A12
News
Blue Mountain Eagle
Wednesday, May 4, 2016
STUDENTS
Continued from Page A1
Brazilian Raquel Melo
Silva, 17, said she enjoyed
the community atmosphere
and being so close to animals,
ranches and the farming way
of life.
Andrea Montes, 16, from
Spain, agreed.
“I’ve become a country
girl,” she said.
Lilly said in a small school
and town like Long Creek
“you can develop relation-
ships with everyone.”
Each of the students said
they experienced something
for the irst time. Raquel got
to brand and feed cows. Lilly
helped skin an elk, which she
said was “cool and interest-
ing.” Andrea ate her irst corn
dog — a new favorite food.
Philipp got to go horseback
riding, as did 16-year-old Near
(Yanatorn) Bunnag from Thai-
land.
Mew (Onnalin) Wiriyasu-
mon, 16, from Thailand, went
ice ishing — her irst time
ishing at all — during a trip
to Alaska with her host family.
Adam (Adugafor) Rajibeliev,
17, from Tajikistan, enjoyed
hunting and skiing.
Others attended a rodeo and
rode along with a police oficer
for the irst time.
For Aaron (Yu_Cheng)
Yueng, 18, Taiwan, it was a
The Eagle/Cheryl Hoefler
Foreign students Lilly Stemmann of Germany, left,
and Mew (Onnalin) Wiriyasumon of Thailand enjoy
friendship and new experiences at Long Creek
School.
Contributed photo
From left, Near (Yanatorn) Bunnag, Aaron (Yu_Cheng) Yueng, Kirill Borisov,
Fernando Garcia Rodriguez, Lilly Stemmann, Philipp Dessau, Raquel Melo
Silva and, in front, Andrea Montes at Seattle’s bayfront during spring break.
Mew (Onnalin) Wiriyasumon was in Alaska with her host family.
close encounter with nature af-
ter he saw a deer right in town.
“I never saw a deer before,”
he said. “I could not believe it
and was so surprised.”
While small-town life was
new for all of them, the cold
and snow of winter was not.
Russian 17-year-old Kirill
Borisov, who snowboards
back home nearly every day,
said, “It wasn’t so cold here.”
Philipp agreed and said it is
never warm in Germany. Lil-
Payments may be made at the tax collector’s
office at the Grant County Courthouse in
Canyon City, or the payment may be mailed
and POSTMARKED no later than May 16,
2016. Please remember that delinquent taxes
accrue interest at the rate of 16% per year.
If you have any questions,
please call the Tax Office at
541-575-0107 or
541-575-0189.
PO Box 185
Canyon City, OR 97820
03811
The third installment of the
2015-2016 property tax is due
Monday, May 16, 2016 by 5 p.m.
ly, however, said she’d never
been somewhere so cold.
Fernando Garcia Rodri-
guez, 17, from Spain, said he
tried to teach some downhill
skiing skills to irst-timer Ra-
quel during a school outing to
Anthony Lakes Mountain Re-
sort. They both laughed at the
memory of her tumbling down
the hill.
The students all agreed
American education is much
easier than in their home
countries. Some were sur-
prised that not only is there
no school here on Saturdays
but, as in most Grant County
schools, none on Fridays ei-
ther.
The exchange program
offers a multi-cultural ex-
perience for the visiting and
local students, the host fami-
lies and the community. With
only three local Long Creek
high school students this year
— two freshmen and one ju-
nior — the foreign students
also provide the school with
increased enrollment for such
activities as proms and sports
teams.
One of those three local
students, Cody Baker, said,
if it wasn’t for the foreign
students, he would proba-
bly have to attend a differ-
ent school. He said in three
years at Long Creek, he has
met three different groups
of foreign students and has
more than two dozen friends
around the world.
“It’s a really cool expe-
rience,” he said. “The irst
month or two, it’s hard getting
to know each other, but by the
VOTERS
department. She said she brings
budgeting, accounting and gov-
ernment experience.
Weaver said she moved to
the area in junior high school
and has been here since. She
said she worked her way up
to ofice manager at Chester’s
Thriftway, where she worked
for 30 years. As the current
fair manager, she said she has
experience with grants and
the county budget. She said
she would bring accuracy,
honesty and accountability to
the position.
Continued from Page A1
work experience, including
accounting and title work. She
said she was a senior accounts
clerk for John Day and current-
ly works for the county road
Public Forest Commission
Six Public Forest Commis-
sion seats are also up for elec-
tion.
Dave Traylor is running
unopposed for Public Forest
Commission No. 1. He said,
although the Blue Mountains
Forest Partners collaborative
has increased timber harvest
by working with environmen-
talists, the amount is not what
it used to be or what it ought to
be.
Tad Houpt will also be the
only candidate on the ballot for
No. 3 after Mark Webb was re-
moved due to an issue with his
oficial party afiliation. Webb
did not attend the forum. Houpt
said the forest is in poor shape,
increasing the risk for wildires,
and that harvesting larger trees
would be more effective.
Jim Boethin, King Williams
and Howard Gieger are running
for forest commission No. 5.
Boethin and Williams did not
attend the forum. Gieger said
he was formerly an arson inves-
tigator, and he believed the For-
est Service should pay for an
independent investigation into
the Canyon Creek Complex
ire. He said he has stressed the
importance of communication
to members of the Forest Part-
ners, the forest commission and
end, we form such a strong
bond, it’s hard to see them
leave. Some become your
family.”
Several of the host families
have taken these students into
their homes year after year,
including Linda and Ed Studt-
mann, hosting in Long Creek
since 2008.
“We treat them as if they
are part of the family,” Linda,
who is a teaching assistant and
coach at the school, said. “We
keep them busy.”
She said she loves hosting
and her own sons, who are
now grown, enjoyed getting
to know the foreign students
each year, having them in their
home and as school friends.
Linda and Alvin Hunt have
had 11 foreign students in their
home — each experience dif-
ferent but always entertaining.
Linda Hunt, who works in
the school cafeteria, said host-
ing allows her to experience
the world without leaving the
county.
She said, although it is
dificult “saying goodbye to
The Eagle/Sean Hart
Public Forest Commission candidate Sam Palmer,
right, speaks at a candidate forum April 23.
the Grant County Court.
“We are not working togeth-
er, and I think this is extremely
important,” he said.
Larry Blasing and Jim
Sproul are vying for No. 7.
Blasing said he received a
degree in forest management
and has 45 years of experience
working on forest issues. He
said he worked for the Forest
Service, then the forest prod-
ucts industry and a timber
industry association. He said
he’s been involved in contract
negotiations between agencies
and the industry, appealing
the irst environmental impact
statement after the National
Environmental Policy Act and
passing the National Forest
Management Act.
Sproul said he was born and
raised here where his family
has lived since 1878. He said he
was a rancher and later became
a Realtor. He said he was in-
volved in creating a natural re-
sources plan through the sher-
iff’s ofice that was “stomped
out” by other agencies. The
amount of acres burned annu-
ally on the forest has increased,
and policy changes are needed
for better timber management
as well as ine fuels, which are
“like gasoline.”
A MAN
WAKES
UP in the
morning
after sleeping on...
an advertised bed, in advertised
pajamas.
He will bathe in an ADVERTISED TUB, shave with an ADVERTISED RAZOR,
have a breakfast of ADVERTISED JUICE, cereal and toast, toasted in an
ADVERTISED TOASTER, put on ADVERTISED CLOTHES and glance at his
ADVERTISED WATCH. He’ll ride to work in his ADVERTISED CAR, sit at an
ADVERTISED DESK and write with an ADVERTISED PEN. Yet this person
hesitates to advertise, saying that advertising doesn’t pay. Finally, when his
non-advertised business is going under, HE’LL ADVERTISE IT FOR SALE.
Then it’s too late.
AND THEY SAY ADVERTISING DOESN’T WORK?
DON’T MAKE THIS SAME MISTAKE
Advertising is an investment, not an expense. Think about it!
Blue Mountain Eagle
Paid for by Grant County Positive Action
someone who has become
such a wonderful part of your
life, we have a lifetime of
memories to look back on and
smile.”
Other host families this
year include Mike and Myla
Corley, Jennie and Patch
Freeman, Shirley Gorgita and
Bev and Eldon Johns.
The foreign students all
had high praise for their host
families, most saying that
the home-cooked American
meals were one of the best
things. Most plan to keep in
touch with each other and
their new Long Creek friends
and families, and several
would like to return to visit
Long Creek in the future.
None of the students knew
each other beforehand. How-
ever, two of them, Philipp and
Lilly, discovered from a photo
Lilly had that they belong to
the same dance group back in
Germany, where they live just
a few miles apart.
The world itself, and not
just Long Creek, can be a
mighty small place.
MyEagleNews.com
Don’t get left behind, call today! Kim Kell 541-575-0710
Mike Smith and Dave Han-
nibal are running for forest
commission Alternate No. 1.
Mike Smith did not attend the
forum. Hannibal said he has
worked in forestry since 1980.
He said he has been in John
Day since 1994, and he has
hired hundreds of local kids
to work at Grayback Forestry.
As a Forest Partners member,
he said he believes the forest
commission and collaborative
have different approaches but
the same goal.
“I’m not taking anything
over,” he said. “I’m trying to
step up and do what’s right.”
Sam Palmer and Russ
Young are vying for Alternate
No. 2. Young did not attend the
forum. Palmer said he is a nurse
and owns a small logging oper-
ation. He said he has no forestry
degree but experience, includ-
ing 10 years as a ireighter on
the Malheur National Forest.
He said he has seen a decline in
forest health and he and a busi-
ness partner lost $1.5 million
in timber in the Canyon Creek
Complex. He said the collab-
orative should be stopped and
that ireighting is “big busi-
ness” for some people.
Measure 12-58
This measure is a Grant
County citizen initiative re-
garding commercial marijuana
operations currently legal in the
state but banned in the county.
A “yes” vote would overturn
the county ban and allow the
growing, processing, wholesal-
ing, testing and retail selling of
marijuana. A “yes” vote would
also make the county eligible to
receive a portion of the 17-per-
cent tax to be levied on retail
sales at the state level, as well
as a 3-percent tax possible at
the local level.
A “no” vote would retain the
county ban on all commercial
marijuana operations, and the
county would remain ineligible
to receive any tax revenue from
marijuana sales. A “no” vote
would have no effect on a per-
son’s ability to legally possess
and grow marijuana for person-
al use in accordance with state
law.