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About The Blue Mountain eagle. (John Day, Or.) 1972-current | View Entire Issue (Aug. 2, 2017)
A18 News Blue Mountain Eagle ECLIPSE Continued from Page A1 viewing areas in Grant County, for example, to generate rough esti- mates of how many vehicles remain in the vicinity. Strandberg also said the agency is beefing up its Trip Check website to show the pace of traffic through the rural highways. “We’re trying to implement that before the eclipse, that’s the plan,” he said. And the state is shutting down highway construction projects through the area starting the week- end before the eclipse through mid- night Tuesday, Aug. 22, the day af- ter. ODOT’s motto for the event is “arrive early, stay put and leave late.” “People coming the day of might be stuck in traffic jams,” Strandberg said, and a mass exodus the moment it ends will cause the same result. He also said visitors need to come prepared. “We expect gas stations to run out of gas, grocery stores to run out of food,” he said, and rest areas and restaurants to be full. “It’s quite an unusual situation, but we think it’s manageable.” Wednesday, August 2, 2017 He warned drivers not to rely on GPS directions for rerouting around turtle-speed traffic. Strandberg said that would mean traveling over U.S. Forest Service roads and rough terrain. Not knowing those routes or having the right vehicle could mean trouble. “People need to stay on the main highways,” he said. “That might be a long delay, but if you are on a for- est road ... you might be stuck a lot longer.” ARTIST Continued from Page A1 After painting chemicals onto a sheet of metal, he will quickly rinse, dry and seal the piece with another chemical to preserve the reaction. However, if he decides he doesn’t like the piece, he can rework the metal again and again until he does. The acids he works with can be volatile, and his clothes have the holes to prove it. Recently, Mead had been study- ing with Zen artists working with ink and brush on rice paper. “It ends up transferring in a very fascinating way to the steel,” Mead said. For his pieces, he is drawn to wood most people would be afraid to pick up. He looks for “nasty” aged wood full of rusty nails to strip down and use for the backing of the piece. For each piece, he custom welds a steel frame. “It’s a complete piece with the frame,” Mead said. “Not just a painting where you fill in your canvas.” While most of his pieces are sold outside the county, he has sold some locally. Mead’s old neighbor, Maryann Blem, bought one of his pieces be- cause the blend of golds, browns, rusts and textures also appealed to her. “Mytchell had an early piece Eagle photos/Rylan Boggs Mytchell Mead paints acid onto a piece of steel outside his home in John Day. “I follow the piece,” Mead said. “The piece tells me where it wants to go.” that I was drawn to,” Blem said. “It was called ‘Swell’ and could be interpreted as the swell of a wave, a swell of wheat blowing in the field, or just plain ‘Gee, this is swell!’” Mead currently sells from gal- leries in Bend, Sedona, Lake Tahoe and Jackson Hole. Different styles and colors sell better in different galleries. For example, more rustic pieces sell well in Jackson Hole, while buyers in Sedona are drawn a certain palette of colors that don’t sell as well elsewhere. While many of his pieces are abstract, he also has representa- tional work. Landscapes with a focus on the horizon are some of his favorites. He draws inspiration from the horizon, a place where the material meets the immaterial. Mead said he creates art from a place of clarity, something that helped his sales stay steady during the Great Recession. “That’s what being an artist is about, tapping in and tuning out Local artist Mytchell Mead holds a piece of wet steel he just finished painting with acid. the noise of the world, and what comes through is the clarity of the universe and the moment,” Mead said. “And that’s what people are seeking, they want clarity in this confusing, massive world, and when they find that seat of clari- ty, that seat of silence in a piece of artwork, they’re like, ‘I’ve got to have that.’” Don’t let your gambling addiction play you for a fool. W E CAN HELP . ommunity ounseling olutions Help is FREE , CONFIDENTIAL and it WORKS . Call 877-MY-LIMIT (24 hour help line) OR chat with us online at 1877mylimit.org 528 E Main St. • John Day 541-575-1466 Mon-Fri 8 a.m. - 5 p.m. Serving Morrow, Wheeler, Gilliam and Grant Counties EMRY Continued from Page A1 trailer in John Day and recovered a Browning M2 .50-caliber ma- chine gun with an obliterated se- rial number. Emry told agents that the firearm was fully automatic and could fire 550-650 rounds per min- ute, that he had stolen it from a man in Idaho and that he had removed the serial number prior to bringing it to Oregon. “I applaud federal and state law enforcement officers for their swift and decisive action in removing a very dangerous stolen weapon from the community,” United States At- torney Billy J. Williams said in the release. “Transporting stolen weap- ons is a serious crime and will be met with equally serious consequences.” Prosecutors said Emry was in ne- gotiations to sell the machine gun in Oregon to a person he had been told was a felon and the captain of a Tex- as militia group, who was actually an undercover law enforcement officer. They said Emry also possessed a belt of blank .50-caliber shells for the gun and the blasting cap, which is a deto- nator for a bomb. According to an article on The Voice of Idaho News website, Emry was the proprietor of that organiza- tion, as well as The Voice of North Idaho and The Voice of Grant Coun- ty, Oregon. The case was investigat- ed by the FBI in collaboration with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and Oregon State Police, and was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney for the District of Oregon Nathan J. Li- chvarcik. “I appreciate the partnership with ATF and OSP in this investigation,” said Loren Cannon, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI in Oregon, in the release. “The people’s represen- tatives pass laws to keep our com- munities safe. Mr. Emry broke those laws and as a consequence, he will spend time in federal pris- on.” NETWORK Continued from Page A1 The scope of the project is still being determined, but Green said every community, with the possible exception of Granite, could be serviced by the new network. “Our goal is to address the entire county’s needs, but we will start with the urban corri- dor,” he said. The city received $1.82 million in state funding — enough to construct the 75- mile fiber line from Burns — and plans to form an inter- agency coalition to own and manage the cable. The Grant County Digital Coalition will consist of representatives from the county and other cities in- terested in accessing the fiber optic line. The state funding will be used as matching funds for grants, including a United States Department of Agricul- ture rural development grant, to develop the infrastructure for residents to tap into the high-speed network, Green said. A hybrid network, which would provide a blanket of internet access without laying fiber optic line to every home, is being considered. The coalition would have to determine whether to oper- ate as a public utility compa- ny, providing internet access directly to customers, or to lease access to the new net- work to other internet pro- viders. Green said there were pros and cons to both, and the risks and rewards would be weighed in the coming months. DeLinda Kluser, gener- al manager at Oregon Tele- phone Corporation, said the company wants what is best for the people and business- es of Grant County. She said Oregon Telephone is willing to work with the city and lend its local expertise and experi- ence with fiber optic technol- ogy. Kluser said she saw it as a win-win situation. The Grant County Internet Task Force — a group of rep- resentatives from the private sector, city, county and Grant School District — has been working toward securing better internet for residents. The task force will be disbanded upon the creation of the coalition. State Sen. Ted Ferrioli of John Day helped secure the funding through an amend- ment to a House appropriations bill. He said it would help erase the barrier of time and distance faced by those working in rural Oregon. Ferrioli said access to affordable high-speed internet is needed to transition commu- nities like John Day into what he called “the new West.” “It could turn out to be the key piece to attracting a few new employers and growing local businesses,” he said. 05745 Michael B. DesJardin Dentistry, PC Preventive, Restorative & Endodontics New Patients Welcome! 208 NW Canton John Day 541-575-2725 mbddental@live.com michaelbdesjardindmd.com
