Image provided by: Morrow County Museum; Heppner, OR
About Heppner gazette-times. (Heppner, Or.) 1925-current | View Entire Issue (Dec. 20, 1979)
f .WfiqW'-Ms.-.' -.-j?JfiR.v;ra,-"i4llii.' .-".'--'''''V"--' ' ' 'V' -V ' ' '-hf--nii -H-fJii-'-i ji- "itwryry -4, ' BESS I E WETZELL U OF ORE N EWS'PAPER LIB EUGENE OR 97403 r The Heppner GAS TT"1 i 11 1 1 il JllYU Morrow County's Home-Owned Weekly Newspaper l&ll 11 Weather JBy Don Gilliam VOL. !7 NO. 5) Thursday. December 20. Iil7!t 22 PAGES TWO SECTIONS 2(1 cents In This Issue: ' Ilil.owPre. Head our Christmas Greetings Section, in Tuos. Dec. 1 1 45 25 which our advertisers extend their best Wed.. Dec. 12 42 24 w ishes for the holiday season to Heppner V Thurs . Dec. 13 44 28 Gazette-Times readers. Many -of their ads are Fri . Dee. 14 53 30 illustrated by .Morrow County school children. ,! Sal.. Dec. 15 52 30 .02 . Sun . Dec Hi 31 25 HEPPNER. OREGON . ,1 Mon . Dec. 17 64 27 150 jobless Plywood plant closes About 150 people employed in the Kinzua Corporation's plywood mill in Heppner have received notices of a perma nent layoff effective Dec. 21. Meanwhile, Kinzua's owners have agreed in principle to consider a merger with the Georgia-Pacific Corporation. Georgia-Pacific is one of the nation's giants in the forest products industry. The announcement of the merger talks was contained in a brief press release from Georgia-Pacific's corporate headquarters in Portland last Thursday. Sieve Jackson, a company spokesman, said Georgia-Pacific was required to make the disclosure under rules of the federal Securities and Ex change Commission. Jackson said the plywood mill was to be liquidated "it's not part of the deal." Kinzua's ownership rests 'lvith a group of families in the Seattle and Everett area. Its president is Harry Stuchell of the Eclipse Lumber Co. of Everett. He said, in a brief telephone interview, that the pending merger is in its early stages. "We wouldi rather not say anything." he commented. Harry Kennison. Kinzua general manager, said execu tives at the mill were in formed of the pending merger in a telephone call "from one of the owners" the night before the Georgia-Pacific announcement. "The closure of the plywood mill is certain," Kennison said. "The future of the sawmill operation would be up to Georgia-Pacific." Kennison said the layoff affected about 150 people. A similar number will continue to be employed in the sawmill. "It is happy news to no one." he responded to a question about the mill closure occurring just before Christ mas. "Ironically, when we called the Unemployment Insurance office in Hermiston." Kenni son said, "they told us we were the fifth one this morning (Thursday) to call about a plant shutdown each one af fecting about 150 people." "He added. "I've never seen tougher times than at present." Kennison said the sawmill operation at Kinzua would continue with two daily shifts. He said he had called a sawmill in Raker and was told that plant was planning to reduce production to one shift a day. A spokesman for the Oregon Slate Job Service in Hermis ton said notices of job layoffs had been received from Mar lette Homes. Inc.. a mobile home manufacturer in Her miston: and from three potato processing firms. J R. Simplot Co. and Lamb-Weston, in Hermiston. and Gourmet Foods in Boardman. For the latter three companies, the layoffs would be for the holidays. In the transaction. Georgia Pacific will issue shares of its Series B Adjustible Rate Preferred Stock in exchange for Kinzua shares. The num ber of shares to be traded has not been determined or an nounced. Georgia-Pacific used Series A stock to acquire the Hudson Pulp & Paper Co., in a $200 million transaction in the East last year, and Series B stock to buy out the Polymer Materials, Inc. Christmas business busy for most Heppner merchants Christmas is a busy time of year for most businesses and it is no exception for the Heppner merchants. ' Mark Murray, manager of Rexall Drugs, said business has been good, about the same as last year at Christmas, but he won't really know how good the store is doing until after Christmas when the books are figured out. Rexall is having special business hours for the holi days for late Christmas shop pers. The store will be open tomorrow night from 6 to 9 p.m. and Sunday from 1 to 5 p.m. The Christmas rush has also had an effect on the Heppner Post Office. "We are busier than hell," said Postmaster Hubert Wil son. "Sales are comparative to past years." Wilson said no temporary employees have been hired to help meet the demand but the hours have been extended for the regular employees. He said the peak was probably Dec. 17 and the mail should decline from then on. Doris Robarge has nothing to compare this year's Christ mas sales to because she started her business Jan. 2, 1979. She said sales were up in November because of some sales but she has not had sales this month so she does not know if there has been a Christmas rush at her store or not . She did say Doris LaRae's is planning a one-year anni versary celebration in two weeks. Business at the Sears cata log store in Heppner has been good but it is slowing down, according 'to manager Kit George. He said the rush came earlier there because it is a catalog store and it takes a while to receive the merchan dise. ' Petersons Jewelry has not had a Christmas rush this week. "We were ahead of last year Dec. 1 and we were doing pretty well until the announce ment was made about the mill closing down and now it has been quiet." said owner Ran dall Peterson. Peterson did say he has been busy all year and he has hired extra help this year so he did not hire additional help during Christmas as he has in the past. Peterson said his store will not be open for the late hours tomorrow night and he will not be open Sunday either but the store will be open its regular hours Christmas Eve Day. "Monday could be a busy day for us," he said. Shops that will be open until 9 p.m. tomorrow night for late Christmas shopping are Gard ners. Coast -to-Coast, Cole's House of Fashion. Murrays Drugs. Doris LaRae's and Diana's This and That. All of those stores will be open Sunday from 1 to 5 p.m . except Diana's This and That. ..irtMiiii lit Hi -mmm: v j r I .tfW-v' - .- . ::. '-yr.: - V " i4 . 1 f,- , t t - ' i ) I -. ' t ' , IMvwood from the Heppner mill will not be stamped with the Kinzua insignia much longer. The plant will close down tomorrow putting 150 people out of work. Kinzua negotiates with Georgia-Pacific, union As of Tuesday morning, negotiations were continuing between Kinzua and Georgia Pacific for the ownership of the Kinzua Mill. "We are sitting in limbo." said Harry Kennison. general manager at the mill. i He said he does expect the sale of the mill will be completed by the end of January. Kennison said negotiations are continuing between man agement and the union on what the effect will be on the 150 workers who are now out of work because of the plywood plant closure. The two parties are trying to work on an agreement on how some kind of aid can be given to the workers who are effected. Kennison said the agreement will probably in clude some type of help in finding the workers other jobs, pension benefits, vacation time benefits, holiday pay and other benefits the workers would have had if they would have continued working with Kinzua. The deal with Georgia-Pacific is only for the sawmill and Kinzua land and not for the plywood plant machinery. A representative for G-P in Portland said the company could not buy the machinery even if it wanted to because Georgia-Pacific would have too many plywood plants if they added the Heppner one to its congomeration. "It is up to Kinzua to get rid of the equipment and they are seriously considering an auc tion." Kennison said. Georgia-Pacific does not own any companies in eastern Oregon at the present time. They recently sold their mill in Pilot Rock to Louisiana Pacific. With Neighborhood Center's help Poor get a Christmas It"""" ;" i - - - il I lone instructor Oregon teacher of the year k TlH IX Whim mint "-. Houses around Heppner have been decorated with Christmas articles in preparation for the lighting contest. This house is located next to the courthouse. Marv Peterson is the Indus trial Arts Teacher of the Year in Oregon. lone High School Principal Chuck Starr an nounced at the Morrow County School Board meeting Monday in Lexington. "We found out this morning (Dec. 17) about the honor and it is something we all can be proud of." Starr said. Peterson will be going to St. Louis. Missouri in March to the National Convention of the American Industrial Arts As sociation. Heppner High School Princi pal Jim Bier announced a burglary took place in Hepp- nerat the school last weekend. A $750 tape deck, a $230 receiver and a student's piccolo worth $260 were taken. The school board approved the extension of school super intendent Matt Doherty and his assistant John Edmund son's contracts for another year. They also approved a field trip for the lone football team members to attend the Port land Trailblazers game to morrow. The lone Booster Club purchased the tickets to award the team after its state championship season. The board members approved the (Continued on page 3) About 30 Morrow County families will celebrate an early Christmas today when they may have thought they were not going to have any Christmas at all. With the help of the Neigh borhood Center and many other organizations in the county, these 30 low-income families can now celebrate a Christmas with all the trim mings. The 30 baskets of goodies for the families have been pre pared and peace officers, children's services ' em ployees, adult family services employees and other volun teers from around the county will take the baskets out today.. Inside the baskets are toys and gifts for children of all ages that have been donated by people year around. Also in the baskets is food to prepare a Christmas dinner of turkey, dressing, pumpkin pie. fruit salad, rolls, margar ine, celery onions and pop. All the food has been donated. "It is a big undertaking," said Pat Brindle of the Neighborhood Center. "It takes months of work." Brindle said it cost $800 last year just for the food for the dinners but there are fewer families this year so it should cost about $750. She said the center has been doing the project for 12 years. Donated toys have been repaired by a variety of organizations. The toys then are separated into age and sex categories and then put into baskets that have been num bered for confidentiality. Three bicycles have been donated this year that have been found by the city and no one has claimed them. Some Christmas trees were donated by the Lutheran Church. The Soroptimists donate dolls ev ery year and many merchants have donated new merchan dise from their stores. The gifts used to be wrapped in Christmas paper but it is not done anymore because problems arose when children were given the wrong type of present for their age category. The Neighborhood Center works in cooperation with the Adult Family Services to find the needy families. The fami lies are scattered throughout the entire county and must meet low income poverty guidelines to be eligible for a Christmas basket. According to Brindle. schools and churches have been sponsoring food drives and stores have been donating new socks and underclothes for the underprivileged. Brindle said many ot the families have seven children and two families last year had nine. She said the Neighborhood Center does not seem to have as much to give out this year as in the past but they do expect more to come in this week with the help of the Toys for Tots dance that was put on at Bucknums Tavern last weekend. Schools closed for Xmas vacation All schools in the Morrow County School District will be closed for Christmas Vacation from Dec. 21 to Jan. 2. Vacation begins with an early dismissal at 1:30 p.m. tomorrow. ""V If" " V ; ;-" c.. J i . - ' t 'Iniinnimiiimii nnimi Iiu n Tf""'-''""----1" MhJ nfinnromm --4 j Maxine Gray (left) and Pat Brindle fold clothes they are going to put into the Christmas baskets for needy families.
