Image provided by: Morrow County Museum; Heppner, OR
About Heppner gazette-times. (Heppner, Or.) 1925-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 4, 2009)
Local people attend Tea Party Express Bv David Sykes A group o f local people attended a Tea Party Express Tour event Satur day in Tri-Cities, Wash ington. Dick Sargent, one of those attending, spoke to the Gazette-Times and also contributed some pho tographs. According to the Tea Party web site, the Top Photo: L-K Dexter and Corinne Miles, Mella Britt and Lynnea Sargent stand next to the Tea Parts Express bus in Kennewick Saturday. Bottom Photo: A group of local people attended the Tea Party rally in Kennewick on Saturday. - Con tributed Photos VOL. 128 NO. 44 10 Pages Wednesday, November 4. 2009 Morrow County, Heppner, Oregon Heppner to celebrate completion of highway project November 6 The City of Hep pner will be holding a rib bon cutting event to cel ebrate the completion of the Oregon Department of Transportation’s Highway and Street Enhancement Project. The work included repairs to the Willow Creek (Court Street) Bridge, re building sections of Court Street / Oregon Highway 74 in town, resurfacing OR 74 east of town and construct ing new retaining walls, sidewalk and bike lanes in the area. The ribbon cutting event will begin at 10 a.m. on Friday, November 6, at the entrance to the Morrow County Fairgrounds in Hep pner. The event w ill include comments from key project stakeholders, a ribbon cut ting ceremony and light refreshments. The S2.17 million highway project was con structed by Knife River Construction of Bend. The work included SI.02 mil lion in federal American Recovery and R einvest ment Act (ARRA) funds used to resurface 19.5 miles of Oregon Highway 74 east of tow n with a chip seal. The project is just one of many ARRA funded proj ects constructed this year in eastern Oregon, supporting family w age jobs for many Oregonians. Some features of the project that are adding a lot of value for the commu- nity include new sidewalks and bike lanes that connect Heppner’s downtown with local schools, the county fairgrounds and popular athletic fields in the area. These much needed im provements have created safer routes for school chil dren and other pedestrians. In addition, the retaining walls along the walkways incorporate a stone-like pattern that mimics the ex isting stonework around the historic 1903 courthouse. "Overall, this has been a great partnership be tween the City of Heppner, Morrow County, ODOT and their contractors,” said City Manager Dave De- Mayo. Trees come down at city park Ten cottonw oods, “dozens" of elms and some popular trees were remov ed from around the city park recently by the Heppner Water Control District. Janet Creenup of the HWCD said the poplars were planted years aj>o and there was a danger of them coming down into the park. She said they decided to remove the elms in anticipation of disease. The trees w ill be replaced with willows in the spring. Creenup said, which will provide shade and look nice. “Lots of people were asking questions about the project, but everyone was satisfied by the time we were done,” she added. Contributed Photo Clinic closures announced for Veteran’s Day tour is to "highlight some of the worst offenders in Congress who have voted for higher spending, high er taxes, and government intervention in the lives of American families and businesses. These Members of Congress have infringed upon the freedom o f the individuals in this great na tion, and it's time for us to say: ‘Enough is Enough'.” The Tea Party Express tour is featuring leaders in the anti-tax, conservative, tea party movement along with musical performances, and is hosting a series of rallies across the nation. “The tour is featur ing speakers, and most of the talk was about conser vative values and also the 2010 election," Sargent said. One o f the speak ers was radio talk show NOAA issues monthly climate summary for Heppner According to pre liminary data received by NOAA's National Weath er Service in Pendleton, temperatures in Heppner averaged colder than nor mal during the month of October. The average tem perature was 47.3 degrees which was 4.0 degrees be low normal. High tempera tures averaged 58.6 degrees, which was 5.6 degrees be low normal. The highest was 80 degrees on the 18,h. Low temperatures averaged 36.0 degrees, which w as 2.5 degrees below normal. The lowest was 27 degrees, on the 13,h. There were five days w ith the low tempera ture below 32 degrees. Precipitation to taled 1.34 inches during October, which was 0.22 inches above normal. Mea surable precipitation -at least .01 inch- w as receiv ed on 11 days w ith the heavi est, 0.56 inches reported on the 4lh. The outlook for November from NOAA's Climate Prediction Cen ter calls for near to above normal temperatures and near normal precipitation. Normal highs for Heppner during November are 49.9 degrees and normal lows are 32.4 degrees. The 30 year normal precipitation is 1.77 inches. The Nat i o n al Weather Serv ice is an office ofthe National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administra tion, an agency of the U.S. Commerce Department. Town and Country nomination forms available Pioneer Memorial Clinic, Irrigon Medical Clinic and non-emergent lab and ra Nomination forms diology serv ices at Pioneer Memorial Hospital w ill be closed on Wednesday, November for local community awards 11, as Morrow County Health District observes the Veterans' Day Holiday. are now available. Hep- pner’s Chamber of Com merce Town and Country Community Awards event H e p p n e r Hi g h the morning veterans will beprovided. School will host their an- be speaking in different All past and pres- will be held on Thursdav. nual Veteran's Day Program classroom about their ex- ent service personnel, as HHS to hold annual Veteran’s Day Program host Mike Williams who at times fills in for Rush Limbaugh. A nother speaker was the conservative Ken neth G ladney who was assaulted by union people at a town hall meeting in South St. Louis County, MO, on August 6. 2009. Gladney told the story of his beating and racial slurs directed at him at the town hall meeting when he was passing out “Don't Tread On Me” flags. The video of his beating is posted on the Youtube.com web site. Sargent said Gladney, who is black, told the crow d they are not racist for speak ing out against the Obama adm inistration’s policies and actions they feel are wrong. “ The discussion was not about Democrat and Republican," Sargent said, “but more about right and w rong and conservative and liberalism." He said the speakers urged those at the rally to get involved in the 2010 congressional elec tions and make a difference in the direction of the na tion. "They said it could get nasty, and that the other side w ould try to smear us," Sar gent said. He said the crowd at the rally was orderly, upbeat and patriotic. “It was mostly older people and 1 w ish some younger people could ha\ e been there to see w hat our traditional values are, and w hat we cherish," Sargent said. He also said at one point all the veterans in the crowd were urged to go on stage. "That w as pretty im pressive,” Sargent said. He said the speakers urged the crow d to support the troops fighting in Afghanistan. “We are the reinforcements to back up our troops,” Sargent said. “We need to keep the pressure on our president to make a deci sion (on whether or not to increase troop strength) and not leave our troops in limbo." he said. He also said speak ers asked the group to urge their congressmen to read the book “ C onstitution Made Easy,” "because it’s apparent that many of our elected representativ es have not read, or do not under stand the constitution," Sar gent said. He said anyone who wants more informa tion on the Tea Party can go to the web site at teaparty. org. The Tea Party Ex press II (this is actually the second one) is visiting 17 states and 38 cities on a 20-day trip that began in San Diego on Oct. 25 and is traveling eastward to its final destination in Orlando, Florida, on November 12, 2009. The tour stopped in Tri-Cities Saturday, Oct. 31. January 14. 2010 in the pavilion at the Morrow County Fairgrounds. Nomination forms can be picked up from the table bv the bulletin board at the post office, the Chamber office, or Kuhn & Spicer. The forms are due to the Chamber Office or Kuhn and Spicer bv December 15.
