Image provided by: Morrow County Museum; Heppner, OR
About Heppner gazette-times. (Heppner, Or.) 1925-current | View Entire Issue (March 30, 1994)
Kinzua employees talk unemployment Kinzua workers filled St. Patrick’s parish hall Monday night VOL. 113 NO. 13 6 Pages Wednesday. March 30, 1994 Morrow County Heppner, Oregon Cross will stand sentinel over city Bob DeSpain and Bob Jepsen had been working on the idea for around a year. They and others have been working on the project itself for the last several weeks. Joe Miller put in around 18 hours of welding on the metal cross, said Suzanne Jepsen, Bob’s wife. Bill McDowell, with the use of a jackhammer and boom donated by Columbia Basin Electric, put the cross in place. George Jef feries and John Edmundson helped with installation. Kinzua Corporation, Petty john’s Builders, Columbia Basin E lectric C o-op, H orseshoe Hereford Ranch, Jay Coil, John Britt and Guy VanArsdale donated materials. Volunteers help erect the cross on the hill. A local landmark and inspira tion to the people of Heppner is once again “ watching over” the town. It had been over a year since a cross had stood sentinel on the hill overlooking Heppner and some local men felt that was just about long enough. Saturday, March 26, with the help of some heavy equipment donated by Columbia Basin Elec tric Co-op, a new cross was erected. The men met their goal of getting the cross up in time for Holy Week and they plan, with the help of a generator, to il luminate the 20-foot cross on Saturday night and Easter Sunday. The cross, painted white, is ac tually 25 feet tall and weighs over a ton. It was set five feet underground in a three-foot square of cement. Easter Sunrise service slated Son-Rise, an eccumenical Easter Sunrise Service, will begin at 7 a.m. Easter Sunday, April 3 at the M orrow County Fairgrounds. “ Be sure and set your clocks an hour ahead the night before or you will miss this inspiring worship service,” says Rev. Stan Hoobing. The sunrise service is sponsored by the South Morrow County Ministerial Association. Rev. Robert Dowrey, pastor of the Heppner United Methodist Church, will give the sermon en titled, “ I Am the Resurrection and the Life” . Other members of the ministerial association par ticipating include: Roger Scharen. pastor of the First Chris tian Church, who will give the welcome and benediction; Lea Mathieu. pastor of the United Church of Christ in lone and president of the association, will lead the congregation in respon sive prayer of invocation; Glenn Anderson, pastor of Lexington Baptist Church, will read the scripture; Laurie Marks will sing “ Redeemed” and Rev. Tim Van Cleave will lead the congregation in the pastoral prayer and the Lord's Prayer. A free will offering will be taken for the ministry and mission work of the South Morrow Coun ty Ministerial Association. Worshipers may attend an Easter breakfast at the Lexington Baptist Church, Christian Life Center, Hope Lutheran or the lone United Church of Christ. Breakfast begins at 8:30 a.m. Not much is known about the history of earlier crosses on the hill, but Marsha Sweek, director of the Morrow County Museum, discovered an article in the April 2, 1931 Gazette-Times which an nounced a sunrise service at a cross. It is not certain if that cross was at the same location. Accor ding to the article, youth from the Episcopal, Methodist and Church of Christ churches erected the cross. Kay Robinson’s brother. Bob Kelly, was a member of a Boy Scout troop that put a cross on the hill in 1939. Scoutmaster Martin Clark was also minister of the Christian Church at that time. Bill McCaleb was assistant Scout master. Besides Kelly, the Scouts included Bill U lrich, Herb Schunk. Dick Ferguson, Sid VanSchoiack and Jack Aiken. Suzanne Jepsen said that two crosses were found at the present location and were disposed of properly by burning. Crosses may also be buried. Anyone with information on early crosses is asked to contact the Gazette-Times or Sweek. Booster club sponsors shoe drive In the spirit of recycling the Heppner Booster Club is sponsor ing an athletic shoe drive. Anyone who has any football, baseball or track cleats, may donate them to the Booster Club. They will refurbish them and make them available to athletes for $5 a pair. Donated shoes may be dropped off in the box at the home of Rus ty and Cyde Estes, 235 West Church, or can be picked up by calling 676-5808 or Mike and Cindi Doherty 676-5122. “ Your support is greatly appreciated.” says a Booster Club spokesperson. A large gathering of Kinzua employees and other interested persons gathered at the St. Patrick’s parish hall Monday night to learn-about government benefits that will be available if the sawmill closes down as scheduled. Representatives of state and local employment agencies, Blue Mountain Community College and the extension service were on hand to answer questions about job training, employment oppor tunities and unemployment benefits. Most questions ranged in the area of unemployment benefits, how to get them, and how long they last. Although no definite word has been received whether or not the Kinzua mill will close, most signs are pointing in that direction. A Eugene investment firm, Pioneer Resources L.L.C. is i preparing to buy the mill and 180,000 acres of timberland, and according to a story in the Sun day Oregonian, the firm plans to close the mill. The company has reportedly already contacted an auction firm that specializes in sawmills, is ready to sell 10,000 acres of timberland to Louisiana-Pacific Corp and has already given layoff notices to the approximately 140 employees at the mill. The story in The Oregonian reportly caused some controver sy in the Portland area when it was learned that the mill will be closed even though it is modem and profitable. A television crew from KATU channel 2 out of Portland was scheduled to be in the Heppner area Wednesday morning to do a story on the mill closure, and Gary M arks, Heppner city manager was on a talk radio pro gram Tuesday to discuss the closure. All had little effect, however, on the room full of workers Mon day night, who were more con cerned with what the immediate future may hold for each of them. Kinzua donates to JTPA program have access io services and pro grams in their local community. The Forest Service office in Heppner will be the temporary location of the assistance center which is scheduled to be opened by mid April. For those that wish additional information on the ser vices and programs available through C A PEC O , call 1-800-752-1139. The JTPA program is a federally funded program operated by CAPECO in Morrow and Umatilla Counties and is designed to assist people in becom ing em ployed or reemployed. CAPECO manager Deborah Parnell received a special St. Patrick’s Day gift from Kinzua C orporation when Kinzua General Manager Frank Pearson of Heppner, presented CAPECO with a check for $2,000 to assist CAPECO’s Job Training Pro gram Act in establishing a resource center for dislocated workers from Kinzua Mill. CAPECO is working with the State of Oregon Employment Department and other agencies to ensure that if Kinzua employees are displaced as a result of the pending sale of Kinzua Corpora tion’s operation that workers will Petitioners look for county medical district Petitioners from the Heppner Chamber of Commerce will be out in force soon, gathering signatures to place a proposed couty-wide medical taxing district on the ballot for voter approval. The proposal is in response to a Boardman-area petition, which seeks to form a separate medical district consisting of the city of Boardman and the Coal Fired generating plant. The generating plant represents a large assessed value and property tax payment within the county. Museum to host Einstein exhibit The life, scientific discoveries and philosophy of Albert Einstein are the subjects of a photo exhibit to be on display at the Morrow County Museum April 2 to May 1. The exhibit is sponsored by the Morrow County Museum and is made possible by the Oregon Council for the Humanities, an affiliate of the National Endow ment for the Humanities. “ Albert Einstein: a Centennial Exhibit” includes quotations, fac simile pages, photographs, car- toons, diagrams and interpretive texts to illuminate the life and work o f the extraordinary American scientist. The exhibit was created by the American In stitute of Physics to com memorate the 100th anniversary of Einstein’s birth. The Morrow County Museum is open Saturday through Wednesday from 1-5 p.m. and by special arrangement. For more information call 676-5524 during open hours. Pinewood Derby April 1 Cub Scouts Pack #661 will hold its annual Pinewood Derby Friday, April 8 at the Heppner Elks Club. The evening will begin with a weigh-in of cars at 5:30 p.m. The cars cannot weigh more than five ounces. Following weigh-in the boys will be treated to a pizza feed at Kate’s Pizza. Racing will begin at 7 p.m. Each boy is given a kit with a l X ” x 7“ square long block of wood, wheels and axles and must build his own car for the race. Weights may be put onto the cars to make the “ the fastest down the rack.” The top three racers out of each Den will be eligible to go on to the d istrict races held in Pendleton on April 23. The Heppner chamber has 30 days in which to gather 850 signatures to put the proposal on the ballot. In addition to forming a county-wide medical district, the petition asks that the district be funded with a $600,000 tax base. C urrent medical funds are technically part of the county budget even though voters have traditionally voted separately on these expenditures. The medical funds are presently governed by a board made up of members from throughout the county. Under the couty-wide medical district proposal the district would be governed by a five-member board. The $600,000 tax base is over $120,000 more than recently ap proved by voters for operation of all medical facilities in the coun ty, and if the new district is ap proved. the $600.000 could be levied without a vote. Cities within the county could vote to be excluded from the medical district, said Bill Kuhn, a local attorney working on the proposal, but such action would theoretically exclude them from the medical benefits of the district. The county currently operates a clinics, dental offices, a hospital and nursing home, and various emergency response operations in both lone and Irrigon. Under the new district a proposal is includ ed to add an Irrigon medical clinic with either a dotor or physi cian's assistant. Motorcycle and Lawn and Garden Battery 128 C.C.A. ( 152354 ) 249S WITH EXCHANGE See Inside for more Sale prices MORROW COUNTY GRAIN GROWERS Lexington , OR
