COUGAR SPOTTED IN CITY LIMITS – PAGE A5
The
Blue Mountain
EAGLE
Grant County’s newspaper since 1868
W EDNESDAY , M ARCH 1, 2017
• N O . 9
• 18 P AGES
• $1.00
www.MyEagleNews.com
‘Young Sherlock’
A mystery
with a surprise
ending and lots
of laughs
DUII, liquor
violations double
state average
By Rylan Boggs
Blue Mountain Eagle
Director: Students ‘meet the challenges’
By Angel Carpenter
Blue Mountain Eagle
T
Eagle photos/Angel Carpenter
Trejan Speth plays the part of a
younger Sherlock Holmes in the
Grant Union drama club’s most
recent production.
TOP PHOTO: A cloaked figure
kidnaps a student in the Grant
Union play “Young Sherlock.”
John Day
safe, but
behavioral
crime
outpaces
state
he Grant Union drama club de-
lighted audiences last week with
the production of “Young Sher-
lock” on the school stage.
There were 24 actors cast in the play,
written by Craig Sodaro and directed by
Julie Reynolds.
The two-act play, with a total of six
scenes, had many lines for some of the ac-
tors and more than 40 exits and entrances.
A few of the actors ended up on crutch-
es, with one main player in a wheelchair —
from real-life accidents.
“It wasn’t the easiest play, but in follow-
ing through and following up with it, it was
one of the best things that young actors can
do — to meet the challenge of doing some-
thing that is hard,” Reynolds said.
Senior Trejan Speth was cast as main
character Sherlock Holmes, attending But-
terworth Academy in London, set in 1885,
along with his friend John Watson, played
by Nick Springer.
“Trejan was not only an important part
of the play, but a leader in practice and
helpfulness,” Reynolds said. “He was al-
ways there.”
See PLAY, Page A18
The Grant Union drama club unfolded a mystery
Feb. 22-23 with a lot of laughs along the way as they
presented “Young Sherlock” on the school stage.
Signore Medici (Kayana
McLean) brings
her daughter, Rosa
(Cheyenne Hayzlett)
to the Butterworth
Academy.
Ginni Frazier plays
the part of clairvoyant
Madame Lulu.
John Day’s rate of signifi -
cant crime was half the state
average in 2016.
The city had 42 percent
fewer crimes
against people
and 59 percent
fewer crimes
against prop-
erty, but 35
percent more
behavioral
Police
crimes
than
Chief
the rest of the
Richard
state, accord-
Gray
ing to a recent
report from the
John Day Police Department.
There were no reports of
willful murder, negligent ho-
micide, kidnapping, robbery,
arson, prostitution or illegal
gambling, according to the
report. However, rates of
driving under the infl uence of
intoxicants were 116 percent
higher than the state average,
while liquor law violations
were 138 percent higher. The
department lists drug enforce-
ment and substance abuse
prevention as its number one
priority.
“Because alcohol and mar-
ijuana use is legal and per-
vasive, it plays a particularly
strong role in the relationship
to crime and other social
problems,” the report said.
The report states substance
abuse directly correlates with
crime, and many stolen items
are often traded for prescrip-
tion, legal or illicit drugs.
One method the depart-
ment uses to combat sub-
stance abuse is a drug take
back box, which processed
over 230 pounds of unwanted
medication in 2016. The box
is located outside of the John
Day Police Department and is
under 24-hour surveillance.
Animal control is also a
signifi cant problem for the
community. John Day and
Prairie City had 69 animal
complaints in 2016 with 13
for attacks on people or other
animals.
The department has fi ve
See CRIME, Page A18
King’s Variety Store to close its doors
Twenty other
locations also
shutting down
By Rylan Boggs
Blue Mountain Eagle
King’s Variety Store in
John Day is closing.
A staple for local con-
sumers, the store is shutting
its doors along with 20 oth-
er locations in six states in
the Northwest. The closures
are attributed to the rise of
large box stores like Wal-
Mart and an increase in the
accessibility of online shop-
ping, according to a press
release.
“The retail climate has
The Eagle/Rylan Boggs
Kings Variety Store in John
Day on Tuesday, Feb. 28.
radically changed in the
past decade. ... With the
advent of both large-box re-
tail stores and the internet,
anyone with a computer can
buy from millions of ven-
dors around the world,” a
press release from the com-
pany stated.
“Brick and mortar stores
need feet and faces to sur-
vive as we have salaries,
rents and other costs to
cover. Unfortunately for us
that is not the current land-
scape.”
The John Day store will
lay off 11 people, according
to manager Michelle Conk-
ey.
“I’ve been here for 15
years, it’s kind of my sec-
ond home,” Conkey said.
Employees received the
news Feb. 20. Conkey said
she is devastated, but thank-
ful to the community for
their support over the years.
Along with the jobs lost,
the community also is los-
ing an outlet for goods like
children’s clothing.
When Kailee Cherry
first moved to Grant Coun-
ty, she found herself in
King’s all the time, pick-
ing up the odds and ends
needed to furnish a new
house.
Since then she’s shopped
at King’s about once a week
for gardening and crafting
supplies and toys for her
two children.
She hopes for a similar
store to take its place but,
until then, plans to shop
on sites like Amazon and
Walmart.com to get school
supplies and other items for
her 2-year-old and 5-year-
old she will no longer be
able to buy locally.
Online retailers like Am-
azon are thriving in the cur-
rent business climate. The
international marketplace
delivered over 2 billion
items worldwide in 2016,
according to an Amazon
press release.
At King’s, prices are
now being dropped in an
effort to move merchan-
dise out of the store, which
is scheduled to close in
May.
Founded by M. H. King
in Burley, Idaho, in 1915,
the store wanted to provide
reasonably priced goods to
small communities.