Image provided by: Morrow County Museum; Heppner, OR
About Heppner gazette-times. (Heppner, Or.) 1925-current | View Entire Issue (July 1, 1992)
Heppner Gazetle-Times, Hepprier, Oregon Wednesday, July 1, 1992 - FIVE Store summer foods properly Barbecued chicken, baked beans, com on the cob, potato salad, and watermelon. Summer is here and so are all the wonder ful foods the season brings. However, some of these summer time treats need a little extra precaution from consumers before eating. Summer is the season for pic nics and camping trips. That calls for some consideration when it comes to packing the food. “ I guess the utmost thing to consider would be refrigeration of products. Don’t leave them out too long,” says Jim Black, ad ministrator of the Food and Dairy Division of the Oregon Depart ment of Agriculture. ‘T go cam ping myself and we use a good old cooler along with ice blocks. There are a number of measures you can take to keep that temperature down.” Each summer, local health departments report outbreaks of food borne illnesses associated with products like potato and macaroni salad. In many cases, the salad sits on the picnic table in the hot sun for too long. The temperature is perfect for incuba tion of food borne organisms. “ Refrigeration again is your best safeguard with those kinds of products,” warns Black, who says time is as important as temperature. “ Don’t just keep them for several days. Two or three days usually doesn’t make any difference assuming proper handling and temperature. But beyond that, you may want to just throw it out.” Black repeats a popular motto among food safety specialists: “ when in doubt, throw it out.” Another favorite summer food is now a new source of concern for some. Melons unitl recently have never been considered a problem. However, a salmonella outbreak in northeastern U.S. last summer was traced to the con sumption of cantaloupe that had been contaminated. “ We are surmising perhaps fertilization was the source, perhaps using animal waste in the field ,” says Black. “ O f course, m elon s are grow n on the ground.” People don’t normally eat the rind. The problems may have taken place when the knife used to cut the melon spread whatever organism was on the rind onto the part o f the fruit that is eaten. The best advice in dealing with melons is to wash the outside rind after you buy it using brush for the rough exterior o f cantaloupes. Watermelons have a smooth sur face and don’t need the brush but do need the washing. Black has some additional advice: “ If you need to cut into the melon and consume only part o f it, then you should refrigerate the leftover portion. Again, refrigeration retards those bacteria that can make us sick .” Several other summertime foods are relatively sate and don’t need the same kinds o f precau tions as melons. Most o f them, like many fruits and vegetables, have a high acid content which a lso retards any organ ism growth. Those foods, such as ap ples and pears, can be kept out o f refigeration most o f the time without any problem. There is yet one more food safety concern for the summer. Black says contamination should be minimized. “ Many times things are chop ped on the same cutting board, for instance that you cut your raw chicken on. Those raw products have organisms that could pro duce illness.” Black recommends a good cleaning and sanitizing o f the cut ting board after chopping up raw meat products. D espite the warnings and precautions, summer continues to be a great time to enjoy food. With a little common sense, those foods can be safe as well as delicious. For more information, contact Jim Black at 378-3790 or Bruce Pokamey at 378-3773. St. Patrick’s Senior Center Bulletin Board Eighty-five people were in attendance at the birthday dinner at the Senior Center June 24. Six meals were taken out. Members of the Catholic church served. Ida Lynn won the meal ticket, Ada Werner the door prize. Louise Britt of Spray, the guest prize and special gifts were presented to Maggie Jones and Pat Burke. Music was provid ed by Rosalie Scharen and Sharia Erich on violins. The music was enjoyed by all. The quilters have chosen a new design for their next quilt. Anyone interested in seeing it may come by the senior center Mondays from 1 to 4 p.m. July 18 the senior bus will leave from the senior building at 10 a.m. for Penland Lake. Seniors are invited to a potluck picnic at the Gonty cabin. The bus will return around 3:30 p.m. Steve Arntt to receive scholarship Steve Arntt of Heppner. has received a scholarship to attend the innovative Oregon/Waseda summer program at Lewis & Clark College, July 22 to Aug. 29. The $500 scholarship is through the Oregon Partnership for International Education and funded by generous contribution from the chairman’s fund from PacifiCorp Foundation, Mr. Tadamasa Ohno, president of Daioh International. USA Cor poration, and individuals in the business community. Arntt is a senior majoring in political science at Oregon State University. The Oregon/Waseda summer program, sponsored by Waseda University, one of Japan's most prestigious universities, and a select group o f public and private schools in Oregon, is bringing together 30 American and 30 Japanese students for a five-week residential summer colloquium on “ Private Rights and the Com mon G ood.” Arntt is the son o f Gene and Sharon Arntt o f Heppner. A limited number o f scholar ships for the program are still available. To attend the program, applicants must have completed their first year o f college and have a grade point average o f 2.5 or higher. For more information con tact G reg C a ld w e ll, Oregon/Waseda Summer Pro gram, Lewis & Clark College, Campus Box 192, Portland, OR 97219. Or call (503) 768-7305 or fax (503) 768-7301. Kids program to begin The first day o f the Neighborhood Center sponsored summer program for Heppner area kids July 6 will include a field trip to Boise Cascade Tree Farm, the PGE Power Plant at Boardman and TACX hay cube and pellet plant outside Boardman. On Tuesday Dr. Jeri Withycombe. Morrow County Mental Health, will do small group work with the children. Wednesday's field trip will in clude visits to Finley Buttes land fill and the Navy Bombing R ange. T hursday Sandra VanLiew will teach spinning and weaving with natural fiber and Friday the Forest Service is in charge o f the program. A total o f 75 kids have enroll ed, with an expected average dai ly attendance o f 70, said Grace Drake, program director. Drake says that volunteers are still needed on Wednesdays and for the last week o f the program. For more information or to volunteer, call Drake at 676-9439 evenings. Extension plans program on aging Morrow County Extension Service will host “ Investing in the Future: Counties Respond to the Challenges o f America’s A g ing Population and Aging In frastructure,” July 9 at the Ex tension Conference Room. The program will begin at 8:30 a m. and end at 1 p.m. The program is presented by the National Association o f Coun ties in partnership with the Cooperative Extension System, the Administration on Aging and the F ederal T ransit Administration. T he aging o f A m e rica ’s population and the deterioration o f our nation’s infrastructure will have a direct and dramatic impact on county governments across the co u n try --in c lu d in g M orrow County. Today, seniors are the most rapidly growing age group in this country. By the year 2030, one in every four Americans is ex pected to be over the age o f 65. At the same time, the in frastructure in this country-our roads, bridges, water and sewer systems, and public facilities is barely adequate to fulfill current needs and is insufficient to meet the demands o f the future, accor ding to the program. To meet the needs o f the aging population and the aging infrastructure, we must consider the interrelationships between human and physical ser vices, they said. Appearing live via satellite will be Fernando Torres-Gil, pro fessor of public policy UCLA; and Alan Pisarski, national transportation consultant. Also, county officials from across the country will discuss the issues and highlights innovative county aging and infrastructure programs. Locally, the conference will provide a forum for discussing the impacts of aging population and deteriorating infrastructure will have on our community and for developing a strategy to ad dress these concerns. Through the use of satellite telecommunications, the video conference will enable county and community leaders in Morrow County to join with over 3000 county officials at the NACO conference in Minneapolis as well as an estimated 5000 other coun ty leaders who will be par ticipating in the satellite con ference. Participants are asked to bring a “ brown bag” lunch. Government, community and business leaders interested in par ticipating in the program should contact Carol Michael-Bennett, Morrow County Extension agent, 676-9642. Yeager family to hold reunion The Yeager family will hold their second family reunion on July 4 and 5 at Morrow County Fairgrounds in Heppner. Potluck dinners are planned for 2 p.m. on July 4 and 1 p.m. on July 5. General get-togethers will start at 10 a.m, each day. Henry Glover Peck, Lexington and Harold Peck, Heppner, are two o f the Yeager grandsons still living in Morrow County. In 1878 James Labon Yeager left Kansas at the age o f 23 and traveled to Illinois near the town o f St. Marys, to work in the cor nfields as a com husker. In 1879 in the early party o f the corn husking season he was invited to a com husking party at St. Marys. At the party he bid on a lunch basket made by Lorettie Sophronie Turner, who worked in a country home near there. They were married on March 4 , 1880 by Elder Ed F. Carfield at St. Marys. They moved to Kansas where their first children were bom, and boarded the “ Emigrant Train” to Oregon in 1884. The train was made up o f 30 to 40 boxcars with one engine. Each car was assign ed to a family, except for the center one which was left empty so the families could cook. They brought along their household goods, farm tools and carpentry tools and some families brought along a horse and a cow. One family had two cows and sold milk to the families with small children. The trip over the Rocky Moun tains was a memorable one, when they got to the high mountains, the railroad company hitched another engine to the rear o f the train, to help shove it over the mountains. This trip took several weeks. Once a week the train would stop for the day by a stream where the women could wash their clothes in the cold water. They finally reached Arlington, where they camped for several days until they found a freighter to take them to a little trading post Country club plans barbecue There will be a family barbecue and play day at W illow Creek Country Club on Sunday, July 5 at 3 p.m. The play will be a Flag Tournament with a putting con test. Hosts for the afternoon are Bob and B etty R ietm ann, chairm en, Ray and Norma French. Louie and Betty Carlson and Bill Rietmann. Each family will bring their own meat to barbecue. Those whose names begin with A through I should bring salad: J through Z should bring dessert. at Heppner. On April 1, 1884, they camped at the old Furgeson Ranch a few miles below Heppner. They then rented a room at the Ellis Miner Hotel at $1 per day. James’ first job was building fences over the hill on the old J.O. Wilson Ranch, a mile or so up Hinton Creek. In 1885 they bought their first piece of property, an acre on the hillside across from where the depot now stands. There was no railroad then. The Yeagers' had nine children with the last seven bom in Heppner. They are now all deceased. Mrs. Yeager died March 29, 1920 and Mr. Yeager June 2, 1941. They are both buried at the Heppner Cemetery. Mr. Yeager was a registered undertaker and a county coroner. He served during the great flood of 1903 and owned and operated a furniture store and a greenhouse. He was a carpenter and plumber by trade. He built seven houses in Heppner, some of which are still standing. He was a member of the Odd Fellow Lodge in Heppner. ■/t » tl Spectators watch from bridge in Lexington as Black Horse reaches near flood stage around 8 p.m. Sunday. A cloud burst reported by Lyle Peck gave Lexington residents time to prepare for the flood that luckily never came. A small amount of water went over the bank by the Chevron Station but caused no damage. Pool commission meets The first meeting of the Willow Creek Park District’s Exploratory Swimming Pool Commission was held on June 18 at the Morrow County Public Works office in Lexington. Commission members decided to investigate a number of newly constructed pools around the state and put together a presentation that would be delivered to each of the three communities within the park district. These public forums will give everyone an op portunity to educate themselves about swimming pool projects and to voice their opinions on possible locations, funding ideas and concerns. The meetings are tentatively planned tor sometime this fall. Commission members are Barb Collin. lone urban; Skip Mat thews. Heppner, at-large; Mark Miller. Lexington rural; Mark Pointer, Lexington urban; Ginny Naims, Heppner urban and Mol ly Rill. Heppner rural. The com mission has one vacancy for an lone rural member. Gary Marks is the commission administrator. Commission members would like to hear comments at any time prior to the meetings. The commission was appointed by the park district board to in vestigate a potential pool project and to assemble a set of recom mendations for board action.
