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About The Blue Mountain eagle. (John Day, Or.) 1972-current | View Entire Issue (July 24, 2019)
A8 NEWS Blue Mountain Eagle Wednesday, July 24, 2019 Former Grant Union student offers web development, design Harsh Patel works through local economic development office By Angel Carpenter Blue Mountain Eagle John Day resident Harsh Patel, a former Grant Union student and recent Boston University graduate, is jumping into real-world entre- preneurial experiences. Patel, who earned a bache- lor’s degree in computer science, accepted a software engineering position with Amazon in Seattle. But he is still keeping roots — and doing work — in John Day. While attending the June 20 Grant County Chamber of Com- Angel Carpenter/Blue Mountain Eagle Harsh Patel, a former Grant Union student and recent Boston University graduate, is offering web design for clients through the Grant County Economic Development Office. merce meeting, Patel immediately picked up a couple of jobs, provid- ing web development and design expertise for the Grant County Eco- nomic Development office in John Day. He’s currently working with Chris Labhart on Kam Wah Chung & Co. museum’s website and Gor- don and Julie Larson on their Berry Creek Ranch website, helping revamp their home pages. Patel’s parents Rakesh and Jyotsna Patel, who own Dreamers Lodge in John Day, also have a new website for their motel courtesy of their son. Harsh said he wants to offer “affordable solutions for building websites and hosting.” His services include domain hosting, SSL secu- rity for websites, logo design and automating tasks, including punch- ing hours for time cards. He’s also interested in holding Motorcyclist killed in crash north of Mitchell By Richard Hanners Blue Mountain Eagle A 48-year-old man from Madras died July 22 in a single-vehicle crash on Highway 207 north of Mitchell. Oregon State Police responded to the scene about 7:30 p.m. A northbound black 2017 Harley Davidson motorcycle operated by Christopher Jones report- edly left the highway for unknown reasons at a cor- ner and crashed. Jones sustained fatal injuries and was pro- nounced dead at the scene. State troopers were assisted by the Wheeler County Sheriff’s Office, Spray ambulance and Oregon Department of Transportation. O utlook workshops on coding for young stu- dents and adults. While attending Boston Uni- versity, Patel took part in hack- athon events at MIT, Harvard and Rice University, in which computer programming students and others involved with software development work intensively in teams, creating software projects. In 2017, Patel collaborated with two other students at an intercol- legiate entrepreneurship competi- tion called TigerLaunch at Princeton University in New Jersey. The team created an upgraded water-dispensing machine called Drop: Trusted H20, aimed at provid- ing clean drinking water while reduc- ing the demand on plastic water bot- tles in developing countries. Three of the team’s machines are operating in rural parts of Thailand. Patel said he plans to return to John Day from Seattle as frequently as possible, which he said will give him the opportunity to help his par- ents with their motel. He said he’s impressed with the improvement and development plans for John Day that were dis- cussed at the June chamber meeting. “I’m all in support of it and can do their tech work, if needed,” Patel said. “I’m excited to be back in John Day.” For more information about Patel’s web development services, call 541-279-7296. He meets with clients by phone and, when he’s in town, in a conference room at the economic development office located at 530 E Main Street, Suite 4, in John Day. Injury prevention clinic offered for high school athletes By Angel Carpenter Blue Mountain Eagle Grant County high school athletes and coaches can learn from an expert at an injury prevention clinic at 7 p.m. Friday, July 26, at the Grant Union Junior-Senior High School track complex. Blue Mountain Hospi- tal physical therapist Elliot Sky will test and provide training for the athletes to improve their jump explo- siveness and injury preven- tion drills. Sky will also follow up with the athletes in four to six weeks to see their improvements. Grant Union athletic director Sonna Smith encourages coaches to share the information with their athletes. “This is an invaluable resource he is providing the community free of charge,” Smith said. SENI R PRAIRIE CITY – We had a great meal for the middle of July! If you missed it, you really missed something. Amber and Lacy did a super job on Rose Coombs the spare ribs, macaroni salad, coleslaw and chocolate cookies. Extra-added attractions were rolls and watermelon. Mmmm, good. Drew led the flag salute and Jack asked the blessing. Nadine Smith won the gift certificate donated by Chuck’s Little Diner. Carlos and Luann took care of the home deliveries. All of our usual volunteers were taking care of lots of other things: Pam at the desk, Carol on the table settings, Delores on the announcements and Alex on the broom. Thanks so much for all the help. Lorna and Mariah brought Marilyn Randall and Gordon Sindt from the Blue Mountain Care Center. The word(s) for the day: A friend is God’s way of proving He doesn’t want us to walk alone! So bring a friend to lunch… As the saying goes, the best laid plans of mice and men do often go awry. We were all set up to go to Portland for Agata’s naturalization ceremony. Then I got sick. But I have all the information about it so hang on. The ceremony invitation that all prospective citizens received said that they should be at the courthouse in downtown Portland at 10:30 a.m. So they got there in plenty of time to allow for trips to the restroom beforehand. The courtroom that they had to go to was on the 16th floor and there were signs all over about turning off the cell phones and no photos in the courtroom. Well, phooey. They found a place to sit and wait. An official read the names of all 50 of the people who had come to be naturalized. When you heard your name, you go up to another official and surrender your green card and get a piece of paper with the oath, pledge and national anthem on it. Then you sit and wait until all have been called. Then the judge asked each one to stand and say their first name and country they came from, and stay standing. When all had done that, then all repeated the oath and pledge and then sang the first verse of the national anthem – a cappella! Then everyone sat down again. Then the official explained how to get to the other official who had each person’s naturalization certificate. After you got that, then you could get a photo with the judge (!?). One of Agata’s friends got to the courtroom late and did not hear all the admonitions to turn off the cellphones and take no pictures. So she recorded the whole thing, so we do have photos! After Agata got home and looked at her packet of New Citizen Information, she discovered that she has to sign her certificate to make it legal. So there you go; now you know how it works. When she was studying the test book, I said that I thought every high school graduate should take the same test. In fact, to carry it one step further, I think that you should be able to pass this test before you can register to vote! Gal. 6:4-5 “Each one should test his own actions. Then he can take pride in himself, without comparing himself to somebody else, for each one should carry his own load.” JOHN DAY - August is almost upon us! We have had an amazing summer so far, haven’t you? This summer has been flying by so fast, I can hardly believe it! Where has this year Dusty Harris gone? Wasn’t it just January? And now they’re talking Christmas in July? Wowza, certainly didn’t expect that. It will be on the 25th and we are all looking forward to it; remember to sign up give us a call! On Thursday, July 18, the Blue Mountain Hospital District Physical Therapy department joined us for lunch. They let us know exactly what it is they do as well as informed us of a new therapy they just added: speech. It was so nice to learn all this information and to know what all they do. They brought several gift for the people and we would like to thank them from the bottom of our hearts. All of you are so amazing and wonderful, thank you. There were 31 frozen and 24 regular meals delivered by Veann and Laura and the crew at Step Forward. Our greeters were Everette and Darlene who are always up to the task. Our delicious lunch was chef salad, chicken soup, cottage cheese and pistachio cake with strawberries for dessert. Bob won the gift card donated by Len’s Drug and Andra won the free meal. As always, congratulations. The meal was served by our friends from the First Christian Church. We thank you for serving us great food and providing your lovely company. Finally mowed the lawn and weed whacked around the fence line. Sprayed some weeds too in hopes of them being gone soon. We’ll see how much of a change there is within the next week. I also tore all those pesky dandelions out of my flowerbed so it is now looking pristine again. I’m too scared to spray around all my beautiful flowers! If they died before this fall all this hard work this summer would have been for not. There were 34 total meals delivered by Dennis and Linda Dickason as well as the team at Step Forward. We couldn’t do what we do without our faithful delivery teams and we thank you greatly for that. Darlene and Gregg were our greeters and are so welcoming each and every time they are there. Our lunch was sponsored by Riverside Mobile Park and served by the United Methodist Church. Lunch was delicious and consisted of lasagna, green salad, veggies, garlic toast and tapioca for dessert. Yummy, yummy; so good! Tray won the sundae donated by Dairy Queen and Bill won the free meal. The Lord has seen fit to bless us with brilliant sunshine that outweighs the rain as of late. It has definitely been a relief on those of us who don’t care much for the rain. I like my fair share mainly for reading inside or watching a movie but during the day when I actually want to be outside doing things? I don’t think so. Numbers 6:24-26 “The LORD bless you, and keep you; The LORD make His face shine on you, And be gracious to you; the LORD lift up His countenance on you, And give you peace.” Prairie City Seniors John Day Seniors MONUMENT - I can’t believe that I missed this meal. I heard from everyone that the meatloaf was fantastic. Yes, I was not present for this week’s lunch because I had to go Soo Yukawa into town. Along with the yummy meatloaf, everyone was served mash potatoes and gravy, green beans, dinner rolls and fruit cobbler for dessert. Boo hoo, and I was gone. This great meal was prepared by Terry Cade and Carrie Jewell, thank you both. The greeters at the table were Jimmy Cole, Linda Blakeslee and Kristi Guimont. Jimmy and Linda collected and counted the money. Kristi checked in the guests and wrote down the announcements. Bodean led the flag salute, made the announcements and prayed the blessing over the meal. There were 54 guests on the books and eight takeouts. Rusty Baughman and Sylvia Cockrell were the winners of the free meal tickets. Laura Andersen was the lucky winner for the Len’s Drug gift card. There were some ladies who joined the Tuesday lunch. Sandra Lewis came from Chico, California, Sally Lewis came from Los Angeles, California and James Lewis came from Seattle, Washington. I’m pretty sure our guests enjoyed themselves and had a lovely meal. Jerry Cowger’s service will be this coming Saturday, July 27, at 11 a.m. It will be at the Monument Senior Center and followed by a potluck dinner right after. There was a condolence card that was passed around to be signed by all for Dinah. We pray for her and all Jerry’s family. May the Monument Seniors Lord comfort all of them at this difficult time. He will be missed. The Monument Senior Center election results are as follows: Dallas Helsley, Jimmy Cole and Karen Stubblefield. We congratulate each of these individuals who have decided to serve our senior center and community. Don’t forget that there is a firearm raffle going on. There is also Pendleton Roundup raffle tickets being sold by Judy Harris. The tickets for the raffles are $1 each or six tickets for $5. The winner of the firearm raffle will be drawn at the Buckaroo festival in September. The Roundup raffle will be drawn August 15. You need not be present to win. Mark your calendar for the last Saturday of the month of July for Bingo. Bingo starts at 6 p.m. and they play ten games. Then there is a potluck dinner shared. After the dinner, they play ten more games. Come join the fun, you could be a lucky winner. I have a shout out of thank yous to Bruce Hansen from the senior center in Spray and from their chairman, Jimmy Tankerslee for their wonderful and cushy chairs. They were most grateful for the chairs and send their warmest greetings. All this information was gathered for me to make this article possible by my good friend Kristi Guimont. Thank you Kristi for your help! Well, folks, the last month of summer break is approaching. What? So quick! I know, right? I swear that time is speeding up. But I am thankful that the summer has been pretty mild so far. 1 Peter 3:22 “Who is gone unto heaven, and is at the right hand of God; angels and authorities and powers being made subject unto Him.” 131456
