Safeway and Thriftway improve the grocery shopping experience for locals

By Lauren Brown
Burns Times-Herald

The two largest grocery stores in Burns have both had some new additions this summer that make the shopping experience for customers a little more enjoyable.

Thriftway checkstands

Erickson’s Thriftway has implemented some new changes that will help both customers and checkers.

The store recently installed new checkstands that allow customers to unload groceries onto conveyor belts, which eases the burden on the checkers. Bigger display screens also allow customers to see their items as they are scanned, so they can check to make sure the prices are correct.

Burns Store Manager Tom Rogers said the new checkstands speed up the checkout process and are much more efficient. He noted that Madras, Bend and Prineville Erickson’s stores have all been upgraded to the new checkstands.

“Almost everyone has thanked us for investing in our store and our community,” Rogers said.

Safeway remodel

The most prominent remodel took place at Safeway,  which hosted its official grand re-opening on Aug. 28. The store was the 91st Portland Division store to be re-modeled to Safeway’s lifestyle store format. The deli was completely re-vamped and has added numerous products, the most notable of which is fresh baked French bread.

The store has new flooring throughout and has had upgrades in the produce, floral and meat departments as well.

According to a press release, “Safeway launched its lifestyle store concept in late 2003 to showcase its commitment to quality, particularly in the perishables departments, with high-quality fresh produce, meat, seafood and floral departments.” The stores feature an earth-toned décor with lighting to  highlight products and departments, custom flooring and display features.

Burns Store Manager Merle Reid said that the grand re-opening was phenomenal. “A lot of people were excited about the  fresh bread,” he said. The store will now offer fresh baked French bread at 10 a.m and 5 p.m. daily.

Safeway has operated a store in Burns since 1924, and opened the store in its current location in 1978. “We’ve had loyal Burns customers here for nearly 90 years. We’re proud to reinvest in Burns and we thank our local customers for their continued support,” said Safeway Division President Steve Frisby.

Currently, the store employs 79 people and 24 percent of those employees have been employed by Safeway for more than 10 years. Safeway increased the workforce during the store remodel by 22 employees, which is 29 percent of the workforce. Safeway will permanently retain those employees.

Department needs votes from locals to take lead in contest

With just over two weeks left, the Hines Volunteer Fire Department (VFD) is stepping up its campaign to win a new $250,000 fire engine. Hines VFD is one of seven department finalists in the U.S. competing for the fire truck.

Sponsored by E-One, an Ocala, Florida emergency vehicle manufacturer, the contest is designed to find the most deserving volunteer fire department in the country. E-One has narrowed down the field of original submissions down to the final seven.

Now it is simply a popularity contest where the public will decide the most deserving fire department in the country based on an internet vote, which started in April and will end in late August. The winners name will be announced at a fire department exposition and trade show held in Chicago on Aug. 27.

Hines firefighters have been hard at work soliciting support for the community and the story that placed them in the contest, but finds themselves behind the leader who has a much larger population base to draw from. In fact, the leader has received media coverage from five or six TV stations and press from a city with a metro population of 1.3 million.

So far Hines has received some national attention and support but needs to be sure all local citizens have cast their votes in the effort to help ourselves.

The website to read and vote for the Hines VFD story is www.WinAFireTruck.com.

“We need people to share the story with all their family and friends, we need votes from more than the Burns and Hines communities,” said Jonathan Manski, a Lieutenant with Hines VFD.

Everyone with an e-mail address can vote and each e-mail can  cast one vote , however you can use multiple e-mail addresses. The process is simple. At the bottom of the story page is a vote button. Enter your name, e-mail, Hines VFD, and answer two marketing questions with any of the drop down menu choices, the answers don’t matter but must be filled in to have your vote count. “It only takes 30 seconds to vote,”,  Chief Bob Spence said. “It doesn’t cost you anything.”

If you have any questions or need help contact any Hines firefighter for assistance.

POW/MIA flag on display below Old Glory

On Sunday, Aug. 1, the Desert Riders dedicated a newly erected flag pole and flag in the Burns Cemetery. Desert Rider president, Craig LaFollette presented the following dedication:

“This flag pole is an example of a vision to provide our community with a flag in our cemetery that is predominately displayed. The Desert Riders came together and made a vision become a reality.

This is an example of a group of people, the Desert Riders, who came together through a common bond, a passion for motorcycles, working together and accomplishing what individuals cannot.

On behalf of all the Desert Riders we dedicate this flag to all those who have selflessly served our country, to all veterans here or gone and to the citizens of this great community.

You will also note, we will display the POW/MIA flag below Old Glory that we tell the world that they are never forgotten.”

Radio station changes hands and call letters

By Randy Parks
Burns Times-Herald

On Friday, July 16, Leighton (Linc) Reed-Nickerson and his wife, Joan, became the new owners of the local radio station and the changes were almost immediate.

The AM station call letters were changed from KZZR to KBNH and the FM went from KQHC to KORC-FM. The formats, contemporary country and Classic Hits, have remained the same so far, but Reed-Nickerson said they are still deciding what changes they will make there.

Reed-Nickerson took over manning the microphone for now, but said he is hoping to find someone to take over as newscaster.

Reed-Nickerson has a long history in the broadcasting industry, having gotten his ham radio license at age 14 and his first class broadcasting license when he was 17. “When I was 17, I wanted to either be an engineer or an English teacher,” Reed-Nickerson said. “I visited a radio station and decided right then that’s what I wanted to do.”

Reed-Nickerson said he hasn’t worked on the air so much as the engineering side of both radio and television.

His career began in Massachusetts, and through the years he worked in a variety of states until he ended up working for Tektronics and living in Camas, Wash. He left Tektronics in 1998, but stayed in the telecommunications industry, working for Rohde & Schwarz and Qualcomm until he retired in 2009.

Reed-Nickerson said he soon became bored with retirement, bought a station in Waldport that had gone dark and got it back on the air in March as KORC-AM.

While he had no plans to expand as a radio station owner, Reed-Nickerson said he received word that the Burns station was for sale. “We came over, checked it out and decided we could make it work,” he said.

Reed-Nickerson added that Joan is actually the majority owner of KBNH and KORC-FM and plans to spend about three days a week at the station. “She has her own business, rebuilding steam locomotives and steam tractors,” Reed-Nickerson said. He noted that her projects usually end up as movie stars, having been used in the films “Stand By Me,” “The Changeling” and others.

While changes are imminent at the local station, Reed-Nickerson said he wants to get input from the public before making any final decisions. “We’re going to be very open with the community, listen to what they’d like to hear and make it a local station,” he said.

Reed-Nickerson added he’d like to have news blocks at 6, 7 and 8 a.m., noon and 5 p.m. as well as expand local sports coverage and live shows.

While they have yet to decide on music formats, Reed-Nickerson stated it’s important to have a consistent sound.

Although most of Reed-Nickerson’s time has been spent inside the studios since he took over, he’s anxious to get out and meet people. “I think it’s important to  share thoughts and yourself with the community,” he said. “Listen to what they have to say.”

And for those who wonder if this is just a passing fancy, Reed-Nickerson has no plans on a quick re-sale. “I love it here. This is the kind of country I love, and we’ll be here for a while.”

Historic preservationist enjoys repairing structures that provide link to past

By Lauren Brown
Burns Times-Herald

The best compliment one can pay historic preservationist John Platz is to not notice his work.

Platz and his wife, Lorraine, run Pilgrim’s Progress, a business that strives to preserve historic buildings. They are currently working on restoring the roof at the Pete French Round Barn. Subcontractors include Rainbow Contracting out of Hillsboro and Budd Landon Masonry out of Kuna, Idaho.

Platz noted that the hardest part of historic preservation work is trying to find appropriate materials with which to repair the rotted or deteriorated originals.

For example, the 80,000 shingles on the round barn roof came from a mill in Washington that produces perfection grade shingles, which have no knots. Platz noted that roof and rafter repair on the round barn has not been done since the late 1800s.

In addition to replacing the roof, masons are also working on repairing some of the structure’s stone walls.

They had to test 30 samples of adobe-style mortar to find the right color and consistency specific to the round barn. In fact, they ended up using soil for the mixture that was not far from where the round barn sits.

Platz has done quite a bit of work on the Pete French Round Barn, as well as other barns in Harney County.

He did the initial stabilization work back in 1995. The current project started on June 24 and Platz expects the crews to be done with work by the end of July. The entire project will cost about $241,000.

Platz truly enjoys historic preservation. He grew up in a family of builders and has a civil engineering background, which he utilized as a forest architect for the Forest Service. Along the way, he discovered the Secretary of the Interior standards for historic preservation, and it sparked his interest in the field. He put together a team of people and became one of the only historic preservation services in the nation. “The credo that we adhere to is that we repair rather than replace,” he said. “The greatest compliment a historic preservationist can receive is for visitors to come look and say, ‘I don’t know what you did,’ ” Platz said.

Platz and his wife have also provided instruction for college master’s students in field schools. He said that over the years, they have trained more than 1,500 students in historic preservation techniques.

He estimates that in total, he has spent a total of one year and nine months on various projects at the Pete French Round Barn. “It’s a wonderful building,” Platz said. The structure has lasted more than 130 years on the high desert thanks to the dry climate. “Over in the valley, this kind of building would last 60 to 70 years tops,” he said.

It’s fun for Platz and his fellow workers to speculate on the round barn’s original purpose. He noted that he has heard that it was used for training horses in the winter, hay storage and animal husbandry. He wonders if there used to be any other outbuildings that simply deteriorated over the years.

Platz said that he enjoys the collaboration of historic preservation. He has known Bob Schmaltz of Rainbow Construction for more than 40 years. “The common thread is that people do care about preservation,” he said.

Pilgrim’s Progress is a dream job for Platz. “We have a lot of fun,” he said. “For my wife and I, it’s an honor to work on these structures.”

The Thomases will sell their meat at the local Farmers Market

By Randy Parks
Burns Times-Herald

The first Farmers Market of the year is set for Saturday, July 3, at Hines Park, and Dave and Blythe Thomas will be there selling bison meat, as they have been for the past four years.

The Thomases were one of the first four vendors to sign up when the market was organized in 2007, and they have attended every one since. “It’s been a good way to get the product out to the public,” Dave said.

The bison ranch

Before moving to Harney County, the Thomases were living and working in Central Oregon, but they were looking for a change. “I was tired of painting cars,” Dave said, and Blythe, working as a program analyst for the state, longed for more freedom than her job’s cubicle provided.

After purchasing land in Harney County, the Thomases moved in May 2006, and began to kick around different ideas for a business. One day Dave blurted out, “Let’s raise buffalo,” and their venture began.

They first purchased 21 head from a ranch in Wyoming and continued to add to the herd in the coming months. “At first, I was going all over the country picking up bison and having a great time,” Dave said. But now, with 53 head and more calves on the way, the herd is somewhat sustainable without traveling over hill and dale to purchase animals.

Their plan is to keep all heifers until they get 100 breeders, and they figure it will take seven years to accomplish that goal.

The bison graze on more than 400 acres of pasture land, and the Thomases provide additional feed for eight or nine months of the year.

The animals are processed locally by Buermann’s Ranch Meats, and the Thomases get an average of 500 pounds of meat from each animal. Dave pointed out that bison meat is very high in protein and iron and very low in fat, calories and cholesterol. “It’s really good too,” added Blythe.

Farmers Market

Their first year of operation, the Thomases were introduced to Farmers Markets in Bend and Portland and used those venues to sell their product. Then in 2007, they heard they were organizing a Farmers Market locally, and were one of the first to sign up. “Having a market here lets us use a lot less gas and still sell the meat,” Blythe said.

The Thomases have taken over as directors of the event this year and plan to have 15 to 20 vendors each Saturday. “It’s growing every year,” Blythe said.

The market will begin earlier this year, opening at 7:30 a.m., and Blythe added that one goal they have is to have concession stands set up in the park during the market so people don’t have to leave to get a bite to eat.

Just like their bison herd, the Thomases are hoping to keep the Farmers Market healthy and growing.

For more information on the operation, visit dandbbisonranch.com.

Pioneer President Emery Ferguson and Queen Mother Alberta Creamer will be the center of attention Saturday, June 12, at the Harney County Senior Center

Alberta Anderson Creamer

By Lauren Brown
Burns Times-Herald

Alberta Anderson Creamer will be crowned as the Queen Mother during this year’s Pioneer Day celebration at the Harney County Senior Center on Saturday, June 12. “It’s quite an honor,” she said. “I had to wait 87 years to be Queen Mother.”

Creamer was born on Dec. 20, 1922, to Walter and Martha Anderson at home in Happy Valley in Princeton.

In 1925, her family moved to Diamond, where Creamer’s father went to work for Fred Smith. “That’s where I grew up and went to school,” she said. She rode a horse to travel the two miles to school and back.

Not long after the move to Diamond, her brother, Jack, was born. Other members of the family included two half sisters, Toots and Catherine and her half brother, Jack.

In 1934, the family moved to Crane so her sister could attend high school. However, after one year, they moved back to Diamond.

When Creamer was just 9 or 10 years old, she was asked to come stay at Lucille Thompson’s place. While there, Thompson became ill and asked Creamer to drive the car to get neighbor Myrtle Barnes to come help her. Creamer ended up driving the car about two miles down the road where her dad was, and then he drove on to pick up Barnes.
In 1938, her parents bought the ranch that is now owned by the Thompsons.

She attended high school in Crane, where she stayed in the dormitory. Creamer graduated in 1942, got married, moved to Burns and had two boys, Walter in 1943 and Wess in 1944.

Creamer then got divorced, married again and had a girl, Sharon in 1948.

Walter now lives in Fernley, Nev., and Wess and Sharon both live in Hines. In addition, Creamer has five grandkids, 12 great-grandchildren and two great, great-grandchildren.

Creamer divorced again after Sharon was born and moved to Crane in 1949. There she worked at the telephone office until 1951.

Creamer moved to Princeton soon after and lived there until a fire burned the house down in 1954. The family then moved to Crane so the kids could attend high school.

In 1958, they moved back to Princeton. Creamer ended up driving the mail stage to Anderson Valley and the Narrows. The roads were bumpy, and she had to drive fast to keep the vehicle in line. As a result, it didn’t take long for the people on her route to get their mail.

Her daughter, Sharon, remembered a funny incident while the family lived in Princeton. All the kids were playing outside when they heard a loud scream from inside the house. They ran inside to find Creamer jumping up and down in the middle of the dining room table screaming, “It’s a mouse! It’s a mouse!” She wouldn’t come down from the table until her sons hunted down that tiny mouse. Creamer then plugged every hole she could find in that house.

In 1961, she moved to Burns and went to work in a few restaurants and Corbett’s Drug Store.

Creamer went to work for the Edward Hines Lumber Company in 1963 and retired in 1985.

In addition to family get-togethers, she now enjoys going to yard sales. “I call it senior-robics — in and out of the car,” she said. Creamer likes adding to her collection of donkey figurines, of which she has 100 to 150. After retiring, she also started collecting dishes. “Now, I have a shed full of pretty dishes,” she said.

Thanks to Sharon Wilson for contributing to this story.

Emery Earl Ferguson

By Jan Cupernall
For Burns Times-Herald

The Harney Country Pioneer Association will honor Emery Earl Ferguson as President of the annual Pioneer Day celebration, June 12, at the Harney County Senior Center.

Ferguson’s roots to Harney County go way back. His grandparents, A.F. and Olive Lanfear came to Harney County in 1917 in a horse-drawn wagon and homesteaded in Catlow Valley. Earl Ferguson, his father, lived in and around Harney County from the 1920s to the early 1940s.  On Aug. 24, 1927, he married Loraine Lanfear in Mountain Home, Idaho.

Earl and Lorraine moved back to Harney County when Earl was employed by the State Highway Department. The Ferguson family was the first family to live in the state highway housing out at Suntex near Riley.

Ferguson was one of five kids born to Earl and Loraine.  His brother, Charles lives in Eagle, Idaho, along with his two sisters, Dorothy (Fuller) and Jo (Fisk). His brother, Thomas Arthur (Tom) is now deceased.  Ferguson was born on Jan. 6, 1929, in the house of his grandparents, A.F. and Olive Lanfear, 109 S. Harney Ave., Burns.

Ferguson started his education at the old Burns Grade School, where Slater school now stands. Due to his dad’s job with the highway department, the family moved around Harney County. Ferguson attended school at Suntex and Crane.  In 1942, the family moved to Corbett so his father could work in an aluminum factory, and Ferguson continued his education in the Corbett School District. Due to his dad’s ill health the family moved back to the drier climate of Homedale, Idaho.  As a teenager growing up in Homedale Ferguson’s family became friends with John Scharff and for many years, John kept his horse, Chief, with the Ferguson family.

After his freshman year, Ferguson dropped out of school and went to work with his dad. Not seeing a bright future, Ferguson got permission from his folks and joined the United States Navy. Ferguson was living in Homedale, Idaho, when he boarded a train on Jan. 6, 1948, and traveled to Salt Lake City, Utah, with hopes of finishing his education and seeing the world. While in the Navy, Ferguson did finish his education when he received his GED in 1954.

Ferguson’s dream was to become a cook, but his above average scores qualified him for engineering. His first ship was the USS Perkins, a destroyer commissioned on April 4, 1945. His first job aboard the USS Perkins was an auxiliary gang, which ran evaporators, which convert seawater to fresh water. It was while serving on the Perkins that Ferguson’s tour was extended because of the Korean War. It was at this time Ferguson decided to make the Navy his career.

After the Perkins, and a tour of duty of 18 months in Alaska, Ferguson was transferred to the USS Renville, and he finished Air Conditioning and Refrigeration School. Like the Perkins, the Renville took Ferguson overseas.
After many years of sea duty, Ferguson took a stateside job at Great Lakes Training Center, just outside of Chicago, Ill. In June 1956, he started training young men on how to become sailors.

It was while Ferguson was at Great Lakes he met the love of his life, Lydia Josephine “Jo” Higgins. Jo was born Feb. 24, 1919, in Blue Mound, Ill. They married on Dec. 5, 1958. Later they were joined by their only son, Fredrich Henry (Fritz), who was born on Oct. 23, 1959.

The family moved from the Chicago area to San Diego, Calif., so Ferguson could continue his naval career. He served on several ships, including the USS Magoffin, the USS Begor, the USS Weiss and the USS Frank Knox. It was while on patrol on the Knox that Ferguson reached 20 years and put in for retirement. He retired from the Navy on Nov. 27, 1967, as a Machinist Mate, Senior Chief Petty Officer.

Ferguson moved his family to Caldwell, Idaho, to be near family and started job hunting. While training for a job with the U.S. Postal Service, he was offered a firefighter job with the Snow Mountain District of the Ochoco Forest where he worked for three years.

In 1969 the family moved to Burns, and Ferguson bought his grandparents’ place at 109 S. Harney Ave. in Burns. Jo and Emery became members of the First Evangelical Lutheran Church. It was through Jo’s love of making and decorating cakes for her church and the community that lead Jo and Emery into a life-long friendship with Roger and Sharon Nelson of Bismark, N.D. Every year, about the same time each year, the Ferguson family would go back to Bismark to visit and before long they were the adoptive grandparents to the Nelson kids.

After leaving the U.S. Forest Service, Ferguson joined Oregon State Parks, where he was the first park ranger for Clyde Holiday State Park just outside of Mount Vernon. He was soon taking care of campgrounds throughout Eastern Oregon, and because of time away from home, he turned in his resignation and found a job in Burns working as a night watchman at the Edward Hines Mill. It was while he was working at the mill Ferguson and his grandfather went into the hide business, and Ferguson started his newspaper recycling.

When Ferguson left Edward Hines Mill he was hired as maintenance engineer custodian at the old post office. Ferguson remembers watching the post office being built and never imagined that one day he would be working in that building.

While working at the post office, Dick Anthony signed Ferguson up as a member of the Harney County Historical Society.

He had always enjoyed history and tells of the many good memories of him and his dad visiting small museums all over the country while his mother went shopping. Ferguson has been a life member of the historical society since 1987 and has been active since day one. It was not uncommon for him to make an extra effort to make sure visitors to the county had a wonderful time. In June 2008, he took a German tourist, Hermann Ender, along the Meeks Wagon train route out to the old town site of Stauffer. To this day, Ferguson receives post cards from Ender.

Ferguson has served as the first and only vice president of the historical society since the office was established. It was a sad occasion when Ferguson resigned his position on April 29, 2010.  Besides being the vice president, Ferguson also served as tour director for many years. He led the members of the society to the museums of John Day, Canyon City and Silver City, Idaho.  In addition, he took them on tours of the Riddle Brothers Ranch, Sod House Ranch, P Ranch and several other historical locations around the county. For the last 10 years Ferguson has been the chief maintenance engineer for the Harney County Museum, making sure things ran smoothly, from doing plumbing and electrical work to taking out the trash.

Ferguson lost of the love of his life when Jo passed away on March 1, 2008. Due to declining health, Ferguson decided he needed to be closer to family. In May, Ferguson moved into an assisted living facility, Ashley Manor, in Eagle, Idaho.

He is now living close to his sister, Jo, and his brother, Charles and his wife Merna.

Now you will find Ferguson having coffee with Charles and swapping war stories.

Ferguson’s contribution  in making, as well as recording, the history of Harney County makes him a natural fit for the honor of Pioneer President for 2010. With roots going back nearly 100 years, he is a true pioneer.

Author Stephanie Bodeen releases her second book in the young adult genre

By Randy Parks
Burns Times-Herald

After achieving award-winning success with her first young adult (YA) novel “The Compound,” Harney County author Stephanie Bodeen will celebrate the release of her second YA novel with a book-launch party at the Book Parlor in Burns at 7 p.m. Thursday, June 10.

“The Gardener” was released on Tuesday, May 25, and is the ninth book Bodeen has had published. “I learned so much writing ‘The Compound,’ I was more confident going into this book,” Bodeen said. “It’s never easy, but personally I think it’s the best thing I’ve ever written.”

Bodeen has also had seven picture books for children published, beginning with “Elizabeti’s Doll” in 1998, to her latest “A Small Brown Dog with a Wet Pink Nose,” that came out this past January.

Although she’d always dreamed of being an author, Bodeen said her writing career began in 1995 when she and her family were living in Western Minnesota. “Tim (her husband) and I had spent time in Tanzania with the Peace Corps in 1989 and 1990, and over there a lot of the kids made their own toys with whatever they could,” Bodeen said. “I woke up at 3 a.m. with an idea of ‘Rock for a Doll.’ ”

After completing the story, she sent it out and received a call back from a publishing company in New York that showed some interest. She waited a year and when she didn’t hear from them again, she re-sent the story out. “Five weeks later I got a call from a company interested. We changed the title to ‘Elizabeti’s Doll,’ it was sold in 1996 and came out in the fall of 1998.”

While Bodeen has enjoyed, and has had success, writing the picture books, she is more comfortable with the YA novels. “I’m a big sci-fi fan and these are more of my interests,” she said. “It’s more natural subject matter for me, but that doesn’t mean it’s easier.”

Bodeen’s success has not come without some rejection either. She said “The Compound” is the 10th novel she has written, and it wasn’t a matter of just sitting down and cranking it out. “In the fall of 2005, I just quit writing,” Bodeen said. “I quit for three months, and then I saw a contest for a 50,000 word novel that had to be written between Nov. 1 and Nov. 30.” It was then that she came up with the 250-page draft of “The Compound” and sent it off.

After getting feedback on the draft, Bodeen said she dumped 240 pages of it and began again. That time Feiwel and Friends, a McMillan Imprint, bought the story, and she was on her way.

Bodeen said she signed a two-novel contract, which was fulfilled with “The Gardener.”

“You have to have a really thick skin,” Bodeen said. “Writing can be very personal and when you get rejected, and you do, you’ve got to get right back out there.”

Bodeen’s synopsis for “The Gardener” was approved in 2008, and that’s when she began writing and revising the book. “When I’m working on a book, it’s probably for four or five hours a day. I get it down beginning to end, and then go back and revise. I figured out I may not be a great writer, but I am a great reviser,” she laughed.

“The Compound” has sold 30,000 to 40,000 paperback copies and 20,000 to 25,000 hardback copies, and is published in German, Dutch, Chinese, Italian and Vietnamese, as well as English. Awards include the American Library Association Quick Picks for Young Adults; Bank Street Best Children’s Book of the Year; and Iowa Teen Award Master List. It is also a finalist for State Reader awards in seven different states.

Bodeen has already been working on her next book, “The Raft.” “It’s the story of a lone survivor of a plane crash at sea,” she said. “It may come out in 2011, but I’m not sure.”

Mark your calendar now.

By Randy Parks
Burns Times-Herald

The Malheur National Wildlife Refuge (MNWR) is currently in the process of developing a Comprehensive Conservation Plan (CCP) that will be used to guide the long term management of wildlife, habitat, public use activities, and cultural resources on the refuge.

Because the CCP must deal with a wide variety of issues, a Refuge Health Collaborative Working Group has been established to provide input to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service as to how to deal with the challenges facing the refuge.

The group, made up of representatives from federal and state agencies, environmental groups, landowners, technical personnel, and other community members met on Wednesday, May 19, to begin discussions on what direction they would like to see the CCP take.

The meeting was facilitated by the High Desert Partnership (HDP) and Oregon Consensus, a statewide collaborative governance program at Portland State University.

HDP chairperson Bill Renwick told the group that by bringing the different interests together in a meeting before drafting the CCP, they were trying to anticipate and reduce any tensions before they might arise. “We’re bringing people together to find solutions,” Renwick said.

CCP Project Leader Tim Bodeen said that after receiving public input for the past year, a core team of staff from the MNWR came up with a list of what they felt were driving issues. That list included: 1. Water — aquatic health, such as infrastructure, rights, quality and quantity, climate change, Blitzen River and adjoining creeks; 2. The significance of the MNWR for migratory birds; 3. Partnerships/Collaboration; 4. Terrestrial health.

Following discussions in small groups, the collaborative group as a whole formed a list of issues they felt should be addressed in the CCP. That list included, but was not limited to, helping the refuge manage lands outside the boundaries, haying and grazing, noxious weed management, carp control, elevating partnerships, water rights, flexibility with permittees, predation, visitor services, Blitzen River restoration, significance of birds, maintaining terrestrial species and access to those species.

The list was not prioritized, but many in the room felt haying and grazing on the refuge could be the most contentious issue and should be the lead topic at the next meeting scheduled for July 8 at the Harney County Community Center in Burns.

New Hines business features hot dogs

By Randy Parks
Burns Times-Herald

Great ideas are often hatched from fond memories.

Bob Landgrave grew up in Peru, Ind., and he still remembers riding his bike up to a local hot dog stand and ordering three chili dogs and a root beer. “There were two hot dog stands in town then, and they’re still there today,” Landgrave said.

When Landgrave and his wife, Peggy, moved to Burns in February 2009 to be closer to family, he noticed that there was no place to buy a good old-fashioned hot dog or sausage, and from there came the idea of The Doghouse.

Landgrave bought the building that formerly housed an espresso business next to Ebar Oil on Highway 20, put on a fresh coat of paint inside and out, and opened for business on Monday, May 17.

The Doghouse offers German sausage, a spicy beer sausage, smoked sausage and all beef hot dogs with a variety of toppings, including cheese, chili, relish, sauerkraut, grilled onions,  jalapenos, slaw, mustard and ketchup. “There’s chili dogs, cheese dogs, slaw dogs,” Landgrave said. “There’s a lot of people who don’t even know what a slaw dog is.” Nachos, chips and soda pop are also available.

As for the market potential, Landgrave pointed out that every second, 25,000 hot dogs are sold in the United States, which equates to about 20 billion per year.

Landgrave said that while the idea of opening a hot dog stand had been in his head for more than 30 years, the move to Burns kind of forced the thought to the forefront. “About two years ago, we sold everything and moved from Amity  to Ohio to be with my wife’s mom, who was ill,” Landgrave said. “Then we moved here, and I wondered what I was going to do. I’m 58 years old, who’s going to give me a job?

“I had a construction business  in Miami, ran a nightclub in Indiana and had a business in Amity. But it doesn’t matter what I did, or what I know. So I opened the hot dog stand.”

The Doghouse gets its smoked sausages and hot dogs locally from Buermann’s Ranch Meats and gets most other supplies from the local grocery stores. “I try to do business in the area,” Landgrave said. “And KZZR, Inkling Designs, John Ebar and others have worked with me getting going. They’ve been great.”

Landgrave added that his son in Ohio, Tim Wood, provided support and was very instrumental in getting the business going.

The Doghouse is open 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. Landgrave stated the hours may change once summer weather arrives.

“Business has been good so far,” Landgrave smiled. “I’m looking to give people good food at a reasonable price.”