FROM PAGE ONE
SATURDAY, APRIL 9, 2022
THE OBSERVER — A7
TROOPER
Continued from Page A1
High School bus on the side of Highway
26 in Prairie City and approached to check
on the occupants, who turned out to be the
school’s boys and girls basketball teams.
The engine was still running, so the bus
had heat, but Blood learned the basketball
teams would be stuck in the area for some
time as their replacement bus made its way
to their location from Union. He also learned
the kids riding the bus were hungry and that
no restaurants or convenience stores were
open in the immediate area.
Blood then drove the 13 miles to John
Day and found lights on in The Outpost
restaurant, but the establishment was closed.
But he saw a woman working inside and
knocked on the door.
After he explained the situation, the
woman agreed to turn the ovens back on and
make fi ve large pizzas for the stranded kids.
Blood paid for the pizzas — two pepperonis,
one Hawaiian, a meat lover’s and a combo —
out of his own pocket and delivered the food
to the hungry kids back in Prairie City.
Blood has worked in law enforcement for
20 years. His fi rst posting was as a police
offi cer in Cornelius, southwest of Portland,
in 2002. From there, he made his way to the
Hillsboro Police Department in late 2009. In
November of 2018 Blood was hired by the
Oregon State Police, and he’s been stationed
in John Day since early 2019.
Blood has a son on the John Day bas-
ketball team, and on Feb. 11 he had com-
bined all of his breaks for the day into one in
order to go watch him play against the Union
team that evening. Following the game,
Blood returned to work and spotted the bro-
ken-down bus while on patrol in Prairie City.
“I saw the bus at probably around
9:30 p.m., and the game was long over by
then,” he said.
The bus was parked beside the minimart,
and Blood didn’t think anything of it at fi rst.
“I thought it was a Prairie City bus coming
back into town dropping kids off .”
Jumping into action
But after seeing it was a Union bus,
he realized it was likely having mechanical
trouble. He turned around and talked to the
occupants to fi nd out what type of problems
they were having.
He learned it would be 2-1/2 hours before
their replacement bus would be arriving
from Union. The Union girls team had
played the Grant Union Lady Prospectors
early that night and had gotten dinner at the
Dairy Queen in John Day during the boys’
game. The boys, however, hadn’t had any-
thing to eat yet. It was this information that
pushed Blood into action and sent him to The
Outpost.
Shirley Taylor was one of the people
Justin Davis/Blue Mountain Eagle
The Oregon State Police awarded these challenge
coins to Trooper William Blood for going above
the call of duty and feeding the Union High School
basketball teams when their bus broke down Feb.
11, 2022, in Prairie City.
Justin Davis/Blue Mountain Eagle
Shirley Taylor works at The Outpost in John Day on
Friday, April 1, 2022. Taylor and a coworker were
cleaning up when Oregon State Police Trooper
William Blood came knocking on Feb. 11, but they
didn’t hesitate to restart the ovens to make pizza
for stranded teenagers from Union High School.
working at The Outpost that night. She said
she and another employee were cleaning the
restaurant after closing when Blood knocked
on the door and asked if there was anything
they could do for the bus full of hungry kids
in Prairie City.
“He explained what the dilemma was and
that these kids were going to be there for a
while,” Taylor said.
Taylor and her coworker swung into
action, fi ring up the ovens and making fi ve
large pizzas for the stranded kids — even
though Blood’s request was unique.
“We’ve helped out a lot of diff erent people
over the years,” Taylor said, “but nothing like
this.”
Fortunately, Taylor added, Blood’s timing
was just right — if he’d shown up much later,
nobody would’ve been at the restaurant to
help the kids.
“It was probably 15, 20 minutes before he
missed us,” she said.
Blood said it didn’t take much convincing
to get the Outpost crew to make the pizzas.
“They were happy to do this, and I give
them all the thanks in the world for doing
that because they certainly didn’t have to,”
Blood said. “They had everything cleaned up
and they got it all dirty again.”
Union High School Athletic Director
Chris Dunlap wasn’t at the event, but he was
notifi ed that the bus was having issues. As an
athletic director, he said, he was thinking of
the kids and their safety.
“When I hear that, the fi rst thought is are
the kids going to be OK?” he said. “Is the bus
running and does it have heat?”
The team had planned to stop in Baker
City to get a bite to eat on their way home,
but the bus breakdown derailed those plans.
Dunlap called Blood’s actions a “lifesaver”
and said what he did “goes a long ways
showing small-town community and sup-
port. It reassured me that people do care
about each other and take care of each other,
especially in Eastern Oregon.”
Like Taylor, Dunlap said he’s never heard
of anything like this happening.
“I’ve heard of maybe checking on some-
body or running to make a phone call for
somebody,” he said. “Never somebody to
turn around and say, ‘Hey, those kids are
hungry,’ and then fi nd a business that is
open, get enough pizzas to feed everybody
and then pay for that themselves. I’ve never
heard of it, and I’ve been around athletics for
a while.”
Felt like a ‘rock star’
Dunlap said the students fi nally made
it back to Union sometime around 1 a.m.
Blood’s actions were met with relief and grat-
itude from the coaches and went a long way
toward making the mechanical issues the
teams were suff ering through manageable.
Dunlap said he never got to speak with
Blood personally, but the trooper’s actions
speak to the nature of people in Eastern
Oregon.
“We have rivalries and we want our
teams to win, but we still take care of each
other when the time comes,” Dunlap said.
“We separate those rivalries for the sake of
humanity.”
Blood said he felt like a “rock star” when
the kids saw him pull the pizzas from the
passenger seat of his patrol vehicle.
“I stepped onto the bus and I honestly
couldn’t tell you (how, but) the pizzas were
gone,” he said.
Following the pizza delivery, Blood said,
one of the Union basketball players told his
teammates to get out of his way because he
was “going to give that man a hug,” adding,
“that started the long line of hugs from the
kids.”
Blood said his own experiences as a high
school athlete aroused his sympathies for the
stranded basketball teams.
“I played sports in high school,” he said,
“and I know what it is like to be in a small
town where nothing is open and you’re
hungry.”
Blood’s act of kindness did not go unno-
ticed by his supervisors with the Oregon
State Police.
For his deeds that night, he was awarded
a certifi cate of recognition and two challenge
coins, one from OSP’s John Day outpost and
the other from the agency’s Ontario, Burns
and John Day area command.
Lt. Mark Duncan presented Blood with
the challenge coins and certifi cate in a brief
ceremony at the John Day OSP outpost on
Wednesday, March 30, noting that the chal-
lenge coins are not handed out often and
should be held in high regard.
Duncan said Blood “went above and
beyond, showing compassion, and that
Trooper Blood represents the Oregon State
Police and their core values well.”
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