Image provided by: Morrow County Museum; Heppner, OR
About Heppner gazette-times. (Heppner, Or.) 1925-current | View Entire Issue (Dec. 13, 1995)
Family faces tough times this Christmas season had been working for Senior and Disabled Services and Capeco around 230 hours a month and providing services for 15 people, giving medica tions, insulin, cleaning houses and bathing clients. When Don became ill, she F lì HEPPNER Jeanette and Don Townsend unes VOL. 114 NO. 50 8 Pages Wednesday, December 13, 1995, Morrow County Heppner, Oregon By April Hilton-S ykes Most of us have heard the ex pression, "If life gives you lemons, make lemonade." Don and Jeanette Townsend of Heppner have had to drink an awful lot of lemonade for too many years, but some mem bers of the community are try ing to make that lemonade taste a little bit sweeter. Heppner Council give green light BEO marks 50 years of service to housing program Bank of lone, which closed dur The Bank of Eastern Oregon ing the Great Depression. BEO (BEO) marked 50 years of ser continued to use the original vice in Morrow and Gilliam vault of the Bank of lone until counties in 1995 and has plann the new building was built and ed celebrations at each branch completed in 1980. The site of to commemorate the anniver the present bank was the loca sary. tion of the original Bank of Special open houses will be lone. Mardean Patton handles held from 10 a.m.-3 p.m. at the operations at the lone branch. Arlington branch on Friday, Heppner received its branch Dec. 15; the lone branch on in 1957. The branch grew Tuesday, Dec. 19, and the quickly and in a few years was Heppner branch on Thursday, the largest of the bank's bran Dec. 21. Refreshments will be ches. The Heppner branch served and drawings will be houses the chief accounting of held for a gold coin giveaway. fice, which is responsible for An open house was held at the the total operation and man Condon branch on Dec. 12. agement of all the bank's bran The bank was chartered in ches. George Koffler manages 1945 as the Gilliam County the Heppner branch. Bank in Arlington. The new The bank opened its most re Arlington branch was built cent branch in Condon last when the construction of dams May. This branch is also man on the Columbia River forced aged by John Moffit. the city of Arlington to move A financial services depart up the hill to escape the rising ment and a mortgage depart water. ment have also been recent ad According to bank records, ditions made by the bank. the original bank was started Officers of the bank are with $25,000 in capital and on George Koffler, president and ly a handful of shareholders. chief executive officer; Linda As the bank grew, the need for LaRue, vice president and cash capital also grew and capital ier; Harley Sager, vice presi was increased in 1957 to dent; Rollie Marshall, Richard $120,000. Capital and undivid Wood and John Moffit, assis ed profits have continued to in tant vice presidents, and Jean- crease over the years and share neine Pettyjohn, assistant holders now number over 200. cashier. The bank's board of The Arlington branch is cur directors consists of Koffler; Bill rently managed by John Moffit. Jaeger, chairman of Condon; The lone branch was autho Alfred "B u s" Clough, Arl rized in early 1959 and opened ington; Don Briston and Joel in June of that year. The ori Peterson, lone, and Ned Clark ginal building had housed the and Bob Kahl, Heppner. St. Pat's Committee seeks auction items The St. Patrick's Day Auction Committee held its first meet ing to begin organizing for the 1996 Auction. The committee is seeking donations of auction items from the community to support the St. Patrick's Day Celebration. "Now is a good time to make room in your closets and garages for all your upcoming Christmas acquisitions," said Delanne Ferguson. "The items you donate to the auction in directly support our communi ty image as " a little touch of Ireland" during the St. Pat's celebration in the spring." In addition to "treasurers", auction donations can also in clude services or opportunities, such as escorted hunting or riding trips, babysitting ser vices, garden care, or home re pair work. Volunteers are available to pick up large items at your home or business. Call Steve Rhea, days 676-9113, Mike Mills, days 676-9141, Dan Bros- nan, days 676-5382 or the Mur rays, days 676-9158 or evenings 676-9631, to arrange for pick-up service. Small items can be left at the Kuhn, Spicer and Mills office on Main Street or at Dan and Doris Brosnan's house. The auction is the main fund source for the St. Patrick's Day Celebration. Although St. Pat rick's Day would not be possi ble without the dedicated ef forts of many volunteers, sev eral thousand dollars are re quired each year to cover ex penses for publicity, brochures, entertainment and facilities rentals. Meeting set for UP property owners A meeting for property owners who have land adjacent to the Union Pacific railroad line is scheduled for Monday, Dec. 18, at Willows Grange in lone, at 7 p.m. The Heppner City Council gave the green light Monday night, Dec. 11, to an effort pro posed by city manager Gary Marks to develop a housing rehabilitation grant request for low and moderate income homeowners in Heppner. The council held a public hearing to take comments from the public related to the Com munity Development Block Grant (CDBG) program, which is available through the Oregon Economic Development De partment. CDBG grants can be used to develop housing re habilitation programs, build community facilities that pri marily benefit low and moder ate income residents, provide handicapped accessibility im provements and for technical engineering support for quali fied projects. "I am in strong support of the city applying for a CDBG grant to upgrade the communi ty's housing. It (a housing rehabilitation program) is an important part of improving out housing stock," said John Edmundson, who testified at the hearing. At the conclusion of the hear ing, the council authorized Marks to prepare a grant appli cation for a CDBG housing re habilitation program. Under such a program, the city could qualify for as much as $300,000 to be distributed to low and moderate income homeowners for home improvement pro jects. Qualified homeowners could apply for loans from the city for as much as $20,000 each. The loans would not re quire monthly payments and would not need to be repaid until the home is sold or the homeowner dies. Marks reported that a com munity-wide survey wold be required to demonstrate com munity support and interest in the housing rehabilitation pro gram. The council authorized the survey to take place in ear ly January. In other business, the coun cil authorized city staff to re habilitate an abandoned city water well located above Wil low Creek Road near the Balm Fork intersection. The rehabili tation will require installation of a new pump, motor and well casing. The well will add 150 gallons/minute to the city's water system for use as a back up water supply source. The council also heard a report from Marks about an ef fort to restructure the city's sewer project loans. The re structuring effort is aimed at saving $100,000 in interest costs over the next 20 years. A resolution was adopted by the council establishing a list of city goals for 1996. Another resolution ratifying appoint ments to various city boards and committees was also adopted. M a n killed in 1-84 vehicle rollover An Everett, WA, man was killed and five others injured in a rollover accident Sunday, Dec. 10, near Boardman. The men had been traveling west in a Crew Shuttle Co. van around 3 p.m. when the vehi cle encountered ice on Inter state 84 and rolled several times before coming to rest in the eastbound lanes. The van was transporting a Burlington Nor thern Railroad crew from Pasco, WA, to Vancouver, WA. Two of the men were ejected from the van. The driver of the vehicle, Doug C. Thomas, 42, a shuttle company employee, was eject ed from the van and was de clared dead on arrival at Good Shepherd Hospital in Hermis- ton. Dennis D. Cotton, 56, Van couver, was in critical condition Tuesday with multiple frac tures at Good Shepherd Hos pital. Carl Cagle, 53, Teague, Texas, was transported to Good Shepherd and then to Kadlec Hospital in Richland, WA. He was listed in satisfac tory condition with fractures. The other three men, James Bonnin, 58, and Curtis Buck, 48, both Portland, and Jason Dimmick, age unavailable, Vancouver, were treated at Good Shepherd and released. Both Boardman and Irrigon ambulances responded to the scene of the accident. The accident is under in vestigation, according to the Morrow County S h eriff's office. A community Christmas tree has been set up at Heppner TV to help the Townsend family during some very tough times. Corol Mitchell, senior service coordinator with the Area Agency on Aging of CAPECO, says that anyone wishing to help the Townsends may bring donations, gifts or food items to place under the tree until Dec. 22. "We hope the community will see this as an opportuni ty," said Mitchell. "By every one giving a little, we can make a big difference. Heppner is such a caring community that we know we can meet this challenge." Mitchell says that the family's need is largely financial, but added that any thing anyone can give will be very much appreciated. Don Townsend has a condi tion resulting from a virus that doctors believe may have been contracted overseas. He had served in the Phillippines, Korea and Okinawa in the Marines. He has had four surgeries, during which most of his pan creas was removed, his gall bladder and part of his small in testine. He is fed by tubes and has to take morphine and Tylenol III to control his pain. He has lost over 70 pounds and his once strapping six foot frame is down to only 102 pounds. While Don had been sick for the last three years, he had been able to work up until the last surgery Nov. 21. He is now bedridden except for short trips to the bathroom and will be disabled for life. They hope that another surgery will eventual ly enable him to eat and cut down his feeding tube to eight hours during the nighttime on ly. He faces more tests and the Townsends don't know if his condition will improve. The last two surgeries have amounted to over $250,000 and the cost of Don's medication is astronomical. Jeanette said that a half month's supply of his medication had cost them $258 a month. Walmart, she said, however, "has been very nice" and cut the cost of a half month's supply down to $158. When Don has surgery, Jeanette has to stay in a motel to be near him. They found an inexpensive motel, but still, at $46 a night for a discounted room, the costs add up. To top it all off, the last trip to the Oregon Health Sciences Uni versity Hospital, the muffler fell off their car. The Townsends have few op tions to pay their bills and make ends meet. They are unable to get welfare because they have no children and, because she "m akes too much money", they say he doesn't qualify for the Oregon Health Plan. She was told she should put him in a nursing home or adult foster home and think about getting a legal separation or a divorce, so he would qualify for assistance. "I couldn't let him go, unless I absolutely couldn't take care of him," she says. So, she cut down her work hours at Senior and Disabled Services to around 28 hours a month, serving five people. She also supplements their income by cleaning homes and the local Elks lodge, taking in ironing and letting out rooms in their rented home. The Chamber of Commerce contacted them about providing lodging during the Heppner St. Patrick's celebration and the Townsends provide rooms for overflow clientele from the Northwest ern Motel. Their last boarder, however, skipped out without paying rent while they were at OHSU for another surgery. He not only cut out on the rent, but left a big mess at the house. The Townsends were recent ly able to get $147 dollars a month in food stamps and Jeanette says they will be able to get Social Security insurance which will provide funding for most of Don's medical care. The insurance won't cover previous medical bills and the family doesn't have enough money to pay their rent. Last month the N eighborhood Center helped with the rent and they were able to pay their lights, water, garbage, televi sion and a few other bills. Home Health comes twice a week to assist with medical care and his mother, Joyce Breed ing, also of Heppner, comes in once a day. Jeanette says that Corol Mitchell and her hus band, David, have also helped out. "Sh e is a godsend," adds Jeanette. Unfortunately, this is not Jeanette's first experience with tragedy. She cared for her first husband, Sumner Earlywine, for 11 years before he passed away. He had suffered two massive strokes which resulted in complete paralysis. The home Jeanette had near Cuts- forth Park caught on fire because of wiring and burned in May of 1994. While things seem over whelming, Jeanette tries to keep a positive outlook. She admits to being a workaholic and struggles a little with the amount of time she spends at home. The couple enjoys play ing bingo. She likes to em broider and make crafts and still keeps their modest home spotless. He likes to fish and hunt, but can't get out to do that, so watches television and plays solitaire. Before he was bedridden, Don had started up though the chairs at the Elks. The pair, in a May-December romance (she is 50 and he is 30) have been married for only four years and remain devoted to each other. "It's what's in the heart that counts," says Don. Weather Report By City of Heppner December 4-10, 1995 High Low Precip. 36 54 .03 12/4 28 .01 43 12/5 21 43 .05 12/6 29 36 .00 12/7 19 45 .00 12/8 23 16 12/9 .06 19 12/10 23 .12 Visit our O'reCNC^HO'US'E Friday, December 15 Have Refreshments - Say Hello Morrow County Grain Growers Lexington 989-8221 1-800-452-7396
