Image provided by: Morrow County Museum; Heppner, OR
About Heppner gazette-times. (Heppner, Or.) 1925-current | View Entire Issue (March 28, 2012)
Walk MS back in Heppner for 13th year Se«!ë Walk to include free brunch for all participants " ^ d ^ r ,ubra ry Bv A pril Sykes The Walk MS East ern Oregon is back in Hep pner again this year. The 5K Eastern Oregon walk. 5(K HEPPNER saette imes in its 14th year, was held in Pendleton last year. It will be held this year on Saturday, A pril 21, with reg istratio n and sign-up beginning at 9 a.m. at All Saints Episcopal Church, 460 N. Gale St., Heppner, and the walk beginning at 10 a.m. starting at the Hep pner City Park. The walk is wheelchair accessible. This year the walk will feature a free brunch for all p articipants w ith a variety o f hot breakfast casseroles, French toast casseroles, pastries, m uf fins, fresh fruit, juice, milk, coffee and tea. W alk MS C h a ir M erilee M cD ow ell says they are offering a brunch this year rather than the traditional ham and pan cake breakfast so walkers will have time to stay and enjoy their m eal. In the past, she says, some busy walkers may not have had time to stay for the pancake breakfast. “This w ill be quicker for people,” said M cDowell. “ People who have things to do can just get in and out.” Anyone who would like to donate items for the brunch, preferably hom e m ade, is invited to call April Sykes, 541-980-4643. A sign-up list with items needed has also been placed in the office at All Saints Episcopal. Pre-registration is appreciated for the walk, but registration is also avail able that day at the church. Those wishing to pre-reg ister may due so online at w w w .w alkm soregon.com or by calling 503-445-8342. There is no registration fee for the walk, but partici pants are encouraged— but absolutely by no m eans required, stresses McDow ell— to raise a minimum of $100 per person. Anyone who brings $100 the day o f the walk will be eligible for a T-shirt that day, while supplies last. Anyone with ques tions or who w ould like a poster or brochure may contact M cD ow ell. 541- 676-5853. E v e ry o n e w ho signs up for the walk will get a free raffle ticket for items to be raffled at the brunch. People don’t have to be present to win raffle items, but winners will be responsible for picking up their items. M c D o w e ll an d Barb Orwick, both of Hepp ner, have special reasons for their support o f the walk. They both have Multiple Sclerosis. Orwick, who was diagnosed at 42 years old, has had MS for 14-1/2 years. She was one o f 10 -See MS WALK IN HEPPNER/PA GE EIGHT lone School Board explores costs of keeping pool open Koffler to step down after long BEO career VOL. 131 N O . 13 8 Pages Wednesday, March 28, 2012 Morrow County, Heppner, Oregon His tenure sees growth and expansion By David Sykes A fter 34 years in the banking business, most of it spent guiding the Bank o f Eastern Oregon through impressive growth and ex pansion, G eorge K offler is calling it quits. Koffler is officially retiring from the bank at the end o f this month. Koffler started his ban k in g c a re e r in 1978 when he left a teaching job at Heppner High School to hire on as a branch manager for Fred Meyer Savings and Loan in Portland. However, itching to get back to East ern Oregon, he was hired one year later as a loan of ficer at BEO in Heppner. He has been here ever since. K o ffle r ro se through the ranks at the bank and became President and Chief Operating Officer in 1994, a position he held until 2009. For the past several years he has been Executive Vice President and Chief Credit Officer. During his tenure, the bank has expanded in size from three branches to the current 12 branches and two loan production offices, all in small com m unities across n o rth e a ste rn O r egon. Deposits have grown impressively, ten-fold, and during all of this expansion, “We have never had any red ink,” Koffler says proudly about the bank never having a losing year. K offler was born in Montana but grew up in Echo, arriving at the age of six months when his dad took a job with the railroad at Hinkle. After graduation from Echo High School, he attended Blue Mountain Community College, where he m et his future w ife, Debbie. The two have been to g eth e r ever since and raised two boys, Brian, 33, o f Portland and Rick, 36, of Nevada. After Blue M oun tain, Koffler went on to re ceive his education degree from Western Oregon Uni versity. After graduation, he took a job teaching math at Heppner High School, a po sition he held for four years before taking the Portland job. He also coached foot ball, baseball and basket ball at Heppner but, “ I just couldn’t see m yself doing that for the next 25 years,” Koffler said of his decision to leave a secure teaching job and move on to a new career in Portland. He says he has never regretted the decision. “ The m ost sa tis fying part o f this job has been to provide financing opportunities for businesses and create jo b s in these G eorge K offler on his first day on the job at the Bank of Eastern Oregon in 1979, at the age of 26. small communities,” Kof fler says. He points out that the expansion model the bank chose was to stay in small agricultural commu nities with populations of less than 3,500, and it has worked very well. The bank opened b ra n c h e s in C ondon in 1995, Irrigon in 1998 and Boardman in 2000; how ever, in 2003 the bank took a giant leap forward with the purchase o f b ran ch es from Klamath First in Burns, John Day, Prairie City, Fossil, Moro, Condon and Heppner. -See KOFFLER RETIRES/ PAGE FIVE By A pril Sykes lo n e sw im m in g pool expenses and whether the lone School District can continue to support the pool were topics at the ISD work session, which preceded the regular meeting on March 20 . T he b o a rd d i s cussed costs for replace ment o f valves and filters and the pool’s solar panel project, which is now esti mated in the neighborhood o f $24,000. lone School Superintendent Mark Mul- vihill said that it costs up ward o f $20,000 a year just to operate the pool. This figure does not include big- ticket repair or replacement items. Mulvihill said the Willow Creek Park District in some years has contribut ed up to $ 10.000 to the pool fund, but added that the district is not always able to realize that money from the parks district. The 2011-12 pool budget was $30,000, o f which $24,696 had been spent as o f Feb. 29. “ I t ’s a rare day when we have 20 (kids at the pool),” said lone School Principal Jerry Archer. B o a rd m e m b e r Bink Ram os inquired as to the whether the number o f c lo su re s due to pool m alfunctions and subse quent repairs has affected the attendance, but Archer replied that last summer the pool was down for only a very few days. “ Do you w ant a half-time teacher or do you want a pool?” Archer asked the board. C o ncerning p o s sible funding sources, board m em ber L isa R ietm ann commented that there have been times when the public has supported the pool and noted that virtually all the kids in lone have learned to swim there. T h e b o a rd d i s cussed making a specific grant request for funding overages from the previous bond measure from the lone Community Agri-Business Organization and the lone Education Foundation. The board also dis cussed a decline in enroll ment, with a projected fall enrollment of around 154- 160 children, down from around 186-188 for the current year, mostly due to a large graduating class of 25 this year and a smaller projected kindergarten en rollment in the fall. Mulvi hill said that the district will need to “start looking at our priorities.” A lso at the work session, the board heard an update on the bond project, the Rietmann building sta tus and 2012-13 administra tive budget priorities. At the regular board meeting that followed the work session, the board: -received a report from athletic director Ryan -See ¡ONE SCHOOL BOARD/PAGE THREE Morrow County teacher to retire after 27 years with district By A ndrea Di Salvo ally enjoyed working with college, she also did student L o n g -tim e M o r all the different personali teaching in adult education row County School District ties over the years, and I en in Livonia, ML teacher Cara Osm in will joyed working in the north A fter grad u atin g retire at the end o f this end as well as in the south. from college, in the fall school year. It’s a completely different o f 1970, Osmin moved to O s m in , 6 4 , has atmosphere; it’s good to be Fairbanks, AK. In Alaska, been with the school district well-rounded.” she worked for the Osmin was 27 years, first as a third- University o f Fair grade teacher at Heppner bom and raised in banks, as well as E lem entary for 22 years Hillsdale, ML She doing a second stu and then as a Title I teacher g r a d u a te d fro m dent teaching and at Windy River Elementary P a r k s i d e H i g h getting certified in School in Irrigon for the last School in Jackson, C ara Osmin elementary educa five years. MI in 1965 before tion. She lived in “One o f the most going on to attend West Fairbanks until 1975, when rewarding things is seeing a ern M ichigan University. she m oved to C orvallis, A local woman and at least three subjects inside Oregon State Police and the light go on when a kid who She graduated from there OR. -See TEACHER RETIRES/ tw o m en w ere a rre s te d the vehicle. MCSO responded has been struggling finally in 1969 with a B.S. in art education. While attending PAGE EIGHT ‘gets it,” ’ she said. “I’ve re The MCSO Saturday afternoon after a to the area and be police pursuit along High d e p u t y t u r n e d gan a search for the around to overtake way 74. o th er o c c u p an ts. the vehicle On M arch Nearly two hours 24 about 2:45 p.m., and found later, around 4:40 Deputy Ryan Jundt it p a rk e d p.m., Noah Daley o f th e M o rro w on the side W eatherford, 36, N o ah D aley Easter is April 8. The Heppner Gazette-Times invites area pastors to submit o f the road W eatherford and Frank Andrew C ounty S h e riff’s Easter messages to be published in the April 4 edition. The deadline is Friday, March Office was m oni near m ile Mackey, 36, were 30, at 5 p.m. toring the pursuit, p o st 7. A located hiding in a Messages can be dropped off at the Gazette office, emailed to editor@rapid- which had initiated FrankAndrew female, Keri Anne draw about 500 yards from serve.net, or faxed to 541 -676-9211. Mackey Martin, was in the the vehicle. M ackey was in the P en d leto n sto p p ed v e h ic le. arrested on a H erm iston area and proceeded south through Pilot Rock The other two occupants M uniciple Court w arrant and then out Highway 74 had a p p a re n tly fled on for failure to appear. Weath foot, according to Morrow erford was arrested on a toward Heppner. County Undersheriff Steve Wasco County warrant. Jundt was south bound on Big Butter Creek Myren. All three suspects M a rtin , 33, w as were booked into Umatilla Road, moving to intercept, when he passed the suspect taken into custody on an County Jail on the original Qualifying professional tool sets, through the vehicle about 2:52 p.m. The outstanding Hermiston Mu- warrants as well as charges month of April, while supplies last vehicle was moving north niciple Court warrant for related to the chase. The near milepost 10 at a high contempt o f court. investigation is ongoing. Morrow County Grain Growers Lexington 989-6221 • 1 -800-462-7398 hr r&m nepw i vm nr vw rtu u m h b . m Multiple units from rate o f speed. He observed Three arrested after police chase Area pastors invited to submit Easter messages NAPA PROFESSIONAL HAND TOOL SETS 50V V I
