Image provided by: Morrow County Museum; Heppner, OR
About Heppner gazette-times. (Heppner, Or.) 1925-current | View Entire Issue (May 29, 2002)
The whole-wide world ahead of them... BosaLu *a t a e l 1 U o f 0 r. tí d à |ì i - - -* E u g e n e , OR Morrow County results only w L w . . ■ - 9 /4 J ¿ Seniors, Meghan Bailey and Jon Bennett proceed into the Heppner High School gym for the 2002 graduation ceremony Saturday, May 25. 2002 graduates, Colin McElligott, Cyndi Heagy and Aaron Tworek prepare to join other lone High School seniors for commencement exercises at the IHS gym Friday, May 24. Flow ers brighten M ain Street VOL. 121 NO. 22 10 Pages Wednesday, May 2 9 ,2 0 0 2 Morrow County, Heppner, Oregon r Willow Creek Baptist Church welcomes new pastor exciting church. It went from 50 to 430 people in four years and is still growing. Here, I ’m not looking for a church to grow in numbers, but in changed lives,” said Wenzel. The Willow Creek Baptist Church meets for Sunday school at 10 a.m. and worship service at 11 a.m. on Sundays. “I have a real deep strong conviction about the Word of God,” said Wenzel, “It is the change agent in people's lives and prayer is the engine that drives it. In 10 years of ministry and 20 years in church. I’ve seen what man can do, now I want to see what God can do. I want to see big things!” Bud and Julie Wenzel are the new pastors of Willow Creek Baptist Church. T here’s a new kid in town. Actually, three of them. Katelyn, 11; Allison. 9; and Claire, 6 have moved to Heppner with their parents, Bud and Julie Wenzel, the new pastors of Willow Creek Baptist Church. The Wenzel’s have a vision for the church: “My, and the church’s, emphasis is reaching unchurched people and making them feel welcomed and loved but also challenged to grow. Our target is those who have been unchurched. We want the community to know the fulfillment and peace that comes from a relationship with Christ.” The Wenzels recently moved from Spokane to lead the church, which currently meets at the Seventh-day Adventist church, 560 Minor St. Julie is employed at Klamath First and the girls will enroll in Heppner schools next year. Bud, who is originally from western Washington, spent four years in the Marine Corp., and when he came home, he ended up in eastern Washington in Moses Lake. That's where he met Julie, who was born and raised there. Both started schooling in Moses Lake but ended up at Eastern Washington University in Spokane. The Wenzels have been in the ministry for 10 years, starting in Spokane. They spent four years in Sequim, WA, where they were youth directors. Then they went back to Spokane to serve at associate pastors and had been there the last six years. So, how did they end up in the Willow Creek Valley? Primary election results announced “About a year ago, we sensed the Lord leading us to pastor a sm aller church and sm aller community on our own. So we put a few resumes out,” said Bud. A pastor they knew from Tri-Cities was commuting every Sunday to preach here and one Sunday, he couldn’t make it so he asked Bud to fill in. “1 immediately fell in love with the people at our church here,” said Bud, “we really sensed God leading us to come here, in spite of all the obstacles.” They didn’t have much exposure to the community, during the time before they moved here, Bud said, but God was doing the work. They had between 12 and 14 people in attendance on the Sundays that they had preached here and there were some different people coming each time. “The people’s thirst to know God and their hunger for his Word really attracted me,” he said, “I am big on scripture and centering lives around the Word of God.” Currently, the church is renting the Seventh-day Adventist building, but some activities that they would like to implement will one day require them to have a building of their own. Wenzel is interested in starting a mid-week service and youth Bible study. “I have a real heart for youth, youth will need a place to meet. I would like to see youth discipling youth,” ^aid Bud. Though their first few services saw attendance in the teens. Bud says they are now averaging 30 over the last four Sundays. “The church I come from was a rapidly growing. lone riders raise funds for St. Jude 35 bike riders enjoyed pleasant biking conditions Sunday. May 19, at the annual lone bike- a-thon. Funds raised from the event will benefit St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital in Memphis TN. Although the pledges have not been tallied or turned in yet, organizers consider the ride a success based on the amount of money raised and the level of enthusiasm displayed by the participants. 24 riders tackled the 22-mile Ruggs to lone route. The first rider to complete the course was Jeremy Rietmann. pedaling the distance in 1 hour and 16 minutes. Brendan McElligott, who rode it in about an hour and 25 m inutes, followed him. Clusters of riders pedaled in for the rest of the afternoon with the last sight seeing riders arriving shortly after 4 pm. On the in-town route. Jason Thompson and Adam Collin logged 20 miles each followed by Mary Gates and Beth Morter with 13. Participants are asked to turn in pledges and donations by Monday, June 3, so that prizes may be ordered. Funds should be turned in with the pledge sheet in an envelope to the Bank of Eastern Oregon in lone or to rider coordinators. Anne Morter or Janet Thompson. All funds raised from this event go directly to St. Jude C hildren's H ospital, a leading children’s cancer research facility that is funded mainly by public donations. St. Jude Hospital has one of the lowest overhead costs of any of the major health chanties with 86% of every dollar going to current and future needs of the hospital. ALL NEWS AND ADVERTISEMENT DFADETNE: MONDAYS AT 5:00 P.M. The Garden Club, along with the Green Feed and the City of Heppner, has brightened the downtown area with hanging flower baskets. On Friday, May 17, city workers hung the baskets from light poles up and down Main Street. The goal of the Garden Club was to have the baskets up by Memorial Day weekend. A L ook Into O ur Past Craig Canham hangs a flower basket on the corner of Main and Willow Streets. Morrow County voters selected who would go on to the general election this year in the primary election held Tuesday, May 21. 1,639, or 34 percent, of the 4,781 registered voters in Morrow County turned in their ballots. Bill Bradbury took the Democratic U.S. Senator spot with 422 votes. Craig Hanson received 49 and Greg Haven, 34. The Democratic U.S. Representative, District two spot will be filled by Peter Buckley with 249 votes, John McColgen followed with 176. Democratic Governor went to Ted Kulongoski, 245 votes. Jim Hill received 177, Bev Stein, 111; William Peter Allen, 17; and Caleb Bums, 8. Democratic State Representative, District 57 will be filled by Elizabeth Scheeler who ran unopposed. Barbara Bloodsworth, the unopposed candidate for Democratic Morrow County Commissioner, position two, will run against Republican Ray Grace in November. Bloodsworth received 475 votes and Grace received 287. Gordon Smith will be facing Bradbury this November, as he was the lone candidate for Republican U.S. Senator, ending with 725 votes. Greg Walden, Republican U.S. Representative, District two, ran unopposed as well and received 724 votes and Greg Smith also was unopposed for Republican State Representative, District 57 with 670 votes. The race for Republican Governor was very close between Ron Saxton, 205; Kevin Mannix, 220: and the w inner, Jack Roberts, 223. W. Ames Curtright received 24 votes. Roger Weidner, 21 and Lee R. Shindler, 14. Labor and Industries Com m issioner went to Dan Gardner with 532; Don Frazier “Excavation work on the grounds for Morrow County’s new court house was finished Tuesday. Foundation work will be commenced the first o f next week. Most of the contracts for construction work have been signed and bonds have been furnished.” This was an article printed in The Heppner Gazette This picture of the Morrow County Courthouse (c. 1905) was featured on on Thursday, May 29, 1902. A a postcard that can be found at the Morrow County Museum in Heppner. The land in the foreground was washed out a few years before in the later news article read, “Morrow County’s new court house in Heppner flood. course of construction, and almost completed. It is built of blue basaltic rock trimmed with light sandstone. When completed will cost about S40.000.” When the final bill was paid, the cost of the courthouse was S54.990.10. Even at that amount of over-spending, the budget 100 years ago could not even produce proper restroom facilities in our day! A later debate was whether or not the courthouse should have a clock. Of course, the decision was made to add one; one that had a 1.000-pound striking bell and three dials. The total cost? SI, 125. The clock and S2.500 toward the cost of construction was presented to the county by the citizens of Heppner and the courthouse was completed in March of 1903, just three months before the town was devastated by the Heppner flood. County officials and citizens organized a Centennial celebration that was held on Monday. May 27. at the 100-year- old courthouse Many people with ties to the courthouse shared their Morrow County officials. ( ydc Estes, Andrea Denton. Verlin Denton and memories and tales o f past happenings in Morrow County Gas le Gutierrez listened as people connected with the courthouse shared their stories at the Centennial celebration on Monday. May 27. law enforcement. $4” per gallon Bulk $3” per gallon (5 gallon minimum-bring you r own Jug) All Season Engine Coolant and Antifreeze Triton antifreeze is non-evaporating, water soluable and offers exceptional foam resistance which promotes efficient circulation and heat transfer Morrow County Grain Growers Lexington 9 8 9-82 21 • 1 -8 0 0 -4 5 2 -7 3 9 6 s f * bm «« •» »**una«*»meg I
