Community
Blue Mountain Eagle
Wednesday, March 28, 2018
A9
Juniper Arts awards Oregon Cultural Trust grants
By Angel Carpenter
Blue Mountain Eagle
The Juniper Arts Council/
Grant County Cultural Coa-
lition awarded four Oregon
Cultural Trust grants to local
organizations to promote arts
and art education.
Juniper Arts Council pres-
ident/secretary Kris Beal of
Mt. Vernon welcomed a group
of 12 to the meeting held at
the John Day Fire Hall con-
ference room.
Adele Cerny received a
$1,700 grant on behalf of
Kam Wah Chung Foundation
for the celebration of the John
Day museum’s 140th anniver-
sary.
Francis Kocis, who is in-
volved with the foundation,
said, “It’s a testimony to the
Chinese culture that the build-
ing made it all this time. It’s
garnered worldwide attention.
It’s one of three locations with
Chinese herbal collections in
the world.”
The foundation will cel-
ebrate the anniversary with
Lion Dancers from Port-
land performing in June at
the ’62 Days parade and a
dinner where a re-dedica-
tion of the museum will take
place.
Peggy Murphy received
$1,000 for the Grant County
Historical Museum to sponsor
field trips for all ages to the
Canyon City museum, spring
break activities and advertis-
ing.
“This is very much appre-
ciated,” Murphy said. “We
want to garner more interest
and involvement in the mu-
seum.”
Murphy said, when she
was an elementary school
teacher, she enjoyed taking
her classes through the muse-
um, but “had no idea of all the
treasures” until she accepted
the position as museum cura-
tor last year. Her official start
date is May 1.
Humbolt Parent-Teacher
Association received $580 for
a family art night.
Youth Arts Program di-
rector Rebecca Bogardus
received $300 for a small
school outreach pilot pro-
gram, which will provide in-
school choir for students at
Dayville School and a few
private music lessons.
Working with Janine
Goodwin and others, Bogar-
dus leads an intensive two-
week summer program in
Dayville with after-school
programs in John Day.
Goodwin leads choirs for
ages 4-8 and 9-12, and both
Goodwin and Bogardus take
turns leading the show choir,
comprised of adults with
some teens.
Goodwin also directs the
string ensemble, and Bogar-
dus directs a guitar group.
“Our goal is to provide
quality arts education to every
student in the county,” Bogar-
dus said.
Grant applications were
reviewed by the council in
early February.
Students share ways to promote Americanism
Annual contest
draws 227
entries
Hope 4 Paws provides
discount vouchers for pet
spay, neuter procedures
Blue Mountain Eagle
By Angel Carpenter
Blue Mountain Eagle
“What can I personally do
to promote Americanism in
my school and community?”
The question was this
year’s theme for the Ameri-
canism essay contest, a com-
petition held annually by the
American Legion Auxiliary
Ellis Tracy Unit 77.
Sherry Feiger, who co-
chairs the contest with Jessie
Lewis, said the answers were
varied, and many centered on
helping veterans, keeping the
community clean and honor-
ing the flag.
She said while the essays
were being written, the Park-
dale, Florida, school shooting
happened.
“Whether they’re protest-
ing gun violence or writing an
essay sharing their thoughts,
just to see them step up and
say, ‘I can make a difference,
and I am important’ — we can
credit our kids for things like
this,” Feiger said.
She said she appreciated
the teachers from Grant Union
Junior-Senior High School,
Humbolt Elementary and
Seneca School who included
the essay with their regular
classroom assignments.
Fourteen of the 16 top-
three finishers were at a pot-
luck March 19 to read their
The Eagle/Angel Carpenter
Recipients of Oregon Cultural Trust grants on
Thursday from the Juniper Arts Council/Grant
County Cultural Coalition are, from left, Adele Cerny
and Francis Kocis on behalf of the Kam Wah Chung
Foundation, Peggy Murphy for Grant County Historical
Museum and Rebecca Bogardus for the Youth Arts
Program. The Humbolt Parent-Teacher Association
also received a grant.
Contributed photo/Joelene Floyd
Americanism Essay winners stand together at a dinner held for them by the American
Legion Auxiliary in John Day. Front row, from left: Andrea Comer, Monel Anderson,
Vincent Raschio, Macy Carter, Sarah Smith, Bradley Smith (back), Madelyn Bailey,
Amelia Hall and Samantha Floyd; back row, Carson Weaver, Abby Lusco, McKeely
Miller, Maggie Justice and Brooke Taynton. Logan Randleas and Riley Robertson, not
pictured, were also among the contest winners.
essays for many friends and
family members, as well as
American Legion and Auxil-
iary members.
Seventh-grader
Amelia
Hall shared her essay.
“Americanism is showing
our gratitude for the faithful
labor of all those who have
fought to keep this nation
free,” she read. “It is remem-
bering those who have sacri-
ficed so much of their selfless
service and repaying them by
honoring and celebrating the
wonderful country we have
today.”
Sophomore
Samantha
Floyd said, as citizens, we’re
given many wonderful rights.
“But in order to develop a
strong country that finds pride
in Americanism, this is not
enough,” she said. “We, as cit-
izens, must be what we want
our country to be. You reap
what you sow, so ask yourself,
what is your name doing for
our flag?”
Senior Maggie Justice
said, “America has been built
on many foundation beliefs,
something that I would con-
sider as ‘Americanism.’ These
beliefs include: integrity, hard
work, motivation and the abil-
ity to want to better oneself.”
There were 227 entries this
year from Grant School Dis-
trict No. 3 schools, up from 89
last year. Winners of the essay
contest received monetary
awards in the amount of $25
for first place, $15 for second
and $10 for third.
Those who finished in first
place advance to the state
competition, which will be
judged in April. Winners of
state may advance to the re-
American Legion Auxiliary Amer-
icanism essay finalists
Division V, grades 11-12
Maggie Justice, first, Grant Union
McKeely Miller, second, Grant
Union
Andrea Comer, third, Grant Union
Division IV, grades 9-10
Samantha Floyd, first, Grant Union
Abby Lusco, second, Grant Union
Tiler Voigt, third, Grant Union
Division III, grades 7-8
Amelia Hall, first, Grant Union
Riley Robertson, second, Grant
Union
Carson Weaver, third, Grant Union
Division II, grades 5-6
Madelyn Bailey, first, Humbolt
Monel Anderson, second, Seneca
Logan Randleas, third, Humbolt
Bradlee Smith, third, Seneca
Division I, grades 3-4
Sarah Smith, first, Seneca
Vincent Raschio, second, Humbolt
Brooke Taynton, third, Seneca
gional and finally to the na-
tional contest.
Hope 4 Paws: Grant
County has launched its
Spring Into Action spay/neu-
ter discount campaign.
The campaign promotes
Hope 4 Paws’ voucher pro-
gram, which provides dis-
counts for spay or neuter pro-
cedures scheduled at either of
the two Grant County veteri-
nary clinics.
Pet owners who call Hope
4 Paws before making their
appointments can get vouch-
er letters that cut their bill by
$15 or $25 for cats and $30
or $50 for dogs, depending
on the procedure.
“This is our way of en-
couraging pet owners to do
the responsible thing to pre-
vent unwanted or accidental
litters,” said Scotta Callister,
Hope 4 Paws board chair.
“As spring arrives, we start
getting more calls for help
with these litters, and there
simply aren’t enough homes
here that are able to take in
more pets.”
Hope 4 Paws volunteers
often hear pet owners say they
meant to get their dog or cat
“fixed,” but just hadn’t gotten
around to it or couldn’t afford
it. The voucher program was
created as an incentive to get
the job done. It is available to
all Grant County pet owners,
and there is no needs test or
income restriction.
The program, which be-
gan two years ago, is funded
by the generous donations
of community members
through events such as the
annual Spay-ghetti Dinner,
held earlier this month at the
Grant County Fairgrounds.
This year, Hope 4 Paws
also was awarded a $2,500
grant from an Oregon char-
itable foundation, the May-
belle Clark MacDonald
Fund, to increase the voucher
program to reach more pet
owners. The grant is expect-
ed to cover about half of the
costs of an expanded voucher
program in 2018.
Pet owners are cautioned
that, to get the discount, they
must obtain their voucher let-
ter from Hope 4 Paws before
showing up for the vet ap-
pointment. The clinics do not
have vouchers to issue.
To obtain a voucher letter,
call Hope 4 Paws at 541-575-
0500 and leave your contact
and pet information.
Hope 4 Paws is an all-vol-
unteer 501(c)(3) nonprofit or-
ganization providing pet res-
cue, spay/neuter assistance
and pet owner education in
Grant County. For more in-
formation about the mission,
visit hope4pawsgrantcounty.
com.
C HESTER ’ S AWARDS SCHOLARSHIP
Monument conservation district
awarded $47,000 to fight leafy spurge
Blue Mountain Eagle
The Oregon State Weed
Board awarded $47,708 to
the Monument Soil & Water
Conservation District for its
North Fork John Day Leafy
Spurge–Phase III project at
their February board meet-
ing in Salem.
The award was one of
49 regular grant program
awards totaling $1.4 million
provided to local organiza-
tions statewide to fund proj-
ects that restore and protect
fish and wildlife habitat, wa-
tershed function, water qual-
ity and overall watershed
health from invasive noxious
weed impacts, according to a
press release.
“This grant award is cru-
cial to continuing the work
that the North Fork John
Day Watershed has done to
treat leafy spurge along Fox/
Cottonwood Creek for the
past seven years and over
20 years of treatments that
Grant Weed Control has as-
sisted with along the 120
miles of river downstream
from Kimberly,” said Bry-
an Vogt, district manager of
the Monument Soil & Water
Conservation District.
The North Fork John
Day Leafy Spurge–Phase
III grant award will see to
treatments along 15 miles of
the river from Monument to
Kimberly, along with rough-
ly 38 miles of Fox/Cotton-
wood Creek. Leafy spurge is
both a state- and county-list-
ed noxious weed. Treatments
are expected to begin in May
and continue through the
fall of 2018. Certified appli-
cators from the district will
conduct treatments along
the river and lower Cotton-
wood Creek with additional
work being contracted out
to Grant Weed Control for
treatments in upper Cotton-
wood Creek and Fox Creek.
This will also be the first
year that targeted grazing
with sheep and goats is used
as an integrated treatment
approach on one large patch
of spurge along the river.
Partners for the project in-
clude Grant Weed Control,
the North Fork John Day
Watershed Council, Ore-
gon Department of Agricul-
ture – Noxious Weed Con-
trol and multiple private
landowners.
For more information
about this project, contact
Vogt at mswcd@centurytel.
net or 541-934-2141. For
more information about the
Oregon State Weed Board
Noxious Weed Grant Pro-
gram, contact Tristen Berg
at tberg@oda.state.or.us or
503-986-4622.
The Eagle/Richard Hanners
Chester’s Thriftway Operations Manager Bill Wyllie
presents a $1,000 scholarship check to Brittany
Smith March 9. This is Smith’s second scholarship
since starting work at the Chester’s office in John
Day about six months ago. A mother with three kids,
she is studying online at Eastern Oregon University.
Wyllie said Chester’s employees are eligible for the
scholarship once per term to help improve themselves.
Dr. Michael B. Desjardin
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