Greg Walden named grand
marshal for St. Patrick’s parade
...... ihrar.
Bessie Wetzell Newspaper Librarv
University ot Oregon
Eugene. OR 97403
The Grand Marshal
for this year’s Great Green
Parade St. Patrick’s Day
Celebration is U.S. Rep.
Greg Walden (R-Ore.).
“Greg Walden was
selected as a grand marshal
5(K
HEPPNER
azette
imes
VOL. 131
N 0. 10 8 Pages
Wednesday, March 7, 2012
Morrow County, Heppner, Oregon
Plans underway for lone
School fitness center
Bv April Sykes
The lone F acili
ties Task Force Committee
met Feb. 28 following the
regular school board meet
ing to formulate a plan for
establishing a weight room/
fitness facility for use by the
school and perhaps eventu
ally by the community.
Following reports
on various options from
committee members, the
group agreed, by a tally of
votes, that using an existing
classroom would be the best
short-term solution, decid
ing that using the Grange
Hall in the interim was not
an option. Their first choice
for a long-term solution
was determ ined to be a
stick-built facility on-site
and the second choice was
a modular facility.
The school is cur
rently renting the old “Ri-
etm ann B uilding” from
current owner George Mur
dock for a weight room and
fitness center; however,
the building has been de
termined to be uninsurable
and therefore unfit for use
unless upgrades are made.
Committee mem
bers are now exploring
funding, including possible
grants, building issues and a
long-term time line.
Candidates set for county
elections
The filing period
for county positions closed
yesterday, sealing the list of
candidates for open Morrow
County positions. The 2012
primary elections in Mor
row County will be held
May 15. General elections
will be held November 6.
As a rem in d er,
county positions open for
the 2012 election and cur
rent position holders are:
M orrow County A sses
sor, G reg Sweek; M or
row County Clerk, Bobbi
Childers; Morrow County
Com m issioner 1, Leann
Rea; Morrow County Sher
iff, Kenneth Matlack; Mor
row County Surveyor, Jud-
son Coppock and Morrow
County Treasurer, Gayle
G utierrez. All positions
carry four-year terms. The
county commissioner posi
tion is partisan; all other
open positions are nonpar
tisan.
County clerk, trea
surer and sheriff are elected
at a general election. Asses
sor, surveyor and Justice of
the Peace can be elected at
the May election depending
on the number of candidates
filed.
C andidates filed
for the open positions are:
Bobbi A. Childers,
county clerk
Greg Sweek, coun
ty assessor
Gayle L. Gutierrez,
county treasurer
Kenneth W. Mat-
lack, county sheriff
Leann Rea, county
for this year's festivities be
cause he has been coming to
Heppner and participating
in our Irish traditions,” said
a St. Patrick’s Committee
spokesperson. “We chose
him because he has become
an ‘adopted Irishman,’ and
we appreciate the dedica
tion he gives every year to
break away from his busy
schedule and be a part of
the St. Patrick’s weekend... Though not front Morrow County, Rep. Greg Walden (far
and because he looks good left) has long been a fixture at Heppner’s St. Patrick's Cel
ebration, attending whenever his duties—and the weather—
in green!”
W ald en r e p r e allow. -Contributedphoto
sents the sprawling Second curveball thrown by Mother Heppner festivities.”
Congressional District of Nature can deter Walden
“ Not to b e .” he
Oregon, an area
from participating wrote. “The plane didn't
o f nearly 70,000
in the festivities; last get in from Los Angeles the
s q u a r e m i le s
year a snow storm night before so the flight out
that spans from
got in the way.
of Medford that morning
his hometown of
“ S u r e was canceled. That meant
Hood River, south
enough, M urphy’s no early flight and no way
to Bend, Medford,
Law is alive and to get to Heppner in time
and Grants Pass,
well!” Rep. Walden for the K IM A Coffee Hour
and clear out to the Greg Walden wrote last year in his program, the community
Idaho border.
regular e-newsletter lunch, the parade, or any
Despite represent after the travel disruption. thing else for that matter
ing one of the largest dis “Every year, I make a regu in Morrow County. Big
tricts in the entire country, lar visit to Heppner to join bummer. I hope the folks in
which involves extensive the community for their Heppner understand; hope
travel and time on the road fun St. Patrick's Day cel fully I'll have better travel
(and visits to each o f the ebration. The plan was no luck next year.”
20 counties at least twice different this year. After a
As a descendant
every year), Walden says he full day o f public events of Oregon Trail pioneers,
makes it a point to put the in Medford...I intended to Walden was raised on a
Heppner St. Patrick’s Day catch the 5 a.m. flight out cherry orchard in The Dall
Celebration on his calendar o f Medford for Portland es and spent most of his
every year.
and make the 3.5 hour drive -See GRAND MARSHAL/
PAGE FIVE
Only the occasional to Heppner in time for the
Citizens make Salem trip to become
more involved in state government
Group makes 2-day bus excursion emphasizing rural issues
By David Sykes
A recent bus trip
by local citizens to Salem
during the legislative ses
sion was set up to discuss
important rural issues with
politicians, and also become
more involved in state-wide
issues. The trip was spon
sored by the Willow Creek
Tea Party Patriots.
About eight people
left Heppner at 7 a.m. on
Feb. 21. The bus stopped in
Madison Farms and picked
up K ent M adison and
also stopped at the Space
Age near Hermiston and
picked up several others
from Pendleton, Irrigon and
Hermiston. Later, Andrew
O ’C onnell o f 2M orrow
Energy boarded the bus in
Hood River and rode with
the group to Portland, which
gave them time to discuss
wind economics and other
issues. O ’Connell’s com-
commissioner, position 1
(Democrat)
Kandy Boyd, coun
ty commissioner, position 1
(Democrat)
Judson L. C o p
pock, county surveyor
Stephen K. Had
dock, county surveyor
Voters are also re
minded that they will re
ceive partisan (Democrat or
Republican) primary ballots
only for their registered
party. Unaffiliated and other
party voters will receive
only nonpartisan primary
ballots unless otherwise
designated by the party in
question. All general elec
By April Sykes
tion candidates will appear
M orrow County
on N ovem ber’s general
School Superintendent Dirk
election ballots.
Dirksen, at a special meet
ing at the district office in
Lexington Monday night,
broached the idea of mov
ing the district office in as
a cost-saving measure in
preparation for state cuts in
school funding.
Dirksen said he es
timated the district could
save in the neighborhood of
$10,000 year if the district
office was moved to Hep
pany is developing wind
farms in the South Morrow
County area.
In c r e a s in g the
amount of water that Or
egon farmers receive from
the Columbia River was
one of the objectives of the
group, which was told by
local farmer Kent Madison
that currently Oregon only
receives one third of one
percent o f the Columbia
River water, while Idaho
receives seven percent and
Washington four percent.
To illu strate the point,
Madison gave the group a
sandwich bag containing
300 Cheerios.
“This bag of Chee
rios represents the average
-See CAPITOL TRIP/PAGE
FIVE
School district supt. proposes
moving office; plans staff cuts
Area farmers attend growers
marketing workshop
lone farmers Loren
and Della Heideman and
H erm iston farm er Luke
Hansell were the only ‘east
siders' present at the recent
Growers Marketing Work
shop held at the Wheat
Marketing Center (WMC)
in Portland, OR.
The WMC is dedi
cated to improving the com
petitive edge of U.S. wheat
through education and re
search. The February 2012
workshop was sponsored
by the WMC in collabora
tion with the Oregon Wheat
Commission and held in
the Albers Mill Building in
downtown Portland.
In addition to learn
ing more about marketing
wheat internationally, the
workshop offered a tour
o f their in-house wheat
research laboratory, wheat
testing demonstrations on
Citizens from Heppner and several other counties took a
bus trip to Salem, and one part of the trip was a tour of the
Capitol building. Here a tour guide shows them the State Seal.
-Contributed photo
pner Elementary School.
“The district office
is always a target,” said
board member Bill Kuhn.
“We don't have anyone we
don’t need (at the district
office).”
B arney Lindsay
com m ented that MCSD
has always tried to maintain
a presence in each commu
nity in the county, which
would not be so if the of
fices were relocated.
“If the roof collaps
es, it would be a good time
to move, but I don’t recom
mend it.” said Lindsay.
Dirksen also ex
pressed concern that the
district’s computer network
servers, which are located
in the district office, are
at risk, especially since a
water pipe runs directly
over the servers. He said it
would be very expensive
to replace the servers if a
water pipe burst and they
were destroyed.
-See SCHOOL DISTRICT/
PAGE FOUR
Daylight Savings
begins Sunday
Daylight Savings Time will begin Sunday, March 11.
Remember to spring forward and turn your clocks for
ward one hour.
Loren and Della Heideman check out a new batch of Asian
noodles being tested at the Wheat Marketing Center in Port
land. -Contributed photos
: h
Hurry! FINAL DAYS
i
such things as wneat qual
ity. gluten strength and
falling numbers testing, and
hands-on activities with lab
staff and visiting scientists
and scholars.
The participants
snacked and tasted their
way through a variety of
activities researching reci
pes for products that use
soft white wheat (SWW)
including flat breads, crack
ers. snack wraps, noodles
-See MARKETING WORK-
SHOP/PAGE THREE
*
1
2012 N apa G old
F ilter S ale
March 4th 11th, 2012
-
M o r r o w C o u n ty G ra in G r o w e rs
Laxington 989-4221 • 1-800-462-73Î6
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