Solve the puzzle,
win a gold coin
Original stage production
slated for March 14
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On February 10, rehearsals began for an original stage
production authored by Reverend Gerry Condon of St Patrick Church
in Heppner. The cast of 16 will bring “St. Patrick -Apostle of Ireland”
to life on March 14, the Thursday preceding Heppner’s St Patrick
Weekend Celebration.
“Apostle of Ireland” has resulted from Condon's interest in
drama and his desire to add to H eppner’s celebration a stage
presentation of the life of this Bishop of Ireland, a depiction of the St.
Patrick in whose name the March event takes place. He searched to
no avail for a drama on the life of St. Patrick and eventually determined
that he would have to write his own.
Fr. Condon started writing his drama during his two-month
visit to Ireland last summer. Just before beginning his work, he did
finally discover a play written in San Francisco in the early 1900's, but
it was not satisfactory. It was, he reports, “a musical fiction based on
the myths surrounding St. Patrick.” He wanted a factual portrayal of
the real person who became the patron saint of his home country. He
says that, though the first production of his one-act play will occur in
one month, he doubts that he has truly “completed” the drama. He
suspects that he will note some needs for further revision.
“Apostle of Ireland" encompasses the life of the patron samt
of Ireland from his arrival as bishop on the emerald island in 432 A.D.
until he begins his evangelizing of Ireland. The action takes place in
four locations important to Patrick’s spiritualism and evangelism.
Father Condon announced that he will issue detailed information
about the evening of entertainment and the cast and production staff
members as the occasion nears.
?. ry
Superintendent applicants
to visit district
VOL. 121
NO. 7
10 Pages
Wednesday, February 13,2002
Morrow County, Heppner, Oregon
The M orrow County
School District will host applicants
for the superintendent’s position
for a visitation o f schools,
communities, staff and a public
forum prior to final interviews by
the school board Feb. 19-21.
Three finalists, one for
each day, have been selected to
attend the visitations. The daily
schedule is as follows: 8:30 a.m.-
Columbia Middle School Library,
Irrigon; 10 a.m.-Riverside High
School Library, Boardman; 11
a.m.-noon-drive to lone; 1 p.m.-
Ione School Cafeteria, lone; 2:30
p.m .-H eppner
Elem entary
School; 4 p.m.-Morrow County
School D istrict staff, district
office, Lexington; 5:30 p.m.-public
forum, district office; 6:30 p.m.-
snack and questions, district
office; 7 p.m.-formal interview,
district office.
At 7 p.m. each day, the
school board will hold an
executive session at the district
office to interview finalists for the
superintendent’s position.
Find the Hidden Shamrock«..
Win a
G old Coin!
The popular St. Patrick's DayTreasure Hunt is back.
Each week until March 13, a clue for the treasure hunt
will be printed in the Gazette-Times. If followed, these clues will
guide treasure hunters to a green shamrock hidden somewhere
in the city limits of Heppner. The first person to
find the hidden shamrock will win a gold coin. The coin, donated
by the Bank of Eastern Oregon, is on display there.
RULES:
•
1. A new set o f clues to guide you to the hidden shamrock will
appear in each edition o f the Heppner Gazette-Times.
2. A total o f five clues will be given, up to March 13.
3. The hidden shamrock is not on private property and no digging
or moving o f objects, dirt or other material is necessary to find the
shamrock.
4. The first person to find the shamrock should bring it to the
Heppner Gazette-Times office to claim the gold coin.
P r a c t ic e b u r n
The Heppner fire department, along with other area fire departments, conducted a
practice burn Saturday. The house was located on West Willow Street in Heppner and the burn went off
without any major problems.
Council votes down school plan for street barriers
The Heppner city council
said Monday it would not approve
a plan by the Morrow County
School District to close Stansbury
Street in front o f the Heppner
Elem entary School every
weekday during school hours.
The district had asked the
council to okay the placement of
mechanical barriers or “arms”
across one lane of the road to
keep traffic o ff the street
between the hours of 9 a.m. and
3 p.m. on weekdays. In making
the request, the district said the
purpose of the barriers was for
the safety of students crossing the
road.
Although no one from the
school district was at the meeting,
representatives of the architects
designing the new school building
scheduled to be built at the
elementary school site said the
request was for two breakaway
mechanical arms positioned at
each end of Stansbury Street in
front of the grade school, to be
installed with construction of the
new school buildings.
The architects said the arms
would be lowered each day after
students had unloaded from buses,
and would remain down until
students left for the day, thus
preventing cars from using
Stansbury at anytime during the
day.
In denying the request, some
city council members expressed
concern that the barriers would
not necessarily stop traffic, (the
arms would cover only one lane
and drivers could still go around
them ), and that having the
barriers there would cause a
“ false sense o f security” for
students and staff.
The school district had asked
that as another solution to what it
sees as unsafe crossing at the
school, the city allow the
permanent closing of Stansbury
and the building of a new street
to come off the state highway
near w here the current
gymnasium is and hook up with
Elder Street. The council also
rejected that idea, saying the
street would be too steep and not
safe for children in the area. It
would also be very expensive, with
the money for road construction
com ing out o f new building
construction funds, according to
the school district’s architects
The council discussed the
idea o f placing stoplights on
Stansbury to stop traffic while
children crossed, but took no
formal vote on the issue.
Sidewalks discussed
In other business the council
heard from city resident and
planning commission member
Jerry Gentry, who wanted to
know if the city actually enforced
its sidewalk policy.
Gentry said he put in new
sidewalks in front of his house at
his own expense, and as far as
he could tell, he was one of the
few people in Heppner who has
ever paid for his own sidewalks,
even though it is city policy.
Volunteers have been putting in
sidew alks around town, and
though not against volunteerism.
Gentry wondered why the city
was not sticking to its own rules.
According to city rules, property
owners are obligated to maintain
and pay for sidewalks in front of
their homes. Gentry said he has
seen quite a few sidewalks that
are in bad shape, but that the city
doesn’t seem to be doing anything
about them.
City public works director
Craig Canham said he would look
into the bad sidewalks if Gentry
were to turn in a citizen
m aintenance request. Since
coming to Heppner Canham has
instituted a maintenance request
system where citizens can fill out
the request at city hall and the city
work crew will look into the
problem. The citizen request
covers all aspects of city property,
not just sidewalks.
Survey results
The city council also heard the
partial results of a recent city­
wide survey. The survey was
mostly noted for asking citizen
opinion on the proposed city hall/
library project, but also included
a section on whether people
wanted the county to take over
city police services at a savings
of about $40,000 per year.
Results showed 294 people
said yes to going with the county,
and 117 said no. No other results
of the survey were disclosed at
Monday's council meeting, and it
was announced that full results of
continued page two
CLUE NUMBER ONE
-
FEBRUARY 13
Now pay attention, my laddies and lassies,
for if you are sharp and brainy and quick,
you may be the first to learn a new trick:
Follow the clues each and every week
and you may just find the prize you seek.
Where do you start? Just listen to me
and you will know just were you should be.
Our quest starts out with a little reading, my friend.
Do you have the pamphlet for this year’s shenanigans?
O f all the things it says we can do.
we don’t care about number 22.
We could care less about 33 or 40.
Not 70, not 60 and of course not 52.
It’s 68 we want, and study it well,
for this is where you begin to dwell.
Gather the info and then take a rest,
for it will be next week until we continue on our quest.
Something to ponder while you dream o f the gold:
A flag, a marker and plans to come.
Musicians sought for courthouse tours
The Morrow County Courthouse Centennial Committee is
seeking individuals to play background music at different times
during the guided tours of the courthouse planned from 2-6 p.m.
during the St. Patrick's Day Celebration on March 16.
The committee hopes to find individuals who would be
willing to play tum-of-the-century music, era-appropriate
instruments and wear period costumes.
For more information or to volunteer, contact Andrea
Denton. 676-5620.
If y o u ’re
feeling
especially clever this year around
St. Patrick s Day, you could be
the winner of a gold coin, thanks
to the Heppner Gazette-Times
and the Bank of Eastern Oregon.
Clues to the location of a
plastic green shamrock, hidden
somewhere in Heppner. will be
published in the paper each week
and the first person to find the
shamrock will be awarded a gold
Oregon Beaver Coin provided by
the Bank of Eastern Oregon
“On February 17, 1849,
the legislature passed an act
providing for a mint and specified
that $5 and $10 gold coins be
minted in Oregon City, the largest
city in the territory. At the time
this act was passed, Oregon had
been brought into the United
States as a territory by an act of
Congress. When G overnor
Joseph Lane arrived, he declared
the Coinage Act unconstitutional.
The public-spirited
people, however continued to
work for a convenient medium of
exchange and soon took matters
into their own hands by starting a
private mint. Eight men, whose
names were Kilbome. Magruder,
Taylor, A bernathy. W ilson ,
Rector. Campbell and Smith, set
up the Oregon Exchange
Company.” The coin, valued at
over $100, is on display at the
bank.
See this week’s paper for the
first clue and the rules for the
contest. The contest rules and
clues will also be posted on the
internet
each
week
at
www.heppner.net.
500 items
donated to
Matheny
auction
Around 500 items have
been donated for the Friends
Helping Friends benefit for the
Dave and Patty Matheny family
planned Saturday, February 16, at
the Hermiston Community Center.
The items will be divided into
three categones-the raffle, silent
auction or live bidding auction
which will get underway at 7:30
p.m.
“There is something for
everyone." said com m ittee
member Mary Knowles. "We
have a wonderful unbelievable
assortment of items, the best part
being these items are all price
ranges,
accom m odating
everyone's checkbook.” VISA is
welcomed.
The doors open at 5:30
p.m. for social hour with dinner
planned at 6:30 p.m. While dinner
tickets are sold out. organizers
encourage everyone to attend as
they have additional room to
accommodate more people.
Lindy Leonig Gravelle
will provide entertainment during
the social hour and dinner.
ADVERTISING
DEADLINE
Tuesday, 12 noon
G et An Early Start...
g GARDEN SEEDS NOW IN!
Morrow County Grain Growers
Lexington 989-8221
•
1-800-452-7396
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