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. In most cir-
umstances, it’s best to sell
our home before you even
>ok for a new one. You’ll
robably need the proceeds
f the sale for your next pur-
fiase.
2.
The competition:
low does your home com
are with similar properties
n the market or recently
sold. Visit several. Ask
yourself: What makes them
attractive? How would you
improve them if they were
yours to sell? We can show
you comparables.
3. Fix-up costs:
How
much money will it take to
refurbish your home to make
it most salable?
What re
pairs are really needed?
Compare the cost with how
much you might get for it
with or without refurbishing.
We can help in adv ising you
which repairs make sense
and which don't. We'll be
glad to discuss pre-sale strat
egies w ith you.
It 'itl'i
' N andu and cE)a dm ui .A nderson
a urna natii
lirar/ara Sarenseut
and
(J ja v id and / A p ril S ifkes
'in v ite ifou to the
'ilia i liage ce re monti unito u/
(?Òieana cJltfnn .'Anderson
and
r ( f \ ustap/iei ^.Jjavul Suites
on S aturday. the tw en ty -ciylith <4 Jelnuanf
tum thousand and nine
at { u claeh in the alte m oon
Pendleton Jree H let/¡odist ' ( Jhureh
17 cVW V u k Street
P e n d le to n . '/Crequo
Property /¡stint’s are available
at WH'H'.sykesrealestate. net
188 W. Willow • P.O. Box 337 • Heppner, OR
(541) 676-9228 • Cell (541) 980-6674
97836
'M 'earis.
1 R eception '^Immediately Joiliu riiu y ' Ccteniumi
'P endleton E l i s .Lodq.
Fax (541)676-9211
E-mail: david@sykesrealestate.net_________
)
/
y