The
DIGGIN’ PINK
Blue Mountain
— PAGE 1B
EAGLE
Grant County’s newspaper since 1868
W EDNESDAY , O CTOBER 21, 2015
N O . 42
20 P AGES
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www.MyEagleNews.com
AT THE ROOT OF
GOOD FOOD
The Eagle/Cheryl Hoefler
Emma Field, 6, discusses pumpkin choices with Elaine Mezzo, far right, while Harrison family members, Scott (back, far left),
Homer and Jeannette, work in the family’s Harrison Ranch booth at the Farmers Market.
Family business provides fresh produce for the community
By CKeryl +oeÀ er
Blue Mountain Eagle
M
T. VERNON – Providing good produce for
the community – that’s why Scott Harrison
does what he does.
Harrison who runs Harrison Ranch west
of Mt. Vernon not only enjoys his work but he gets a
great deal of satisfaction from bringing fresh locally
grown food to people.
Scott and his parents Homer and Jeannette are
weekly vendors at the John Day Farmers Market where
they sell their bounty of fresh produce. Scott has ex-
panded the offerings recently to include packaged items
such as spices stew mixes and kale chips and canned
goods – jams jellies and a variety of pickled foods.
The Harrisons’ array of fresh produce depending
on the seasonal availability includes lettuce ]ucchini
cauliÀ ower spinach cantaloupe cucumbers onions
beets and much more. Jeannette said some of the best
sellers are green beans pickling cucumbers tomatoes
sugar pod peas broccoli and winter sTuash.
A 30x2-foot “high tunnel´ added at the ranch three
years ago extends the growing season by about a month
on both ends for some crops like tomatoes bell peppers
and eggplant.
Homer said “,t can be a challenge in a way to grow
good food.´
See FOOD, Page A3
Contributed photo
Riding on the job is part of a hard day’s work for Scott, left,
and Homer Harrison on the family’s Harrison Ranch west of
Mt. Vernon.
Contributed photo
Harrison Ranch offers a bounty of local, fresh
produce, including several squash varieties.
-uniper 5idJe Dddresses
concerns DIter escDpes
Eagle photos/Kyle Spurr
Grant County Commissioner Chris Labhart
examines a part of the fence at Juniper Ridge
Acute Care Facility that is flawed from being built
on non-compacted ground.
À awed because it was built
on non-compacted ground.
,n some spots the fence is
leaning and weakened.
See JUNIPER, Page A9
Residents along Canyon
Creek in Canyon City and John
'ay haYe a FhanFe to take À ood
protection into their own hands.
More speci¿ cally their own
backyards.
At a community meeting in
Grant Union High School’s old
gym last week
county engineer
Doug
Ferguson
presented a short-
term plan to reduce
the increased À ood
risk caused by the
-acre Can-
Doug
yon Complex Fire. Ferguson
Due to the de-
struction of vege-
tation from the ¿ re there is po-
tential for a substantial increase
in À ooding along Canyon Creek.
The short-term plan would pro-
tect against a À ooding event sim-
ilar to when waters dam-
aged part of the high school.
The plan includes temporary
measures such as dikes sandbags
and possibly jersey barriers to be
placed as soon as possible. The
work reTuires no permitting and
just approval by the landowners.
Ferguson of Ferguson Sur-
veying and Engineering in Mt.
9ernon said the project needs
100 percent participation from
the landowners for it to work
properly.
Notices have been sent out
to landowners asking for per-
mission. Ferguson has not heard
much dissension about the proj-
ect known as the Canyon Creek
Temporary Emergency Berm
Project.
“The way the communi-
ty pulls together sometimes is
ama]ing´ Ferguson said. “,t’s
like we are a big family.´
.yle :right a hydrologist
with the U.S. Forest Service
spoke at the community meeting
Thursday and shared some ¿ g-
ures that show how bad À ooding
can get in the next few years.
Before the ¿ re a 10-year
À ood would cause 00 cubic
feet per second of water to À ow.
Now after the ¿ re a similar À ood
could cause up to 000 cfs near-
ly three times the amount ac-
cording to Wright.
The increased threat of À ood-
ing will last at least ¿ ve years
until the vegetation grows back.
“The potential for damage is
great´ Wright said.
Ferguson’s short-term project
could protect from À ows between
00 and 1000 cfs.
The focus of the project is on a
2.5-mile portion of the creek that
Man reports shooting wolf
while hunting coyotes
By Eric Mortenson
By Kyle Spurr
The Grant County Court
took a tour of the Juniper
Ridge Acute Care Facility in
John Day Monday afternoon
to see how the facility is ad-
dressing the recent escape of
a patient earlier this month.
The escape was the third
known incident since the
mental health facility opened
in 2013.
Kimberly /indsay ex-
ecutive director of Commu-
nity Counseling Solutions
the company that operates
Juniper Ridge Acute Care
Facility showed the three
commissioners how the
current fence in the yard is
By Kyle Spurr
Blue Mountain Eagle
See FLOOD, Page A7
For the Blue Mountain Eagle
Blue Mountain Eagle
Community
considers
À ood plDn
A Grant County resident
in Eastern Oregon reported
to Oregon State Police Oct. 6
that he shot a wolf while hunt-
ing coyotes on private proper-
ty south of Prairie City.
Wolves are protected
throughout Oregon under the
state endangered species law
and under federal regulation
in the western two-thirds of
the state. Killing them is not
allowed except in defense of
human life and for autho-
ri]ed livestock owners when
wolves are caught in the act
of attacking livestock or herd
dogs.
State police investigated
recovered the wolf’s car-
cass and submitted a report
Online
Information about dis-
tinguishing wolves from
coyotes is available at
http://www.dfw.state.or.us/
Wolves/docs/Wolf_Mngmt_
Flyer_2011.pdf
to the Grant County district
attorney’s of¿ ce for review
according to an OSP news re-
lease.
However the Grant Coun-
ty DA’s of¿ ce said the case
has been transferred to Har-
ney County prosecutor’s of-
¿ ce. District Attorney Tim
Colahan said his cohort in
Grant County has a conÀ ict
of interest because he knows
the hunter’s family and asked
Colahan to handle the review
See WOLF, Page A5