Eric Schonbachler returns hom e from Iraq
Eric Schonbachler,
son o f G ary and D onna
Schonbachler of Heppner, has
returned home after 11 months
in Iraq. Glad to be back home,
Schonbachler is enjoying the
last week o f his 30-day leave
before heading back to Ft.
Bragg, N.C.
O nce back at Ft.
Bragg, Schonbachler, a 1“
Lieutenant in the Army, will
take command o f a scout
platoon, which he will train for
about eight to nine months.
After that he said he doesn’t
know if and where they will be
deployed.
Schonbachler said
that early liv ing conditions in
Iraq were not good and the
soldiers went from tents in
Kuwait and dirt ditches once
they arrived in Iraq, to beat-
up compounds in Baghdad,
where just having a roof over
their heads was something to
be grateful for. The conditions
have improved over the last
five months, heating and air-
conditioning were brought in
and safety was relatively
achieved, he said.
W hile
in
Iraq
Schonbachler had quite a bit
o f interaction with the Iraqi
p eo p le, m ost o f whom
showed great support for the
work being done. Now that
the initial takeover has been
completed, Schonbachler said
the goal has been to stabilize
Bo33le Setzell
U of 0 Newspaper t, i b : o.ry
Eugens» OR 9 7403
VOL. 123
NO. 8
10 Pages
Wednesday, February 25,2004 Morrow County, Heppner, Oregon
McCabe charged with 221 counts of embezzlement
Sonja Rae McCabe,
40, o f Fleppner, was arrested
Sunday, Feb. 22 at her home
in Heppner on two counts o f
Aggravated Theft, 48 counts
o f Theft in the First Degree,
90 courfts o f Theft in the
Second Degree, 25 counts of
Forgery in the First Degree
and 56 counts o f Official
M isc o n d u c t a fte r being
in d icted Feb. 20 by the
Morrow County Grand Jury.
It is alleged that McCabe
embezzled over $100,000
from four Morrow County
organizations.
At her arraignment on
Feb. 23, M cC abe w as
re le ase d on her own
recognizance and received a
co n tin u an ce on her plea
declaration. A hearing will be
held on March 11 in which she
will enter a plea.
For the past tw o
weeks, M cCabe has been
living in Redmond with her
sister and working in her
company as a receptionist. As
part o f the release agreement,
McCabe is being released to
her sister and will return to
Redmond. McCabe is not
allow ed to deal with any
accounts or funds except her
own and may not receive
money for any volunteer or
government institutions. She is
also to keep the co u rt
appraised of her whereabouts
and to immediately notify the
court when she is no longer
employed. McCabe must also
rem ain on h er cu rre n t
medications for depression
and anxiety and maintain
contact with a mental health
counselor. She is also to
maintain weekly contact with
her attorney.
The ch arg es stem
from allegations McCabe stole
funds and forged checks from
the H eppn er C em etery
M aintenance District, the
Heppner Rural Fire Protection
District, the Willow Creek
C o u n try C lub and the
Heppner Junior/Senior High
Booster Club from 2000 until
June o f 2003. McCabe was
an elected director o f the
H ep p n er
C em etery
M aintenance D istrict and
performed the bookkeeping
functions for all four entities.
M orrow C ounty
District Attorney David C.
Allen said, “These crimes have
had an enormous impact on
the community o f Heppner.
Mrs. McCabe’s actions were
a distressing breach o f the
small-town trust Heppner
c itiz e n s p laced in M rs.
McCabe.”
The
6 6 -p ag e
indictment alleges a pattern of
conduct with all four victims
that included forging checks
and making unauthorized
withdrawals from government
funds and volunteer donations.
Allen went on to say
this was a complex and time
consuming case to prepare.
“There has been considerable
public interest in this case. 1
know people were anxious to
see something happen. With
221 counts filed, it took some
extra time to piece together all
o f the various transactions. I
am satisfied the charges we
filed today can be proven
beyond a reasonable doubt.”
Blakes Ranch residents fight for postal service
B lakes
R anch
residents, who have been
trying to get mail delivery
extended to their mountain
community for over a year, are
meeting little success for their
efforts.
Richard and Evelyn
Ramso live at Blakes year
round and have been leading
the efforts to get mail delivery
to the development. So far the
R a m so s’ e ffo rts have
g e n erate d
18
correspondences, a petition
drive and a visit to the area by
post office officials to inspect
the B lakes R anch road.
Federal representative Greg
Walden and Senator Smith
have also become involved.
At issue is whether the
rural route drive will leave the
paved highway four miles from
Blakes and travel the gravel
road to deliver mail at a
“cluster” of mail boxes at the
entrance to Blakes Ranch.
Post office officials say the
road is not in good enough
condition, or maintained well
enough, to be safe for mail
delivery. The postal service
offered to put a cluster of mail
boxes on the paved highway
at the Blakes turnoff. The
decision was made by Post
Office District Manager Dallas
K eck, and M anger Post
Office Operations David Ellis
both of Portland.
Ellis visited the Blakes
Ranch area to inspect the road
April 28 o f last year, and in a
letter to M orrow C ounty
Judge Terry Tallman (who also
wrote letters asking the service
be e x ten d e d ) said his
in sp ec tio n re v e ale d the
following:
1. The highway from the last
delivery point on the route
to the turn-off road is an
excellent road suitable for
the delivery of mail. I have
no oppo sitio n to the
extension of the route to
this point.
2. On the road to the
“Ranch”, I did not see any
po sted speed lim it
signage. It would be my
assumption that the speed
limit reverts to the Oregon
State basic rule. For this
road, that could be very
dangerous.
3. T his road has both
stretches that are very
w ide and in good
condition and areas that
are very narrow with
q u e s t i o n a b l e
maintenance. Some parts
go down to a single lane
o f traffic and require
passing on the shoulder of
the road.
4. It would be a stretch to
call the roadbed in many
locations a gravel road.
Due to wear and tear,
many locations have little
continued page 4
ALL NEWS AND ADVERTISEMENT DEADLINE:
MONDAYS AT 5:00 P.M.
V
Children of St. Patrick's Catholic Parish display welcome home
sign they made for returning soldier Erie Schonbachler.
see story on page 2
the country and bring in
sew age sy stem s, w ater,
e le c tric ity , sch o o ls and
government.
Another part of life in
Iraq th at m ade it m ore
bearable was all the support
from back home in the form
o f mail. Once the troops
reached Baghdad they finally
began receiving mail from
home on a weekly basis.
S ch o n b ach ler said he
appreciated the mail he got
from friends and those he
didn't even know. “The mail
keeps the guys attached to
home,” he said.
On ending the
c o n v ersa tio n
w ith
Schonbachler, he said he
Eric Schonbachler with his mom,
Donna.
wanted to remind people that,
“Even though they may not
agree [with the war], it’s not
the troops’ decision to go and
we need to rem em ber to
continue to support our boys.”
City looks at land swap and bank
building purchase
The H eppner City
Council last Tuesday voted to
continue investigating the
p u rch ase o f the form er
Klamath First Bank building
for use as a city hall. The city
is also negotiating with the
H ep p n er G a ze tte -T im es
new spaper for a possible
property trade involving the
present city hall and the
G azette
pro p erty .
If
completed the Gazette w ould
own, and occupy the present
city hall building. The fire
department, which is located
next to the new spaper, would
then have room for expansion.
The city would move to the
Klamath First building.
D oes, p re sid e n t o f the
H eppner C h am b er o f
Commerce, and Nancy Snider
a local m ain street
businessperson both spoke in
favor of the project saying it
was important city government
present a positive face to the
public.
David Sykes owner
and publisher of the Heppner
Gazette and president of the
W illow C reek Valley
E conom ic D evelopm ent
Group also spoke in favor.
“We are not asking you to be
fiscally irresponsible,” Sykes
told the city council. “We are
just saying that we think you
should move forward with
taking a good look at this
No decision has been
made, and the city council
asked for more costs and
figures, and the relative values
o f the Heppner Gazette and
city hall buildings, before
moving forw ard.
The city has been
considering remodeling its
present building and only
recently began to look at
buying the former Klamath
First Building from the Bank
o f Eastern Oregon as one
alternative. The Bank o f
Eastern Oregon is asking
$325,000 for the building.
Support for the city
move w as voiced by several
community leaders at the city
council meeting. Victor Vander continued page 4
Bryn Browning named lone
school district superintendent
Bryn Browning, 28,
an administrative intern in the
22,000-student Vancouver,
WA School District, has been
nam ed su p e rin te n d e n t/
principal o f the lone School
District. She has worked as an
intern, teacher, and reading
sp ec ia list at H azel Dell
E lem en tary School in
Vancouver for the past six
years. Most recently, she has
been called upon to fill in as
principal at three different
V ancouver e lem en tary
schools.
While this will be her
first superintendency, she is no
stra n g e r
to
school
administration. In fact, she w ill
be a fourth generation school
superintendent. Her great-
great-uncle Charles Tellier
was superintendent o f schools
in Emmitsburg, Iowa. Her
g ra n d fa th e r,
G eorge
Murdock, was superintendent
in the Toledo, WA Public
Schools. Her father, George
Murdock, is superintendent of
t
h
e
Umatilla-
M o rro w
ESD and
acting
sp iiljilit
of both the
l o n e
D is tric t
and the
M o rro w
County
Bryn Browning
School
District. Her mother, Donna
M urdock, is a teacher in
M ilton-Freew ater.
She was one o f four
finalists chosen from the 18
candidates w ho applied for the
lone position. One o f the
finalists later withdrew to
become superintendent in
Fossil. Browning w ill officially
begin her duties on July I,
although she plans to spend
time in the lone District prior
to that time.
B row ning was a
unanii nous choice of the Board
fo llo w in g the in terv iew
process. Dr. Dennis Ray,
p resid en t o f N o rth w est
Leadership A ssociates in
Spokane, worked with the
Board to co o rd in ate the
interview s and the final
selection decision. Browning
w ill becom e the first
permanent superintendent of
the lone School District, which
was officially formed in July of
2003.
The
new
su p erin ten d e n t/p rin cip a l
received a masters’ degree
from W ashington State
University/Vancouver in May
o f 2003. She is also
completing her administrative
credentials through WSU and
plans to begin a doctoral
program through Lewis and
C lark. She receiv ed her
b a c h e lo rs ’ d eg ree
in
elementary education from
liastem Washington University
continued page 4
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Sale End» March 6th
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