Image provided by: Morrow County Museum; Heppner, OR
About Heppner gazette-times. (Heppner, Or.) 1925-current | View Entire Issue (May 7, 2003)
Portland kids experience rural life Bésalo Watsell U o f o ¡ie«rs;>a~ar L i t . e y Suge.ie, OR 9 74J3 Centennial students watch a demonstration. VOL. 122 NO. 19 12 Pages Stories o f The Flood Wednesday, May 7,2003 Morrow County, Heppner, Oregon Local children show support for troops Left to right: Centennial students Austin Porterfield, Hayley Porterfield, Haley Peterson, teacher Jerrod Miller, Danny Craft, John Ltberg, Jocelyn Hays, Emily Carpenter and Daniel Keys. As part o f the centennial year, the Heppner Gazette-Times will he running personal accounts o f the 1903 Heppner flood, from now until the flo o d commemoration event. O ur first account is from John Leach, a retired Portland pharm acist. “ 1 was a young m an clerking in a store when 1 went through the H eppner flood o f June 14, 1903. In the c a ta stro p h e , one-fourth o f the population was wiped out in 20 minutes by a wall o f w ater that cam e down W illow Creek. “ H e p p n e r ’s population was about 1000 at the time. Most who died were killed by crum bling houses- crushed. We buried upwards o f 225 w ithin a few days. B odies and parts o f bodies w ere un co v ered for som e ears afterward. “The first day, bodies w ere brought in on horse- draw n trucks like so m uch c o rd w o o d . It w a s h o t w e a th e r a n d w e h a d no e m b a lm in g fac ilitie s. We turned M ike Roberts’ saloon into a morgue. Crude coffins were m ade o f rough lumber. “ N e rv e s w ere shattered. G rie f and fatigue w ere great. If w e thought a body w as that o f so-and-so, we listed it and put the name on a board to be stuck at the head o f the grave. If that person cam e walking in later, the nam e w as scratched o ff the list. We opened on box m arked ‘Geo. C’o n ser'(bank c a s h i e r ) a n d f o u n d h is C hinese cook in it. G eorge was alive. “N o one will ever be ab le to a c c u ra te ly list or num ber the dead because o f the nature o f the transient p o p u latio n o f the frontier tow n- sheep shearers, sheep h erd ers, co w b o y s, hobos, G ypsy basket m akers w ho c a m p e d a lo n g th e c re e k , gam blers and ladies know only by trade nam es such as Molly, May, Kitty, Lulu, etc." P h o to b \ Sand> M atthews (front L-R) Mary Ann Elguezabal, along with Kylee kollman, 5 and Carrie Haguewood, 9 deliver boxes to Heppner Postmaster Sally Larsen (back). T h e S t. P a t r i c k 's C atholic C hurch catechism ch ild ren 's classes have been praying for all the soldiers who are serving in the war. A long w ith th e i r p r a y e r s , th e y d e c id e d to s e n d c a r e p ac k ag e s to local so ld iers serving in the M iddle East. T he children packed up “goodies” including, Girl Scout cookies, gum , candy, toothbrushes, lip balm, lotion, w ipes and m any o ther item s th e c h ild r e n th o u g h t th e soldiers w ould enjoy. They also included pictures, letters and notes from all the children. St. P a tr ic k 's A lta r Society donated the m oney to pay for the postage for the packages. Packages will be se n t to L ev i G e e r, S ta cy L auritsen, John M artin, Phil Appleton, Eric Schonbachler, Joseph B aker and D errick Campbell. P o s tm a s te r S a lly Larsen also asks that any one wishing to send care packages to local so ld ie rs o v e rse a s contact her about guidelines and a list o f which items m ay or m ay not be sent. MCURD seeks proposals The M orrow C ounty Unified Recreation District is now s e e k in g f u n d in g proposals. The M orrow C ounty U nified R ecreation D istrict funds activities each year for th e b e n e fit o f the g e n e ra l com m unity. T hose activities ran g e fro m f u n d in g e n te r ta i n m e n t fo r b ig c e le b r a t io n s to g iv in g instruction in the arts. In May, M C U R D r e q u e s ts e a c h organization seeking funds from the district to subm it a proposal. Any organization can re q u e s t fu n d in g fo r th e ir projects. There is no set format for the request, but it should identify the project and the c o s ts a s s o c ia te d w ith the project. To subm it a funding request, contact C yde M arie Estes, chairman for the district, at (541 >676-5808. Soccer registration to be held S o c c e r re g istra tio n will be held this T hursday, M ay 8, from 5:30-7:30 p.m ., and Saturday, M ay 10, from 9-11:30 a.m. Registration will b e h e ld a t th e H e p p n e r Neighborhood Center. T his is the third year o f soccer for the com m unity and children ages four through 12 are invited to jo in . You m ust be four by Jan. 31,2003 and under 12 through July 31, 2003. Registration is $ 3 1 for the first child and $28 for additional children in the same f a m ily h o u s e h o ld . L a te registrations will be subject to a late fee. G am es will be held in Hermiston. If you have any questions you can contact Tina or Darrell Raver at 676-8710. ALL NEWS AND ADVERTISEMENT DEADLINE: MONDAYS AT 5:00 P.M. The annual Heppner- Centennial student exchange, where Heppner students travel to the Portland area and attend school at C entennial M iddle S c h o o l a n d C e n te n n ia l students travel to Heppner and attend H eppner Junior High, was held the week o f April 20- 26. M onday the C entennial students attended school at HJH; Tuesday they toured the Pendleton U nderground and Umatilla Museum; Wednesday they toured w ith the Forest Service; Thursday, they went to th e M a rk a n d T am i R ie tm a n n ra n c h an d th e Wilkinson indoor rodeo arena at th e M o rro w C o u n ty F a irg ro u n d s in H e p p n e r; Friday they were on their own w ith their host fam ilies and attended a dinner and dance; and on S a tu rd a y retu rn ed home. C entennial students a lw a y s seem to pro v id e a positive and refreshing look at rural life. Follow ing are some o f their observations: Austin Porterfield, 14, lives in Portland with his lather, Loren, a purchasing agent, and stepmother, Wendy, a teacher, his e ig h t-y ea r old brother, X av ier Fay, and three-year- old brother. Eli Porterfield. His m o m D a r la S h e ld o n , a secretary, lives in Fairview. D uring his visit to H eppner, Austin has been staying w ith the John and Sonja M cC abe fam ily . H e s a y s he lik e s “ e v e r y t h i n g ” a b o u t th e e x c h a n g e , but e s p e c ia lly enjoyed the Forest Service trip to Bull Prairie. “ It's more laid b a c k h e re -v e ry m uch so. People a re n 't as uptight and people at school are a little bit more trusting. Fhey let you be independent. E veryone's not in a rush. Fhey enjoy life and a r e n 't as c o n sc io u s ab o u t l.exi Matteson (left) gives a roping lesson. Photo by Sandy Matthews things. They do w hat m akes them tick.” H ayley P orterfield, 14, a cousin o f A ustin's, lives in Portland with her father, Rob, a m echanical insulator, and m om , Jill, a hair dresser. She has three older brothers, Jerem iah, 21, Brody, 19, and B rogen, 17. She stayed in H eppner w ith the J e ff and LanaO rr family. Hayley liked working w ith on the Rietmann ranch. “ I liked w orking the cattle today. That w as really fun. Here, people are m ore into rodeos and the outdoors. In Portland, there's a lot more stuffto do.” But, she adds, “ It's a cool experience to be in a smaller town. H aley Peterson, 13, lives in Portland w ith her fath er. C u rt, w ho o w n s a co n struction com pany, her m o m , K a re n , a p h y s ic a l therapist, and sister Nikki, 16. Haley, w ho stayed w ith the Jo h n and D iane K ilkenny family, says that her favorite th in g d u rin g her v isit to H eppner w as visiting the “t- shirt com pany,” Fabrics Etc. Her least favorite activ ity was v i s i t i n g t he “ U m a t i l l a M useum”. She likes “how you can w alk everywhere and how e \ erybody knows e \ erybody” in Heppner. “ Fhey (H eppner people) probably have closer friends. T h e y 're really nice people. At our school, there are a whole bunch ofcliques.” H aley says she m isses her sister, but adds, “ This is the most I've ev er done in a week. It was pretty cool.” Danny Craft, 14, lives in D am ascus, with his dad Rick, a doctor, his m other, a stay-at-hom e m om w ho also helps at the office, a sister. K acey , I 7, a n d b ro th e rs , Rick, 16, Bradley, I I , and Jeffrey, eight. Danny, w ho stayed w ith the M ary Ann Elguezabal family, says that his favorite H eppner experience was at the Rietmann ranch and his least favorite w as a regular school day on M onday. He says that there “ isn 't a huge difference” betw een city and rural kids, but, he adds, “ It seem s at Centennial there are m ore obvious social classes and here everyone is friends w ith just about everyone.” John Utberg, 13, lives in ( iresham with his dad, John, a c o n stru ctio n w orker, his mother. Debbie, w ho w orks in a school c afeteria, and his sister, Jordin. 12. John initially stayed with the Rauch family, but a family e m e r g e n c y necessitated his m ove to the continued page two HiQual Portable Fabric Buildings 36’x22’ - 45’x30’ - 65’x30’ NOW AVAILABLE! M orrow County Crain G row ers L e x in g to n 9 8 9 -8 2 2 1 • 1 -8 0 0 -4 5 2 -7 3 9 6 fo r farm equipment, »mt our » tb lit« i t w w w .m m .n n
