Woods, Spicer file for Justice of the Peace
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Bessie Wetzell Newspaper Library
University of Oregon
Eugene. OR 97403
VOL. 129
NO. 9
8 Pages
Wednesday, March 3,2 01 0
Form er M orrow
County District Attorney
Earl Woods has filed to run
for Morrow County Justice
of the Peace.
Woods was born
in Klamath Falls in 1943.
He grew up in the John
Day and Mount Vernon
area, and then moved to
West Linn where he gradu
ated from high school in
Morrow County, Heppner, Oregon
1962. From there he went
to Washington State where
in worked as
a logger be
fore entering
th e A rm y
from 1963
to 1967. He
spent the last
year in Viet
nam where
he was an Earl Woods
Army Rang
er in Special Forces.
After his service in
the Army, Woods attended
the University o f Wash
ington where he received
a degree in economics. He
then went on to the Univer
sity of Oregon Law School
where he graduated with a
law degree in 1974.
In his law experi
ence he was Coos County
DA from 1976-1981 and
then went into private prac
tice for 10 years. From there
he came to Morrow County
where he served as DA from
1991 to 1998. He then went
back into private practice
in Hermiston. He worked
with the Lincoln County
DA’s office for three years
before returning to the area
and going to work with the
Umatilla DA until Septem
ber of 2009. He has since
retired from the active prac
tice of law.
W oods and his
wife, Cheryll, have two
children, a daughter who
is a captain in the Army’s
82nii Airborne and a son w ho
works as an overhead wire-
man in the Portland area.
Long-time Hepp
ner attorney Annetta Spicer
has filed for the Morrow
County Justice of the Peace
position. Current JP Char
lotte Gray has announced
her retirement.
Spicer and her hus
band, Bill Kuhn, also an at
torney, moved
to Morrow
C ounty in
1976. In law
school at the
time, Spicer
moved to the
county the
fo llo w in g
year. They Annetta
p u rc h a s e d s Pieer
their law of
fice in Heppner in 1985.
Spicer was Morrow
County District Attorney
from 1980-82 and was dep
uty DA before that. Kuhn
and Spicer are currently
city attorneys for Heppner,
Lexington, Stanfield, Echo
and Irrigon.
“I’m committed
to this community,” said
Spicer. “We have lived here
going on 33 years. I think
my background gives me a
really good basis for work
ing as JP.”
Spicer grew up on
Indian reservations through
out the west as her father
was employed with the Bu
reau of Indian Affairs. She
graduated from high school
in Toppenish, WA, and from
Portland State University
in Portland in 1972 with
a degree in education. She
taught special education
for two years and then at
tended law school at Lew is
& Clark in Portland where
she graduated with a JD in
1977. She and her husband
married that same sum
mer. They have two grown
children, Phillip, who is
practicing law in Spokane,
and Paula, who is pursuing
a degree in special educa
tion with an emphasis on
autism. When Paula’s stud
ies are complete, she will
have a certificate in applied
behavioral analysis.
S picer has been
a chairman of the Oregon
Trail Library District and
has been on the board at
least 15 years. She was a
4-H leader for many years
while her children were
young. She serves on the
board of directors for Do
mestic Violence Servic
es and is on the board of
the Hermiston Chamber
of Commerce. Kuhn and
Spicer have also had a law
office in Hermiston for the
past 10 years. She has also
been a member of various
bar committees over the
years.
Sex offender arrested living
across from elementary school Fr. Condon, cast, & crew named Grand
The Morrow Coun information that Fisher was original charges against him
ty Sheriff’s Office
a sex offender. The
has arrested Rich
department checked
ard John Fisher, 50,
his status and dis
for failure to regis
covered that Fisher
ter as a sex offender.
had not updated his
At the time of his
status since Decem
arrest, Fisher was
ber o f2008 when he
living at 515 Elder Richard
was living in Eu
Street in the Willow John Fisher
gene. Sex offend
View Apartments,
ers are required to
across from Heppner El update their status within
ementary School.
10 days of their birthday or
Sheriff Ken Mat- within 10 days of moving.
lack stated that the sheriff’s
Fisher’s arrest was
department had developed a felony arrest since the
were felony charges.
Fisher was arrested
Monday, February 22. On
Tuesday, March 2, a grand
jury indicted Fisher on two
felony counts and one mis
demeanor count of failure
to register as a sex offender.
Union County District At
torney Tim Thompson is
handling the case.
Fisher is currently
incarcerated in the Umatilla
County Jail. He will appear
in court on March 4.
M. C. School District launches into social media
In an e ffo rt to
strengthen communication
between students, parents
and the community, the
M orrow County School
District has become part
o f the social media, with
accounts in Facebook and
Twitter.
You can become
a “ fan” o f the M orrow
County School District on
Facebook and “follow ”
the District on Twitter by
clicking on the quick links
on the District’s Web site,
w w w .m orrow .kl2.or.us.
The District can be found
on Facebook under “Mor
row County School Dis
trict” and on Twitter under
“MorrowCountySD.”
The com m unity
can now receive timely,
up-to-date information via
updates on Tw itter and
Facebook, including the
latest news, school closure
or delay information, event
reminders and more.
“The use of Face-
book and Twitter by our
district is certain proof, that
you indeed can teach an
old dog new tricks. While
I have not personally used
social media in the past,
I ’m elated that we now
have new communication
tools that will help us reach
patrons that perhaps we’ve
missed in the past,” said
Superintendent Mark Bur
rows.
HES celebrates Dr. Seuss’ birthday
Heppner students celebrate Dr. Seuss' birthday by reading
Dr. Seuss books during an assembly at HES. -Photo by Megan
Futter
Day and Coil win Heppner’s first
state wrestling championship medals
Mustang wrestlers
Chance Day and Wacy Coil
traveled to the Portland Me
morial Coliseum to repre
sent Heppner in the OSAA
w restling cham pionship
tournament. Day and Coil
won the right to represent
the team and Special Dis
trict IV by placing in the top
two at the district tourna
ment on February 20.
About 2,050 bouts
were contested between
more than 1,200 wrestlers
during the three-day tour
nam ent. C lasses 1A/2A
through 6A competed si
multaneously side by side
on 12 mats during the tour
nament before a cumulative
attendance of over 25,000.
Additionally, a girls’ state
wrestling tournament was
held on Saturday morning.
G o in g in to the
tournament Day was ranked
fifth at 152 pounds and
Coil was ranked fourth at
171 pounds. But because
seeding at the state tourna
ment is done solely based
on the previous years’ state
placing, both had the bad
luck-of-the-draw to meet
the num ber one seeded
wrestler in the first round
of the tournament.
Each wrestler lost
his first match and needed
to win the next two to make
it to the medal round. With
the pressure on. Day easily
pinned his next two oppo
nents in a combined 93 sec
onds, including a rematch
of the previous week’s dis
trict championship, which
he had lost 9-0. Day’s con
solation championship bout
was also a rematch with the
pre-tournament number one
ranked wrestler and tour
nament first seed that had
beaten him the day before.
This time Day was domi
nant, nearly pinning his
challenger as time ran out
in the first round and then
claiming the bronze medal
with a 12-5 score.
Coil took a more
dramatic route to the medal
round. After winning the
first must-win bout 13-8, he
faced Giles Ellet from Irrig-
on to determine who would
advance and who would
go home empty handed.
At the end of regulation,
and through three overtime
rounds, the score was tied
1-1. In the fourth overtime
period, known as the ulti
mate tiebreaker, if the top
man controls the bottom
Marshals for St. Patrick’s Celebration
Grand marshals for
this y e a r’s St. P atrick’s
Day Celebration are Father
Gerry Con
don and the
entire cast
and crew of
the dramas
he has writ
ten and put
on over the
y e a rs, the
St. Patrick’s Fr. Gerry
Day C om Condon
m ittee has
announced.
There have been
six different plays and an
estimated 60 people have
participated in their produc
tion over the nine years they
have been put on.
“ I have enjoyed
getting people together and
putting on the productions
over the years,” says Fr.
Gerry Condon of St. Patrick
Church in Heppner. He
says he started writing the
dramas when a member of
the congregation suggested
doing a drama about the
life of St. Patrick. He says
when he went to Ireland
he checked with 10 book
stores and could not find a
book about St. Patrick. He
then went to the national
library and found no mu
sicals there. “That’s when
I thought, maybe I can do
that myself,” he recalls. “So
I wrote the play, and the
people of Heppner seemed
to enjoy it.” It was the first
drama he had ever written.
He says it usually
takes six to seven rehears
als to get each play down
for production during each
year’s annual St. Patrick’s
Day Celebration. He says
this year’s production will
be something different; it
will be a variety program
rather than a drama. He says
the music was arranged
Area teams
competing in
state play
Basketball teams
from Heppner and lone will
be competing this week in
state tournament action.
Heppner girls’ bas
ketball team will play to
night, Wednesday, March 3,
at 6:30 p.m. against Portland
Christian in Pendleton.
lone b o y s’ b as
ketball team will play on
Thursday, March 4, at 8:15
-See WRESTLING CHAMPI- p.m. against Mohawk in
ONSHIP/Page EIGHT
Baker City.
Pictured is a scene from one of Fr. Condon’s plays, From
Cenacle to Calvary.
by Joe Lindsay and it will
involve a lot of music and
humor.
The productions he
has written over the years
are: St. Patrick, Patron Of
Ireland, St. Bridget, Patron-
ess Of Ireland, St. Colum-
cille, The Masterful Monk,
Emigration To Happiness,
From Cenacle To Calvary,
and Homecoming (co-au
thor - Joe Lindsay).
Heppner man dies in
skiing accident
Nate Arbogast,
39, of Heppner died Sun
day afternoon, February
28, from injuries sus
tained in a skiing acci
dent at Anthony Lakes
Ski Area.
According to the
Union County Sheriff's
Office, Arbogast collided
with a tree and died from
injuries. The Anthony Lakes Ski Patrol initiated first aid
and CPR on scene. At the time, Arbogast was chaperoning
a Heppner High School Outdoor Club ski trip.
Arbogast, a 1989 graduate of Monument High
School, moved to Heppner in the mid-90s after graduat
ing from college to work for the Morrow County School
District. He later opened Wind Wave Communications to
help bring high speed internet to the area, especially for
the benefit of rural schools.