Heppner sparkles
for Christmas
B essie W etzell N ew sp ap er Library
University of O regon
E u gene, OR 97403
50 <
VOL. 130
NO. 46 8 Pages
Wednesday, December 7, 2011
Morrow County, Heppner, Oregon
Celebrate Heppner
Christmas December 15
C h ris tm a s w ill
come a couple weeks early
this year, when the annual
Celebrate Heppner Christ
mas takes place Thursday,
December 15. The celebra
tion will begin at 5:30 p.m.
with the annual Parade of
Lights down Main Street,
with the remainder o f the
evening’s activities to fol
low at the Morrow County
Fairgrounds.
A dinner catered
by Sweet Productions will
warm celebration-goers
starting at 6 p.m. The dinner
will be a spaghetti feed with
marinara or meat sauce,
garlic bread, garden salad,
and Christmas cake with
coffee, hot cocoa or lem
onade. The dinner will cost
$5 per guest, or $3 for
children under 5. There will
be a no-host beer and wine
bar catered by Bucknum’s.
Diners will receive a $10
rewards card for every meal
purchased.
O th er a c tiv itie s
during dinner include the
opportunity for people to
find “Scrooge” and see if
they can get him to hand
over a reward card or two,
$5 pictures on stage with
Santa, and rew ard card
prizes, raffle basket items
and penny board items set
up in the annex. Everyone is
asked to drop their rewards
cards in the appropriate
prize container before 7:15
p.m., as well as purchase
raffle tickets for an oppor
tunity to win some great
prizes. Raffle basket prizes Mary Chandler (L) holds up Zachary Brown (center) to place his ornament on the city Christ
mas tree during the lighting ceremony last Thursday, while Keeley Naims (R) gets a boost
include a Nikon Coolpix from another helper to hang her own work of art. - Photo by David Sykes
Camera with L015 15x
Optical zoom, Kindle with
keyboard and two Por
table RCA 9” DVD players.
Penny Board prizes will be
an Xbox 360 and a Kindle
with keyboard.
The evening’s ac
tion will begin at 7:15 p.m.
with the introduction o f
Heppner’s foreign exchange
students. Announcement of
rew ard card, C hristm as
raffle winners will follow
immediately after.
E veryone is re
minded to keep collecting
those rewards cards every
time they purchase from
local merchants from now
until December 15.
NOAA issues Heppner
climate summary
According to pre
liminary data received by
NOAA’s National Weather
Service in Pendleton, tem
peratures in Heppner aver
aged slightly warmer than
normal during the month of
November.
The average tem
perature was 41.8 degrees,
w hich was 0.6 degrees
above normal. High tem
peratures averaged 51.6
degrees, which was 0.8
degrees above normal. The
highest tem perature re
corded was 64 degrees on
the 12*.
Low temperatures
averaged 32.1 degrees,
w hich was 0.4 degrees
above normal. The lowest
was 26 degrees, on No
vember 1.
There were 16 days
with a low temperature be
low 32 degrees.
P recipitation to
taled 0.54 inches during
November, which was 1.06
inches below normal. Mea
surable precipitation of at
least .01 inch was received
on eight days, with the
heaviest, 0.15 inches, re
ported on the 12*.
Snowfall totaled
1.2 inches, with at least
one inch of snow reported
on one day. The heaviest
snowfall was one inch, re
ported on the November 19.
The greatest depth of snow
on the ground was also one
inch on the 19*.
The outlook for
December from NOAA’s
Climate Prediction Cen
ter calls for below-normal
temperatures and near- to
above-normal precipitation.
Normal highs for Heppner
fall from 44.0 degrees at
the start o f December to
41.0 degrees at the end of
December. Normal lows
fall from 28.0 degrees to
25.0 degrees. The 30-year
normal precipitation is 1.32
inches.
The N a t i o n a l
Weather Service is an office
of the National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administra
tion, an agency of the U.S.
Commerce Department.
Area pastors invited to
submit Christmas messages
The Heppner Gazette-Times invites area pastors to submit Christmas mes
sages to be published in the December 21 edition. The deadline is Friday, December
16, at 5 p.m.
Messages can be dropped off at the Gazette office, emailed to editor@rapid-
serve.net, or faxed to 541 -676-9211.
I
Carolers strolled Main Street and lent their voices to the festivities during Heppner’s Customer
Appreciation Day and tree lighting. Front (L-R): Andrea Collins, Julissa Sanchez, Jasmine
Garcia, Chance McCormack and Joe Lindsay. Back (L-R): Bethany Koelker, Hannah Jones
and Ella McCormack. -Photo by David Svkes
This gingerbread cathedral was built by Sweet Productions owner Jodi Chapa (pictured) with
the help of daughters Jodessa and Kolleen, who were home from Western Oregon University
over the Thanksgiving holiday. The church, on display through the Christmas season, took
26 hours to create. Inset: The inside of the cathedral shows a wealth of detail, all rendered in
gingerbread. /Vjotor by Andrea Di Salvo
G-T closed for Christmas
The Gazette-Times will be closed Monday, December 26 for the Christmas
holiday. The news and ad deadline for the December 28 edition will be Friday, December
23 at five O’clock. Normal business hours will resume Tuesday. December 27.
GREAT GIFTS FOR KIDS!
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Through December 23
M orrow County Grain Growers
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