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Til Tullís, Oregon's youngest
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Til Tullis
VOL 115________ NO 25________ 6 Pages Wednesday, June 19, 1996,_________Morrow County Heppner, Oregon
High school rodeo team members to go to nationals
When he was first licensed to
operate an amateur two-way
radio at age 10, Til Tullis of lone
became the youngest Emergen­
cy Service Radio operator in the
state. One year later, Tullis has
received a certificate of ap­
preciation from the director of
Oregon Emergency Manage­
ment.
"T he state gave Til this
award for his performance in
the Emergency Operations
Center. We conducted a Uma­
tilla Army Depot disaster exer­
cise this M ay," says Morrow
County Emergency Manage­
ment director Casey Beard.
"Tullis was the liaison between
ham radio operators and the
staff at our Emergency Opera­
tions Center. He performed
well under pressure and we
know we cn rely on him in an
emergency to do the sam e."
At age 11, Tullis is still the
youngest Emergency Service
Radio operator and the young­
est member of his ham radio
group, the Umatilla/Morrow
Em ergency Service Radio
Operators. The group's direc­
tor, Gary Cooper, Hermiston,
says, "Til is a motivator. Here
he's 11 years old, ready to do
Lexi Matteson (left), Annie Hisler, Justin Matteson, Angela
Munkers and Tiffany Munkers
Five area high school rodeo
club members have qualified
for the National High School
Rodeo Finals to be held in
Pueblo, Colorado in July.
Justin and Lexi Matteson and
Annie Hisler, all Heppner, and
Angela and Tiffanie Munkers,
Lexington, each finished in the
top four in their event at the
1996 Oregon State High School
Rodeo Finals held in Prineville
June 12-16.
"The state gives away 16 sad­
d les," said Justin Matteson,
"and Heppner High Schdol
won four of them. Each state
champion is awarded a saddle.
Besides the Mattesons, the
Munkers and Hisler, Katie
McCoin from Condon and
Mandi Duby, Pendleton, will
also go to nationals.
The Intermountain girls'
team, consisting of Lexi Mat­
teson, Hisler and Duby, won
the State Championship Girls
Team title. The Columbia Basin
girls' team, consisting of Tif­
fanie and Angela Munkers and
McCoin, won the Reserve State
Championship Girls Team title.
Angela Munkers won the
State Champion Rookie of the
Year title. She also finished
fourth in barrel racing and
eighth in girls' cutting.
Justin Matteson was the state
champion in both team roping
and steer wrestling and took
sixth in calf roping. Lexi Mat­
teson was the state champion
barrel racer and finished
seventh in pole bending. Tif­
fanie Munkers was the state
champion in goat tying.
Annie Hisler was second in
barrel racing and pole bending.
Duby was third in goat tying
and fourth in girls' cutting and
McCoin was fourth in pole ben­
ding, fifth in breakaway roping
and sixth in barrel racing.
Other area winners include
Ty Wilkins, Condon, eighth in
bull riding; Seth Hopper, Her-
miston, fifth in calf roping,
seventh in steer wrestling; Nate
Filbin, Dufur, state champion
in bareback riding; and Tyson
Shoemaker, The Dalles, fifth in
bareback riding.
The top 20 contestants in the
state of Oregon in each event
qualified for the state finals.
Justin Matteson won the
State Finals Rodeo Average in
steer wrestling; Lexi Matteson,
in barrel racing; Annie Hisler,
in cutting; Tiffanie Munkers, in
goat tying; and Seth Hopper in
boys' cutting and calf roping.
Rathbun said that Bathurst
and the juvenile were arrested
on charges of burglary II, theft
II and criminal trespass II.
Around $600 in candy and
cash were stolen from the snack
shack.
Rathbun said that Bathurst
had been transported to jail.
Three churches plan Bible school
All Saints Episcopal Church,
Heppner United Methodist
Church and Hope Lutheran
Church announce a joint vaca­
tion Bible school to be held the
week of July 22-26.
Children will meet from 9
a m.-12 noon each day for sing­
ing, arts and crafts, snacks and
Bible lessons. Themes are
"F r ie n d s in Je s u s " and
"Awesom e Adventures with
Jesus.”
Classes for students in first
through sixth grades will be of­
fered. A fee of $4 per child or
$10 for a family of three or more
will be asked for participation
in this program to provide
enough materials and supplies.
If this is a hardship, scholarship
aid will be available, said the
Reverend Stan Hoobing.
Pre-registration forms are
available at each church and
people are encouraged to
register by July 1 so materials
can be ordered. "Please register
e a rly ," said the Reverend
Hoobing.
For more information, call All
Saints Episcopal, 676-9970,
Heppner United Methodist,
676-9224, or Hope Lutheran,
676-9940.
Master Gardeners to offer workshop
The Blue Mountain Master
Gardeners will sponsor a tree
workshop for local homeown­
ers on Wednesday, June 26 at
7 p.m at the Morrow County
Extension office in Heppner.
The program, presented by
Joe Carli of the Oregon Depart­
ment of Forestry, will focus on
things, and he's kind of show­
ing up the older m em bers."
C ooper says the average
"h am " is 30-40 years old. Tullis
is fully licensed to send voice
and computer-generated mess­
ages on an amateur two-way
radio.
These radio operators volun­
teer their time and talents to
provide a communications link
for local authorities during
emergencies, says Beard. The
phone lines could be quickly
overwhelmed in an emergency
and the hams are expected to
handle voice and data mess­
ages. "W e're grateful for the
life-saving service Til and the
other operators provide and for
their ongoing commitment to
improving emergency prepar­
edness in the a re a ," says
Beard.
Cooper says that anyone in­
terested in becoming an ama­
teur radio operator should call
him in Hermiston at 567-3387.
G ro u p seeks to restore m usic program
Two arrested in snack shack theft
Jason Bathurst, 25, and a 16
year old juvenile, both Hepp­
ner, were arrested June 11 in
connection with the burglary of
the Willow Creek Little League
snack shack at G eorge
Waterland Memorial Field in
Heppner, according to Hepp­
ner Police Chief Doug Rathbun.
Til Tullis (left), receives certificate from Gary Cooper, director of
Umatilla/Morrow Emergency Service Radio Operators
the "Planting and Caring of
Trees for Homeowners." Carli
will discuss proper tree care,
tree pruning and how to save
trees.
The public is welcome to at­
tend. There is no charge for ad­
mission. Those planning to at­
tend should call the Extension
office, 676-9642 or 1-800-
342-3664.
The music program in Hepp­
ner and lone Schools seems to
be dwindling away, but some
community members are doing
their best to reverse this trend.
The group, headed by Anne
Murray of Heppner, brought
signatures of over 255 people in
support of a vital music pro­
gram in south Morrow Coun­
ty to the Morrow County
school board meeting held at
Boardman June 10. Murray
says that she has collected
another 114 signatures since
the board meeting.
Murray said that her group
would like to see the school
district restore three music
teacher positions in south Mor­
row County, but were told that
the numbers of students enroll­
ing in music in Heppner and
lone don't justify that many
teachers.
If the district is unable to
employ three music teachers,
Murray says that the parents
would like to see at least one
additional half time teacher.
"T he north end has a very
active music program," says
Murray. "W e just want to bring
it back to H eppner."
As it stands now, one full­
time music teacher travels back
and forth between lone and
Heppner daily.
This past year, the music
specialist spent the first period
of the day at Heppner High
School teaching music lab for
grades seven through 12,
which included "both vocal
and instrumental, which rang­
ed from guitar, piano to
anything," said music teacher
Geneva Mathews, Heppner.
After music lab at HHS,
Mathews went across town to
Heppner Elementary, where
she taught kindergarten
through fourth grade vocal
music one a hour a day (the
children received one half hour
of instruction twice a week) and
combined fifth and sixth grade
band. This past year HES fifth
and sixth graders received
vocal music instruction from
classroom teacher Jannie Allen.
In the afternoon Mathews
traveled to lone where she
taught combined third and
fourth grade vocal music, along
with instruction in recorders (a
musical instrument), for one
half hour a day; combined fifth
and six grade vocal and band
for 45 minutes a day; and then
music lab for grades seven
through 12 for one period a
day. Music for kindergarten
through second grade at lone
is with classroom teachers.
Mathews told the Gazette
that she has given her verbal
resignation to the district so
that she could "find other
employment and relocate". "I
hope some positive changes
come out of this,” she added.
Mathews started out as a
substitute teacher, but has
taught full-time for 11 years.
She taught music solely in lone
tor eight years. But, when
Heppner instrumental music
teacher Bob Isted resigned
three years ago, the district, fac­
ed with serious budget issues
(because of Ballot Measure 5
and reductions in state school
funding), decided to eliminate
that position. Mathews then
began teaching both in lone
and Heppner. A vocal music
teaching position at Heppner
Elementary has since been
eliminated and vocal music
teacher Kitty Bredemeier trans­
ferred to a north end music
position, leaving only one full­
time equivalent position for
south end schools. Mathews
took leave the last part of the
1995-96 school year. Jean
Brazell has acted as substitute
music teacher.
Morrow County School
District superintendent Chuck
Starr says that the district plans
to continue to have a licensed
music teacher for Heppner and
lone schools. "W e are en­
couraging it,” he said, but add­
ed that the school board has
said that the extent of the pro­
gram depends on enrollment.
Starr said the district plans to
advertise for a music teacher.
He confirmed that Mathews "is
in the process of submitting her
resignation " .
An after-school instrumental
music program, not affiliated
with the schools, has been
organized by Heppner musi­
cian Sharia Erich.
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