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
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for more
Sale prices
MORROW COUNTY GRAIN GROWERS
Lexington , OR