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The Heppner
(See page 8 for shopping specials)
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Morrow County's Home-Owned Weekly Newspaper
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VOL. 97 NO. 43
THURSDAY, OCTOBER 25, 1979
20 cents
14 pages
HEPPNER, OREGON
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'Moonlight Madness' sale
set tomorrow night
Heppner merchants will
open their doors Friday night,
from 7 to 9 p.m., for their
Halloween "Moonlight Mad
ness" sale.
Randall Peterson, chairman
of the Retail Merchants Com
mittee of the Heppner-Morrow
County Chamber of Com
merce, said the sales tradi
tionally have drawn a good
response from the buying
public.
Store owners and their
clerks are to don costumes
appropriate to the Halloween
theme, he said, and customers
will have the chance to vote on
their favorites. Coupons will
be distributed for the voting.
As part of the promotion for
the sale, junior high school
students have prepared post
ers under the direction of their
teacher, Ron Forrar, and
these have been placed in
store windows. Cash prizes of
$20, $15 and $10 are to be
awarded first, second and
third place winners.
"Many of our students are
participating in this Hallo
ween activity," Forrar said.
"The poster art is part of the
design portion of the occupa
tional versatility program at
Heppner Junior High School,"
he explained. "Simplicity and
readability are just a few of
the many design guidelines
which the students are re
quired to follow when creating
their works of art for the
Halloween decor in downtown
Heppner."
The Chamber of Commerce
will host the winners to a
restaurant dinner.
To add a festive air,
Peterson said, student cheer
leaders from Heppner High
School are to sell hot cider at
various locations downtown.
Prior to the sale Friday
night, stores are to observe
their regular closing hours
and then reopen for the sale at
7 p.m.
Columbia Basin Cooperative
plans 40 percent rate increase
Randall Peterson, chairman of the Retail Merchants
Committee, prepares his jewelry store for the "Moonlight
Madness" sale.
Queen Edwards
Rate increases averaging 40
percent systemwide have
been authorized for customers
of Columbia Basin Electric
Cooperative, Inc., effective in
December, Fred R. Toombs,
manager, has announced.
He said the increases were
authorized by directors of the
cooperative this past week
under the pressure of a
pioposal by the Bonneville
Power Administration to in
crease its wholesale rates by
County rodeo royal court chosen
Lori Edwards of Lexington
was recently chosen to be the
rodeo queen for Morrow
County next year and Nancy
Miller and Lottie Laughlin will
be the princesses.
Edwards is the daughter of
John and Dorothy Edwards,
360 S. B St. in Lexington. She
goes to school at lone High
School and participates in
volleyball and basketball. She
was a princess last year and
was one of four applicants to
apply to be queen.
Nancy Miller and Lottie
Laughlin were chosen to be
the princesses by the rodeo
board.
Miller is the daughter of Mr.
and Mrs. Tad Miller, also of
Lexington, t'he goes to school
at Heppner High School. She is
active in 4-H, 4-H horse shows,
4-H riding club and volleyball
and basketball at the high
school. She helped out at the
Heppner rodeo last year by
carrying a flag and that
helped her in being named
princess, according to Faye
Seitz, court director of the
rodeo board.
Laughlin also helped out at
the rodeo last year by carry
ing a flag. She is active in
sports at Heppner High school
She participates in volleyball,
basketball, golf and swim
ming. She also enjoys horse
back riding.
"She is reliable, cheerful,
easy going and is a good rider
in rodeos which is mandatory
for a princess," Seitz said.
Laughlin is the daughter of
Mr. and Mrs. Robert Laugh
lin, 265 East Cannon in
Heppner.
A requirement for queen is
that the candidate must have
been a princess in either of
two previous years. Princes
ses must 16 years of age or a
junior in high school.
Applicants for princess had
to fill out an application. All
the Morrow County High
Schools had applications. The
candidates for queen do not
have to fill out an application
because the rodeo board picks
someone who has already
been a princess.
"We used to have more girls
before but now more girls are
in the rodeo itself so there are
not as many trying to be queen
and princesses," Seitz said.
Seitz added this year the fair
board had an opportunity to
have a say in the choosing of
the royal court but only one
member showed up.
Edwards, Miller and Laugh
lin will represent Morrow
County at the rodeos in Spray,
Arlington, Condon, Umatilla,
Hermiston, Boardman and at
two rodeos in Pendleton and
Heppner. Seitz said the num
ber of rodeos have been cut
down because of the cost of
gas.
"We used to go to LaGrande
for an overnight trip but with
the cost of gas, we though
parents would be more willing
to take the girls if they only
have to go to the closer ones,"
Seilz said
90 percent.
The new rates will go into
effect with the meter readings
in December or by Dec. 23,
Toombs said.
Discussion of the rate hikes
and the cooperative's current
cost-of -service study will be on
the agenda for the annual
meeting to be held in Condon
Nov. 7.
The meeting, open to all
members of the cooperative
and their families, will be held
in the Condon Elks Club at 117
South Main Street. Registra
tion will star t at 1 1 a .m . Lunch
will be served at noon, and the
business meeting will follow at
1:15 p.m.
Toombs said rates will be
increased by 37.6 percent for
residential, general service
and large users; by 45 percent
for irrigation customers, and
56.1 percent for street and
security lighting.
A letter is to be sent to all
customers "explaining the
dollars and cents of the rate
increases," Toombs said.
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New Morrow County Judge Donald C. McElligott was sworn into office by Sadie
Parrish, county clerk, last Friday.
McElligott sworn in
a new county ju
Donald C. McElligott is the
new county judge of Morrow
County, having been appoin
ted by Gov. Vic Atiyeh and
sworn in by Sadie Parrish,
county clerk, in an informal
ceremony in the judge's office
last Friday.
He succeeds County Judge
Delwin O. Nelson, who re
signed. McElligott, a farmer and
former county school board
member for 10 years, will
serve until Jan. 1, 1981, under
the current appointment. If he
wishes to retain the office
beyond that date, he will have
to seek election in 1980.
McElligott will serve as
chairman of the three-member
county commission and,
as judge, preside over the
Morrow County Juvenile
Court.
Because of
nature of the
the judicial
position, the
vacancy created by Nelson's
resignation had to be filled by
the governor's appointment.
The new judge had to be in
the same political party as
Nelson, who is a Democrat.
The job currently pays $17,028
per year.
Atiyeh 's appointment of Mc
Elligott, announced from Sa
lem Wednesday morning, Oct.
17, came as a surprise to many
local people, for the Morrow
County Democratic Central
Committee had nominated
former sheriff John Mollahan
for the vacancy.
Denny Miles, press secre
tary to the governor, said
about 50 letters and telephone
calls had been received in
support of McElligott's ap
pointment. The governor's office was
not represented at the swearing-in
ceremony because of
the necessity to fill the
position quickly, Miles said.
There were a number of
juvenile cases pending that
needed prompt attention.
McElligott had the distinc
tion recently of being desig
nated as one of 10 representa
tive farmers from throughout
the United States to receive
Communion from Pope John
Paul II at Des Moines, Iowa.
Daniel Creamer of Irrigon,
a retired Columbia River
tugboat skipper, gave the
following statement to the
Heppner Gazette-Times:
"I would like to thank the
residents of Morrow County
for their support of me in
letters to the Governor's
Office" for the position of
county judge.
Creamer had sought the
appointment in an application
sumbitted directly to Atiyeh,
and had made a bid for the
Morrow County Democratic
Central Committee's nomina
tion, which went to former
sheriff John Mollahan.
'Quite an experience9
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Morrow County princess Lottie Laughlin, queen Lori Edwards and princess Nancy
Miller will represent the county at the various rodeos in the area next year.
Morrow County's new
judge, Don McElligott, spoke
at the Chamber of Commerce
meeting Monday in Heppner.
"I have only been judge for
two hours so I can't talk much
about that so I will talk about
my visit to see the Pope,"
McElligott said. "It was quite
an experience."
McElligott said he was one
of 10 rural people selected to
represent the rural communi
ties in the United States when
Pope John Paul II came to Des
Moines, Iowa on his recent
visit to the United States. A
farmer in Des Moines invited
the Pope to the city to talk
about the farming problem.
"Bishops of the Catholic
Church realize there is a farm
problem," McElligott said.
"Farmers are moving off the
land and rural towns are
folding up. The soil in Iowa
would make anybody here die
of envy. With the high interest
rates, young people are not
able to get into business.
"Farms are getting smaller
there," he went on. "Farm
land six years ago that cost
$1,000 an acre is now $3,000 an
acre. Inflation is so fast. The
rural people back there are
religious people. That's why
its called the 'Bible Belt.' But
the farms are going to pieces
and people are moving out and
being retrained for other
jobs."
McElligott said the Pope
comes from a rural area in
Poland so he has sympathy for
the farmers. He said he did not
know why he was selected to
represent the northwest in
front of the Pope.
"It was a dream-type
thing," he said. "I was one of
the five men and five women
to have communion with the
Pope."
McElligott said the other
people who took communion
with him included people from
Vermont, Texas, Montana,
California and Louisiana.
The Californian was a
Chicano woman who worked
all her life in the lettuce fields
and she put her kids through
college with that job.
The black man from Louisi
ana worked in the cane fields
all his life and he was self
educated.
"He was a devout Baptist
and when the TV people found
that out, they never inter
viewed anyone else," McElli
gott said.
The reason he may have
been chosen even though he
was a Baptist, McElligott
said, is because he is working
in Louisiana to educate the
cane field workers with voca
tional training for other jobs.
The Baptists and the Catholics
are working together in that
project.
McElligott said Interstate 80
was blocked for eight miles to
provide parking for all the
people who came to see the
Pope. He said the crowd was
estimated to be more than
350,000.
"Just to see the crowd was
an experience," McElligott
said. "I have never seen
350,000 of anything. There
must have been 2,500 sanitary
facilities. It was the most God
awful bunch of humanity you
ever saw. There was a
monumental traffic jam and I
missed my plane.
"They expected six babies
to be born and 30 fatal heart
attacks to occur," McElligott
said. "But I don't think there
were any deaths or babies."
McElligott said the message
from the Pope was that
Christian rural people should
have gratitude for all their
great gifts. The Pope said the
stewardship of the soil is a
God-given duty and the farm
ers must preserve the soil for
their kids by using the best
scientific methods for croD
cont. on page 12
Weather
by Don Gilliam
Hi Low Pre.
Tues.,Oct. 16 68 45
Wed., Oct. 17 62 36
Thurs.,Oct. 18 51 40 .36
Friday., Oct. 19 55 44 .54
Sat., Oct. 20 53 37 .31
Sun., Oct. 21 55 40 .26
Mon.,Oct. 22 ;'-8 47