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About The Blue Mountain eagle. (John Day, Or.) 1972-current | View Entire Issue (March 13, 2019)
COMMUNITY BlueMountainEagle.com The deadline for What’s Happening items is 5 p.m. Fri- day. Call the Eagle, 541-575-0710, or email editor@bmea- gle.com. For meetings this week, see our list in the classifi eds. Wednesday, March 13 Luncheon and church service • 11:30 a.m. to 12:45 p.m., Seventh-day Adventist Church, John Day The Ministerial Association churches will observe Lent with a special luncheon and service held at various local churches. Everyone is invited. These special services are held on Wednesdays ending on Wednesday, April 10. A soup and bread lunch will be served from 11:30 a.m. to 12:15 pm. The service follows from 12:15-12:45 p.m. Spay-ghetti dinner and auctions 5-8 p.m., Grant County Fairgrounds pavilion Hope 4 Paws: Grant County will host its by-donation fund- raiser for its spay and neuter programs. Doors open at 5 p.m., and bidding on the silent auction items runs until 6:15 p.m. An oral auction of desserts and specialty items will follow. The spaghetti dinner is sponsored by the Squeeze In, and Spitfi re Cocktails will provide drinks for adults 21 and up. There will be a rescue dog demonstration during the event, and silent and oral auction items will include golf at The Retreat & Links at Silvies Valley Ranch, jewelry by Hunting Heron Designs, a metal sculpture and many specialty gift baskets. For more information, call 541-575-0500. Friday, March 15 American Legion 100th anniversary • 6 p.m., John Day Senior Center A ham dinner will be held by donation. For more informa- tion, call Art Pereira at 541-575-1841. Saturday, March 16 Pie auction and cake walk • 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., Grant County Library Bidding starts at noon. Kids are encouraged to attend and participate in the cake walk. Food will be available from $2-3: hot dog, hot dog with chili or chili and cornbread with honey butter. For more information, call 541-575-1992. Sunday, March 17 Clay pigeon jackpot shoot • 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., mile marker 9 on Highway 402, Kimberly With proceeds benefi ting Silent Wave Horse Rescue, the cost is $3 per shoot with men’s, women’s and kids’ compe- titions. A dessert auction takes place at 1 p.m. Irish-themed Wednesday, March 13, 2019 A7 WHAT’S HAPPENING Contributed photo Visiting at the Hope for Paws fundraiser booth during Christmas on the Prairie are, from left, Cashel Toy, Quinn Cowie, “Miss Sheilah the Cat” and Avery Toy. The organization will host its annual Spay-ghetti fundraiser March 13. Monday-Friday, March 25-29 Contributed photo/Joelene Floyd Americanism Essay winners stand together at a dinner held for them by the American Legion Auxiliary in John Day last year. Students will be honored March 18 this year. food and drink will be available by donation. Call 541-934- 2143 for details. Monday, March 18 Americanism essay congratulatory dinner • 6:30 p.m., Alec Gay Hall, John Day A potluck dinner will be held to honor local American- ism essay winners, sponsored by American Legion Auxiliary Ellis Tracy Unit. Family and friends of the winners are wel- come to attend. For more information, contact Sherry Feiger at 541-575-0766. Friday, March 22 Cancer benefi t dinner • 4:30 p.m., John Day Golf Course There will be a benefi t dinner to support GIST (gastrointes- tinal stromal tumor) cancer research. There will be two dinner times, 4:30 and 6 p.m. Dinner is breakfast: biscuits and gravy, pancakes, bacon, sausage and eggs. The cost is $10 per per- son, $5 for children under 7. For more information, call Linda McClellan at 541-620-2352. Kids Passport to Fun • Grant County The second annual museum event for children features a variety of history, science and arts events throughout the week at different locations. “Passports” are available at the Grant County Chamber of Commerce in John Day for $5, or $12 per family. Children 5 and under can participate for free. The Can- yon City Community Hall will be open from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. March 28 with many sponsored activities, and passports are required for entry (ages 6-12). For more information, leave a message at the Grant County Historical Museum, 541-575- 0362, after March 15. Wednesday, March 27 Food bank distribution day • 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., Grant County Food Bank The food bank is back on its normal distribution schedule for the fourth Wednesday of the month. For more information, call 541-575-0299. Saturday, March 30 Inland Northwest Musicians Chorale concert • 4 p.m., Canyon City Community Hall The Juniper Arts Council will host the 40-singer cho- rale, performing “Peaceable Kingdom” by Randall Thomp- son and “Gloria” by Antonio Vivaldi. The concert is free. A dessert reception will follow. For more information, call 541-932-4892. Volunteers needed for bike park work By Richard Hanners Blue Mountain Eagle The .17 HMR P unxsutawney Phil said spring was on its way a while ago. Once the snow melts off, I’m sure it will arrive. Before long it will be time to bust out the squirrel guns! For most folks, this means a .22 for ground squirrels and likely a .223 or .22-250 for the bigger stuff. But there is another sheriff in town, not exactly new but newer to the party. In years past, there have been several attempts to dethrone the .22 Long Rifl e as America’s rim- fi re darling. Some, like the 5mm Remington Magnum, quickly went by the way- side and today are only seen in collectors’ vaults. Others, like the .22 WMR, are still widely used but have hardly supplanted the .22 Long Rifl e. Enter the .17 Hornady Magnum Rimfi re. In 2002, the .17 HMR was released to the pub- lic. To say it’s been well accepted would be a huge understatement. Its design is simple, the full-length .22 WMR case necked down to .17 caliber. The performance is extraor- dinary, the report is mild and the accuracy truly amazing. For only being around for 17 years, this car- tridge has won the hearts and minds of thousands of hunters and with good reason. Its effective reach is over double the dis- tance of a regular .22, and its tiny 17-20 grain bul- lets start out at double the velocity. These thin-jacket speed demons open vio- lently on impact, eliminat- ing not only their target but any chance of ricochet more commonly seen with the big- ger, slow- er-moving .22 projec- tiles. Now I will con- cede that it’s Dale Valade not nearly as cheap to shoot as a .22, but the added performance is well worth the extra dinero. No other cartridge so excellently melds the reach of the smaller cen- terfi re rounds with the effi - ciency and mild blast of a rimfi re round than does the .17 HMR. And even though it’s more or less a specialty cartridge, it does just fi ne on bigger stuff as well. That’s right. It’s not merely a 250-yard squir- rel rifl e but also works well for skunks, badgers, coyotes and the like. The smaller .17 caliber bul- lets don’t drift in the wind a fraction as badly as do the .22 rimfi re rounds. The higher velocity and ballistic coeffi cient of these .17 calibers are to thank for that increase in performance. Not that I’m trying to sell the old .22 down the river, but the .17 out- classes it in nearly every way. It’s a literal apples- to-oranges type of com- parison. Do I think the .17 will replace the .22 Long Rifl e as rimfi re king? I am dubious, but I think there is room for both in your gun cabinet. Make your next squirrel gun a .17 HMR. They are a real blast to shoot! Please drop us a line at shootingthebreezebme@ gmail.com! Dale Valade is a local country gent with a deep love for handloading, hunt- ing and shooting. Eagle fi le photo Ptarmigan Ptrails, which spent three weeks last summer constructing a single-track mountain bike trail system above the Seventh Street Complex in John Day, will return to do touch-up work this spring. year, will return this spring to touch up their work. The parking lot has been constructed, lined with a telephone pole fence and will accommodate up to 15 vehicles. About a dozen volun- teers turned out for a trail day in October. Usage of the bike park has been light, with some children riding the single-track trail with BMX-type bicycles. The bike park hasn’t been promoted because safety and informa- tional signs have not been erected and additional work is needed on the sin- gle-track trail, Lieuallen said. A grand opening will take place in late spring, he said, with fundraising efforts slated for this year and 2020. Contributed image In this conceptual drawing for the skills area of the Seventh Street Bike Park, the heart-shaped area is the pump track and the sections to either side are the external features areas. Parking is to the right of the logs. The storage shed and additional skills trail system to the left will be built in 2020. A man wakes up in the morning after sleeping on an ADVERTISED BED, in ADVERTISED PAJAMAS. He will bathe in an ADVERTISED TUB, shave with an ADVERTISED RAZOR, have a breakfast of ADVERTISED JUICE, cereal and toast, toasted in an ADVERTISED TOASTER, put on ADVERTISED CLOTHES and glance at his ADVERTISED WATCH. He’ll ride to work in his ADVERTISED CAR, sit at an ADVERTISED DESK and write with an ADVERTISED PEN. Yet this person hesitates to advertise, saying that advertising doesn’t pay. Finally, when his non-advertised business is going under, HE’LL ADVERTISE IT FOR SALE. Then it’s too late. Monday - Thursday 7am- 6pm Friday 8am - 5pm Mendy Sharpe FNP Apppointments available AND THEY SAY ADVERTISING DOESN’T WORK? DON’T MAKE THIS SAME MISTAKE Advertising is an investment, not an expense. Think about it! Blue Mountain Eagle MyEagleNews.com 108421 SHOOTING THE BREEZE 106279 Contributed photo The .17-caliber Hornady Magnum Rimfi re is more expensive to shoot than a .22 but outclasses it in nearly every way. Volunteers are needed for a trail day at the Sev- enth Street Bike Park on the weekend of March 30-31 to work on con- structing a dirt pump track and do maintenance on the existing single-track trail. The Eastern Oregon Trail Alliance will head up the work starting at 9 a.m., weather dependent. To volunteer or to donate to the project, con- tact Darin Toy at 541-620- 4030 or visit the Eastern Oregon Trail Alliance on Facebook. Phase 2 construction this year also will include constructing external log features on either side of the pump track, which will be located just south of the trailhead and just west of the parking area. That work will be spread out over the year, Toy said. The bike park is not a John Day city proj- ect. The nonprofit Grant County Economic Coun- cil led the fundraising for Phase 1, EOTA provided technical guidance and the land belongs to Grant School District 3. Other stakeholders include the city of John Day and the John Day-Canyon City Parks & Recreation District. Aaron Lieuallen, a GCEC member, said the goal is to have most of the pump track built by volunteers, with some in-kind donations. A stor- age shed for tools and a dirt jump line will be built just to the west in fall 2020. Ptarmigan Ptrails, the company that constructed the single-track trail last Don’t get left behind, call today! Kim Kell 541-575-0710
