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Blue Mountain Eagle
Wednesday, May 27, 2015
Welcome to Grant
County – Oregon’s
Eclipse Central
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country, gold country,
steelhead country,
and a frontier paradise – but
the stars tell us that’s not
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a span of about 2 minutes,
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A total solar eclipse is
coming to North America in
August 2017, and the path
of totality couldn’t be more
convenient for viewers who
live in or travel to Grant
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The trajectory of totality,
where the viewing is best
and longest, arcs across a
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Portland, Pendleton, Eugene
and Bend – it’s going to miss
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however, with the path
covering all but a sliver of
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county has greater land mass
in the prime viewing path
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Even better, the show will
be mid-morning in August,
when clear skies are more
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with our wide open spaces
and big sky, and it starts to
look like this will be one of
the great places to view the
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eclipses are rock stars, no
pun intended, in the celestial
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people travel great distances,
even across the globe, to
Fun in the sun
Visit www.eclipse2017.org for
information about the eclipse and
safe-viewing tips.
The site even has a countdown –
As of this issue, it’s 816 days un-
til the shadow arrives on the West
Coast.
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Visitors are already
booking rooms in the path;
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urging tourist-dependent
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could position the county
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That’s only a little tongue
in cheek – the fun comes with
a serious chance to showcase
the beauty and natural
wonders of this area to
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travelers with their funny
spectacles will spend roughly
2 minutes focused on the
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for days before and after,
taking in the scenery, staying
in local motels and B&Bs,
eating in local restaurants,
and buying all things country,
western and eclipse-
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Aside from a mini-business
boom, a proper celebration
could generate a lot of
goodwill and appreciation for
this great part of Oregon and
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always worth firing up the
barbecue and putting out the
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Solar eclipse to darken
Oregon skies in 2017
Pendleton
Portland
Bend
Path of total eclipse
Sources: www.eclipse2017.org;
www.greatamericaneclipse.com
Pr
r rairie
a
Prairie
Cit
City
John Day will experience
more than 2 minutes of
darkness during the total
eclipse when it peaks at
10:23 a.m., Aug. 21, 2017.
Alan Kenaga/EO Media Group
Blue Mountain
EAGLE
195 N. Canyon Blvd. • John Day, OR 97845
541-575-0710 • Fax 541-575-1244
Grant County’s Weekly Newspaper
USPS 226-340
John Day, Oregon
MEMBER OREGON NEWSPAPER PUBLISHERS ASSOCIATION
P UBLISHER
E DITOR
A DMINISTRATIVE A SSISTANT
E DITORIAL A SSISTANT
C OMMUNITY N EWS
S PORTS
M ARKETING R EP
C USTOMER S ERVICE R EP
Bonds of friendship form
as dog, boy learn new tricks
By Brianna Walker
To the Blue Mountain Eagle
Spike came to live with us when
he was 11 weeks old – a bumbling
puppy hidden behind a mess of wrin-
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He looked like a child play-
ing dress up in their parents closet,
his skin draped over his face and
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looked up at you with those big, sad,
drooping red eyes, you couldn’t help
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We brought him home and
watched as he tried hopelessly to
climb the steps, his enormous paws
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up and tried it again, this time whim-
pering loudly when he stepped on his
own ear causing him to come to an
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My son fell in love with this awk-
ward pup before the evening was
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husband and I to feel the same, for
a 20-pound puppy comes with little
sharp teeth and a large, weak blad-
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One hour plus three ruined socks
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mother with no puppy love – and
La Grande
Prin
neville
Prineville
Eugene
F ARMER ’ S F ATE
Marissa Williams, marissa@bmeagle.com
Scotta Callister, editor@bmeagle.com
Kristina Kreger, kristina@bmeagle.com
Cheryl Hoefler, cheryl@bmeagle.com
Angel Carpenter, angel@bmeagle.com
Angel Carpenter, angel@bmeagle.com
Kim Kell, ads@bmeagle.com
Lindsay Bullock office@bmeagle.com
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SUBSCRIPTION RATES (including online access)
Grant County
Elsewhere in Oregon
Continental U.S., Outside Oregon
Outside Continental U.S.
1 year
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Subscriptions must be paid prior to delivery
See the Blue Mountain Eagle on the Internet
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Blue Mountain Eagle
195 N. Canyon Blvd.
John Day, OR 97845-1187
Copyright © 2015 Blue Mountain Eagle
All rights reserved. No part of this publication covered by the copyright hereon may be reproduced
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truly believes the other belongs to
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like a mini pony, and his boy in turn
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The boy used his egg money to buy
his pup a bed, and the dog in turn lets
the boy sleep on it with him in his
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Wanting a dog that does tricks,
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can make his dog sit and occa-
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thing else in their relationship, it
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taught my son how to bay like a
hound; he says he can speak dog
really well now, but he doesn’t al-
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he curled up on the dog bed with
one of my favorite blankets and
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I almost didn’t have the heart
to disturb him … after all, he had
circled the bed three times before
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Brianna Walker writes about
life in the country in the Farmer’s
Fate, published occasionally in
the Blue Mountain Eagle.
F ROM THE B OOKSHELF
Fabled 1845 Meek Cutoff
inspires another tome
By Linda Driskill
To the Blue Mountain Eagle
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Is it the abundance of descen-
dants, general interest in wagon
trains, or maybe simply the rumor of
gold nuggets that makes this such a
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“Wood, Water & Grass – The
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Theona Hambleton is the latest to
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couple their hobby, spending days
combing through wagon train dia-
ries and then matching landmarks to
diaries and searching for the wagon
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fore with their theories and photos, and
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The book tells of the trail em-
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PUBLISHED EVERY WEDNESDAY BY:
EO Media Group
a new home in the
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My
10-year-
old great Pyrenees
turned up her pre-
tentious nose at the
slobbery,
smelly,
Brianna
mischievous crea-
Walker
ture my son named
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cats; they stormed around for weeks
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ter day they rolled and tumbled, and
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around the bathtub in the evening of-
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KDG
As the months passed, both boy
and pup grew – although the pup
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Soon the pup weighed in at over 100
pounds, in part, no doubt from all
of the items he would steal and eat:
hats, sunglasses, sandals, ball bear-
ings, ropes, garden hoses, motorcy-
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Now, every time he does some-
thing especially naughty and my pa-
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ER\ DQG GRJ GLJ IRU JRSKHUV %RWK
down on all fours, with dirt just a
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Guns and
dictators
Review
“Wood, Water & Grass – The Meek
Cutoff of 1845”
– By James and Theona Hambleton,
2014
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The authors claim the travelers’
fear of Indians “overrode their com-
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the cutoff – a new trail that turned out
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Indeed, it had never before had wag-
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ing 1,300 miles in 97 days to reach
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The Hambletons stand completely
behind Stephan Meek as a decent and
honest man, although he has often
been portrayed as a “conniving, devi-
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Unfortunately he was a man of
few words and thus didn’t fare well
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L ETTERS TO THE E DITOR
my son or brother a gun,
I’m going to go through all
the BS this bill calls for – I
To the Editor:
don’t think so!
Regarding Senate Bill
So if I do give away a
941: Now we know how the gun and happened to get
new governor stands with caught, I’m now a dishonest
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A majority of our leaders and spend time in jail, most
and the governor just made OLNHO\DVDIHORQ
it possible for me and many
I’ll wager this bill may
thousands of other gun VWRSSRVVLEO\DGR]HQJXQV
owners to become dishon- going to the wrong person,
est people with this stupid IRU XVH LQ D YLROHQW FULPH
ELOO,I,ZRXOGZDQWWRJLYH But it will be making thou-
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they saw the Steens Mountain, but he
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Twenty-four people perished
along the route; the Hambletons spec-
ulate that was caused by the consump-
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most famous grave is that of Sarah
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North Fork of the Malheur River near
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The authors say their goal is to
have the trail mapped, marked and
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sist that children found nuggets in a
creekbed on the trail, no mention of
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It may just have been a rumor em-
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conclude that the real gold was the
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Linda Driskill is a native of Grant
County and a volunteer at the Grant
County Library, where many books
about this perilous journey can be
found in the Oregon Room.
sands of gun owners dis-
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Folks, take a look – there
aren’t a lot of us left that
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the communists and all the
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thinking there are a lot of
people in our governments
who don’t remember, or
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lot of people died to defeat
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starting to live with it more
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ate Bill 941 is just another
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Remember the saying,
“America, home of the
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you can kiss that saying
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I hope you all honored
your veterans, especially on
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lot of them knew what was
going on today, they would
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Cliff Franklin
Prairie City
etters policy: Letters to the Editor is a forum for Blue Mountain Eagle readers to express themselves on local, state, national or world issues. Brevity
is good, but longer letters will be asked to be contained to 350 words. No personal attacks; challenge the opinion, not the person. No thank-you letters.
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