Deline Building News Today

A look back at the stories that made the news in the Blue Mountain eagle in 2023. This month-by-month retrospective covers a wide range of topics, from rodeo queens to fighting bulls, political tussles to acts of charity, the Grant County Fair to the Blue Mountain Hospital.

JOHN DAY — The Deline Building in downtown John Day, which had been the home of Radio Shack for a number of years, is no more. The building was gutted on April 17 in a disastrous electrical fire that left a blight in the downtown commercial district and created a public safety concern. Curt Blackburn, a real estate broker from Burns who acquired the building in August, demolished the structure over the weekend. A tall pile of rubble could be seen sitting near bulldozers on the parcel in th...

Building owner Curt Blackburn watches as Andy Root of ACW Inc. uses an excavator to demolish the fire-gutted Deline Building in downtown John Day on Friday, Oct. 13, 2023.

JOHN DAY — The Deline Building in downtown John Day, which had been the home of Radio Shack for a number of years, is no more. The building was gutted on April 17 in a disastrous electrical fire that left a blight in the downtown commercial district and created a public safety concern. Curt Blackburn, a real estate broker from Burns who acquired the building in August, demolished the structure over the weekend. A tall pile of rubble could be seen sitting near bulldozers on the parcel in th...

City officials and nearby businesses called on the owner of the fire-gutted building on Main Street last week to demolish the site, or sell immediately because it poses a public safety risk. Portland-resident Chris Emery, who owns the building, was initially given some leniency to remediate the derelict building as a public nuisance, but city officials and neighboring business owners said it was high time to take care of the problem because of concern the facade or awning might come crashing dow...

JOHN DAY — The fire that began at DP Home Entertainment Monday evening in downtown John Day left two businesses and an empty storefront totaled, but damage to businesses along