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.