News
Blue Mountain Eagle
Wednesday, June 8, 2016
A7
Burnt River School extends
invitation to Portland students
By Eric Mortenson
EO Media Group
Eagle file photo
From the June 9, 1966, issue of the Eagle, John
Larkin of John Day holds a badly damaged
helmet he wore while on duty with the Army
in Viet Nam. An explosion from a short round
mortar shell blew out one side of the helmet.
Larkin escaped serious injury, and possibly
death, when the helmet came off as he was
diving for cover from the explosion.
O UT OF THE P AST
June 8, 1916
Grant County
Journal
100 years ago
J.L. Stalker has troubles
of his own in making all his
sales of alcohol only to people
who have a right to purchase it
under the law. Whereas in the
old prohibition days all kinds
of schemes were worked to
get booze from druggists,
now all of the old ones and a
few new ones are tried to buy
alcohol. But J.L. has turned
the joke on some of them.
When he has any doubts in
the matter he assists his judg-
ment with a little sulphuric
ether, camphor, turpentine or
something of like nature. This
does not hurt the alcohol in
the least for exterior use, but
greatly depreciates its value
as a beverage.
June 6, 1941
Blue Mountain Eagle
75 years ago
Jake of all trades
People got the idea that
county Agent Brooke has
nothing to do but to count
cattle, plant lowers and dis-
tribute pamphlets and keep
two stenographers busy. On a
recent evening, after supper,
he settled down to read his
newspaper. A car drove up; a
man jumped out and he was
excited. He had a monkey in
the car, and it was sick and
he wanted to have its tail am-
putated. Mr. Brooke told him
that the monkey looked too
much like a human for his line
of surgery and sent him to a
doctor. Then a customer from
Mt. Vernon put in a hurry up
call for him to come to Mt.
Vernon for a calf was choking
and again the phone rang and
a lady in John Day had a sick
cat, and before Mr. Brooke
could get his hat the phone
rang again and he was needed,
right now, to vaccinate a dog.
June 9, 1966
Blue Mountain Eagle
50 years ago
Lucky Survivor — John
Larkin of John Day holds a
badly damaged helmet he
wore while on duty with
the Army in Viet Nam.
An explosion from a short
round mortar shell blew
out one side of the helmet.
Larkin escaped serious in-
jury, and possibly death,
when the helmet came off
as he was diving for cover
from the explosion.
June 9, 2006
Blue Mountain
Eagle
10 years ago
Sign points way to in-
dustrial program
Local businesses work
to spur economy
JOHN DAY– Most peo-
ple who live in Grant Coun-
ty are concerned about the
lack of jobs here. David
Paddock and Genevieve
“Gigi” Burke of Nomad
Signs are no exception.
They used their talent
and resources to create a
sign for the Industrial Park
that would have sold for
$9,000. They sold it to the
city for $1,500.
“Grant County needs
jobs,” Paddock said.
The sign weighs approx-
imately 1,000 pounds and is
8 foot by 12 foot. It is made
of wood, iber glass and di-
amond plate steel.
It took a month and a
half to build the sign, which
included the giant gears
used to hold up and accentu-
ate the sign. The gears were
donated by Grant Western
Lumber.
“One of the best things
about the job was when
Grant Western lets us go
through their scraps,” Burke
said. “We’re both dumpster
divers by nature.”
Grant Western wasn’t the
only business that donated to
the creation.
Bob Warren donated
I-beams and Grant County
Building Supply loaded ma-
terials.
“We got a lot of support
from the John Day Public
Works,” Paddock said.
The sign was set up on
June 1. It is located on In-
dustrial Park Road across
from Winner’s Choice.
A tiny Eastern Oregon
school has an invitation for
Portland high school students:
Come stay with us for a se-
mester and learn about ag and
science.
The program, which will
begin next school year with
eight Portland girls visiting
the irst semester and eight
Portland boys arriving for
second semester, is a delib-
erate attempt to span the ur-
ban-rural divide. And Oregon
does not get more rural than
the Burnt River School in
Unity, about 50 miles east of
John Day.
The Burnt River School
District has a single build-
ing, a K-12 charter school.
In the 2015-16 school year
— they’re already out for the
summer — the district had 34
students. Fielding an eight-
man football team last fall
required an allegiance with
Prairie City School. Cattle
ranching is the primary way
to make a living in the area.
District
Superintendent
Lorrie Andrews also serves
as school principal, teaches
personal inance and careers,
helps seniors with their port-
folios and advises the year-
book kids. She’s been there
30 years. “Time for me to go,
huh?” she jokes.
She’s been working on
Burnt River’s invitation to
Portland for a couple of years,
Courtesy of Burnt River School District
The entire student body and staff of Burnt River School poses on picture day
in September 2015. The Eastern Oregon school invites Portland high school
to come stay for a semester and learn about agriculture and science. Lorrie
Andrews, the superintendent and principal who also teaches careers and
personal finance, is on the far right.
with noteworthy help from
state Rep. Greg Smith, a Re-
publican from Heppner, state
Rep. Cliff Bentz, a Republi-
can from Ontario, and Baker
County Commissioner Mark
Bennett. Now they are ready
to try it.
“It is something we’ve
thought a lot about,” Andrews
said. Burnt River has a “great
school and an excellent staff,”
she said, but the district’s en-
rollment has declined for sev-
eral years. Twenty-eight of
the school’s 34 students are
high school age.
“We were just thinking we
need to think outside the box,
so to speak,” Andrews said.
Over the May 21-22 week-
end, Portland Public Schools
sent an email to its high
school families, telling them
of the opportunity to take part
in the Burnt River Integrated
Agriculture/Science Research
Ranch program, or BRIARR.
On Monday, May 23, An-
drews responded to 23 emails
about the program. A bunch
more arrived Tuesday.
Portland students will
get a semester of hands-on
learning in what Burnt Riv-
er describes as a “variety of
natural resource settings.”
They’ll learn about animal
production science, sustain-
able rangeland science and
forest restoration studies, and
do water quality monitoring
with the Powder Basin Wa-
tershed Council.
She said it made sense to
extend the invitation to Port-
land, by far the state’s largest
urban center. The city has
more than 49,000 students in
78 schools, including 10 high
schools.
“We were thinking there
probably are students out
there who would enjoy a ru-
ral experience and a small
school experience at the same
time,” Andrews said. “I think
it’s a way to bridge that di-
vide. I think there are a lot of
misconceptions in both direc-
tions. I think we can all learn
from one another. Kids are
usually open to that.”
JAC awards two scholarships
Blue Mountain Eagle
JOHN DAY — The Juni-
per Arts Council has award-
ed 2016 scholarships of $300
each to Janelle King and
Stephanie Croghan.
King, a home-school stu-
dent, will graduate in June
and plans to attend Northwest
Nazarene University in Nam-
pa, Idaho, majoring in mar-
keting with a graphic design
minor.
Croghan, a 2014 graduate
of Grant Union Junior-Senior
High School, attends East-
ern Oregon University in La
Grande, and is majoring in
business, with a minor in art.
The Council, with a mis-
sion to promote the arts and
arts education in Grant Coun-
ty, awards an annual schol-
arship to local students who
have declared a major or a
minor in the arts. Funding is
provided through gifts and
donations, interest earned on
JAC accounts, and fundrais-
ing events.
Recently, the Council
hosted Eastern Oregon Uni-
versity’s music department in
concert. Donations from the
free concert brought in $242
which went toward the schol-
arship fund.
A CADEMIC R EPORTS
Blue Mountain Eagle
Joshua James Hester of
John Day graduated cum
laude with a bachelor’s de-
gree in theology from Union
College in Lincoln, Nebraska,
on May 7.
Megan Wilkins of Kim-
berly graduated with a
master’s degree in resource
interpretation from Ar-
thur Temple College of
Forest and Agriculture at
Stephen F. Austin State
University.
•••
Ashley Metcalf, a student
at Valley City State Univer-
sity in Valley City, North
Dakota, has been award-
ed three scholarships: the
Steve Welk-
en Scholar-
ship by the
Welken fam-
ily, the Jim
and
Meryl
O’Connell
Ashley
Scholarship
Metcalf
by the math
department
and the Hazel McBride
Scholarship by the school
of education and graduate
studies.
Metcalf is a senior pur-
suing majors in mathemat-
ics education and Spanish
education, with a minor in
teaching English language
learners. She is the daughter
of Kristine Metcalf of Sen-
eca.
Michael B. DesJardin
Dentistry, PC
Preventive, Restorative & Endodontics
New Patients
Welcome!
208 NW Canton
John Day
541-575-2725
mbddental@live.com
michaelbdesjardindmd.com
myeaglenews.com/breakingnews
I N
A R M O U N T A
2 0 1 6 C I N N A B
Playdays
J UNE 11 TH , J UNE 25 TH *
*This event is a one day double header.
Entries 8am • 1st performance 9am
2nd performance 3pm
Don’t forget to wear red, white and blue!
J ULY 16 TH
Don’t forget to wear pink!
A UGUST 20 TH & 21 ST
Grant County Fairgrounds
Entries open 8am • Rodeo starts 9am
B ARREL R ACING • P OLE B ENDING
G OAT T YING D UMMY R OPING • K EYHOLE R ACE
F LAG R ACE • F IGURE 8 R ACE
Membership: $30 individual / $45 family
Entry Fees: $2/event or $10/day
Membership in the Cinnabar Mountain Playdays is required .
M EMBERSHIP DUES MUST BE PAID IN FULL IN ORDER TO
PARTICIPATE . N O E XCEPTIONS . Daily entry fees must be
paid at time of entry. Proof of age is required to compete and
must be presented to a director no later than the second
playday attended by the membership holder.
Contestants must compete in at least 4
playdays to be eligible for year-end awards
For more info call: Didgette McCracken: 541-575-3520
Janet Plocharsky: 541-792-0077
Emma Winkelman: 541-620-1199 • Justin Jacobs: 541-620-1014
Melanie Kimball: 541-620-0706 • Sian Martin: 541-963-0379
Kristal Hansen: 541-910-7732 • Laura Hopper: 541-932-4315
The Class of 2016
GU
would like to extend a big
thank you
to the businesses
Also, a special thank you to
Teri Bowden.
who donated gifts & items that made our Grad Night
such a huge success!
We would also like to thank the
John Day Elks Lodge
once again for graciously offering their facilities.
Photo by Tanni Wenger
Photography Studios
Without the support of our
community this night
wouldn’t be possible.