Image provided by: Morrow County Museum; Heppner, OR
About Heppner gazette-times. (Heppner, Or.) 1925-current | View Entire Issue (March 6, 2013)
M oCo queen crowned Bessie W e te ll Newspaper Library University of Oregon Eugene, OR 97403 5(K Morrow County Fair and Oregon Trail Pro Rodeo Queen Krysten Powell was crowned Sat urday during a night of prime rib and hot-selling auction items. The queen says she is excited for St Patrick’s celebration this month in Heppner. Pictured (L-R standing): Lindsay Soliz, Jefferson County Fair and Rodeo Queen; Sara Marcus, Miss Northwest Professional Rodeo Association; Lillian Sandford, Miss Oregon High School Rodeo; Desiree Robinson-Strange, Grant County Fair and Rodeo Queen; CheyAnne Maley, Grant County Fair and Rodeo Prin cess; and (seated front) Queen Krysten Powell. -Photo by David Sykes VOL. 132 N O . 10 8 Pages Wednesday, March 6, 2013 Morrow County, Heppner, Oregon McElligott named BMC coach of the year By Andrea Di Salvo lone g raduate Jake McElligott has been named 2012-2013 Blue Mountain C onference B oy’s Bas ketball Coach o f the Year for his role in leading the Irrigon Knights boys’ bas ketball team to the BMC district championship. M cElligott, 32, is in his fourth year as head coach for the Irrigon Junior/ Senior high School boys’ basketball team. He was bom and raised in lone and graduated from lone High School in 1998. After that, he attended Gonzaga Uni versity in Spokane, WA, obtaining his Bachelor of Arts degree in history and Jake McElligott (fourth from right) with the Irrigon Knights basketball team. -Contributedphoto elementary education in He transferred to the junior 2003. high/high school a couple In 2004, he moved to o f years later, where he -See COACH OF YEAR/ Irrigon, where he started PAGE FOUR out as a sixth-grade teacher. Mulvihill tells board district ‘very healthy’ By April Sykes lone School District Superintendent Mark Mul vihill told the board, at its regular Feb. 26 meeting that theirs was “a very healthy district and that reflects the quality of the classroom.” Mulvihill told the board to expect a very high level o f rigor in state require ments for reading and writ ing in the near future. He remarked that third grade is the number one invest ment area because reading success in the third grade is “a huge indicator” of a child’s future academic suc cess. He also stressed that attendance is critical for students' academic achieve ment if they are to graduate in four years. In other business at the meeting, the board: -learned from Principal Jerry Archer that the school charter is in the process of being updated and a final Forest road closures spark controversy By Andrea Di Salvo Many o f us feel an noyed when a road closure sends us on a detour away from a planned route. Now, many hunters in the Hep pner Ranger District of the Umatilla National Forest (UNF) feel that forest road closures may detour their hunting plans, or even de rail them altogether. The roads in q u es tion are FSR 2202, below Sunflower Flat, and FSR 2120020 at Hog Creek near Tupper. Both roads are located in the Wall Creek watershed, which, accord ing to District Ranger Todd Buchholz, is identified as a priority watershed at the national level. Buchholz explained that the Forest Service dis tricts conduct environmen tal analysis each year, tak ing into account areas that Road closures on the Umatilla National Forest have sparked controversy as hunters express concern over the loss of forest access. higher-ups have designated as environmental priorities. Then, local rangers like him self determ ine what needs to be done to protect priority areas. “ We do analysis at the local level to see what needs to happen at the local level,” he said, adding that strategies could include tree planting, fencing or intro ducing fire to the terrain, among other things. Part of the environmental analysis, he said, is a road analysis. Roads, he said, are major contributors to sediment in the Wall Creek watershed. One of the people up- -See ROAD CLOSURES/ PAGE SIX Filing deadline March 21 for May election Interested in becoming more involved in the area? Several boards and districts will hold elections on May 21 . They include: H ep pner Rural Fire Protection D istrict, three directors with four year terms, lone Rural Fire Protection Dis trict, three directors with four year terms; Boardman Rural Fire Protection Dis -See lONE SCHOOL trict, three directors with BOARD/PAGE EIGHT four years terms and one director with two year term; Irrigon Rural Fire Protec tion District, positions 3, 4 and 5 with four year terms; Morrow County Unified Recreation District, Zone 1 and 2, with four year terms; lone Library District, three directors with four year terms; Oregon Trail Library District, positions 3, 4 and 5 with four year terms; Port o f Morrow, positions 1, 2 and 3 with four year terms; Heppner Cemetery Main- product will be presented at the March meeting. -heard from Archer that three seniors currently have a four-point GPA. All three students have taken upper level and college classes. Archer said that all three students will achieve vale dictorian status. The board is considering options for standardizing Latin honors. He said it was too late and tenance District, two direc tors with four year terms; lone Lexington Cemetery District one director at large with four year term; Board- man Cemetery District, two directors at large with four year terms; Irrigon Cem etery Maintenance District. One director at large with four year term ; Willow Creek Park District, two directors at large with four -See ELECTION/PAGE FIVE Committee will Nance fills in at G-T Relay for Life to hold rally March 16 talk statue, options Visitors to the Hep- and husband, Jerry, bought pner Gazette office over that paper and then pur- chased two more. the next couple of They owned the months will see a three newspapers new face at the edi for many years, as to r’s desk. Editor well as ranching A ndrea Di Salvo n ear S h o sh o n e, will be gone for a ID, w here Jerry couple o f months was county com to welcome a new Patty Nance m issioner for 25 addition to the Di Salvo family. Patty Nance, years. The couple moved 56, a relative newcomer to to the H eppner area in Morrow County, will fill in 2011 and bought a ranch for Di Salvo until her re on Rhea Creek. They have four grown children, 14 turn, scheduled for May. Born in Ohio, Nance grandchildren and are ex began her journalism career pecting their second great at age 25 in Chicago. She grandchild. Nance says she is look then relocated to Idaho in 1986. She began working ing forward to getting to for a small-town newspaper know more members of the in south-central Idaho. She community. On Saturday, March 16, in Heppner, the American Cancer Society Relay For Life o f Morrow County will officially get under way as event volunteers and participants gather at Farmer’s Insurance Office, 133 N Main, Heppner, for a kickoff rally to launch their fundraising efforts for the year. The rally will feature speakers from the area. This will also be the first op portunity to register a team or sign up as a corporate sponsor for the overnight event. Teams signing up during kickoff will pay $35. Daylight Savings Time begins Daylight Savings Time 10. The Gazette-Times re- forw ard” and turn your will begin Sunday, March minds everyone to “spring clocks forward one hour. I For teams that wait until the Relay event, the sign-up fee will be $150. Morrow County Relay For Life will take place June The Heppner Beautification Committee will n meet Thursday, March 14, at Heppner City Hall. A discussion will be held about the proposed Heritage Park statue and other options concerning the space. The meeting begins at 8 a.m. and is open to the public. MS awareness week at 9 a.m. at the Morrow County Fairgrounds, 74473 Heppner Mayor Joe Perry has issued a proclamation designating the week of March 11 through 17. 2013, as Highway 74, Heppner. To join the local Relay Multiple Sclerosis Awareness Week. For Life, call Becky Sparks This proclamation kicks off the annual WALK MS 541-626-1415 or Laurie fundraiser, which will be held in Heppner on April 20. -See RELAY FOR LIFE/ For questions and additional information, contact Dana PAGE SIX Voelker, 503-445-8538, or dana.voelker@nmss.org. GRFFN FFFD & SFED IN IIFPPNFR: ALL WINTER CLOTHING IN STOCK MUST GO Insulated Coveralls • Coats • Pac Boots & M ore nr\07 ff Duraflame Quartz Heaters ¡0 Oil plus all other electric heaters in ir stock Morrow County Grain Growers Green Feed & Seed 242 W. Llndan Way, H appnar • 676-9422 • 989-8221 (MCOO main offica) >
