Image provided by: Morrow County Museum; Heppner, OR
About Heppner gazette-times. (Heppner, Or.) 1925-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 10, 1993)
County seeks regional strategy com m ittee Morrow County will join with five other neighboring eastern Oregon counties to form the “ North C entral Regional Strategy” configuration. This represents a major change in past economic development prac tices,” said Louis Carlson, Mor row County Judge. Grant, Wheeler, Giliam, Mor row, Sherman and Wasco Coun ties will team together on round four of the state of Oregon- sponsored regional strategy pro gram. This is a change from the previous rounds of regional strategies, Carlson said, since Umatilla and Morrow County previously had been partners dur ing the past three rounds. Under the new rules provided by senate bill 124 of the past session of the legislature, Umatilla elected to team up with Union County and possibly other counties to the east while Morrow County elected to join a partnership with the five counties to the west. “ The county court is actively soliciting a written request from any Morrow County citizen who is interested in serving on the new round of regional strategies. Members who have served on the previous rounds are eligible.” The seven member county committee must be made up of a majority of individuals who primarily represent the private economic sector. From this county committee a delegation will be selected to represent Morrow County in the north central region. This con glomerate of six regional coun ties will examine the region’s economy and develop a strategy or action plan. In developing the action plan, the regional board will then hold public meetings in each of the participating counties prior to a vote by the governing bodies of the counties to adopt the action plan. Senate Bill 124, as passed, along with a lottery allocation of $15 million allows a minimum of two contiguous counties and will have a duration of six to 10 years with a two year action plan. According to a Morrow Coun ty Court news release SB 124: ex pands the focus of a regional Lady Cards advance to state By Anne Morter The lone lady Cardinals ad vanced to the state volleyball tournament after winning two games in last weekend’s District Tournament. The Cards pulled their game together at just the right moment, to defeat Wasco W alter Jepsen honored for W W I service “ The Navy and I always got along good. The Navy is just hard work and that’s about it. I worked hard and never got in trouble. ” Walter on the USS Pittsburgh Walter Jepsen, Heppner, who just celebrated his 102nd birth day, has been honored for another accomplishment. Walter, along with four other Morrow County World War I veterans, Alva Jones, Earl Blake, Bill Lowe, who was a Canadian, and Huston Leslie, have receiv ed recognition for their contribu tion to the war effort. Walter received a decoration commemorating the 75th anniver sary of WWI. The inscription says, “ They came on the wings of Eagles.” Walter, who was born in Den mark Oct. 22, 1891. immigrated to the U.S. through Ellis Island in 1911, when he was 20. He remembers working on Long Island the year after and hearing news that the Titanic had sunk. In 1917 he enlisted in the U.S. Navy at Bremerton, WA. During his three-year stint in the Navy, Walter traveled all over the world on his ship, the USS Pittsburgh. Navy travels took him to the Mediterranean north and south Africa, the Holy Lands and what was then known as Asia Minor, located between the Black Sea and the Mediterranean. “ I liked to travel. I still like it,” said Walter, although he is unable to travel because of ill health. A strong believer in hard work Jepsen was a fireman 1 st class in the Navy. A fireman at that time shoveled coal in the ship’s boiler room, where temperatures ap proached 150 and even 170 degrees. Walter recalls that the men had four hours on duty and four hours off. He said that with the heat of the boiler room travel ing through the Red Sea was almost unbearable “ with no relief in sight.” Not one to complain, however. Walter says, “ The Navy and I always got along good. The Navy is just hard work and that’s about it. I worked hard and never got in trouble.” Walter was discharged June 28, 1920, at South Hampton, mm É K . m ? its ■V, ¥ mm *1 (clockwise) John and Jean and Walt Jepsen England, at his request so he could return to visit his parents in Demark. That was to be the last time he saw his mother and father. When he returned to the U.S., he sold the property he had bought before the war at Bull Run, near Portland. He then came to Eastern Oregon. Four years after his discharge, Walter married Matilda Berns. She died in 1972. The Jepsens had nine children and raised wheat, dairy, cows, pigs and chickens on 580 acres on Rhea Creek. Walter has 14 grand children and 14 great grandchildren. Walter’s son John and his wife. Jean, recently returned from a trip back east to visit relatives and see some of the places important in Jepsen family history. Travel- School district seeks volunteers to serve on leadership team The Morrow County School District is seeking volunteers who would like to serve on the district leadership team through a process called, “ Creating the Future” . This leadership team will par ticipate in training sessions and meet 10 to 12 times per year to develop recommendations on the mission and student outcome goals for the school district. The leadership team will be compos ed of representatives from each of the following categories: parents, non-parent community members, teachers, classified em ployees, school board members, principals, superinten- Wheat League meeting planned ) J ing with cousins from Oakland. CA., they visited Walter’s sister. Elsie, who lives in Fallston. Maryland. In New York, they saw his sister Catherine's name on the registry of immigrants at Ellis Island. They visited the Statue of Liberty, the Trade Tower. Washington. D.C., and Gettysburg. They were also able to stay with Heppner native Vince McElligott, who lives in Virginia County in their first match and then to down league-leading Con don for the District’s second place slot. The lady Cardinals will play their first match at the State Tournam ent Friday, November 12 at 5 p.m. at Lane Community College in Eugene. The Morrow County Wheat League growers fall meeting and banquet will be held Monday, Nov. 15 at 1 p.m. at Beecher’s Restaurant in lone. Topics will include the resolu tions, election of officers, a pro gram on farm safety as it pertains to children. A social hour will be held from 5 to 6 p.m. sponsored by Mor row County Grain Growers followed by dinner compliments o f Morrow County Wheat League. The Bank of Eastern Oregon is sponsoring a trip to the coast as a door prize. Dinner speaker will be Norm Goetze. Oregon Wheat Growers League vice president. dent, students and business representatives. Individuals interested in serv ing on this team should contact superintendent Chuck Starr at 989-8202 and request an applica tion form. Applications should be returned to the School District of fice by December 3. The school board will review the applicants at their December 20 meeting and select the members of the team. The first meeting of the team will be held on Monday, January 10 at the district office in Lex ington at 7:30 p.m. strategy from a single key in dustry to two or three key in dustries; encourages individual counties to form partnerships with m ultiple counties or geographic regions; and em powers regional boards in the development and implementation, with the delegation of decision making on staff, technical assistance, project selection and funding. The regional board will be held accountable for perfor mance in meeting mutually agreed upon benchmarks. Written applications for the Morrow County regional strategy committee will be received by the Morrow County Court until 1 p.m.‘November 24. “ We believe that this new round of regional strategies af fords Morrow County with the best opportunities that we have yet experienced in this economic development program,” Carlson said. “ We anticipate a large number of folks in Morrow County who will want to par ticipate on this exciting new com mittee.” M ustangs to play Vale Sat. The Heppner Mustangs will travel to Vale Saturday, Nov. 13 for the first round of the OSAA state football playoffs. Heppner earned the second place berth by defeating the Umatilla Vikings at their last home game of the regular season Friday, Nov. 5. Heppner put a stopper on Vales 38 game winning streak as the Mustangs beat the Vikings 24-12 last year for the state championship. Vale returns several players from that team including Larry Ramirez, a 6’8” 270 pound giant and running back Cory Maag. Vale is 9-0 on the season and will be a stiff challenge for Heppner. The game is scheduled for 1 p.m. mountain standard time. Gate prices are $5 for adults, $4 for students. If Heppner beats Vale they will play the winner of the Amity Warrenton game on Saturday. November 13. time and place to be announced. County Court seeks nominees for charter committee The Morrow County Court is investigating the feasibility of a county charter according to ORS Chapter 203. Under this Chapter a committee of nine lay citizens shall be appointed to study the benefits of a chartered county government and to determine if such a form of government is in the best interest of Morrow County. The court is acting under coun ty resolution. As set forth in ORS 203.740(2)(a), the county court is entitled to appoint four members of the committee and a majority of the state senators and state representatives which represent Morrow County shall appoint four additional members of the committee. Those eight members will then choose the ninth member. According to Judge Louis Carlson, the county court en courages anyone who is in terested in working on this com mittee to submit their names in writing to the Morrow County Clerk by December 1. Applicants must be citizens of Morrow County and cannot be engaged in business with the county which is inconsistent with performance of duties as a member of the committee. “ The work of this committee will involve substantial time and dedication to properly investigate all of the possibilities of a Home Rule Charter,” said Carlson. County defeats tax measure lone community dinner Nov. 14 m The lone annual community Thanksgiving Dinner will be held Sunday. Nov. 14, starting at 4 p.m. at the lone Legion Hall. Turkey, rolls, potatoes, table service and beverage will be fur nished by St. Williams, lone United Church of Christ and Valby Lutheran church. Everyone is welcome to attend. Participants are asked to bring a salad or dessert. Munkers, Heppner, signs in to vote Tuesday Nov. 9, dur Kitzhaber to speak on health plan Riley ing the special election sales tax measure which was defeated. Former Oregon State Senate president Dr. John Kitzhaber will discuss the proposed Oregon Health plan at a public meeting on Wednesday, Nov. 10 at 7 p.m. at the Riverside High School auditorium. Boardman. Kitzhaber is the author of the plan. The meeting is sponsored by the Morrow County Intergovern mental Coalition and the Morrow County Medical Services. Fifty-three percent of Morrow County voters turned out on elec tion day Tues., Nov. 9 to sound ly defeat the five percent sales tax measure. 2,020 to 386. Following are complete Mor row County results: Boardman lone Irrigon Lexington Hardman/Heppner Yes 109 39 77 25 136 No 385 237 539 202 657
