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Morrow County results only
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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.
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