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About The Blue Mountain eagle. (John Day, Or.) 1972-current | View Entire Issue (July 18, 2018)
GOAT CADDIES HIT THE LINKS AT SILVIES – PAGE A13 The Blue Mountain EAGLE Grant County’s newspaper since 1868 W edNesday , J uly 18, 2018 • N o . 29 • 18 P ages • $1.00 www.MyEagleNews.com NO LIMITS Artist Hans Magden stands in his private gallery, Beyond the Perimeter, in John Day. Artist Hans Magden fights back against Parkinson’s disease By Angel Carpenter Blue Mountain Eagle A John Day artist Hans Magden sometimes transforms figures from his paintings into three-dimensional sculptures. common thread in John Day artist Hans Magden’s extensive repertoire of expressive paintings of human forms is the use of bright hues. “If I have a distinguishing stamp, it would be color and the uniqueness of each piece,” he said. He adds color until he’s happy. However, it doesn’t fit a traditional use of color, he said. “My people ... it’s like they wandered into a scene, and no one told them the dress code,” he said, adding, “What if a clown walks out into a field? That’s striking. It allows you to have a color- ing concept that really isn’t acceptable.” That bold spectrum faded for Magden in 2009, when he was struck by Parkinson’s disease. The chronic, progressive neurological disease See ARTIST, Page A18 Eagle photos/Angel Carpenter Hans Magden shows a sculpture in his studio, which is a work in progress. The piece, inspired by a photo he saw of Alpine ibex goats climbing a cement dam, will eventually be taken to a foundry. Initiative would require sixth-grade students to study firearms By Paris Achen Capital Bureau Gun rights advocates have a filed an initiative petition that would mandate a firearms safety instruction class in the sixth grade at Oregon public schools. Initiative Petition 6 was filed July 11 by Ston McDaniel of Prineville and Jerrad Robison of Redmond for the Nov. 3, 2020, statewide general election ballot. Robison also is chief petitioner for a gun rights initiative in Deschutes County. The Second Amendment Preservation Or- dinance would allow the county sheriff to block enforcement of local, state or federal gun laws the sheriff deemed as unconstitu- tional. The proposal is the brainchild of Kevin Starrett, founder of the Oregon Firearms Federation, said Rep. Mike Nearman, R-Polk County, who is helping out with the initiative. “In spite of the efforts of some extremist groups to simply ban firearms, rational peo- ple recognize that firearms will continue to exist irrespective of any law,” Starrett wrote in an email to the Pamplin/EO Capital Gun rights advocates have filed an initiative petition to make firearms safety instruction mandatory in the sixth grade in Oregon public schools. See FIREARMS, Page A18 Pamplin Media Group Rough-in work on bike park trails completed Park should be open before school starts By Richard Hanners Blue Mountain Eagle Three weeks of digging, scraping and prying wound down last week, as the Ptar- migan Ptrails bike trail con- struction company completed roughing in Phase 1 of the Seventh Street Bike Park. The park will open to the public before school starts, Aaron Lieuallen told the Eagle. Lieuallen is a member of the nonprofit Grant County Eco- nomic Council, which led the fundraising for the project. The Eastern Oregon Trail Al- The Eagle/Richard Hanners From left, Zach Parkin, Ed Kessler and Abe Schmidt of Ptarmigan Ptrails spent three weeks constructing a single-track mountain bike trail system above the Seventh Street Complex in John Day. liance wants to test ride the trails and make minor adjustments with hand tools over the next six weeks, and work needs to be completed on signage, a trail- head kiosk and parking, he said. Color-coded trails The single-track bike trails wind back and forth across the hill overlooking the sports complex in John Day, meander- ing past junipers and boulders. Access is made by the gravel road that runs east of the sports complex or by Well Road off of Valley View Drive. Ed Kessler, Zach Parkin and Abe Schmidt used a skidsteer and a mini excavator as well as hand tools and heavy pry bars to create the trails. Dirt was hauled in to create flow features on the trail running just below Well Road at the top of the hill. The trails will be color-cod- ed for difficulty, with the begin- ner trail marked green, the two intermediate trails marked blue and the technical trail marked black. Signs on the trailhead kiosk will explain the routes to visitors, Lieuallen said. Directing access to the bike park is a concern of the de- signers. They don’t want bik- ers coming down from Well Road, creating “social trails,” or riding on the paved Jimmy Allen Memorial Trail that runs around the sports complex. Access will be up a private road owned by the Holmstroms just east of the skate park, and parking for 10-15 vehicles will be established near the city well. The bike park is not a city project, Lieuallen noted. The nonprofit Grant County Eco- nomic Council led the fund- raising, and the Eastern Ore- gon Trail Alliance provided technical guidance, he said. Other major stakeholders include Grant School District See TRAILS, Page A18