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Young Eagles Program helps local kids soar
E r s S 1 E W E T 2 E L L
U OF ORE
K F W 3 P A P E R
E V 1 E N E O R
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5 7 , 3
Mom George Nairns (left) helps daughter Crystal from plane after an exciting ride as son Kiel waits his
turn. Pilot is David Cheney.
VOL. 116
NO. 22
8 Pages
Wednesday, May 28,1997
Morrow County, Heppner, Oregon
Bulldozers to begin tearing up the streets
Downtown renovation
project to start next week
In about one week, downtown
Heppner is going to be turned
into "a mess and a disaster", local
people were told at a meeting last
week.
The meeting was called to talk
about the upcoming downtown
renovation project which will be
starting around June 4 and will
last for up to four months. The
project will involve tearing up
all the sidewalks and streets in
downtown Heppner.
"I don't want tof sugar coat this
at all," City Manager Gary Marks
told the crowd of around 40
people. "It's going to be an
absolute mess and a disaster."
Marks also reminded people
that the downtown renovation is
"not a city project", and that
problems encountered during
construction should be taken to
the company that won the bid
and is doing the work on the
project.
A1 Frye, project manager for
Weaver Construction which won
the bid on the renovation project,
did most of the talking at the
meeting, and he stressed time
and time again that the company
will do all they can to work with
residents and business people to
make the construction go as
smoothly
as
is
possible
considering the extent of the
construction and that there will
be no streets or sidewalks for C ity M anager Gary M arks shows the new type o f street light
some time.
that will go up in Heppner as part o f the renovation project.
Frye pointed out that his
company has experience in city street and then to the west.
at the downtown park and at the
renovation projects, having done
Frye also said that there may be RV park at Willow Creek Lake.
projects in LaGrande, Dayton some interruption of water
The construction area will be
and Baker City.
He asked service while work is done on the from the Hinton Creek Bridge up
downtown property or business water mams, but he doesn't to May Street in Heppner. He
owners
to
contact
him anticipate this to last more than a said the construction crews will
immediately if the construction couple of hours.
work was causing damage or if
Frye estimated that there could begin work at 7 a.m. each day
there was a problem with be up to 25 to 30 people working and work eight to nine hours per
buildings or property.
on the project at any given time, day, five days per week. Frye
"We are going to video the counting subcontractors. He said said there will be very little
fronts of stores, but we would many of them will live in trailers weekend work. "We try to keep
overtime to a minimum," he said.
like to know of any underground
vaults and basements," Frye said.
He said the video is done to
document the condition of
property at the start of
construction. "We don’t want to
get blamed for any damage we
didn't do, but believe me we will
take care of any we cause," Frye
said.
Construction on the downtown
project is expected to begin June
4 or 6, and last until Sept. 30.
"The signs are going up June
6, the cutting (old sidewalks and
pavement) will start June 6, and
we will start bulldozing the
streets on June 7," Frye said.
During construction there will
be no parking on Main Street in
A1 Frye, who will head up the downtown renovatio for Weaver
Heppner, and traffic will be
Construction Co., explains the project at a meeting last week.
routed first to the east side of the
L-R: Cub Culbertson, Carley Drake, Doug Drake, Ed Betts, Dave Cheney and Wilma Cheney with aircraft
at Lexington Airport
Plane rides were a big hit with
local youngsters as over 80
queued up for free flights from
the Lexington airport Friday,
May 23.
The rides were sponsored by the
Young Eagles Program, which,
in tum is sponsored by the
E x p e r i me n t a l
Ai r cr af t
Association Foundation (EAA), a
" char i t abl e
non-profit
organization dedicated to the
discovery and fulfillment of
individual potential through
personal flight."
The nation-wide group has a
goal of flying one million kids in
planes by the year 2002. which is
the 100th anniversary o f the
Wright Brothers flight. Now in
its third year, the program has
flown 300,000 children
By lunch time Friday 67 area
kids had flown and by around 3
p.m., 84 had been up in a plane.
The pilots started at 8 a.m. and
flew three children at time for 20
minute intervals. The pilots tried
to fly the kids over their homes,
whenever possible.
Pilots were Doug Drake of
Heppner. local organizer, and
Cub Culbertson of Pendleton,
who flew Piper Cherokees, and
David Cheney of Walla Walla,
who flew his Cessna 182.
Assisting with registration and
lunch were Wilma Cheney,
Walla Walla, Ed Betts, Umatilla,
Carley Drake, Heppner, and
Camille Peck, Lexington.
Dave Cheney, president of the
EAA chapter which covers
Hermiston and Pendleton, was a
pilot with American Airlines for
34 years. He and his wife,
Wilma, who had a ranch at Cecil
for many years, moved to Walla
Walla in 1995.
M CGG plants trees along new fields
Morrow County Gram Growers
has added a touch of green to the
new baseball/softball fields and
corridor joining them.
MCGG bought and planted a
variety of trees, including ashes,
maples, pines, oaks and birches
and is installing a drip system for
watering the trees.
Master Gardeners Kay Proctor,
Kathryn Kettel and Mark Tullis
assisted MCGG in planting the
trees. MCGG is also working
with the swimming pool project
to ensure that the types of trees
planted will not be detrimental to
the pool, said Tullis.
Golf tourney to
benefit little
league
Master Gardener Mark Tullis (left) and Dusty Rollis of the Morrow
County Grain Growers plant trees near new baseball/softball fields
MC Museum seeks grand marshals
The Morrow County Museum
is compiling a list of all who
A blind draw scramble golf have served as grand
tournament to benefit the Willow marshal of the Morrow County
Creek Little League will be held Fair and Rodeo.
Sunday, June 1, at the Willow
Creek Country Club in Heppner.
The day will begin with coffee,
rolls and registration at 7 a.m.
The
Academic
Awards
and tee off time at 8 a.m.
Assembly
for
Heppner
There will be a $15 entry fee
will all proceeds going towards Elementary School will be held
on Thursday, June 5 at 7 p.m. in
the little league program.
the gym.
Anyone who has names of
grand marshals and the year they
served are asked to contact
Marsha Sweek at the museum,
676-5524, during open hours.
HES to present academic awards
Refreshments following the
presentations will be provided by
members of the Site Council and
Parents' Club.
The public is invited to attend.
DELTA TRUCKBOX SALE
10% OFF
on all boxes and fuel tanks in stock through June 7th
H0KB0V C
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6B
A
IN
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Lexington 989-8221 1-800-452-7396
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