Heppner Gazette-Times, Heppner, Oregon Wednesday, March 14,2012
- FIVE
Snowpack levels
Arbuckle Club goes Local wrestler wins
All American honors
vary across Oregon to Cloud Cap
Many areas still below normal
Though still below
average for this time o f
year, Oregon’s snowpack
improved slightly across
the state during February
according to the Natural
Resources Conservation
Service's (NRCS) Snow
Survey team. The latest
information on Oregon’s
snowpack and streamflow
forecasts can be found in
the Water Supply Outlook
Report released by the
USDA NRCS.
As o f M arch 1,
snowpack conditions ranged
from 54 percent in southern
Oregon to 92 percent of av
erage in the northern part of
the state; February 1 snow
pack levels ranged from 52
to 87 across the state. The
first three weeks o f Febru
ary were abnormally dry for
Oregon but a widespread
storm system brought sig
nificant snowfall to the Pa
cific Northwest during the
last week of the month. In
fact, leap day alone picked
up more than 10 percent
of the month’s precipita
tion at most of NRCS’s 70
automated snow telemetry
sites.
“While California
and Nevada have extreme
ly low snowpack levels
compared to normal, the
Washington snowpack has
fared very well and is near
to above normal,” said Me-
lissa Webb, NRCS Hy
drologist with the Oregon
Snow Survey team. “So,
Oregon is the transition
between them, and there
is considerable variability
in snowpack conditions.
In general, the snowpack
improves as you move from
south to north across the
state. Currently, snowpacks
are well below normal in
the southern region, while
Thirteen members of the Arbuckle Nordic Club spent last
weekend at the historic Cloud Cap Inn on the northeast side
of Mt. Hood. Cloud Cap was built in 1889. The Hood River
levels are closer to normal Crag Rats maintain Cloud Cap as a Search & Rescue and
mountain activities center under lease with the United States
near the Washington bor Forest Service. Back (L-R): David Fowler, Fred Fowler,
der.”
Ryan Lacey, Luke Fowler, P hil___ , Charles Fowler, Jeff
A cross O regon, Edmundson, Bryce Fowler and Nic Lacey. Front (L-R): Janel
streamflows are expected Lacey, Andrew Lacey, John Edmundson and Brandon Wurtz.
to be at or below normal for
this coming summer. Fore
casts in the southeastern
basins remain significantly
lower than the basins in the
northern and western parts
of the state.
“Generally speak
ing, 80 to 95 percent of
the maximum snowpack is
normally on the ground by
March 1 in Oregon’s moun
tains,” said Webb. “While
there is still time for the
snowpack to improve this
winter, it is looking more
likely that many Oregon
water users may experience
below-normal streamflow
conditions this summer.
In some basins, however,
healthy reservoir storage
levels might provide a buf
fer for the below average
snowmelt runoff.”
M easurements in
Oregon for the March re
port were collected from
70 automated snowpack
telemetry (SNOTEL) sites,
42 m an u ally -m easu red
snow courses and 26 aerial
markers.
The NRCS Snow
Survey is the federal pro
gram that measures snow
and provides streamflow
forecasts and snowpack
data for communities, water
managers and recreational-
ists across the West. Water
and snowpack information
for all SNOTEL sites na
tionwide are available on
the Snow Survey Web site
in a variety of formats. The
reports are updated every
15 minutes and are avail
able on the NRCS website
at www.or.nrcs.usda.gov/
snow/.
-Contributed photo
Boardman sets city
project priorities
At its M arch 6
m eeting, the Boardm an
City Council made side
walks their number-one pri
ority for the next two fiscal
years. They have allocated
$10,000 each year for the
next two fiscal years to fin
ish all the areas within the
city without sidewalks.
The city currently
has regulations that require
sidewalks to be installed
when a new project is built
in the city. Approximately
13,000 feet of sidewalk are
needed to finish the areas
that are undeveloped or on
properties that were devel
oped before city regulations
required sidewalks. The
city will be working with
property owners to com
plete these projects by the
end of 2014.
Other priorities in
clude the paving of Olson
Road, installing electric
along NE Front Street for a
future farmer’s market and
the paving of NE Columbia
Avenue.
In other city busi
ness, the council heard a
presentation from Morrow
County School Superinten
dant Dirk Dirksen regard
ing the school’s budget
reduction for the next two
or three years and the need
to renew the serial levy in
May. The city also heard an
update from Kim Travis of
the Oregon Solutions Team
on ideas the team has come
up with to promote the de
velopment o f Boardman.
One idea the team has is
to offer gap-financing for
developers o f new home
construction in Boardman.
Another idea is to encour
age business growth by
offering incentives.
The next m e et
ing of the Boardman City
Council will be Tuesday,
March 20, at Boardman
City Hall at 7 p.m.
No chamber lunch
meeting this week
Due to p rep ara
tions for the 30th annual St.
Patrick's Day Celebration,
there will be no Chamber of
Commerce meeting Thurs
day, March 15.
The next meeting
of the Heppner Chamber
of Commerce will be held
Thursday, March 22, at
noon at All Saints Episcopal
Phone Discounts Available to
CenturyLink Customers
The Oregon Public Utility Commission designated CenturyLink as an Eligible
Telecommunications Carrier within its service area for universal service
purposes. CenturyLink’s basic local service rates for residential voice lines are
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Church in Heppner.
Speakers will Dirk
Dirksen and Daye Stone,
who will give an update re
garding the Morrow County
School D istrict budget.
They will also share infor
mation about wind farm
technology education op
portunities.
P articip an ts are
asked to RS VP for chamber
lunch meetings the Wednes
day before.
B rian Lem m on,
wrestling for Southern Or
egon University, earned
All American honors, plac
ing fourth in the nation at
165 pounds at the NAIA
national wrestling cham
pionships in Des Moines,
Iowa March 1-3. The SOU
Raiders brought home the
second-place team trophy.
Lemmon is the son of Mark
and A laina Lemmon o f
Lexington and has been an
assistant coach at Heppner
High School.
Lemmon’s road to
the All American podium
has been an obstacle course
o f deterrents. He began
wrestling in college in the
Pac-10 at Portland State
University. His sophomore
year, he suffered a potential
career-ending knee injury.
He battled back to prepare
for his junior year, only
to be struck down by the
cancellation o f the PSU
wrestling program.
Not ready to give
up on the sport, Lemmon
entered college open tour
naments without a team,
coach or workout partner.
He paid his own entry fees
and travel costs. Competing
against other wrestlers from
junior college to Division I
programs, he won a cham
pionship and runner-up
medals at two of Oregon’s
largest college wrestling
tournaments.
That performance
caught the eye of the SOU
coaching staff, which of
fered him an opportunity to
return to wrestling with the
Raiders. Before he could
even complete his transfer,
he suffered another poten
tial career-ending injury,
this time to his neck. Ini
tially, he was told he needed
fusion surgery that would
almost certainly end his
days on the mat. He opted
to pursue a newer devel
opment in disc treatment,
artificial replacement.
After surgery, he
was not allowed to even
walk briskly for weeks and
couldn't jog for six months.
His once chiseled wrestler’s
physique became soft. His
weight ballooned to more
than forty pounds above his
competition weight.
During his rehabil
itation period, another cou
ple of life-altering events
occurred. He married an
other student and a year
later they had a son. While
undoubtedly w onderful,
such things often cause
the student athlete to reset
priorities and change goals.
However, with the love of
wrestling still burning and
the support o f an under
standing spouse, Lemmon
finished his and his wife’s
transfer to SOU and re
entered the practice room.
In S e p te m b e r ,
at nearly 220 pounds, he
worked out with the heavy
weights as he was the sec
ond heaviest person in the
room. He worked his way
down the weight line to
begin the season compet
ing at 174 in November.
By the end of December he
weighed in at 165 pounds.
In his season pre
view, SOU Coach Mike
Ritchie made the prediction
that “Lemmon was going to
surprise some people.”
He e n te re d the
season unranked and an
unknown commodity, not
having wrestled in actual
competition for nearly two
years. That all changed
as he defeated the NAIA
number-one and number-
nine ranked wrestlers in one
week, scoring critical team
points that helped SOU win
two intra-regional duals on
their way to their 42nd con
secutive winning season.
Lem m on’s w res
tling comeback culminated
at the NAIA national cham
pionships as he engraved
his name in the record book
as an All American. He
won his first two matches
easily by fall and major
decision, but dropped to the
consolation bracket after
the quarterfinals o f the 32-
man bracket. He faced the
elimination round o f the
tournament the same way
he faced the elimination
rounds of life; he went on
the offensive. He won the
next three matches by a
combined score of 32-2.
St. Patrick’s pageant
this Thursday
The Heppner performance of “From Cenacle to
Calvary.” a St. Patrick’s Day pageant by Father Gerry
Condon, will take place this Thursday, March 15, at
7:30 p.m. The dessert theater performance will be at St.
Patrick’s parish hall, 525 Gale St., in Heppner.
Free-will offerings will be accepted, with the
proceeds going to Helping Hearts, a program that helps
those in need pay their electric bills.
You are invited to the
E. George Kofiler
Farewell Retirement Reception
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Thursday, March 29, 2012
2:00 p.m. ~ 4:00 p.m.
Cake, coffee, and punch
(TCease join us in wishing
Cjeorge the very 6est!
Bank of