History
Blue Mountain Eagle
Wednesday, February 28, 2018
A9
O UT OF THE P AST
75 years ago
Feb. 26, 1943
Ferris Mining machinery
and building sold
The Ferris Mining Compa-
ny, which has been operating
in this neighborhood for about
10 years, has now finished its
work. All the dredge machin-
ery has been dismantled and
stored on the Dick Danby
ranch which is now owned by
the Wayside Market. Then the
machinery was sold to some
Portland concern and the
buildings and shops were sold
to P. A. Retrum.
Ferris was killed in an
auto accident on his way to
San Francisco. Since then the
business has been managed
by Steve King. They have
turned upside down millions
of tons of Grant County soil,
but there is no record of how
much gold has been trans-
ferred to underground vaults
in Kentucky.
50 years ago
Feb. 29, 1968
Prairie City F-100 pilot
completes Viet Nam duty
Air Force Captain Ronald
Drinkwater, of Prairie City,
Eagle file photo
From Feb. 29, 1968: AWARD WINNING CUBS — This group of Cub Scouts of Pack 895
were presented awards at the annual Blue and Gold Banquet held Feb. 22 at the Alec
Gay hall. Over 100 people attended the annual potluck affair.
recently completed his 426th
and final combat mission over
Viet Nam.
He’s the son of Mr. and
Mrs. Billy Drinkwater.
During his combat tour,
Captain Drinkwater served
as an F-100 Super Sabre pilot
with the 308th Tactical Fight-
er Squadron, Tuy Hoa AB,
Viet Nam.
The captain’s outstand-
ing skill as a pilot was laud-
ed many times by Lieutenant
Colonel Hubert Skidmore,
commander of the 308th and
by Colonel William Evans,
commander of the 31st Tacti-
O utlook
cal Fighter Wing.
His efforts to assist ground
forces at Dak To in November
of 1967 brought him special
recognition.
Captain Drinkwater re-
called his most memorable
mission, an air strike in aid of
Republic of Viet Nam troops
and advisors manning the Bu
Dop special forces camp.
“We could see by the light
of the flares being dropped
that the enemy was about
to storm the perimeter of
the compound. We dropped
500-pound bombs on the
muzzle flashes and did some
strafing. The forward air
controller told us our efforts
had broken the attack, so we
headed home,” the F-100 pi-
lot concluded.
Captain Drinkwater is
scheduled for reassignment at
Ramstein AB, Germany.
A 1960 graduate of Prairie
City high school, the captain
received his B.S. degree and
commission in 1964 upon
graduation from the Air Force
Academy.
He attended combat crew
training at Luke AFB, Arizo-
na, and was then assigned at
Tuy Hoa.
25 years ago
Feb. 25, 1993
Prairie City inches closer
to new health clinic
The Prairie City City
Council made another step
toward the establishment of
a rural health clinic in Prairie
City by going on record as
approving the pursuit of es-
tablishing the clinic in the old
museum building.
The Prairie City Lions
Club uses this building, but it
would still have enough space
if a clinic is put in, said Blue
Mountain Hospital Adminis-
trator Ron O’Halloran at the
Feb. 9 council meeting. Sev-
eral other locations had been
investigated.
The proposed clinic would
provide primary care and
would be staffed by nurse
practitioners or physician as-
sistants. The clinic location
would also house an ambu-
lance.
Also at the meeting, Terry
Edvelson from Eastern Or-
egon State College and Pat
Middleburg from the Univer-
sity of Oregon were on hand
to discuss a strategic plan for
improving health care that
they were asked to do by the
hospital district.
Developing the strategic
plan is a free service to the
hospital district, but to devel-
op a plan Edvelson needs to
know what the community’s
priorities, needs, criticisms
and suggestions are.
SENI R
I’m writing this
column on the 286th
anniversary of the
birth of George
Washington. And this
will be the 242nd
Rose Coombs
anniversary of the
birth of the USA.
Wonder what he
would think of what our country has become…
Then there is the Olympics. Whew. I get so out of breath watching
the skate and ski racing. Then they show how high the ski jump start
place is. Yikes. My hands get all sweaty just looking at that. Finally
caught the KGW gal commenting on the snow dispersal. There isn’t
any on the mountains, but there is on the ski and snowboard areas.
She decided that they must be making it someplace and hauling it in.
At least they can, huh? And can anyone explain ‘curling’? The
commentators get all excited, but they may as well be speaking
Vulcan or Romulan.
Here is a conundrum from Facebook: take 77 beers, subtract your
age, add $40 and the answer is the year of your birth. Wonder who
figured that out?
On to things closer to home: Drew Harmer (who drove all the way
from Boise to join us for lunch) led the flag salute; Carla Wright
asked the blessing; Larry, Carlos, Ken and Scott took care of the
deliveries; and Louise LaBaugh won the gift certificate donated by
Prairie City
Seniors
Today, I have a new
respect for those who
deliver meals. Gene and
I went out with about 60
meals for delivery on
Monday, February 19. It
took us two full hours
Nicky Essex
and we went all over
John Day and Canyon
City. Gene drove and I
delivered. I was beat. Sherry Feiger and Veanne have both done it
alone. I need to know how long it took you. That must be at least a
2.5 to 3 hour job…just getting in and out of the car and trying to
negotiate the directions was enough. Next time one of you is alone,
call me. If I can, I will help you. Altogether including the Step
Forward crew, we delivered 33 regular and 36 frozen meals.
Greeting were Olivia Cornell and Everett King. Since it was a
holiday, President’s Day, the diners all pitched in and helped with
table set up and service and clearing. Just like family, we helped
each other.
Abe Lincoln led us in the Pledge of Allegiance, and then, as Tom
Roark, gave us a recitation of a portion of the Gettysburg Address. It
was very inspiring. We drew Karen Barrietua’s name for the Len’s
Drug certificate and Tom won the free meal. Ron Dowse gave
thanks for our meal. Our meal of Thai chicken with rice noodles and
peanut sauce, zucchini, and cantaloupe with chocolate mint ice
cream for dessert was wonderful. We served 28 guests.
John Day
Seniors
We had a great meal made
by our wonderful chefs,
Terry Cade and Carrie
Jewell. They made us
BBQ beef sandwiches,
french fries, macaroni
salad, and blueberry tart
for our dessert. We are
Soo Yukawa
very grateful for them and
their efforts. Our greeters
were Bodean Andersen, Jimmy Cole, and Linda Blakeslee. Bodean led
us in the flag salute, made the announcements, and prayed the blessing
over our meal. Jimmy and Linda collected and counted the money.
Sharon Falls was the lucky winner of the Len’s Drug gift card. Judy
Bustardo and yours truly won the free meal tickets. We had the
granddaughter of both Jan Ensign and Lonnie Lawrence, Mackenzie
Lawrence and her daughter, join us for lunch.
Jimmy gave a business report on the senior center. The board has all the
information available and it is located on the board in the foyer or lobby
of the senior center for anyone to read. Tai Chi is coming to Monument!
This will be taught by Nora Healey of John Day. It is great exercise for
stretching and relieving of muscles and stress. It will be held either
before or right after our Tuesday lunch. Lastly, Lisa Neuburger has lost
her cell phone between somewhere in the Monument/Kimberly area. If
you happen to find it, please return to her or the senior center. It would
be greatly appreciated.
Monument
Seniors
Chuck’s Little Diner.
The menu for our meals is now being included on KJDY’s 7:30 a.m.
school lunch announcement. And Ken climbs the ladder and inserts
the letters for the next meal on our big board beside the kitchen door.
So plan ahead…
Today was divine meatball sandwiches, pasta salad, fruit cocktail,
and a cherry misu with vanilla ice cream. Don’t ask me to describe
the misu; just take my word that it was good.
Lorna and Krystin brought Marilyn Randall and Gordan Sindt from
the Blue Mountain Care Center. Were informed by Drew that Jack
and Betty Retherford have been ill, too. Anyway, we had 43 names
on the books on this cold winter day.
The center has a large antique desk for sale. Needs to be refinished.
Could be oak. $75 and it’s yours. Fling me a ring or come to lunch
and see it.
Guess what? We made another trip to Bend. Sure wish I could just
say, “Beam me over there, Scotty.” This appointment was an hour
later so we didn’t have to leave so early. Got Derrol’s new Baha
(bone-assisted hearing appliance). It comes with a mic that I can wear
so he can hear me better. Hmmm. We’re still working on that.
On March 7, at 9:30 a.m. there will begin a “Cabin Fever” time of
card and/or board games. Finally got several more people to admit
that they used to play pinochle, so we’re gonna have at it. Hallelujah.
Job 38:22, 30 “Have you entered the storehouse of the snow… when
the waters became hard as stone, when the surface of the deep is
frozen?”
We were surprised by Kade Blood, Cody Combs, Savanna Randleas
and Kobe Cantrell, who came for lunch from Grant Union. We were
also joined by Yvonne Moon from Umpqua Bank. Welcome, all!
Thursday, Feb. 22, Olivia Cornell and Jeanette Julsrud were our
greeters. David Turner, Jimmy Maple, and Walt and Agnes Hall
were our servers, from St. Elizabeth Catholic Church. David and
Jimmy did meal deliveries in John Day and Canyon City, while
David Gill and Rodney Brunson from Step Forward took the Mt.
Vernon route. Thank you all, deliverers. Altogether, 38 people had
fresh, hot meals.
Walt led us in the Pledge of Allegiance as only he can. Randy
Persinger won the Chester’s Thriftway card and Maria Strawn won
the Valley View meal. Jimmy Maple gave devotion from Psalms
and said grace for our meal. This week we were joined by Valley
View residents and friends Leone Meador, Norma Rynearson, Dawn
Hindman, Lois Bidasolo, Chuck Corwin, and Randa Persinger, and
their fearless leader, Kim Ausland. We had eight tables full.
We want to thank John Short for many blessings from his pantry as
well as the gifts of food, which will extend our supplies to do much
more. We missed thanking Linda Stoltz, the sponsor of last
Thursday’s entrée, pepper steak, in memory of Fred. This week, we
enjoyed lasagna, fresh tossed salad, veggies, bread sticks and berry
cobbler! Coming up Thursday, chicken fried steak. Monday is
shrimp fettuccine.
Philippians 1:3 NIV “I thank my God for every remembrance of
you.”
Well, I think winter has definitely arrived here to Monument or all of
Grant County for that matter. There’s at least a foot of snow on the
ground and it’s cold enough that my chickens refuse to come out of
their coop. We did hit negative temps one of the nights, it got down to
minus four. On cold mornings like that, one has to drag themselves
out of a nice warm, cozy, house to do their chores. We’ve been
dodging that nasty flu/cold that’s been going around for the most part.
We refuse to succumb to it and have been taking lots of precautions
for preventative measures. I hope we can get through the season
unscathed.
Steve, my old billy goat, was constantly rubbing up against a heifer
that had been penned with him. I did not want her to become stinky so
I released him to the acreage with Felix. So what happens? They got
in a fight and I guess Steve lost. His already broken horn now got
broken again at the base. He was a bloody mess. Poor Steve, so I
brought him back into the pen. He is pretty pitiful looking. I might
have to get rid of Felix soon. The baby goats are growing up. My kids
have tamed them down pretty well. Bonnie knows her name and
comes running when called. They all like to jump onto our laps and
play around us. They really are cute little things. Two of the male kids
have been sold and will leave in a couple of weeks. I can’t believe I’m
saying this but I will miss them.
Proverbs 14:18 “The simple inherit folly: But the prudent are crowned with
knowledge.”
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