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About The Blue Mountain eagle. (John Day, Or.) 1972-current | View Entire Issue (May 27, 2020)
A10 NEWS Blue Mountain Eagle Wednesday, May 27, 2020 Contributed photo The cabin owned by Terry and Sharon Smith on Nan’s Rock Road burned July 17-18 and the case was later declared a homicide. Couple Continued from Page A1 The Eagle/Steven Mitchell Vincent Raschio delivers a meal to a resident in the community Tuesday in John Day. St. Elizabeth of Hungary Catholic Church in John Day, along various businesses and people in the community, has delivered hundreds of meals around the county since mid-March. Continued from Page A1 donated $500 and the Elks Lodge donated $2,000 for the food drive. The effort to feed the hun- gry in the county brought out people who have been impacted by the pandemic as well. Shannon Taylor was laid off from her job as a bartender at the Grubsteak Mining Company Bar & Grill because of COVID-19. Instead of sit- ting at home and grumbling, she joined friend and fellow restaurant worker Desi Burill who, at the time, had been laid off as well. The Tuesday evening food drive helped those who have been isolated at home due to social distance restrictions. Lynette Tipton said she had dropped by every Tuesday to pick up a meal for her 88-year- old cousin who cannot leave her house due to the COVID- The Eagle/Steven Mitchell Dovie Wood serves up sloppy joes at St. Elizabeth of Hunga- ry Catholic Church. The church, businesses and community members served roughly 250 to people in the community through pick-up or delivery. 19 crisis. She said the service has been very helpful for her cousin. “She is 88 years old, and she can’t go out, so this has really helped,” Tipton said. Dovie Wood, a teaching assistant at Humbolt Elemen- tary School, said she has been grateful to have had a chance to help. “It’s brought a lot of us together,” she said. Raschio said when the pan- The Blue Mountain Eagle would like to congratulate all the 2020 graduates! We will be featuring all the graduations in the June 3rd and June 10th issues. Be sure to check out all the seniors in the next couple of issues and be sure to congratulate them on all their accomplishments. demic first hit in Mid-March that people were understand- ably fearful about what was going to happen. “We had never had this kind of crisis,” Raschio said. “It was important for people to know that things were going to be OK.” Vincent Raschio, 12, who helped deliver meals to peo- ple at home, said it has been rewarding to serve people who really need the assistance. “One time a lady came to the door with tears in her eyes,” he said. The Squeeze-In Restaurant and Deck prepared spaghetti dinners for St. Elizabeth’s final meal May 26. Owner Shawn Duncan said she was happy to be asked and said it is unfortunate the church cannot continue to pro- vide the meals. “A lot of people in the community still need it,” she said. Father Christie Tissera said the church was carrying out the mission of St. Elizabeth, the patron saint, which was to help the poor, the lonely, the sick and the needy, and will continue to help in another capacity in the future. The Eagle/Rudy Diaz Red cups in a fence at Grant Union Junior-Senior High School de- liver the message, ‘We miss you.’ Graduation Continued from Page A1 be checking off the list of graduates. “They will essentially have two valet people that will be parking cars so it won’t be people vying for the front position,” Gerry said. “We will have to work with that a little bit because smaller cars will have to go to the front and bigger cars will have to go to the back.” Gerry said the current plan was carefully crafted with the guidelines from the ODE and meetings with the Grant County Emergency Opera- tions Center. He said, although it won’t be a typical graduation, the school is trying to make it is normal as possible with vale- dictorian, salutatorian and commencement speeches as well as recognizing seniors for their accomplishments. “Instead of just having it where you show up, get your picture taken with your diploma and walk out, we’re trying to keep aspects of a cer- emony,” Gerry said. Grant Union High School’s graduation ceremony will be at 10 a.m. Saturday, May 30. Grant SWCD Weed Control Dept. Working for You in 2020 Thanks to the Grant County Court and Northeast Oregon Forests Resource Advisory Committee, Grant Weed Control is able to offer a 50% Cost Share Program for Noxious Weed Control on Private Grazing Lands, through a Title II funded Grant Project. This program will provide a maximum $5,000 of noxious weed control services with a $2,500 maximum landowner contribution to qualifying participants. To be eligible for participation, the treatment property must not be actively irrigated and must be primarily managed for livestock grazing, minimum of 20 acres in size, located within Grant County, and must contain weed species listed on the Grant County Noxious Weed List. Applications for this limited weed control assistance opportunity will be funded on a first come first serve basis. Applications due by June 5th. Contact the Grant Soil and Water Conservation District Office at (541) 575-1554 or visit 721 S. Canyon Blvd., John Day, OR 97845 for applications and additional information. S184613-1 Meals acquaintances all would like to know if there has been any progress in solving this hei- nous murder,” Lisa Roach, a friend of the Smiths, said in an email. “Any news would be greatly appreciated.” Timothy Williams, a pas- tor, who grew close to the Smiths after purchasing a property from them roughly a year before their murder, said he was their “hanai son” — a term used in Hawaiian culture to refer to a family member, though not blood-related. He said Terry and Sharon saw something good in him and treated him like family. He said they were not just peo- ple he bought a house from in an agreement of sale. “I loved these people,” Williams said. “There’s no reason that you can tell me, or anybody can tell me, they deserved to die like they did.” S189136-1