Image provided by: Morrow County Museum; Heppner, OR
About Heppner gazette-times. (Heppner, Or.) 1925-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 23, 2000)
#1 ranked lady Cardinals first in district, head to state Basali Eatsalt U o f o it0»3po n L i b r a r y Uu’ e n o , üit 974 J3 50< HEPPNER imes The number-one ranked lone Lady Cardinals trounced South Wasco County, 56-34, in the Big Sky championship on Friday, Feb. 18, in Hermiston. Nikki McElligott scored 24 points and grabbed 21 rebounds in the melee against the Big Sky Western Division champion. The Lady Cardinals now advance to the 1A state tournament at Baker City High School on Wednesday, March 1, vs. the Umpqua Valley Christians at 7 p.m. The lone girls, 19-4 overall, will go in as the number-one seed from the Big Sky Conference. The Condon Blue Devils beat out South Wasco Saturday, Feb. 19, 38-34, to advance to state as the number-two seed from the Big Sky Conference. (A complete district championship story will appear in next week's Gazette- Times.) New post master on the job in Heppner VOL. 119 NO. 8 8 Pages Wednesday, February 23,2000 Morrow County, Heppner, Oregon ♦ Two accidents occur within minutes Monday A pickup collided with a power pole in a one-vehicle accident on Highway 74 around 4:27 p.m. Monday, breaking off the pole and seriously injuring the sole occupant of the vehicle. Another single vehicle accident occurred outside Lexington on Highway 207 just two minutes later, according to the Morrow County Sheriffs Office. The driver of the second vehicle was apparently Baker and Morrow County partnership described as “first By Dean Brickey The Record Courier, Baker City, Oregon «V .V > Baker County’s new economic development partnership with Morrow County is a “first” in state government and Brian Cole is proud of that. Cole, chairman of the Baker County Board of Commissioners, is excited about this new partnership he helped to forge with Terry Tallman, his counterpart in Morrow County. “It’s completely different than anything that’s been done in terms of a multicounty partnership in the state,” Cole said. Before the three Baker County commissioners met with the three Morrow County commissioners for the first time Dec. 22 in LaGrande, Cole prepared sort of a prenuptial agreement, listing 18 things he thought would result in “the perfect marriage.” So as not to influence the other commissioners’ thinking, he prepared the list in a multiple- choice format and he kept his opinions to himself. “Without exception, all six commissioners agreed to all 18 of these,” Cole said, refemng to his list, which included definitions about philosophy and programming scope. This partnership is unusual, he said, not only because the two coun- ties^are separated by more than 100 miles, but because of the meth ods employed to develop it. For example, most organizations begin with “practice” first, such as who’s on the board, when and where it meets and so on. Once the board is established, it decides what to do and how. Instead, this part nership began by defining its purpose and its principles, Cole said. He doesn’t believe the success of the Baker-Morrow partnership will be measured by which county got the most of the $898,228 that’s available from two state economic development funds during 1999- not seriously injured. The occupant in the first accident was trapped in the vehicle and bleeding badly, according to reports. lone EMTs, lone Fire Department, Heppner Ambulance, Heppner Fire Department, Morrow County Sheriffs deputies, ODOT and Columbia Basin all responded and the victim was transported to Pioneer Memorial Hospital in Heppner. According to Morrow County Sheriffs Office, the accident, which appeared to be alcohol related, was handled by the Oregon State Police. No further information was available at press time. The accident reported at 4:29 p.m. also appeared to be alcohol- related, according to sheriffs reports. The Morrow County Sheriffs Department arrested David Boltz, 46, for driving under the influence of intoxicants in connection with the second incident. The vehicle ended up in the ditch. Heppner has a new permanent post master. Debbte Rutherford. Hermiston, took over in that official capacity on February 12. Rutherford, 44, has lived in Hermiston since 1976 and has been with the Post Office for the last 15 years. She started out as a rural relief carrier, then moved into a clerk's position, then became a city carrier and finally an assistant supervisor and city mail carrier. Rutherford, who was raised in Tigard, is active as a barrel racer. She and her husband, Dan, a team roper, are both with the National Senior Pro Rodeo Association. She started barrel racing when she was 23 years old with the Greater Columbia Barrel Racing Association in Hermiston. Dan is also in business as a farrier. The Rutherfords have two grown children—a daughter who lives in Reno, Nevada, and a son in Orlando. Florida-and five grandchildren. Rutherford plans to commute to Heppner. Karen Hermanns, who has served at the Heppner Post Office since October 14 as officer-in-charge since the St. Patrick’s Committee seeks donations 1999-2001 Regional Investment Funds 1999-2001 Rural Investment Funds resignation of Post Master Mike McGuire, will return to her previous position at Umatilla. Hermanns has been with the post office for 16 years, starting out as a part-time clerk in Umatilla. She became a regular clerk in 1995. Hermanns was raised and graduated from high school in Waitsburg, Washington. She and her husband, Charles, who is self-employed repairing farm equipment, moved to Irngon in 1980. The Hermanns have two children, Beth, who was a princess for the Morrow County Fair and Rodeo Court in 1996, and Andrew, both of whom live in Irngon. Both the Hermanns children were active in 4-H projects, Beth in cooking, sewing and steers, and Andrew in steers. Beth works at Beef Northwest in Hermiston and Andrew is employed with Marlatt Homes, Hermiston. New Extension agent for Umatilla, Morrow counties Alice Voluntad is the new Extension family and community development agent, formerly known as home economics. Voluntad, who is new to the area, says she is looking forward to learning more about the community and to strengthen community links. She says she is especially looking forward to collaborating with those who are interested in such issues as diet, nutrition. health, family development and resource management and leadership and 2001. “There’s no border,” he said. “This is one region and we should be looking for the best return on our investments.” And besides, the total pot of money is not that great, according to Cole. He pointed out that $900,000 wouldn’t make the payroll of the Wallowa-Whitman National Forest’s employees in Baker County in one month. “We need to think in terms of leveraging the money," he said. Now that the two-county partnership is formed, the next step is for the six commissioners to determine their funding priorities, accord ing to Cole. First, each county will develop its own list then the two boards of commissioners will meet to develop regional priorities. In Baker County, a public meeting will be scheduled to identify the county’s strategy. Peter Dobert of Bend, a regional partnership facilitator, will moderate the meeting. He also will travel to Morrow County to facilitate strategy meetings there, according to Cole. Dobert will be paid to facilitate the meetings and write an agree ment between the partnership and the state with part of a $25,000 grant the partnership has received, Cole said. After the counties have identified their economic development priorities, the six commissioners will appoint a 10-member board of directors with four lay members and one commissioner from each county. Cole expected Baker County commissioners to make their appointments by Feb. 16. Once the board is selected. Cole said he hopes the remainder of the $25,000 grant can be used to conduct a board retreat in early March. Debbie Rutherford (left), Karen Hermanns community development. Voluntad says her mam goal is "working with the community in order to address the unmet needs of our local families.” Those who are interested in learning more about any of the aforementioned program areas or have ideas or information they would like to share are asked to contact Voluntad at the OSU Extension Office. Umatilla County 1-800-871-1313 or Morrow County, 676-9642 or 1- 800-342-3664 ‘ Little League sign-ups March 1-2 A leprechaun and helper (alias Cara Osmin and Pam Wunderlich) drum up some St. Patrick's Celebration spirit and a few donations to the auction. Anyone wishing to donate to the St. Patrick's Auction Committee may call Diana Ball, Tom Sly. Ann Spicer. Osmin or Wunderlich. MCURD meeting cancelled The Morrow County Unified Recreation District will not hold a meeting on Thursday, Feb. 24, as there is no business before the district. The next meeting of the district will be held Thursday, March 30, at 7 p.m at the Morrow County Annex in Irngon. Signups for the Heppner Little League program will be held Wednesday and Thursday, March 1-2, from 5-7 p.m. at the Heppner Neighborhood Center. People interested in coaching may also sign up at that time Ages are as follows. Baseball: wiffle ball-four and five year olds, T-ball- six-eight years; boys' minor league- seven-12 years; boys' major league-nme- 12 years; Softball: girls' minor league-seven-12 years; girls' majors-mne-12 years; and girls' junior league- 13-15 years. Cost is $25 per child with a $50 maximum per family. Fee waivers are available Birth certificates are mandatory at sign-up, if not already on file Those who cannot make the sign-up date, should contact Cindy Doherty, 676-5628. 10% OFF in our PARTS & LABOR shop llu r r y f Offer endn F e b r u a r y SSOtli M o r r o w C o u n t y G r a in G r o w e r s Lexington 989-8221 • 1-800-452-7396 t f * farm equipment n u t web «» h *w * m m net
