A4
OPINION
Blue Mountain Eagle
Wednesday, July 27, 2022
OUR VIEW
Listening to our
readers makes
us better
S
ome weeks back we asked our readers, as we do every year,
to take a short survey. In addition to some basic demograph-
ic information (which we will keep confi dential), readers
were asked how they get their news, what kind of information
they’re looking for from the Blue Mountain Eagle, what we’re
doing well and where we could improve.
Some 88 of you responded, and we want to thank your for tak-
ing the time to do so. This information is invaluable to us, and
we particularly appreciate your honest and thoughtful responses
to our open-ended questions about how we can do a better job.
While answers like “Keep on doing what you’re doing” make us
feel good (and we got a hearteningly large number of those), there
is always room for improvement, and you gave us a number of
good suggestions.
Although we received a wide variety of comments about things
we could do better, several broad themes emerged. Based on your
feedback, we’ve identifi ed fi ve clear goals for improving our
coverage:
• Community coverage: There’s much more to Grant County
than what happens in John Day, but that’s where we focus an inor-
dinate amount of our attention. We need to do a better job of cov-
ering what goes on in Canyon City, Prairie City, Mt. Vernon,
Long Creek, Dayville, Monument, Seneca, Kimberly, Granite and
all the other places where Grant County residents live, work and
play. This is our No. 1 goal for improvement, and we’ve already
started to take steps to that end, including carving out space on
our website for grouping stories by community. As we begin to
roll out more stories about some of Grant County’s smaller com-
munities, we’ll also try to do a better job of labeling them in the
paper.
• Human interest stories: There’s a lot of hard news happen-
ing in Grant County, but sometimes we focus on those stories to
the exclusion of the softer side of life. Many of you called on us
to do more “good news” stories about local residents, especially
the kind of everyday people who don’t ordinarily show up in the
newspaper. Look for more of those stories in our pages as well —
and if you’ve got a suggestion for someone who would make a
good profi le, please send it our way.
• Schools coverage: Even before the survey, we were already
starting to do more news, feature and “issue” stories about our
local schools, but this is an area where we will continue try-
ing to improve. We also hope doing these stories will open doors
to others in smaller communities such as Seneca, Dayville and
Monument.
• Business coverage: Our goal here is twofold: Not only do we
want to do more stories on new businesses around Grant County,
but we also want to fi nd ways to incorporate established local
businesses into our coverage. As one survey respondent put it,
local businesses “keep our lights on here in Grant County.”
• Events coverage: There’s a lot going on here in Grant County,
and many of you told us you want to be able to read about those
events in the Blue Mountain Eagle. We do our best to get that
information out there, but we can certainly do better. Please, if
you have an event you want people to know about, send us the
information so we can publicize it in the paper. You can email the
details to editor@bmeagle.com, and please remember to get it to
us by Friday (or sooner) for publication the following Wednesday.
Thanks again for all your suggestions. We’ll do our best to put
them into practice.
WHERE TO WRITE
GRANT COUNTY
• Grant County Courthouse — 201 S.
Humbolt St., Suite 280, Canyon City 97820.
Phone: 541-575-0059. Fax: 541-575-2248.
• Canyon City — P.O. Box 276, Canyon City
97820. Phone: 541-575-0509. Fax: 541-575-
0515. Email: tocc1862@centurylink.net.
• Dayville — P.O. Box 321, Dayville 97825.
Phone: 541-987-2188. Fax: 541-987-2187.
Email: dville@ortelco.net
• John Day — 450 E. Main St, John Day,
97845. Phone: 541-575-0028. Fax: 541-575-
1721. Email: cityjd@centurytel.net.
• Long Creek — P.O. Box 489, Long Creek
97856. Phone: 541-421-3601. Fax: 541-421-
3075. Email: info@cityofl ongcreek.com.
• Monument — P.O. Box 426, Monument
97864. Phone and fax: 541-934-2025. Email:
Blue Mountain
EAGLE
Published every
Wednesday by
cityofmonument@centurytel.net.
• Mt. Vernon — P.O. Box 647, Mt. Vernon
97865. Phone: 541-932-4688. Fax: 541-932-
4222. Email: cmtv@ortelco.net.
• Prairie City — P.O. Box 370, Prairie City
97869. Phone: 541-820-3605. Fax: 820-3566.
Email: pchall@ortelco.net.
• Seneca — P.O. Box 208, Seneca 97873.
Phone and fax: 541-542-2161. Email:
senecaoregon@gmail.com.
SALEM
• Gov. Kate Brown, D — 254 State Capitol, Salem
97310. Phone: 503-378-3111. Fax: 503-378-6827.
Website: governor.state.or.us/governor.html.
• Oregon Legislature — State Capitol, Salem,
97310. Phone: 503-986-1180. Website: leg.state.
or.us (includes Oregon Constitution and Oregon
Revised Statutes).
OFF THE BEATEN PATH
Tent camping survival tips
M
y goal one summer as a
kid: Achieve survival while
tent camping.
My inaugural overnight campout
would test my mettle in dealing with
the potential screams of hungry car-
nivorous wildlife sniffi ng out a meal
at night, the darkness so dense the
light of a waning moon wouldn’t
penetrate the tree cover. I anticipated
little sleep as I would need to listen
for the creak of a tree limb, the whis-
per of dried leaves as bloodthirsty
critters crept closer.
Setting up my tent campsite in
the daytime simplifi ed the procedure.
Back then, as a kid, this would be my
fi rst time sleeping alone outside in
the dark. My campsite — the fami-
ly’s fenced backyard. In daylight, the
surroundings seemed friendly. By
dark, I knew I’d sleep with clothes
and shoes on in case shadows against
the tent indicated a deranged pass-
er-by or … too scary to contemplate.
I’d reached that time in life when
living in the wilderness, subsisting on
berries and roots, seemed the solution
to ordinary living and unreasonable
demands: “Clean your room, weed
the tomatoes and corn.”
I studied my dog-eared copy of
wilderness survival tips. I worked on
lashing tree branches to build a chair
that ended up looking like mounds of
kindling swathed in enough rope to
tie a ship to a dock.
First order of business on my
wilderness camp-
ing launch day —
construct a tent.
Easy enough. Clear
out a camp spot
below support-
ing wires (mow
Jean Ann
the lawn under the
Moultrie
clothesline).
Next, gather old
blankets. I hauled outside a stack
of threadbare chenille bedspreads,
some worn Army blankets with moth
holes, and a bag of clothespins. I
draped the blankets over the clothes-
line so they touched the ground and
secured the structure with about 200
clothespins.
By anchoring the bottom of the
blankets on the lawn with whatever
old cement blocks, rocks, etc., I could
scrounge up, I achieved an architec-
tural marvel. The structure resembled
an airborne blimp that crash-landed.
Slide a camp cot inside and pile
on blankets. With attention to con-
struction details, the west and east
sides of the tent remained impenetra-
ble. Note the open north and south
ends — providing fresh wilderness
air.
Darkness spread over the fenced
backyard — er, wilderness campsite.
I headed out to my tent as my parents
and younger brothers watched from
the porch, the bug-resistant porch
light casting a pale, yellow glow
around the door.
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Look at downsizing
cost of pool bond
To the Editor:
Though I applaud the ladies for
their passion and dogged determina-
tion in forming a PAC to seek a levy
for constructing a new pool facility, I
can’t help but wonder if they are actu-
ally listening to the citizens of Grant
County.
The current White House adminis-
tration has put all of us in a precarious
situation with infl ation, increased gas
prices, food shortages and a looming
recession. Most think that the passage
of this levy aff ects only property own-
ers, when actually renters need to con-
sider that increased taxes to the prop-
erty owner will most likely be passed
on to them and refl ected in their
monthly rent. I am concerned about
John Day’s low/fi xed-income resi-
dents and the potential hardship this
would cause.
The election results for the levy to
fund the new pool facility refl ected a
50/50 tie. A PAC advocate stated, “I
felt like we had the momentum to go
forward and we knew there were other
yes votes out there that didn’t get to be
counted.” Couldn’t the same thing be
said for the no votes?
I think it’s time to step back and
see if perhaps the project could be
scaled down in order to make it more
aff ordable for our community. Person-
ally, I look forward to having a pub-
lic pool and believe it is essential to
our community, but it just can not be
at any cost.
Suzy Burton
John Day
An inside look at
fentanyl problem
To the Editor:
This week, as I count down the last
few days of my 30-day sentence here
in Cell Block 400 in Canyon City, I
can’t help but notice that fentanyl is
at the forefront of nearly every news
story.
I’ve been hearing about fentanyl
for years now as heroin manufactur-
ers are known to cut their expensive
product with this inexpensive syn-
thetic toxin which, as I understand it,
does basically the same thing (ruin
your complexion, make you wanna
sleep, and make you super-addicted).
I paid little notice to this fact as it had
no bearing on me or those of my ilk
(or so I thought).
For a couple of years I’ve heard
ridiculous rumors that fentanyl was
being put in crystal methamphet-
amines. Well, I took no heed of these
reports as the mere thought of mix-
ing this evil toxin with my amphet-
amines was simply preposterous. Even
sitting here, knowing what I know,
it still makes no sense — or cent$, if
you will.
What I know is this: The wrecking
of my motorbike that led to this incar-
ceration required me to be fl own out
to Boise (twice), where the wonderful
folks at St. Al’s saved my life (twice)!
A tox screen was done at St. Al’s,
and fentanyl was the thing that jumped
out at me. Anyone who knows me
knows that I’d not take an opioid, nor
any fentanyl, even at gunpoint. I didn’t
even take the pain meds prescribed to
me by St. Al’s. (I’m more of a bourbon
and gummy guy.)
So, in summation, I guess my point
would be this: Tweakers, take heed.
Notice how your “amphetamines”
ain’t got that “punch” anymore? It’s
because you’re being sold a bunch of
crap that is not what it is advertised to
be. Imagine — dishonesty in the drug
trade.
I will close with this: Support your
local gummy dispensary, and always
— and I do mean always — wear your
gosh-darned helmet!
Tony Steele
Canyon City
You must decide who
to believe
To the Editor:
Hi, everyone, hope your summer is
going well. First, I would like to reas-
sure you that myself and the coun-
Grant County’s Weekly Newspaper
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cil have the best interests of the city in
our minds and in our hearts in all our
decisions that we have made.
Over the last couple of years, you
have heard and seen a lot of misin-
formation on display in front yards,
letters to the editor, and at some
meetings. Although we have tried
to address this at our council meet-
ings, in our newsletters, the newspa-
per, and on the radio, we still have a
lot of negative opinions in people’s
minds about some of our decisions.
Some of that negativity involves
personalities, some a lack of knowl-
edge about the issues and some we
did a poor job of getting you the rea-
soning behind the decisions and the
status of them.
Most of the people that made all
the decisions grew up here, went to
school here, raised our families here
(some have stayed or are returning),
have businesses here and eventu-
ally retired here. To think that we are
putting our city’s future in jeopardy
by making irresponsible decisions
doesn’t make any sense at all. Also,
people who think we were coerced
or infl uenced in any way, by any-
body, to all vote the same way on
most issues doesn’t know me or any
of the council, past or present.
Finally, all of us on the coun-
cil encourage participation and wel-
come your questions and concerns.
If you don’t feel comfortable in front
of a crowd, seek us out individually.
Question people’s motives about
what they are saying and have them
explain their concerns. Just saying it
doesn’t make it true.
Be patient — you are starting to
see what we have been talking about
and planning for the last fi ve years. I
hope that what all our planning and
teamwork will have accomplished
will be enough to change some of
those negative thoughts into posi-
tive ones.
To all of you who support our
vision for our community, we say
thank you! Your continued support
means everything!
Mayor Ron Lundbom
John Day
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send address changes to:
Blue Mountain Eagle
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MEMBER OREGON NEWSPAPER PUBLISHERS ASSOCIATION
“We’ll leave the door unlocked
in case you need to come in,” Mom
said.
Before I dozed off , a stiff breeze
blew in from the north. Fearing frost-
bite to my ears, I pulled my pillow
over my head. The wind increased
as the north-to-south opening fun-
neled the cold and bitter wind over
my shivering body. I wanted to return
to my warm, wind-free room. Pride
glued me to my camp cot. I couldn’t
give up my wilderness quest.
The back door clicked open.
“Pretty windy out there,” Dad
said.
“Why don’t you come in,” Mom
said.
My brothers stood on the porch
staring out into the gloom.
A delicate situation arose. I
wanted to maintain my tough, wil-
derness-loving, adventurous persona,
not let my brothers see me give up.
I knew if I remained adamant
about staying outside, the folks
would let me stay in my tent.
The tricky part — make it look as
if I wanted to stay outside, and grum-
ble so it looked to my younger broth-
ers as though the folks made me
come in. I grabbed an armful of blan-
kets from the cot and raced to the
porch.
Jean Ann Moultrie is a Grant
County writer. Should anyone want to
replicate her fi rst tent, it’s the model
named “Wind Tunnel.”
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