Image provided by: Morrow County Museum; Heppner, OR
About Heppner gazette-times. (Heppner, Or.) 1925-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 4, 2006)
Spike strips stop wrong-way driver U nits from the Morrow County Sheriff’s O ffice, Boardm an Police Department, Umatilla Police Department, Stanfield Police D epartm ent and O regon State P olice re sp o n d ed reg ard in g a w rong-w ay d riv e r w ho was d riv in g eastbound in the westbound lanes of Interstate 84 down Bessie Wetzell Newspaper Library Univ ersity o f Oregon Eugene. OR 97403 VOL. 125 NO. 1 8 Pages Wednesday, January 4,2006 Morrow County, Heppner, Oregon the middle of both lanes at speeds between 70 and 85 m iles per hour at approxim ately 8:58 p.m., Dec. 29. John Blackwell, 59, of Deer Park, Washington, rep o rted ly got on the freeway going the wrong way at B oardm an. An Oregon State Trooper was able to get in position ahead of the suspect and place a spike strip that successfully flattened one of the tires on the vehicle. The suspect pulled to a stop at milepost 184 where he was taken into custody without incident. He was lodged at U m atilla County jail for Attempting to E lude a P olice O fficer. R eck less D riving and 4-H Rocket Club plans launch Driving under the Influence The 4-H Rocket Club will meet Thursday, Jan. 5, o f Intoxicants. at 6:30 p.m. at lone High School. Items on the agenda include a safety quiz, campaign speeches and elections, Public invited to appointment of a fund raising chairperson, a Team America ICABO monthly R ocketry C hallenge report from Thom as H olland, discussion of the next launch and a demonstration of the meeting RockSim, a rocket design and simulation program that the TARC team will be using to construct their competition ICA BO w ill hold design. A work session is also planned. After the regular their monthly meeting on meeting, the TARC team will have a short organizational Wednesday, Jan. 11, at 6:30 p.m. at Taylor's Restaurant meeting. Members of the club need donations of items such in lone. Area businesses will as materials for rocket construction, glue, tools, fabric and update the public on sewing expertise for parachutes, tables and portable fencing. upcoming projects they will For more information please call Pat Struthers. be working on during the year. Farmers Insurance to sponsor Taylor's Restaurant will serve a no-host lasagna ‘Student of the Month' dinner, including green salad, Brenda Sherrell and Farmers Insurance Group will garlic bread and dessert. im plem ent “ Student o f the M onth” recognition for Everyone is invited outstanding students attending Heppner High School. The to attend. student will be someone that the school and community can be proud of, says Sherrell. Holly Rebekahs to The student will be selected for his academic host card party performance, but the selection will not be based solely on grades, but also on individual ability, athletics and Holly Rebekah Lodge in Lexington will hold their community service. Students will receive a gift certificate for lunch at a regular card party Saturday, Heppner business and a plaque. Each student of the month January 7, at 7 p.m. Cost to will be featured in the Gazette-Times with an article and play is $5. Prizes will be awarded and snacks will be picture. Heppner TV will also feature the student. served. Former Rhea Creek rancher Mary West at home in Nevada Mary West. This picture taken by her oldest daughter Katy. By Peg Willis Mary West, former Morrow County resident, is a fifth generation rancher. Although she spent many of her growing up years on a ranch in the Puget Sound area, her roots are deep in Umatilla/M orrow County. Her early years were spent on the family ranch near Vinson. W est's father, Pete French, owned one of the best ran ch es in O regon located in U m atilla and Morrow counties. Beginning as a sheep ranch at the time o f W est’s Irish great grandmother, Susan Mary Doherty, it was a “complete” ranch that didn't require any trucking of the livestock. They could be trailed from the w in te r p astu re near Butter Creek to the summer pasture in Ukiah. W est rem em bers “the coffee boiling, roast beef, bread and butter and red beans on the table, a kitchen full o f cow boys getting their All and KUMA Coffee Hour on the radio. That kitchen was so full of w arm th and bright characters.” But ranching is not ju st fond m em ories or a sepse of family pride. It’s hard work. West's father-in- law, Jim West, who, along with his wife, Carleen, has owned a ranch in Morrow County many years, puts it this way. “Sheep, cattle and h orses d o m in ate our w orking days. H aying, paperwork, and daily duties take a lot of effort but are all p o in ted to carin g for livestock. They eat, drink and need protection every day. We accep t that challenge daily. Actually, they own us.” Although she grew up in ranching. West didn't realize until her late teen years that it was to become her future. She learned that she truly values working together as a family, the freedom and iso la tio n , seeing nature at its best - things that are a common part of the ranching lifestyle. Ranching became her focus. After returning from Puget Sound in the late 1980's Mary served on the Pendleton Round-up Court in 1989. It was a defining experience for her. “I remember our chaperone, Bob Miller, saying, “I don’t want you to look back on this experience 20 years from now and say, ‘I sure wish I would have . . . ’ or ‘why didn't I just try .. . ’That statement has made a huge impact on my life. Being on the Round-Up Court really brought me out of my shell and threw me into life.” Janet Miller would agree. She says West “was very shy to start with - not much of a public speaker. But by the end of her year on the court, she was right up there with the best of them.” “I am living the way my fam ily did several generations ago. How cool is that?” she asks. W est and her husband. Clay, ranched for several years on Rhea Creek near H eppner. They ran cattle and sheep on leased property and raised horses at the ranch. “Our ‘claim to fame' came from a horse called Drifts Chip that we sold to the fam ous Four Sixes Ranch in Texas. He is standing at stud there still.” One of the tragedies that can accom pany the ALL NEWS AND ADVERTISEMENT DEADLINE: MONDAYS AT 5:00 P.M. The old photo was taken in early 1900 at the Butter Creek/Vinson ranch, and shows, left to right. Jack French (Mary’s grandfather). Dillard French, Jesse French, Agnes French, Susan French and Herbert French. “freedom and isolation” of ranching life hit hard in the spring of 1995 when the W est's house, and all its c o n ten ts burned to the ground. Katy, th eir first child, was less than a year old at the time. How does a person handle something like that? You pick up the pieces and move on. “The first night as we prepared to go stay with C la y ’s p aren ts, I was thinking about what I would need to take - pajam as, to o th b ru sh , c lo th e s for tom orrow , K a ty ’s baby things. Then I remembered that I d id n 't have any of those things.” Friends from nearby Heppner and lone were more than generous, b rin g in g the fam ily “everything we could need.” But West still mourns the loss of her beloved little dog and the few family heirlooms she had. Such a devastating fire would be enough to cause many people to give up and move into town. But the Wests chose to stay on the ranch and rebuild. Soon Katy was joined by sister, Betsy, and then brother, James. But something was still missing. Mary and Clay kept com ing back to the dream of owning a ranch of their own. It's not a decision to be made hastily. From the tim e they m ade the co m m itm ent and began looking for the right place till they actually loaded up their belongings and drove to their new ranch in Nevada in June of 2004, five years passed. The Nevada ranch is 1 (X) miles from the nearest town. Elko - a tw o-hour drive, one hour of which is on a dirt/gravel road. Bob Miller says the Wests livtj“so far from her nearest neighbor, they have to have th eir own tom c a t.” No running into town for a quick trip to McDonalds. Did the Wests have any fears or doubts about setting out to find a new life in far aw ay N evada? Absolutely. “Not only the financial investment,” says Mary, "but leaving family and friends. And the fear of failure. That is really scary. “ I guess mine is a lifestyle choice; it doesn't have to do with m aking millions. Ranching is a tough business. It is not a steady p ay ch eck . U nexpected quirks in the market, price of feed, w eath er and unexpected complications are alw ays affecting the budget.” The West's ranch in Nevada can run 600 head of continued pcige 2 M C G G G R E E N F E E D S T O R E in Heppner PURI NA. W in d a n d R a in A ll - S e a s o n C o m p l e t e (M in e ra l Buy IB bays, yet I FREE! ~ Morrow County Grain Growers ~ Lexington 989-8221 * 1-800-452-7396 For farm equipment, visit our w tb sit* at www megg net
