Image provided by: Morrow County Museum; Heppner, OR
About Heppner gazette-times. (Heppner, Or.) 1925-current | View Entire Issue (Dec. 19, 2001)
Heppner hosts French exchange student Belala 7.'e tse 11 U of J Ne*'spapap Library Lucana, OR 974J3 ( lementine Guyot V0L 120_______NO. 51______ 10 Pages Wednesday. December 19,2001 Morrow County, Heppner, Oregon V olunteers raise funds for Heppner Fire Department Tina Bowles (left) and Teresa Hint/ sell baked goods to Archie Padberg of Heppner Friday to raise funds to benefit the Heppner Fire Department. The Corbin family of Heppner sponsored the sale and donated baked goods. Other groups and individuals also donated baked items and made monetary contributions. The sale brought in over SI.200. Geography bee planned at HES "The Abominable Snowman, sometimes called the Yeti, is a mythical creature said to inhabit which mountain system'.’" and ITie largest hole in the Earth's vital o/one layer is located ov er w hat continent?" are two o f the questions from the 1 leppner Elementary qualifying test for the annual Geography Bee. T his event is sponsored each year by the National Geographic Society to * encourage students to become more interested in the geography o f the world. The students in grades 4. 5 and 6 took a qualifying test, and the top 12 are then eligible to compete in the I leppner Elementary ( ieography Bee. The competition is to be held on Thursday. Jan. 10. at 10:30a.m. in the elementary schtxil auditorium. Participants arc seated at a long table on the gym floor, and the facilitator, Karen Smith-Griffith, asks them questions from the National Geographic Society's test booklet. I here are 12 students in the first round, six in the second round, and finally a schvxil champion. 1 ast year’s HES champion was Casey Mabcn. Parents and interested community members are invited to attend and watch the competition. The Geography Bee contestants are: Nacho F.lguezabal. Spencer Palmer. Logan Anthony, Emily Thompson, Andre Rauch. Kelsey Wolff. Jordan Hatfield, Maggie Armato, Luke Basile. Kate Kendrick. Eddie Ramirez and Tayler Hodges. News deadline 5p.ni. Friday Jingle Bells Besides the Eiffel Tower and fine wine, the French arc well known for their cuisine. America is also known for its cuisine—fast food, o f course. "I was scared beforp," laughs Clementine Guyot (pronounced Clemen-teen Goo-yo), Heppner High School's exchange student from France. "I think you eat hamburgers and pizza every time. The food's okay. Craig (her host dad) cooks very, very good." "There are almost no vegetables." adds Clementine, who is a vegetarian. "You eat sugary food and salty at the same time. I'm not used to that.. . I like tofu. I didn't know that before." In addition to the food, the Eastern Oregon climate also took some getting used to. Clementine's hometown is Muzillac, near the sea. which has the typical coastal climate, quite different from the hot. dry summer weather Clementine experienced upon her arrival in Heppner. "In France, it rains a lot." says Clementine. "Brittany (a region in northwest France) is very famous for rain. It rains the same in Paris, but people in Paris think it rains more in Brittany. In France it's not very different between summer and winter. In summer here, it was so hot." In France. 17-year-old Clementine attended school in Rennes, w hich is a city of around 200,000 and the capital of Brittany. Rennes is about as far from her home as Heppner is from the Tri-Cities, but. says Clementine, it is a very long way in France. During the school year she lives in Rennes in an apartment, because it is too far to travel daily from her home. Around once a month and on holidays she goes home to Muzillac, where she lives with her mother, Marie-francoise. and her brother, Vincent, 14. Sometimes she travels by train and sometimes her grandfather gives her a ride "I was surprised that they sent me to Heppner. with a school this size," says Clementine, who is a junior at IIHS. "I didn't know there were all these little schools in these little towns." In France, she says, small towns do not have schools: students attend schools in larger cities. Her school in Rennes has 2,000 students. "School in France is very hard." says Clementine. "Here it's very easier I can do the most perfect. I have 'A's all the time. In France I work all the time and I do only the minimum. Here it's very easy to do the maximum. I took easy classes, though." At 11IIS Clementine is taking math, English, social studies. Web design and two art classes, which she especially enjoys. "Art is my favorite class. 1 hat's why I took two. It's an interesting thing. Ilere (in art) we learn to do something, like painting." says Clementine. "In France we do what we want in art. We're graded on what we say on the project." In France, Clementine goes to school at 8:30 a.m. and gets done with classes between 5-6 p.m.. except for Wednesday when there is no school in the afternoon. She usually stays at school till 7 p.m. doing homework and working on the computers She goes home to her apartment at 1 p.m. for lunch, many times accompanied by her friends. A typical lunch is ravioli or couscous. Dinner, which is eaten very late, between 8-9 p.m.. is usually vegetables and cheese. "I cat a lot of candy." she giggles. Students in France spend five years in elementary school, four years in middle school and three in high school. While students can graduate from high school at 17-18, Clementine says that most don't graduate until they are 19-20 years old, because school is so difficult. Students can receive a diploma after the first two years of college, which can be taken at the high school. Attending a university is generally for those who want to become teachers or doctors, she says. Public schools, mainly for students seeking degrees in science and political science, and art schools are free, but are also very difficult. Commercial schools are restrictive because of the cost. Judge rules against Lindsay Morrow County Circuit Court Judge Ron Pahl ruled against former Morrow County School Board member Barney Lindsay and in favor of the school board in a disputed residency issue. "The evidence supports the fact that the board set ujf the zoning system so that all residents of the district would have representation from their zone.” said Pahl. "To allow Lindsay to represent Zone 6 while liv ing in Zone 2 would be a mockery o f the system. Lindsay has 30 days to appeal the decision. The residency issue arose when the school board received an anonymous letter claiming that Lindsay was not living within the Zone 6. the district from which he was elected. The school board then hired retired Judge Warner Wasley to review the case. After Wasley ruled in favor o f the district, the board voted to vacate Lindsay's seat Lindsay then filed a petition with the Morrow County Circuit Court to rev iew the case. Pahl said that the evidence shows that Lindsay is a resident of Zone 2 and not Zone 6. Lindsay maintained that he is a resident of Zone 6. but had been living temporarily in Zone 2 to remodel his grandmother's house at the request of his father and employer, Larry Lindsay. Since the next school board election won't take place until May, 2003, the hoard will appoint someone to till F.indsay's seat and the scat held by Keith Lewis, Heppner, that was declared also vacant by the board because it was determined that Lewis did not live within his zone. Assistant Superintendent Mike Keown said that the board plans to hear a census report soon and may decide not to fill the seats until after they consider the new census information. Lexington Dept. Aux. meeting Fire sets A regular meeting of the Lexington lire Department Auxiliary will be held on Thursday. Dec. 20, at 7 p.m. at Lexington City Hall The agenda will include election o f officers. News deadline 5p.m. Friday "Most people do something in only two years, either at university or at the high school," says Clementine For fun. Clementine and her friends go into the city and "hang out", go into the bars, which have no age restrictions, look at the shops, walk around and talk with people they meet. "In France." she says, "you have friends, but every day you meet interesting people and you present them to your friends." C le m e n tin e w as surprised that there are so few black or Hispanic people in Heppner. "I learned that there c o n tin u e d page 2 deadl i ne G-T Friday The deadline for the December 26 issue o f the Ga/.ette-Times will be this Friday. Dec. 21, at 5 p.m. for news and advertising. The newspaper will be published as usual Wednesday. Dec. 26. The Gazette office will be closed Christmas Eve. Monday. December 24. and Christmas day. Tuesday. December 25. I he staff at the Gazette- I imes wishes everyone a verv Merry Christmas. Public meeting set on library/ city hall project A public meeting will be held to gather input from Heppner residents on the proposed library city hall joint project on Jan. 5 at St. Patrick's Senior Center in Heppner. Mary Nixon, who works for Rural I Xwelopment Initiatives and lias been hired to facilitate the public meeting, explained that the audience at the public town meeting will be asked to recommend names of individuals to serve on a working committee. The working committee will be comprised of a member from the city council and the Oregon Frail Library Board, an individual who supports the project, an individual who opposes the project and a citizen at large. Phis group will address the issues/concems from the public meeting. It will also develop an objective survey and compile the results of the survey. It is hoped that the survey and the public meeting comments will provide the city council and library board with a clear message as to how the community feels about the project. The committee meetings will be conv ened and facilitated by Nixon. When asked why a community resident would attend the town meeting when there will also be a survey. Nixon replied. " The public town meeting is an opportunity for community members to hear both sides of the issues as well as the background information. Participants at the public meeting w ill also be invited to submit names o f people tor the w orking committee. A survey, w htle another valid tool for gathenng input, does not allow participants tilling out the survey to express their opinions in a detailed fashion or to hear what other community members are feeling and thinking." Nixon is a community development coordinator for Rural Development Initiatives Inc. (RDI) She lives in Pendleton and serves small rural communities in Morrow. Umatilla. Union. Wallowa, Baker. Malheur. I lamcv and Grant counties. RDI is a private non-profit organization, which since its incorporation 10 years ago. has helped over 200 communities in (Xegon with leadership development, project assistance, facilitation and mediation, planning and regional initiatives, said Nixon. Nixon and other RDI staff members see themselves as "facilitators, teachers, project managers and most importantly as advocates for the success o f rural communities". Funding for Nixon's facilitation services arc prov ided by the Oregon Economic and Community Development Department Monday, D ecem ber 2 4 th Hours: 7 a.m . to 12 noon C L O S E D T U E S D A Y , D E C E M B E R 2 5 th c M a p fU f, o tta li& c u fA , j^ u c u ft a l l a i... M orrow C o u n ty G rain G row ers A group of Scouts, leaders and friends serenaded (he Heppner communits with Christmas carols Tuesday. 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