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About The Blue Mountain eagle. (John Day, Or.) 1972-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 2, 2020)
NEWS MyEagleNews.com Wednesday, September 2, 2020 A3 High speed to Humbolt Organizations agree to jointly fund fiber optic line to elementary school By Rudy Diaz Blue Mountain Eagle Humbolt Elementary will soon have high-speed broad- band internet. At a John Day City Coun- cil meeting Aug. 11, the coun- cil approved $15,000 for the final design of the of the Hum- bolt Elementary School fiber optic line extension. John Day City Man- ager Nick Green reviewed the final design plans for the build with Canyon City Mayor Steve Fischer, Grant School District 3 Superin- tendent Bret Uptmor, Educa- tion School District Superin- tendent Robert Waltenburg and Grant County Judge Scott Myers. Each person agreed to review the funding request for the Humbolt broadband project with their board, according to Green. “I’ve been told Canyon City did that and approved their share of the cost at their last meeting,” Green said during a council meeting on Aug. 25. “It looks like we’ll have the two school districts, Canyon City, John Day, Grant County and the digital coali- Eagle file photo Grant School District 3 Superintendent Bret Uptmor. “WE’RE EXCITED ABOUT MOVING FORWARD WITH GETTING FIBER INTO HUMBOLT. LAST YEAR WE DID GRANT UNION, AND IT DID HELP WITH OUR DISTANCE LEARNING, WHERE HUMBOLT, THEY WOULD NOT BE ABLE TO DO ANY DISTANCE LEARNING. WITH OUR NEW PROGRAMS, WE ARE GOING TO NEED ALL THE BANDWIDTH WE CAN GET OUR HANDS ON.” —Bret Uptmor, Grant School District 3 superintendent tion contributing to the con- struction cost.” The broadband connection is planned to be fully opera- tional by the end of Septem- ber, according to Green, and each party will be invoiced their portion of the construc- tion cost once the final costs are tallied. Uptmor said during the city council meeting on Aug. 11 that with distance learning, teachers need to communicate with kids if they have technol- ogy, but that is not an option at Humbolt due to the problem with connectivity. “We would like to give teachers a place where they can work,” Uptmor said. “For those of us that worked at home — I was not one of those, but my wife was — it’s not a workable situation, espe- cially for a teacher. You’ve got a lot of things to do, and you need a classroom setting to do it with. In your home doesn’t always work perfectly.” Humbolt Principal Dar- bie Dennison said during a school board meeting on Aug. 19 that they have about 35 students that told faculty they are considering online education with several stu- dents already committed. “We’re excited about moving forward with getting fiber into Humbolt,” Uptmor said during the school board meeting. “Last year we did Grant Union, and it did help with our distance learning, where Humbolt, they would not be able to do any dis- tance learning. With our new programs, we are going to need all the bandwidth we can get our hands on.” The online options for Grant School District 3 are through Edgenuity, a stand- alone program at home, or Baker Web Academy, a virtual school program in partnership with Baker School District. The Eagle/Steven Mitchell Erin Gosnell of John Day demonstrates a product Friday at the street fair. Farmers market street fair provides activities in safe environment By Steven Mitchell Blue Mountain Eagle Upward of 75 people turned out for John Day Farm- ers Market evening street fair Friday. The event, first in a series of three, went from 6-10 p.m. The next events will be held from 5-9 p.m. Sept. 18 and 5-9 p.m. Oct. 16 on Dayton Street in John Day. Vendors set up booths in front of Canyon City Food Cart and Java Jungle, and Painted Sky Center for the Arts hosted a “Paint and Sit” in front of Doug’s Automotive. Farmers market man- ager and organizer Stephanie LeQuieu said she partnered with the city of John Day and the Grant County Chamber of Commerce. The county will no longer be financially sup- porting the farmers market after October, she said. The event drew roughly 10 vendors selling products as diverse as Grant County resi- dent Jesse Randleas’ “helpful advice” to John Greenhouse’s locally grown vegetables to press-on, acrylic nails. “Part of this is to build community and to encourage community health and men- tal,” LeQuieu said. “Because I’ve read so much has been closed, stopped and canceled, we just wanted to give people a chance to come together and engage in a safe, socially dis- tanced environment.” LeQuieu said both masks and appropriate social dis- tancing were required for the event. Vendor Brazil Moon of John Day was at the street fair for the first time selling reus- able press-on nails and fake eyelashes for Red Aspen, a company she is a consultant for. Moon, a self-described stay-at-home mom, sells the press-on nails and lashes from home while taking care of her two toddlers. “It was a nice way to be able to do something for myself at home with my kids,” she said. “Especially while I was running around the house doing all of the mom things.” The Eagle/Rudy Diaz Workers from Tidewater Contractors and Sisul Engineering look over their work Aug. 21 as they continue to lay down asphalt for John Day’s first cul-de-sac. First cul-de-sac project in John Day completed By Rudy Diaz Blue Mountain Eagle Canton Street makes history in John Day by gaining the first cul-de-sac in the city. Workers from Tidewater Contractors Inc. and Joe Hitz from Sisul Engineering com- pleted the project on Aug. 21. Tidewater’s bid for this project was $16,500 for the asphalt and prep work. This is the first cul-de-sac completed in John Day since the city was incorporated in 1901, according to John Day City Manager Nick Green. The cul-de-sac is part of sev- eral development projects in the city for new residential housing and creating access to the John Day River. “We are trying to open up over 3 miles of new residential streets for new housing devel- opments,” Green said. He said this is the first of five planned cul-de-sacs that will create access to new housing in Ironwood Estates, Mahog- any Ridge, which was formerly known as Strawberry View Estates, and elsewhere. This project will create the first riverfront park in John Day and will redevelop this portion of the city to make the John Day River more accessible to the public. The council made a motion on July 24, 2018, to purchase 10 acres of land along the John Day River from Colleen and Celeste Hill for $115,000. Seven acres on the north side of the river would be acquired using money from the Sewer Fund, as part of that land would be used by the city’s new sewer treatment plant. The Eagle/Steven Mitchell Brazil Moon of John Day at her booth at the farmers market street fair Friday. The Eagle/Rudy Diaz Scott Fitzhugh from Tidewater Contractors levels out the asphalt for the cul-de-sac that is part of a plan to provide more housing and access to the John Day River. The seven acres on the north side of the river include the area of Davis Creek from Valley View Drive to the John Day River and the four acres on the south lie at the intersec- tion of Canyon Creek and the John Day River, across from the city’s current treatment plant The other riverfront park the city is working on is at Davis Creek. “This one is also a strategic investment for the city because it will create access to the new Hill Family Park,” Green said. “We have $365,000 in state funding to develop that park, which is currently in design and will go out for bid in about four months.” He said this will include new parking areas, restrooms and a new bridge across the river with a trail system connecting it the new parking lot at the Seventh Street Complex. The Eagle/Steven Mitchell Clinton Coalwell of Mt. Vernon displays one of his cutting boards at the John Day street fair Friday. TOM CHRISTENSEN CHRISTENSEN TOM CONSTRUCTION (541) 410-0557 • (541) 575-0192 CCB# 106077 The Eagle/Rudy Diaz The first cul-de-sac in John Day is completed on Aug. 21 as it marks progress towards more housing and access to the John Day River. REMODELS • NEW CONSTRUCTION • POLE BUILDINGS CONCRETE EXCAVATION • SHEET ROCK • SIDING ROOFING • FENCES • DECKS • TELESCOPING FORKLIFT SERVICES S204805-1 Debbie Ausmus 245 South Canyon Blvd. John Day, OR 97845 OPEN WED. & THUR. 9 am - 5 pm 541-575-1113 24 hrs/7 days wk debbie.ausmus@ countryfinancial.com Shops Garages Commercial Industrial www.WSBNW.com 855 • 668 • 7211 S204808-1 S204803-1 Steel on the inside where it matters most. Sandy, OR S199193-1 541-523-6377 541-963-6577 541-573-6377 541-576-2160
