Grant Union Holiday Showcase
The
PAGE A3
Blue Mountai
Mountain
EAGLE
Grant County’s newspaper since 186
1868
Wednesday, December 12, 2018
150th Year • No. 50 • 18 Pages • $1.00
BlueMountainEagle.com
Missing hiker recovered from Fields Peak
By RICHARD HANNERS
Blue Mountain Eagle
Search and rescue crews
located the body of a hiker Dec.
6 on a steep southwest slope on
Fields Peak.
Lucas Francesco Cavalle, 38,
of Mt. Vernon, was found about
11:45 a.m. and was extricated
from the scene by Grant County
Search and Rescue person-
nel, Grant County Sheriff Glenn
Palmer said in a press release.
He had been missing since
Dec. 3.
An investigation into his cause
of death is ongoing, and the Ore-
gon State Medical Examiner’s
Offi ce has ordered an autopsy.
A
preliminary
investiga-
tion indicated that Cavalle had
attempted to build a fi re but was
unsuccessful.
Temperatures were in the sin-
gle digits, with winds and 9-10
inch deep snow, Palmer said.
Cavalle was wearing hiking
boots, blue jeans, shirts and a
jacket. He also had a backpack.
He was reported missing by his
girlfriend at 12:30 p.m. on Dec. 4
after failing to return from a hike
the previous day. Cavalle recently
moved to Grant County and was
unfamiliar with the area.
Cavalle told a shuttle driver he
was going for a hike and planned
to be picked up the next morning,
but he didn’t get on the shuttle or
report to work.
He told several people he
planned to hike from the Fields
Peak area north toward his res-
idence between Mt. Vernon and
Dayville, about 9 miles away.
The area where he planned to
hike had about 5-10 inches of
snow and was steep and rocky in
places.
Members of the Grant County
Sheriff’s Offi ce, GCSO Search &
TIMBER TRUCKERS
LIGHT UP JOHN DAY
Rescue, BLM and Forest Service
law enforcement, local Amateur
Radio Emergency Service, local
Air Search Group, search and res-
cue personnel from Crook, Baker,
Morrow and Deschutes counties,
Life Flight of Oregon, the Oregon
Army National Guard and others
assisted in the search effort.
A K-9 team, drone aircraft,
helicopters and fi xed-wing air-
craft fl ew over the area during the
search.
Bend man
linked to local
crime spree
Vehicles, fi rearms, other
valuables recovered
By RICHARD HANNERS
Blue Mountain Eagle
Contributed photo
The Rude Logging entry in the 2018 Timber Truckers parade in John Day on Dec. 8 won fi rst place in the timber category and
second place in the people’s choice as well as the sweepstakes award.
By RICHARD HANNERS
Blue Mountain Eagle
F
Leslie
Traylor has
headed up
organization
of the Timber
Truckers
parade in
John Day for
17 years.
lashing lights and honking horns fi lled
the brisk night air in downtown John
Day Dec. 8 as the 25th annual Timber
Truckers Light Parade rumbled down
Main Street.
Spectators braved the cold to cheer on the dec-
orated logging trucks, Forest Service rigs, com-
mercial vehicles and family rides. There were 35
entries this year.
D.R. Johnson is credited with initiating the
parade, organizer Leslie Traylor told the Eagle.
He operated Prairie Wood Products in Prairie
City and Grant Western Lumber Co. in John Day
at the time.
See Parade, Page A18
The Eagle/Alixandra Hand
The Rude Logging entry in the 2018 Timber Truckers parade
in John Day on Dec. 8 won fi rst place in the timber category
and second place in the people’s choice as well as the
sweepstakes award.
A 27-year-old man from Bend who
is being held in Grant County Jail is
facing multiple charges for burglary,
theft and unauthorized use of a motor
vehicle after a series of crimes were
reported on Dec. 5.
According to a Grant County Sher-
iff’s Offi ce press release, the fi rst call
to John Day dispatch came at 4:40 p.m.
and involved a stolen motor vehicle in
the Belshaw Creek area west of Mt.
Vernon. Sheriff’s deputies and state
police responded.
Shortly afterward, dispatchers
received two more calls involving a
burglary in the John Day area and a
fi rearm west of Mt. Vernon. During the
course of the investigations, Stephen
Meeks was identifi ed as a suspect in
the cases.
John Day police spotted Meeks
the next morning around 11 a.m. as
he exited a vehicle on Main Street.
Meeks was taken into custody without
incident by John Day police and state
police.
He is being held in county jail on a
felony warrant, and the investigation
is ongoing. According to Oregon State
Police dispatch records, two stolen
vehicles, fi rearms, currency and other
valuables were recovered.
Local law enforcement offi cials
advise people who saw Meeks in the
area since Dec. 3 or who have been
the victim of a burglary to call the
sheriff’s offi ce at 541-575-1131, John
Day police at 541-575-0030 or Ore-
gon State Police John Day Outpost at
541-575-0471.
Meeks is described as 6 feet tall and
180 pounds with short dark hair, a dark
complexion, a facial tattoo and tattoos
on his hand and left arm. He previously
had a goatee or trimmed facial hair.
Sheriff Glenn Palmer reminds
county residents to secure their vehi-
cles and homes and to report any sus-
picious activity as soon as it is safe to
do so.
City projects hit fi nancial hurdles
By RICHARD HANNERS
Blue Mountain Eagle
John Day City Councilor Paul
Smith summed up in one word the
key factor infl uencing economic
development plans during a special
meeting at Grant County Regional
Airport on Dec. 4 — money.
The Grant County Digital Net-
work Coalition learned Nov. 29 that
it wasn’t selected for a $2.9 mil-
lion federal Community Connect
grant, which will set back internet
improvement plans until alternative
funding can be found.
The council learned during the
special meeting about funding dif-
fi culties or setbacks for the city’s
commercial greenhouse plans,
aquatics facility and street projects.
Greenhouse plans
Materials for construction of
fi ve bays for a commercial green-
house at the former Oregon Pine
mill site were shipped by Euromex
and are now in storage in John Day,
City Manager Nick Green told the
council.
While the fi rst three bays would
be dedicated to growing produce
with confi rmed local buyers, the use
of the two additional bays to grow
hops for craft beer makers was
more risky and would be dependent
on partnering with OSU and fi nding
solid markets, Green explained.
But following a discouraging
meeting with offi cials from Ore-
gon State University and Business
Oregon on Nov. 28, Green rec-
ommended against expanding the
The Eagle/Richard Hanners
Left to right, John Day City
Councilors Paul Smith and
Gregg Haberly and Mayor Ron
Lundbom vote during a special
joint meeting at the Grant County
Regional Airport on Dec. 4.
greenhouse project from three bays
to fi ve.
“OSU is not able to directly invest
fi nancial resources into our proj-
ect currently,” Green said. “They
have faculty experience growing
hops but do not have faculty with
experience in hydroponic hops
and very limited experience with
hydroponics.”
Furthermore, OSU’s budgets
had not recovered from pre-reces-
sion levels, Green said, so the uni-
versity could not hire staff with the
relevant experience unless they were
grant-funded.
City staff also spoke to Ted Hau-
sotter, of Hop Heaven, a hop dis-
tributor in Baker City, about estab-
lishing a market for fresh hops in
Eastern Oregon.
See Projects, Page A18