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About The Blue Mountain eagle. (John Day, Or.) 1972-current | View Entire Issue (June 27, 2018)
A8 News Blue Mountain Eagle Wednesday, June 27, 2018 Local radio operators participate in national exercise Contact made with Washington, D.C. By Steve Fletcher To the Blue Mountain Eagle A dozen local, amateur radio operators from different parts of Grant County set up radios, anten- nas and other equipment in front of the Corner Cup in John Day on Friday and activated a multi-radio station from 11 a.m. Saturday to 6 a.m. Sunday as part the annual Am- ateur Radio Field Day exercise. In the United States, the first field day took place in 1933 when amateur radio operators began hauling their equipment to outdoor sites, where they would test their ability to rapidly deploy and oper- ate their stations under remote con- ditions that often accompany a di- saster, according to a press release from the Grant County Amateur Radio Club. To gauge their effectiveness, points are awarded based on a number of factors. The day has be- come the largest single emergency preparedness exercise in the coun- try, with more than 35,000 opera- tors participating. Grant County Amateur Radio Contributed photo The newest Grant County amateur radio operator, Cameron Brockway, speaks to the oldest, 90-year-old Daron Dierks of Dayville, at the annual amateur radio field day June 23 in John Day. Club and Grant County Emergen- cy Services sponsored the event in John Day. Many radio contacts were made to places both near and far. The longest distance contact made was Washington, D.C. Ed El- lesson of John Day made a number of contacts using Morse code. Seth Klingbeil, also of John Day, made contacts using a digital mode call PSK31. People without radio licenses were allowed to stop by and get on O utlook the air. The youngest of those who got on the air was a 3-year-old boy. After prompting from his father, the 3-year-old said, “I want to talk on the radio.” A contact was estab- lished with Tom Bessler in Seneca and with Rick Allen of John Day. The operators set up a tempo- rary shelter, several vehicles, five fixed-station radios, four fixed-posi- tion antennas and used a number of hand-held radios. All the main radios were powered by batteries charged by solar power. Not only did the radio operators make voice contact, but they used other radio modes to make contacts. Automatic Packet Reporting Sys- tem was demonstrated with a radio strapped to a four-wheeler and a map automatically displaying its position on the internet. Radios connected to weather stations using APRS were also demonstrated. Contacts were also made with a number of digital modes. Visitors stopped by to ask ques- tions about equipment capabilities and about how to get an FCC li- cense. Staff explained how the FCC regulations have changed and that it is relatively easy to get a license in Grant County. Others explained it is no longer necessary to know Morse code in order to obtain a license. The visitors were mostly Grant County locals, but some tourists also stopped by. The visitors from the farthest point were three amateur radio oper- ators from Los Angeles. Rick Allen, who organized the event, said it was a huge success. SENI R PRAIRIE CITY — Whew. What a week we have had. Involved the entire state of Oregon. Saturday, June 16, Joel and family and bag and baggage arrived in Rose Coombs Canyon City from Portland. That was also the day that Bert and family were returning from church family camp on the coast to Portland. So everyone got to where they were going with no problems or accidents. On Monday Derrol got his pre-op visit in John Day. Then on Tuesday, June 19, we went to Baker and Ontario; Thursday to Bend. Everything is in place for his thumb surgery on June 26. Hope we get to stay in Grant County for a while. I’m tired. Prairie City Seniors The garden is growing and so are the weeds. The rain showers certainly helped. Which is why I’m so glad that we can eat out on Wednesdays. You should join us! Ginger asked Lorna Askew from the Blue Mountain Care Center to lead the flag salute. Delivery people were Larry, Carla and Ken. We pinochle players set up back by the registration table so we could be available since Carla, who was substituting for Pam, had to go with hubby Larry. We were able to get in our two full games and Delores and her partners managed to get 300 pinochle twice! What can I say? Back to dinner… Gwynne Wulfert was the winner of the gift certificate donated by Chuck’s Little Diner. Scott McMahan asked the blessing. He thanked all who prayed for his grandson who was the cause of the medical emergency last week. He is home recovering from the skull fracture and doing great. All the complications that were showing up at Blue Mountain Hospital were resolved by the time the plane got to Portland. How’s that for answered prayer? Dinner was meatballs and noodles, broccoli salad, a roll and raspberry- lemon tart with topping for dessert. That may not look like much, but the helpings were very generous. And it was delicious as usual. After dinner Tyler Stoneman demonstrated the tai chi movements that we could do to help with balance and well-being. If you are one that your doctor has said this will be helpful for you, you know what you need to do. Jack and Bonnie Pickle were in attendance with their daughter Marcia Paquel. Lorna and Krystin brought Sandi Burns, Gordon Sindt, Marilyn Randall and Bud Salisbury from the Blue Mountain Care Center. That new ramp really helps them get into the building and to their table easier. Thanks again to the Knudsen people who gave us the grant to purchase it. We had our monthly board meeting after lunch and decided to have a float in the Fourth of July parade. Get some advertisement there. It is amazing to me that there are some people who do not know about us or confuse us with the care center. We are still moving forward on getting the building painted, so keep watching. Luke 12:37, 40 “It will be good for those servants whose master finds them watching when he comes. You also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect Him.” JOHN DAY — Monday, June 19, was National Picnic Day. The greeter’s desk was well manned by Everett King and Ron Dowse. Our table service was provided by the First Christian Church: Jan Ellison, Dusty Harris, Roberta Dowse and Karen Barrietua. All of our home meal delivery was done by the Step Forward crew, led by David Gill, and they completed 30 regular and 32 frozen meal deliveries. Thank you so much for your service. helping in the kitchen. Kelley Couron heard Veanne mention that we would need someone who could fill in for Lisa while she took Curt to Bend for a medical appointment, and Kelley just stepped up, and it seemed to work out very well. Thanks so much, Kelley. On Thursday, June 21, Merry Henry and I greeted and did the books. Thanks to Jean Willie, who did all of our set up. The Ye Olde Thrift Shop and Methodist Church group of Louise Nelson, and Kathy Smith, led by Sherry Feiger, did the table service. We had an unusually large group but these gals work well together and managed well with just a little help. Ken and Shermayne Boethin took deliveries to John Day and Canyon City while David Gill and his crew from Step Forward took the Mt. Vernon route. Thank you so much to all of our volunteers. We had a special volunteer Don’t forget we play bingo after the meal on Thursday. Our blackout is worth $200 and we have a floating bingo win, depending on the crowd. This week each bingo paid $18.50. Join us if you can! John Day Seniors Nicky Essex We had a great group from Valley View: Chuck and daughter Linda, Betty and daughter Pam with husband Mike, Randy, Helen, Norma, Lois, Sandy and leader Kim blessed us with a full and overflowing table. In fact, we had a new visitor, and I neglected to write her name here in my notes. I hope you will come again. Our meal was sponsored by Bar Trucking Company (Judy Nelson). Shay made pork roast and new potatoes with gravy, roasted vegetables, and to celebrate National Peach Shortcake Day, we had peach shortcake. I love Dale Stennett opened our time by leading us in the Pledge of Allegience. Jan all of our national day celebrations. We continue to ask for prayer for Curt Ellison won the Len’s Drug gift card, Karen Barrietua won the free meal and and Lisa, they are struggling with a heavy load. Ron Dowse gave the blessing on the meal. We dined on chicken strips with gravy and summer tortellini salad, Texas toast, and amazing lemon trifle for Next Thursday, June 28, we’ll have beef tamales with green sauce. Then Monday, July 2, we’ll have shrimp lo mein. dessert. It was nice to see visitor Frances Preston again. MONUMENT — We had a nice turnout for our Tuesday, June 19, lunch and the guests on the books were 47 and 10 takeouts to be exact. Our cooks were Carrie Jewell and Teawna Jewell. They made us some spaghetti, garlic bread, nice fresh green salad, canned peaches and cookies for dessert. I would venture to say that everyone “pigged out” because there was really not much slop to take home to my piggies afterwards! Ha. Monument Seniors Soo Yukawa Our greeters were Lonnie Lawrence, Jimmy Cole and Linda Blakeslee. Lonnie made the announcements and led us in the flag salute. Yours truly prayed over the blessing of the meal. Jimmy and Linda collected and counted the money. We had a few visitors from around our very own little town of Monument join us for lunch. We had Lexi Hull, Juna and Daniel Watkins and Brian and Kirk Violini. Other visitors included Dick and Pam Wanous from Spray and Cip Arroyo from Salinas, California. We hope all our visitors enjoyed their meal and time out at the senior center. The winner of the Len’s Drug gift card was Donna Campbell. The free meal tickets went to Betty Richards and Daniel Watkins. Lonnie reminded us about the upcoming Monument Jubilee event on the Fourth of July. There are going to be lots of fun activities going on. Some of the events that will be happening are a parade, horseshoe tournament, silent Palm 116: 5-7 “The Lord is gracious and righteous; our God is full of compassion. The Lord protects the unwary; when I was brought low, he saved me. Return to your rest, my soul, for the Lord has been good to you.” auctions and a pie/dessert auction (which, by the way, they need some donations of pies and desserts please). This will be great for some family fun time. Hope you all can make it. Bring your folding chairs and or picnic blankets and come to just sit and visit. There will also be the amazing fireworks show. This is made possible for everyone’s enjoyment by the city of Monument. The cost of providing the awesome show is getting more and more expensive and the city of Monument would very much appreciate any and all donations to continue to provide the fireworks for the general public. Any amount would help cover the cost and the city of Monument thanks everyone for their generous donations. Can’t believe that July is just a few days away. Where did the time go? I have not been very good at keeping the weeds out of my other garden beds. It’s all so horrible. I feel a little overwhelmed by the tall grass and weeds. I have decided I have a new enemy to contend with. I don’t know which is worse: the squirrel, gophers, or the magpies? The magpies have been taunting me and driving me crazy. They are eating my cats’ food. I’m afraid they are going to get my pears. They did that a couple of years ago and ate all my pears in one night. I think they are too smart for even the cats to get close enough to catch them, darn those nasty birds. Hmmm, what to do with them? Anyone have any great ideas they might want to share? Daniel 12:2 “And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt.” 65216
