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About The Blue Mountain eagle. (John Day, Or.) 1972-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 14, 2018)
Community & History Blue Mountain Eagle Wednesday, February 14, 2018 A9 O UT OF THE P AST 75 years ago Feb. 12, 1943 Eagle file photo Guests enjoy a cocktail before dinner in the bar at The Retreat at Silvies Valley Ranch. A job fair for the resort and golf course will take place Friday in John Day. The deadline for What’s Happening items is 5 p.m. Friday. Call the Eagle, 541-575-0710, or email editor@bmeagle.com. For meetings this week, see our list in the classifieds. WEDNESDAY, FEB. 14 Lenten luncheon • 11:30 a.m., United Methodist Church, John Day A soup and bread lunch will be served, followed by a service. All are wel- come to attend. For more information, call the church at 541-575-1326. FRIDAY, FEB. 16 Silvies Valley Ranch job fair • 4-7 p.m., Outpost Restaurant, John Day The Retreat and Links at Silvies Valley Ranch hopes to hire 60 people to fill 27 different positions. The resort and golf course opens in April. For more information or to inquire about the upcoming job fairs in Burns or John Day, call 541-573-5150 ext. 203 and ask for Colby or Pat, email careers@silvies.us or visit silvies.us. WHAT’S HAPPENING SATURDAY, FEB. 17 Clay pigeon shoot • 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., Kimberly Rock Products pit, mile marker 9 on Hwy 402 Events include jackpots, Annie Oakley and more, plus men’s, women’s and children’s competitions. The cost is $3 per shoot. Food will be available pot- luck-style; bring a side dish or meat to barbecue. Silent and dessert auctions start at 12:30 p.m. Proceeds from the auctions and the shoot will benefit Silent Wave Horse Rescue. A series shoot continues. For more information, call 541- 934-2143. TUESDAY, FEB. 20 Genealogical Society luncheon • Noon, Outpost Restaurant, John Day Sandra Sutton will speak about the Asher families who came from Kentucky to Eastern Oregon. The no-host luncheon is open to the public. For more infor- mation, call Sutton at 541-575-1431. WEDNESDAY, FEB. 21 Lenten luncheon • 11:30 a.m., St. Thomas Episcopal Church, 139 S. Washington St., Canyon City A soup and bread lunch will be served, followed by a service. All are wel- come to attend. For more information, call the church at 541-575-2415. SATURDAY, FEB. 24 Pancake feed • 5-7 p.m., Mt. Vernon Grange Everyone is welcome to enjoy all-you-can-eat pancakes, ham and eggs. The cost is $6 for adults. For more information, call Jean Saggart at 541-575-1007. Hoop tournament to be held at Grant gym, Feb. 25-27 The sub-district basketball tour- nament for “B” high school teams of eight Eastern Oregon counties will be held in the Grant Union high school gymnasium on February 25, 26 and 27. This district includes “B” schools from Wallowa, Union, Baker, Malheur, Harney, Grant and Wheeler counties. Grant Union High, being the host team, is automatically one of the par- ticipants, and it is definitely known that Prairie City and Mt. Vernon will take part in the playoffs. At this time it appears among some of the teams likely to represent their respective leagues are: Union, Elgin, Halfway, Haines and Crane. It is only guess- ing to say that these teams will win out in their respective areas and come to the tournament; however, they now appear to be leading. Oth- er schools in the district which have teams competing for the right to represent their respective leagues in this tournament are: North Powder, Joseph, Cove, Richland, Huntington and Jordan Valley. Kleigle of Baker has been select- ed as referee for the tournament. 50 years ago Feb. 15, 1968 Jet pilot has close call After 13 months of flying a re- connaissance Phantom Jet in Viet- nam, Capt. Ralph Graham hopes he’s home to stay. Graham is the husband of Mrs. Sharon Culp Gra- ham, who had been residing in John Day with her mother, Mrs. Evelyn Culp, during his assignment over- seas. He visited here during the holidays, and his wife and daugh- ter, Kristen, are now with him in the East where he is presently stationed. The extent of Graham’s contri- bution to the war is measured by his record, 319 missions with 107 of them over North Vietnam. They earned him three Distin- guished Flying Crosses and 21 Air Medals. In addition he has been nominated for the Air Force Cross and the Bronze Star. The unarmed recon planes de- pend on speed — they can fly twice the speed of sound — and maneu- verability to outrun the MIGs and escape ground fire. But speed isn’t always enough. On one mission Eagle file photo From Feb. 15, 1968: PARISH HALL — Rapidly taking form is the parish hall for the St. Elizabeth Catholic Church in John Day. The multi-purpose building will be used for educational and social functions. Robert Sullivan construction firm of Ontario is building the hall. Watching workmen install rafters for the building Tuesday morning is Father Robert Simard. over a heavily defended area of North Vietnam, his plane was hit twice by 57-mm anti-aircraft shells. The flak blew a number of holes in the wings and fuel cells, caused one engine to explode and catch fire and knocked out two of three hydraulic systems. Graham shut off the damaged engine, and fortunately the fire went out in a couple of minutes. Then he headed for Da Nang, about 150 miles away. The next 25 minutes were rough. Flight controls were virtual- ly non-functioning. “I had to horse it around quite a bit to get near the landing field and just before I land- ed I lost control altogether,” Gra- ham said. Nevertheless he landed some- how; the plane rolled off the runway, but he and his navigator climbed out and walked away. Captain Graham was based at Tan Son Nhut, near Saigon. Most of the pilots’ waking hours are spent at the base 9 to 10 hours per day, seven days a week, three to four months at a stretch. Then they get a rest and recreation leave. Graham spent his leave in Hong Kong, Tokyo, Singa- pore and Honolulu. Pilots have little contact with the Vietnamese, with exception of the chief of staff of the South Viet- namese Air Force who occasionally flies with the squadron. “There’s no doubt he is a real gung-ho fighter pilot, and a dedicated person,” Gra- ham said. 25 years ago Feb. 11, 1993 Mush-a-long sled dog races set for Saturday, Sunday Saturday and Sunday will bring the fourth annual Grant County Mush-A-Long sled dog race to Lake Creek Camp in Logan Valley. The event, sponsored by the Grant County Chamber of Commerce, the Grant County Snowballers and the Cascade Sled Dog Club, will begin at 10 a.m. Saturday and 8 a.m. Sunday. The races usually wrap up at about 4-4:30 p.m. Saturday’s schedule includes sprint races in five classes: eight- dog teams, six-dog teams, four-dog teams, novice and Pee Wee. A 35- mile mid-distance run will be held Sunday, with teams averaging 10 dogs. Most of the entry fees will go to- ward the winners purse, and winners in each class will also divvy up 1,000 pounds of dog food donated by Unit- ed Grocers. Pat Temple, Chamber of Com- merce manager, said that about 20 dog teams are signed up as of a week ago. “I think we’ll have a really good turnout,” she said. Temple said there is no need to worry about not having enough snow — there is plenty of it at the camp, about 40 minutes from John Day. A variety of door prizes have been donated by merchants, and the John Day Kiwanas Club will be cook- ing and serving breakfast and lunch items. 1188’s Spring Crab & Craft Saturday, March 3rd Fresh crab from Astoria caught the day prior to serving and flown in – tickets for crab need to be purchased in advance ($65/person for a large plate, includes over 2 lbs of crab, baked beans, coleslaw and lots of 1188’s spent grain fresh bread and 1 beverage of your choice - $30/person for a small plate that would have 1 ⁄ 2 a crab and all the sides) • Tickets on sale now at the pub. They can also be purchased over the phone at 541-575-1188 • Deadline for crab ticket purchase is Saturday, February 24 • Three different seating times for crab – 2:00 to 4:00, 4:00 to 6:00 and 6:00 and later. Can come in any time during the block shown on your tickets We will have live music throughout the day provided by Wind Fields (For those that know Bri Murphy, this is the band she is part of). They can be found on Facebook. • Craft beer, wine and spirit tastings available throughout the day through a variety of vendors. • Local artists spotlighted. • We will have a separate menu available for those that do not like crab with a variety of items and prices. Check our Facebook page regularly where we will add details over the next couple weeks. 35053