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About Heppner gazette-times. (Heppner, Or.) 1925-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 18, 2009)
SEVEN - Heppner Gazette-Times. Heppner. Oregon Wednesday February 1 o. zOi Colt cheerleaders perform for crowd Kilkenny donates $5 million at arena ceremony Editor s Note: The following article was written by Greg Bolt and was published in The Register-Guard. Shovels hit the dirt Saturday as the University o f Oregon officially broke ground on its new basket ball arena, but the man who dug deepest was Athletic Director Pat Kilkenny. UO President Dave Frohnmayer announced that Kilkenny is making a $5 million gift to the new pavilion on behalf o f his family, a donation that led the university to announce it is naming the arena’s playing floor Kilken ny Court. The news brought even more cheer to a crowd already jazzed by the long- awaited start o f what will be the biggest public works project in university and Lane County history. The Kilkennys were in good company in the fes tive crowd o f almost 250, which included former UO football standouts Dennis Dixon, who just earned a Super Bowl ring as a backup quarterback for the Pitts burgh Steelers, and Ahmad Heppner cheerleader Kathry n Strouse supports Madelyn Nich Rashad. Also on hand was ols while Diana Healy and Sophie Grant cheer on the crowd. re tire d R ear A dm . John -Photo by Sandy Matthews Dick, a member of the 1939 Duck basketball team that won the NCAA champion ship. B u t th e lo u d e s t cheers were for UO gradu ate and top benefactor Phil Knight, who made a rare appearance at the private event. He also was on hand later for a ceremonial tip- off before the Ducks faced Arizona in what turned out to be their 11th consecutive loss. A $100 million gift from Knight and his wife, Penny, is providing the fi nancial backstop for what the UO has named the Mat thew Knight Arena after the congratulates couple’s late son. The Nike founder stepped to the po dium amid a standing ova Heppner M ustangs tion and was by turns jovial “Outstanding Wrestler Award” and emotional, shedding a tear when he spoke o f how Bank o f Eastern Oregon’s much the arena meant. Invitational 2009 “If my son Matthew Bank o f Eastern Oregon Chance Day Heppner, Oregon, February 7 Team Champions - Baker Bulldogs / 2nd Place - Riverside Pirates 3rd Place - Crane Mustangs Competing against: Adrian - Baker - Colton Crane - Elgin ~ Enterprise I miller - Irrigon Joseph - Pine Eagle ~ Riverside Umatilla - Union - Wallowa www.bcobaitk.com Member FDIC New ATV Safety Laws FREE online certification New safety laws are now in effect for operating quads and three-wheel ATVs (Class I ATVs) and off-road mo torcycles (Class III ATVs) on lands open to public use. (See chart below for age-related timelines.) In order to make training as convenient as possible, the Oregon Parks and Recreation Department now offers this free safety and education program and certification online on the website www.rideATVoregon.org. SAFETY TRAINING EXEMPTION: Safety training isn't mandatory for riders using an ATV or off-road motorcy cle for farming, agriculture, forestry, nursery, Christmas tree growing operations or when riding on private land. M andatory t r a in in g A ges Year Mandatory Safety Training Age Jan. 1, 2009 Youth 15 and under and adults supervising youth Jan. 1, 2010 30 and under Jan. 1, 2011 40 and under Jan 1, 2012 50 and under Jan 1, 2013 60 and under Jan. 1, 2014 All riders must have an ATV safety education card Morrow County OHV Park is active in these changes and do offer the hands on training. ATV Safety Insti tute and the MSF Motorcycle safety foundation do have instructors on site. Any questions or concerns please contact Morrow County 541-989-9500. Former Oregon players Ahmad Rashad and Dennis Dixon are pictured with Pat Kilkenny, Phil Knight, Nike Founder, and university of Oregon president, Dave Frohnmayer at the ground breaking ceremony for the new basketball arena at the University of Oregon. -Contributed Photo were here, he’d be as proud as he could b e ,” K night said. He and other guests and university officials wore special Nike jackets with the words “Mac to M att” embroidered on the breast, a reference to the coming change as ven erab le but aging M cA rthur Court is retired and the Ducks move to what some are now' call ing Matt Court. Later, Knight joined Rashad, Dixon, Kilkenny, Dick, Frohnmayer, m en’s basketball coach Ernie Kent and a long string o f arena su p p o rters to take turns pushing gold-painted shov els into a pile of dirt. Frohnmayer, assist ed by a construction official, even took a turn at the con trols o f a backhoe to make a ceremonial scoop. Knight, wearing his trademark sunglasses, hard ly stopped smiling despite the d a y ’s gray chill and standing for about a dozen photos with everyone from construction officials to his grandchildren. “It’s a big step and a great morning,” he said after all the pictures were taken. D esig n and c o n struction o f the arena will cost $200 million, on top o f the $27 million spent to buy the site and $18 million for an underground parking garage for general univer sity use and arena events. Frohnmayer said that even assum ing a conservative “multiplier effect,” the proj ect will pump more than $300 million into the local economy during w hat could be the deepest recession in decades. Frohnmayer thanked Knight and Kilkenny as well as neighbors and city staff for helping make it pos sible to move forward on a massive project that “will mean hundreds o f jobs will be filled locally at a time w hen such economic impact is sorely, if not desperately, needed." But the soon-to-re- tire Frohnm ayer also got in some friendly digs at the tortuous path the arena has taken during the past 10 years, noting that at times it was “something akin to extracting molars with pliers and w ithout anesthesia.” The new $5 million donation at least doubles K ilk e n n y 's know n g ifts to the UO. He gave $1.5 m illion to help keep the arena planning effort mov ing when funding still was being sought and gave $1 million to university aca demic programs. He also is believed to have provided much o f the $2 million the university paid to buy out the contract o f Kilkenny's predecessor. Bill Moos. And Kilkenny forgoes his $500,000 salary, which instead is split be- Mustang Varsity Baseball Schedule F o llo w in g is th e Heppner High School var- sity baseball schedule for the 2009 season: -March 17: Pendle- ton JV, 2 p.m. -M arch 21: at La Grande, 12 p.m. -March 24: Mac Hi/ Salem -March 27-28: Col- fax Tourney. -Apr. 4: B urns, 1 p.m. -Apr. 7: at Baker, 2 p.m. -Apr. 11: at Irrigon, 11 a.m. -Apr. 14: Pilot Rock, 4:30 p.m. -A pr. 18: W eston McEwen, 11 a.m. -Apr. 21: at Stan- field, 11 a.m. -Apr. 25: BYE -Apr. 29: Irrigon, 4:30 p.m. -M ay 2: at P ilo t Rock, 11 a.m. -May 5: at Weston McEwen, 4:30 p.m. -May 9: Stanfield, 11a.m. -M ay 12: C ro s s Over (#3 vs. #2) tween athletic and academic programs. Kilkenny said he do nated to the arena to honor his family, w hich besides his parents and wife, Stephanie, includes three brothers and a sister. All the siblings went to the UO, and although he cracked up the crowd w ith a few jokes at their expense, he said that experience helps bind them together. “ We all have one thing in common. We all went to the University o f Oregon,” Kilkenny said. “It was the greatest times o f our lives and something we all share together.” Getting to this day was a long haul for Kilk enny, whose top mandate when he was hired two years ago was to get the stalled arena project moving. The challenge didn't diminish after the Knights’ $100 mil lion gift, as critics attacked the financial plan for the building and neighbors won a ruling that required a time- consuming process to get a conditional use permit. Although the project won through, critics remain and the delay has pushed the opening date back from fall 2010 to January 2011. K ilkenny adm its that he thinks “it was a little harder than it should have been,” but said he still sees his glass as half full. “ I ’m th rilled that w e're in the ground,” he said. And, o f his opponents, “ I don't think anything was malicious or ill-intended.” And Kilkenny said challenges remain. Keeping the project under budget w ill be difficult, even with prices falling and contractors hun gry due to the recession. But he said digging into his own pocket for the arena was easy. “T here'll be some tough days when we have to decide how to allocate our money,” Kilkenny said. “But I've been blessed. It's not hard for me to do these things.” Advertise with The Heppner Gazette-Times Call 6 7 6 - 9 2 2 Ô 'Real Estate By DAVID SYKES REALTOR B E FO R E Y O U S E L L S T R A T E G Y Before you actually list our home for sale, there are ome serious items to con- ider: 1. Timing of Sale: Don’t ^ait until you buy a new ome to put your old one n the market. 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