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
This฀project฀was฀supported฀by฀Grant฀No.฀2019-WR-AX-0027฀awarded฀by฀the฀Office฀on฀Violence฀Against฀
Women,฀U.S.฀Department฀of฀Justice.฀The฀opinions,฀findings,฀conclusions,฀and฀recommendations฀
expressed฀in฀this฀publication/program/exhibition฀are฀those฀of฀the฀author(s)฀and฀do฀not฀necessarily฀reflect฀
the฀views฀of฀the฀U.S.฀Department฀of฀Justice.
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