First citizens honored at
Town & Country Banquet
50 <
HEPPNER
unes
VOL 121
NO 4
8 Pages
Wednesday, January 23,2002
Benefit dinner,
auction planned
for Matheny
lone youth group sponsors
' souper bowl of caring
Tracy Griffith and Amellia Peck dish up food in the kitchen at
Blanchet House.
Jeff Hunt and Johnny Collin serve lunch at Blanchet House on a
recent service trip.
lunch at Blanchet House on ser
For the third year lone Youth vice trips since 1991.
To support those in need
Group is involving area churches
in the "Souper Bow l of Caring" closer to home, the youth group
on Super Bowl Sunday. “The is also collecting cans of soup (or
Souper Bow l of Caring is a na dry soup mixes) on that Sunday.
tional effort to glorify God and The food collected will be deliv
care for ‘the least of these our ered to the Heppner Neighbor
brothers and sisters’ by encour hood Center for the needy of
aging people to give at least one South Morrow County.
The youth group is wrapping
dollar as they leave worship on
Sunday, Feb 3." said a spokes up its collection of hygiene prod
person. The money collected is ucts for the Macdonald Center in
Portland. Anyone with donations
then given to a charity
lone Youth Group chose to may leave them at area churches
give collected money to the or at lone High School.
"lone Youth Group appreci
Blanchet House soup kitchen in
ates
the generosity of the local
Portland Blanchet House, lo
cated on the comer of NW Glisan communities in supporting these
and 4th Avenue, houses 32 men projects.” said a group spokes
in recovery or homeless, plus person.
serves breakfast, lunch and din
ner Monday through Saturday
NEWS DEADLINE
and brunch every Sunday. All
Monday, 5 p.m.
meals are free. Youth group
members have been serving
B> Jeri McKlligott
Morrow County. Heppner Oregon
A benefit for the David
Matheny family will be held on
Saturday, February 16, at the
Hermiston Community Center.
Matheny. a local fanner, was
injured Sept. 9 in a horseback
riding accident.
A prime rib dinner will be
served starting at 6:30 p.m. with
a social hour preceding the din
ner at 5:30 p.m. The evening will
include entertainment by Lindy
Gravelle, a Heppner native who
spent many years in Nashville as
a singer and songwriter, now' re
siding in Bend.
The auction will get under
way at 7:30 p.m. with a silent
auction and a bidding auction
with Ford Bonney as auctioneer.
Auction items include pheasant
hunting packages; deer hunting
packages; a vacation package to
Steamboat Springs, Colorado;
weekend golf packages and lodg
ing; vacation packages, a limited
edition Browning 7mm collec
tor’s rifle; Farm City Pro-Rodeo
box seats; Pendleton Round-Up
tickets; PBR tickets, furniture: a
lOOx black Stetson hat; and a
Rich Boyer hand-tooled saddle.
Dinner tickets are available
at S25 each at Gardner's in
Heppner, Morrow County Grain
Growers in Heppner. RoeMark's
and Wilcox Furniture in Hermis
ton and Milarky’s and Loftus
Jewelers in Pendleton
Checks should be made pay
able to BPOF. #358 Special
Charitable Fund. Donations may
be mailed to: Friends Helping
Friends, P.O. Box 381, Lexing
ton. OR 97839. All donations and
proceeds from this event will
help with the many projects un
derway to help bring Dave home.
For more information, con
tact Judy or Sonja at 1 -800-452-
7396 or 541-989-8221.
Tree lights to
come down
Heppner downtown tree
lights may now be removed The
city left the lights on through the
Town and Country festivities but
the lights have now been turned
off for economical reasons.
Volunteers are reminded that
an extender hook is available for
loan at the chamber office to as
sist in removal
10% O FF CALKINS PARTS aJ
15% OFF ALL FLEETGUARD FILTERS
Solo gtHtd through I'e h ru a r y Oth
M orrow County G rain Growers
Lexington 989-8221 • 1-800-452-7396
lor Ijrm rçgipmont m it our « b ut» it »»» m r jjw t
Steve Rhea of Heppner was
selected the Heppner Chamber of
Commerce Man of the Year and
June Crowell. lone, was chosen
woman of the year at the annual
Town and Country Banquet held
Thursday night at the llcppner
Elks Club Miller Manufacturing
of Heppner, owned by Kevin and
Candy Chick, was honored as
Business of the Year. Heppner
High School science teacher
Steve Brownfield received the
Educator of the Year aw ard. John
Edmundson. Heppner, the Life
time Achievement award, and
Julie Proctor. Heppner High
School senior, the Student of the
Year award.
Man of the Year Rhea
was honored for his many contri
butions to the Heppner commu
nity. He has been a member of
the Heppner Volunteer Fire De
partment since 1987 and has
been instrumental in many fire
and rescue operations. He is an
active member of the Heppner
United Methodist Church, serv
ing as a trustee and singing in the
choir. He has coached Little
League, both Major League
Baseball and Senior Softball, and
Colt basketball. He has umpired
numerous Little League games
and has refereed many youth and
alumni basketball games. He has
also spent many hours working
on the George Waterland Little
League field.
Rhea has served in every of
fice of the Heppner Lions and
has coordinated and worked on
the creek cleanup for many years.
He is a member of the Odd Fel
lows Lodge and has gone through
all the club's chairs over the
years. Fie has been on the Hepp
ner Ducks Unlimited committee
since its inception 15 years ago
and has been chairman of the DU
banquet and fund-raiser for the
past 13 years.
He has also worked in vari
ous capacities during the Morrow
County Fair and Rodeo and
Heppner St. Patrick's Day cele
bration.
Rhea was bom and raised in
Morrow County, graduating from
Heppner High School in 1972.
He attended OSU and received
an associate’s degree in liberal
arts from Blue Mountain Com
munity College. He is employed
with VanMarter and Kahl Insur
ance in Heppner. He and his
wife, Molly, have two children,
Macy, who is attending college,
and Trevor, who is a junior at
Heppner High School.
Woman of the Year June
Crowell was bom and raised in
the Heppner area. She married
Howard Crowell and has lived
ever since in the lone area.
Crowell has worked in the
banking field most of her life.
“She became more than a man
ager at the Bank of Eastern Ore
gon, but became a friend to all,"
said presenter Dick Allen. “Ifany
bank thought that they needed a
training film on how employees
should treat customers, June
would be the star teacher."
Since retiring. Crowell has
made over 100 quilts which have
been given to Pioneer Memorial
Hospital in Heppner. Walla
Walla Veterans Hospital, The
Dalles Veterans Hospital, the
Domestic Violence Center in
Pendleton and the Morrow
County Sheriffs Office. "June
wanted to make sure that a beau
tiful quilt was given to any child
who was removed from the home
by Children's Service or the
sheriff s office," said Allen. "If a
fund raiser is happening. June is
there to help, usually being the
first to arrive and the last to
leave,” he added.
Crowell is a member of the
lone American l egion Auxiliary
Unit 95. the Willows Grange, the
lone Topic Club. 4-H sewing and
the Good Neighbors Committee.
She is a lay reader, has been a
Sunday school teacher and cur
rently serves as the secretary-
treasurer of the Altar Society at
St. Williams Church in lone
Crowell has also been known
to provide transportation to those
in need of rides to the doctor or
pharmacy.
Crowell and her husband
have three children
Business of the Year recipi
ents. Kevin and Candy Chick of
Miller Manufacturing. Heppner.
purchased their business from
Joe and BonnaRac Miller. Ac
cording to presenter Bill Kuhn,
the Millers took the Chicks “un
der their wing and taught them
the business.” "The two parties
grew very close, with the old
owners mentoring the new ," said
Kuhn.
Miller Manufacturing now
has five full-time employees oc
cupying a site at the South Mor
row Industrial Park at the former
Kinzua Mill site. The business
fabricates high quality bale forks
and agricultural attachments,
selling its products to sites as far
away as Syracuse, New York and
I.ubbock Texas. It makes over
150 bale forks and 200 agricul
tural attachments a year and
advertises with its ow n web site.
“It has a reputation for quality
work that is unexcelled," said
Kuhn. “This business show s how
local ideas from local residents
can be started from scratch,
bloom into successful business
and then successfully undergo an
ownership and generational
change that allows the business
to expand. This business is a
local and unqualified success.”
The Chick family also in
cludes children Autum. Emily.
Quinn and Eric.
John Edmundson. named
winner of the 2001 Lifetime
Achievement Award, has been
instrumental in numerous com
munity service projects in the
area.
Each
year
Edmundson
"spruces up" the three “Welcome
to Heppner" signs, sanding, re
painting and varnishing, redoes
the
Volkswalk
shamrocks
painted on Heppner sidew alks as
well as repainting the large green
Shamrock in the intersection of
Willow and Main. He is involved
in hanging banners throughout
the Main Street area, helps hang
ing the dow ntown tree lights dur
ing the Christmas season and
helps decorate parade floats for
the Chamber of Commerce of
which he is past president. He
also works with students and
young people who have been as
signed
community
service
through the juvenile court sys
tem.
Edmundson is a past chair of
the Morrow County Tourism
Committee, a member of the
Scenic Byway Coalition and the
Heppner Coordinating Council.
He spearheaded the Jail "n Bail
project during the Celebrate
Heppner festivities to raise funds
for the chamber. He even volun
teered to act as"pooper scooper"
doing "wheelbarrow and shovel
drills and formations" in the
Morrow County Fair and Oregon
Trail Pro Rodeo Parade. He is
active in the Senior Center and
his church.
"Both he and I have a mutual
distaste." said presenter Cara
Osmin. “That is seeing litter on
our sidewalks, streets and roads.
He has spurred people into
adopting stretches of highw ay in
and out of Heppner as well as
Lexington, and I believe be
yond."
"He has a terrific sense of
finding balance and gaining un
derstanding in situations that
arise in our community," contin
ued Osmin. "He is fair, sensitive
and caring of our citizens and the
community. When some people
look at something that is needing
to be done, fixed, sanded, ham
mered or what have you in the
community and just complain, he
always seems to look at those
same situations as opportunities
to volunteer his time and make
Heppner a better place to live."
Citizen Educator of the Year
Steve Brownfield has taught sci
ence at Heppner High School for
almost 31 years. "His calm de
meanor is so contagious that
even the junior high students are
quiet and calm in his classes.”
Continual page 2
Kevin and Candv Chick
Steve Rhea
June Crowell
John Edmundson
Stes e Brownfield
Julie Proctor