2013 fair and rodeo queen
named
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Eugene, OR 97403
VOL. 131
N 0.46 8 Pages
Wednesday, November 14, 2012
Krysten Powell, 19, of
Pendleton, has been named
the 2013 Morrow County
Fair and Oregon Trail Pro
Rodeo Queen. Queen try
outs were held Nov. 4, with
three young ladies vying for
Morrow County, Heppner, Oregon
the coveted title.
Though from Pend
leton, the 2013 queen has
family and history here
in Morrow County, trac
ing back to the fair and
rodeo court. Powell is the
daughter of Mike Powell
o f Pendleton and Annette
Wilgers Powell, 1982 Mor
row County princess. She
is the granddaughter o f Vi
Wilgers and John Wilgers,
long-time Morrow County
residents. She served on
the last mounted Umatilla
County Fair Court in 2010
as a princess and has shown
her paint horses for many
years with her mother.
When asked why she
wanted to become Morrow
County Fair and OTPR
Q ueen, she responded,
“While growing up, my fa
vorite stories were those my
mom told me from when
she served as a princess. I
begged her to tell them over
and over. It sounded like so
much fun! Not only did it
2012 Morrow County and OTPR Queen Maggie Collins (L)
with newly-chosen 2013 queen Krysten Powell. -Contributed
photo
involve my favorite thing
in the world—horses— but
also my favorite place.”
2013 is going to be a
landmark year for Morrow
County, being the 100lh
year for the fair and the 91 ”
year for the rodeo and the
royalty. The first court was
crowned in 1922 with Mar
jorie Clark riding as queen
with princesses Bea Gentry
and Jane Allstott. For three
years during World War
II, and from 2009 through
2011, the fair and rodeo
royalty was absent. In 2011
and 2012, the fair ambassa
dors were created to help fill
the need for public relations
for the fair and rodeo with
out having to ride horses.
-See 2013 RODEO QUEEN/
PAGE EIGHT
New kiosk planned for
cemetery
Fire department ‘smokes’ Cemetery improvement will help visitors
find gravesites more easily
old apartments
By Andrea Di Salvo
Visitors to Heppner’s
M asonic Cem etery will
soon see a new fixture de
signed to make life easier
for visitors.
A kiosk designed to
help fam ily m em bers,
friends and genealogy buffs
visit and research gravesites
within the historic cemetery
has been constructed at
the edge of the cemetery’s
small parking lot, near the
workshop.
H ep p n er C em etery
Maintenance District Direc
tor Tom Wolff says he and
fellow directors Kit George
and A1 Riney started work
on the kiosk because they
saw a need.
“Every year, especially
The Heppner Fire Department put the torch to the old, dilapidated apartments on Chase Street
around
Memorial Day, there
Sunday. Fire Chief Rusty Estes said the burn went “real well.” -Photo by David Sykes
are phone calls and ques
tions about grave locations,
and this is going to aid in a
lot of ways,” says Wolff.
Riney, whom W olff
Local firefighters end
record season
Wildlandfirefighters log 275 days fighting
fires throughout the West
By Andrea Di Salvo
Most people who hear
the name of Bruce Young
Logging think of, well,
logging. For this company,
though, the call of duty in
the forest can involve some
real firefighting.
Yes, em p lo y ees o f
Bruce Young Logging ap
ply their skills to wildland
firefighting in logging’s
off season. The company,
owned by local man Bruce
Young, is headquartered on
land Young inherited from
his parents in the Blakes
Ranch area near Heppner.
Young, 53, says his
crew recently finished one
o f the most severe fire
seasons they have seen in
several years. The season
started earlier than normal,
with the team heading out
to a fire in Utah on July 2.
The last man to return home
from a fire was Young him
self, on Oct. 2. That’s three
months of fires, far more
than the “typical” fire sea
son of 30-60 days. Young
says local fire season often
begins in late July and goes
into September, a length of
four to six weeks.
“(This was) our best
year ever in terms of most
days out,” he says.
Bruce Young Logging’s
fire crew had its two engines
out 105 days total, with a
whopping 275 days out for
Plans discussed to deal with influx o f wind
farm workers
By David Sykes
If construction on the
number of proposed wind
farms and transm ission
projects planned for Mor
row County actually moves
forw ard, residents here
could expect an influx of
tem porary construction
workers, and then perma
nent workers looking for
housing, a forum sponsored
by the Willow Creek Valley
Economic Development
Group (WCVEDG) d is
cussed last week.
A large group of com
munity leaders including
mayors, city managers and
elected county officials,
along with a number o f
state officials, discussed
how the county could han
dle the influx o f people
and do it to our economic
benefit. Planning Director
Carla McLane, along with
WCVEDG director Sher-
yll Bates, put together the
conference, with President
Michael Blauer giving the
introduction and closing
remarks.
Held at the Port of Mor
row, the morning session
was attended by about 30
calls the “driving force”
behind the project, says
the kiosk was a long time
coming.
“ This is som ething
we’ve been thinking about
for a number of years, and
w e’re finally getting it
to completion,” he says.
“ We’re trying to update
our cemetery so it’s more
acceptable to the public and
they can locate friends and
relatives without having to
call us.”
He added that the book
-See CEMETERY KIOSK/
PAGE TWO
Morrow County follows
rest of Eastern Oregon
voting Romney
By David Sykes
In last week’s general
election, Morrow County
voted much like the rest of
Eastern Oregon, 65 percent
Romney and 30 percent
Obama. However, 10 large
ly-populated counties out
-See WILDLAND FIRE- o f the 36 Oregon counties
FIGHTERS/PAGE EIGHT ultimately gave the state to
Obama.
Romney likewise did
not lose any of the five pre
cincts in the county, with
lone giving him the highest
percentage, 78 percent to
Obama’s 21 percent. Hep
pner came in at 68 percent
for Romney and 28 percent
WCVEDG holds county
housing forum
Heppner Cemetery Maintenance District Director A1 Riney
shows where the new cemetery kiosk will hold a map of the
cemetery, placed under glass, so visitors can easily find graves
ites. -Photo by Andrea Di Salvo
for Obama. Boardman had
Obama’s highest percent
age of votes at 38 percent.
On the local level,
every precinct supported
incumbent county com
missioner Leann Rea, who
won county-wide with 57
percent to challenger Cody
High’s 42 percent o f the
vote. Irrigon gave High his
biggest percentage of votes
at 47 percent. lone racked
up the highest percentage
for Rea at 70 percent.
On the state-wide is
sues, every precinct in the
county voted down the
marijuana legalization law
with a total of 68 percent
no to 32 percent yes. Irrigon
turned in the highest yes
vote at 38 percent yes to 62
no. Lexington had the high
est no vote to legalize at 77
percent. Heppner voted 68
percent no and 32 yes. The
measure failed state-wide.
One statew ide m ea
sure where Morrow County
voted against the rest of the
state was on Measure 84,
which would have phased
out existing inheritance
taxes on large estates and
-See MORROW COUNTY
VOTES ROMNEY/PAGE
FIVE
G-T closed for Thanksgiving
people. It started with an
outline from McLane of
the various projects slated
The Heppner Gazette-Times will be closed in observance of the Thanksgiving
to come to Morrow County,
Day holiday Thursday, Nov. 22, and Friday, Nov. 23. Normal business hours will resume
including wind farms, gas-
Monday, Nov. 26. We wish everyone a safe and happy Thanksgiving weekend.
powered generating plants
and transmission line facili
ties. Although a total num
ber of workers is not known
at this time, McLane did
lay out a timeline showing
the biggest influx should
hit in the second quarter
o f 2014.
Associate county plan
ner Layne Wolfmueller gave
itnre's Nuts
emium Wild Bird Food
lb bag $ 9 .9 9
-See HOUSING FORUM/
PAGE SIX
t Grain Growers Green Feed A Seed
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