PRAIRIE CITY HOSTS FIRST MEET ON NEW TRACK
The
– PAGE B1
Blue Mountain
EAGLE
Grant County’s newspaper since 1868
W EDNESDAY , M AY 4, 2016
• N O . 18
• 22 P AGES
• $1.00
www.MyEagleNews.com
The Eagle/Angel Carpenter
A home at the Riverside
Mobile Home Park at 677
W. Main St., John Day, is
taped off with an Oregon
State Police vehicle
blocking the area after
two people were shot
Thursday evening.
DeRosier
accused of
attempted
murder for
Thursday
shootings
By Sean Hart
Blue Mountain Eagle
The Eagle/Cheryl Hoefler
Ten foreign students living in Long Creek this school year point out their home countries on a large wall map
at Long Creek School. From left, Near (Yanatorn) Bunnag of Thailand, Aaron (Yu_Cheng) Yueng of Taiwan, Mew
(Onnalin) Wiriyasumon of Thailand, Kirill Borisov of Russia, Raquel Melo Silva of Brazil, Andrea Montes of Spain,
Philipp Dessau of Germany, Lilly Stemmann of Germany, Fernando Garcia Rodriguez of Spain and Adam (Adugafor)
Rajibeliev of Tajikistan.
SMALL TOWN,
WORLDLY EDUCATION
Foreign faces in Long Creek in September
become lifelong friends by May
By Cheryl Hoefl er
Foreign kids bolster roll at remote school
Blue Mountain Eagle
L
ONG CREEK — “I was like, wow, this is really small.”
That was Lilly Stemmann’s first thought when she arrived
in Long Creek from Germany at the start of the 2015-2016
school year.
Stemmann is one of 10 foreign high-schoolers from seven
countries who are nearing the end of a school year at Long Creek.
None of the students had ever been to a town as small as Long Creek.
However, fellow German, 17-year-old Philipp Dessau, said, “It looked
smaller on Google Maps than it really is.”
The group is here courtesy of International Student Exchange , and as they
prepare to return to their home countries, none wish they had gone anywhere
else. All agree it has been a positive experience and are grateful for their time
spent in a rural setting and with such an intimate, close-knit community.
See STUDENTS, Page A12
Of the 13 high school students at Long Creek School this year, 10 are
exchange students from abroad. The school has relied on foreign students
in recent years to keep enrollment up.
Students by origin
9
40
8
6
44
49
33
2006-07
Foreign (Grades 9-12)
Local (Grades K-12)
5
39
7
34
’09-10
Source: Long Creek School District
’12-13
By Angel Carpenter
Blue Mountain Eagle
CANYON CITY —
Humbolt
Elementary
fi rst-graders were intro-
duced to several artists
and art forms last week in
Peggy Murphy and Mandy
Ipson’s classrooms.
The weeklong focus in-
cluded meeting a new local
artist each day, and trying
various styles of art. Mur-
phy said the artists talked
about how art affects their
lives and the lives of others
in a positive way.
Each day the students
worked on their own art,
and learned about famous
artists and types of art,
from pottery to painting to
fi ber arts.
Visitors to the class-
rooms included Grant
Union Gold dance athletes
Mackenzie Woodcock and
Joshua Taynton, singer and
guitarist Gregg Boethin,
fi ber artist Sharron Feiger,
painter Sophie Cosgrove,
wood craftsman Rick Cal-
lahan and Caroline Colson
with food art.
The fi rst-graders shared
what they learned during
the week.
See ART, Page A3
6
24
7
25
10
26
2015-16
Cheryl Hoefler and Alan Kenaga/EO Media Group
First-graders experience variety of arts
Hands-on
lessons yield
fun experience
6
33
Treasurer, forest commission
candidates speak to voters
By Sean Hart
Blue Mountain Eagle
The Eagle/Angel Carpenter
Peggy Murphy’s first-grade
class gathers around to
see her demonstrate chalk
“pull art.”
A judge set bail at $700,000
for the man accused of shooting
two men in John Day Thursday
evening.
Defendant Jacob DeRosier,
29, John Day, appeared in Grant
County Circuit Court Monday
via video conference from the
Grant County Jail. Attorney John
Lamborn said he was appoint-
ed to represent DeRosier and
waived further reading of the
charges and DeRosier’s rights.
Grant County District Attor-
ney Jim Carpenter said the state
is charging DeRosier with two
counts of attempted murder, two
counts of fi rst-degree assault,
one count of unlawful discharge
of a weapon, one count of felon
in possession of a fi rearm and
one count of tampering with ev-
idence.
Judge William D. Cramer Jr.
set DeRosier’s bail at $700,000.
He said, if DeRosier is able to
post bail, he must not use in-
toxicants and must not contact
Christopher Woodell, 32, or Eric
Towers, 35, both of John Day,
who were shot Thursday at the
Riverside Mobile Home Park,
677 W. Main St., John Day.
Towers was transported to
Blue Mountain Hospital, where
he was treated and released.
Woodell was transported
by air ambulance to St. Charles
Medical Center in Bend, where
he remained in critical condition
as of Friday afternoon. The hos-
pital refused to provide an update
on his status Monday.
Carpenter said he intends to
take the charges to a grand jury
this week, and Cramer set a sta-
tus hearing in the case for 1:30
p.m. Friday.
Candidates vying for trea-
surer and multiple Public For-
est Commission positions in
the May primary election spoke
to voters at a candidate forum
April 23.
Treasurer candidates in-
clude Doug Carpenter, Julie El-
lison, Tandi Merkord and Mary
Weaver. Unless one receives a
majority of the votes in May,
the top two will continue on to
the November ballot.
Carpenter said he went to
high school in Grant County
and loves it here. He said he has
10 years of fi nance experience,
currently working for Mal-
heur Lumber. He said he has
excellent communication and
organization skills, works on
tasks until complete and wants
to continue the exceptional
job outgoing Treasurer Kathy
Smith has been doing.
Ellison said she was raised
here and has more than 30
years of fi nancial experience.
She said she is the deputy clerk
at the courthouse, has learned
from the current treasurer and
has experience with the AS400
computer system used by the
county. She said she is honest,
detail oriented and hard work-
ing.
Merkord said she moved
to Kimberly 15 years ago.
She said she studied account-
ing in college and has diverse
See VOTERS, Page A12