A8
News
Blue Mountain Eagle
Wednesday, July 1, 2015
Complaints pile up against proposed private campground
By Tim Trainor
Blue Mountain Eagle
A proposed campground
geared to motorcycle riders
has elicited complaints from
neighbors, and will need to
go before the county plan-
ning commission before it can
open.
Robert Ake had initially
planned to open John Day
Motorcycle Campground at
59154 Trafton Lane on July
1, in time for the big Fourth
of July weekend. He owns 19
acres of property there, and
wanted to deYelop ¿ Ye or si[
acres into 25 tent camp sites
and market them to motor-
cyclists and bicyclists riding
through John Day.
But Ake quickly found out
starting a business is not as
easy as just hanging an open
sign on the door.
After he made thousands
of adYertising À yers, joined
the Grant County Cham-
The Eagle/ Tim Trainor
Robert Ake has cleared part of his 19 acres located on Trafton Lane, preparing
to open a private campground for motorcycle and bicycle riders. Neighbors
have complained about Ake’s plan.
ber of Commerce and got in
touch with cycling groups
throughout the Northwest,
Ake learned quickly that there
were a few hurdles standing
between him and operation.
According to Shannon
Springer, secretary at the
Grant County planning de-
partment, si[ neighbors haYe
signed complaints against the
proposed business.
Those complaints cited
worries about increased traf-
¿ c and noise, ¿ re protection
issues, how increased sewage
and garbage would be han-
dled, as well as the general
incompatibility of locating
the business in a residential
area.
Ake said he has received
copies of the complaints, and
that he was disappointed his
neighbors didn’t come to him
¿ rst. He said there will be
no motorcycle riding on the
site, and no place for RVs or
trailers to hook into electrici-
ty or septic services. He said
for light travelers, his camp-
ground will offer a quieter,
more private and more com-
fortable e[perience than the
county fairgrounds. He hoped
to soon be able to offer show-
er and bathroom facilities, but
that would not be available
immediately. He is working
with the city of John Day to
get additional water to the
property, he said.
“I’ve been here for 20
years,” said Ake. “I’ve al-
ready lost one son (who had
to move away to ¿ nd work.
I want to start something that
can allow me and my family
to stay here.”
Ake said after his initial
advertising blitz, he received
lots of inquiries, and believes
there is a need in the area for
a campground like the one he
has proposed.
Those inquiries will have
to go un¿ lled at least until Au-
gust. Ake has been told that the
business cannot open until it
goes through the planning and
zoning process and Springer
said the August meeting is as
soon as that can be complet-
ed. The process will begin at
a meeting on July 14. People
will also have the opportunity
to testify for and against the
project at that time.
—Tim Trainor is the inter-
im editor of The Blue Moun-
tain Eagle. He can be reached
at ttrainor@eastoregonian.
com.
SpaceX rocket carrying local science project ends in failure, erupts
By Blue Mountain Eagle and
Associated Press
An unmanned SpaceX
rocket carrying a Grant
Union Junior/Senior student
team science project, sup-
plies and a ¿ rst-of-its-kind
docking port to the Interna-
tional Space Station broke
Jerry
“ Jerry goes above and beyond
what is expected of him. ”
apart Sunday shortly after
liftoff. It was a severe blow to
NASA, still reeling from pre-
vious failed shipments.
The craft, Dragon, was car-
rying 2 student e[periments
in all. The local project was
designed by ¿ ve Grant Union
Junior/Senior High students
— Zack Dieter, Elijah Hum-
bird, Duane Stokes, Dante
Valentine and Cauy Weav-
er. They were ninth-graders
when they teamed up last fall
to compete for a spot on the
space rocket.
Sonna Smith, Grant Union
Junior/Senior High science
teacher, con¿ rmed Sunday
morning it was the rocket car-
rying their project.
Smith said, “This has
happened before and the
students were able to re-fly
their project.”
of space station cargo was
on board, including the first
docking port designed for
future commercial crew cap-
sules.
“We appear to have had
a launch vehicle failure,”
announced NASA commen-
tator George Diller. Data
stopped flowing from the
Falcon 9 rocket around 2
minutes and 19 seconds, he
said. No astronauts were on
board.
The rocket shattered
while traveling at 2,900
mph, about 27 miles up. Ev-
erything appeared to go well
in the flight until the rocket
went supersonic.
SpaceX founder and chief
e[ecutive Elon Musk later
said an over pressurization
occurred in the liquid-o[y-
gen tank of the rocket’s up-
per stage.
Losing this shipment
— which included replace-
ments for items lost in
two previous failed supply
flights — was a huge set-
back for NASA in more than
one way. The space agency
is counting on private indus-
try to transport cargo — and
eventually astronauts — to
the orbiting lab. The Cali-
fornia-based SpaceX is one
of the contenders.
This is the second failed
station shipment in a row and
the third in eight months.
Dragon had been carrying
replacement food, clothes
and science e[periments for
items lost in those two mis-
haps. The seven previous
SpaceX supply runs, dating
back to 2012, had gone e[-
ceedingly well.
Interim editors take helm at Eagle for summer
Blue Mountain Eagle
– Travis, manager, Wildhorse Resort & Casino, Pendleton
Scotta Callister, editor of
Blue Mountain Eagle for the
past eight years, retired June
26.
The newspaper is current-
ly interviewing for a full-time
editor to replace Callister,
and in the interim will em-
Promoting community jobs for people
with developmental disabilities
Read more
about Jerry’s
success story:
DRIVERS WANTED
WITH CARS
JULY 18, 2015
Grant County Fairgrounds
Derby Entry Fee
$50/car, driver & 1 pit crew
Pit Pass - $30/per person
Trophies Plus $250 / each heat
In October 2014 the same
incident happened and they
were able to send their proj-
ect up again. Smith and the
students are awaiting official
word on if they will be given
the opportunity to fly again.
She hopes to hear within a
week from the company.
The science project was
to be returned to Grant Union
Junior/Senior High after the
estimated 42-day mission to
be placed on display.
The accident happened
about 2-1/2 minutes into the
flight from Cape Canaveral,
Fla. A billowing white cloud
emerged in the sky, growing
bigger and bigger, then fiery
plumes shot out of where
the rocket was supposed
to be, and pieces could be
seen falling into the Atlan-
tic. More than 5,200 pounds
John Day, Oregon
ploy some journalists from
inside the EO Media Group
to oversee the paper’s news
coverage.
Tim Trainor, deputy man-
aging editor of the East Ore-
gonian in Pendleton, covered
the desk until July 1.
He will be replaced by
Dave Fisher, who was owner
of the North Coast Citizen,
has served as editor-publish-
er of the Estacada News and
worked at the Capital Press,
which is owned by the EO
Media Group. He will be in
John Day from July 8 until
Aug. 5.
He will be assisted by
Nancy McCarthy from July
29 through Aug. 29. McCar-
thy recently retired as editor
of the Cannon Beach Gazette
on the Oregon coast, another
EO Media Group newspaper.
According to Blue Moun-
tain Eagle publisher Marissa
Williams, the group of inter-
im editors are all e[perienced
journalists, and will continue
the high quality work that
Callister instituted.
“The Eagle was fortunate
to have someone of Scotta’s
caliber as editor for eight
years,” said Williams. “She
was a champion for our com-
munities and helped inform
our readers. I am optimistic
we will ¿ nd a replacement
who will follow in her foot-
steps.
“My goal is to ¿ nd some-
one who values our commu-
nity and way of life as much
as we do, while upholding
the integrity of the newspa-
per.”
• Read Rules
• No Imperials
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