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About The Blue Mountain eagle. (John Day, Or.) 1972-current | View Entire Issue (July 27, 2016)
Journey through Grant County and beyond INSIDE The Grant County’s newspaper since 1868 Blue Mountain EAGLE W EDNESDAY , J ULY 27, 2016 • N O . 30 The Eagle/Sean Hart Lake Creek at Murray Campground, which is about three miles north of Forest Road 16 on Forest Road 924. • 26 P AGES • $1.00 Astronomers say local area is a prime viewing spot www.MyEagleNews.com Lost boy found 7-year-old spends night alone in the forest cers on scene determined several vehicles had been seen in the area and at- Seven-year-old Dylan tempted to locate them in Beede spent Saturday night case Dylan had been ab- alone in the Malheur Na- ducted. Searchers from the tional Forest after becom- sheriff’s office, the Oregon ing separated State Police and from family and volunteers from friends camped the public be- at the Elk gan to search for Creek Camp- Dylan but could ground near the not find him Saturday. Grant-Baker Addition- county line. al resources After a from Baker, search and Deschutes and rescue effort, Crook counties Dylan was were called for found Sun- the second day day morning of the search, unharmed ex- but as they were cept for minor on scrapes and Contributed photo arriving scene, Dylan bruises to the Dylan Beede was was located relief of his welcomed by family, who friends and family about 1.5 miles northwest from live in Bend. after spending where he was “God is so the night alone, last seen. good!” Dylan’s lost in the forest “At about mother, Juana near Elk Creek 7:30 a.m. on Beede, said. Campground. July 24th, “Jeremy and Dylan was lo- I were so, so God is cated by Ore- blessed by the so good! gon State Po- amazing com- lice Trooper munity. We felt Jeremy and Pat McKosker your prayers and brought I were so, and love, and back to the Elk we can’t even so blessed Creek Camp- put into words ground where what it meant by the Dylan was re- to us. All of amazing united with his the officers, family,” Palm- volunteers, ev- community.” er said in the eryone, thank Dylan’s mother, release. “Dylan you again for Juana Beede underwent a everything.” medical exam The Grant on scene by County Sher- iff’s Office responded to paramedics from the Blue the report of the missing Mountain Hospital and boy at 3 p.m. after a fami- (was) released to his fam- ly member drove to Seneca ily.” As a parting gift, Dylan to call 911, according to a press release from Grant was given a hat embla- County Sheriff Glenn zoned with the Grant County Sheriff emblem. Palmer. As search and rescue His mother said he loves personnel were respond- the hat and wears it all the ing, law enforcement offi- time. By Sean Hart Blue Mountain Eagle H OT E L S A L R E A DY B O O K E D F O R By Angel Carpenter Blue Mountain Eagle M anager Jenny Shaw’s phone has been ringing off the hook at the His- toric Hotel Prairie in Prairie City. It’s a little over a year away, but an Aug. 21, 2017, solar eclipse is creating quite a buzz, and city and county offi - cials, business owners and others are making preparations. Shaw said they received their fi rst res- ervation for the event in 2011 and were booked for that weekend in 2014. When she received the fi rst reserva- tion in 2011, Shaw said she thought the person was crazy. “I wish I had a dollar for every per- son I turned away,” she said. “I’d have at least $1,500, and that’s not exagger- ating.” She has 25 people on a waiting list at the hotel on Front Street. Last Wednesday, she received another request for a room reservation during the eclipse. “He thought he was ahead of the game,” she said. A couple of John Day hotels that don’t hold reservations more than a year out are expected to book up next month. So why is an astronomical event more than a year away generating so much attention? Shaw said one astronomer who plans to stay at the hotel said the Grant County area is a prime spot for eclipse viewing due to the elevation, clear skies and the remoteness, with fewer city lights. Tammy Bremner, Grant County Chamber of Commerce manager, said the heavenly event is expected to be the most widely viewed total eclipse. The full eclipse will start, locally, at 10:22 a.m., lasting for two minutes, six seconds — the partial phase begins at 9:08 a.m. See ECLIPSE, Page A16 SOLAR ECLIPSE 2017 John Day planning for the influx of visitors “ The Eagle/Angel Carpenter Manager Jenny Shaw said the Historic Hotel Prairie is booked for the weekend of Aug. 21, 2017, for a solar eclipse and said some have told her Grant County is a prime viewing area for the event. Owyhee legislation Sen. Wyden’s bill would prevent mining but not a monument By Sean Hart Blue Mountain Eagle The Eagle/Sean Hart U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Oregon, speaks at a town hall meeting in Canyon City July 20. When asked whether the U.S. Senate would support a proposal passed in the House of Represen- tatives to prevent funding to cre- ate a national monument in Mal- heur County, Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Oregon, instead touted a bill he introduced that would not pre- vent a monument. Speaking July 20 in Grant County at his 778th town hall meeting since taking office, the senator said his bill, co-spon- sored by fellow Oregon Dem- ocratic Sen. Jeff Merkley, re- sponded to concerns raised by residents in more than 50 meetings with Wyden’s staff. Wyden said residents were opposed to a proposed 2.5 mil- lion-acre national monument that would cover 40 percent of Mal- heur County. He said they were also concerned about foreign mining in the area and wanted to strengthen the ranching econ- omy and preserve the ranching way of life. “I have pointed out to the (President Barack Obama) ad- ministration very clearly that there is very strong opposition in Eastern Oregon to a monu- ment on the Owyhee,” he said. “And so I’ve actually intro- duced a piece of legislation that I think responds to what I’ve heard in Eastern Oregon.” Wyden introduced the South- eastern Oregon Mineral With- drawal and Economic Preserva- tion and Development Act June 10, and it was referred to the Committee on Agriculture, Nu- trition and Forestry. “The bulk of the bill is about strengthening the ranching econ- omy and the ranching way of life,” he said. “This, of course, No. 2, is not a monument; this would be a piece of legislation, so it would have to be consid- ered by the Senate, it would have to be considered by the House. Third, because there’s been big See OWYHEE, Page A16