GRANT COUNTY’S COWKIDS RODEO
Blue Mountain
EAGLE
The
Grant County’s newspaper since 1868
W EDNESDAY , A UGUST 12, 2015
• N O . 32
• 18 P AGES
PAGE A9
Contributed photo
LindseyWyllie.com
• $1.00
www.MyEagleNews.com
New school leaders for Dayville, Prairie City
Longtime educator eager to
Prairie City educator once
connect with Dayville community worked in the Bering Sea area
%\&KHU\O+RHÀHU
Blue Mountain Eagle
DAYVILLE – A longtime educator and Or-
egon native now calls Dayville home.
.DWKU\Q+HGULFND¿IWKJHQHUDWLRQ2UHJR
nian who grew up in Winston, is the new su-
perintendent/principal at Dayville School.
Denise Folston held the position for the past
two school years.
Hedrick attended Willamette University
in Salem, where she majored in history and
speech. She earned her master’s degree in
rhetoric and her education credentials from the
University of Oregon.
%HFDXVH KHU ¿UVW WHDFKLQJ MRE ZDV LQ 'H
troit, where there were only 33 high school
students, Hedrick said she un-
derstands the problems facing
small schools.
Hedrick is no stranger to
Eastern Oregon, either. She
taught high school social stud-
ies, language arts and speech
Kathryn
— mostly in La Grande — and
Hedrick
also worked summers for the
U.S. Forest Service during that
time from John Day.
Administrative positions followed for He-
drick after she obtained her administrator li-
cense from the University of Oregon. She
worked as the assistant principal for curriculum
See DAYVILLE, Page A18
%\&KHU\O+RHÀHU
Blue Mountain Eagle
PRAIRIE CITY — The new superinten-
dent/principal at Prairie City School is well-ac-
customed to small town schools.
Julie Gurczynski’s career in education has
included small schools on both sides of her
home state of Oregon, as well as remote Gam-
bell, Alaska, in the Bering Sea.
Gurczynski takes on the Prairie City posi-
tion previously held by Ryan Gerry the past
three years.
Gerry is now the principal at Grant Union
Junior-Senior High School in John Day.
Gurczynski was born and raised in Port-
land, graduating from Beaverton High School.
She has a bachelor’s degree
in business and fashion mer-
chandising from Oregon State
University in Corvallis. She
received a master’s of arts in
teaching and her administrative
license from George Fox Uni-
versity in Newberg.
Julie
Gurczynski began her
Gurczynski
teaching career at Kennedy
High School in Mt. Angel, where she taught
family and consumer sciences, health and ca-
reers.
It was while there that she learned to love
small communities and small schools.
See PC, Page A18
Entrants, volunteers make parade a ‘success’
By Angel Carpenter
Blue Mountain Eagle
J
OHN DAY — In perfect
parade-day weather Satur-
day, Grant County Fair par-
ticipants and others marched
down Main Street, displaying
this year’s fair theme, ““Blue Jeans and
Country Dreams,” on their wagons,
horses, trucks and carraiges.
Forty entries participated in the pa-
rade, including several dozen children
and teens, 4-H youth, sports teams and
horse riders.
Grand Marshals Art and Marge Wal-
ton waved to the crowd from a wagon.
Reitta Wyllie, Grant County’s 2015 fair
and rodeo queen, also participated.
Chester’s Thriftway won the
sweepstakes award with a large coun-
WU\WKHPHG ÀRDW IHDWXULQJ D ELJ KDQG
made bull and a larger-than-life pair of
blue jeans.
Brenda Mosier, who organized the
event with several volunteers, said pa-
rade day was a fun and memorable ex-
perience. She was impressed with the
4-H kids.
“I think every single one of them
came,” she said.
The day wouldn’t have been as suc-
cessful without volunteers working be-
hind the scenes, she added.
“We all had a blast preparing it,” she
said. “We worked so hard on this, and
everyone was so enthusiastic to be there.
You can’t do it without a ton of people
— it was so fun, from beginning to
end.”
Eagle photos/Angel Carpenter
Katrina Page and her daughter Kathlyne (center) and niece Isabella Mountain represent the
Grant County Ranch and Rodeo Museum at the fair parade.
Left: Tymbre Townsend rides horseback in Saturday’s parade. Above
left: Maisie and Grace Taylor ride in style. Above right: The fair board
staff waves to the crowd, including fair manager Mary Weaver (back)
and Dusty Williams.
See more parade photos on Page A18
Parade results:
Floats
Commercial
1st, Chester’s Thriftway
2nd, Quilts and Beyond
3rd, Family Tree Service
Schools and Organizations
1st, Grant County 4-H
2nd, Grant County Little League
Softball
3rd, Grant Union volleyball team
Horse Drawn
1st, Grant County Ranch & Rodeo
Museum
Mounted Female Junior
1st, Tymbre Townsend
2nd, Savannah Watterson
3rd, Maisie and Grace Taylor
Riding Organization or Family
1st, Nodine Marciel Family
2nd, Rocky Top Riders
3rd, Robertson Family
Visiting Royalty: Harney County Fair
Court
Antique Vehicle: Ron Phillips
Custom Vehicle: Mobil Glass
Classic Vehicle: Sherry Dowdy
Walking Individual
1st, Pioneer Feed
Decorated Vehicle
1st, Team National
2nd, Burn’s Paiute Tribal Police
Decorated ATV
1st, Credit Union
2nd, John Day Polaris
Other
1st, Fair 2f¿ ce Staff
2nd, Malheur National Forest
Special Awards
Sweepstakes: Chester’s Thiftway
Commercial: Quilts and Beyond
Horse Drawn: Ranch & Rodeo Museum
School or Organization: Grant County
4-H Youth
Miscellaneous: Rocky Top Riders
6KHULII¶VRI¿FHDFTXLUHVYHKLFOHWUDLQLQJ
Monthly water-
rescue trainings
on tap for SO
By Angel Carpenter
Blue Mountain Eagle
CANYON CITY — Train-
ing, experience and equip-
ment can make a difference in
search and rescue situations,
and this summer, the Grant
County Sheriff’s Department
made gains in each area.
The department acquired
a new search and rescue ve-
hicle, a 2015 Ford F350, last
month with donations from
the public and capital outlay
and Title III funds.
“It’s long overdue,” said
Sheriff Glenn Palmer.
He said the department’s
old vehicle, a 1984 Dodge,
out desk, inside and outside,
and compartments to hold
the needed equipment — in-
FOXGLQJ DQ LQÀDWDEOH ERDW IRU
swiftwater rescues – for a
quick response.
Earlier this summer, the
VKHULII¶V RI¿FH VSRQVRUHG D
two-day swiftwater rescue
training with instructor Nate
Ostis of Wilderness Rescue
International.
The class was held at
Seventh Street Complex in
John Day with practical skills
taught at the main stem and
The Eagle/Angel Carpenter
North Fork John Day River
Sheriff Glenn Palmer said the new Grant County near Kimberly.
Search and Rescue vehicle will help with emergency
The group learned how to
response time.
UHDGWKHULYHU¶VZDWHUÀRZDQG
“how to enter the river and
wasn’t dependable anymore, responding to manmade or get yourself or others back
even though it received regu- natural disasters, including to safety,” Palmer said. “One
lar maintenance.
¿UHV ÀRRGV FKHPLFDO VSLOOV thing this course gives is a
The new vehicle can be a and search and rescue.
trust in your safety equipment
portable command post when
The pickup has a pull- DQG D FRQ¿GHQFH EXLOGHU IRU
staff and other rescuers.”
6KHULII¶V RI¿FH VWDII
search and rescue members
and three people from the
general public, Ted, Adam
and Cody Claussen, of Day-
ville, took the class.
Palmer added that the
Claussens paid for the course
out of their own pocket.
A short time before the
water rescue course, in May,
Palmer and Deputy Zach Mo-
bley worked with Deschutes,
Crook and Wheeler county
agencies for three days at-
tempting to locate a drowning
victim in the John Day River
south of Spray.
We “swam for two days,
working with Deschutes
County Sheriff dive and river
rescuers, as well as the Crook
County Team,” Palmer said,
See TRUCK, Page A18