Heppner Gazette-Times, Heppner, Oregon Wednesday, February 22,2012
BESTSELLING AUTHOR
-Continuedfrom PAGE ONE
military charitable organi­
zations. including the Seal
Team Foundation. When
they were introduced to
each other by other Seal
team members, he said
they found an instant com­
mon interest in the gun
Kyle used sniping.. .the 300
Winchester. McEwen said
the military and hunting
models of the 300 Win­
chester look different, but
the bullet—whether used
by the most lethal sniper
in American history or an
Eagle Scout hunting around
Heppner—is the same.
A fte r h e a rin g
Kyle's stories of the front
lines, McEwen said he felt
compelled to help Kyle get
the story heard.
“I felt Chris’s story
was so compelling and
patriotic... 1 wanted to make
sure Chris’ story was told
because he was truly an
American hero.” said McE­
wen. “1 felt it was a story
that would help people un­
derstand about the conflict
that American has been
going through in Iraq.”
That led to a three-
year project in which Kyle,
McEwen and DeFelice
worked to record Kyle’s
life, including his child­
hood, marriage and battle­
field experiences during
four tours of duty over the
course of 10 years in Iraq.
McEwen said the
book was created as a result
of interviews with Chris.
Those interview s were
turned into text, and the
text was polished into book
form. While McEwen and
DeFelice were in on the
creation and writing, McE­
wen said there is no mistake
that "American Sniper” is
Kyle’s words.
“This is C hris’s
story, Chris’s book,” he
said.
McEwen couldn’t
have predicted the wild ride
on which that book would
take them, into a publish­
ing world he had never
expected to enter.
“It’s been an inter­
esting run, between assist­
ing Chris in the preparation
of his autobiography, to
marketing and getting the
book deal in New York, to
finalizing the manuscript
and watching the process of
- SEVEN
Bank of EO offers
scholarships
“Bank of Eastern mately $86,000 in scholar­
Oregon will again
ships. We are proud
offer twenty $500
of our graduates
Agriculture/Busi-
and pleased to con­
ness scholarships
tinue offering the
for graduating high
scholarships to the
school seniors in
talented and de­
Heppner, lone, Ar­
serving recipients
lington, Condon,
in our market area,”
Boardman, Irrig- CEO Jeff
said Bailey.
on, Spray, Fossil, Bailev
Applicants
Bums, Crane, John
must plan to enroll
Day, Monument,
in college in either
Long Creek, D ayville, agriculture or business.
Mitchell, Moro, Prairie Selection will be based on
City, Enterprise, Wallowa, scholarship, leadership and
and Joseph,” announced citizenship.
Jeff Bailey, president and
Applications can
CEO of Bank of Eastern be picked up from school
Oregon.
counselors, at a branch of
This marks the 20th Bank of Eastern Oregon
year the bank is sponsoring or online at www.beobank.
the $500 scholarships to com under the Commu­
McEwen (L) and his father, hunting in the mountains near students.
nity Commitment link. The
Heppner when he growing up. -Contributedphoto
“Through the years, deadline to submit applica­
it becoming a number-one Amazon.com and Barnes & we have awarded approxi­ tions is May 1.
bestseller,” McEwen said. Noble. Those who love the
“American Sniper” book may also have some­
was published by the Wil­ thing else to look forward
liam Morrow division of to.. .McEwen said they are
HarperCollins and is avail­ currently negotiating movie
able through most major rights. More information
book retailers, including should be available soon.
lone Elementary
students of the month
LIBRARY TECH
-Continuedfrom PAGE ONE the library district, can avail
Audiobooks, music
and video will automatical­
ly open in OverDrive Media
Console; eBooks will au­
tomatically open in Adobe
Digital Editions. Once the
download is complete, the
reader may select a title and
enjoy the book.
For help, click on
the 1 lelp/FAQs tab at the top
of the Library 2 Go page.
Click on the Overdrive
help. They may browse
audiobook help, eBook
help and Kindle apps, and
can find out which devices
can be used with eBooks as
well as get help by viewing
videos.
Another presenta­
tion, by John Boufford
from Cascade Specialties
outlined an online language
program. Manga, which,
once it goes live through
online language learning
to everyone in Morrow
County.
The online lan­
guage courses can be used
anywhere where people can
access the internet. Bouf­
ford said that the courses,
offering more than 32 dif­
ferent language programs
for English speakers—
including Irish—and 13
English as a Second Lan­
guage programs, which will
help non-English speaking
residents, in addition to stu­
dents, travelers and anyone
wishing to learn another
language.
Boufford, a sys­
tems analyst for Cascade
Specialties, said that differ­
ent types of access would
be available to members of
the community, such as for
Elks promote anti-
drug message
Lindsay Kincaid, Heppner Elks Lodge Drug Awareness
Chairman, handed out anti-drug literature at the recent Bank
of Eastern Oregon Wrestling Tournament held at Heppner
High School. Kincaid also set up the drug awareness table at
a recent Helix-lone basketball game. The Elks NE District has
a drug-awareness trailer it can send to different events, and
Lindsay said he is going to try and get it scheduled for this
area. -Contributedphoto
Preschoolers visit
new lambs
lone’s Creative Care Preschool students made their annual
February trip to pet and feed the newborn lambs at Skye
and Penny Krebs’ sheep operation. After enjoying the baby
lambs, the students and their parents went to the Krebs home,
where everyone enjoyed Penny's lamb-shaped sugar cookies.
-Contributed photo
<
corporations, schools and
individuals.
OTLD offers nu­
merous free services through
the Heppner branch: more
than 11,000 items, large
print books, newspapers,
magazines. Library 2 Go
Audio Books, videos and
DVDs, the summer reading
program, computer access
to more than one million
items, special programs, fee
internet access, word pro­
cessing and fax and copy
services. The OT Library
in Heppner, 444 N. Main
St., is open on Tuesdays
and Wednesdays from 11
a.m. to 8 p.m., Thursdays
and Fridays from 9:30 a.m.
to 5 p.m. and Saturday from
11 a.m. to 3 p.m. The OTL
phone is 541-676-9964.
T he H e p p n e r
Friends of the Library is
dedicated to support OTLD
with items that the OTLD
budget cannot afford. This
past year, they have donated
more than $500 in books
and audiobooks, $500 in
juvenile fiction, over $40 in
magazine subscriptions, a
new library table, more than
$450 toward the summer
reading program and $600
to fund spring and sumiper
storytellers, in addition to
sponsoring the Missoula
Children’s Theatre. They
raise monies primarily
through the St. Patrick's
Celebration book sale.
Membership on the
FOL is $5 for an individual,
$10 for a family, $20 for
a business and $50 for a
sustaining membership.
They also invite donations
of funds, books, videos and
DVDs.
Merkley introduces
transportation bill
amendment
Oregon Senator
Jeff Merkley introduced
a bipartisan amendment
to the transportation bill
currently on the Senate
floor that he says would
cut red tape for farmers and
ranchers transporting their
products.
The amendment,
co-sponsored by senators
Pat Toomey (R-PA) and
Roy Blunt (R-MO), would
allow farmers and ranchers
who live near state lines
to transport their products
to the closest processing
facility even if it is in a
neighboring state.
“A farmer in On­
tario shouldn't be subject
to unnecessary government
bureaucracy just because
the closest processing fa­
cility happens to be across
the border in Idaho," said
Merkley.
“Agriculture is a
huge part of the Oregon
economy and this amend­
ment will make it just a
little easier for family farm­
ers to stay successful.”
In current law,
farmers are exempt from a
set of unnecessary regula­
tions when they transport
their products in farm ve­
hicles, but only as long as
they are transporting the
products within the same
state. This is problematic
for farmers and ranchers
who live near state bor­
ders.
If current law is
not changed, for farmers to
cross state borders means
they face regulations like:
-Vehicle inspec­
tions for every trip the farm
vehicle takes, even if the
vehicle is driving from the
field to the bam;
-Adhering to re­
porting requirements like
hours of service rules, even
if the farmer is driving an
hour down the road;
-Obtaining medi­
cal certifications meant for
commercial truck drivers.
A ccording to a
statement by Merkley, his
amendment is narrowly
tailored to only cover farm
vehicles transporting prod­
ucts.
The exem ption
only applies if the vehicle
is registered in the state as a
farm vehicle and driven by
the farm or ranch owner, an
employee or family mem­
ber; is transporting to or
from the farm agricultural
commodities, livestock, or
machinery and supplies; is
either 26,001 pounds or less
or, if heavier than 26,001
pounds, be driven only
within the state or a 150
air-mile radius of the farm.
The A m e r i c a n
Farm Bureau, the Oregon
Farm Bureau and the Ore­
gon Wheat Growers League
all endorse Senator Merk­
ley’s amendment.
Senator Merkley
is offering this legislation
as an amendment to the
transportation bill currently
under debate in the U.S.
Senate.
lone Elementary School announced its students of the month
for January. Students were honored for showing knowledge,
leadership and morals during the month of January. Top (L-
R): Tiffany Hollis, Bryce Rollins and Mal.inda Morter. Middle
(L-R): Larysa Burright, Grace Ogden and Hailey Heideman.
Bottom (L-R): Lewkus Burright, Renee Peterson and Haylie
Peterson. - Contributed photos
Friends of library
recognize volunteers
The Heppner Friends of the Library announced that David
and April Sykes were the 2011 Friends of the Heppner Library
Volunteers of the Year. The Sykes were recognized during the
Love Your Library night held at the Heppner Library last
Thursday evening. Pictured above with April is Bill Kuhn
holding a plaque of appreciation on which the Sykes’ names
were engraved. -Contributedphoto