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About The Blue Mountain eagle. (John Day, Or.) 1972-current | View Entire Issue (May 18, 2016)
HOME, GARDEN & OUTDOORS SPECIAL SECTION The – PAGES A8-A11 Blue Mountain EAGLE Grant County’s newspaper since 1868 W EDNESDAY , M AY 18, 2016 • N O . 20 • 24 P AGES • $1.00 www.MyEagleNews.com Hamsher elected county commissioner Ellison secures more than half the vote for treasurer By Sean Hart Blue Mountain Eagle Grant County will welcome a new county commissioner in 2017. Prairie City Mayor Jim Hamsh- er received 63 percent of the votes, 1,964, over incumbent Chris Labhart, New airport manager selected who received 1,115 votes, according to the fi nal unoffi cial results released by County Clerk Brenda Percy Tues- day evening. The ballot initiative to overturn the county’s ban on marijuana businesses was much closer, but the ban will re- main in place: 1,689 people, 53.5 per- Jim Hamsher Julie Ellison New fi re hall provides room for engines, fi refi ghters Blue Mountain Eagle See MANAGER, Page A5 See ELECTION, Page A14 HOME IMPROVEMENT By Angel Carpenter JOHN DAY — Haley Walker has been hired as new manager of the Grant County Regional Airport in John Day. W a l k - er officially starts work T h u r s d a y, May 26, re- placing Pat- rick Bentz, who has Haley been man- Walker ager since July of 2012 and plans to move to Washington state with his family. H e ’ l l Patrick spend the Bentz next week training the new manager. Walker brings 10 years of experience in the airline business, working at Hori- zon Air’s Kalispell, Mont.; Boise, Idaho; and Seattle lo- cations. “I’m excited about in- volving the community in the facility — it’s a beautiful facility — and continuing to pursue the rural commercial service, working with the lo- cal government, the airport patrons and the Forest Ser- vice,” she said. Continuing a strong focus on safety is her first priority, she added. Grant County Court Judge Scott Myers describes Walk- er as having a high-spirited, exciting personality and be- ing a good fit for promoting the airport. County Airport Commis- sion chairman Ron Lund- bom said he was happy with the selection and described Walker as a “go-getter.” cent, voted against the initiative, and 1,469 voted for it. Julie Ellison was the decisive winner in the four-way race for trea- surer. Ellison received 56.6 percent of the votes, 1,771, and will be the sole candidate moving onto the No- vember ballot because she received more than half the votes. Treasurer candidate Mary Weaver received 964 votes. Doug Carpenter received 244, and Tandi Merkord re- ceived 147. In the partisan races for Pub- lic Forest Commission positions to determine which representatives from the Republican, Democrat and The Eagle/Sean Hart Tidewater Contractors employees, including Prairie City resident Hal Gilliam, right, finish paving the parking lot for the new John Day fire hall on South Canyon Boulevard May 10. The new facility features more bays and more area for firefighters to perform maintenance and safety checks on the equipment. “ A conveniently located and well-organized training facility for these firefighters is critical in providing the community with best level of fire protection possible.” Peggy Gray, John Day city manager By Sean Hart Blue Mountain Eagle A fter risking their lives to save others, John Day fi refi ghters will soon have a new home worthy of their service to the community. Instead of the current 61-year-old building that is too small to house all of the fi re en- gines, fi refi ghters will soon be pulling into a modern facility with far more capacity. With six bays, two more than the old hall, the new building will be able to accommodate two brush fi re trucks that have previously been stored outside, which required timely draining and winterizing and then refi lling before they could even respond to a call. Instead of blocking off Dayton Street to perform necessary vehicle cleaning, maintenance and safety checks, the new hall is large enough to allow fi re- fi ghters to comfortably work on the vehicles — and to get in and out of them safely. And to top it off, fi refi ghters will be able to im- prove their skills and education in the new facility’s 50-person training room. See FIRE HALL, Page A14 The Eagle/Angel Carpenter The kitchen at the new fire hall is set up and ready for use. Saturday hailstorm hits Seneca, Dale Some residents lose power in John Day By Angel Carpenter Blue Mountain Eagle JOHN DAY — A thunderstorm last Saturday afternoon, which in- cluded dime to nickel-sized hail, pounded areas of Grant County, in- cluding Seneca and Dale. The stormy weather moved from the south to northeast, and caused the cancellation of a Grant Union baseball game in John Day. “It was one of the worst hail- storms I’ve ever seen,” said Winnie Browning of Seneca. She said dime-sized hail accumu- lated 2 to 3 inches in a short period of time in her yard, with a 1 foot pile near their door where it was sliding off the roof. “As soon as it quit hailing, there was a downpour of rain,” she added. See HAIL, Page A2 Dime-sized hail followed by a downpour of rain hit Seneca last Saturday as shown in this photo sent in by Seneca resident Winnie Browning. Contributed photo Winnie Browning