Image provided by: Morrow County Museum; Heppner, OR
About Heppner gazette-times. (Heppner, Or.) 1925-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 13, 2013)
EIGHT - Heppner Gazette-Times, Heppner, Oregon Wednesday, February 13,2013 Girl Scout cookie sale underway Clockwise from left: Cheyenne Shaw, McKenna Bray, Nichole Shaw, Lexi Bray and Kylee Bray, with a mountain of Girl Scout cookies. - Photo by April Sykes The Girl Scout cookie sale is now underway. Lo cal Girl Scouts are selling a variety of the annual treats, including a coconut cara mel cookie, a lemon cookie, a shortbread cookie, a pea nut butter crème sandwich, a Latin inspired caramel cookie, a cranberry cookie, a peanut butter patty and the much beloved Thin Mints. Cookies are $4 a box. To order cookies or for more information, call leaders Ruth Shaw, 541 - 377-4245, or Sandra Bray, 541-377-3937. They said they would be willing to deliver to the Heppner, Lexington and lone areas. Cookie booths will start appearing after Valentine’s Day. Smart Hearts health Students take Time fair planned Out for Reading The Parents for Parents com m ittee invites H ep pner, Lexington and lone families to the Smart Hearts Education and Health Fair on Feb. 14 in the Heppner Elementary School gym nasium. A taco dinner is available from 5:45-7 p.m. and the fair will be open from 6:00-7:30 p.m. Many local and region al organizations, including the Morrow County Health District, Pioneer Memorial Physical Therapy, Commu nity Counseling Solutions and Northeast Oregon Area Health Education Center, will have booths with infor mation and fun activities. Parents and children are en couraged to visit the booths together to learn the many ways to can keep ourselves and others healthy and safe. The children will then be entered into a raffle to win one o f ten bikes. The Parents for Par ents committee was formed through the HES PTC from a group of parents that was struggling with parenting decisions. The goal is to provide parents with op portunities to learn ways to parent more effectively. The com mittee’s hope is that parents never feel that they are alone with these struggles and that they learn provide empowerment to each other. Past projects have in cluded the Smart Hearts Fair and Career Fair, speak ers such as Mac Bledsoe and Michael Sedler, and P arenting with D ignity DVD classes. The commit tee says it will continue to bring more of these oppor tunities to the area “in hopes of bringing families and the community closer.” For more information about the Health Fair or the PFP Committee, contact Brandi Sweeney at 541- 676-9128. m M ri m - " '^ 3 Ji ÿ m. v 8 Ää * J P * ■ Above: The top 10 readers in Heppner Elementary School’s Time Out for Reading program: Alison Cecil, Cami VanArs- dale, Cheyenne Shaw, Nicole Propheter, Caitlyn Scrivner, Kee gan Gibbs, Zach Bredfield. Jacee Currin, Cason Mitchell and Casey Fletcher. Below: Alison Cecil, who was the top reader with 9,963 minutes. In total, the students in the program set an all-time high of 187,000 minutes for the month of January. -Contributed photo BEO reports strong 2012 earnings BEO Bancorp and its subsidiary. Bank of Eastern Oregon, announced consol idated year-end 2012 earn ings of $2,462,000, an in crease of 22.4 percent when compared to $2,012,000 in 2011. Basic earnings per share increased 17 per cent from $2.18 in 2011 to $2.55 in 2012. Total assets increased 9.4 percent from $260.4 million to $284.8 million. Net loans ended 2012 at $224.8 million, up 12.4 percent year-over- year. Deposits increased 9.8 percent from $230.3 million to $252.9 million. “We are very pleased with the 2012 results. This is the best year the bank has ever had from a net income perspective. The regional agricultural economy has fared quite well over the past few years. Even with ever-increasing input costs, good production and strong prices for wheat, hay and cattle continue to bode well for our producers. While C hief Operations Of a strong local Ag ficer Gary Proph sector dramatically eter said, “ Year- helps our local busi over-year deposit nesses, the national growth is substan economy and global tia l, e s p e c ia lly econom ic factors when you consid continue to cause er the prolonged some concern for low interest rate all segments o f our Jeff Bailey environm ent we markets,” said Pres are experiencing. ident and CEO Jeff The overall sup port from our local com Bailey. “ Total shareholders’ munities is impressive. The equity increased 12 percent continued trend of growth year-over-year to $19.667 in core deposits tells us our million. Our Tier 1 capi customers are happy with tal ratio o f 10.13 percent Bank of Eastern Oregon’s matches up favorably to our style o f banking, our flex peer banks across the na ible products, and the excel tion and continues to make lent, professional service us the highest capitalized provided by our banking bank in eastern Oregon,” teams.” said Chief Financial Officer “We have seen good Mark Lemmon. “Return loan opportunities across on Average Assets is 0.90 our branch and loan pro percent and Return on Aver duction office system. We age Equity is 13.23 percent continue to welcome new compared to 0.79 percent customers and help existing and 12.12 percent, respec customers with their addi tively, year-over-year. tional loan needs. Our new NOAA issues Jan. climate summary for Heppner Driest January on recordfor area According to prelimi nary data received by NO- AA’s N ational W eather Service in Pendleton OR, temperatures in Heppner averaged colder than nor mal during the month o f January. The average tempera ture was 31 degrees, which was 4.2 degrees below nor mal. High tem peratures averaged 37.5 degrees, which was 6.1 degrees be low normal. The highest was 57 degrees on Jan. 9. Low temperatures averaged 24.5 degrees, which was 2.3 degrees below normal. The lowest was 15 degrees, on Jan. 4. There were 25 days with the low temperature below 32 degrees. There were 12 days when the high temperature stayed below 32 degrees. Precipitation totaled 0.18 inches during Janu ary, which was 1.29 inches below normal. That makes this the driest January on LPOs in Island City and Pendleton have opened up new market opportunities for us and we see great po tential in those locations,” said Bailey. “When we look at provision for loan losses and expenses associated with other real estate, the 2012 expense numbers are down 27.1 percent from 2011. We continue to take aggressive steps in dealing with problem assets. Other real estate owned is down 41.4 percent from 2011. “2012 was a very good year for Bank of Eastern Oregon. We were able to build upon the success of 2011. Our success is di rectly attributable to our excellent team of employ ees and the support of loyal shareholders and custom ers,” he concluded. For further information on the company or to access -Continuedfrom PAGE ONE internet banking, please to leave school for any rea visit our website at http:// son, we wish to continue to work with the student www.beobank.com. and their stakeholders to provide extra support in creating plans, learning op munity service and 30 days portunities, and schedules jail time with credit for time that will lead to graduation served. The defendant was and/or high school comple also convicted of Assault tion.” It is important to note IV, a Class A misdemeanor; imposition of sentence was that the state tracks gradu suspended and the defen ation rates based on four- dant given 36 months bench year and five-year cohorts probation to include 40 o f students, whereas the hours o f community ser federal government still vice and a written apology requires states to report a to the victim. Fines, fees, one-year dropout rate. This assessments and restitution rate is calculated by looking at the number of students totaled $8,907.39. who drop out of grades 9-12 Morrow County Dis in a given school year. This trict Attorney Justin Nelson is the reason why the drop has released the following out rate is not the inverse report: of the graduation rate. In -Gordon Wayne Tate, 60, was convicted of Dis orderly Conduct II, A Class B misdemeanor. Sentence o f 90 days jail time was suspended and the defen dant sentenced to two years bench probation. Fines, fees, assessments and resti tution totaled $2,833.70. DISTRICT GRAD RATES DA’s Report Morrow County Dis trict Attorney Justin Nelson has released the following report: -Jose Joel R am irez, 37, was convicted of Fail ure to Perform Duties of a Driver/Pi, a Class C felony, and sentenced to have his driver’s license suspend ed for one year, as well as three years supervised probation subject to 180 sanction units with 90 jail units. Probation includes 30 custody units used for 30 days jail time and 7.5 custody units converted to 120 hours community ser vice. Additionally, Ramirez was convicted of Criminal Driving While Suspended or Revoked, a Class A mis demeanor. Imposition o f sentence was suspended and the defendant sentenced to 36 months bench probation to include 40 hours of com record, beating the previous low of 0.31 inches in 1944. Measurable precipitation o f at least .01 inch was received on six days, with the heaviest, 0.06 inches, reported on Jan. 8. S ince O cto b er, the w ater-year precipitation at Heppner has been 4.25 inches, which is 1.28 inches below normal. The highest wind gust, on Jan. 9, was 36 mph. The outlook for Febru ary from NOAA’s Climate Prediction Center calls for near-normal temperatures and near-normal precipi tation. Normal highs for Heppner during February are 47.4 degrees and normal lows are 28.2 degrees. The 30-year normal precipita tion is 1.12 inches. The National Weather Service is an office of the Morrow County Justice of the Peace Ann Spicer has National Oceanic and At released the following Justice Court Report. mospheric Administration, -Spearman Jim Sweigart, 69, of Mesa, AZ pled no an agency of the U.S. Com contest to Violating the Basic Rule 79/55. He was fined merce Department. $260. -Camran John Pollick, 18, of Hermiston pled no contest to Violating the Basic Rule 75/55 and was fined $160. Justice Court Report s f- s r. > Local FFA chapter conducts food drive Oregon FFA challenged to raise more than 50,000 pounds o f fo o d fo r local fo o d banks T he H ep p n e r FFA chapter is participating in the Oregon Les Schwab Tire Center’s “FFA 50,000 Pound Food Challenge.” The “ 50,000 Pound Challenge” was issued by the Oregon Les Schwab Stores as an initiative to fight hunger and feed chil dren and adults suffering from food insecurity. Les Schwab Tire Centers from across the state are partner The Morrow County Clerk has issued the following ing with the more than 100 marriage licenses: local FFA chapters to raise February 6: -Willie Ray Drane, 61, o f Heppner and food for local food banks and charities. Jodi Kaye Chapa, 45, of Heppner. The food drive is to raise much-needed food H cp p n ar AlM ffFIKHl* *v,ny,L rttir1n8 for each local community’s Gazette-Times nUU X I ID lull. .Magnrtlr Door Signs (M il «769228 F ti (541) «789211 food banks. The challenge •Plastic Corrugated Yard Signs 188 W WMowStrwt Htppn*. Ofl «783« will be held the entire month Marriage Licenses f I > I i other words, a graduation rate of 62 percent does not equate to a dropout rate of 38 percent. A dropout is defined as an individual who has withdrawn from school and has not enrolled in any other school or ODE approved program, and who has not received a regular diploma, modified diploma or GED. The dropout rate is calcu lated by dividing the num ber of students who drop out o f school in a given year by the total number of students enrolled as of Oct. 31 of that school year. Stu dents who receive GEDs, modified diplomas, etc., are not considered graduates or dropouts, but they are in cluded in the four year and five year completion rates mentioned above. o f February. Participating chapters will be contact ing their local Les Schwab Stores to develop their own localized plan for raising the food. The challenge means that each of Oregon’s 113 FFA chapters must raise 500 pounds of food; cash donations will count at a rate of 50 cents per pound o f food. All chapters meet ing this goal will be recog nized on stage at the FFA Annual State Convention. Chapters that raise the most food based on their school size—according to OSAA rankings—will also be rec ognized and receive a chap ter scholarship. ■
