Blue Mountain Eagle’s Top 10 stories of 2024
Published 7:00 am Monday, December 30, 2024
- Johnny Whitaker, the star of the 1972 Walt Disney movie "Napoleon and Samantha," shares a laugh with Bob Armstrong of John Day in front of a poster for the film. Armstrong was Whitaker's stand-in during the movie, which was filmed in Grant County in 1971.
It was a tumultuous year in the news in Grant County.
2024 brought a brutal wave of wildfires that scorched vast swaths of timber and rangeland, burning more than a tenth of the county’s surface area, threatening several towns and dealing ranchers a serious setback.
Other top stories in the Blue Mountain Eagle’s pages dealt with the precarious state of the local timber industry, a spate of recall elections, a triumph on the athletic field, the end of the long-running burn boss saga and some major changes at the Eagle itself.
Here’s a look back at some of our biggest stories of the year.
Summer of fire
THE STORY: Beginning in mid-July, a wave of destructive wildfires swept through much of Eastern Oregon, including Grant County. A second wave hit the region on Labor Day. By the end of fire season, nearly 2 million acres in Oregon had burned, a new record for the state.
Three megafires — blazes of more than 100,000 acres — raged either partly or entirely within Grant County’s borders: the 152-000-acre Falls Fire, the 177,000-acre Rail Ridge Fire and the 183,000-acre Battle Mountain Complex. The Courtrock Fire torched another 20,000 acres within the county.
No local residents died in the fires, but an air tanker pilot was killed in a crash near Seneca while battling a blaze in the vicinity of the Falls Fire. James Bailey Maxwell, 74, of Clarkston, Washington, was working under contract with the Bureau of Land Management when his single-engine aircraft went down shortly before 7 p.m. July 25.
THE LATEST: All told, wildfires consumed an estimated 314,172 acres in Grant County in 2024, nearly 11% of the county, according to data compiled by Eric Bush, the county’s emergency management coordinator, and Kyle Sullivan of the Grant Soil and Water Conservation District.
More than a third of the burned area — 87,882 acres — was private ground, and the public lands consumed by fire included numerous grazing allotments. About 155 landowners suffered some level of damage to their property.
A total of 16 structures, including two primary residences, were lost to the flames. Miles upon miles of fences were destroyed, and a still-unknown number of livestock were killed.
Sawmill struggles
THE STORY: On March 1, Prairie Wood Products in Prairie City halted operations and laid off most of its staff. On July 23, Ochoco Lumber announced plans to shutter the county’s only other sawmill, Malheur Lumber in John Day, by late this year or early 2025.
If both mills close permanently, the only wood products manufacturing facility left in Grant County would be Iron Triangle’s Seneca post and pole plant, which makes fenceposts and other products from small-diameter trees.
A state analysis estimated that losing Malheur Lumber would cost Grant County’s economy $58 million and 207 jobs. The Grant School District said the shutdown would cause it to lose at least 60 students and more than $700,000 a year in state funding.
THE LATEST: In October, Iron Triangle announced it was exploring plans to buy Malheur Lumber and restart the mill, providing it could get enough government assistance to make the deal pencil out.
The Malheur Forest Fairness Coalition sent a letter to Ochoco Lumber’s legal counsel Nov. 5 demanding a halt to the proposed sale and threatening legal action to block it. The coalition, which consists of Prairie Wood Products and a number of local logging outfits and private timber owners, previously filed a $117 million federal antitrust suit claiming the Malheur Lumber and Iron Triangle had created a de facto monopoly over the softwood sawlog market in Grant County.
That lawsuit was dismissed in September and is now under appeal. A case was opened in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit on Oct. 18, and the parties were directed to contact a mediator regarding a possible settlement on Oct. 25. Court records show the parties were released from mediation on Nov. 4 without having reached a settlement. No trial date has been set in the case.
Recall elections
THE STORY: Four John Day elected officials faced recall elections in 2024.
Oren Wyss, the operator of the city’s wastewater treatment plant, filed a recall petition against Mayor Heather Rookstool in October of 2023, accusing her of lacking transparency and violating the city charter, among other things. Rookstool was recalled by a 32-vote margin in a special election on Jan. 16.
In August, Public Works Director Casey Myers filed recall petitions against Councilors Sherrie Rininger, Eric Bush and Ron Phillips, all Rookstool supporters. Myers leveled a number of allegations at the trio, including mismanaging city funds, lacking transparency and harassing city staff. All three kept their seats by wide margins in a Sept. 7 special election.
THE LATEST: After Rookstool’s recall, her supporters on the council agreed not to fill her position until after the first of the year, when new councilors chosen in the November general election would be seated.
But the second recall election shattered that fragile peace deal. Rininger was appointed mayor on Sept. 23 by a 3-2 vote carried by the pro-Rookstool faction on the council. On Oct. 22, Bradley Hale was appointed to fill Rininger’s former council position on a 5-1 vote.
Queens of the diamond
THE STORY: The Grant Union/Prairie City Lady Prospector softball team captured their second straight 2A state crown on May 31 at Jane Saunders Stadium in Eugene, downing their conference rivals Weston-McEwen 11-0.
The Lady Pros finished 25-4 with 13 shutouts, defeated their playoff opponents by a combined score of 51-0 and landed six players on the all-state first and second teams. Drew Williams was named the 1A/2A Pitcher of the Year and catcher Addy Northway was selected as the 1A/2A Player of the Year.
THE LATEST: Zach Williams resigned after seven seasons as head coach of the Lady Prospector softball team to ficus on being a dad.
Williams compiled a stellar 135-18 record from 2017-2024, with 22 of those wins coming against 3A opponents. Under Williams, the Lady Pros won five conference titles and notched at least 20 victories in every season save the COVID-shortened 2020-21 campaign, in which the team finished 14-3.
Williams also led his team to a 15-4 overall record in the state tournament, including four straight appearances in the title game, with two second-place finishes before winning the state 2A/1A championship in each of the last two seasons. To cap his career, Williams was selected the 2023-24 2A/1A Softball Coach of the Year.
Burn boss bust
THE STORY: Grant County Sheriff Todd McKinley arrested U.S. Forest Service burn boss Ricky Snodgrass on Oct. 19, 2022, while he was supervising a prescribed burn in the Malheur National Forest near Bear Valley. Embers from the planned burn blew across the Izee-Paulina Highway and charred close to 20 acres of timber and grazing land belonging to a private ranch before the blaze could be put out.
It was believed to be the first time a Forest Service firefighter had been arrested in the course of doing their job.
THE LATEST: On Feb. 16, 2024, Snodgrass was arraigned in Grant County Circuit Court on a single misdemeanor count of reckless burning, but the case was moved from Grant County Circuit Court to U.S. District Court in March.
On June 5, U.S. Magistrate Judge Andrew Hallman signed a motion to dismiss the reckless burning charge against Snodgrass.
Hospital leadership change
THE STORY: Cam Marlowe resigned as chief executive officer of the Blue Mountain Hospital District effective Dec. 1, citing health issues.
Marlowe took the reins of the district in July 2022, succeeding Derek Daley as CEO. Marlowe had previously served as the district’s chief financial officer for two years before leaving to take a similar job on the Oregon coast.
THE LATEST: Margie Molitor stepped in on Dec. 2 as interim CEO while the hospital district board launches a search for someone to fill the job permanently.
It’s the second tour of duty at Blue Mountain for Molitor, a retired health care executive who lives in Thermopolis, Wyoming. She previously served as interim CEO from mid-January to mid-June in 2015, when the publicly owned hospital district was run by HealthTech Management Services.
Evolution of the Eagle
THE STORY: The Blue Mountain Eagle published its final print edition on June 26. The Eagle, Oregon’s oldest weekly newspaper, traces its origins to 1868.
THE LATEST: The paper’s local offices in John Day remain open, and local staff continue to cover Grant County news for publication online at www.bluemountaineagle.com and in the weekly print edition of the East Oregonian, based in Pendleton.
Wolves on the prowl
THE STORY: There were 10 confirmed instances of livestock depredation by wolves in Grant County in 2023, up from two in 2022, according to the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife. The attacks resulted in the deaths of two cattle and the injury of 10 more.
THE LATEST: As of early December, state wildlife managers had confirmed nine wolf depredations in Grant County in 2024, resulting in the death or injury of 12 cattle and sheep.
Five of those attacks were attributed to the Logan Valley Pack. ODFW staff killed one wolf from the pack in August, and a permit to kill a second wolf was issued. The unsanctioned killing of a wolf from the pack in May remains under investigation.
Mixed signals
THE STORY: Grant County’s lone stoplight, at the intersection of Main Street (also known as Highway 26) and Canyon Boulevard (Highway 395) in John Day, went dark on July 30 when a contractor working on improvements at the intersection accidentally severed an underground power cable.
Temporary stop signs were put up while work continued to install a new traffic signal, and the Oregon Department of Transportation decided to delay switching on the new signal after some local residents said they liked the intersection better as a four-way stop.
THE LATEST: During a one-week period in October, cameras installed by ODOT recorded 58 incidents of cars, trucks and even semis running through the intersection, and sentiment expressed during a Nov. 14 town hall was resoundingly in favor of restoring the traffic signal.
On Nov. 18, the new stoplight was turned on.
Reunion tour
THE STORY: Hollywood came to Grant County in the summer of 1971 for the filming of “Napoleon and Samantha,” a Walt Disney movie about two spunky kids and a pet lion on a journey through the wilds of Eastern Oregon.
The picture featured popular child actor Johnny Whitaker and gave future superstar Jodie Foster her first film role. Also appearing were a young Michael Douglas and veteran character actors Ellen Corby and Will Geer, who went on to TV fame as Grandma and Grandpa Walton.
THE LATEST: On Sept. 30, Whitaker made a return visit to Grant County and reunited with Bob Armstrong of John Day, who served as Whitaker’s stand-in during production of the movie.
Armstrong acted as tour guide for Whitaker, who stopped by a number of locations featured in “Napoleon and Samantha,” including the Canyon City Community Hall (billed as the Grantville Theater in the film), the former Gerald and Jessie Lewis house on Rebel Hill and the old Canyon City schoolhouse, which has been extensively renovated by Steve Fischer, the town’s mayor, and his wife, Shelley.
