SIX • Heppner Gazette-Times, Heppner, Oregon Wednesday, January 10,2007
Cardinals boys outscore
Dufur in dramatic win
The Keithleys
La Verne and Virginia Keithley 1957
La
Verne
and
V irginia
“ G in g e r”
(Schwarzin) Keithley will
celebrate their 50"’ wedding
anniversary on Saturday,
January 13. The anniversary
celebration w ill be held from
noon until 3 p.m. at the
H eppner O dd F ellow s
Lodge.
The Keithleys were
m arried on Jan u ary 13,
1957, at the H ep p n er
Christian Church.
G inger w orked at
Coast to Coast for several
years and then was at
Peterson’s Jewelers for 14
years. She now volunteers at
the Heppner Neighborhood
Center. Her hobbies include
sewing, ceramics, and selling
her crafts at various holiday
bazaars.
La Verne was a local
farmhand, was employed by
K inzua M ill as a self-
employed wood worker and
now works for the Willow
Creek Park District as a RV
park caretak er. He is a
member of the Heppner Elks
Lodge. He is also a volunteer
at the Neighborhood Center
and helps Ginger at the craft
shows.
The couple are
lifetim e residents o f the
Heppner area.
The couple have
four children: Ruth Ann
The lone Cardinals
escaped with a one-point
victory over the visiting
Dufur Rangers on Tuesday,
January 2 to open Big Sky
league play.
The
C ard in als
outscored the Rangers in just
one quarter Tuesday night
and that was the first, 14-2.
Cold shooting and tentative
play characterized quarters
two, three and four for the
C ard in als
as
D ufur
outscored them in each of
those
q u a rte rs.
The
Cardinals watched their lead
dwindle and then completely
e v ap o rate in the fourth
quarter. Trailing by two with
30 seconds rem ain in g ,
freshm an M att Hams
sw ished to clu tc h free
throw s to tie the gam e.
Twenty five seconds later, it
was Justin Archer at the line
connecting on one of two for
the go-ahead score.
In a dramatic twist,
D ufur called tim e out
im m ed iately fo llo w in g
Archer’s free throw with the
score lone 49-, Dufur 48. At
the end of the break, the
buzzer sounded once, then
tw ice and the R angers
remained in the huddle. The
referee set the ball down
under the Cardinal’s basket
and started counting off five
seconds. That brought the
Rangers running and they
somehow managed to get
the ball inbounds and down
the court but in the ensuing
chaos, they didn’t get off a
shot, sealin g the C a rd ’s
victory.
A lan
R ietm ann
paced the C ard in als in
sco rin g w ith 14 p oints
followed by Kip Krebs with
ten. The Cards were 21 of 63
from the floor and 0-7 from
beyond the three-point line.
Fouls also got in the way
with Kevin Fowler, Clay
M o rter and Kip K rebs
g e ttin g into early foul
trouble. William Wehrli did
an outstanding job off the
bench in the first and second
quarters, scoring four points
and coming up with three
blocked shots.
In the eyes of Coach
D ennis Stefani, the boys
played three quarters of
p retty slo p p y ball. “ It
seemed we were playing not
to lose instead of playing to
win.” He did note that “the
free throw s hit by M att
Hams to tie the game and the
winning free throw hit by
Justin Archer showed great
poise.” On the bright side
th o u g h , C oach S tefani
thought it was a good win in
that it shows that team is
learning to win close games.
T he
C a rd in a l’s
season record moves to 5-3,
1-0 in Big Sky play.
Protect yourself from fraudulent activity
The
b a n k in g
in d u s try
has seen
a
n
increasing
amount of
fraud
activity
involving
custom er
accounts.
Gary Propheter, I'd like to
take a few
E V P and chief
operations officer. minutes to
Bank of Eastern help the
()regon
public
p ro te c t
themselves
from risk. Two kinds of
fraudulent transactions have
shown up more frequently
recen tly : u n au th o rized
e lec tro n ic
c h eck s
to
checking accounts (often
called ACH or Automated
C learin g
H ouse
transactions), and debit card
tra n sa c tio n s at ATM or
m erchant p o in t-o f-sa le
terminals.
Regulation E defines
the p ro tectio n s given to
consumers to protect them
from electronic fraud and
banks and co m p an ies
processing electronic items
m ust follow the rules it
states. Not only do the rules
protect consumers, they help
banks and co m p an ies
c o n d u ct
p ro p er
investigations of claims prior
to making reimbursements in
order to protect themselves
from losses as well. If you
boil Regulation E down to
basics, it says if you advise
your bank promptly about
suspicious activity, you will
not be held accountable for
erroneous charges to your
account. In most cases, your
bank will refund fraudulently
taken monies quickly and
protect your account from
further attacks. Any fees
related to the fraudulent
a c tiv ity w ould also be
reversed.
Unauthorized
transactions may all seem the
sam e to a custom er, but
different types of fraud are
often treated differently in
the law and in banking
regulations. An important
factor in each case is how the
transaction was conducted
and by whom. Give your
bank a fighting chance to
stop fraud by working with
them to identify fraud early.
H elp your local p olice
agency and prosecutor by
agreeing to prosecute: hold
fraudsters accountable!
P ro secu tio n
of
frau d sters may vary by
locality. When a perpetrator
is known to Bank of Eastern
Oregon, we will aggressively
provide in fo rm atio n to
prosecute every fraud case,
but we need the public's help
as the customer must file a
police report and support the
in v e stig atio n .
F rauds
originated in other states, or
internationally, are rarely
prosecuted as the threshold
to get state prosecutor or
FBI support is very high,
often over $ 1 0 0 ,0 0 0 in
proven losses.
How can you protect
yourself from loss? How can
you protect yourself from
being a victim of fraudsters?
T hese
are
im p o rtan t
questions with surprisingly
simple answers.
P ro tect y o u rse lf
from loss:
C heck your bank
statements every month to
ensure all transactions are
valid and report suspicious
activ ity to your bank
immediately! Better yet, use
your bank’s free Internet
online banking service and
look at your activity daily.
Customers generally have up
to thirty days from their last
statem ent date to report
suspicious activity to their
bank in o rd er to avoid
liability for future losses.
N ever share your
ATM or debit card PIN
(secret code) with anyone.
Many unfortunate frauds are
conducted by someone well
know n to the cu sto m er,
often identified by security
camera video at ATMs or in
stores. Customers arc often
unwilling to prosecute these
cases and cooperation in
prosecution is a prerequisite
to being reimbursed for any
losses.
♦
N ever loan your
ATM or debit card to anyone
or you may becom e
resp o n sib le for every
transaction done by the third
party. The same is true with
checks! In Oregon, if you
allow a n o n -sig n e r to
regularly use your account,
they can become a de-facto
signer on your account!
Never give a signed
blank check to anyone!
Always fully complete the
information, including the
payee name, and don't leave
any blank sp ace on the
written amount lines - line
blank spaces out before and
after the written amount.
P ro tect y o u rse lf
from being a victim of fraud:
N ever
provide
p erso n al or fin an cial
information to a third party
who contacts you by email
or by phone. If you have an
existing relationship with
that third party, contact them
directly using the phone
number that is provided on
normal correspondence you
receiv e from them . For
example, from your bank
statement, or look up their
number in the phone book.
Information requests in an
unsolicited email should be
looked on w ith great
distrust.
Legi t i mat e
companies will never send
you emails or call and ask
you to provide personal or
account information. Again,
if you ever receive that kind
o f req u est, co n tac t the
company directly through a
trusted phone number and
verify the request is proper.
Keep unused checks
and bank statements locked
away! Never dispose of them
in the trash , and shred
c an c e lle d ch eck s and
u n w anted
d o cu m en ts
w henever possible. Keep
financial documents out of
sight of casual observers.
Thieves sell account and
card num bers o v er the
Internet and these are used
by fraudsters to steal from
merchants, customers, and
banks.
N ever keep your
ATM or d eb it card PIN
(secret code) with your card.
O nce y o u ’ve m em orized
your PIN number, shred the
mailer! If you prefer, most
banks, like Bank of Eastern
Oregon, allow you to change
your PIN to a number you
can more easily remember,
free of charge!
The m ost secu re
transactions you can do are
with your ATM or debit
card, as these use artificial
numbers (card numbers) that
are tied to your account.
When you have a problem
with a card, access to your
account can be cut instantly
and new cards can be issued
without impacting the bank
account itself.
It’s a very different
story with check or bank
account related fraud. Once
the fraudster knows your
account number or a thief
has stolen your checks, the
only way to protect you (and
your bank) is to close the
account and open a new one.
That also means you need to
order new checks, which can
be costly.
In each fraud case,
the customer has additional
w ork to do c lean in g up
automatic links to their card
and acco u n ts. B ank o f
Eastern Oregon finds that
fixing card problems is much
easier to accomplish.
All of these things
we've discussed work great
for consum ers, but what
about businesses? They have
all the same issues, but fewer
protections under the law. In
fact, until the most recent
changes in V ISA and
MasterCard operating rules
providing Regulation E type
protection for business debit
cards, businesses only had
the rig h ts to d isp u te
fraudulent activity that were
granted within their account
agreement with their bank.
Businesses can take
advantage of all of the same
conveniences provided to
consumers, especially online
banking. Business owners
tend to watch the bottom
line and cash flow carefully
and checking daily activity
can not only catch external
fraud, but be a strong tool
to defeat that most insidious
of thieves, the embezzler.
Bank o f E astern
O regon
hopes
this
inform ation has been of
value
and
w elcom es
questions, com m ents, or
concerns. Please address
these to Gary Propheter,
EVP & C hief Operations
O fficer, Bank o f Eastern
O reg o n , P.O. Box 39,
Heppner, OR 97836. You
may also email your question
t
o
securityofficer@beobank.com
for a speedier reply!
A bout
BEO
Bancorp
BEO Bancorp is the
holding company for Bank
of Eastern Oregon, which
operates 11 branches in six
eastern Oregon counties.
B ranches are located in
Arlington, lone, Heppner,
Condon. Irrigon, Boardman,
Burns, John Day, Prairie
City, Fossil and Moro. Bank
o f E astern O regon also
o p erates
a m ortgage
division, has loan production
offices in Hermiston and
O n ta rio ,
and
o ffers
brokerage services through
BEO Financial Services. The
b a n k ’s
web
site
is
www.beobank.com.
Senior Center News
The Willow Creek Baptist Church will be serving
lunch at the Senior Center on Wednesday, January 17. The
menu consists of barbecued beef on a bun. oven baked
fries, green salad, fruit cup and pie.
“There was a great turn out for the Christmas Eve
potluck dinner. Della Burch, her daughter-in-law. Dee, and
son, David, did a fabulous job,” said a spokesperson. Many
people brought salads and desserts and many helped with
serving and cleanup.
The center has been without an elevator for over a
week. It has been a huge inconvenience but tenants are
helping one another. Repairs were finally finished on
Monday, January 8.
We don’t fly airplanes
We can’t train elephants
We’re not good cooks
We don’t build computers
We can’t raise wheat
We don’t practice law
We can’t set a broken leg
We don’t put out forest fires
We can’t measure S cut lumber
We don’t sell fat quarters
We don’t rent movies
We won’t charm snakes
We don’t rotate tires
We re not painters
We can’t resole shoes
We don’t fill cavities
We don’t sell antiques
We don’t know jewelry
We can’t fill prescriptions
We don’t savvy hardware
We can’t fill propane tanks
(and set up
We don’t sell or bag groceries
WEBSITES!)
We shouldn’t run with scissors
BUT
WE
SURE
CAN
PRINT
H EP P N ER G AZETTE-TIM ES
188 W est W illow • 676-9228