A4
OPINION
Blue Mountain Eagle
Wednesday, August 14, 2019
There’s
nothing
like a
county fair
A
time-honored tradi-
tion that hearkens
back to a simpler
time, a county fair typically
serves as a demarcation line
between the end of summer
and the start of school. The
fair is sort of that milestone
of the summer, a place in
time that signals the last big
local event until autumn.
The Grant County Fair
opens today in John Day,
and if you get the chance,
we urge you to stop by.
That’s because there will be
plenty of features for just
about everyone of any age.
From across the county,
young people will converge
as FFA and 4-H members
show their steers, lambs,
hogs and rabbits. The youth
— and their parents and sib-
lings — have spent count-
less hours preparing their
animals for final judging.
These young people illus-
trate another one of those
long-standing elements to a
county fair: hard work in the
heat and dust to accomplish
a long-term goal.
In addition to the enter-
tainment and activities
throughout the day, Par-
malee will headline this
year’s concert Friday night.
The fair has done a great job
bringing in entertainment to
add another draw.
And if you haven’t seen
the freestyle bullfighting, it’s
something you have to see.
A stop at the fair is also
not just about the entertain-
ment or the animals. In a
real way the fair represents
the quintessential fabric of
Americana. In a sense the
Grant County Fair is a way
to see the values — hard
work and determination —
we all cherish at work.
Not only have all the kids
invested so much of their
time, the fair staff has done a
great job on several projects
to get the fairgrounds look-
ing great.
Besides all of that,
though, going to the fair is
just a good time. Fair food,
meeting up with friends and
seeing a daughter or grand-
son show their prized steer
are all part of the ambience
of a local event that really
has no peer.
Take a little time out this
week to visit the 110th Grant
County Fair.
GUEST COMMENT
Entrepreneurship alternative
to military spouse employment
A
s the nation experiences
unprecedented economic
growth and nearly the low-
est unemployment rates in his-
tory, President Donald Trump and
the U.S. Small Business Admin-
istration are working to ensure
military spouses are part of the
prosperity.
While the unemployment rate
in Oregon is 4.1%, the unemploy-
ment rate among military spouses
is 24%, a whopping five times
the state rate. This is an alarm-
ing number in itself, but it’s even
more discouraging when you con-
sider that the majority of military
spouses report they want or need
to work.
Frequent moves between duty
stations cost military spouses job
options, time and money. Accord-
ing to a recent survey, on average,
military families report difficulty
making ends meet at twice the
rate of most civilian families. In
the same survey, half of military
families report the source of finan-
cial worries is their spouse’s dif-
ficulty finding employment. This
lack of income creates additional
pressure on already stressful situa-
tions for military families.
That is why the U.S. Small
Business Administration believes
entrepreneurship is a strong alter-
native to employment for military
spouses.
Entrepreneurship offers a more
flexible and sustainable source
of income for our nation’s more
than one million military spouses.
It allows spouses to be their own
boss, set their own schedules and
erans Business Outreach Center
that provides training and financ-
ing opportunities to entrepreneurs
from the U.S. military commu-
nity. In partnership with the SBA,
the VBOC equips veterans, mili-
tary spouses, active-duty service
members and their families with
no-cost, one-on-one advising,
low-cost technical training and a
variety of business resources.
Third is the Boots to Business
Reboot program. An extension
of Boots to Business, an installa-
tion-based training for active mil-
itary members, this one- or two-
day in-person course is offered
off installations for veterans and
military spouses. The curriculum
helps those interested in explor-
ing business ownership or other
self-employment opportunities
by leading participants through
the key steps for evaluating busi-
ness concepts. It also provides the
foundational knowledge required
to develop a business plan.
Supporting entrepreneurial
paths for military spouses is the
least we can do for our military
men and women. We can power
their American dream of small
business ownership while their
families sacrifice to protect our
rights to pursue that dream.
Jeremy Field is the regional
administrator for the U.S. Small
Business Administration Pacific
Northwest Region, which serves
Washington, Oregon, Idaho and
Alaska. The SBA empowers entre-
preneurs and small businesses
with resources to start, grow,
expand or recover.
use their unique
perspectives to
solve consumer
problems.
Technology
provides the tools
for military fami-
Jeremy Field lies to create a vir-
tual office from
almost anywhere. Plus, growth
in industries like e-commerce
remotely expand opportunities to
grow a customer base. Entrepre-
neurship can provide a flexible
means for additional revenue that
traditional employment cannot.
Entrepreneurs taking the leap
into small business ownership
don’t have to do it alone. In addi-
tion to the SBA’s core programs
related to technical assistance,
access to financing and busi-
ness expansion through export-
ing and government contracts, the
SBA has programs specifically
designed for veterans and military
spouses.
The most recent addition
to SBA resources for military
spouses is the announced part-
nership with the Veteran Entre-
preneurial Training and Resource
Network, which features a pilot
training program for military vet-
erans, military spouses and imme-
diate family members.
Funded through an award of
$100,000 from President Trump’s
second-quarter salary in 2018, this
26-week program will feature 13
weeks of classroom sessions as
well as 13 weeks of peer-to-peer
mentoring sessions.
Another resource is the Vet-
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
WHERE TO WRITE
GRANT COUNTY
• Grant County Courthouse — 201
S. Humbolt St., Suite 280, Canyon City
97820. Phone: 541-575-0059. Fax:
541-575-2248.
• Canyon City — P.O. Box 276, Canyon
City 97820. Phone: 541-575-0509.
Fax: 541-575-0515. Email: tocc1862@
centurylink.net.
• Dayville — P.O. Box 321, Dayville
97825. Phone: 541-987-2188. Fax: 541-
987-2187. Email:dville@ortelco.net
• John Day — 450 E. Main St, John
Day, 97845. Phone: 541-575-0028.
Fax: 541-575-1721. Email: cityjd@
centurytel.net.
• Long Creek — P.O. Box 489, Long
Creek 97856. Phone: 541-421-3601.
Fax: 541-421-3075. Email: info@
cityoflongcreek.com.
• Monument — P.O. Box 426,
Monument 97864. Phone
and fax: 541-934-2025. Email:
cityofmonument@centurytel.net.
• Mt. Vernon — P.O. Box 647, Mt.
Vernon 97865. Phone: 541-932-4688.
Fax: 541-932-4222. Email: cmtv@
ortelco.net.
• Prairie City — P.O. Box 370, Prairie
City 97869. Phone: 541-820-3605. Fax:
820-3566. Email: pchall@ortelco.net.
• Seneca — P.O. Box 208, Seneca
97873. Phone and fax: 541-542-2161.
Email: senecaoregon@gmail.com.
SALEM
• Gov. Kate Brown, D — 254 State
Capitol, Salem 97310. Phone: 503-378-
3111. Fax: 503-378-6827. Website:
governor.state.or.us/governor.html.
• Oregon Legislature — State
Capitol, Salem, 97310. Phone: (503)
986-1180. Website: leg.state.or.us
(includes Oregon Constitution and
Oregon Revised Statutes).
• Oregon Legislative Information —
(For updates on bills, services, capitol
or messages for legislators) — 800-
332-2313.
• Sen. Cliff Bentz, R-Ontario – 900
Court St. NE, S-301, Salem 97301.
Phone: 503-986-1730. Website:
oregonlegislature.gov/Bentz. Email:
Sen.CliffBentz@oregonlegislature.gov.
• Rep. Lynn Findley, R-Vale – 900 Court
St. NE, H-475, Salem 97301. Phone: 503-
986-1460. Website: oregonlegislature.
gov/findley. Email: Rep.LynnFindley@
oregonlegislature.gov.
WASHINGTON, D.C.
• The White House, 1600
Pennsylvania Ave. N.W., Washington,
D.C. 20500; Phone-comments: 202-
456-1111; Switchboard: 202-456-
1414.
Blue Mountain
EAGLE
Published every
Wednesday by
County needs
coordination
ordinance
To the Editor:
The Forest Service (FS) Travel
Management Plan that will dictate
forest road closures is looming on
the horizon and urged by Regional
Forester Casamassa. Let’s look at
some assumed theory and “best
available science” such as is used
by the FS to justify the massive
closure of public land access.
The current Code of Federal
Regulations (CFR) used to offi-
cially designate roads closed to
motorized vehicles on the Mal-
heur National Forest (MNF) lists
1,925 individual roads; approxi-
mately 90% are attributed to wild-
life protection supposedly with
consensus of Oregon Depart-
ment of Fish and Wildlife. The
most recent FS Road Management
cle is allowed on Forest Devel-
oped Roads or segments shown
in Exhibit (A). Exceptions to
law enforcers, firefighters or
organized rescuers. One could
theorize that an estimated 1,925
(CFR) to 13,640 (70% of the
inventory) roads are only avail-
able to non-motorized traf-
fic and more bicycle paths are
being constructed with each
project in current forest plan-
ning. Assuming each closed
road averages 1 mile, that is
over 13,000 miles of road set
aside for no motorized access
(bicycles, horses, hikers, etc.),
closing access to public lands
to the elderly, vets and all with
disabilities requiring motorized
assistance. Grant County defi-
nitely needs an ordinance to
invoke government agencies to
coordinate management of our
county’s public owned lands.
Judy Kerr
Canyon City
L
ETTERS POLICY: Letters to the Editor is a forum for Blue Mountain Eagle readers to express themselves on local, state, national or world issues.
Brevity is good, but longer letters will be asked to be contained to 350 words. No personal attacks; challenge the opinion, not the person. No thank-
you letters. Submissions to this page become property of the Eagle. The Eagle reserves the right to edit letters for length and for content. Letters must
be original and signed by the writer. Anonymous letters will not be printed. Writers should include a telephone number so they can be reached for
questions. We must limit all contributors to one letter per person per month. Deadline is 5 p.m. Friday. Send letters to editor@bmeagle.com, or Blue
Mountain Eagle, 195 N. Canyon Blvd., John Day, OR 97845; or fax to 541-575-1244.
Grant County’s Weekly Newspaper
Publisher............ ......................................Chris Rush, crush@eomediagroup.com
Editor & General Manager ...............Sean Hart, editor@bmeagle.com
Reporter ...................................................Richard Hanners, rick@bmeagle.com
Community News .................................Angel Carpenter, angel@bmeagle.com
Sports ........................................................Angel Carpenter, angel@bmeagle.com
Marketing Rep .......................................Kim Kell, ads@bmeagle.com
Administrative Assistant ..................Makenna Adair, office@bmeagle.com
Office Assistant .....................................Alixandra Hand, office@bmeagle.com
MEMBER OREGON NEWSPAPER PUBLISHERS ASSOCIATION
Inventory List contains approx-
imately 13,640 roads; roughly
70% are determined mainte-
nance level (ML) 1 and declared
closed under a blanket statement
by previous MNF supervisors
Raaf and Beverlin; new FS proj-
ects “reclose” those and add still
more by indiscriminately chang-
ing ML 2 roads to a ML 1 under
random pretext. In response to my
FOIA request, the FS retrieved
2,236 pages of archived environ-
mental documents on projects as
far back as 1990 to find roads that
had escaped closure and are now
included in a road closure contract
awarded to Hanging Rock Exca-
vation Construction Inc. Research
of these antiquated projects shows
numerous inaccuracies, which
indicates that the contract is pro-
gressing under insufficient data.
FS Order 0604-030 (2003),
signed by MNF supervisor Roger
Williams, referencing 36 CFR
261.50, states no motorized vehi-
Online: MyEagleNews.com
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