News
Blue Mountain Eagle
A3
Wednesday, October 5, 2016
New Parks and Rec manager plans to expand programs
Youth basketball
registration
due Oct. 14
Parks and Rec youth
basketball starts this month
By Angel Carpenter
Blue Mountain Eagle
Jeff Meyerholz spends
a lot of time chasing soccer
balls, volleyballs and foot-
balls — at work.
He came on board as the
new John Day-Canyon City
Parks and Recreation program
manager on Sept. 1, work-
ing alongside director Art
Thunell, ofice manager Kim-
berly Ward and other staff.
Meyerholz organizes and
assists with the sporting pro-
grams — helping coach and
oficiate, when needed — and
he’s aiming to increase the
agency’s visibility and create
new programs.
“I’m working on building a
better online presence through
Facebook and building a new
website,” he said, adding they
plan to streamline the process
to include online payments
for registration.
He’s also planning pro-
grams for adults, including
volleyball, basketball and
pickle ball.
Eagle photos/Angel Carpenter
John Day-Canyon City
Parks and Recreation
program manager Jeff
Meyerholz coaches
soccer at Seventh Street
Complex.
John Day-Canyon City Parks and Recreation
program manager Jeff Meyerholz coaches a soccer
game at Seventh Street Complex. Soccer players,
from left are: Eli Speth, Isaiah Adams (back),
Maleah Archibald, Jasmine Hazelett, Trey Hall and
Maddie Bailey is goalie.
“Part of our mission is pro-
viding recreational opportuni-
ties to the community, and the
board has asked us to grow
not only youth programs, but
adult programs, too,” he said.
“We want to build better com-
munication with the commu-
nity and gather feedback on
building future programs.”
Meyerholz worked for the
local Parks and Rec several
years prior to starting the new
position, doing maintenance
and landscaping.
He’s a retired Forest Ser-
vice rappel manager, and still
owns MeyWow Photography.
Currently, 136 children
are involved in Parks and Rec
sporting programs. There are
55 kids enrolled in soccer,
which has two teams of 5- to
6-year-olds and two teams of
7- to 11-year-olds.
Volleyball has 41 kids
with teams for grades 3-4 and
grade 5-6.
The football teams are
usually on the road to com-
pete, but hosted a jamboree
on Saturday, Sept. 24, in John
Day with out-of-town teams
invited. There are 40 play-
ers participating in football
teams for grades 3-4 and
grades 5-6.
Registration is current-
ly open for youth basketball
teams for grades 4-6 with
boys and girls leagues run-
ning Oct. 17 through Dec. 15.
The popular Daddy/
Daughter Dance is on the
schedule for February 2017,
Registration forms for John Day-Canyon City Parks and
Recreation youth basketball are available at Humbolt Ele-
mentary School and the Parks and Rec ofice.
The program is for boys and girls in grades 4-6.
The deadline for registration is Oct. 14.
Boys start practice at 3:30 p.m. Monday, Oct. 17, at Hum-
bolt Elementary.
Girls, also playing at Humbolt, start practice at 3:30 p.m.
Tuesday, Oct. 18.
The fee for registering early is $35 for players who live
within the John Day/Canyon City taxing district, and $45 for
those who are out of district.
After Oct. 14, an additional fee of $5 will be charged.
Forms, with the money enclosed, can be returned to the
school; Parks and Rec ofice; or mailed to JDCC Parks and
Recreation, P.O. Box 762, John Day, OR 97845.
For more information, call 541-575-0110.
and a mother/son activity is in
the planning stages.
“We’ll also potentially add
other nonsporting, education-
al programs,” he said.
Ideas surfacing include
photography, day hikes and
youth tumbling. Running
events, bike races and softball
tournaments for adults are
also among the possibilities,
which they hope will draw
visitors to the area.
“You can see, I have my
work cut out for me,” Mey-
erholz said. “I took the job
because I knew it was going
to be a challenge and look for-
ward to it.”
For more information,
call the Parks and Rec of-
ice at 541-575-0110 or vis-
it jdccparksandrec.weebly.
com. The ofice is located
on the west side of the Sev-
enth Street Complex at 845
1/2 NW Bridge St. in John
Day.
District attorney asks law enforcement
associations to request Porter reconsideration
Blue Mountain Eagle
Grant County District
Attorney Jim Carpenter has
asked law enforcement as-
sociations to request the Or-
egon Supreme Court to re-
consider the Oregon Court of
Appeals decision to reinstate
Sidney Dean Porter’s 2013
release date.
Carpenter said Friday he
has sent letters to the Ore-
gon Association of Chiefs
of Police, the Oregon State
Sheriffs’ Association and the
Oregon District Attorneys
Association.
In the letter he urges them
to contact the Oregon De-
partment of Justice and Ore-
gon Attorney General asking
them to request that the Or-
egon Supreme Court recon-
sider the imminent release of
Porter, who killed John Day
Jim Carpenter
Police Oficer Frank Ward in
1992.
After Carpenter’s testimo-
ny before the Board of Pa-
role in 2015, the board ruled
Porter was a danger to the
community and ordered him
to remain in custody until at
least 2020.
That decision, howev-
er, will be preempted unless
the Supreme Court overturns
a recent ruling from the ap-
peals court, which reinstated
a 2013 release date due to le-
gal errors.
The appeals court ruled
the parole board should not
have postponed a 2013 re-
lease date without a timely
hearing.
A June 2013 release date
was issued when no evidence
except a psychological evalu-
ation was presented at an exit
interview earlier that year.
Although more evidence
was provided after that in-
terview, the parole board did
not hold a hearing with Porter
until September 2013, after
postponing the June release
date.
The appeals court ruled
evidence presented after the
postponement of the release
date could not be used to jus-
tify the postponement that al-
ready occurred.
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