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About The Blue Mountain eagle. (John Day, Or.) 1972-current | View Entire Issue (June 14, 2017)
CLARK ADVANCES TO NATIONAL HIGH SCHOOL RODEO FINALS – PAGE A10 The Blue Mountain EAGLE Grant County’s newspaper since 1868 W EDNESDAY , J UNE 14, 2017 • N O . 24 • 18 P AGES • $1.00 www.MyEagleNews.com Humbolt plans to combine third and fourth grades Parents express concerns By Rylan Boggs Blue Mountain Eagle ’62 DAYS IS ‘GOLDEN’ Eagle photos/Angel Carpenter Can-can girls dance on a float in Saturday’s ’62 Days parade, including Avery Lenz, Uwanda Rodriguez, Raegan Sherman, Jordden Cameron and Ali Lenz. Whiskey Gulch Gang celebrates with a bang By Angel Carpenter ’62 Days Parade results Blue Mountain Eagle T Four-year-old Hayla Reilly of Prairie City rides the parade route atop Rooster with Chelsey McDaniel leading. he Whiskey Gulch Gang’s annual ’62 Days celebra- tion in Canyon City went off without a hitch. Rain held off for the Gold Rush Run and Walk 5K and Hope 4 Paws benefi t breakfast. Although sprinkles threatened later that morning, clouds parted for the ’62 Days parade. Grant County Commissioner Boyd Britton, at the microphone, announced it was the 50th parade in the event’s history. Janine Goodwin of Prairie City sang the nation- al anthem as John Day’s Boy Scouts of America Troop 800 posted the colors. Parade organizer Leslie Traylor said she was happy with the pa- rade, which had 25 entries. The Whiskey Gulch Can- Can Girls won fi rst for the schools/organizations di- vision for their fl oat and a $100 prize for theme. Traylor said the group was in keep- ing with the “Miner’s Eclipse” parade theme. Their fl oat also included a miner and a goat along with the can-can dancers. The Rocky Top Riders won fi rst place for mounted groups, wearing black outfi ts symbolizing the upcoming total solar eclipse. Mindy and Abby Winegar won fi rst in decorated vehicle and the sweepstakes for their Grant County Rug Rats entry, honoring the late Mary Jane Allen. See ’62 days, Page A18 Commercial Mtn. View Mini Mart, fi rst KJDY’s Cowboy Fast Draw Com- petition, second John Day Polaris, third Schools/Organizations Whiskey Gulch Can-Can Girls, fi rst Grant/Harney Fire Prevention Co-op, second John Day Volunteer and Rural Fire Department, third Non-motorized Bed Race Contest entry, fi rst Classic Vehicles Ron Phillips, ’27 Model A, fi rst Decorated Vehicles Grant County Rug Rats, fi rst Mounted Group Rocky Top Riders 4-H Club, fi rst Grant County Fair Court, second Strawberry Riders 4-H Club, third Derby Cars Steve Patterson, fi rst ATV/Motorized Grant County Snowballers, fi rst Best in Theme ($100 prize): Whiskey Gulch Can-Can Girls Sweepstakes: Grant County Rug Rats, Abby and Mindy Winegar In front, LeRoy Gillies, aka “Cody,” of Boise, Idaho, wins a round at Friday’s Oregon State Fast Draw Championship in Canyon City. Parents are worried blending third- and fourth- grade classes at Humbolt Elementary School may not be the best thing for their children. School board members attempted to assuage fears about having two grade levels in a single class while expressing their own concerns during a June 7 school board meeting. The blend will merge the third- and fourth- grade classes in the 2017-18 school year. Recess, lunch, library, physical education, music, sci- ence, social studies and writing will be in the blended setting, while math and reading will be taught by separat- ing students into grade levels, according to Humbolt Principal Kim Smith. The blend is being considered because of The Eagle/Rylan Boggs a combination of low- ered state test scores School board and a smaller sec- member Gordon ond-grade class, ac- Larson. cording to Smith. This school year’s second-grade class con- sisted of 37 students, while the third- and fourth- grade classes consisted of 46 and 42 students, respectively. With two teachers per grade, Humbolt students still had smaller classroom sizes than the state av- erage of 30 students, according to Smith. The blended class is predicted to consist of four classrooms with 21 students each. Students will have two classroom teachers, one for their blended class and one for their grade level core instruction, Smith said. Heather Rookstool, a parent with a child going into fourth grade, expressed concerns about the change at the school board meeting. Rookstool said she was disappointed in a lack of communication by the school’s administration, and she felt the decision had been made without involving parents. She said, if the decision was set in stone, she would deal with it. However, she said the lack of communication was seriously af- fecting the school. She described the school as once being “happy and bubbly,” but said now teachers were leaving the school because of poor communication with the administration. “I feel like that school is broken,” she said. Sena Raschio expressed concern her fourth- grade son’s personality would lead him to tutor younger students in the blended class instead of learning new material. She felt her parental choice as to how her child was taught was taken away. Samantha Phillips worried her son might be left behind in a blended class and was consider- ing moving him to the Dayville School, where he would still be in a blended class but with fewer See HUMBOLT, Page A18 Rainbow gathering choosing Oregon location Malheur National Forest among possibilities sus of which site we will use to host the annual Rainbow gathering.” Following the council’s decision, which usually takes between two and fi ve days, those present will move to the decided upon area and begin preparing the site, he said. usually within an hour or two Blue Mountain Eagle drive of the best site or two that people have located while The Malheur National scouting.” Forest could host an annual The Forest Service’s main gathering of thousands known concern with the infl ux of as the Rainbow Family gath- such a large group of peo- ering. ple are the effects on natural Adam Buxbaum, a Rain- resources, public safety and bow gathering at- the impact on the The Rainbow gathering could tendee, said it’s not community, Mal- land anywhere in Oregon that yet known where heur National For- the gathering will est Public Affairs has a national forest.” be held. He said Specialist Mike Adam Buxbaum the decision would Stearly said. be made within the The Rainbow Rainbow gathering attendee month at the Spring gathering will Council, taking place be managed by a on the Umatilla National For- This is when most of the in- federal incident management est in northern Grant County. frastructure is developed, ac- team with law enforcement “This is an open circle cording to Buxbaum. offi cers and advisors. The “The Rainbow gathering team will be similar to those which anyone can attend and participate in,” he said. “It is could land anywhere in Ore- dispatched for wildfi res and the circle which will make gon that has a national forest,” the determination by consen- he said. “Spring Council is See RAINBOW, Page A18 By Rylan Boggs “ Two injured in stabbing at Rainbow gathering meeting Blue Mountain Eagle Two people were treated for stab wounds after an inci- dent on the Umatilla Nation- al Forest in northern Grant County early Saturday morn- ing. At an annual spring coun- cil meeting for the Rainbow Family gathering, which may bring 25,000-40,000 participants to Grant County July 1-7, a 20-year-old from Sweden was arrested for fi rst-degree assault for stab- bing a 23-year-old from Red- ding, California, according to a press release from Grant County Sheriff Glenn Palmer. At about 12:32 a.m., the sheriff’s offi ce and ambulanc- es from Long Creek and John Day were dispatched to a re- port of a stabbing near Hunter Spring, about 12 miles east of Highway 395 on Trout Road. Deputy Tyler Smith and Reserve Deputy Dan Van- dehey met the victim, Kath- leen Abigale Todd, who was stabbed in the upper left tricep, at the intersection of Highway 395 and Trout Road. She was transported to Blue Mountain Hospital in John Day when an ambulance arrived. See STABBING, Page A18