Image provided by: Morrow County Museum; Heppner, OR
About Heppner gazette-times. (Heppner, Or.) 1925-current | View Entire Issue (April 27, 1994)
City meets country in student swap HEPPNER 35C Heppner’s seventh graders and Centennial’s eighth graders learned how to plant trees on one of their many field trips during the week. imes VOL. 113 NO. 17 8 Pages Wednesday, April 27, 1994 Morrow County Heppner, Oregon Jason Halvorsen killed in accident An lone boy, Jason Halvorsen, 16, was killed following a head- on collision around 7:30 p.m. near Echo Sunday, April 24. Jason, the son of Frank and Cathy Halvorsen of lone, was pro nounced dead at the scene of the accident. Jeramy Ashbeck, 15, critical ly injured in the crash, was transported to Good Shepherd Hospital in Hermiston and then transferred to Oregon Health Sciences University. Ashbeck, Echo, who sustained head injuries in the crash, was listed in critical condition Monday morning. His condition was listed as serious Tuesday night. Jeramy, the son of Jerry and Norma Ashbeck of Echo, is a sophomore at lone High School According to police reports, Halvorsen and Ashbeck were passengers in a 1989 Chevrolet four-door driven by Bridger Baker, 18, of lone. The vehicle was traveling westbound on Highway 320 when Baker at tempted to pass another vehicle. The vehicle driven by Baker col lided head-on with a 1989 Ford pickup driven by Noel G. “ Gay” Harshman. 60, of Echo. Har- shman and Baker were admitted to Good Shepherd Hospital for observation. B ridger was discharged Monday afternoon. Harshman was listed in stable condition at the hospital Tuesday. Funeral services for Jason were scheduled for Wednesday, April 27, at the lone High School gym. lone parents, counselors and teachers, them selves grief- stricken, attempted to console grieving students Monday and Tuesday. Candidates visit Heppner Jason Halvorsen The city kids didn’t seem to miss the malls, their stereos or Nintendos as much as they thought they would and most were happy as clams in their “ total immersion” experience with country life. For the past 14 years eighth- graders from the Centennial Mid dle School in the Portland area trade places with eighth-graders at Heppner Junior High School. The Centennial students were, however, impressed with the distances rural kids must travel, as they spent many long hours on the bus, visiting farming and pro cessing operations in north county and wheat and cattle operations in south county. A generally cheerful lot, the Centennial students had really on ly one complaint-the school food. Not enough. “ I miss my girlfriend, the phone and the food,” said Chris Campanella, 15, of Centennial. Chris said that eat at up at the home of his host family, Cara and Frank Osmin. Chris said that he liked the animals and living on the farm. At home Chris lives with his mother, Lori, who is a dental assistant, his 16 year-old sister and 14 year-old brother. “ It’s a lot of fun,” said 14 year-old Megan Cassingham. “ I’ve always liked farms. The branding is the best. 1 liked to push the cows into the chute, ex cept when they kicked me.” Megan lives in Portland with her mother. Penny, who works at Portland Adventist, and her 11 year-old sister. Megan stayed with the Bob and Pam Worden family. Sho Ikeda. 14. said that he real ly liked the “ freedom to go anywhere” without being afraid. “ I don’t miss anything,” said Sho. “ I wish I could stay another week.” Sho’s only complaint was that the prices were “ a little high” at Heppner stores. Sho lives in Portland with his father, Ike. his mother, Elizabete. and his 11 and six year-old brothers. His Heppner hosts were Steve and Kathi Dickenson. Jaime Prouty, 14, did admit to missing her dad, Tony, but was enthusiastic about her experience riding horses with the Wrangler riding club. Jaime said that she had ridden only once or twice before. Although she hated the long bus drives, Jaime says she will miss her host family, Tim and Kathy Rankin and hopes to return to the area on a hunting trip this fall. Jaime lives in Portland with her dad and mom. Chris and her 17 year old brother. Nicole Lanning, 15, said that she liked going on the Field trips and to the Merlin Hughes ranch during her stay in the Heppner area. Nicole, who is handicap ped, said that it was a little harder to get around in Heppner, especially at the Heppner Middle School, which has three levels. The Centennial school is all on one level While getting around was harder, Nicole says that school work is easier here. “ I kind of want to go back to our school,” said Nicole, “ but I kind of don't.” Nicole stayed with the Joyce Hughes family. Back at home she lives with her father. Matt, who works with US West, and her three step-brothers, 17, 7 and 5 years old. Terry Nunn, 14, Gresham, said that he had the best time at the home of his host family. Butch and Mary Knowles He also en joyed the trip out to the Hughes ranch. Terry missed the sports at home, commenting that it was “ pretty easy” playing basketball with the Heppner kids. He said it was hard getting used to the school, compared to Centennial which has around 855 students. Terry lives with his mother. Lin da. who is a city bus driver for Tri-met, brothers. 27. 26 and 2 1 and sister, 19. Terry says that he will miss a certain girl, “ Holly ', when he goes back to the city. Mill to re-open soon Job placement office opens A career center and job place ment office is now open two days per week at the Forest Service of fice building in Heppner. Local people can file for unemployment or check job listings throughout the state at the newly-opened office, according to Marlyn Stolz, manager of the Hermiston Employment Dept, office. The office is open from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Tues. through Thurs., and is ‘open to any interested persons. Depending on the situation at the mill, the office will be open until June 30, said Stolz. Heppner TV receives rate increase Heppner TV Inc. has received recently substantial rate increases from two of its most significant signal providers. Western Tele communications Inc and ESPN. The Heppner TV board of directors say the company cannot absorb these increases at the pre sent subscriber rates. “ Due to the economic status of the town, the company cannot predict the number of subscribers in the future,” said a Heppner TV spokespserson. The matter will be the main item for discussion at the cooperative’s annual meeting in June. Alternatives are rate increases or reduction in programming. “ It is important for members to understand that Heppner TV pays for the signals for each chan nel as well as for receiving and retransmission equipment.” said the spokesperson. Joan Silver Lynn Lundquist Candidates for Oregon’s 59th congressional district, vacated after one term by Michael Payne, were in Heppner Tuesday, cam paigning for votes. From Kimberly came Joan Silver, a Democrat, who says the state is not in as bad a financial state as some people may think. A former corporate accountant who, along with her son. is now doing some ranching (including ostriches). Silver says she doesn't think we’re on the verge of finan cial catastrophe because of measure 5. She is not in favor of the sales tax or a general business tax. but thinks we need “ somewhat more revenue” . She thinks government should work more efficiently and says there is room to cut some “ sacred cows” in Salem. Living on the ranch with her son. Silver says there needs to be more dialogue with people from the western part of the state to have them better understand how we, on the eastern side, use natural resources. On the Republican ticket, Lynn Lundquist. a Powell Butte ran cher. says he has the experience dealing with Salem to get things done if elected. A former two-temi president of the Oregon Cattlemen’s Associa tion. Lundquist says he has dealt with the legislature on behalf of the OCA enough to have some experience on how the legislature operates. He says he will bring that experience to bear when building coalitions with the west- side legislators. On the budget side. Lundquist says Oregon has financial pro blems, but he doesn’t think Oregonians want any new taxes. “ We need to prioritize spending, and I think education should be at the top of the list.” he says. A 260 percent increase has The average citizen doesn’t been passed on by Western Tcle- understand the magnitude of the Communicationns Inc., which funding problems we face, says has provided micro-wave service Lundquist. “ There will need to into Heppner since 1965. WTCI be serious cuts in the human transmits four Portland television resources sector. I believe I have stations: KATU-Channel 2, the business background to make KOIN, Channel 6; KGW- those hard decisions.” Channel 8 and KPTV-Channcl 12. The last rate increase was in 1985 to $385 per month. The new rate is $1,000 per month. WTCI provides all necessary receiving equipment at the Heppner T.V. Inc. headend. The cooperative has still not signed the new ESPN contract and has until May 17 to do so. Upon receipt of the contract, the board learned the NFL pre season and regular season games had become a required compo nent of the agreement. This results in a substantial rate in crease. 52.5 percent increase for 1994 and within the next three years, an 85 percent increase. ESPN is Heppner TV’s most ex pensive satellite channel, ex cluding HBO and the Disney Channel. About 85 percent of the hour ly jobs at the former Kinzua sawmill will remain when the mill re-opens next month, mill general manager Frank Pearson said Tuesday. The mill will be taking applica tions for hourly positions on Fri day, April 29 and Monday, May 1. from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. He said the majority of the management staff has already been rehired. Pearson says Pioneer Resources, new owners of the mill, hope to have a tentative start up of a portion of the mill on May 9. with the balance starting up May 16. The mill’s co-gen plant will not re-open under mutual agreement between Pioneer and P ortland G eneral E lectric. However, the boiler side will still be running to create steam to dry lumber. The turbine side will stay down, Pearson says. Pearson says the log supply at the mill is also of concern with about one and one half months supply of logs still in the yard. But he said the mill has log volume “ lined up to deliver to the mill as soon as feasible for con tinuing operation.” The company still owns 130 thousand acres of timberland w ith good volume still left on those lands, he said. “ It may be more difficult (to operate without the previous amount of timber Kin zua had), but its not insurmoun table,” Pearson said. He says he has met with the new owners and they are receptive to ideas. Two of them have mill operating experience. The company now has a new phone number 676-9000 District math contest May 4 The annual Morrow County School District math contest will be held May 4 at Columbia Junior High School at 6:30 p.m. The public is welcome to observe the district contest. Sharon Leinweber is in charge of arrangem ents at CJH Refreshments will be served following the competition. Men’s Key Jeans 4874 41 $I0 9S ea. 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