NEWS
BlueMountainEagle.com
Wednesday, April 3, 2019
A3
American Legion and Auxiliary visit Kam Wah Chung
The Eagle/Richard Hanners
American Legion Auxiliary National President Kathy Dungan,
left, and other members of the American Legion and Auxiliary
listen to a presentation in the Kam Wah Chung State Heritage
Site interpretive center on March 31.
World War II. Her husband,
son and two grandchil-
dren are all members of the
Legion family.
Tour guide Chris Labhart
led the two-hour long pre-
Big plans for Lake
Creek Youth Camp
By Richard Hanners
Blue Mountain Eagle
From youth groups, 4-H
and FFA outings and out-
door education to family
reunions, corporate retreats,
workshops and weddings,
the Lake Creek Youth Camp
has seen it all. The rural
camp facility offers ice and
showers for hunters and
will take walk-ins if there’s
room.
The Forest Service has
held rappeller training at the
Contributed photo
camp, and National Guard Youths enjoy a bonfire during a Natural Resource Camp held
troops stayed there during at Lake Creek Youth Camp.
the 2015 Canyon Creek
Two board members
Complex fire. It’s been a Grant County in 2007 to
while since the camp was a re-roof the lodge, upgrade retired after the 2017 sea-
wintertime destination for the septic system, remodel son. Then Heckman, the
cross-country skiers and the restrooms and build five camp cook, and husband,
snowmobile races, sled dog new bunkhouses that opened Carl, the groundskeeper and
maintenance worker, retired
races and a Girl Scout Snow in 2008.
A $25,000 grant from the in September 2018, and the
Playday, but the hope is to
keep it staffed in winter in Shelk Foundation and Swin- board put out the word that
the future, board president dells Family Fund in 2014 it was looking for people to
was used to replace one of refill those positions.
Aimee Rude said.
But as a board-run camp the 50-year-old A-frames
“If we can hire some
that formed as a nonprofit 50 with an energy-efficient experienced people, we’ll be
years ago, the Lake Creek ADA-accessible cabin. The able to continue our reputa-
Youth Camp must rely on $42,500 total cost was met ble service,” Rude said at the
the community to keep with camp funds and in-kind time.
Rude, who attended the
running.
labor and materials.
Today the camp has a camp as a Girl Scout while
Historic roots
main lodge with a full-ser- growing up in Burns, said
Located in Logan Val- vice kitchen, fireplace, the camp now has a solid
ley about 2 miles from the piano, ping-pong table and board with nine members.
southern trailheads for the central gathering room; The nonprofit is seeking
Strawberry Mountains Wil- 10 bunkhouses each with grants to replace and rebuild
derness, the site began as a 10 beds; recently reno- the fireplace in the lodge,
fire guard camp built by the vated bath houses; a base- replace 50 bed frames and
Civilian Conservation Corps ball field, volleyball court, 100 mattresses and replace
in the 1930s. Some of the horseshoe pit and basketball the netting on the base-
buildings are designated his- half court; and tent and RV ball backstop. They are also
torical structures, and two of spaces.
seeking a $200,000 grant to
the original cabins are used
Lake Creek Youth Camp replace four of the A-frame
by staff.
is open from June 1 through cabins.
Burns resident Marge September. Rude said they
Grant County Economic
Riley McRae is credited as would like to extend the sea- Coordinator Allison Field
the driving force that turned son and take in more hunt- will provide contracted
the 27-acre site into a fam- ers. Interested parties should administrative services to
ily camp. A nonprofit orga- make reservations by email- Lake Creek Youth Camp to
nization was formed in the ing lakecreekcamp@yahoo. help with the grant writing.
1960s, which leased the com or booking online at The county will be compen-
sated with 10 percent of suc-
site from the Forest Ser- lakecreekcamp.org.
vice. Then, using a $25,000
cessful grants up to $30,000
Staff turnover
Federal Housing Adminis-
for two years.
tration loan and a match of
The Lake Creek Youth
A gala banquet fund-
donated materials and labor, Camp has experienced staff raiser for the Lake Creek
the organization built a main turnover in recent years. In Youth Camp will take place
lodge and five A-frame 2017, the board announced April 6 at the Grant County
bunkhouses.
the facility might not reopen Fairgrounds pavilion, with
The camp saw contin- the next year and might even doors opening at 4 p.m., a
uous use after it opened in be liquidated if people in the tri-tip dinner at 5 p.m. and
1968 but fell into disrepair community didn’t step up.
a live auction at 6:30 p.m.
by 2000. Requests for bids
“The current board have There will be live music and
were made in 2005 for new been devoting every sum- a drawing for “his and hers”
doors and windows, new mer for years to ensure the Ruger handguns.
propane heaters, concrete smooth running of Lake
walks and ADA-accessible Creek,” board member Vicki
Heckman said at the time.
upgrades.
The
organization “Most of us are beyond
received $460,000 in fed- retirement age by any mea-
eral Title III funding through sure and cannot continue.”
sentation, beginning at the
interpretive center and con-
cluding at the historic Kam
Wah Chung building. He
left the lights off inside as
the group filed inside the
Inland Northwest
Chorale sings in
Canyon City
By Angel Carpenter
Blue Mountain Eagle
The Inland Northwest
Musicians chorale per-
formed a free classical con-
cert, complete with a string
quartet and harpsichord-
ist, for a welcoming audi-
ence Saturday at the Can-
yon City Community Hall.
Conductor R. Lee Friese
led the chorale as they sang
Antonio Vivaldi’s “Gloria”
and Randall Thompson’s
“Peaceable Kingdom.”
About
60
people
attended the presenta-
tion, including Kris Beal,
president of Juniper Arts
Council.
“I’m tickled,” Beal
said. “The caliber is out-
standing, and the music is
wonderful.”
Representatives
of
Inland Northwest referred
to Beal as their ambassa-
dor for Grant County. The
group has previously per-
formed in Canyon City and
John Day, collaborating
with the nonprofit Juniper
Arts Council.
“I’m proud of the pre-
sentation today,” Friese
said during the dessert
reception. “The audience
was appreciative.”
He described both
pieces as “opulent” and
said they’ve given well
over 500 performances in
the past 20 years.
Inland Northwest Musi-
cians are based in Hermis-
ton and have chorale and
orchestra members from
Hermiston, Pendleton and
several surrounding cit-
ies who volunteer their
time.
There were 26 singers
performing on Saturday
with three violinists, a cel-
list and Myrna Van Cleave
on the harpsichord.
Salli Ketchersid, a
soprano and Inland North-
west’s publicist, said the
group gathers because they
love to sing.
“We like to get
together,” said soprano and
program manager RaN-
iel Dunn. “It’s not just a
group. It’s kind of a fam-
Where fun and fund-raising combine for a
memorable evening.
Date:
Time:
Saturday, April 20
4:00—Doors open
5:30—Dinner
7:30—Auction
Place: Pavilion—
Grant County Fairgrounds
Ticket Information:
Gale Wall (541) 575-2661
Mendy Sharpe FNP
Apppointments
available
communities.
More than 4,000 schol-
arships were awarded last
year, $18 million was raised
and spent on the Legion’s
Girls State program and
more than $82 million was
raised and spent to benefit
children. More than 3 mil-
lion veterans were assisted,
356,000 military families
were served and $189 mil-
lion was spent on commu-
nity projects.
The Auxiliary has advo-
cated for veterans rights,
including the GI Bill and
Department of Veteran
Affairs benefits and ending
homelessness among veter-
ans. The Legion and Aux-
iliary have been lobbying
Congress to amend its char-
ter to allow veterans who
didn’t serve in wartime to
become members.
Classical concert is a hit with
audience in Canyon City
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Monday - Thursday
7am- 6pm
Friday 8am - 5pm
cramped quarters and then
shined a flashlight around
to simulate the first visit to
the building in 20 years by a
John Day historian in 1969.
This is the American
Legion’s 100th anniversary.
It was chartered by Congress
on Sept. 16, 1919. The Aux-
iliary was “born” during the
Legion’s first annual con-
vention two months later.
Within a year, 1,342 units
in 45 states were organized.
The Legion sanctioned the
Auxiliary at its second con-
vention in September 1920.
Today, the Auxiliary has
about 750,000 members
in more than 8,000 com-
munities. In 2018, Auxil-
iary volunteer hours had an
impact of more than $1 bil-
lion through services to ser-
vice members, veterans
and their families and local
Eagle photos/Angel Carpenter
Conductor R. Lee Friese leads the Inland Northwest
Musicians as the chorale performs ‘Gloria’ by Antonio
Vivaldi, accompanied by a string quartet and
harpsichordist.
The Inland Northwest Musicians perform for an appreciative
audience Saturday at the Canyon City Community Hall.
ily because everyone has
to sacrifice.”
Two local audience
members commented on
the concert.
Nancy Nickel called the
performance “glorious.”
“I had no idea that Viv-
aldi wrote choral music,”
she said. “It was a wel-
come surprise.”
David Seacord said the
experience was a “very
appreciated bit of culture.”
“It was impressive
that the choir included
a 92-year-old man and
an authentic musicality,
including a harpsichord
from the period.”
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113148
The Kam Wah Chung
State Heritage Site in John
Day hosted visitors March
31, as the American Legion
Auxiliary’s national presi-
dent and other Legion and
Auxiliary members were
given a special tour.
Kathy Dungan was
elected the 99th national
president of the American
Legion Auxiliary at its 98th
convention last August.
She is the Auxiliary’s first
national president from
Mississippi, hailing from
the town of Wesson.
Dungan said she is try-
ing to visit every U.S. state
to work the Auxiliary’s
mission. She has visited
31-32 states so far, and this
was her first “official” visit
to Oregon. She said she
flew in to Boise, Idaho, and
will visit Oregon commu-
nities as far west as Bend.
The theme of her visit
is “serving heroes,” Dun-
gan said, with a focus on
female veterans and the
issues and challenges they
face. Currently there are
2 million female service
members, and big changes
can be expected as more
and more women volun-
teer, she said.
Dungan spent more than
20 years working for the
Mississippi Supreme Court
and has been an Auxil-
iary member for 40 years,
attached to the Legion’s
Drane-Prine Unit 79 in
Wesson. She is eligible for
membership through the
service of her father, who
served in the Army during
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Blue Mountain Eagle
MyEagleNews.com
113101
By Richard Hanners
Blue Mountain Eagle
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