Image provided by: Morrow County Museum; Heppner, OR
About Heppner gazette-times. (Heppner, Or.) 1925-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 15, 1979)
BESSIE WET2ELL U OF ORE NEWSPAPER LIB EUGENE OR 97403 v:' GAZE The Heppner 1 in, ii Morrow County's Home-Owned Weekly Newspaper State playoffs St. Mary's visits Heppner-see page 8 VOL. 97 NO. 46 14 pages THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 15, 1979 20 cents HEPPNER, OREGON ' " " V, if V iff : v . A-yy Heppner-Lexington road may soon be completed If there is a break in the weather, the road between Heppner and Lexington will be . done by Nov. 20, according to Mike Leary of the road i construction company of Pe- ter Kiewit Sons' Co. Leary said the state funded highway should begin to be paved this week if the weather i stays warm enough. He said it ' an Oregon specification that : ing can only be done with ;' the air or ground temperature ; being 40 degrees or above and ; rising. "I am the optimist in the ; group, but the base life, the first two inches of asphalt, ; should be covered by the ; 20th," Leary said. "If snow comes and it stays, then we are stuck." Leary said the project has 190 calendar days left before it is scheduled to be completed, which includes a 90-day shut down for the winter, but he said the company hopes it can be completed this year. The entire section, including the road from Lexington toward Hermiston, is being done at once. Lee Kearney, area manager for the construction, is not quite as optimistic. He said the asphalt has just been moved to the site and it will be paved out as soon as possible and that it could be done, weather permitting, by next month. "It is likely we will have to stop and finish next spring," Kearney said. Special city council meeting today There will be a special Heppner City Council meeting today at 5:30 p.m. at the City Hall to discuss an ordinance which will allow the vacating of portions of Thompson Street. Jib These two photos, taken by Robert Lowe in 1920, show the Lexington to Heppner highway when it was first built. The road looks a lot like it does today but the machinery is a lot different. The older trucks carried five yards and had solid tires while the newer ones carry 35 yards. A bulldozer clears out a path for the new road. Paving is supposed to begin this week. Cornelius says T Problems with Iran hurt wheat exports 1. 4 li Local Morrow County Wheat League members at tended the annual meeting Tuesday night in the Elks Lodge in Heppner with Jim Cornelius, extension econo mist for Oregon State Univer sity, as the gnest speaker. Cornelius gave his talk on "What Happened to Wheat Prices?" He said the Portland price for white wheat, which had been stable at $3.75 a bushel since July of 1978, rose dramatically last May to $4.75 a bushel. He said it now is creeping back toward the $4 a bushel level. Grain market analysts said the cause for the rise was the crop shortfall in the Soviet Union and so the Russians increased their purchases of U.S. wheat. The price decline, according to Cornelius, was because of the near-record U.S. wheat production which is up 18 percent over last year. He said soft white wheat has slipped in cost because it is at a competitive disadvantage with red wheats and so there is reduced export market de mand for the soft white wheat. The production of soft white wheat in the Pacific North west region is down slightly he said. "Difficulties between the United States and Iran have cut deeply into white wheat exports from the PNW," Cornelius said. "Australia has . ' I - L K!' far" L Jim Cornelius .now picked up a significant share of this once large U.S. wheat market." Other countries are also not buying white wheat from the U.S. Korea, Pakistan, and Japan, along with Iran pur chased 85 percent of the total 169 million bushels of white wheat exported last year. Only Japan and Korea have cc-'inued to buy at about the same level as last year, Cornelius said. He said the reduced export ing of the white wheat is especially heavy on prices because exports are so impor tant to the sales in this region. Cornelius said there is hope for the PNW white wheat. He said the strong export demand for red wheat in the gulf area and Great Lakes regions could make way for PNW wheat. He said the wheat plus shipping costs basis upon which some coun tries buy wheat may soon favor PNW white wheat be cause of the transportation costs being higher in the Atlantic and Mediterranean ports. Cornelius said there also is the possibility of India being in the market for grain imports because of crop shortfalls. Looking to 1980. Cornelius said the expectations are for a continuation of strong world wide demand for food grains and ever increasing demand for wheat. "Despite this optimism," Cornelius said. "Exports are very important to our eco nomy but heavy reliance upon foreign markets can also prove costly when those mar kets unexpectedly thin out. "One possible solution, is to follow the pattern set by the Soviet Union, whereby mini mum guaranteed quantities of grain for export are negotia ted for a period of several vears." he continued. "There is a need to con stantly and agressively seek out new markets for our wheat," he concluded, "This Heppner stores set Xmas opening The annual "Christmas Opening" celebration will take place Nov. 23. the day after Thanksgiving, in Hepp ner. Santa Claus will be arriving downtown at about 1:30 p.m. All the stores in town will have window guessing compe tition from 9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Each store will put merchandise or something else in the window for custom ers to guess what the price is or how many objects there are in a container. At the end of the day. the closest guessers will receive a prize from the store. Santa will also be in Heppner next month at Kroll's Department Store from 1 to 3 p.m. Dec. 8. 15. and 22. not only opens new markets but helps to diversify sales, thus reducing the reliance upon single large importing countries." At the meeting, the Morrow County Wheat League mem bers named Brok Tucker, from Wagon Trail Farms, president of the league. They also elected a new vice-president. Dinah Jackson, Morrow County's champion cake baker was introduced as was Don and Jean Bennent, the Morrow County Conservation winners. The 1979 president, Joe McElligott, was the announ cer. Committee meetings were held all afternoon Tuesday. The committees adopted reso lutions to send to the Oregon Wheat League meeting in Portland Dec. 2 through 5. The committees decided on policies for Taxaton and Legislation, Production and Land Use, Wheat Use and Research, Marketing, Wheat hearts, Transportation, Na tional Farm Programs and Public Affairs and Membership. School board meets Nov. 20 The Morrow County School District Board of Directors will hold their regular monthly meeting at Riverside High School in Boardman at 7:30 p.m. The Board will consider bids from private contractors for the operation of the district's transportation system at the schools in Boardman and Irrigon. Currently all school buses are district owned and operated. The Board will also consider quotations for site work at the District's new school buildings. In other business the Board will examine preliminary re quests for field trips, new staff, and for major capital outlay projects which are to be considered for next year's school budget. Bird season still open for hunters r "- t . i t zf It Two successful elk hunters were (Left to Right ) Bill McConnell, formerly of Kinzua, and Tom Eller, both from Kennewick. They found the trip to the Morrow County hunting grounds quite prosperous as McConnell shot a six-point and Eller a five-point near the Tupper Guard Station. Big game hunting season has come and gone with some hunters being successful and others not as successful but bird season hunters are still goii;? to be firing away. iii'j only big tame hunting left is for antlerless elk and only a few hunters who were lucky enough to have their names picked from the draw ing are participating in that. It starts Nov. 17 and permits are required. "The prospects are slow with the elk scattered because there is no snow." said Glen Ward, of the state game commission. Ward said elk hunting for the general season was slow and the split season reduced the hunting pressures. Be cnnKn of ftij-.- W-irrt sniH thorp should be a good carry over of bulls next year which is "What we were striving for." he said. This is the first year there has been a split bull season and Ward said it might have kept illegal hunting down below previous years. Pheasant hunters will be done Nov. 18. Ward said the best pheasant hunting now is in the side canyons because the birds have moved there from the heavily hunted creeks. Chukar and Hungarian pheasant hunting will continue through Jan. 13 with the hunting being good but the birds are scattered, according to Ward "The hunters will have the best success wi'h a good bird flu;' " Ward said Fund set up for Maben baby Friends of the Maben family have set no a fund for seven-month-old Jer emy Jon Maben. who is undergoing radiation treat ment for a brain tumor at the University of Oregon Health Sciences Center in Portland. Jeremy is the son of Jeff and Kathie Maben who live and work at the Horseshoe Hereford Ranch. Inc ;it Ruggs. He was born with a cancerous tumor on the hack of his head. He has undergone surgery but the tumor was not completely removed, according to fa mily friends. He is cur rently being treated at the university's hospital. Cindy Dudley, who star ted the local fund-raising effort, said contributions have been deposited in a saving account opened in Jeremy's name at the First National Bank of Oregon in Heppner. Donation cans have been set up in local stores. In addition, a table at the Artifactory. Dec. 1 at the Morrow County Fair grounds, will sell articles for the Maben fund. Persons with items tor the Artifactory may take them to the Maben table, said Dudley. Dudley said anyone who wishes to assist in the fund drive may call Larry and Cindy Dudley, 676-9812; Dick and Lynnea Sargent, 676-9621; or Jessie Scott, 676-5142; between 9 a.m. and 2 p.m. The Mabens have re quested prayers for their son. Jeremy is the grandson of John and Ruth Maben, owners of the Court Street Market in Heppner; and of Fred Verstotpen in Spo kane, and Dixie Bustler in Pendleton. 1 . 1L J f '1 ' ' I I ..V Baud director Bruce Martin (right) directs the Heppner Junior High band in the song, "I'll Like to Teach the World to Sing" in preparation for tonight's concert. Cord Adams and Tiiivis lhalt will play drum solos in the roncert. Local bands to perform The Heppner Junior High and High School bands will put on a program tonight at 8 p.m. in the high school cafetorium. According to band instruc tor Bruce Martin, it will 'be a short program of about 45 minutes. The high school band will play the "Thunderer" and ' "Variation Overture" and the junior high band will play "I'd Like to Teach the World to Sing" and "Bunker Hill" among other selections. The Christmas concert is scheduled for Dec. 18. r- i,. . r i ' ,.
