AGRICULTURE DAY
MyEagleNews.com
Wednesday, March 23, 2022
A13
‘Last hurrah’ for late business owner
By JUSTIN DAVIS
Blue Mountain Eagle
CANYON CITY — Though
he’s only in his fi fth year as a
butcher, Blake Ibarra of Rus-
sell’s Custom Meats took
home the title of reserve grand
champion in the boneless ham
division from the Northwest
Meat Processors Association’s
annual convention in Hermis-
ton this month.
But then, he had a good
teacher. Ibarra learned his trade
under former Russell’s owner
Tracy Moss, who passed away
in November.
Moss started working with
Russell’s Custom Meats in
1985 in Baker City. After the
company’s Canyon City facil-
ity was built in 1989, Moss
and his wife, Kathy, trans-
ferred there. Tracy and Kathy
ran the shop from then on and
purchased it outright in 2007.
They continued to operate the
shop until Tracy’s passing.
Tracy Moss was a long-
time participant in the North-
west Meat Processors conven-
tion, starting in the early ‘80s.
Although it took some time to
develop his technique, Moss
was ultimately recognized as
a grand champion in 2007,
2008 and 2009 before health
issues forced him out of future
competitions.
Due to COVID, the 2020
and 2021 conventions weren’t
Steven Mitchell/Blue Mountain Eagle, File
From left, Brooke Teel, Reece Jacobs and Ava Gerry during the
2021 Youth Livestock Auction at the Grant County Fairgrounds.
Grant Fair Board plans
remodel of Keerins Hall
By STEVEN MITCHELL
Blue Mountain Eagle
Justin Davis/Blue Mountain Eagle
Blake Ibarra prepares a cut of meat at Russell’s Custom Meats on March 21, 2022.
held, so Ibarra jumped at the
opportunity to go this year.
“When Kathy Moss told me
that they were doing it this year
and asked me if I wanted to go,
of course I said yes,” Ibarra
said. “This was my fi rst year
doing this and I really didn’t
know what to expect.”
Ibarra says winning reserve
grand champion has changed
the view of his peers toward
him and his skill as a meat
cutter.
“I’ve only been doing this
fi ve years — everyone else
has been doing it 30-plus
years,” Ibarra said. “A lot of
these places are family-run for
generations. I didn’t have that.
I had Tracy show me every-
thing I know over the past fi ve
years.”
As the youngest compet-
itor at the convention, Ibarra
hopes to see the younger gen-
eration take up professions in
the meat industry. “We’re try-
ing to get them into this pro-
fession because there aren’t
a lot of (butchers),” he said.
“When you lose this trade, it
is going to be hard.”
The end of the competi-
tion represents the end of a
chapter for Russell’s Custom
Meats, with Chuck Skupa
taking over the business in
the coming weeks. Having
his protege, Ibarra, compete
at the convention was kind
of a “last hurrah” for Tracy,
said his widow, Kathy, who
is stepping away from the
business.
A retirement party for
Kathy Moss will be held in
April or May.
Easterday bankruptcy battle heats up
By DON JENKINS
Capital Press
YAKIMA,
Washington
— The court battle over the
fraud-forced sale of ex-cattle-
man Cody Easterday’s bank-
rupt farming and ranching
empire in Eastern Washington
intensifi ed Wednesday, March
16.
Lawyers for Easterday’s
wife and mother told U.S.
Bankruptcy Judge Whitman
Holt in Yakima that the attor-
neys and two creditor com-
mittees overseeing the liqui-
dation of Easterday Farms and
Easterday Ranches should be
ousted.
Debby Easterday, Cody’s
wife, and Karen Easterday,
whose late husband, Gale,
started the Columbia Basin
companies, claim the attor-
neys and committees are
allowing the Ranches business
to rob the Farms business.
They are separate family busi-
nesses with diff erent creditors.
Another diff erence is the
Farms business expects to
emerge from bankruptcy with
between $20.4 million and $45
million left for the ex-owners,
according to court records.
The Ranches business,
weighed down by Cody East-
erday’s $233 million debt
to fraud victim Tyson Fresh
Meats, will be broke.
The Easterdays allege that
money is improperly fl ow-
ing from the solvent Farms to
the insolvent Ranches, includ-
ing about $1.1 million for fuel,
labor and hauling cattle and
feed last summer.
“If that happened, it’s prob-
lematic,” Holt said.
Much bigger sums are at
stake as the committees and
Columbia Power
Proudly Celebrating being a part of Grant County’s Agricultural
Industry since 1948
Easterdays negotiate a set-
tlement. Although the Farms
and Ranches businesses fi led
for bankruptcy separately last
year, the debts are intertwined.
Cody Easterday, due to
be sentenced June 13 for
wire fraud, pledged in a plea
agreement last year to pay
back Tyson. A judge has
twice delayed sentencing to
give him time to sell fam-
ily property to raise money
for restitution.
JOHN DAY — After
receiving word it would be
getting $2 million from the
state to improve the fair-
grounds, the Grant County
Fair Board hopes to get started
this fall on a remodel of Keer-
ins Hall.
Plans call for the renovated
building to house offi ce space
for the Oregon State Univer-
sity Extension Service. OSU
Extension runs local 4-H pro-
grams, and having an offi ce
onsite would give 4-H a pres-
ence at the fairgrounds all year.
Mindy Winegar, the Grant
County Fairgrounds manager,
said 4-H and the fair run hand
in hand, and it would make
sense to have the offi ces at the
fairgrounds.
“It is a building with
many memories and his-
tory for many folks in Grant
County,” said Winegar, a
Grant County native. “I think
it would be benefi cial to our
whole community to have it
back to a more usable, friendly
building.”
The renovation for Keerins
Hall, which Winegar said was
constructed in 1956, would
Happy National Ag Day
make the building an over-
all more usable space and fi x
the sways in the roof. As of
now, she said she was not sure
what the cost of the renovation
would be.
While remodeling Keer-
ins Hall and repaving the park-
ing lot are the two high-prior-
ity projects for the fairgrounds,
Winegar said the fair always
has projects on its to-do list
and always looks at others.
She said the fair board is plan-
ning to have a public meeting
in the Trowbridge Pavilion at
6:30 p.m. on Monday, March
28, to talk about potential proj-
ects and gather feedback from
the community.
“We’re so excited and feel
very fortunate to be blessed
with this funding from our state
representatives,” Winegar said.
Winegar said county
fairs across the state are a
big draw for tourism in their
communities.
By hosting a variety of
events, county fairgrounds
serve as engines of economic
activity, and during emergen-
cies, communities lean on
them — be it for vaccine clinics
during the pandemic or a shel-
ter during the Canyon Creek
Fire.
from
OSU’S COLLEGE OF AGRICULT UR A L SCIENCES
With more than 40 degree programs serving 3,100 students and Extension in
every county in the state, the College of Agricultural Sciences mission of teaching,
research and Extension strives each day to make tomorrow better.
311 Wilson St.
Monument
541-934-2311
• Irrigation
• Plumbing
• Electric
agsci.oregonstate.edu
S284933-1
S284454-1
We are proud to be a part of Grant
County’s Agricultural Community
Holliday Land & Livestock
Les Schwab supported the 2021 Grant County Youth
Auction by purchasing the following Market Animals.
S285781-1
3850 10th St., Baker City
86812 Christmas Valley Hwy., Christmas Valley
541-523-6377
541-523-6377
1160 S Egan, Burns
62302 Pierce Rd., La Grande
541-573-6377
541-963-6577
S284931-1
551 W Main St • John Day • 541-575-1346
S284934-1