SPORTS
MyEagleNews.com
Wednesday, August 12, 2020
Wildfire softball ends short
summer season on top
A7
Team played four
tournaments over
the summer
By Steven Mitchell
Blue Mountain Eagle
Contributed photo/Oregon State Police
Two Grant County men were arrested in connection to unlawful
taking of wildlife in Grant County.
Driver intentionally strikes,
kills six pronghorn antelope
near Christmas Valley
multiple counties over the
past two years. A concerned
citizen contacted the TIP Line
to report the poaching ring.
Restitution for the crimes,
Blue Mountain Eagle
which occurred in Benton,
Lane, Linn, Lincoln, Polk and
Six pronghorn antelope run Tillamook Counties, may top
down with a pickup on a road- $162,000.
way in Lake County on April
In April, two men were
26 are the latest in a string of charged with poaching a
poaching thrill kills in Oregon. pronghorn buck, a branch bull
The driver, Michael Scott elk and six buck deer over the
Phillips, 48, of Christmas Val- past year in Grant County.
ley, told author-
In July, the
ities that he did “WHEN PEOPLE division iden-
tified a poach-
it because he
hates
prong-
POACH, THEY ing hot spot
horn, accord-
STEAL FROM in County, Columbia
ing to a press
where
release from the
two
elk
and
a
ALL OF US.
Oregon Depart-
buck deer were
COMING
ment of Fish
shot over a
and Wildlife.
period of three
ACROSS A
Oregon State
months
near
Police Fish &
W
e
y
e
r
h
a
e-
HERD OF
user property.
Wildlife Divi-
sion
troop- PRONGHORNS All three ani-
were left
ers discovered
IS A ONCE-IN- mals
to waste where
a grisly scene
of five does
A-LIFETIME they were shot,
with little or no
and one buck
EXPERIENCE meat taken.
pronghorn ante-
lope, their car-
The Oregon
THAT MOST
casses strewn
Hunters Asso-
along
Fossil
AMERICANS ciation operates
the TIP Line.
Lake Road near
WOULD
Callers receive
Christmas Val-
ley. The buck’s
a cash reward
HOLD AS A
Walls, roof,
horns had been
or hunting pref-
TREASURED erence points bleachers, floor
removed and
if their report
taken as a tro-
MEMORY.
to be improved
phy. One doe
leads to a cita-
tion
or
arrest.
was eviscerated
INSTEAD, A
The TIP Line
By Rudy Diaz
with a knife
Blue Mountain Eagle
— her unborn POACHER HAS rewards pro-
is funded
fawn removed
ROBBED THE gram
primarily
Seismic-retrofitted walls,
and placed on
a
new
roof, new bleachers,
through
hunter
its mother’s car-
ANIMALS OF
cass. May is
restitution
a resurfaced floor and a new
THEIR LIVES fees and fines. paint job are some of the
fawning
sea-
son for ante- AND EVERYONE The
changes students can expect
reward
lope in Oregon.
at the Prairie City School gym
for reporting a
Any pregnant
ELSE OF THE poached deer, this fall.
does
would
Prairie City Superinten-
elk or antelope
dent Casey Hallgarth said
have given birth EXPERIENCE.” is four pref-
erence points
—Yvonne Shaw, Oregon
the construction in general at
within a month
Department of Fish and
or $500. Last
Prairie City School has been
had they not
Wildlife anti-poaching
year
OHA
exciting, especially with the
been killed.
campaign coordinator
The division
awarded more
addition of new roofs for the
received the ini-
than $21,000 in
gym and cafeteria, addressing
tial report of the crime through rewards, and ODFW awarded
problems with leaks.
the Turn In Poachers Line. 143 hunter preference points
“I’m extremely excited for
The caller reported hearing to people who reported to the
the community to come see
a man bragging about accel- TIP Line.
the finished product here,”
erating his pickup to hit sev-
ODFW anti-poaching cam-
Hallgarth said. “CB construc-
eral pronghorns, which were paign coordinator Yvonne
tion has been nothing but on
bunched together in the mid- Shaw said the crimes reflect
top of the project and hats off
dle of the road. The man said wanton disregard for wild-
to them too.”
he left the scene to get a ham- life, wildlife laws and fellow
Hallgarth said the bleach-
burger, then returned later to Oregonians.
ers will be a great addition
retrieve the buck’s horns.
since they will be safer than
“When people poach, they
Troopers served a search steal from all of us,” Shaw
the previous set. The new
warrant on Phillips’ residence said. “Coming across a herd
bleachers will provide rail-
ings and handrails going up
in late May. They recovered of pronghorns is a once-
the aisles to keep people from
the horns and other evidence in-a-lifetime
experience
falling.
linking Phillips to the crime, that most Americans would
He said the bleachers will
according to division Sgt. hold as a treasured mem-
be easier to adjust to accom-
Lowell Lea. Phillips admit- ory. Instead, a poacher has
ted that he accelerated to robbed the animals of their
modate for people and be
more than 60 mph to hit the lives and everyone else of
more ADA-compliant.
antelope, and confirmed they the experience.”
“We’ve had a few peo-
were bunched together in the
road. There was no evidence
that he slowed down or tried
to stop before striking the
animals.
Phillips said he did it
Outdoor Dining Available
because he hates pronghorns,
according to Sgt. Lea. Phil-
• Great Burgers
lips was arrested on May
•
Ice
Cream
Cones and Shakes
21. He is lodged in the Lake
• Huckleberry Treats and Snacks
County Jail facing multiple
charges including aggravated
• Ice, Snacks, Gas and Cold Beer
animal abuse, take/posses-
• Dine-In or Take-Out Available
sion of antelope and waste of
a game mammal.
Located at Austin Junction Highway 26 and Highway 7
“Not
all
poaching
involves the use of a fire-
541-448-2526
arm,” Sgt. Lea said. “This
Call for Daily Hours
is not the first case of peo-
ple poaching with a vehicle.
www.austinhousebarandgrill.com
And poaching takes opportu-
nities away from hunters and
others.”
This incident comes after
three Oregon men were cited
in May for allegedly poach-
ing 27 big game animals in S201536-1
Contributed photo/Tanni Wenger
Grant County Wildfire 16U softball team member Drewsey Williams pitches in a game
this summer.
In the championship game, Williams
said, the team ran out of pitching and fell
to Pendleton’s OE fast-pitch, 23-10.
The girls traveled to Fruitland, Idaho,
July 10-11 and won two out of their first
three games, beating Idaho Crossfire’s
Graham team 4-3, but then falling to their
Davies team 4-3. In the third game the
girls won 11-3 against the Boise Storm.
The girls lost the semifinal game 9-8
to the Idaho Racers, a team that, Wil-
liams said, are in the championships in
nearly every tournament.
“The girls were really amped up, they
had played a great game and just couldn’t
hold on, Williams said. “The coach for
the Racers approached our girls after
the game and told them how impressed
he was with them and told them that he
would love to get to play them more.”
Williams said there are many “amaz-
ing” things that have come from this
team, from the camaraderie and family
mentality, to learning to genuinely care
about their teammates.
“They weren’t always successful, but
they have had so many opportunities that
it will serve them well as they move on to
the next stage of their softball careers,”
he said.
GRANT COUNTY WILDFIRE
16U
Roster
Addy Northway
2
Reece Jacobs
9
Savannah Watterson
1
Halle Parsons
14
Sivanna Hodge
Bailey McCracken
7
15/13
Ava Gerry
10
Drewsey Williams
4
Lauren Wenger
12
Jaydika Anderson
11
Lilly Rockhill
16
Madi Seavert
10/7
(pickup player from La Grande)
Ava Ellis
(pickup player from Pilot Rock)
6
Coaches and volunteers
Zach Williams, Levi Watterson, Ray
Wenger and Marissa Williams
Prairie City gym overhaul nearly complete
The Eagle/Rudy Diaz
Prairie City School’s gym has seen many changes this summer
with seismically retrofitted walls, a new roof, new bleachers and
resurfaced floor.
ple, elderly, that are in wheel-
chairs, and there are two sides
where they can sit with our
old bleachers, which is one
end or the other,” Hallgath
said. “Now, we have the capa-
bility to push in portions of
the bottom row to where they
can sit in the center.”
The walls of the gym
are being seismically retro-
fitted by receiving carbon
fiber strips with high tensile
strength on both sides of the
walls.
“When they do that, they
have to paint the walls after
finishing, so what’s great is
we get to decide what colors
we get to have,” Hallgarth
said.
The inside of the gym will
be painted with 12 feet of
black going from the bottom
Austin House
of the floor up, then a three
feet orange strip and then
white the rest of the way up,
including the ceiling. On the
outside, the building will be
painted a dark gray all around.
The agriculture teacher,
Lindy Cruise, has been
making a sign for the front
entrance of the gym stating
“Home of the Panthers” with
the school’s CNC machine,
which was received through
the Career Technical and
Education program.
The letters are being cut
out of 12-gauge metal at just
under 4 feet tall and about 2
feet wide, according to Hall-
garth. He said the letters are
going to be orange and sit off
the wall a little bit so they can
be backlit.
Prairie City School Dis-
trict was awarded a $2.5 mil-
lion grant from the state’s
Seismic Rehabilitation Grant
Program to fund this project.
“I wrote a seismic grant
two years ago when I first got
the job,” Hallgarth said. “We
got it, and we partnered with
ZCS engineering who helped
us with the grant process.”
The project is projected to
be finished in the middle of
August, but Hallgarth said the
team is about two and a half
weeks ahead of schedule so
there is a possibility the proj-
ect will be completed early.
Hallgarth said they are also
adding livestreaming capabil-
ities to the gym, which they
already set up at the football
field. They partnered with the
National Federation of State
High School Assications and
Pixelot Company as a pilot
school to provide this option.
“We got two cameras and
all the hardware that comes
with it, and we can livestream
all of our events at the foot-
ball field, the track area and in
our gym,” Hallgarth said.
This will allow Prairie City
to provide streams for both
sporting events and school
activities such as assem-
blies, Christmas programs
and more on the school’s new
website, pcsd4.com.
“That gym is the hub for
the city for a natural disaster,
so safety-wise and cosmeti-
cally, it’s going to be great,”
Hallgarth said.
OUTPATIENT EAR
AND FOOT CLINIC
Open
Mon. - Thurs.
8AM - 4PM
422 West Main
John Day OR, 97845
Regular and High
Risk Foot Care done
by specially trained
RN or CNA.
Ears are examined
and cleaned by
Registered Nurses.
Call to make an
appointment today!
541-575-1648
S197702-1
Incident follows Grant
County poaching case
from April
The Grant County Wildfire 16U soft-
ball team finished out their summer sea-
son just like they had hoped in a round
robin tournament in La Grande Aug. 1,
handily defeating Union County Light-
ning 10-1 and shutting out Central Ore-
gon Crossfire 7-0.
“While the girls will move on and
obviously play together again in high
school, this was basically the end of
Wildfire as we have known it,” Wildfire
head coach Zach Williams said.
Williams said the 16U team played in
four tournaments this summer.
In their first tournament, the Nampa
Shakedown, June 19-20, the girls blanked
the Boise Storm 20-0 in their first game,
fell to the Idaho Racers 19-3 in game two
and bounced in the third game, beating
Nampa Pride 17-4.
With a 2-1 record in pool play, the
Wildfire ranked in the top half of the 16
teams and fell to the Idaho Crossfire, the
team that won the tournament.
Williams said the team had the lead
heading into the fourth inning “but ran
out of fresh arms on the mound” to close
it out.
In Pendleton June 27-28, the Wildfire
went into the tourney 1-2 in pool play,
beating UC Lightning 7-5 in the first out-
ing, but then falling to Pendleton’s OE
fast-pitch team, 11-7, in game two and
then again to Portland Rise, 17-8.
Williams said the girls notched a huge
win they took down the top-seeded Van-
couver Rampage, 11-8.
Drewsey Williams pitched a really
good game, the coach said. He said the
team played solid defense behind her.
“We hit the ball really well, from the
top and to the bottom of the lineup” he
said.
Williams said the four girls in the bot-
tom of the lineup were seven for 11 in
plate appearances.