FAIRGROUNDS TO HOST DEMOLITION DERBY
The
– PAGE A3
Blue Mountain
EAGLE
Grant County’s newspaper since 1868
W EDNESDAY , J ULY 19, 2017
• N O . 29
• 18 P AGES
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www.MyEagleNews.com
SOLAR
ECLIPSE
2017
Eclipse sites
popping up,
and fi lling up
Pandyfest,
Paiute event
among options
By Angel Carpenter
Blue Mountain Eagle
There are just 32 days left
as the total solar eclipse count-
down continues.
Some say the Monday,
Aug. 21, celestial event will be
an experience of a lifetime.
Camping and RV sites,
which have popped up
throughout Grant County, are
fi lling up.
The campsites will offer
observers a view of the two
minutes of totality, and some
will also host a weekend of en-
tertainment.
The Burns Paiute Tribe is
hosting cultural event called
Experience Beechcreek for
campers.
Located 2-3 miles north of
Mt. Vernon off of Highway
395, the weekend will include
drumming, singing, dancing,
native stories and games for the
kids on Saturday, and comedi-
an entertainment on Sunday.
Jarvis Kennedy, a tribal
council member, said the prop-
erty includes 300 tent sites and
100 RV spots with space for
vendors.
Tepees will be set up near
a cabin on site, and a check-in
offi ce will provide a respite for
elderly to cool off.
The tribe purchased the
2,400-acre property in March
of 2016, and Kennedy said it
includes aboriginal territories
of the natives.
“We’re just trying to have a
community gathering with not
just the Burns Paiute people but
with all the people of this area
and visitors to celebrate this
eclipse,” Kennedy said.
For more information, call
Kennedy at 541-589-4191.
“Pandyfest,” hosted by the
Weaver family on West Bench
Road in John Day, includes
two nights of camping, four
meals, entertainment from
six Portland bands, a 100-foot
slip and slide and other back-
yard games.
Mandy Weaver, who is
spearheading the event with
her husband, Patrick — the
combination of their two
names creating the word
“Pandy” — said they have 20
tent spots left with 60 spots
already rented to 105 people.
See ECLIPSE, Page A18
One dead
in arson fire
P ILOT R OCK
SUSPECT ARRESTED
EO Media Group photos/E.J. Harris
Laurie Sammons of Canyon City thumbs through a box of family photographs salvaged from the home of her
father, Larry Castro, on Monday in Pilot Rock. Castro died in an early morning fire Sunday.
‘I was on my stomach
crawling through the house’
By Phil Wright
Angela Fix arrested for
first-degree arson.
Records show
Angela Fix has
multiple criminal
convictions
dating back to
2011 for meth
possession and
failure to appear.
Arson is the most
severe charge
she has faced.
EO Media Group
John Day resident Brandon Cross remembered crawling on
his belly to search the burning Pilot Rock home for anyone in
danger. He said he spent a few frantic moments inside the house
before the overwhelming heat and fl ames forced him to retreat.
“It burned the hair off the back of my head,” said Cross.
Pilot Rock Police Chief William Caldera in a written state-
ment reported fi refi ghters found the body of Larry Eugene Cas-
tro, 72, just inside the front door of his home at 439 S.W. Birch
Place off Highway 395 in the small town.
Caldera also reported police arrested Angela Marie Fix, 40,
of 522 S.W. Birch Place, for fi rst-degree arson.
Cross and his girlfriend were returning to John Day after
attending the Pendleton Whisky Music Fest when they saw
smoke coming from the home Sunday around 1:45 a.m. Their
day of fun, he said, turned into a nightmare.
“As soon as I seen the house was on fi re, I started beating on
the door,” Cross said, while his girlfriend called 9-1-1.
See ARSON, Page A18
The remains of charred books lie in a
pile next to the home of Larry Castro
on Monday in Pilot Rock. Police believe
arson to be the cause.
City investigating problem with water and sewer payments
Customers not credited for June sewer and water payments
By Rylan Boggs
Blue Mountain Eagle
Nick Green
The city of John Day has
opened an investigation into dis-
crepancies in sewer and water bill
payments.
Water and sewer payments for
almost every account in the city
were not credited for June pay-
ments, so balances refl ected an
extra payment was needed, City
Manager Nick Green said. He de-
scribed it as a software error, not
an accounting error.
“The city is conducting an
internal investigation, and we
should be able to provide more
information in the near future,”
Green said.
Green said he would not com-
ment further during the ongoing
investigation.
Janine Weaver, who served as
the city secretary/cashier in June,
is no longer working for the city,
Senior Accounting Clerk Julie
Larson said Monday, and the city
is currently seeking to fi ll the va-
cancy.
A fading Rainbow
Hundreds clean
up the mess of
thousands after
gathering
By Rylan Boggs
Blue Mountain Eagle
As Don Joseph picks his
way through a pine forest
used by the Rainbow Gather-
ing, it’s obvious people were
here.
Paths snake in between
trees and sites where tents
and latrines were set up a
couple weeks ago for more
than 13,000 attendees, but it’s
hard to say where exactly they
were.
Beyond a few orange
peels, there’s no garbage in
a small chunk of forest used
Eagle photos/Rylan Boggs
Lesa sorts recycling after the Rainbow Gathering Friday,
July 14.
by several hundred Rainbow
Gathering attendees who
stayed behind after the July
1-7 gathering to clean up.
Joseph, a Vietnam veteran
and regular gathering attend-
ee, takes pride in the condi-
tion in which the gathering
attendees leave their sites.
As with the gathering,
See RAINBOW, Page A18
David sorts recycling after the Rainbow Gathering on
Friday, July 14.