News
Blue Mountain Eagle
Wednesday, November 15, 2017
A3
Ward installed as chamber president
Ward and
Bremner are
the chamber’s
‘Energizer
bunnies’
By Richard Hanners
Blue Mountain Eagle
About 130 people showed
up at the John Day Elks
Lodge for the Grant County
Chamber of
Commerce’s
annual instal-
lation dinner
on Nov. 8.
Rancher
Jack South-
worth, serving
Bruce
as master of
Ward
ceremonies,
recalled how
Grant County looked 80
years ago when the chamber
was first organized and how
much has changed.
State Sen. Ted Ferrioli
delivered a short talk filled
with humorous quips and
later led the installation cer-
emonies for Bruce Ward as
the chamber’s new president
and for the chamber’s board
of directors, including new
directors Sally Knowles and
Elaine Livran.
Ferrioli began by noting
that Grant County is home to
this year’s 2A state volley-
ball champions.
“I find it amazing how of-
ten athletes of Grant County
take top honors,” he said.
Ferrioli, who is leaving
the Senate to take a seat on
the Pacific Northwest Elec-
tric Power Planning and
Conservation Council, said
he relied on groups like the
chambers of commerce for
information to take to the
legislature — especially
considering the size of Sen-
ate District 30, the largest
in Oregon — and he urged
chamber members to contin-
ue what they do.
“You are the heart of the
community,” he said. “You
probably don’t realize how
The Eagle/Angel Carpenter
Grant County Safe Communities Coalition coordinator
Debi Hueckman, left, stands with presenter Natalie
Marti, who shared with students the tragic effects a
drunken driver had on her family.
Woman shares far-reaching
impact of drunken driver
By Angel Carpenter
The Eagle/Richard Hanners
State Sen. Ted Ferrioli, left, reads the script installing Bruce Ward as the new president
of the Grant County Chamber of Commerce at the John Day Elks Lodge Nov. 8.
Outgoing President Jerry Franklin watches from his seat.
much power you have.”
John Day City Manag-
er Nick Green, who spoke
to the chamber a year ago
shortly after moving here
from the Seattle area, tried
to provide a thumbnail histo-
ry of the city’s accomplish-
ments over the past year in
less than a minute — but he
needed a 30-second exten-
sion.
Looking forward, Green
said he will issue an execu-
tive vision document in Jan-
uary and the first of what he
plans to be an annual state of
the city address in February.
He said he hopes the address
will elicit public feedback.
Green said a design con-
tract for the Innovation
Gateway project will be
signed in March, and a new
river trail will be dedicated
in the spring. He also said he
wants to figure out a way to
replace the public swimming
pool.
Chamber Office Manager
Tammy Bremner described a
busy year that just conclud-
ed, which included tens of
thousands of visitors during
the eclipse and the Rain-
bow Gathering. She said the
chamber planned for 10,000
The Eagle/Richard Hanners
Rancher Jack Southworth
was the master of
ceremonies at the annual
Grant County Chamber
of Commerce installation
dinner at the John Day
Elks Lodge on Nov. 8.
eclipse visitors, but more
than 20,000 showed up.
“It was a great success
because we planned ahead,”
she said, noting that the
chamber later received nu-
merous emails and letters
from visitors thanking the
community for a great expe-
rience in Grant County.
Bremner said about 3,000
people have downloaded a
travel app from the cham-
ber’s revised website, add-
ing that about 2,000 came
from China.
“That’s probably because
of the Kam Wah Chung State
Heritage Site,” she said.
Ward said his strategy
for promoting tourism to the
Grant County area would be
based on promoting John
Day because of the city’s
name recognition across
the United States. He said
he wants to link John Day
to its sister cities of Ontar-
io, Vale, Prairie City and
Prineville and to promote
Highway 26 as the preferred
scenic route across Eastern
Oregon.
Outgoing
president
Jerry Franklin character-
ized Bremner and Ward as
the chamber’s “Energizer
bunnies.” Ward presented
Franklin with a plaque in
recognition of his longtime
support of the chamber.
Ferrioli recalled how the
outgoing president put John
Day on the map in 2010
when a white supremacist
group attempted to establish
a headquarters in John Day:
“Jerry Franklin told the skin-
heads to go to hell.”
New interim super hired for Monument School
Michael Lane
seeks improved
communication
By Angel Carpenter
Blue Mountain Eagle
Monument School District
No. 8’s newly hired interim
Superintendent/Principal Mi-
chael Lane began work Nov.
6.
Lane, from Richland, Ore-
gon, came out of his five-year
retirement to take on the po-
sition.
Previously, he worked
for 10 years for the Port Or-
ford/Langlois School District
where he had various roles,
including superintendent the
last four years before retiring.
Lane said the district had
about 300 students, a little
bigger than Monument.
He started his new position
this week with goals to keep
relations between the admin-
istration, staff
and commu-
nity positive
with
open
communica-
tion.
“The staff
Michael
already seems
Lane
to naturally
want to move
toward improved commu-
nication,” he said. “I’m an
interim, making sure we are
compliant and taking care of
the kids until a permanent su-
perintendent is hired.”
Lane said he appreciates
the warm welcome he’s re-
ceived from the community,
adding the staff is “polished
and professional” and the
school board is student-fo-
cused.
Lane replaces Ron Frieh
who left the interim position
a few weeks after the start of
the school year.
Earl Pettit, who was super-
intendent/principal at Monu-
ment School for seven years,
left in June for a position with
Cove School District.
Monument school board
president Jeff Thomas said
Lane was recommended as a
highly qualified candidate.
“He had good references
from OSBA (Oregon School
Board Association),” Thomas
said. “He had a long track re-
cord of good performance as
a superintendent and in past
districts. ... We’re glad to have
him on board.”
Monument’s next school
board meeting is scheduled
for 6:30 p.m. Thursday, Nov.
16, in Monument.
Blue Mountain Eagle
More than 325 Grant
County students and staff
members heard how Natalie
Marti’s life was affected when
a drunken driver crashed into
her family’s car nearly 15
years ago.
On Nov. 7, Marti spoke to
Grant Union and Prairie City
students in John Day, and
Dayville and Long Creek stu-
dents in Dayville.
Grant County Safe Com-
munities Coalition member
Debi Hueckman was instru-
mental in bringing Marti to
the area. Hueckman said it’s
important for young people to
realize how the choices they
make can affect others.
She said that Marti, who is
from Meridian, Idaho, speaks
two to three times a week to
students and victims impact
panels.
Marti became a widow the
night of Feb. 27, 2003, when
she was 23 years old. The car
she and her husband, Shawn,
and their 5-month-old daugh-
ter, Sage, were in was hit by a
drunken driver who was trav-
eling the wrong way on the
freeway at 98 mph.
Her husband and daughter
died on impact, and she suf-
fered a traumatic brain injury,
among many other injuries,
which left her in a coma for
three weeks and on life sup-
port. The drunken driver, who
lost his hand and forearm in
the crash, is serving 18 years
in prison, and could face up to
40 years.
“He made the choice to
drink,” she said of the drunken
driver. “He made the choice to
drive under the influence. Are
you going to take the chance
to make the choice to drink
and drive, being a weapon
on the road? The choices
that we make are ultimately
our responsibility.”
Marti said that when the
drunken driver’s girlfriend
and brother told him he caused
the crash, he said there was a
huge pain in his heart and he
asked for their forgiveness.
“Raise your hand if you
are 15 years old,” Marti said
to students at the Grant Union
gym.
Several arms shot up.
“That’s how old my
daughter would be,” she said.
She said others were af-
fected by the tragedy, includ-
ing her parents, her husband’s
parents, the first responders
and the drunken driver’s fam-
ily — he had a 1-month-old
baby at the time of the crash.
“I hope I can add every
single one of you as someone
impacted in such a way that
you’ll never do it,” Marti said.
She said it took six years
to recover from the traumat-
ic brain injury and she still
suffers in other ways. People
have told her she’s “lucky to
be alive,” she said.
Her thoughts were, yes,
“lucky” to have heartache the
rest of your life, she said.
“After depression ... I re-
alized I do want to live,” she
said. “I want to live to help
other people to not feel what
I feel.”
This is the second time in
four years Marti has shared
her message with Grant
County students. Hueckman
said she was impressed at how
Marti has turned something
devastating into something
impactful.
“As the holidays approach,
this is a good message for
everyone,” Hueckman said.
“Never be under the influence
and drive, and that doesn’t
always have to be alcohol, it
could be drugs such as mari-
juana.”
For more information on
Marti, visit NatalieMarti.com.
Attention Grant County Veterans:
Did you know Grant County Veterans
Services Officer is available to assist
YOU in applying for all VA benefits
you may be entitled to?
See your Grant County Veteran Services
Officer today for more information,
located at Grant County Court House.
Katee
Hoffman
06183
Call 541-620-8057
for an appointment
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