A8
Blue Mountain Eagle
Wednesday, July 15, 2015
WEDNESDAY
July 15, 2015
Derby dad gets
Wildcat ready to ride
JD demolition derby set for Saturday at 7
By Angel Carpenter
Blue Mountain Eagle
MT. VERNON – Wayne
Saul of Mt. Vernon has a
good handle on a wild ride.
He and several other
drivers are getting their
mean machines in top-notch
condition for Saturday’s
26th Annual Whiskey Gulch
Gang Demolition Derby.
The event is scheduled
for 7 p.m. at the Grant
County Fairgrounds in John
Day.
Presale admission is $10
for adults and $6 for chil-
dren 12 and under – at-the-
gate prices are $2 more.
Saul has been prepar-
ing for the event for two
months, working on a ’69
Buick Wildcat with a 430
V8, which his uncle George
Hamsher acquired for him.
Older cars like this one
are hard to find because
they’re so often sold for the
metal, Saul said.
He’s worked, welding
and chaining parts of the
Wildcat, at his uncle’s T&H
Automotive shop, and re-
cently painted it at Clark’s
Disposal with help from
friends and co-workers.
His wife Jessie and their
two children, Mayley, age
6, and Emmie, 4, also lend
a hand in the shop at times.
Saul started derby con-
tests 12 years ago.
“I watched Hal Gilliam
and Walt Osborne when I
was little,” and later decid-
ed to give it a try, he said.
He’s won a few main
events in John Day and
Baker City.
What’s to love about it?
“The rush of it – the ex-
citement,” he said. “You
get sore – I rolled one time,
but was never injured.”
For more information
about the John Day derby,
call organizer Hugh Farrell
at 541-575-0329 or email
farrellhugh@yahoo.com.
Contibuted photo
Kayla Webb of Bend is the lucky winner of the 7
Wonders of Oregon bicycle created for and hidden
in the Painted Hills area by Travel Oregon.
7 Wonders Painted
Hills bicycle found
Blue Mountain Eagle
It took all of 23 minutes for
the Painted Hills bike hidden by
Travel Oregon to be found. Kay-
la Webb of Bend found the Paint-
ed Hills bike Saturday, July 11, at
5:50 a.m. The bicycle, hidden at
5:27 a.m., was discovered behind
a tree on Gird’s Creek Road.
To celebrate the 7 Wonders
of Oregon, Travel Oregon asked
seven of the best bike builders in
the state to build one-of-a-kind
bicycles for each of the Won-
ders, one of which is the Painted
Hills near Fossil.
Sea Dragons shave
time in Lakeview
By Angel Carpenter
Blue Mountain Eagle
Eagle photos/Angel Carpenter
Wayne Saul of Mt. Vernon works under the hood of his ’69 Buick Wildcat,
prepping it for Saturday’s demolition derby in John Day.
Derby driver
Wayne Saul
has help from
his young pit
crew, 6-year-old
daughter Mayley,
left, and 4-year-
old daughter
Emmie.
Volunteers take on creek
restoration at Silvies Valley Ranch
Blue Mountain Eagle
For the fourth year in a
row, volunteers for the Or-
egon Natural Desert Asso-
ciation took part in a week-
end-long creek restoration
project at Silvies Valley
Ranch. Though the group
and the ranch don’t agree
on every topic, “working to-
gether doing activities that
both groups embrace such as
stream restoration, broadens
understanding on both sides
of the creek,” joked Colby
Marshall, Vice President/
Foreman at Silvies.
The weekend started June
19. The following morning,
after an early breakfast, the
ranch and ONDA groups
worked together to install 56
bird and duck houses, and
Clues provided by Trav-
el Oregon aided Webb, who
camped near the site the night
before, in her search.
This Painted Hills bike was
built by Portland-based bike
builder Christopher Igleheart.
Two bikes, one hidden
at Smith Rock and the other
on Mt. Hood, have also been
found. This week another bike
will be hidden in the Wallowas,
followed by the Columbia Riv-
er Gorge the week of July 20,
Oregon Coast the week of July
27, and, ¿ nally, Crater /ake the
week of August 3.
riparian areas are home to
more than 150 different spe-
cies of birds.
Many of the volunteers
stayed an additional day and
spent the time on the ranch
birdwatching, ¿ shing, or
wandering around the ranch
to see the elk, deer and an-
telope and their calves and
fawns, which are numerous
Contributed photos in the spring.
Oregon Natural Desert Association members with
“None of our other resto-
56 bird and duck houses the group installed in ration trips are quite like the
mid-June during a restoration project at Silvies experience at Silvies Valley
Valley Ranch.
Ranch,” said Sam Frank,
wilderness stewardship co-
then planted several hundred others back along our restored ordinator at ONDA. “What is
Red Twig Dogwood, Black creeks is one of our big goals happening on Silvies Valley
Cottonwood and Hawthorn at Silvies,” said Colby Mar- Ranch is really quite unique
trees. The trees were then shall in a press release.
in Oregon, and ONDA is
protected by deer nets and elk
According to a study by glad to have the opportunity
fencing.
an Oregon State University to be part of this one-of-a-
“Getting native trees and master’s student, the ranch’s kind experiment.”
/AKEVIEW – The John
Day Sea Dragons swim team
traveled July 10-12 to the
/akeview Swim Meet with 21
swimmers participating.
Swimmers included: Made-
lyn Bailey, Max Bailey, Mick-
ayla Coalwell, Ryan Coalwell,
Tori Coalwell, Trevyn Coalwell,
Cole Gravem, Justin Hodge,
Russell Hodge, Sivanna Hodge,
Cayden Howard, Colbie How-
ard, Andrew Hunt, Taylor Hunt,
Reece Jacobs, 4uinn /arson,
Grant /e4uieu, Thomas /e-
4uieu, Sierra May, /ogan Na-
mitz and Auna Waldner.
The team was in third place
Saturday, and ¿ nished in ¿ fth
place on Sunday.
“It was a good meet,” said
head coach Crista Waldner.
Several athletes improved,
shaving time off their ¿ nishes,
one of which was 4uinn /ar-
son, who took off a lot of time
on several of his events, Wald-
ner added.
The team will travel July 17-
19 for the Burns Swim Meet.
Lakeview Swim Meet, Top 5:
Ryan Coalwell
Male 9-10 50 Free, 1
Male 9-10 50 Fly, 2
Male 9-10 50 Back, 5
Male 9-10 100 IM, 3
Male 9-10 50 Breast, 3
Male 9-10 50 Free, 2
Tori Coalwell
Female 13-14 200 Free, 2
Female 13-14 100 Fly, 2
Female 13-14 100 Back, 4
Female 13-14 200 IM, 2
Female 13-14 100 Breast, 3
Female 13-14 50 Free, 1
Trevyn Coalwell
Male 11-12 100 Free, 4
Male 11-12 100 IM, 4
Male 11-12 50 Breast, 4
Male 11-12 50 Free, 4
Cole Gravem
Male 8 & Under 50 Free, 5
Male 8 & Under 25 Free, 5
Justin Hodge
Male 11-12 100 Free, 3
Male 11-12 50 Fly, 2
Male 11-12 50 Back, 5
Male 11-12 100 IM, 3
Male 11-12 50 Breast, 3
Male 11-12 50 Free, 2
Russell Hodge
Male 13-14 200 Free, 4
Male 13-14 100 Back, 4
Male 13-14 200 IM, 5
Male 13-14 50 Free, 2
Cayden Howard
Male 8 & Under 50 Free, 3
Male 8 & Under 25 Back, 1
Male 8 & Under 25 Free, 2
Colbie Howard
Female 6 & Under 25 Free, 4
Andrew Hunt
Male 9-10 50 Fly, 5
Male 9-10 100 IM, 4
Taylor Hunt
Male 13-14 100 Fly, 3
Male 13-14 100 Back, 2
Male 13-14 50 Free, 4
Quinn Larson
Male 9-10 50 Free, 5
Male 9-10 50 Back, 3
Grant LeQuieu
Male 13-14 100 Back, 5
Thomas LeQuieu
Male 11-12 100 Free, 5
Male 11-12 50 Back, 3
Sierra May
Female 8 & Under 25 Free, 4
Auna Waldner
Female 15-18 200 Free, 4
Female 15-18 100 Fly, 5
Female 15-18 100 Back, 4
Female 15-18 200 IM, 5
Female 15-18 50 Free, 3
Wild¿ re team plays
for championship title
Blue Mountain Eagle
PI/OT ROCK – The Grant
County Wild¿ re softball team
advanced to the state champion-
ship game Tuesday, July 14, in
Pilot Rock after defeating Warm
Springs 12-5 in the semi¿ nal
round. The team is coached by
Zach Williams, Mike Strong and
/ance Zweygardt. The game
was played past press time.