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