Image provided by: Morrow County Museum; Heppner, OR
About Heppner gazette-times. (Heppner, Or.) 1925-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 26, 2005)
Is Morrow County Courthouse haunted? Illllllllllllllllllll,,lllllllll Bessie Wetzell Newspaper Library l University of Oregon Eugene. OR 97403 Do you see the ghostly image? By Betty MacTavish This time of year we hear stories of haunting and ghostly images. In our own com m unity we have the legendary Morrow County C o u rth o u se that exudes im ages o f sp irits in the hallw ays, footsteps, and bleeding walls. Stories have been told about the lost souls that reside within the walls of the courthouse. Some speculate VOL. 124 NO. 43 10 Pages Wednesday, October 26,2005 that it is the lost souls of individuals who were tried for murder in the upstairs courtroom. Others believe it is the souls of the 275 people that lost their lives during the Heppner Flood of 1903. A recent sighting by a te rrifie d co u rth o u se em ployee, that occurred about two weeks ago, was of a ghostly image coming off of the roof in the front of the building by the left bull’s eye window and entering in the fro n t d o o r o f the c o u rth o u se . A n o th er incident about the same time occurred when the panic alarm upstairs sounded three times without anyone being u p stairs. A cco rd in g to employees. Morrow County Sheriff’s Deputies responded to the alarm and found no cause for the alarm being activated. Employees and long time residents have their own ghostly stories to tell. Happy Halloween M acTavish as hired G-T editor Morrow County, Heppner, Oregon Quilt made for local teacher in Afghanistan Pam W orden o f Heppner has made a quilt that includes squares made by Heppner Junior/Senior High School classes for junior high math teacher and track coach, David Melville, who is currently serving as a Chinook helicopter pilot in Afghanistan, and his family. Following is a letter Melville wrote to the school on Septem ber 25, shortly after a Chinook helicopter w ent dow n in so u th ern Afghanistan: Betty MacTavish “To all: I know you have all heard by now that an aircraft w ent dow n in S outhern Afghanistan. It was one of ours and all five personnel on board were killed. Due to this event, it has become the worst day in my life. Two of the individuals were from Pictured with quilt are: seventh-grade class president, Jared Hedman, junior class president, Pendleton with me and I had Aaron Allstott, senior class president, Mikel Britt, sophomore class president, Baillie keithley, continued page four and freshman class president Stephanie Rill. Not pictured is eighth-grade class president. Chance Day. Health district sees another month of profit The Morrow County Health District ended up in good financial standing for another m onth, finishing September with a $71,348 profit and a $277,798 year to date profit, according to data released at the district’s regular m eeting M onday night in Lexington. The month’s positive outlook is largely due to $259 ,3 3 7 in o u tp a tie n t revenue, up over $45,000 from the previous month. Tax revenues were $74,483 for the month. Net patient revenue was $381,416. up o v er $ 1 4 ,0 0 0 from the previous month, and total o p e ra tin g revenue was $ 4 6 1 ,5 5 2 , dow n around $1,500 from August. Chief Financial O fficer N icole Mahoney commented that the district’s current financial situation was “looking really good.” Also at the meeting. the board voted to approve an em ploym ent contract w ith Dr. Ed B erretta, authorizing M CHD CEO Victor Vander Does to work out remaining details with Dr. B erretta prior to his p rev io u s c o n tra c t's expiration date of October 31. In other business, the board: -heard the following report: Pioneer Memorial Clinic had 377 patients for the m onth, w ith 20 new patients and 38 patients seen by a nurse; Irrigon Clinic had 211 patients for the month, with 42 new patients and 36 seen by a nurse; Heppner Ambulance had 19 total runs w ith 18 tra n sp o rts for $ 1 5 ,3 7 0 in rev en u e; Boardman Ambulance had 20 to tal runs w ith 19 transports for $17,791 in revenue; Irrigon Ambulance had 19 runs w ith 15 transports for $15,370 in revenue; Pioneer Memorial Hospital had five patients admitted and 21 admitted for observation, 492 outpatients and 79 em ergency room encounters; 78 inpatient and 1427 outpatient lab tests w ere c o n d u cted ; three inpatient and 90 outpatient x-ray p ro ced u res w ere com pleted; 57 CT scans were completed, along with 32 EKG tests, one treadmill p ro ced u re and four o u tp a tie n t re sp ira to ry th erap y sessio n s; Home Health had 138 visits and Hospice had one admit; and the pharmacy administered 717 drug doses for $41,339 in drug revenue. -ex ten d ed an invitation to providers to attend the monthly board meetings and hoped to hold twice-yearly dinner meetings with the board and providers attending. -discussed how to ALL NEWS AND ADVERTISEMENT DEADLINE: MONDAYS AT 5:00 P.M. im plem ent ed u catio n al outreach programs to assist people in selecting the new Medicare drug plans. Sign up for the new plans begins November 15. -heard a report from M ahoney on her trip to Kansas City to attend the National Rural Health Clinic and Critical Access Hospital conference. -heard a report from Vander Does concerning railings which were to be installed at the hospital. Vander Does said that the contractor who had said he co u ld do the w ork has backed out, so the design needs to be m odified som ew hat so that local contractors could complete the railings. Betty MacTavish has been hired as the news editor at the H eppner G azette- Times, effective October 10. M acT avish, who moved to the area in April 2004, has a strong connection to the Heppner- L e x in g to n -Io n e area. Originally from Lexington, she is the daughter of Lonnie and LaVerne H enderson. Lonnie was a former mayor of Lexington at one time. H er g re a t-g ra n d p a re n ts emigrated from Missouri on a wagon train and ended their journey at the end of the trail in W eston. They h o m estead ed at Sand H ollow. M acTavish is a descendent of the Olden- McCabe families. MacTavish attended school at H eppner High School before moving with her family to Hood River, where she graduated from Hood River High School. She attended Oregon State U n iv ersity and then transferred to Portland State U n iv ersity , w here she o b tain ed a b ach elo r of science degree in elementary education. After graduation she w orked fo r Mt. Hood Community College in their Head Start program. She then moved for a brief time to Everett, WA, where she w orked for D eaco n ess Children’s Services in their family unification program. From there she moved to Portland w here she was em ployed with the Early Head Start Family Center as a h o m e-b ased lite ra c y manager. Iro n ically , it was M acT av ish ’s d au g h ter, M arissa C o rn e tt, w ho brought her back to Morrow County. Marissa’s husband, Kevin, who was employed with PGE in Madras, was transferred to the Boardman C oal-Fired Plant. So, the young couple m oved to Heppner where Marissa got a job in the Morrow County Finance Department. At her daughter’s urging and with the im p en d in g b irth o f granddaughter, Hailey, now 18 months old, MacTavish got a job with the Morrow C o u n ty D ev elo p m en tal D isab ility P rogram and moved back to Heppner. MacTavish also has a son, Jo se p h , w ho is a com m ercial fisherm an in Kodiak. Alaska. In addition to her jobs as a service coordinator with Morrow County and as G -T e d ito r, M acT avish enjoys the ou td o o rs and loves to travel. Ladies' W R A N G LER S: 1 0 % OFF \ j ¿ X in l\ s L Buy a pair of Wrangler jeans (any size or style) and rece've an additional 10% OFF of a blouse! M o rro w County Grain G row ers Lexington 989-8221 • 1-800*452-7396 For Farm «quipm tnt, visit our wob tit* at WWW m e n not
