Image provided by: Morrow County Museum; Heppner, OR
About Heppner gazette-times. (Heppner, Or.) 1925-current | View Entire Issue (Dec. 24, 2008)
Santa and helpers deliver packages Bessie Wet/ell Newspaper Library University o f Oregon Eugene, OR 97403 Santa and his help ers, H ep p n er V olunteer Firem en and Jan Skaggs and G lennave A rriaga o f the Heppner Neighborhood Center, spent Sunday, De cem ber 21, getting ready to d eliv er packages and Christmas baskets and other goodies to area families. Right Santa and Heppner Volunteer Firefighters gather around the tree before heading out on their deliveries County deals with biggest snow fall in recent years VOL. 127 NO. 52 10 Pages Wednesday, December 24, 2008 Morrow County, Heppner, Oregon Ranger District employees, volunteers brave weather to split and deliver firewood Santa” helps load firewood into a pickup for delivery Braving the windy and blustery four-degree weather, over 18 community members and 12 Heppner Ranger District employees delivered eight cords o f firewood to families in the Heppner and Lexington area on Saturday. This is the third year the Heppner Ranger D istrict has spearheaded the com m unity firew ood project which is coordinated through the local Neighbor hood Center. Current Forest Service employees, along with retires and seasonal employees, split the wood several weeks ago which was donated by Dodge Log- ging. D onald M oody o f LaGrande donated his time and equipment to off-load the wood. continued page three Town and Country planned January 15 T he Tow n and Country community event will be held on Thursday, January 15, at the Morrow County Fairgrounds: The event will begin at 6 p.m. with a “no-host” beer/wine bar operated by Murray’s. “Puddin ’ on the R itz” will be “putting together a great dinner consisting o f p rim e rib /p a rm e s a n chicken, w ild rice, dilly green beans, winter fruit and cranberry romaine salads, assorted rolls and blueberry cheesecake for dessert. Entertainment will be provided by M ichelle Stone and the H ep p n er Elementary School Choir. The cost will be $20 per person. Tickets will on sale starting Friday, January 2, and may be purchased at Bank o f Eastern Oregon, C ham ber o f C om m erce, Heppner TV and Murray’s Drug. “Plan on coming and su p p o rt o u r com m unity award winners, enjoy great company, a great dinner and great entertainm ent,” said Sheryll B ates, C ham ber executive director. ALL NEWS AND ADVERTISEMENT DEADLINE: MONDAYS AT 5:00 P.M. South Morrow County has been dealing with one o f the heaviest snowfalls it has seen in sev eral years, as city and county road crews, as well as the local Les Schwab, work .to keep traffic moving. The city o f Hep pner reports that there have been no “major” problems in town and has been con stantly plowing and sanding to keep the streets pass able. Morrow County Road Department Director Burke O ’Brien issued the following report Monday addressing the county’s ef fort on snow removal: O ’Brien said he hoped to have the majority of the county roads opened by the end o f the day Mon day. To handle snow removal, the Morrow Coun ty Road D epartm ent has six, three-axle plow trucks four o f which have Sand ers. They also have one single-axle plow truck with a sander. The OHV Park has one single axle plow truck with a sander which the road department is using this winter since the park is closed. This gives the county more plow trucks and sanders. They also have four road graders, all o f which are operating in dif ferent areas o f South Mor row County. The county earlier purchased a snow blower which is powered by the OHV Park skid steer and it is being utilized to help with drift removal on sev eral county roads. It is also being utilized to keep the Cutsforth Park lot clear for snowmobilers this winter. O ’Brien says the county is plowing the major connector roads first includ ing Tower Road, Bomb ing Range Road, Baseline Road, Willow Creek Road, Hardman Ridge Road, Rhea Creek Road, Sunflower Flat Road and several others. Once these roads are open they will begin working on the secondary roads. On w eekends and holidays the list to maintain is as follows: Tower Road, C olum bia Avenue in the continued page three Les Schwab employee Matt Baker puts on a set of snow tires Monday. The tire store has been working hard to meet the demand. Long court career comes to an end for Sharon Biddle Sharon Biddle After spending 33 years “ on the top floor o f the courthouse” as she says, Sharon Biddle has worked with many people over the years. She started out working in the district attorney’s office and then in January 1983 moved to the Circuit Court. The district attorney at that time was Herman Winter and then she also worked with Dennis Doherty. In the Circuit Court she has been mainly responsible for keeping the court docket which means working close ly w ith the attorneys and the judges. When she started, ju d g e s O lson and Wells were the Circuit Court judg es. “That has been the most enjoyable part o f the job she says,” working with the at torneys and the judges. She estimates she has worked for 10 different judges over the years. Biddle’s last day on the job is Dec. 31 and she and her husband Sonny, who retired earlier this year, plan on eventually settling in Mon tana where they have some property. “We have to stay and watch our grandson play football next year,” she says. AT MCGG GREEN FEED & SEED IN HEPPNER: Merry Christmas to all our friends and customers! ^ We will be closed Wednessday at noon Open again Friday for regular hours. Saturday 8 a m. * Noon M orrow County Grain Growers Green Feed & S eed 2 42 W. Linden Way, Heppner • 6 7 6 -9 4 2 2 • 9 8 9 -8 2 2 1 (MCGG main office)
