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About The Blue Mountain eagle. (John Day, Or.) 1972-current | View Entire Issue (Dec. 21, 2016)
TIGER BASKETBALL SEASON OUTLOOK The – PAGE A8 Blue Mountain EAGLE Grant County’s newspaper since 1868 W EDNESDAY , D ECEMBER 21, 2016 • N O . 51 • 32 P AGES • $1.00 www.MyEagleNews.com Goodwin sentenced to 68 months for sex crime By Sean Hart Blue Mountain Eagle A John Day man was sen- tenced to 68 months in prison after pleading guilty to a sex crime. William Allen Goodwin III, 28, pleaded guilty to At- tempt to Com- mit a Class A Felony - Un- lawful Sexual Penetration in the First De- gree Nov. 17, according to the judgment William Allen signed by Grant Goodwin County Circuit III Court Judge William D. Cramer Jr. Goodwin was sen- tenced to 68 months in prison, with 10 years of post-prison supervision, and was ordered to register as a sex offender. Goodwin was indicted May 23 on charges of fi rst-degree unlawful sexual penetration and fi rst-degree sexual abuse to a single victim younger than 12 between March 1, 2015, and Oct. 1, 2015, in Grant County. He originally pleaded not guilty to the crimes in Sep- tember, and a trial was sched- uled to begin Dec. 19. The Grant County District Attorney’s Offi ce elected to prosecute Goodwin with the lesser included charge of At- tempt to Commit a Class A Felony, to which he pleaded guilty. The attempt-to-com- mit charge is a Class B felony. The fi rst-degree sexual abuse charge was dismissed. According to the judgment, the court increased the sen- tence beyond what sentencing guidelines typically specify because of the vulnerability of the victim and the stipulation of the parties. Goodwin may not be con- sidered for any form of re- duced sentence, conditional or supervised release program, temporary leave from custody or work release. The judgment recommends the Department of Justice review Goodwin’s “situation as to where to place him for safety purposes based on threats of harm to him.” As conditions of post-pris- on supervision, the court recommended sex offender treatment, polygraphs and no contact with the victim or oth- er minors until approved by a treatment provider and deter- mined by alleged victims to be in their best interest. Seneca is one of the coldest places in the U.S. By Rylan Boggs Blue Mountain Eagle A lready tied for the record of the coldest recorded temperature in Oregon, the small town of Sen- eca can now boast it is one of the coldest places in the United States. Between July 1, 2015, and June 30, 2016, Seneca was the coldest place in the contigu- ous United States on 20 different nights, ac- cording to Dennis Hull, a meteorologist for the National Weather Service in Pendleton. Only the Yellowstone Park area of Wyoming and Bodie State Park in California had more nights in which either were coldest, he said. At an elevation of 4,666 feet, Seneca is situated in the lowest part of Bear Valley — a bowl in the mountains in southern Grant County — which leads to the frigid tempera- tures, Hull said. “Cold air from the surrounding hills settles and deepens in the valley during the night,” he said. “On some of the coldest mornings, the temperature is 15 to 20 degrees lower than ... John Day located just 20 miles to the north.” The locals, however, don’t seem to mind the cold weather. “When you get out, you bundle up,” 82-year-old Bob Turner said, adding it is a “dry cold,” which is tolerable. Seneca was the coldest place in the contiguous United States 20 nights between July 1, 2015, to June 30, 2016. Only Yellowstone Park in Wyoming and Bodie State Park in California were colder more nights. See SENECA, Page A16 Contributed photo/Winnie Browning Eagle photos/Rylan Boggs Leonard Rider, 86, enjoys a laugh and a hot cup of coffee in the Bear Valley Store in Seneca . Rider remembers ice skating as a child despite subzero temperatures. The Bear Valley Store in Seneca Friday, Nov. 25. Can coozies in the Bear Valley Store. Seneca tied the record for the coldest temperature recorded in Oregon at -54 degrees in February 1933. Christmas concert is fi nale for longtime director By Angel Carpenter Blue Mountain Eagle Sounds of the season en- tertained audiences as Hum- bolt Elementary School and Grant Union Junior-Senior High School students per- formed in concerts at Grant Union in John Day last week. Students in kindergarten through sixth grade sang, and the sixth-grade band per- formed Dec. 12, the parking lots fi lled to capacity. On Dec. 14, the Grant Union combined choir (grades 7-12) presented a range of new holiday songs, as well as traditional tunes, including “Carol of the Bells.” The junior high band and senior band’s music in- Contributed photo/Stephanie Parsons Humbolt Elementary students in kindergarten through sixth grade sing to a packed gym at Grant Union Junior-Senior High School for their Christmas program led by director Mary Ann Vidourek. cluded a community sing-a- long at the end with “Rudolf the Red-nosed Reindeer” and other favorites. The concerts cap music di- rector Mary Ann Vidourek’s 25-year career with the school district. Vidourek retired last school year and fi lled in until a new director was found. Lori Hart, a graduate of Brigham Young University, will step in as director in the new year. The Grant Union bands and choir presented a sur- prise number for Vidourek — which they’d practiced on their own — at the close of Wednesday’s concert, pre- senting their director with an armful of fl owers. “It’s always been a plea- sure to work with my mu- sic students in Grant School District No. 3, and I wish all of them and all the amaz- ing staff all the best as they move forward under a new music leadership,” Vidourek said.
