Blue Mountain
EAGLE
The
FARMERS MARKET
Great turnout for market’s opening day
– PAGE A9
Grant County’s newspaper since 1868
W EDNESDAY , J UNE 24, 2015
New PC super
joining school
By Angel Carpenter
Blue Mountain Eagle
PRAIRIE CITY – The
Prairie City School Board has
hired Julie Gurczynski as the
new superintendent/principal.
Meeting June 17, the board
– including president Marge
Walton and members Doug
Emmel, Andrea Ennis, Mike
Wall and Nancy Hitz – voted
unanimously to hire Gurczyns-
ki.
“We felt like she wants every
student in our school to learn in
a positive environment,” Wal-
ton said. “She’s very knowl-
edgeable in budget and policy
enforcement. These are the
qualities we were looking for –
someone who could take over
the leadership of our school
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Gurczynski has been the
K-12 principal at North Pow-
der Charter School for the past
year.
She worked previously in
Gamble, Alaska, for two years
where she was an assistant prin-
cipal, and she was a Family And
Consumer Sciences and health
teacher for 18 years at Kennedy
High School in Mt. Angel.
Gurczynski was in Prai-
rie City last Thursday to train
with outgoing Superintendent/
Principal Ryan Gerry. She said
she’s looking forward to start-
ing the job.
“I appreciate the warm wel-
come that I’ve received, and
I’m excited to get to know the
students and staff and continue
the work that Mr. Gerry and the
staff and school board have al-
ready done,” she said.
Gerry is leaving the district
to begin his new post as prin-
cipal at Grant Union Junior-Se-
nior High School on July 1.
Walton said Gurczynski was
also one of the candidates for
Dayville School’s superinten-
dent/principal position.
“We took one of them,”
Walton said. “We had a strong
pool of candidates, but she
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viewing for the Prairie City
School position were Jen-
nifer Johnson of the Jordan
Valley School District; Brad
Dunten, athletic director/PE/
health teacher at Baker High
School; and Angela Campbell
of the Cambridge Middle-High
School in Cambridge, Idaho.
The Prairie City school
board is down two members,
with write-in winners Lind-
say Rausch and Ryan Wil-
liams due to be sworn in at
the next meeting, at 6:30 p.m.
Wednesday, July 15. They also
“whole-heartedly” supported
the board’s decision, Walton
said, adding the two served on
the community committee that
made the selection.
Walton said the board will
set a date for a community
potluck so the public can meet
Gurczynski and the new school
board members as well as the
new 5-6-grade teacher, history
teacher, two educational as-
sistants, head of maintenance,
boys varsity basketball coach
and three junior high coaches.
• N O . 25
Blue Mountain Eagle
JOHN DAY — Lightning
from Sunday’s thunderstorms
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keep crews busy during hot,
dry conditions in the forecast
for the rest of the week.
The Malheur National
Forest reported three small
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Mountain Ranger District on
Monday, with crews respond-
ing to each.
• $1.00
www.MyEagleNews.com
A DAY FOR
FAMILY FUN
Popular event draws
another big crowd
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up on MNF district
Forecast: Hot
weather ahead
as ODF tightens
restrictions
• 18 P AGES
Fire open
house
The Malheur National Forest
fire management staff will hold
an informational open house
on wildland fire suppression
and seasonal outlooks from
5-7 p.m. Thursday, July 9, at
the supervisor’s office in John
Day. The public is invited.
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continue to monitor for hold-
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as forest fuels continue to
dry out. The weather fore-
cast calls for temperatures to
rise toward 100 degrees this
weekend.
See FIRE, Page A8
By Angel Carpenter
J
Blue Mountain Eagle
OHN DAY – They came, they played,
they had a blast.
Judging by the 625 sno-cones giv-
en away last Saturday – and all the
smiling children and other family
members – Family Fun Day was a hit.
There were also 158 kids enjoying the in-
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80 swam at Gleason Pool.
“We had more booths this year with more
activities for the kids,” said organizer Teresa
Aasness, executive director of Families First
Resource Center.
This was the eighth year for the event, which
Eagle photos/Angel Carpenter
Aasness said began when several groups holding
separate activities decided to pool their resources. Isaiah Evans, right, and his sister Paisley Smith of John
“We wanted to create an affordable family Day enjoy the Warm Spring Tribes’ miniature golf course
during Family Fun Day. Top photo: Six-year-old Brooklynn
event for Grant County,” she said.
Mumpfield of Prairie City splashes at the water slides at
See FUN, Page A8 Family Fun Day.
BLAST OFF!
Hundreds attend Grant
County Health Fair
GU experiment set for space
teamed up last fall to com-
pete for a spot on the space
JOHN DAY – T-minus 3 shot.
days.
The competition is an
As of Wednesday, that’s ongoing promotion by the
the countdown to launch for QDWLRQDO6WXGHQW6SDFHÀLJKW
a spacecraft that will carry a Experiments Program, an ef-
Grant County science proj- fort to encourage real-world
ect into space.
science and engineering ed-
The SpaceX-7 mission ucation.
is scheduled to lift off this
In all, 33 teams from
Friday from Cape Canaveral across the county entered
Air Force Station in Florida, the local contest, organized
bound for the International by Grant Union science
Space Station.
teacher Sonna Smith. The
The unmanned craft top three advanced to a re-
will carry 27 student ex- view by a national science
periments in all. The local panel, with just one winning
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Grant Union Junior/Senior
The team’s entry focused
High students — Zack Di- on how microgravity might
eter, Elijah Humbird, Duane affect variation of protein
Stokes, Dante Valentine and structures. The experiment
Cauy Weaver. They were
See SPACE, Page A8
ninth-graders when they
Blue Mountain Eagle
By Angel Carpenter
Blue Mountain Eagle
The Eagle/Angel Carpenter
Dental hygienist Sue Philo
of John Day Advantage
Dental checks over Devrie
Delaney’s teeth as Kaylee
Huffman, 6, Cadence
Delaney, 6, Cody Huffman,
9, and dental assistant
Kaylee Lemcke look on at
the health fair.
JOHN DAY – The 21st
Annual Grant County Health
Fair featured the traditional
low-cost blood testing and
an array of informational
booths.
In all, 475 people took ad-
vantage of the blood draws,
including a test that checks
cholesterol and triglyceride
levels as well as blood glu-
cose, calcium, potassium,
blood urea nitrogen and more.
Other blood checks avail-
able included thyroid, A1C
and PSA for men.
Even
more
visitors
streamed through the doors
of the Grant Union Junior-Se-
nior High School gym to see
56 booths available this year,
up by 17 from last year.
Burns resident Wayne
Bush, who was checking out
the booths, said he and his
wife have attended the health
fair the last 16 years.
“It’s well organized, and it
gets better every year,” he said.
Among the free offerings
were a hearing test, skin can-
cer screening, oral cancer
screening, checks for iron lev-
els, blood pressure and lean
body mass.
There were also free
smoothies and massages –
and plenty of giveaways such
as pens, pencils, water bottles
and key chains.
Advantage Dental staff
members gave out free tooth-
brushes and toothpaste. They
See FAIR, Page A8