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About The Blue Mountain eagle. (John Day, Or.) 1972-current | View Entire Issue (July 15, 2015)
DEMOLITION DRIVER GETS READY FOR BIG EVENT Blue Mountain – PAGE 8A EAGLE The Grant County’s newspaper since 1868 W EDNESDAY , J ULY 15, 2015 • N O . 28 • 16 P AGES • $1.00 www.MyEagleNews.com Forest Service gets earful from county residents Listening session first regarding national forest usage By Angel Carpenter Blue Mountain Eagle JOHN DAY – Citizens from Grant County, and neighboring counties, gath- ered at a July 7 meeting to raise their concerns regarding forest access issues on the Malheur National Forest. About 50 people were in attendance at the public lis- tening session held at the Grant County Regional Air- port conference room in John Day, including Forest Ser- vice of¿ cials, members of the Grant County Public Forest Commission, Grant County Access Advisory Board, Blue Mountain Forest Partners, Citizens for Public Access, County Court, and others. Jack Southworth of Seneca facilitated the four-hour-long meeting, asking questions and allowing all in the room an opportunity to respond. The meeting was set up by County Judge Scott Myers with Forest Supervisor Steve Beverlin and is the ¿ rst of three public listening meet- ings with three topics to be covered – forest access, graz- ing, and pace and scale of res- toration work on the Malheur National Forest. Sitting in a large circle, the audience was asked what con- cerns they have regarding for- est access. Several said forest Frances Preston of Prairie City, left, speaks at the meeting, as her sister, Billie Jo George, of Austin and Forest Supervisor Steve Beverlin listen. The Eagle Angel Carpenter See ACCESS, Page A7 New CEO leads at Blue Mountain Hospital The physicians are excel- lent, said Mee, and all the nurses are certi¿ ed in Ad- vanced Cardiovascular Life Support (ACLS), Pediat- ric Advanced Life Support By Angel Carpenter (PALS) and Neonatal Re- Blue Mountain Eagle suscitation Program (NRP). He said the physicians and JOHN DAY – Randall nurses’ skill level should Mee, Blue Mountain Hospi- encourage the community’s tal District’s new CEO, has con¿ dence in the care they traveled the world working will receive at the hospital. in hospital management – After just three weeks on and has plenty of praise for the job at BMH, Mee has set all that John Day’s medical high standards for the staff. facility has to offer. “We’re working toward Mee began the job June a goal to become one of 15, succeeding Bob Hous- HealthCare’s top 100 facil- er, who retired in late De- ities in the nation,” he said. cember after 15 years with His priority areas of fo- the district – cus include Houser was assuring qual- followed by ity staff, qual- interim CEO ity care and Margie Moli- compassion, tor who took and support- the helm for ing the staff’s ¿ ve months. development Mee has in their areas been in- of expertise. volved in Mee said The Eagle/Angel Carpenter he health care appreci- for 40 years, Blue Mountain Hospital’s ates the sup- working in new CEO Randall Mee port the com- administra- chats with Linda Watson munity has tion for 25 of the Eastern Oregon shown for the Coordinated Care hospital. years. He was Organization, adding a “As a re- president and meeting to his schedule. sult, we have CEO at St. some of the Anthony’s Hospital, a criti- best medical equipment,” he cal access hospital in Pend- said. leton, from 2008-11, and be- He gave some exam- fore that was administrator ples of what he feels makes at Cottage Grove Communi- BMH a valuable facility, in- ty Hospital. cluding a quality staffed ER His work overseas in- and radiology department cludes a year at the cultur- with a large bore MRI ma- ally diverse Oasis Hospital chine, also echocardiogram, in the United Arab Emir- respiratory therapy, physi- ates, 2011-2012, and three cal therapy, anesthesia, and months in Jakarta, last year, well-equipped operating and consulting for a university birthing rooms. hospital. He also highlighted the Mee said he’s impressed quality staff and services, with the Blue Mountain including doctors at the Hospital staff and facility. onsite clinic, as well as a surgeon available full time, ambulance service, visiting specialists, home health, hospice, therapy (physical and respiratory), Care Cen- ter and all the support staff. “As you look at the con- tinuum of care, for a health care system, to have all of See CEO, Page A16 Randall Mee sets goals with hospital staff S TUDENT ART SUMMERTIME FUN JD’s pool showing signs of age By Dave Fisher Blue Mountain Eagle T o the casual observer it’s business as usual at John Day’s municipal pool, owned by the city and man- aged by the John Day/Can- yon City Parks and Recreation District. It’s summertime and on any given day countless area school-aged children splash about Gleason Pool enjoying the carefree days of summer. It’s an annu- al tradition that has unfolded this time of year for as long as most people can remember. However, beneath the surface problems exist that threaten the shutdown of the 57-year- old pool. “Ev- ery year, Eagle photos/Dave Fisher Kim Ward, program director for the John Day/Canyon City Parks and Recreation District, manages the pool and serves as a lifeguard during the three months the pool is open during the summer. we’re not sure if this pool is going to hold water,” said Kimberly Ward, program director for the district, who, during the summer months, takes on the role of pool manager and lifeguard as well. This year, Ward was keeping her ¿ n- gers crossed that the pool, which opens the Monday after the ¿ nal day of school and remains open through August, would open on time. It was a close call as repairs to leaks and the pool’s boiler were ¿ nished the Friday before. It’s not the ¿ rst time this has hap- pened, according to Ward. Last year, a pump had to be replaced prior to open- ing the pool. In recent years, Ward es- timates that upwards of 70 percent of the original galvanized pipes have been repaired or replaced. “We’ve (including city of¿ cials) known the past few years as the pool See POOL, Page A7 :etter Fooler weatKer aids ¿ re¿ gKters Mother Nature comes through with much needed rain Blue Mountain Eagle Babe Nash “Wind” Grant Union Junior-Senior High School Still a magnet for summertime fun and organized swim lessons, John Day’s Gleason Pool is aging but opened on time this summer despite last minute repairs. DAY9ILLE – )ire¿ ghters battling two blazes in Grant County near Dayville got a much needed dose of cooler and wetter weather towards the end of last week and over the weekend. As a result, the Cor- ner Creek and West )ork ¿ res did not increase signi¿ cantly in size. As of Tuesday morn- ing, the Corner Creek Fire was 85 percent contained, up from 40 percent a week ago, while the West Fork Fire, located in rougher terrain on the north slope of the Aldrich Mountain range within an older ¿ re scar, was 15 percent contained. Corner Creek Fire update The lightning-caused Cor- ner Creek Fire, which started June 29, remains at 29,407 acres. Widespread signi¿ cant precipitation occurred over most of the ¿ re area in the past few days and on the western À ank, ¿ re¿ ghters continued to mop-up and patrol along the containment lines, extinguish- ing any burning and smolder- ing materials. Fire personnel, reduced to 334, will continue to patrol the ¿ re on the eastern À ank along the South Fork John Day River and road. Although ¿ re line construc- tion is now completed around the entire perimeter of the ¿ re there is a dif¿ cult section of in- direct ¿ re line within the Black Canyon Wilderness that needs to be secured. To ensure this steep and rugged section of the ¿ re is contained, a burnout operation likely needs to oc- cur when the weather and fuel conditions allow. Crew and re- source numbers will be reduced awaiting the arrival of favor- able burning conditions antic- ipated later in the week with a warming and drying trend. Fire managers expect reduced ¿ re behavior potential for the next several days. See FIRES, Page A16