Image provided by: Morrow County Museum; Heppner, OR
About Heppner gazette-times. (Heppner, Or.) 1925-current | View Entire Issue (March 2, 1978)
BESS I E WETZELL U OF ORE NEWSPAPER LIB EUGENE OR 97403 Dam public meetini o ay eveniii g Montd. Questions to be answered on flood plain, dam A public meeting for com ment on the proposed Willow Creek Dam has been sche duled for Monday, March 6 at 7:30 p.m. in the Circuit courtroom at the Courthouse in Heppner. The meeting is being orga nized by the Heppner Cham ber of Commerce. Officials from both the county and City of Heppner will be on hand to hear comments or accept written statements from the public. From those comments, the County and City are expected to make a decision on whether Motivation speaker here for Tuesday session The Heppner Chamber of Commerce Merchants Com mittee invites all businessmen and the public to hear Troy Bussey Tuesday, March 7 at 7 p.m., Heppner Elementary School. The speaker is president of Bussey Associates, a firm that works with individuals, busi nesses and companies in the fields of motivation, com munications, management and retail sales. Randall Peterson, Mer chants Committee chairman, said Bussey will conduct a three-hour session in Heppner with refreshments served afterwards. In this issue... Morrow SWCD Annual Report Club leads Heppner in spring cleanup With signs of spring beginning to appear in the area, the Heppner Garden Club is again getting ready for a Spring cleanup and Litter Awareness Campaign. The project was inaugurated last year and the work was carried out mainly by grade school children and the club's cleanup committee, led by Irene Swanson. This year the effort has gained the support of other local organizations who will be working the week of March 18-25 towards a goal of having a clean, spruced up town by Easter Sunday, March 26. Heppner Mayor Jerry Sweeney said he intends to declare an official city-wide Cleanup Week, with the city crew helping to haul garbage to the dump. "The city will cooperate to the fullest extent in this effort," Sweeney said. Also assisting the Garden Club in the spring cleanup campaign will be the boy Scouts, Bluebirds, Junior Garden Club, Future Farmers of America, Lions Club and the Chamber of Commerce. Organizations seeking more information on ways to help are asked to contact Dave Harrison or Larry Mills of the Lions dub, Rev. Ken Miller of the Chamber of commerce or Bob Lowe of the Heppner Garden Club. All house owners or renters are asked to cooperate in the campaign by cleaning up yards and side walks and generally sprucing up their outside living area. Help will also be needed or not construction of the proposed dam should proceed. A special committee of the Chamber that has spent se veral weeks investigating the Heppner's flood plain and the impact it will have on the community, will present its recommendations at the meet ing. The Chamber Flood Plain Study Committee recognizes several areas of concern in regards to the flood plain and proposed construction of the dam. Among those concerns are assurance the flood plain will be eliminated if the dam is In this issue of The Gazette-Times the Morrow Soil & Water Conservation District publishes its Annual Report. The SWCD will hold its Annual Meeting Tuesday, March 7 at 7:30 p.m. in the Parish Hall, St. Patrick's Catholic church. Included in the meeting program will be a panel discussion concerning the Clean Water Act (commonly referred to as 208) and a special film presentation depicting the farmer's committment to his land. The public is invited to attend the meeting. Please see special section for more details. built; protection for Willow Creek irrigators below the dam; and assurance that multiple-use provisions be part of the dam. Representatives of the Flood Insurance Administra tion and the Corp of Engineers will be at the meeting to answer questions concerning the flood plain and the dam. Individuals or groups that wish to comment on the flood plain or dam, but who cannot attend the meeting, should send comments to chamber of Commerce, Box 337, Heppner. "In addition to the motiva tion a speaker like Bussey gives, he will also provide information that small busi nessmen can use in everyday management," said Peterson. Persons interested in at tending should make reserva tions with Randall Peterson at , 676-9200. Businesses are being asked to make a contribution to help cover expenses. in picking up litter in the city parks and other public areas. The Garden Club hopes that with everyone working together in a city-wide effort, Heppner will look fresh and clean for Easter Sunday. Details concerning collection of extra trash and teams responsible for different areas of the city will be announced in the near future. Voters approve road levy by 6 to 1 By more than a 6 to 1 margin, Morrow County voters Tuesday approved a three-year, $195,000 road levy for maintaining and improving county roadways. The levy was approved by wide margins in each of the county's five voting precincts, although the turnout appro ximately 21 per cent county-wide was lighter than expected. Only 659 of the more than 3,080 registered voters in Morrow County showed up at the polls. In the Heppner precinct, 223 ballots supported the levy while 29 were opposed. The lone precinct showed 112 in favor and 22 against, Boardman showed 86 in favor and seven against, Irrigon voters supported the levy by a 66 to 23 margin and Lexington polling showed 82 in favor 2nd eight against. With the passage of the levy, county property owners can expect an increase of approximately 5.7 cents per $1,000 of taxable property. The rate will rise to 56.4 cents per thousand from the present rate of 50.7 cents, based on an estimated county valuation of $340,000,000. mr w - . mu VOL. 96 NO. 9 Kids are No. 1 with Jim Ackley The morning after the Mustangs and the Fillies closed out their home basket ball seasons, the gymnasium at Heppner High School was buzzing with some 40-plus Colt roundballers. And just as the previous evening's full house demonstrated the community support for the interscholastic athletic program, the turnout of the pint-sized players held the promise of more good things to come. On hand for both occasions, as he is for a good part of the youth-related activities going on here, was Jim Ackely teacher of music, professional musician, basketball drill ser geant, local promoter, disci plinarian, motivator and all around good guy. "I guess I'm just a kid at heart.. .1 like working with them in any area I can," said Ackley, whose involvements range from generating excite ment at the varsity games by directing the hottest pep band, around to teaching pick and rolls to 4'i-foot-tall basketball players. Somehow sandwiched in among the long list of Ackley extra curriculars, comes a full day of developing and guiding the musical talents of Heppner students. Starting his day at the high school, Ackley over sees 46 students in two periods before heading down the hill for 100 students in grades 5-8 at the junior high. But for Ackley, the job of music education means much more than just getting the players to hit the right notes. He combines a pocketful of tricks with a lot of dedication to motivate the kids and help them meet challenges. "There's a lot of enthusiasm in the younger grades and I try to guide it in the right direction, sometimes using games and ' techniques or encouraging them to write their own music to keep the interest up," Ackely said. 11 T 1TD j ?3SST"W "! ""1 HEPPNER, OREGON, "Basically it means teaching responsibility which I start right off with the fifth gra ders." Now in his fifth year as director of the Heppner music program, Ackley has seen his first crop of fifth graders enter high school as freshmen. There's been a lot of changes in the program and most have come through the hard work of the man at the top. , "There were four musical directors in the three years before I came here," Ackley said. "The program was pretty unstable and the kids were taking bets on how long I'd last." But last he did, and the entire Heppner music pro gram is fortunate for it. After taking the post, Ackley noted the major thrust of work was needed at the high school level. The band hadn't marched in years and interest in the concert band was cool at best. Ever since, he has been working at building the band's halftime show at the games and adding his own brand of enthusiasm to the concert program. "The main thing is atti tude," Ackley said. "The kids are proud to be in the program now and they know they can do a good job." Ackley said the reception he has received from the school district towards expanding the program has been "super". A big plus has been the oppor tunity for the youngsters to showcase their talents outside the practice room and Ackley is still hoping to expand the concerts and music tours at each level. Already on the slate are high school and junior high pops concerts, a junior high band festival, Christmas and Springtime conerts for the fifth and sixth graders, high school exchange concerts and the pep band, all of which are welcomed and appreciated by P lone girls join Fair and Rodeo Court Joining Queen Donna Palmer on the 1978 Morrow County Fair and Rodeo Court are Princesses Kim Pettyjohn, daughter of Paul Pettyjohn Jr., lone, and Laurie Childers, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Geo Childers, lone. The selection of princesses was announced last week by the Fair Board. Laurie, a 1977 graduate of lone High School, is presently attending Blue Mountain Community College and Kim is a sophomore at lone High School. Details and a photograph of the court will appear in next week's Gazette-Times. HHS athletes to be honored March 7 Heppner High athletes who participated on the school's five basketball teams during the past season will be honored at the winter sports dessert scheduled for Tuesday, March 7, beginning at 7 p.m. in the high school cafetorium. Special awards and recognition of participation will be presented to the distript runner-up varsity girls, by coach Sherri Brock; varsity boys, by coach Tom Day; junior varsity girls, by coach Les Payne; junior varsity boys, by coach George Koffler and freshmen boys, by coach Dale Holland. FSIW?9 PW" -rwmmm THURSDAY, MARCH 2, 1978 the community. "I'd like to see some competition among the pep bands and I'm trying to start a coast tour for the high school," Ackley said, looking ahead. Shifting gears to the athletic scene, the Colt basketball program has come a long way since its inception several years ago, and again, much of the progress is attributed to the efforts of Ackley. This year, thanks to $450 donated from sponsors, the Colts are taking the court in brand new uniforms and interest among both players and their parents is running high. And it continues running high, right through the junior high Pony teams, one of which is coached by Ackley. "The kids go through the colt program and then some of them come back to me in the eighth grade," said Ackley, whose most recent Pony boys team just finished a 10-2 season by taking the cham pionship game in a junior high tournament. "In coaching I try to be tough with the kids and instill some character to help them get ready to face high school. With all his talk about character and responsibility, Ackley said he still realizes that attention has to be paid to other aspects of the youth community. To that end, he has this year taken on a new roll as a promoter setting up teen dances "to give the kids a little something more to do". Providing the music at some of the dances is his own professional group, the Jim Ackley Band. While admitting that time for his own interests is definitely "limited," Ackley still plans on expanding his own musical career which began with the piano at age seven, original compositions in the seventh grade and various bands from the tenth mfT-mm 12 . (S)l lit j OYj S DC Heppner music director Jim Ackley brings his own brand of enthusiasm into each of his many youth-related projects. Above he shows his approval of the high school pep bands latest performance grade on, including seven years with a group called the 13th Story. Also in the picture are his furniture upholstering hobby and an interest in sports, especially bowling. "With all these things going on, you've got to set your priorities," Ackley said. "Number one for me happens to be working with kids." Lest one think that Ackley's efforts are forever being channeled outward, rest assured that he too is on the Doherty to address Chamber Monday Morrow County School District Superintendent Matt Doherty will be the guest speaker at Monday's Chamber of Commerce lunch meeting. Doherty will address the upcoming $4.8 million bond issue proposed by the district for construction and remodeling of schools in Heppner, lone, Boardman and Irrigon. Firms mark anniversaries Farley Motor Company of Heppner celebrates it 30th Anniversary this month and Les Schwab Tire Center of Heppner marks one year in business here. James J. Farley started with a Pontiac dealership in Heppner on March 6, 1948, adding the Buick and GMC lines in 1951. Farley Motors then acquired the Ford car and truck line in 1971. An open house will be held at the Company's showroom on Tuesday, March 21. Les Schwab Tire Centers purchased Miles Tire Service last year, bringing to Heppner the Northwest's largest independent tire dealer. Robb Rush, manager and Kevin Rountre, assistant manager are conducting a First Anniversary sale during the next two weeks. c4 X!s PAGES 20c i t " . , i receiving end of some of the benefits. "There's nothing more sat isfying than watching the kids' faces when they know they are accomplishing something," he said. "If you're looking for something that kind of sums up my way of thinking, I always remember a quote from Muhammed Ali that goes, 'Service to others is the rent we pay for the room we have on earth'." Jim Ackley is speaking from a high rent district. 'FA.' i m m ' t r i 1
