ATHLETES EARN 12 DISTRICT TRACK TITLES
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EAGLE
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W EDNESDAY , M AY 17, 2017
C ONGRATS , D AYVILLE , L ONG C REEK , M ONUMENT
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Growing
Scenic
Bikeway
tourism
By Sean Hart
Blue Mountain Eagle
A LOT OF KIDS
Mt. Vernon goat gives birth to fi ve
Story and photos by Angel Carpenter
Blue Mountain Eagle
M
One of 11 kids
owned by Gregg
and Betty Starr
of Mt. Vernon.
t. Vernon residents Gregg and Betty Starr are retired and have
grown children, but they also have 11 “kids” at home — baby
goats, that is.
One of their adult female Boer goats, named Blondie, re-
cently gave the Starrs a shock when she gave birth to fi ve
kids, though one was stillborn.
“She had them all by herself — one outside the barn, then she went in and
had three more, plus a stillborn,” Betty said.
Knowing goats usually have one to three kids
per pregnancy, the Starrs were amazed Blondie
had fi ve at once.
Betty called John Day veterinarian Colleen
Robertson to see what she thought.
“She had heard of it, but had never seen it,”
Betty said.
Betty immediately named the four living kids
using a “Star Wars” theme: Darth Vader, Yoda,
Obi-Wan and Leia.
Gregg said his wife names all the kids, usual-
ly with biblical names, such as Ruth and Naomi,
or after musicians, like Simon and Garfunkel.
“I’m the goat herder. She’s the goat woman,”
Gregg said. “Betty feeds them, and she’s the
main one with bottle feeding.”
He said they’ve been watching Blondie to make sure she’s feeding her kids
properly.
The Starrs started raising goats to help keep their pastures trimmed down.
“We’ve had cows and horses, but they’re too big, and it hurts when they
step on you,” Betty quipped.
Their goat herd started with three females and one male in 2013, and now
they have 29 in all, including Boer and Kiko breeds.
They plan to trim the herd down by selling some this summer.
When asked why they enjoy raising goats, Betty said “They’re sweeter
than any other animal.”
“They eat everything, and they have a personality that’s neat with them,”
Gregg added. “To watch them jump and hop, they look like they’re little kids.”
“They’re fun to watch,” Betty said.
See BIKEWAY, Page A10
Mt. Vernon resident Gregg Starr with
his goat Blondie and her kids. The
goat gave birth to four live kids and
one stillborn in late April.
TOP IMAGE: Mama goat Blondie has
four kids that stick close by, including
Darth Vader, Yoda, Obi Wan and Leia.
A National Park Service
report shows that 210,111
visitors to John Day Fossil
Beds National Monument
in 2016 spent $9,995,400 in
communities near the park.
That spending supported
153 jobs in the local area
and had a cumulative bene-
fi t to the local economy of
$11,801,900, according to a
park service press release.
“John Day Fossil Beds
welcomes visitors from
across the country and
around the world,” Superin-
tendent Shelley Hall said in
the release. “We are delight-
ed to share the story of this
place and the experiences it
provides. We also feature
the park as a way to intro-
duce our visitors to this part
of the country and all that it
offers.”
Hall noted that John
Day Fossil Beds saw record
visitation in 2016 and very
large numbers of visitors
are expected in Eastern Or-
egon to view the total solar
eclipse in August of 2017.
“National park tourism
is a signifi cant driver in the
national economy, return-
ing more than $10 for every
$1 invested in the National
Park Service, and it’s a big
factor in our local economy
as well,” Hall said. “We ap-
preciate the partnership and
support of our neighbors
See ECONOMY, Page A10
Bill would
mandate
testing for
lead, other
hazards
in schools
By Paris Achen
Capital Bureau
Betty Starr of Mt. Vernon holds one of
her baby goats.
Fossil Beds generate $10M in economic benefi ts
Blue Mountain Eagle
Grant County’s Scenic Bikeway
brings tourists to the area, but is the
county receiving as much econom-
ic benefi t as possible?
The Old West Scenic Bikeway
— through John
Day, Prairie City,
Long Creek, Mon-
ument, Kimberly,
Dayville and Mt.
Vernon — is up
for its fi rst state re-
view, where Scenic
Christy
Bikeways Commit-
Rheu
tee members will
evaluate past successes, explore
challenges and opportunities to im-
prove and promote bikeways and
discuss bringing greater economic
benefi ts to the county.
After the state review, from 11
a.m. to noon May 24 at the John
Day Fire Hall on Canyon Boule-
vard, Old West Scenic Bikeway
Lead Christy Rheu Waldner will
facilitate a local session from
noon to 3:30 p.m. The local ses-
sion is a bi-annual cycle tourism
meeting that will include intro-
ductions of new businesses, the
Eastern Oregon Trail Alliance
and the Chamber of Commerce’s
new website, a discussion about a
EO Media Group file photo
A tourist sets up a shot of the Painted Hills, one unit
of the John Day Fossil Beds National Monument,
near Mitchell. A National Park Service report shows
that 210,111 visitors to John Day Fossil Beds National
Monument in 2016 spent $9,995,400 in communities
near the park.
Lawmakers have revived a bill
that mandates testing for lead in
water supplies and carbon dioxide
monitors in public schools.
The bill also provides a special
$2.5 million fund to pay for the
new obligations.
Administrative rules approved
last year by the Oregon Board of
Education already require school
districts to have a plan for testing
for lead and other environmental
hazards and notifying the public of
any results, but lead testing itself is
not mandated.
The bill by Sen. Michael Dem-
brow and Rep. Alyssa Keny-Guyer
codifi es into law the existing re-
quirements by the education board
and adds the mandate to test for
lead and install carbon dioxide
monitors.
The bill received a public hear-
ing in the Senate Rules Committee
Wednesday, May 10, after almost
perishing in Senate Education
because unfi nished amendments
caused it to miss a deadline for
passing bills out of committee.
Only the Rules Committee can
move late-breaking bills during the
legislative session.
The bill could return to the rules
committee for a possible vote in
the next two weeks, after some mi-
nor amendments.
The Oregon Health Authority
See LEAD, Page A10