GRANT UNION TEAMS WIN THREE LEAGUE TITLES
The
PAGE B1
Blue Mountain
EAGLE
Grant County’s newspaper since 1868
W edNesday , F ebruary 7, 2018
• N o . 6
• 24 P ages
• $1.00
www.MyEagleNews.com
A CHANGING
ECONOMIC LANDSCAPE
“
Finally, we had to make a decision. At some
point, you have to stop the bleeding.”
Nathan Gordanier, Manager of Muzzy’s 123 Dollar Store
Main Street stores adapt, close
By Richard Hanners
F
Blue Mountain Eagle
our storefronts on
Main Street in John
Day will be chang-
ing, but it’s not all
bad news for the lo-
cal economy.
Some owners are closing
their stores for good, while oth-
ers are changing how they’ll
continue to do business during
the tough economic times fac-
ing Grant County.
Naturally Yours
Sherry Dress, the owner
of the Naturally Yours Health
and Wellness Center on Main
Street, plans to move most
of the store’s business to her
home while the city of John
Day completes a major upgrade
project to the Weaver Building
Judy Chapman, left,
LeAnne Gast and Miranda
Hoodenpyl at the Eastern
Oregon Cosmetology
Industry Associates.
at 131 W. Main St.
Through Naturally Yours,
established in 1992, Dress pro-
motes homeopathic medicine
and makes various teas and
tinctures for about 500 regular
customers. She plans to set up
her alternative health business
in the front room of her home,
26984 Day Spring Road in
John Day, with regular business
hours of 9:30 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Mondays through Fridays and
10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturdays.
The health food cooperative
at the store will not be moved
to her home, Dress said. Volun-
teers are organizing a way for
locals to order products online
from Azure Standard, a region-
al organic food distributor with
truck deliveries to John Day.
Dress said she’ll help people
who want to continue to buy
Azure Standard products.
A
Prime Time Video
After 30 years in business,
Dave Barntish is closing Prime
Time Video.
After 19 years in the John
Day Plaza, Barntish moved
Prime Time Video to Main
Street five and a half years
ago.
See CLOSED, Page A12
Silvies Valley
Ranch hiring
Eagle photos/Richard Hanners
Dave Barntish closed his Prime
Time Video store on Main Street in
John Day Jan. 27.
TOP IMAGE: Muzzy’s 123 Dollar
Store in John Day.
Blue Mountain Eagle
mid the economic difficulties, one
new business, The Retreat and
Links at Silvies Valley Ranch, is
expanding its personnel to accommodate
the first full season at the resort and golf
course between John Day and Burns.
Owner Dr. Scott Campbell, a Harney
County native, invested in the resort at
the cattle ranch as a way to boost the lo-
cal economy.
After a preview season last year, The
Retreat and Links with luxury lodg-
ing, dining and golfing plans to hire 60
workers to fill a variety of positions by
the official opening in April. A job fair
is planned from 4-7 p.m. Feb. 16 at The
Outpost Restaurant in John Day.
With a unique reversible golf course,
as well as a par-3 course, ranch-to-table
See HIRING, Page A12
Funding source could assist Weaver Building project
Goal to create
workforce housing
By Richard Hanners
Blue Mountain Eagle
Eagle file photo
A new grant opportunity could help pay for renovations
of the Weaver Building at 131 W. Main St., which was
purchased by the city of John Day.
A pilot program from the Governor’s
Regional Solutions office with up to $1
million in grant funding could be an im-
portant source of funding for the city’s
Weaver Building project, John Day City
Manager Nick Green told the city council
Jan. 23.
According to information submitted
to the office by local governments and
businesses across Oregon, workforce
housing shortages are constraining eco-
nomic growth and job creation in many
of the state’s communities.
Green recommended that the city ap-
ply for a $181,252 site-readiness grant
under the new Workforce Housing Ini-
tiative. Under the program, workforce
housing is defined as homes owned or
rented by Oregonians with incomes be-
tween 60 percent and 120 percent of the
area’s median income, which in John
Day this fiscal year is between $30,600
and $61,200.
“The goal is to provide homes for For-
est Service or hospital workers,” Green
said. “People with more money would
likely want to build a house.”
The council unanimously approved
submitting an application for the grant
and using the funds for architectural
planning, interior demolition and debris
removal and asbestos abatement at the
Weaver Building.
“If the city applies for and receives
the grant, we will have sufficient funding
to do site readiness and will not have to
include these costs in a future loan for the
building renovation,” Green said.
The city has already spent $121,486 to
See PROJECT, Page A12
Adoption journey: Couple takes leap of faith to Africa
Family’s timeline
to return unknown
By Angel Carpenter
Blue Mountain Eagle
When James and Kaylee
Wilson flew to Ghana, Africa,
in November of 2016 to adopt
their 2-year-old daughter Em-
manuella they didn’t expect to
stay long.
“We were going to be there
for six weeks, not 435 days,”
said Kaylee, who grew up in
John Day.
While waiting for doc-
uments from the Ghanaian
government approving her
immigration, the Wilsons
said they are staying positive
Contributed photo
James and Kaylee Wilson say their newly adopted
daughter Wella, 3, is loving and affectionate and grew to
love them within their first week together.
and enjoying their daughter
“Wella,” who is now 3.
The Wilsons say their jour-
ney, which began long before
their flight to Ghana, has in-
cluded setbacks and miracles.
“There is no way we could
have made it without strength
from God,” Kaylee said.
Kaylee, daughter of Kirk
and Kim Ausland of John
Day, said she’d wanted to
adopt since she was young.
Although James wasn’t sure
about the idea of adopting
when he married Kaylee in
spring 2013, he said he would
keep an open mind. A year
later, living in Portland, the
Wilsons lost a baby to miscar-
riage.
Making a fresh start in Te-
mecula, California, that fall,
they joined a church project
to build a school for orphaned
children in Kenya, Africa. Af-
ter returning from Kenya in
June of 2016, the Wilsons be-
gan the adoption process.
“We didn’t know if it was
the right time, since we had
also dreamed of opening our
coffee company that same
year,” Kaylee said.
One month later, the cou-
ple saw Wella’s picture for
the first time. The Wilsons
researched and spoke to fam-
ilies with HIV-positive chil-
dren.
“We felt called to this spe-
cific ‘special need,’” Kaylee
said.
On Nov. 9, 2016, Kaylee
and James met their daughter
for the first time.
“We still owed $10,000
to the adoption agency, and
See JOURNEY, Page A12