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