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