Fallen heroes honored
at Heppner cemetery
Bessie Wetzell Newspaper Library
University of Oregon
Eugene, OR 97403
HEPPNER
American Legion Auxiliary member Evelyn Sweek distributes flags at the Heppner Masonic
Cemetery last Thursday. Sweek was one of several volunteers out getting the cemetery ready
for the Memorial Day holiday. -Photo by David Sykes
After 70 years, veteran
gets high school diploma
VOL. 132
NO. 23 10 Pages
Wednesday, May 29, 2013
Morrow County, Heppner, Oregon
lone principal to retire
By Andrea Di Salvo
Jerry A rcher, K-12
principal at lone Commu
nity School, will retire—
again—at the end of this
school year.
This is his second at
tempt at retirement; Ar
cher, who retired from the
Pendleton School District
in 2009, came to the lone
School District three years
ago after deciding he wasn’t
quite ready to hang up his
hat. Officially, he says his
last day of work is “a good
question”; Archer says he
will have exceeded the
number of days in his con
tract by the time he finishes,
but adds, “You do what you
have to do.” Realistically,
he says, his last day of work
will be June 25 or 26.
Archer started life in
Klamath Falls, OR, but
says his family moved a
lot while he was growing
up. He attended school in
10 different Oregon school
districts before graduating
from Cascade High School,
a school that served seven
rural communities outside
o f Salem, OR. He then
attended Oregon College
of Education (now West
ern Oregon University) in
Monmouth, OR. He gradu
ated with his Bachelor of
Science degree in elemen
tary education in 1975.
He next went to work
in the Klamath Falls School
District in Klamath Falls,
OR, teaching there for nine
years, until 1984. While
there, he also attended lived in lone, projects have
the University of Oregon, been stacking up. Since
where he obtained his Mas both of their children live
ter of Education degree in in the Boise, ID area, Ar
curriculum and instruc cher says they will face the
tion in 1980. In 1983, he decision of whether to stay
finished his certification in Pendleton or move closer
work for a K-12 principal to their kids. Antiquing
standard adm inistrative has also been a long-time
certificate, which is
hobby, and he says
necessary to work in
it time to refinish
school administra
some o f that old
tion in Oregon.
furniture.
F ro m 1 9 8 4 -
“ And, o f
1988, Archer worked
co u rse, a little
for the Riddle School
golf, a little fish
District in Riddle,
ing, things like
OK in an administra Jerry Archer that we’ll find time
tive capacity. Then,
for as w ell,” he
in 1988, he moved
adds.
to Pendleton. Over the next
As for his retirement,
21 years, he spent time at Archer admits to mixed
Sherwood, Hawthorne and feelings.
Mckay schools as principal.
“I’m excited about and
After 21 years in Pendleton, ready to give retirement
he was ready to ret ire... he a second chance but I’m
thought.
going to totally miss the
“ I decided I missed staff and students and com
kids too much and wasn’t munity here,” says Archer.
actually ready to retire,” he “The kids are what brought
says. “This (lone) opportu me in, so they’re probably
nity came up. I interviewed what I’m going to miss the
for it and was fortunate most.
enough to get it, and have
“This com m unity is
had a great three years here. the most supportive com
It’s one of the highlights of munity I’ve ever worked
my career.”
in,” he adds. “I have been
Now Archer feels it’s totally impressed with the
time to give retirement a dedication of the staff; it’s
second chance. He says been a great staff to work
home improvement projects with. Our board and super-
are high on his retirement intendant are both the most
list...he and his wife, Lin visionary leadership team
da, still own their home in I’ve had the opportunity to
Pendleton. After three years work with, and that’s made
of low maintenance as they it really fun for me.”
County deputies involved
in car chase, foot pursuit
On the morning of May
15, Marcario Salas Montoya
called the Morrow County
Sheriff’s Office 911 Center
with something interesting
to say...Montoya had just
seen his vehicle, which had
been stolen, on Highway
730 near Irrigon.
Montoya had followed
the vehicle, and reported he
had last seen it going north
on Power Pole Rd. Mor
row County Sheriff Ken
Matlack located the vehicle
on Power Pole Rd. With
emergency lights flashing,
Matlack instructed the sus
pect to stop. That’s when
the suspect took off. Dep
uty Colleen Neubert and
Deputy John Bowles were though; he drove approxi
each nearby and moved to mately 120 feet through the
intercept.
farmer’s field and
The su sp ect,
then drove through
later identified as
a large metal gate
20-year-old Zach-
belonging to the
ery Lawrence Bar-
same farmer.
tz, drove through a
B o w les w as
farmer’s field, de
now b eh in d the
stroying approxi Zachery
subject, with Neu
mately 20 feet of L a w r e n c e bert directly behind
wood fencing. Bar- Bartz
him. The stolen ve
tz then drove over
hicle was leaking
a six-inch diameter,
fluid and the steel
seven-foot tall steel pipe pipe was throwing a trail of
used as a fence post. The sparks under the vehicle.
vehicle received substan
Bartz continued north
tial damage, according to bound on West 4th Road,
police reports, and the steel d riv in g reck lessly and
pipe was lodged under the
car. Bartz w asn’t done, -See CAR CHASE/PAGE SIX
By David Sykes
It took a while but Cal
vin Cox, 87, finally got
his Heppner High School
diploma last week.
It was the middle of
World War II and Cox was
17 when he left Heppner
High, prior to graduation, to
join the Army Air Corps. He
subsequently spent 26 years
on active duty, and never
did receive his diploma.
But last Tuesday, Heppner
High Principal Matt Combe
took care of that when, at
an assembly in front of the
whole school, he presented
Cox, now from Box Elder,
SD, with his high school
diploma.
On receiving the docu
ment, Cox urged students
to get their diplomas and to
study hard, especially math
and science.
“The world is chang
ing and you need to keep
up,” he told the assembled
student body.
As part of his military
career, Cox was at one point
stationed at Roswell, NM,
the city made famous by
a UFO incident in 1947.-
Cox said he helped guard
the building on the military
base where the material
from the crash was kept.
Later he met and mar
ried his wife, Constance,
in Canada; Constance was
from England and in the
Royal Air Force.
He also at one point
flew on the B-29 bomber
the Enola Gay (although not
on the actual Japanese mis
sion), which later dropped
the atomic bomb “Little
Boy” on Hiroshima, Japan.
Cox was a flying photogra
pher in the Air Corps.
A large group of Cox’s
relatives were on hand last
Tuesday when he received
his diploma.
Blockbuster author
takes aim at fiction
By Andrea Di Salvo
Heppner native Scott
McEwen is at it again.
McEwen, who gained
a measure of fame as the
coauthor o f “A m erican
Sniper: The Autobiography
of the Most Lethal Sniper
in U.S. Military History,”
is back to writing, churning
out what already promises
to be another sensation.
This time, though, he’s us
ing what he knows to delve
into the world of fiction.
Scott McEwen’s name
is familiar to many in the
H eppner area because
51-year-old McEwen was
born and raised here. He
was a local Eagle Scout and
grew up hiking and fishing
in the area, as well as hunt
ing with his 300 Winchester.
He graduated from Heppner
High School in 1979 and
then went on to attend Or
egon State University and
McGeorge School of Law
at University of the Pacific,
obtaining his law degree in
1987. He now lives in San
Diego, CA and does corpo
rate defense and litigation
all over the U.S. He still has
local ties; his brother, Bob-
bie McEwen, is a familiar
face around town.
McEwen’s latest proj
ect is the novel “Sniper
Elite: One Way Trip.” Ac
cording the jacket descrip
tion, “In direct defiance
o f the president’s orders,
Navy M aster C hief Gil
Shannon, one of America’s
most lethal SEAL snipers,
launches a bold mission
comprised of SEAL Team
Six and Delta Force fighters
to free a captured female
-See MCEW EN A JJTHORS
SNIPER NOVEL/PAGE
FOUR
Mustangs mop up
Heppner
Lilly Sandford, Kenzi Hughes and Maci Gibbs do some lot
cleanup behind St. Patrick's Senior Center during Heppner
High School’s Mustang Mop-Up day, May 22. -Photo by Me
gan Futter
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Calvin Cox receives his high school diploma from Heppner
High School principal Matt Combe. - Photo by DavidSvkes
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