A18
News
Blue Mountain Eagle
Wednesday, September 14, 2016
NICHE
Continued from Page A1
He has also recently start-
ed selling to Sportsman’s
Warehouse. In the past, he’s
made custom orders for for-
eign dignitaries and Leather-
man founder Timothy Leath-
erman. Through his work, he
was invited to join The Royal
Privileged Shooting Society
— which, founded in 1447 in
Bavaria, is the oldest hunting
club in Europe.
Originally a logger, Dale
sold his arrowheads made in
the offseason to help support
himself. After heeding the ad-
vice of a customer, Dale add-
ed a handle to 30 of his blades
and sold 22 of them in one day
at a lea market in Portland.
From there, it was nothing
but growth. He began travel-
ing and showing his wares to
the
The Eagle/Rylan Boggs
Several completed knives made by Great Basin Art, ready to be shipped to gift
shops and trading posts around the United States on Thursday, Sept. 8.
gift shops and trading posts
and soon began receiving
corner’s
HOT
SH T
EEK
OF THE W
KENDALL HETTINGA
School: Dayville
Grade: 12
Sport: Volleyball
Position: Outside hitter
What I like best about my sport: “I’ve always
been a competitive athlete, and one thing that I
really strive for when I play is to make my parents
proud.”
Coach’s Comment: “She is our strongest hitter
and does a great job attacking the ball
from the front and back rows. I
appreciate her love for the game
and all of the extra time and
energy she puts in to making
herself a better player and
teammate.”
- Coach Tiffnie Schmadeka
PROUD SPONSOR OF GRANT COUNTY ATHLETES
100 E. Main • Stoplight in John Day
541-792-0425
03975
mass orders for his products.
Dale soon stopped travel-
ing due to the number of or-
ders coming in. After illing
his irst order of 100 knives,
his technique improved im-
mensely. He partnered with a
marketing irm and set out in
earnest.
What began as a mom and
pop business has blossomed
into a business that is expect-
ed to sell over 5,000 knives in
this year alone, according to
Dale’s wife.
Though the style of knives
Dale makes have long been
obsolete, he says they strike a
chord in people.
“It brings out the caveman
in you,” Claudia said.
Many of the materials Dale
uses are local. The obsidian he
buys by the ton comes from
Glass Butte and other areas
around Burns. He tries to buy
antlers locally, but there is of-
ten not enough available to
ill the demand. It’s often a
challenge to ind items such as
badger, fox and elk jaw bones
and buffalo ribs, essential to
making the knife handles.
“If you don’t have the han-
dles, you’re dead in the water
when people order knives,”
Dale said.
The jawbone knives are
especially popular with kids,
Claudia added.
“They seem to love the
teeth,” she said.
Dale has been approached
about selling his business,
but without it, he said he and
his wife wouldn’t know what
to do with themselves. At 75,
Dale says the only reason he
would sell his business would
be a major health problem.
Most of Great Basin Art’s
sales are outside the county,
The Eagle/Rylan Boggs
Dale Duby assesses a sheet of obsidian before
cutting out the profile of a knife blade, Thursday,
Sept. 8.
which brings money into the
local economy — something
the Dubys say gives them a
sense of satisfaction.
Dale hired local artist Lynn
Thornton to do the scrimshaw
engraving on the handles of
the knives. Thornton creates
the design by etching into
the handle with a power tool
called a Presto High Speed
Handpiece and then dabs ink
into the groove and wipes
away the excess, leaving only
the inked design.
Each knife comes with a
wooden stand made in house
by Gary Rapp, an experienced
Chief clariies timeline in Hermiston double murder-suicide
By Phil Wright
EO Media Group
Jason Huston made
two phone calls in the mo-
ments after killing his life-
long friend and shooting
his ex-girlfriend whom he
found sleeping in a Hermis-
ton home.
Hermiston Police Chief
Jason Edmiston on Wednes-
day released a more detailed
timeline of Huston’s deadly
actions of Aug. 18.
Edmiston in the written
statement said all times are
approximate:
10 a.m. — Huston, 45,
picked up James “JJ” Hur-
tado at the boy’s grandpar-
ents’ house in Umatilla. The
14-year-old was the son of
Huston’s ex-girlfriend, An-
dria Bye, 35, and Huston
was a father figure to him.
10-11 a.m. — Huston
drove Hurtado to a location
near the Umatilla River and
just off Country Lane out-
side Hermiston. “This was
a place Huston was famil-
iar with as he had shot guns
with friends at this location
numerous times,” according
to Edmiston.
Huston shot and killed
Hurtado with one round
from a handgun.
11-11:20 a.m. — Huston
M ARIA ’ S is closing.
Maria’s is sad to
announce the closing
of our doors this
Sept. 30th due to a
death in the
immediate family
which requires our
attention at home.
Last day in business :
Sept. 3 0 th
J OHN D AY P OLARIS
821 W H WY . 26
JDPOLARIS . COM
wood worker who also makes
furniture for Great Basin Art,
which is sold out of their
store, Prairie Trading Post, in
Prairie City.
Dale is trying to mini-
mize the furniture aspect of
his business as the knives are
more proitable. In the past,
he has made primitive-style
lances and tomahawks with
obsidian heads but discontin-
ued them for the same reasons
as the furniture.
As the demand for Dale’s
knives continue to grow, so
does their business and the
niche they’ve carved for it.
drove into Hermiston from
the Country Lane location
and parked his vehicle in
the lot of Foxwood Apart-
ments at West Hermiston
Avenue and Southwest 11th
Street.
He walked about 100
yards to 130 N.W. 11th
St., the home of his friend
and fellow Hermiston High
School volunteer wrestling
coach, Ken Valdez, also 45.
Huston kicked in the
front door of the home and
went to the bedroom where
Valdez and Bye were sleep-
ing. Huston shot Valdez
at least three times with
a Glock 9-mm handgun,
killing him, and shot Bye
one time in the back. Hus-
ton then made at least two
phone calls.
“One call to his mother,
who in turn called 9-1-1 as
she believed something was
wrong,” according to the
timeline. “The other call
he made to 9-1-1 advising
there had been a shooting at
that location.”
Huston then sat on the
bed and fatally shot himself.