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Community members honored
at Town and Country
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Bessie Wetzell Newspaper Library
University o f Oregon
Eugene, OR 07403
VOL. 124
NO. 3
10 Pages
Wednesday, January 19, 2005
M orrow C ounty
held its annual Town and
C o u n try
banquet
on
T hursday, Jan
13, in
Heppner at the Elks Lodge
D uring the banquet, the
Heppner Chamber honored
six citizens and one business.
The Morrow County
Fair and Oregon Trail Pro
R odeo Q ueen Jessica
W ainwright and Princess
Heather Yocom were also
recognized at the banquet
The citizens honored
were: Jim Swanson-Man of
the Year; Judie Laughlin-
Woman o f the Year; Karen
S m ith -G riffith -C itiz e n -
Educator of the Year; Kyle
H u d d lesto n and Shanna
Rietmann-Youth of the Year;
and Ed B aker-L ifetim e
Achievement award Pioneer
Memorial Hospital/Morrow
County Health District was
honored as Business of the
Year.
This year’s Man of
Morrow County, Heppner, Oregon
the Year award went to Jim
Swanson o f lone and was
presented by Jannie Allen
Allen said that Swanson is
well respected by people of
all ages, but especially by the
toddlers and pre-schoolers in
lone who know him as the
“nice cereal man.” A trip to
dow ntow n lo n e isn ’t
complete without a stop at
Wheatland Insurance for a
handful o f cereal, she said
From St. W illiam’s
Catholic Church to the lone
School F oundation and
Booster Club, Swanson is
involved in every committee,
activity and event that takes
place in lone, said Allen. “If
help is needed he’s there,”
she said His giving doesn’t
Wayne Hams sworn in to lone stop at the city limits as
Swanson has been involved
City Council position #2.
with the M orrow County
Fair Board, Soil and Water
C o n serv atio n
D istrict,
Recreation District, MCGG
B oard o f D irecto rs and
scholarship com m ittees
Again, the boundaries do not
stop at the county line, he
also works on the state and
national level for the Wheat
League
Currently, Swanson
coaches junior high and JV
boys' basketball in lone He
has also coached L ittle
League in the past He is
knowledgeable about sports,
but some of his best lessons
are ones of sportsmanship
and teamwork, said Allen
In Swanson’s office
David Heagy sworn in to lone
at W heatland Insurance
City Council position #1.
hangs a plaque that Allen
thought best summarized his
commitment to lone and
M orrow County, quoted
from Abraham Lincoln, “I
like a man that is proud of
the place where he lives I
like a man that lives so that
his place is proud of him ”
This year’s Woman
o f the Year award went to
Judie Laughlin o f Heppner
and was presented by Cyde
Estes Laughlin moved to
lone swears in new mayor and councilmen
Mark Bruno (left) sworn in as new lone City mayor by city
recorder Melissa Ross.
On Monday night,
Jan 17, the City o f lone
swore in its new mayor and
four councilm en, with
M elissa R oss doing the
honors Mark Bruno was
elepted as mayor and David
Heagy, Wayne Hams and
Craig Holland were elected
as City councilmen The
mayoral position holds a
tw o -y ear term and the
council positions are four-
year terms
With Bruno taking
the office o f mayor, his
council position was
vacated The new board
discussed and nominated
outgoing mayor Robert Ball
for council position #4 Ball
accepted the position and
was sworn in later in the
meeting.
Health Dept, to
hold flu shot
clinic
The Morrow County
Health Department will be
holding a flu shot clinic on
Thursday, Jan 20 at their
office located at 120 S Main
Street, Heppner The clinic
is open from 8 a m to 5 p m
All
flu
v accin atio n
restrictions have been lifted
Gilliam County Judge Laura Pryor
to speak at WCVEDG annual
meeting Jan. 27 voice in the state legislature
The Willow Creek
Valley
E conom ic
Development G roup will
hold its annual m eeting
Thursday, Jan 27 at John’s
Other Place in Heppner The
m eeting
will be
in
conjunction with the weekly
H eppner C ham ber o f
Commerce meeting and will
be a no-host luncheon
starting at 11 30 a m
Guest speaker for
the meeting will be Gilliam
County Court Judge Laura
Pryor Pryor is the founder
and Chairman of the Eastern
Oregon Alliance, a coalition
to improve Eastern Oregon’s
WCVEDG will also
elect 2005 officers and
p re sen t
goals for
t
h e
coming
year at the
annual
m eeting
“ T h e
public is
very much Laura Pryor
invited to
attend, especially those who
are interested in joining or
participating in economic
development in the Willow
Creek Valley,” said president Craig Holland sworn in to lone
David Sykes
City Council position #3.
ALL NEWS AND ADVERTISEMENT DEADLINE:
MONDAYS AT 5:00 P.M.
Shanna Rietmann
Nicole Mahoney and Victor Vander Does
accept the business of the year award on
behalf of Morrow County Health District
and Pioneer Memorial Hospital.
Heppner in the eighth grade
from
C alifo rn ia
and
graduated from Heppner
High School. She has been
married for almost 42 years
and has three children and
three grandchildren
Being active in her
children’s lives, she was a
room mother for many years
and she and her husband
established and supported a
swim team for several years.
She also opened their home
to two Japanese exchange
students.
Laughlin has been
active as a 4-H leader, 4-H
judge and 4-H style show
coordinator and as the fair
superintendent When she
was no longer an active 4-H
leader she still provided
decorations to the 4-H annex
and style show
In continuing her
effort to give to the
community, Laughlin was a
longtim e
S o ro p tin iist,
including
serving
as
p resid en t
of
the
o rg an izatio n W hen the
Soroptimists disbanded, she
continued her service
through W illow Valley
Service Club In 2004, she
created a quilted wall
hanging that was raffled to
raise money for the Farm
Foundation mural project
The raffle brought in $500
for the project.
She is also active in
her church, St P atrick ’s
C atholic, where she has
provided the church bulletin
for 15 years. She also
provides decorations for the
church’s annual ham dinner
She creates banners for
every kind o f activity and
supplied the cover for the
church's 100lh anniversary
celebration
For the Chamber,
Laughlin has provided the
design and the buttons for
the annual St P a tric k ’s
celebration for 16 years and
has served on the committee
for 20 years She also shared
her office space with the
Chamber for many years and
has been a “leprechaun” at
the festivities
She also uses her
creative skills to promote
and coordinate art programs
in the community. She also
created the buttons for the
“Yes” for the hospital levy
this last election year
L a u g h lin ’s most
recent venture has been to be
a devoted volunteer for the
Pioneer Memorial Hospice
program She provides the
callig rap h y for all the
Hospice's thank you cards
and gives o f herself to those
in need Her favorite project
today is the A dopt a
Grandparent program
This year’s Citizen-
Educator o f the Year award
went to Karen Smith-Griffith
and was presented by Dick
Allen She grew up in Hood
R iver and received her
b a c h e lo r’s degree from
O regon
C ollege
of
Education and her master’s
degree in special education
from the U niversity o f
Oregon.
Smith-Griffith began
her teaching career as a
classroom teacher in Spray
where she met her husband,
John Griffith Later, she
moved to Heppner with her
husband and son, Aaron
That same summer a special
education job came open to
be shared between Heppner
High School and lone
Schools Having worked
continued page six
Morrow C ounty Court Queen Jessica Wainwright and Princess
Heather Yocom.
W E HAVE
M CGG n o w c a r r ie s W r a n g le r
Wranqler
B o y s ’, G ir ls ’, W o m e n ’s, M e n ’s
BRAND
W e s te r n S h ir t s & J e a n s
M o rro w C ounty C ra in G ro w e rs
Le x in g to n 989-8221 • 1-800-452-7396
F»r f irm *q u ip m *n t.
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