Image provided by: Morrow County Museum; Heppner, OR
About Heppner gazette-times. (Heppner, Or.) 1925-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 9, 2013)
County officials sworn into office I liln lm liliilll......H iln JI Bessie Wetzell Newspaper Library University of Oregon Eugene, OR 97403 y Wr ß ü '• "• i f l HEPPNER ' u' U % 1 ■ ^ TV ' 1. 4. Æ County officials elected in the November election were sworn into office on Monday, Jan 7. Left to right are: Stephen Haddock, County Surveyor; Cayle Gutierrez, County Treasurer; Bobbi Childers, County Clerk; Leann Rea, County Commissioner; and Greg Sweek, Assessor. Not pictured is Kan Matlack, Sheriff. -Photo by David Sykes From lawyer to author to movie mogul Heppner native Scott McEwen consultant on American Sniper movie VOL, 132 N 0, 2 6 Pages Wednesday, January 9, 2013 Morrow County, Heppner, Oregon lone resident killed in highway crash lone resident Judith F. “Pachy” Bums, was killed Sunday morning, Jan. 6, in a two-vehicle fatal traffic crash along Highway 207 about three miles south of 1-84. Burns, 63, from Bit Timber, MT, was north bound on Highway 207 near milepost 16 at 10:52 a.m., driving a 2012 Toyota Tacoma. She began to pass a northbound 1998 Interna tional flatbed truck that was attempting to make a left turn. Burns returned into the northbound lane and the Toyota crashed into the back o f the flatbed truck, which was traveling slowly, beginning the left turn. Bums, who temporar ily was living in lone, was pronounced deceased at the scene. A passenger in her pickup, Evan Jesus Dela cruz-Meza, 45, from lone, was not injured. Both were using safety restraints; the pickup’s airbags deployed. A two-vehicle crash on Highway 207 Sunday killed lone woman Pachy Burns; passenger Evan Delacruz-Meza was uninjured. -Photo courtesy o f Oregon State Police The two occupants of the International flatbed truck were not injured. Oregon State Police (OSP) identified them as driver Scott J. Madison, 55, and passenger Kattje L. Petty john, 45, both from Echo, OR. Both were wearing seatbelts. OSP troopers from the Pendleton Area Command office are continuing the in vestigation. Trooper Aaron Dietz is the lead investiga tor. OSP was assisted at the scene by Stanfield Police Department, Echo Rural Fire Protection District, Hermiston Fire & Emer gency Services and Oregon Department of Transporta tion. -See obituary on PAGE SIX Heppner schools closed last week for heating issues Morrow County schools had a chilly start to 2013 when three schools experi enced boiler-related prob lems that caused school closures last week. Students at Heppner High School w ere sent home early on Jan. 2 when a motor on the exterior of one o f the school’s two boilers broke down, causing the boiler not to fire. The school district immediately brought someone in to fix the problem but, according to Morrow County School D istrict Superintendant Dirk Dirksen, a part had to be ordered before the motor could be fixed. That led to plans to cancel HHS classes on Thursday. As the repairman was about to leave HHS on Wednesday, word came that Heppner Elementary School was having heating issues of its own. Another, different type, o f motor had malfunctioned on the elementary school’s boiler. Though the school district had planned on having classes at HES through the week, both Heppner schools ended up closed both Thursday and Friday, creating a slow start to 2013. The motor at Heppner elementary has been fixed and is up and running, says Dirksen. As o f Tuesday afternoon, one boiler at HHS still had not been fixed because maintenance workers were stilling wait ing on parts. However, classes were held at the high school, as the one working boiler’s heat was diverted from the cafeteria and gym areas to the classrooms. Dirksen says he hopes that, once the motors are fixed, the problem will be solved. “That’s what they told us. H eppner should be fine,” he says, adding that the heating problems came on top of a Jan. 2 closure at Windy River Elementary in Boardman. “ We have a bigger problem at Windy River. The boiler (there) has to be replaced,” he says, say ing they have temporary measures in place to fix the problem until the district can get in and replace the faulty boiler. “We plan on doing that when we won’t lose any class time.” Dirksen said it wasn’t a great way to start 2013, and he’s hoping for better luck for Morrow County schools through the remainder of the school year. By Andrea Di Salvo While the term “movie mogul” may not exactly fit Heppner son Scott McE wen, his involvement with the “American Sniper” has certainly launched him into arenas he never imagined when growing up in a small town. Those who read the article in the Feb. 22, 2012 issue of the Gazette-Times will remember that McE wen, along with fellow co-author Jim DeFelice, worked with Navy SEAL Chris Kyle on the creation of his bestselling autobiog raphy, “American Sniper: The Autobiography of the Most Lethal Sniper in U.S. Military History.” The hardcover book is in its 18th edition, with ap proximately 500,000 copies now in print. It was on the New York Times Bestseller list for roughly nine months and was number one on the list for seven weeks. It is now being published in six different languages. The paperback is due to be re leased next month, and will be sold by all major distrib utors, including Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Costco, Target and Wal-Mart. McEwen, a 51 -year-old trial attorney based in San Diego, CA, says he never wanted to be a writer. How ever, after hearing Kyle’s stories of the front lines, he felt compelled to get the SEAL'S story heard. That launched him into an unexpected, wild ride of writing, mar keting, book deals and agents. McEwen says the book's success has been “ truly am azing” from his per spective. “I am very proud of all the support we have been able to give to the men and women o f our m ilitary, including our wounded warriors,” he says. “The ‘m essage’ o f patriotism and love of this country we wanted to impart from this work has been received and understood by many. This is really why we set out to chronicle Chris’ story, and 1 believe it has been suc cessful.” Now, Kyle and McE wen have embarked on a new stage in their adventure, as Hollywood giant Warner Brothers has acquired the movie rights to Kyle’s story. Film star Bradley Cooper (The A-Team, The Hang over, Limitless) has plans to produce, and possibly star, in the film, which will be the first effort for Coo per’s new produc tion company, 22nd & Indiana. David O. Rus sell (Three Kings, The Fighter), who has teamed up with Cooper on previous projects, is said to be slated for the director’s chair. Ja son Dean Hall (Spread) has been set up to write the script, and McEwen says he will be working closely will Hall and acting as a consul tant in the production. “I will be consulting on the movie during its production, script, and the actual filming, so that will be an interesting adven ture.” says McEwen. He says that, while he doesn’t know for sure ev erything that consultation will eventually entail, it could run the gamut. Thus far, he has been assisting with terminology used in the book that might not be familiar to filmmakers, as well as certain background -See AMERICAN SNIPER MOVIE/PAGE THREE Public hearing on Heppner sidewalk use ordinance to be held Monday A public hearing to discuss a new sidewalk use ordinance will be held next Monday, Jan. 14, beginning at 7 p.m. at Heppner City Hall. The new ordinance will cover everything from com munity events to sandwich boards to selling items on city sidewalks and the per mits and permissions re quired to use the sidewalks. The city council will take public comment at next M onday’s hearing. The complete ordinance was printed in the Dec. 19 and 26 issues of the Heppner Gazette-Times. Walden to hold town hall in Boardman U.S. Rep. Greg Walden will hold a Morrow Coun ty town hall meeting this Thursday, Jan. 10, from 4:30 to 5:30 p.m. at the Port of Morrow, 2 Marine Dr., Boardman. Walden plans to discuss his efforts to provide tax relief for Oregon families and small businesses, grow the economy, reduce spend ing. and balance the budget. Residents will also have the opportunity to ask ques tions and give their input for Walden's “to do” list to take back to Washington, D.C. W a ld e n ’s M o rro w County stop will be one of eight town hall meetings in the Gorge and northeastern Oregon this week, kick ing off his 2013 meetings. Last year, Walden held 24 town hall meetings in the 20 counties in O regon’s Second District. “While the Congress and the country are fac ing very difficult, but very important choices going forward, here at home there are many local issues that I’m focused on, as well. Expanding access to broad band in rural areas, boost ing our farm and ranch eco n o m ies, im p ro v in g management of our federal forests, and taking care of those who wear—or who have worn—our nation's uniform remain priorities for me,” said Walden. GREEN FEED & SEED IN HEPPNER: Beautification committee to meet The Heppner beauti- at 8 a.m. at Heppner City the American Indian met- fication com m ittee will Hall to discuss the city’s alwork planned for it. The meet Thursday, Jan. 10, proposed heritage park and public is invited to attend. ALL NEWS AND ADVERTISEMENT DEADLINE: MONDAYS AT 5:00 P.M. I Morrow County Grain Growers Green Feed & Seed 242 W. Linden Way, Happnar » 676-9422 • 989-6221 (MCGG main offlca) I
