cycle Oregon is coming to Grant and Wheel- er counties Sept. 10-17. Cycle Oregon rolling into Grant County By JUSTIN DAVIS Blue Mountain Eagle JOHN DAY — Around 1,000 cyclists are preparing to descend on Grant and Wheeler counties for a weeklong ride that will start and end in John Day while passing through Monument, Fossil, Mitchell and Dayville. Riders will arrive in John Day on Satur- day, Sept. 10, and spend the night in town before starting their ride on Sunday. Setup crews for the event will arrive in town on Wednesday, Sept. 7. Also coming with the riders will be an array of services and support personnel for event participants, including a beer tent, food trucks, a coff ee wagon, showers, bike technicians, live music and even a massage service. The length of the ride will vary, with rid- ers having the choice of a short route of 272 miles with no ride day options, an alternate paved route of 352 miles and a route with all optional routes (including traveling on gravel) that is 443 miles. The longest trek of the event will be a more than 70-mile ride from Mitchell to Dayville on the event’s sixth day. The appearance of Cycle Oregon in Grant County provides opportunities for local organizations to raise money through signing up for paid tasks like serving dinner and manning rest stops for the riders. Tammy Bremner of the Grant County Chamber of Commerce said people are still needed to serve din- ner to the riders on Friday, Sept. 16, in John Day. A historic race Q&A with Oregon’s three leading candidates for governor By SIERRA DAWN McCLAIN Capital Press Editor’s note: See the full version of this Q&A on our website at MyEagleNews.com O n Nov. 8, Oregonians will elect a new governor. Several factors make this race unique and explain why it’s garnering national attention. First, many Oregonians are disenchanted with the state’s current leadership. Outgoing Gov. Kate Brown, a Democrat, is America’s least popular governor, according to a 2022 poll from the data fi rm Morning Consult. The race is also capturing national inter- est because it’s a tight contest. Sabato’s Crys- tal Ball at the University of Virginia Center for Politics, a nonpartisan newsletter with a high rate of accuracy in predicting elec- tion results, labeled Oregon’s outcome as a “toss-up.” Oregon is hosting an unusual race led by a trio of women who are all recent mem- bers of the state Legislature: former state House Speaker Tina Kotek, running as a Democrat; former House Minority Leader Christine Drazan, running as a Republican; and former state Sen. Betsy Johnson, run- ning as unaffi liated, formerly a moderate Democrat. If Kotek wins, she will be America’s fi rst out lesbian governor. If Drazan wins, she will be the fi rst Republican to win an Ore- gon gubernatorial race since 1982. If John- son wins, she will be the fi rst independent governor to win since 1930. The Capital Press sat down with each of the candidates to talk about issues that matter to rural Oregonians. Each candidate answered the same set of questions. The candidates’ answers have been shortened for readability. Words in paren- thesis are written by the Capital Press to add context and clarity. Follow-up questions are indicated in italics. Capital Press: If you are elected, how do you plan to bridge the political divide between Oregon’s urban and rural communities? Johnson: “Well, show up is the fi rst one. We’ve just come back from a trip to Eastern Oregon. I think being there is important and understanding that whether you’re making silicon chips, or wood chips, or potato chips out in Boardman, or fi sh and chips in Asto- ria, that we have throughout Oregon dif- ferent micro-economies, and the governor needs to understand that.” See Q&A, Page A16 123RF The Oregon Capitol See Cycle, Page A16 Elections take shape for Grant County voters By JUSTIN DAVIS Blue Mountain Eagle GRANT COUNTY — Local and statewide elections are starting to come into focus roughly two months out from the November midterms. Here in Grant County, voters will elect numerous city councilors, mayors and conservation district board members. They will also decide a hotly debated pool bond measure. In John Day, fi ve people are running for three available city council seats, and there are contested mayoral races in John Day, Prairie City and Granite. Grant County Clerk Brenda Percy is running unopposed for reelection. Statewide, Oregonians will elect a new governor following the end of Kate Brown’s two-term limit. Democratic Sen. Ron Wyden is running for election to his fi fth term in the U.S. Senate, facing a challenge from Republican nominee Jo Rae Perkins. In the Oregon Legislature, all 60 seats in the House of Representatives will be up for election in November, along with half of the 30 Senate seats. Four statewide ballot measures will go before the voters in November as well. Measure 111 is a proposed amend- ment to the Oregon Constitution that would ensure every resident of Oregon has access to cost-eff ective and clinically appropriate health care as a fundamental right. Measure 112 would repeal language that allows slavery or involuntary servi- tude as punishments and would autho- rize a court, probation or parole agency to order alternatives to incarceration for con- victed individuals. Measure 113 would exclude state legislators from seeking re-election if they had unexcused absences from leg- islative sessions. Finally, Measure 114 would outline a procedure to apply for a permit to pur- chase a fi rearm and would ban maga- zines that hold more than 10 rounds of ammunition. Locally, the most well-known and divisive ballot measure before the vot- ers this November is the John Day/Can- yon City Parks & Recreation District pool bond. The $4 million bond mea- sure failed in May with a count of 802- 802 and was recently put back on the November ballot following a push by a local pro-pool political action committee. Another pair of county ballot mea- sures will let voters decide whether to allow medical use of psilocybin mush- rooms within the unincorporated county. A separate vote on medical psilocybin mushrooms will also be on the ballot in Prairie City. A LOOK AT COUNTY RACES John Day: Mayor; two-year term: Mayor; two-year term: Mayor; two-year term: David Mosteit Georgia Patterson Ron Lundbom Sandra Smith Scott Offi cer Heather Rookstool Dorothy Jewell City council; three open- ings, four-year term: Long Creek: City council; three open- ings, four-year term: Shannon Adair Don Porter Richard “Richie” Colbeth Ron Phillps City council; two openings, four-year term: Katrina Randleas Position 3: Brent Near Sherrie Rininger Position 4: Denise Porter Canyon City: Monument: City council; three open- ings, four-year term: City council; three posi- tions open, four-year term: Jim Johnston Position 4: Kegan Forrester Les Percy Dayville: Position 5: Sherry Car- penter Mayor; two-year term: Position 6: Ron Ford Valli Hettinga Mount Vernon: City council; three open- ings, four-year term: Mayor; two-year term: Position 2: David P. Billar City council; two openings, four-year term: Position 3: Robert Walten- berg Mayor; two-year term: Kenny Delano Lori Kerr Chase McClung Seneca: City council; one opening, four-year term: Barbara Northington Grant County Soil and Water District: Zone 1; one opening, four- year term: At large Position 2; one opening, four-year term: Roger Ediger Monument Soil and Water District: Zone 1; one opening, four- year term: No candidate fi led Zone 3; one opening, four- year term: Lisa Atkin Position 4: Ilah Bennett Justin Deming At large Position 2; one opening, four-year term: Granite: Prairie City: No candidate fi led
