The personal side of mill closure
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Jodi Brisbois works final days at Kinzua scale shack
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VOL. 118_______NO. 6_______ 8 Pages
Wednesday, February 10,1999
Morrow County, Heppner, Oregon
Snow makes late arrival in Heppner
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Logan Anthony, a third grader at Heppner Elementary School, shovels snow from his neighbor's driveway
on Tuesday afternoon. Snow had fallen Monday evening and most of the day Tuesday in the Heppner area.
Logan is the son of Ron and Maryanne Anthony.
f
4
IUCC to collect Beanie
Babies for Doernbecher's
The lone United Church of
Christ is collecting Beanie
Babies
for
Doembecher
Children's Hospital in Portland.
"We hope to bring a little cheer
to the children at Doembecher
with the popular Beanie Babies,"
said an IUCC spokesperson.
The toys will be delivered to
Portland the first weekend in
March.
4 .
Anyone who would like to
donate a Beanie Baby is asked to
get them to Jannie Allen at 210
Third Street in lone or call 422-
7563 by March 1.
Horse club
sign-up set
Sign up for the new Heppner
4-H horse club will be this
Friday, Feb. 12, from 1-6 p.m. at
PepCo. Enterprises on Main
Street in Heppner, next to the
DMV office.
Those who would like to sign
up, but who can't make the open
sign up from 1-6 p.m. Friday,
may call Connie Farrens, 676-
8080 at PepCo or 676-5591
evenings.
Churches plan Lenten, Holy week services
All Saints' Episcopal Church,
Hope Lutheran Church and
Valby Lutheran Church have
released their Lenten and Holy
Week worship schedules.
Each Wednesday, beginning
with Ash Wednesday, February
17, a soup and sandwich supper
is planned at 6 p.m., followed by
worship at 7 p.m. Worship will
be based on the scriptural
account of angelic activity and
the suffering and death of Jesus
Christ.
The Feb. 17 supper and
worship is planned at Hope
Lutheran, with the worship topic
"A cherub with a flaming sword
guarding the entrance to Eden";
Feb. 24-Valby Lutheran, "The
angels on Jacob's ladder";
March 3-Hope Lutheran,
"Angels cry, holy, holy, holy";
March 10-All Saints'
Episcopal, "Christmas angels
announce who 'will save his
people from their sins";
March 17-Valby Lutheran,
"Angels attended our Lord after
his temptation";
March 24-Hope Lutheran,
"Christ will come 'with all his
holy angels";
Maundy Thursday, April 1 - All
Saints, a Lord's Supper tableau-a
dramatic recreation of the Last
Supper in the upper room in
Jerusalem on the night before
Good Friday. The scene in the
upper
room
is recreated
according to Da Vinci's painting,
"The Last Supper." Members of
All Saints, Hope and Valby
parishes will participate. Holy
Communion will be a part of the
service and the communion table
is open to all. Everyone is invited
to attend.
Good Friday, April 2-All Saints
and Hope Lutheran will be open
for prayer, meditation and Bible
reading.
Easter Sunday, April 4-services
to be held at each church.
Museum offers evening hours
The Morrow County Museum
will be open for visitors and
researchers until 8 p.m. on
Wednesday evenings from
February 17 through May 26.
This trial period will determine
if there is sufficient demand to
warrant making the additional
hours permanent.
The museum's normal schedule
is Tuesday through Saturdav
from 1-5 p.m. The additional
Wednesday hours will be from
5-8 p.m.
Both the exhibits and the
Genealogical Research Center
will be available to the public.
Rodeo court
plans can drive
The Morrow County Fair and
Oregon Trail Pro Rodeo Court
has planned a can drive in lone
on Monday, Feb. 15, from 11
a.m. to 4 p.m.
For pick up, call Kathy Rankin,
676-9748, after 6 p.m.
The seemingly endless line of
loaded trucks, that for years
rolled into the log yard is
indeed coming to an end.
The head ng, that cut so many
logs, is weeks away from
silence.
The trimmers, loaders and
other equipment needed to
produce
lumber, are now
being eyed by auctioneers. And
the end is in sight for the
Kinzua saw mill.
But forget the high sounding
talk of changing economic
times and the end of an
industry. The end of this mill is
the beginning of uncertainty
for many of the people who
work there.
Perhaps no one typifies the
personal side of a mill closure
so much as Ron and Jodi
Brisbois of Heppner.
Both husband and wife work
at the mill. She at the scale
shack, he on a loader.
The Bnsbois have a home
here, raised a family here, and
love the community.
He coaches softball and
basketball, she does the service
work that helps keep a
community together.
But
without a job, "times they are a
changin'." •
"I honestly don't know what
we are going to do," says Jodi,
as she looks out of the scale
shack over the company where
she's worked the past eight
years. Her husband Ron has
worked at Kinzua for 13 years.
"Sometimes I imagine they
will just come out and say it
isn't so. That they refigured
everything and they will be able
keep the mill open." Then she is
silent.
"I can't believe it's happening.
We've got to have faith that
somehow God will take care of
us. Down deep in my heart I
just didn't believe that the mill
would shut down," she says.
Jodi says both she and Ron
have applied for the jobs
opening up at the Pilot Rock
Mill, but "there is no guarantee.
And that's a ways to drive," she
says.
Jodi says both she and Ron
fell in love with Heppner after
moving here from Hermiston.
"We didn't like the school,"
she confides. "We wanted to
come to a smaller town. In the
sixth grade Nikki's (their now
25 year old daughter) friends
were car dating. We said 'no
thank you' and moved to
Heppner."
They bought their first home
here, raised their daughter here,
and enjoyed all the benefits
small town living can bring.
"This town has been good to
us," says Jodi, who grew up in
Condon and was a cheerleader
in high school there. She still
takes
part
in
Mustang
community pep rallies, and
remembers the time several
years ago at a basketball game
in Pilot Rock, when the crowd
was quiet and the Mustangs
needed a pick up."I grabbed this
basketball thing and put it on
my head, and started getting the
crowd pumped up. My daughter
died a thousand deaths. But I
got the crowd cheering," she
recalls.
"We absolutely love it here.
The people here have been so
good to us . We hate to leave.
We had hoped to retire here."
The Kinzua mill will close on
March 14. One hundred thirty
people will lose their jobs, 70 of
those workers are from the
Heppner, lone and Lexington
areas.
W illow Creek Park reservations
can now be made on-line
campground). The form is
"simple to fill out and easy to
operate", says David Sykes of
the Heppner Gazette-Times,
which developed the web page
and reservation form for the
park.
People who would like to
make reservations at the Willow
Creek RV Park, can now do so
on the Internet.
A reservation form is part of
the park's new web page at:
www.heppner.net (click on
Wal-Mart reps to come
to Heppner
Representatives from the Wal-
Mart Distribution Center will be
in Heppner to discuss career
opportunities
on
Monday,
February 15, from 2-3 p.m. and
from 5-6 p.m. at the Bank of
Eastern Oregon Operations
Center conference room.
Workers who may be displaced
by the closure of Kinzua
Resources are invited to attend.
Salary ranges, benefits, job
descriptions
and
other
employment requirements will be
discussed.
The session is sponsored by
the
Heppner
Economic
Development Corporation.
Flue bug strikes local students
Cold and flu bugs have been
out in force at Heppner and lone
schools this past week.
Around 25 percent of the
students at Heppner High School
were absent because of illness on
Monday. Over 45 students
missed school that day and 35
were absent Tuesday.
Eighteen students were absent
at lone in grades six to 12
Monday, which amounts to about
20 percent of the enrollment.
MCGG
Customer
Appreciation
Day Saturday
The Morrow County Grain
Growers will hold their annual
Customer Appreciation Day this
Saturday, Feb. 1, at their store in
Lexington..
The day begins with a free
pancake breakfast. Many door
prizes will also be given away.
A free 32 ounce pop will be
given away at the convenience
store with any fill up and door
prizes will also be awarded there
at 3 p.m.
Everyone is invited to attend.
Usually only three to 10 students
in those grades are absent on a
given day.
At Heppner Elementary School
Monday and Tuesday, 12 percent
of the students missed school,
compared to a usual day of eight
to nine percent absentees. Thirty
students were absent those days.
Basketball teams have also
been decimated by illnesses.
The absences have mainly been
attributed to the flu, colds and
bronchial infections.
HHS to sponsor baked
potato-chili feed
Governor’s visit
cancelled
The governor's visit to Heppner
scheduled for Tuesday, Feb. 9,
was cancelled because of poor
flying conditions.
The Heppner High School
(HHS) senior class is sponsoring
a baked potato/chili feed on Sat
urday, Feb. 13 from 2-6 p.m. in
the HHS home ec. room. The
feed will take place during the last
HHS home basketball game
against Culver.
The meal will include baked
potato, a choice of chili, broccoli
cheese sauce or sour cream and
cheese, and homemade bread,
brownie and beverage.
Proceeds from the dinner will
go towards the Class of '9 9 ’s
graduation trip to Disneyland
The senior class will also be
selling raffle tickets for a quilt
made by Pam and Kristi Worden,
a perpetual calendar made by
Deena Reid and a hand-painted
saw donated by John and Millie
Hanna. The winning tickets will
be drawn during halftime of the
boys' game.
GROWERS CHEMICAL MEETING
Friday, February 12 ~ 8 a.m. to noon with lunch following
at Willows Grange, lone
(Chemical Applicator Credits Applied)
S ponsored
M
Lexington
by :
orrow
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•
C
ounty
1 -8 0 0 -4 5 2 -7 3 9 6
G
r a in
G
row ers
For farm equipment, visit our web site at www.mcgg.net