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About The Blue Mountain eagle. (John Day, Or.) 1972-current | View Entire Issue (Dec. 19, 2018)
LETTERS TO SANTA SPECIAL SECTION, INSIDE The Blue Mountain EAGLE Grant County’s newspaper since 1868 Wednesday, December 19, 2018 150th Year • No. 51 • 20 Pages • $1.00 BlueMountainEagle.com Hunter going for record books Getting ram tag took 48 years By Richard Hanners Blue Mountain Eagle Walt Kight has been hunting since he was a child, and he’s long had a special interest in sheep. He now can claim bagging three of the four sheep subspecies in the North American Wild Sheep Grand Slam and possibly a new state record for California bighorn sheep. Kight moved to Grant County in 1972 after serving in the Marines. He typically hunts elk, deer, antelope and upland birds, but he’s traveled to Alaska fi ve times for hunts, four of them without guides. He’s also worked for a British Columbia out- fi tter as a guide for elk hunters and hunted moose in British Columbia. After leaving the Marines, Kight worked nine years for the Ore- gon Department of Fish and Wild- life running a fi sh-screening crew. During that time, he talked his way onto a sheep-trapping crew, netting sheep on the ground or from a heli- copter. He left ODFW and went to work for a private contractor heli- copter-netting sheep across the Northern Rockies. Walt Kight shot this bighorn sheep Nov. 10, opening day of the East John Day River hunt, after 48 years of applying for a tag. The ram is the pending state record with a green score of 185 2/8. Grand slam There are six subspecies of wild sheep in North America — Dall, stone, Fannin, Rocky Mountain, See Hunt, Page A10 Contributed photos This young boy and his brother received a fun surprise last week as volunteers from the nonprofi t Sleep in Heavenly Peace organization delivered new beds and bedding to their home. SLEEP IN HEAVENLY PEACE delights local children with new beds By Angel Carpenter Blue Mountain Eagle S ome area children are receiving a special Christ- mas gift — new beds and bedding — thanks to the Grant County nonprofi t chapter of Sleep in Heavenly Peace. Volunteers with the organization render a unique service, utilizing elbow grease to build twin-size beds for kids in need in Grant, Harney, Baker and Malheur counties. Their motto is “No Kid Sleeps on the Floor in our Town.” On Dec. 1, a total of 34 volunteers, 22 adults and 12 children, joined in to build 10 bunk beds at the late Henry “Butch” Goslin’s shop in Prairie City, in his honor. Chapter president Susie Brown of John Day said she was overwhelmed at the sight of so many gathered to help. “I immediately got emotional when I started to thank the group for coming,” she said. “Several times I was fi ghting back tears.” The helpers kept busy that morning to early afternoon working in different stations, in a production line, to com- plete the various stages of the building process. Chelsey McDaniel, who was Goslin’s girlfriend, said the event was amazing to see. “It was mind blowing the amount of people that showed up — kids and people from everywhere,” she said. “They busted out 20 beds in three hours — 10 sets of bunk beds.” She added, “Butch would have been incredibly proud because he was a carpenter. He would have been a part of it no matter what.” From sanding and staining boards to assembling head- boards and side rails, many hands made light work. Clockwise from left: Mason Rigney, Bryant Baker, Connor McLeod and Tracker McLeod work on a project to help make the Sleep in Heavenly Peace beds. See Beds, Page A10 Free bus service to start in January bus will run three times a day link- ing Prairie City and Free bus service in the John Day Mt. Vernon with 37 Valley will start in mid-January, with stops. Bus stop signs one route circulating through John could be set up by Day and Canyon City and another March depending on running from Prairie City to Mt. Angie Jones Oregon Department Vernon. of Transportation The exact location of stops will be approval, Jones said. refi ned as the Grant County Trans- People with diffi culty getting to portation District looks at ridership scheduled stop locations can call 24 numbers in the coming months, Dis- hours in advance, and the bus will trict Manager Angie Jones said. The come to their homes. People can fl ag new bus service will operate Mon- down the bus at unscheduled locations, days through Fridays, with other but Jones advised they call ahead to let People Mover services continuing as the People Mover staff know. before. While many businesses and public As currently planned, a People agencies have approved use of park- Mover bus will loop through John ing lots and highway pullouts for bus Day and Canyon City about every 45 stops, people shouldn’t expect to be minutes with 57 stops. The east-west able to park their vehicles at a stop to By Richard Hanners Blue Mountain Eagle ride the bus, Jones said. Riders can board the buses fare- free. Funding will come from a pro- vision in the 2017 Transportation Bill that passed the Senate by 22-7 and the House by 39-20. The bill provided for a payroll tax of less than 0.1 percent to fund pub- lic transit. Grant County will receive $100,000 per year, the minimum amount available for counties, Jones said. The public transportation provision specifi ed criteria that transportation districts should consider when spend- ing that funding. Jones said the new bus service will address both access and lower rates. The provision also required that 1 percent of the funding be used to provide transportation for students in grades 9-12. The new bus service will provide stops at Prairie City School and Grant Union Junior-Senior High School, as well as Humbolt Elementary School, Jones said. Departure times should be early enough for students in John Day to travel to the Prairie City School or the reverse, she said. The Canyon City-John Day route extends from Bridge Street on High- way 395 south of the courthouse, west on Highway 26 to Apple Road and north several blocks on North Canyon Boulevard with a stop at the People Mover barn. The east-west valley route includes a small loop with eight stops in Prai- rie City, more than a dozen stops in John Day and three stops in Mt. Ver- non. The bus will also stop at Clyde Holliday State Park, which could be popular with tourists in summer time.
