GRANT UNION VOLLEYBALL ADVANCES TO FINAL EIGHT | PAGE B1
The
Blue Mountain
EAGLE
Grant County’s newspaper since 1868
Wednesday, November 6, 2019
151st Year • No. 45 • 20 Pages • $1.50
MyEagleNews.com
HONORING
VETERANS
Contributed photo/Cheltzy Cox
Cheltzy Cox hauling equipment in Afghanistan.
Contributed photo
Building a future
far from home
Cox becomes equipment operator for Navy Seabees
Army Supply Sergeant Byron Rudishauser stands in front of a Quonset hut while serving
in Alaska in the mid-1950s.
Veteran recalls threat of war
looming after ceasefire
Learning to respect the flag, the country and the people
By Rudy Diaz
Blue Mountain Eagle
By Angel Carpenter
Blue Mountain Eagle
C
heltzy Cox grew up with one goal in
“Boot camp was not as hard as I thought
mind: becoming an equipment
it was going to be,” Cox said. “I grew
operator.
up working a lot and it helped me. I
Her cousin Blake Lawrence
was surprised to see people who
inspired her to pursue the occu-
couldn’t do push-ups or stuff like
pation. Wes Grant, a retired chief
that because they didn’t have to
of the U.S. Navy and Grant
do physical stuff every day. Boot
County veteran, told Cox about
camp was a breeze for me.”
his career and gave her the goal of
She outran all the girls in her
joining the Navy Seabees.
camp and every guy except two.
Cox grew up working on her fam-
Bucking hay, building fences, work-
ily’s ranch in Monument. This job was Cheltzy Cox ing on the ranch and operating equip-
ment had prepared Cox physically.
something Cox enjoyed, and it also pre-
pared her for the physically demanding tasks
While being from a rural town of 100 peo-
ple benefited Cox in boot camp, being sta-
at boot camp.
tioned in Port Hueneme, California, presented
Beginning her service
a complicated environment to learn in.
Several years after graduating high school,
“It was kind of a shock, but you adapt to it.
Cox joined the Navy and was sent to boot
See Cox, Page A7
camp on April 3, 2006.
W
hen Byron Rudishauser, a John Day drafted while he was still attending Yoncalla
resident, joined the Army in
High School in southwest Oregon. So he
decided to sign up.
September 1953, a cease-
fire in the Korean War had taken
“Looking back on it, I really
place the month before. But the
wasn’t worried about it,” he said.
threat of war loomed.
“If your name came up, it came
up.”
“We started basic training
There were classmates he
and got the hell scared out of us,”
knew who died in the Korean
Rudishauser said. “The trainer
War.
said, ‘I’ve got news for you.’ He
Rudihauser was the son of a log-
said the ceasefire had been canceled
and fighting had started again, and Byron Rudishauser ger. The family lives in Seneca and
Canyon City while his dad worked
‘You’re going to the front lines in
at Edward Hines Lumber Co. in Seneca in his
two weeks.’”
Rudishauser said the trainer was pulling early years.
His family moved to Yoncalla for one year,
their leg and, shortly after, said he was just let-
ting them know things could change overnight. then returned to Grant County.
During basic training at Fort Ord in
Fresh out of high school, Rudishauser was
19 when he entered military service.
See Rudishauser, Page A7
He’d received a notice that he would be
Bentz announces run for Walden’s congressional seat
Findley plans to run for
Bentz’s Oregon Senate seat
EO Media Group
Oregon state Sen. Cliff Bentz, R-Ontario,
announced last week that he will run for the
seat in Congress being vacated by retiring
Republican Rep. Greg Walden.
Walden, who was first elected to Congress
in 1998, announced Oct. 28 that he would not
run for re-election in 2020.
Bentz said in a news release that he was sur-
prised to learn that Walden would not continue
in the position.
“Congressman Walden has
done (and is still doing) a great
job as Oregon’s only Republi-
can Congressman,” he said.
Bentz served 10 years in
the Oregon House of Repre-
Oregon Sen. sentatives as the Republican
Cliff Bentz
state representative from Dis-
trict 60, and almost two years
in the Oregon State Senate as the Republican
state senator for District 30. Bentz said that
experience has been critical in preparing him
to represent the people in the state’s 2nd Con-
gressional District — a sprawl-
ing district that covers much if
Central, Southern and Eastern
Oregon.
“The challenges in Washing-
ton, D.C., are great,” he said.
“However, based upon my
Oregon Rep. years of working as a rancher,
Lynn Findley farmer, attorney, and as a mem-
ber of the Republican party
successfully passing legislation in a Legisla-
ture controlled by Democrats, I feel confident
See Bentz, Page A10
Grant County Veteran’s Services
530 E Main St. Suite #5 • John Day, OR 97845 • 541-620-8057
S150967-1