First St. Patrick’s Day Celebration was 25 years ago
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Bessie Wetzell Newspaper Library
University o f Oregon
Eugene. OR 97403
Many celebrate
St. Patrick’s Day
in Heppner
By Justine Weatherford
Editor 5 Note: The following
story ran in the March 25,
1982 edition o f the Heppner
Gazette-Times.
Everybody turned
tem p o ra rily
Irish
on
Wednesday, March 17, as
many true Irish were
photo by David Sykes of the Heppner GT
gathered to lead the fun in Eb Hughes and sister Anita of Milton-Freewater go the air with
Heppner from the morning KUMA. Jim Farley, founder of Heppner's St. Patrick’s celebra
tion, stands to the left with his arms folded. 1982 photo.
radio show presented by and their top-to-toe brilliant
KUMA at Jim F a rle y 's green grab. Bill Kilkenny
show room , through the served as assistan t to
breakfast program at the producer Ted Smith and
Elks Club and on into the sang a request n u m b er
very big evening at the Irish “Ragtime Cowboy Joe."
Stew dinner at St. Patrick’s
Local Irish families
Parish Hall where all super were rep resen ted by Eb
until the Altar Society ran H ughes, Jerry B rosnan.
out of stew, alas!
G eorge C u rrin , R osella
The m orning fun Lindsay, Helen D oherty
began with a blessing by the Dyer and niece Martha. Pete
Rev. John O'Brien and a Lennon and sister Maggie
KUMA taped song by the Healy, Matt Doherty and
late Joe D oherty and others.
continued with music and
Irish m usic was
short talks. An impressive offered by Bill Kenny and a
group of clergy headed b Scotch m in strel, Ron
Bishop Thomas Connelly of M cD onald, w ho were
Baker graced the affair. a c c o m p a n ied by K aren
Pendleton'sjovial mayor Joe Stack. The program at
McLaughlin and Dr. Kendall F a rle y 's ended with a
Early b rig h ten ed the benediction from Bishop
morning with their presences Connelly.
As most o f the
morning crowd walked from
the Farley establishment to
the Elks Lodge they enjoyed
music by Ackley-led junior
high musicians parked along
the street side. At the
breakfast party, Irish music
was provided by the Lindsay
Fam ily and by Ron
M cD o n ald
w ho sang
“ C lan cy L o w ered the
Boom"
(all
m usical
performances w ere repeated
at the Irish Stew.) Master of
C erem onies Gene Pierce
was assisted by Hazel
Mahoney and Ruth Nutting
as special prizes were
distributed. The winners
were: best dressed Irishman,
Joe Burns of Hermiston. and
best-dressed Irish Woman,
llene L au g h lin ; and a
re p re se n ta tiv e o f the
Morrow C ounty family
O 'S h e rid a n , the Rev.
Michael Sheridan ...all of
whom were rewarded with
prizes given by Farley Motor
Co.
Larry Brady was
honored as the oldest native
Irish m an ; Pete Lennon
gained a prize from
M cD onald
C h e v ro le t
because he was the oldest
native Irishman driving a
Chevrolet, and Pete's sister.
Maggie Healy, w as honored
Continual page 2
HES, HHS principals honored for school excellence
VOL. 126
NO. 11
12 Pages
Wednesday, March 14,2007
Morrow County, Heppner, Oregon
Heppner Elementary
School Principal Jack
T ho m p so n and form er
H ep p n er High School
Principal Wade Smith, now
M orrow C ounty School
D istrict
assistant
s u p erin ten d e n t,
were
honored by the Heppner
Parents Club at the MCSD
regular meeting Monday
night in Lexington.
Parent
Club
President Alita N elson
presented each a plaque
School District concerned over children’s safety at elementary
honoring them for guiding
school crossing
their respective schools to
statew id e
“e x ce lle n t"
ratings.
Also at the meeting
the board honored Umatilla
M orrow
ESD
S u p erin ten d en t George
Murdock for excellence in
directing the ESD. which
provides numerous services
for the district. The board
District wants Stanshury Street closed permanently....
passed a reso lu tio n in
support and appreciation of
M urdock
directed
administration to write a
letter to that effect.
M urdock
has
resigned from the ESD to
take a position with the East
Council mulls county request for
road levy support
The Heppner City
C ouncil
w ants
more
information before it will
support a proposed $10
million county road levy.
Morrow County
has been asking for a vote of
support from the five
communities in the county
before it moves ahead with
the levy, w hich would
require approval by county
voters before it could be
enacted. Also, according to
state law, the county is
required to share road levy
funds with the five
communities in the county,
which m eans Heppner,
which has said recently it
needs more money for
infrastructure repairs, stands
to receive $36,383 each year
during the five year levy, for
a total of $181,915.
Additionally, under
the current state-w id e
property tax limitation law.
Heppner residents would not
have to pay the $2.60 per
thousand tax needed to pay
off the levy. According to
county assesso r Greg
Sweek, Heppner's tax rate is
in compressioti, or maxed
out, and cannot be raised. All
the rest of the property in
Morrow County, except for
utilities and industrial
property in the city limits of
Boardman, are not under
compression and would be
required to pay for the levy.
Even so, some on
the council were not in favor
of endorsing the levy. “Let
them sell their own
p ro p o sal," said council
member Glenn Baker. “ I
d o n ’t see the need to get
involved with this." The
council took no action, but
agreed to invite public works
director Burke O'Brien to
come to the next council
meeting and explain more
about the road levy.
In other business,
the council d iscu ssed a
M orrow C ounty School
District plan to close off
Former Heppner High School Principal Wade Smith (left) and
Heppner Elementary School Principal Jack Thompson with
plaques presented by the Heppner Parents Cluh
Oregonian new spaper as
editor and publisher.
Monday night the
board reviewed three school
calendar options, all w ith a
post-Labor Day start, but
directed S u p erintendent
Mark Burrow s to also
present a pre-Labor Day
start option. The options will
be presented to the staff for
their recommendations prior
to a vote by the school
board. A board vote is
anticip ated at the April
meeting.
Option A called for
teachers to begin August 27,
students to begin September
4. a two-week Christmas
holiday from December 20
to January 7. students ending
June 11 and teachers ending
June 13.
Option B also called
for teachers beginning on
A ugust
27,
students
beginning September 4. a
one week-plus Christmas
holiday from December 20
to January 2. students ending
June 5 and teachers ending
June 9.
Option C called for
the same beginning date for
Continual page 4
lone School planning Thursday memorial
service for student
An lone Community
.... and extend Elder St. around to hook up with Court St. h> the
School
freshman died from
tennis courts.
the result of a cardiac arrest
Stanshury Street that runs there since the school was Friday aftern o o n , and
betw een the two grade built many years ago.
students and staff at the
“ N othing has school began coping with the
school buildings in Heppner.
To alleviate traffic problems every happened there." said loss Thursday morning.
caused by such a closure, the council m em ber Judy
Stormy Kendrick.
district is exploring a plan to Buschke. “Those schools 15. was on his way home
extend Elder Street around have been like that for years from Heppner Friday with
to connect with Court Street and years and years, and his mother when he went
nothing has h ap p en e d ." into cardiac arrest. He never
up by the tennis courts.
The school added long-time Heppner regained consciousness.
d istrict, and esp ecially resident and council member Kendrick, who has been
elementary principal Jack Kay Robinson.
enrolled at lone Community
T ho m p so n has School (143 students in K-
T h o m pson,
has been
proposing the change for reportedly met with State
some time, however the city Representative Greg Smith
has in the past resisted the (R) Heppner about trying to
closure as unnecessary and get the state to put in the new
too expensive. Thompson road. Apparently the district
says there is danger of a child has some property it could
getting hit by a vehicle in the trade for ODOT work on the
road betw een the two project.
M onday the
schools. Council members
have said repeatedly that council discussed blocking
there have been no accidents
Kendrick is an organ
donor.
and
lone
S u p erin ten d en t
Bryn
Brow ning said his donations
will help many people.
There will be a
funeral
service
held
Thursday, March 15. at 11
a.m. at lone High School,
and sch(H)l w ill be closed for
that day (and lone does not
have school on Fridays). The
time of the funeral has not
yet been determ in ed .
Browning said students and Stormy Kendrick, 15. died of
Continued page 2 cardiac arrest
Continual page 2
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