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About The Blue Mountain eagle. (John Day, Or.) 1972-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 16, 2019)
A18 NEWS Blue Mountain Eagle Wednesday, October 16, 2019 The Eagle/Rudy Diaz U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Oregon, answers questions from Grant County community members during a town hall Oct. 7 at Prairie City School. Wyden Continued from Page A1 voting system that is not left open to internet access. Carson McKay, a Prairie City student, asked how the Senate planned to pay off the national debt. “The key to paying off the national debt is to help legislators be willing to take on the biggest items in the budget, which is why I mentioned Medicare, which is why I mentioned the tax breaks, the military port,” RAIN Continued from Page A1 Oregon RAIN and will have access to RAIN’s resources. The person hired will not be Wyden said. “You cannot reduce the national debt unless you go to the big items.” Prairie City Mayor Jim Hamsher asked Wyden if he supported the Revitaliz- ing Underdeveloped Rural Areas and Lands Act and working for the city or county but can collaborate with the county Economic Development office. The second year of the pro- gram will require more local investment. if he believed it will pass during this session. “You will have it,” Wyden said, indicating his support. “This is really a big deal in rural Ore- gon because it affects the tax exempt, and getting back tax-exempt stuff for “The first year, Ford does most of the heavy lifting,” said Field. “The second year, they back off a little bit so it looks like maybe $30,000 will come from Ford, and then the rest will be picked up by the cities and the rural costs.” After the Grant County town hall, Wyden visited Malheur Lumber to view the progress on the torrefac- tion plant. “I think what’s strik- ing is that folks are really looking at what goes on in counties as a collaboration.” Field also said Economic Development may contribute more to fund the second year of the program. The mission of Oregon RAIN is “to partner with Oregon com- D.C. and they’re saying, ‘Hey! That’s important, but we’ve got to talk about our stuff,’” Wyden said regarding his visit to Grant County. “It highlights how important it is to get out on the ground (to visit each county).” munities to catalyze entre- preneurial ecosystems, con- nect entrepreneurs to resources (including overlooked entrepre- neurs), and contribute to the cre- ation of prosperous economies,” according to its website. Hello Grant County, This year’s Installation Dinner was a big success! Approximately 120 people attended. The dinner was excellent! Thank you Tom Winters and the Elk’s Lodge crew for all your hard work! Jack Southworth was entertaining and witty as usual as our emcee. Our guest speakers, Ron Lundbom, Cam Marlowe, Chris Labhart and Haley Walker, shared some very interesting news about what will be happening in the future for the City of John Day, Blue Mountain Hospital, Kam Wah Chung and the Grant County Regional Airport. Achievement awards were presented to Angie Jones from the People Mover and Mindy Winegar from the fairgrounds and Grant County Hope 4 Paws received the Civic Award. Our official tourist season is coming to a close for this year. Reports from Kam Wah Chung and the John Day Fossil Beds tell us it was a great season with more visitors than last year! Here at the chamber, our board president Jerry Franklin and the board of directors have been working hard. Jerry has been busy working on getting a new flagpole in front of the office. The base is in and the flagpole will be installed soon. The budget committee presented a budget at our September meeting, which was adopted by the board. The marketing committee is focusing on developing a new logo and tourism brand to market Grant County. Our October meeting will be held Thursday, October 17th. The board meets at 10:30 a.m. at the chamber office and the no-host luncheon will be at 12 p.m. at the Outpost Pizza, Pub & Grill. The guest speakers this month will be Beth Simonson from Grant County Economic Development and Shelley Whale-Murphy and Cindy Kalin from Heart of Grant County. They will be giving a brief presentation about the Community Development Block Grant to build the Meredith House, a domestic trauma service center for Heart of Grant County and Fair Housing. The Eagle/Rudy Diaz Pharmacist Greg Armstrong said technology has changed during his years in the industry, where computers have replaced typewriters and hand-written receipts. Pharmacy Continued from Page A1 the medicine for blood pres- sure and diabetes greatly improve. Both were recognized as Veterans in Pharmacy at the 2019 Oregon State Phar- macy Association annual convention this month for their years of service to the industry. “I’m surprised that I was even picked,” said Amstad. “I wasn’t even aware until Greg showed me. I knew I have been doing it for that long, but I never thought about it.” Armstrong said the award makes him feel old because it recognizes his legacy and longevity. His daughter Tilli Bjornberg currently works as the phar- macy manger at Len’s Drug. “The main thing for me is that I enjoy the people,” Amstad said. “To me, that is the most positive thing about the pharmaceutical industry. The interactions with the people is what’s worthwhile.” We hope to see you there! Tammy Bremner Manager, Grant County Chamber of Commerce 541-523-6377 541-963-6577 541-573-6377 541-576-2160
