Image provided by: Morrow County Museum; Heppner, OR
About Heppner gazette-times. (Heppner, Or.) 1925-current | View Entire Issue (June 28, 1995)
Area well represented at rodeo finals High school rodeo club members l-r: Lexie Matteson, Annie Hisler, Katie McCoin, Tiffanie Munkers and Justin Matteson. By April Sykes imes VOL. 114 NO. 28 8 Pages Wednesday, June 28, 1995, Morrow County Heppner, Oregon lone plans 4th of July celebration A performance by the Darrell James' Salem Boy's Choir will highlight this year's Fourth of July celebration in lone, said a spokesperson for the event, but two days of fun and activities promise fun for all. Commemorating the 10th year of the lone Fourth of July celebration with the theme "Flying High in '9 5 ", the festival will feature sporting events, a street dance, child ren's games and a variety of entertainment. A performance by the Darrell James' Salem Boy's Choir will highlight the celebration. The festival kicks off at 5 p.m., Sunday, July 2, with a volleyball tournament at the lone school football field, complete with concessions. On Monday, July 3, a golf tournament will be held at the Willow Creek Country Club in Heppner. In lone, sports fans will find adult and junior three- on-three basketball tour naments and the Ken Snider Memorial Tennis Tournament held at lone High School, all beginning at 4 p.m. A street dance on Main Street beginn ing at 9:30 p.m., will conclude the evening. Tuesday, July 4, opens with the third annual "Daw n's Ear ly Light" Fun Run, Walk and Kid's Dash. Registration begins at 6:30 a.m., with the run/walk scheduled for 7:30 a.m. Chalk drawing for the kids is set for 9 a.m. in front of St. William's Catholic Church. At 10:30 a.m., parade par ticipants assemble at the Mor row County Grain Grower's elevator. The parade will come down Main Street at 11 a.m. Presiding over the parade will be grand marshals Don and John Bristow, long-time lone grocers who recently retired. After the parade, a variety of food and activities will be available in the city park. For the hungry, hamburgers, bak ed goods, homemade pies and elephant ears will be featured. The American Legion beer garden opens at noon at the east end of the fire hall. Head Start will sponsor a boat pond; Creative Care Preschool will have a fish pond; and the Topic Club will sell miscellaneous items at their flea market. Tim Cundell of Lexington will sing in the park from noon to 3 p.m. At 1 p.m., kids' games begin in the park with a straw toy and money pile and a frog jumping contest. Frogs will be provided. The lone Lions Club will spon sor money bingo at the Legion Hall, continuing on until 5 p.m. Redmond man injured by bull A Redmond man, Dusty Mayfield, was injured by a bull, Wednesday evening, June 21, at the Morrow County Rodeo Grounds in Heppner. Mayfield suffered a badly broken leg and was transported to Pioneer Memorial Hospital The Woolery House will hold a wine tasting from 2-4 p.m. Events move to the school grounds at 3 p.m. for various contests, free swimming and the bed race scheduled for 5:30 p.m. The Cardinal Club chicken dinner starts at 6 p.m. in the school cafeteria, with Kessler's preparing the chicken. Prices are $6 for adults and $3 for kids 11 and under. Hot dogs will also be available for $1. At 6:30 p.m. during the chicken dinner, the Ken Snider Memorial Auction, offering a variety of goods and services, will take place in the cafeteria. Proceeds benefit the Ken Snider Memorial Scholarship Fund. The Salem Boy's Choir, under the direction of former lone teacher, Darrell James, will perform at the school gym beginning at 7:30 p.m. A fireworks display, beginn ing at dusk, will provide the grand finale for the celebration. Those attending are asked to watch the fireworks from the school football field. For more information on the lone Fourth of July Celebration, contact Theresa Hams, chair man, 422-7030. Koffler elected to banker's assoc, board Seaside, June 18-20. Koffler began his banking career in June 1978 with Fred Meyer Savings and Loan. He came to the Bank of Eastern Oregon in 1979 and was nam ed president of the bank in Ju ly 1993. Locally, Koffler serves as chairman of the Heppner Coor dinating Council, is vice chair man of the Heppner Economic Development Corporation and is treasurer of the Co-curricular Activities Committee Pac. He has also been a member of the Morrow County Budget Com mittee for the past three years. in Heppner around 7 p.m. He was then airlifted to St. Charles Medical Center in Bend, where he underwent surgery. May- field is now at home. Mayfield had been riding bulls owned by Roger Britt when the accident occured. W GN back on Heppner TV Greg Sweek was re-elected president of Heppner TV, Inc. at their annual meeting held Tuesday, June 20, at the cor poration office. Linda Shaw will serve as vice president and Julie Laughlin as secretary/trea surer. The board authorized a search for a CATV technician to replace Tom Springer, who will retire this fall after 28 years of service to Heppner TV. Heppner TV took a vote of membership to determine which programming to include on channel 19. The results of the vote were: 157 votes for WGN, 84 for Home and Garden TV, and 23 for C-Span. Three members, Karen Beck, Lowell Gribble and Marianne Kahl, and board member, Bob Ployhar, made up the commit tee who counted the votes Monday evening, July 19. WGN is now back on channel 19. A procedure was adopted for input from the membership for consideration of programming changes in the future. Heppner High School students will be well represented at the national high school rodeo finals to be held at Gillette, Wyoming, Ju ly 17-23, and the reserve finals scheduled at Falon, Nevada, beginning July 6. Cowboys and cowgirls finishing first through fourth place at the state high school rodeo finals in Prineville June 14-18 were eligible to compete at Gillette and those in fifth through eighth place can com pete at Falon. Recent newcomers to the Heppner area, Justin and Lexi Matteson and Tiffanie Munkers of Lexington will compete at Gillette. Annie Hisler, Heppner and Katie McCoin, Condon, will compete at Falon. Lexi Matteson, 14, who was named state rookie of the year, finished first in the first go- round in pole bending and fourth in the first go-round of barrel racing at the state finals. In the second go-round, she finished first in barrels, third in poles and eighth in breakaway roping. In the short go, she was first in breakaway, second in barrels, fifth in poles and seventh in goat tying. She also /on the average in pole ben ding and was third in all around. She ended up second in the state in barrels, third in breakaway and fourth in poles, qualifying for those three events. This was Lexi's first year in high school rodeo since she is only a freshman. She also en joys playing basketball. Justin Mattteson, 16, took first in the state finals in the first go-round of calf roping and fifth in the first go-round of bullock steer wrestling. In the short round he ended up in the top 10 of the state, taking first in steer wrestling, second in calf roping and third in team roping. He finished third in the state in steer wrestling and calf roping and eighth in team rop ing. He will go to the nationals in steer wrestling and calf rop ing and will compete at Falon along with partner, Katie McCoin, in team roping. Justin was the state cham pion team roper last year as a George Koffler George Koffler, president and Chief Executive Officer of the Bank of Eastern Oregon, has been elected to the Oregon Bankers Association (OBA) Board of Directors. Koffler was one of five bankers elected to the board at the OBA's 90th an niversary convention held in freshman and also went to na tionals. He also played football and basketball at Heppner High School. For the Mattesons, rodeo is a family affair. Mom, Sherry, and dad, Chuck, both grew up on farms and competed in junior and college rodeos. Sherry, who is from Redmond, but was bom in Heppner, competed in breakaway and barrels in col lege. Chuck, originally from the Tri-Cities area, was a steer wrestler. He was also a mem ber of the Pro Rodeo Cowboys Association. The Mattesons enjoy their rodeo experiences, commen ting that it keeps their family close. "It's probably the only high school sport that involves the whole family," says Chuck. And it's not a case of stage parents forcing their children to perform. "We can't get them to stop," added Chuck. "It's been fun for us, because it involves the whole family." The Mat tesons like the people they meet at the rodeos, too. "The people involved in rodeo are really good people," they said. "W e keep up friendships with quite a few ." While the kids obviously have natural talent, their wins are also the result of a little luck and a lot of hard work, says dad. "They've had good suc cesses, but they work hard at it," he said. "But they probably intend to pay for their college education with it." The Mat teson kids practice two or three hours a day and, over the season, will attend around 40 rodeos. The Mattesons involvement in rodeo won't end with Lexi and Justin. They will probably be rodeoing for a long time, with 12 year-old Ryan and 10 year-old Lacey already involv ed in the family sport. Sixteen year-old Tiffanie Munkers has also made rodeo a life-long activity. "She's been running barrels since she was about tw o," says her mom, Mary Ann. Mary A nn's parents, Rocky and Nita Pro ctor of Irrigon have been rodeo ing for around 35 years and are stiU hard at it. They now belong to an old-timers rodeo club. Mary Ann herself has train ed and sold barrel racing horses since she was around 10 years old and has taught her two daughters, Tiffanie and Angela, who will be in high school next year, the business. Dad, Barry rode in Wranglers and high school rodeo. Tiffanie belongs to the Women's Pro Rodeo Associa tion, the Morrow County Pro Rodeo Association, the Oregon Barrel Racing Association and the Greater Columbia Barrel Racing Association, which has around 250 members and runs events every Wednesday in Hermiston. Mary Ann says that they rodeo around IOV 2 months out of the year on weekends. "When we can't get out of the driveway, we stay home," laughs Mary Ann. This year Tiffanie qualified for the nationals in goat tying. She finished eighth in the first go at state finals, sixth in the se cond go and fourth in the short go, ending up fourth in the state standings. Tiffanie was sixth in the first and second go- rounds in the state finals in cow cutting and fourth in the short go, for a sixth place in state standings. She was 10th in the first and second go-rounds in barrel racing and fourth in the short go for a seventh place in state standings. Last year Tif fanie went to nationals in bar rel racing, third in state standings. Mary Ann says the Gillette rodeo is the world's largest rodeo, drawing around 1,400 student competitors (the top four in each state and Canadian province). The rodeo brings around 15,000 people into Gillette. While luck, good or bad, enters into rodeoing-Tiffanie's barrel horse was hurt right before the state finals and she had to use her sister, Angela's horse, which she had never rid den before, Mary Ann also echoes the fact that that it takes a lot of hard work. "You have to be a real athlete (to compete), says Mary Ann. "It's really dangerous." She adds that she has sent the girls to clinics in goat tying to get a profes- continued page 8 Boardman annexes tO city The Boardman City Council approved the annexation of Port of Morrow property into the city following a public hear ing held Tuesday night. The annexation, brought before the council by petitioner Ed Glenn, will include the PGE Coyote Springs plant, which opposed the move and Oregon Potato and Lamb Weston, both of whom favored annexation. PM Clinic to host open house Pioneer Memorial Clinic will host an open house on Thurs day, June 29, from 6-7 p.m. Community members are in vited to attend. Refreshments will be served. "W e wanted to give every one an opportunity to meet our new physician, Dr. Ernie Atkins, as well as tour the new clinic addition," said Morrow County Health District Ad ministrator Kevin Erich. Closed Taos. July 4th H a v e a S afe H o lid a y Morrow County Grain Growers Lexington 989-8221 1-800-452-7396