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NEWS MyEagleNews.com Wednesday, February 3, 2021 A3 Grant Union High School students lead remodeling project for school store The Eagle/Steven Mitchell 201 West Boutique’s mural in the front room of the Outpost. Outpost Pizza Pub and Grill opens retail boutique amid COVID-19 ‘Boutiques are popular right now’ By Steven Mitchell Blue Mountain Eagle The Outpost Pizza, Pub and Grill has opened up a women’s clothing and accessories store in the room where they used to host large parties. Owner Tia Barrietua said the decision came amid the pandemic’s height and that it made sense given the restrictions on large social gatherings and the shut- downs restaurants and bars have endured over the last year. Barrietua said having the banquet rooms were a waste of space and money, given the limits with social dis- tancing. She told the Eagle her daughter encouraged her to make the change. She said the items are exclusively for women and that she has had good luck getting quality products. She said two of her employees, Shelby Brooks and Harli Grove, who are teenagers, have been instru- mental in ordering items that appeal to the teenage demographic. Barrietua said, for now, she is cross-train- ing her employees to work in both the restaurant and the boutique and hopes to bring on more staff in the future. Eventually, she said, she would like to have a full-time worker for the boutique. “Boutiques are popular right now,” she said. She said she is always looking to bring on new vendors. For now, it will be mostly clothing items that they sell, and she said the boutique will not be doing any online sales. Student-led project a collaboration between special education and CTE departments By Rudy Diaz Blue Mountain Eagle Grant Union’s school store is get- ting an upgrade, and students are lead- ing the way. The school store homes several school-based businesses that teach vocational and life skills, such as the coffee shop, according to Grant Union special education teacher Andrea Combs. The room was historically a home economics room, so when they transi- tioned the room into a jobs skills room, many of the same cabinetry, plumbing and layout stayed the same. “Through our vocational skills pro- grams, we generated enough money to renovate this space to make it more versatile,” Combs said. “The coffee shop is relatively new to our program, and now we can create space to help develop the program.” The donation of a coffee machine from the Corner Cup also gave momentum to carry out the remodeling to fully utilize the espresso machine. Combs said the idea was pitched The Eagle/Rudy Diaz From left, Grant Union seniors Abby Lusco, Kenna Combs and Madison Spencer pose inside the school store they are helping remodel. to create a class where senior students made up the design team. Seniors Abby Lusco, Kenna Combs and Madison Spencer developed the designs for the project and made the design boards to present to staff and administrators for approval at the end of the last quarter. “I really liked creating the design for it and getting to go on Pinterest to look for ideas,” Kenna Combs said. “We all had our own little section of the design and worked on different aspects when we worked on putting the presentation together.” Spencer said she enjoyed the oppor- tunity to be creative with the project’s design and getting to see the different layers of paint with various colors, show- casing changes to the wall over multiple years. “I’m excited to see what we accom- plish, and it was fun to put together a bunch of do-it-yourself projects,” Lusco said. “I’m glad, being a senior, I can make an impact on my school. I’m hoping, in the years to come, students will appreciate it and get a lot of use out of it.” The team received help from Shanna Northway, who guided the design team last quarter. Grant Union Principal Ryan Gerry said during a school board meeting on Jan. 20 that the project is a collaboration between the special education depart- ment and the CTE department. “When we were tasking out design with what do we want out of this, we wanted some DIY projects that students could build or fabricate here,” Andrea Combs said. “We worked with Mr. Suchorski, our shop teacher, and stu- dents from his class are also working for him on this project. We’re trying to have the kid the central focus of it.” Students are also working on site by completing the demolition and prepara- tions with Kelsy Wright, the head cus- todian, overlooking and working with them on the project. Senior Mason Kidd said it has been great to work on something that will stay at the school even after he leaves. “This has been really cool, and it’s going to be something that’s always here every year,” Kidd said. “I also learned a lot about construction and how to build things the proper way.” Along with the store and the coffee shop, the room will also provide space to teach essential life skills by providing a laundry center, a crafting center and a standard kitchen area to carry out baking and cooking. “It’s really our vocational center for our special education center, so we’re trying to make sure that our kids get as wide of vocational experiences as they possibly can,” Andrea Combs said. Smartt publishes book capturing his time in OSP ‘On Target: One Trooper’s Experiences During the Early Methamphetamine Years’ available now By Rudy Diaz Blue Mountain Eagle When the sun goes down, the meth deals go down. Grant County resident Steve Smartt details more than 25 years of service as an Oregon State Police trooper in his book “On Target: One Trooper’s Experiences During the Early Methamphetamine Years.” “I mainly worked at 6 p.m. to 4 a.m., and when people are home sleeping, they don’t really realize what’s going on out there,” Smartt said. “Meth monkeys aren’t sleeping at 10 at night. That’s when they’re active, stealing stuff and mak- ing meth deals, and a lot goes on in the covered darkness.” Smartt worked in Coos County from the 1990s to 2015 and kept records of what he The Eagle/Rudy Diaz After years of service as an Oregon State Police trooper in Coos County, Steve Smartt resides in Grant County with his wife. saw in notebooks. His wife rec- ommended he write something for his grandchildren so they knew what he did. “In 2019, in the late sum- mer, I took all of my 25 and a half years worth of notebooks ... and started going through them chronologically and started writing down the sto- ries,” Smartt said. His wife looked over the work and recommended he send it to a publisher. “This is pretty funny stuff,” she told him. They sent portions of the book over to several publish- ers, and Dorrance Publishing Co. said they were interested in the book. After four months of writ- ing, he had over 200 pages of stories. No embellishment or hyperbole, the book details real events with only names being changed, he said. While on the force, being able to confront the issues associated with illegal drugs, especially meth, was a huge motivation for Smartt. “Don’t let anyone ever tell you drugs are a victimless crime,” Smartt said in his book. “I have seen the results of the horrendous sexual and phys- ical abuse on the spouses and children of drug users whose deviancy knows no limits.” He said about 5-10% per- cent of society causes the bulk of the problems, and a lot of it surrounds the acquisition of drugs. “Whether you’re stealing stuff to trade for drugs or you’re selling it, the problem goes back to drugs,” Smartt said. In the book, Smartt describes being shot at and stabbed at with knives, syringes, forks and screw- drivers. The lives of his wife, children and dog were also threatened. “This only served to strengthen my resolve to arrest every doper I could get my hands on,” Smartt said in his book. In one instance, someone peered through the window of his family’s ranch home when only his wife and son were home. He said threats to his family concerned him more than his personal health. “They shouldn’t be threat- ened for what I do,” Smartt said. Smartt hopes readers get a better understanding of the work law enforcement con- ducts, especially during the night when many are in bed, unaware of what goes on. “I loved the job, and I had a ball doing it, but I hope people realize that the people out there doing this job dedicate a lot,” he said. “It takes a lot to do it.” I think of you and miss you every day, Clayton. You will never be forgotten. Love, Mom S228513-1 Notice of Scholarship Application Heart of Grant County 541-575-4026 541-620-1342 ThisprojectwassupportedbyGrantNo.2019-WR-AX-0027awardedbytheOfficeonViolenceAgainst Women,U.S.DepartmentofJustice.Theopinions,findings,conclusions,andrecommendations expressedinthispublication/program/exhibitionarethoseoftheauthor(s)anddonotnecessarilyreflect theviewsoftheU.S.DepartmentofJustice. S229080-1 Grant County Victim Assistance Program Gertrude L. Mc Rae Trust Fund scholarship applications are now avail- able for 2020-2021 school year. Applicants must be a Grant County high school graduate to qualify. Graduates of high schools in Morrow, Wasco and Wheeler counties may also be considered if too few Grant Coun- ty applications are received. Preference will be given to Grant County graduates who reside in Oregon and have already completed one or more years at an accredited college. To request an application form, please contact Grant County, 201 S. Humbolt Street, Suite 280, Canyon City, OR 97820 or call 541-575-0059. You may also request an application via email to puckettk@grantcounty-or.gov. Application forms are also available online at http://bit.ly/mcrae2020. Completed applications in- cluding all required documents must be received by email or mail on or before Friday, February 19th, 2021. S229457-1