Image provided by: Morrow County Museum; Heppner, OR
About Heppner gazette-times. (Heppner, Or.) 1925-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 2, 2013)
2012: The year in review Illlllllllllllllll......I l'l'" ll Bessie W etzell N ew sp aper Library University of O regon Eu gene, O R 9 7 4 0 3 HEPPNER 5<K 2012 didn't herald the end of the world as many feared, but it was far from uneventful here in Morrow County. Above: A view from the Morrow County Courthouse in Heppner during the hailstorm that swept through South Morrow County on July 17, 2012. Vehicles around the area received broken w indows and dents during the storm; roof damage was also reported in some places, as well as some minor crop issues. All in all, though, the county emerged largely unscathed from a storm that hammered the area with hailstones that some witnesses saiil were as large as ping-pong balls. See page FOUR for more photos from 2012. VOL. 132 N 0 .1 6 Pages Wednesday, January 2, 2013 Morrow County, Heppner, Oregon Advocate for disabled seeks to help Heppner By Andrea Di Salvo An area disability ad vocate is trying to break ground in offering services and options to persons with disabilities in South Mor row County. Darrin Umbarger, CEO and founder of Clearview Mediation and Disability Resource in Pendleton, is working to gain support to expand his work to an office in Heppner, which would also serve Lexington, lone and outlying areas. “I want to be able to spend time over there help ing whoever needs it. Right now it’s a community not being served,” he said. Umbarger, 47, has first hand know ledge o f the struggles faced by those living with disabilities. He has lived with M ultiple Sclerosis more than half his life, since the age of 23. A Pendleton native, Umbarger met his future wife, Carol, in the ninth grade. The childhood sweet hearts were married in 1986 and their son. Jeremy, was bom in 1987. After working in the lumber mill in Pilot Rock, Umbarger started his own carpet and upholstery cleaning business. Things looked good for the new family. Then, one night in 1988, every thing changed. “I went to bed one night in perfect health and woke up the next morning and couldn't walk, talk, do any thing. It happened over- Darrin Umharger(left),founder and CEO ofClearview MDRC in Pendleton, with son Jeremy at a Heppner Chamber of Com merce meeting. The pair was at the meeting to speak about treatment of disabled persons. '-Photo by David Sykes night. Surprise!” Umbarger, who now spends about 99 percent of his time in a wheelchair, said that, at first,-his dis ability embarrassed him. He ran the Pendleton Smoke Shop and then UB Fishin’, a business that manufac tured and sold fishing tackle throughout North America. The whole time, he said he kept to himself, engaging the public as little as pos sible. After a while, though, he saw a need he thought he could help meet. That was when he started Clearview MDRC. “There are so many needs...the communities are rural, it’s not like the ADA (Americans with Dis abilities Act) is big in this area. There are so many places that are hard to get into. There are so many things they could do cheap ly to make places more accessible. We’re trying to break down barriers; it just helps everybody,” Umbarger said. He started Clearview, a 501(c)(3) non-profit, to address the needs he saw in his own life and for oth ers living with disabilities. Clearview offers a vari ety of services, including job development, working to make buildings more accessible, peer-to-peer counseling, etiquette and sensitivity training, and a medical loan closet, from which they loan supplies such as wheelchairs and canes at no cost to those who need them. “With the medical loan closet we have a lot o f different types of medical equipment that we loan out, because some people only need it for a short time,” he said, giving the example that som etim es electric wheelchairs break down or run out of power during a prolonged electrical outage, making a push wheelchair necessary for a short time. He said he would now like to expand the work he does in Pendleton to include Heppner and the rest o f South Morrow. “People over there need reco g n itio n ,” said U m barger. Umbarger said the ma jority of the work they do in Pendleton deals with help ing people with disabilities Manager of the Heppner mini-mart Dawn Brosnan presents find employment, mostly One gigantic stocking Derek Howard, 12, with the big Christmas stocking he won from Devin Oil. Derek is the son of DeRina and Matt Howard of Heppner. -Photo by April Sykes -See DISABILITYADVO- CATE/PAGE SIX Planning warm-water therapy at water park This article was provid ed by the Community Health Improvement Partnership o f Morrow County. If you want to increase your winter activity level but find yourself with lim ited options due to age, injury or disease, you may be interested in the Com munity Health Improve ment Partnership (CHIP) of Morrow County’s latest endeavor. “To encourage individ uals to increase daily physi cal activity, our communi ties need safe routes to walk and bike, as well as parks, playgrounds and commu nity centers where people can find activities that are exciting and challenging enough to keep them en gaged,” says a spokesper son for the group. To th is end, a new workgroup is currently be ing formed in Heppner in partnership with the Willow Creek Park District to rees tablish operation of Willow Creek Water Park warm water therapy pool. The project is part of CHIP’S efforts to promote healthy lifestyles and dis- ease/illness prevention, physical activity and the development of fitness in frastructure. CHIP work groups continue to meet throughout the county to identify obstacles and im plement solutions, such as providing warm-water therapy. Aquatic physical ther apy uses buoyancy and resistance of water to cre ate a unique exercise en vironm ent. Warm w ater pools make exercise easier and less painful for people recovering from injuries or suffering from chronic conditions. Aquatic physi cal therapy also uses hydro static pressure to decrease swelling and improve joint position. The warmth of the water relaxes muscles and improves blood flow to injured areas. People with muscle spasms, back pain, arthritis, multiple sclerosis and fibromyalgia typically find aquatic therapy espe cially beneficial. Repair o f the hydro therapy pool is already underway but the work ing group is tasked with identifying means to cover the operational expenses for heat, maintenance and personnel. “As someone with MS, I experience stiffness in my legs, and the therapy pool gives me the ability to move more freely and actually strengthen my m uscles,” says workgroup representative Merilee Mc Dowell. “I want this for many others, which is the reason I'm asking for your help.” Anyone who w ould be interested in using, or who supports an individual who would be interested in using, the pool year-round is asked to volunteer and help make this worthwhile project happen. Contact McDowell at 541-571-5853 for details. Fair and rodeo queen celebrates Christmas Krvsten Powell (left), 2013 Morrow County Fair and Oregon Trail Pro Rodeo Queen, visits with Santa Claus and Ivy Sand- ford during the festivities at the Celebrate HcppncrChristmas dinner on Dec. 20. -Contributedphoto Chamber annual luncheon this week This week's meeting of the Heppner Chamber of Commerce will be the chamber's annual luncheon, held on Thursday. Jan. 3, at noon in the St. Patrick's Senior Center dining room, C ham ber m em bers will vote on proposed by-law revisions at the meeting. Cost of lunch is $10; Stable of Youth will cater. Lunch attendees are asked to RSVP no later than noon the Wednesday before. Stop by for all your farm & auto cold weather needs Wiper blades - Diesel Additives M o r r o w C o u n t y G r a in G r o w e r s
