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