TWO Heppner Gazette-Tim es, Heppner, Oregon Wednesday, June 9, 1999
The Official Newspaper
of the City of Heppner and the County of Morrow
H ep p n e r
G A Z E T T E -T IM E S
US P S. 240-420
Morrow County’s Home-Owned Weekly Newspaper
Published weekly and entered as periodical matter at the Post Office at Heppner, Oregon
under the Act of March 3,1879. Penodical postage paid at Heppner, Oregon Office at 147
W Willow Street Telephone (541>676-9228. Fax(541)676-9211 E-mail: gt@heppner.net
or gt@rapidserve net. Web site: www heppner.net. Postmaster send address changes to
the Heppner Gazette-Times, P.O Box 337, Heppner, Oregon 97836. Subscriptions: $22 in
Morrow County, $16 senior rate (in Morrow County only, 62 yean or older), $29 else-
where
David Sykes ...........................................................................................................Publisher
April Hilton-Sykes......................................................................................................... Editor
______ Letters to the Editor_______
Editor's note Letters to the Editor must be signed. The Gazette-Times w ill not
publish unsigned letters. Please include your address and phone number on all
letters for use by the G-T office. The G-T reserves the right to edit.
To the Editor:
For the last four weeks Dr.
Burnham's letters have been
negative about everyone from
the Morrow County Health
District Board of Directors
down to the community level.
His supporters have even
attacked the job of our state
required paramedic who works
at both ends of the county.
If my sixth sense is accurate,
this is all about power and
control. He obviously feels that
one person, himself, has the
answers to every problem that
five long-time residents of this
county are unaware of and
unable to resolve intelligently.
At the first public meeting for
the closure of Pioneer Memorial
Hospital he began his power
struggle with the board and the
then administrator, Susan Brock.
Thank God the hospital survived
that one, but here we go again.
I personally know several
employees of Pioneer Memorial
Hospital and, though times have
been hard on many of them, they
seem to project a hopeful
outlook and keep a professional
manner about speaking out on
sensitive issues.
Dr. Burnham is correct in
saying, "All doctors make
mistakes." But, how you deal
with these mistakes and accept
responsibility for them is what
makes the man.
My purpose for this letter is not
to mudsling, but to encourage
our citizens to keep an open
mind.
I am sure there are
divided
feelings
in
the
community about losing several
physicians recently. However, if
we are going to be progressive
and look to the future, let's stop
the negativity NOW.
New equipment such as
CatScan and Ultrasound should
bring physicians to our area that
would be better able to diagnose
problems, which are now being
referred out of our county. It
stands to reason that if our beds
are full, so is the cash register.
I hope we recruit new doctors
that have the foresight to move
the Morrow County Health
District into the twenty-first
century as a modem health care
facility. Their country of origin
is not an issue to me. Nor is the
fact that they may choose to
leave somewhere down the line.
If they leave behind a
community of happy, healthy,
united
people
and
a
progressively growing medical
practice, there shouldn't be a
problem finding competent
replacements.
Let us look forward to a
prosperous health district and a
renewed faith in the board of
directors, Mrs. Dahlman, who
has brought numerous resources
with her to get the district this
far, and the future of Heppner.
And as for Dr. Burnham, this is
not a military coup. He has not
been tarred, feathered and run
out of town. As I see it, the
choice is his, honorable or
dishonorable discharge.
(s) Rick-Smith
Heppner
Pendleton
Field Day
The Columbia Basin
Agricultural Research Center
will have its Pendleton Field
Day Tuesday, June 15, and the
Sherman Station Field Day,
Wednesday, June 16.
The
programs will feature tours ol
experimental
plots
and
presentations by staff scientists
at both locations.
The Pendleton Field Day will
begin with registration at 8:15
a.m. Welcome and introductions
will begin at 8:45 a.m. Tours of
experimental plots will begin at
9 a.m. and will feature no-till
seeding of winter wheat by Dale
Wilkins, USDA-ARS research
leader and supervisory ag
engineer; tool design for moving
crop residue from the seed row
by Mark Siemens, USDA-ARS
ag engineer; earthworm activity
in different cropping systems by
Stewart Wuest, USDA-ARS soil
scientist; plant back response to
a potential new herbicide for
downy brome control in winter
wheat by Curtis Rambolt,
University of Idaho graduate
student;
barley
variety
development by Patrick Hayes,
OSU barley breeder; and new
directions for plant pathology
research by Richard Smiley,
OSU plant pathologist.
A lunch hosted by local
agribusiness will be served at 12
p.m. Afternoon field tours will
commence at 1 p.m. and will
feature an update on club wheat
breeding and diseases by Scott
McDonald,
OSU
research
assistant, and Chris Mundt, OSU
plant pathologist; sulfur and
phosphorus fertilization on
annual spring wheat by Don
Wysocki, OSU extension soil
scientist; new people and new
varieties in cereal variety testing
by Russ Karow, OSU extension
cereal specialist and Jim
Peterson, OSU wheat breeder;
potential for jointed goatgrass
infestations in spring wheat by
Darrin Walenta, WSU graduate
student; and quantifying the
effects of rainfall, nitrogen and
soil depth on wheat yields by
Kelli Camara, OSU graduate
student and Bill Payne, OSU
agronomist.
An ice cream social hosted by
the Umatilla County Wheat
Growers League will begin at
3:30 p.m.
A wheat variety tour at the
Rugg Site by Jim Peterson and
Kanm Ammar, OSU wheat
breeders, will begin at 4 p.m.
In the Service
Army Pvt. Robert L.
Ratchford II has graduated
from the tracked vehicle
recovery specialist course at Fort
Knox, KY.
The student was provided with
the necessary training and
knowledge to perform recovery
operations with an M88A1/A2
tracked recovery vehicle.
The soldier received field and
classroom training in the proper
use of tools, equipment,
I technical data, and applicable
references needed to determine
recovery methods,
locate
recovery sites, operate tactical
communications equipment, and
maintain recovery
vehicle
armament systems.
The trainee also learned to
drive, maintain, and perform
preventive maintenance on
recovery vehicles; received
operating
instructions
in
recovery vehicle component
equipment, auxiliary power
units, and use of proper recovery
safety procedures.
Ratchford is assigned to the
Stained glass window in honor of Marilyn Rietmann was saved from the 81st Armor Regiment at Fort
United Church of Christ fire and will be installed in the new United Knox.
Church of Christ to be built in lone.
He is the son of Joanna
Ratchford and Wayne Tison of
Boardman.
The private is a 1998 graduate
Pioneer Memorial Hospital
of Riverside High School,
Boardman.
Nursing Home Auxiliary
YARD SALE
Saturday, June 12th
at Tonya Jones' residence
(Heppner-Condon Highway)
For donation pickup,
call 6 7 6 -9 6 1 6 or 6 7 6 -5 1 2 8
This ad sponsored by Murray Drugs
FAX • Send or Receive
Gazette-Times 676-9211
Lc
Violin students perform for nursing home
Violin students of Peg Lewis gather at the Pioneer Memorial Nursing Home May 28 to play for the nursing
home residents at an end-of-the-year concert. Lewis comes to Heppner every year to teach violin.
Morrow County Field Day planned June 18
The Morrow County field day,
a tour of the Bill and Nancy
Jepsen farm, the 1999 Morrow
County
Wheat
Growers
Conservation Farm of the Year,
will begin from the Jepsen farm
on Friday, June 18, beginning at
4 p.m. Tour participants will
view the Monsanto test plots -
"Fields of Excellence"; and
observe and compare annual no
till barley and wheat against
nearby conventional summer
fallow fields.
A potluck barbecue will be
held immediately following the
tour. Potluck participants with
last names beginning with A - L
are asked to bring a salad and
last names beginning with M-Z,
dessert.
For more information, contact
the OWGL office at (541) 276-
7330, or Ken Grieb at (541) 989-
8353.
The Jepsen family has a strong
tradition of stewardship to the
land. In 1991, Bill and Nancy
returned to the farm where Bill
was raised to become the new
operators of the 3,500 acre farm
"lovingly and wisely cultivated
by Bill's parents, Bob and
Suzanne Jepsen."
Bob
had
established
conservation practices that had
protected the soil and it was on
that foundation that Bill began to
try some new methods.
With the annual rainfall at an
average of 12.4 inches and with
highly erodible soil, Bill began
to look into no-till farming as a
nontraditional solution to an
annual problem.
"No-till farming has been
successful and is becoming the
predominant form of agriculture
in many parts of the world," Bill
said. "It's too early to tell if no
till will work in this part of
Morrow County, especially with
our limited rainfall but the
tremendous
conservation
benefits that come from this
system make it worth the effort."
What makes this system so
innovative are three key
elements: the ground isn't
worked up, except for the small
amount done by the drill at
planting time; spring crops are
planted
rather
than
the
traditional winter wheat; and
crops are grown every year on a
piece of land, rather than every
other year.
The Jepsens grow wheat barley
and mustard. Recently, they
have also begun to try their hand
at spring canola, flax, lentils and
garbanzo beans. Approximately
600
acres
are
in
the
Conservation Reserve Program.
Colorful place names topic of museum program
"Gouge Eye, Lemiti, and Noti:
The Colorful Stories Behind
Oregon Landmarks," a talk by
Tom Nash, will be presented
Saturday, June 19, at 7 p.m. at
the Morrow County Museum.
The program is sponsored by the
museum and is made possible by
funding from the Oregon
Council for the Humanties, an
affiliate of the National
Endowment for the Humanities.
OCH is dedicated to providing
opportunities for life-long
learning in communities around
the state.
"Gouge Eye, Lemiti, and Noti:
The Colorful Stories Behind
Oregon Landmarks" examines
the stories behind the names of
many
Oregon
landmarks.
Stories about place name origins
often reveal the human value
and
prejudices
of
both
indigenous people and settlers.
Combining history with folk
lore,
linguistics
and
an
occasional song, Nash uses
landmarks such as Sweet Home,
Burnt Ranch and the Three
Sisters to point out the rich sub
text of Oregon's history and
engages the audience in a
discussion about place-names as
keys to understanding how
humans interact with place, and
confer meaning on place through
the process of naming.
Tom Nash is a professor of
English and honors at Southern
Oregon University.
The public is invited to attend
the program and admission is
free.
For further information about
the program, contact the Morrow
County Museum, 676-5524, 1-5
p.m., Tuesday through Saturday.
Rocky Steagall takes home rodeo cash
Rocky Steagall celebrated his
versatility over the holiday
weekend.
Steagall, a championship-
caliber bareback rider from
Sanger, Calif, took home
paychecks totaling $1,143 from
two California rodeos.
The 36-year old cowboy
pocketed $437 at the Marysville
(California)
Stampede
by
placing in the bareback and
saddle bronc riding events.
Steagall topped Rosser Rodeo
Company's bareback horse No.
657 for 73 points, which was
good for fourth place and $102.
In the saddle bronc riding event,
he rode Flying U Rodeo
Company's No. 84 to 75 points
and a second-place tie with
hometown cowboy Jeff Shearer
of Maiysville. Steagall and
Shearer earned $335 each.
And the 5' 7", 160-pound
cowboy wasn't done yet.
Steagall won the bareback riding
competition at the Temecula
(California) Frontier Days
Rodeo with a 79-point effort
aboard
Honeycutt
Rodeo
Company's Chinook for $706.
The homestate paychecks
boost Steagall to 25th place in
S u r p r is e
D A D
Horse club
playday set
A family Horse Club
Playday is planned for Sunday,
June 13, at 1 p.m. at the Morrow
County Fairgrounds for all 4-H
Horse Club members and their
families.
Those attending are asked to
"Bring your own horse and a
smile." Everyone is welcome to
attend.
Michelle Darn Alldritt
and
Brian David Holtz
Invite friends and the community
to a reception celebrating their marriage
at 7 p.m., Saturday, June 19th
at the Morrow County F airgrounds ___
the Crown Royal world bareback
riding standings with $9,762.
Pete Hawkins of Weatherford,
Texas, leads the standings with
$32,230.
Only the top 15 contestants in
each event at season's end
qualify to compete for world
titles and shares of $4.4 million
at the Dec. 3-12 National Finals
Rodeo in Las Vegas, Nev.
Steagall has qualified for the
NFR four times.
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