Image provided by: Morrow County Museum; Heppner, OR
About Heppner gazette-times. (Heppner, Or.) 1925-current | View Entire Issue (July 10, 2013)
r Heppner Gazette-Times, Heppner, Oregon Wednesday, July 10,2013 - FIVE InterMountain ESD hires new July yard of the month special education director announced PENDLETON, O R - The InterM ountain Ed ucation Service District has hired a new special education director. Leigh Nolte started as the Special Education Director for the Far West Zone on July 1. She replaces Sarah C’rane- Simpson, who announced in April she would resign from IMESD to become the lone School District superintendent. N olte, who is from Cove, will serve,the Mor row County, lone, and Umatilla School Districts in her capacity as Special Education Director of the Far West Zone. Her primary department responsibilities with kids, but I know how lie within school psychol- important a sense of support ogy/behavioral sciences, can be to those working in long-term care and the classrooms and treatment, and nurs with the kids.” N o lte has a ing. She comes to bachelor’s degree in p s y c h o lo g y IMESD from the from Eastern Or Union School Dis trict, w here she was egon State College a special education Leigh Nolte (La Grande), and a Special Education teacher. Nolte has L icen su re from primarily taught in small, K-12 rural school Southern Oregon State Col districts throughout her lege (Ashland). In addition, education career. Nolte also possesses an “ I ’m really excited Initial Administrator’s Li about supporting adults cense and master’s degree who work in special edu in educational leadership cation,” Nolte said. “I’ve from Lewis & Clark Col alw ays worked directly lege (Portland). NEW PASTOR -Continuedfrom PAGE ONE mento in 1999. W hat m ost p eo p le wouldn’t realize right away is that Sharma has been partly deaf since age five. She is considered “post-lin- gually” deaf, which means she lost her hearing after she learned to speak her first language (English). It was during college that she felt drawn to ministry with the deaf community and others who are disabled. She says that, while great strides have been made in education, those disabili ties, like the deaf, are often underserved in the area of their faith. “I saw a great need for the church to open it’s doors a little wider,” says Sharma, adding that that has been the theme of her ministry ever since—opening the doors of the church to the whole community, not just a segment. She went on to live out that call, and received her master’s degree in divinity from Wesley Theological Seminary in 2003. That led first to service at Christ United Methodist Church of the Deaf in Bal timore, MD in 2003. She stayed there for a year before taking a three- point call to Gooding, Sho shone and Richfield United Methodist churches in Ida ho in 2004. In 2006, she received a call to Brooklyn United Methodist Church and Jack sonville United Methodist D eaf Faith C om m unity Church, in Jacksonville, IL, where she remained until her call to Heppner. With her on this journey are her husband, Aditya, and son, eight-year-old Ashwin. It was while in college in D.C. that her then-rommate introduced her to Aditya Sharma, a native of New Delhi, India, who was in the country on a student visa. They “hit it off really well,” she says, and started dating. They later became engaged but hit a hurdle when Aditya’s family asked him to return to India after 9/11, fearing for his safety in the U.S. Though the logistics of planning a wed ding internationally were difficult, they did eventu ally get married in India in 2004, with festivities that went until 5 a.m. “They have long wed dings in India,” she says. “It was unusual for me but normal for them.” Aditya is also deaf, but is an avid sportsman despite that. He especially enjoys table tennis, in which he was the national deaf cham pion in India in 1999. He currently teaches math and driver’s education, as well as coaches, at the School for the Deaf in Gooding, ID. Sharma says she loves reading and creative writ ing. She also loves camp ing, hiking, bicycling, cross country skiing, ice skating and inline skating. She says she has walked three 5k runs in the past year and is looking for her next one. She and Aditya enjoy motorcycling, hosting small By Kay Proctor H eppner Volunteers presented July’s Yard of the Month honors to Joan Dieter and the late Mel Di eter at 215 N. Gale. The Dieters purchased the property in 2010 and started right away putting their personal im prove ments to the yard and the home. Sadly, Mel was only able to enjoy their place until September, 2012. Joan and Mel began their married life in the Salem country side and later lived outside of Stanfield. They moved to Heppner for Joan’s work as staff ac countant at Columbia Basin Electric Co-operative. W h ile th e c o u p le worked together on proj ects, Mel was able to devote lots of time to their home, since he was retired from work as a welder/fabricator. With a blended family of 10 children, 26 grandchildren and 15 great-grandchildren, family would pitch in, too. Originally from Texas, Mel did things big and did things well. Posts in the horseshoe pits he built were anchored in five-gallon buckets of cement, and have wooden baekboards and framed screens to protect the sand. The shoes hang nearby on the solid-wood fence he built. A wood shelf covers the shoes and provides a handy place to set drinks while pitching shoes. Rows o f long-estab lished hedges had to be pulled out with a pick-up and the lawn reseeded. An old fence was removed. Three pickup loads of river rock were hauled off, than compost and mulch were hauled in for flower beds. Mel edged the beds with a miniature white picket fence he designed and cre ated. The front porch and sidewalk were spruced up din n er p a rtie s— A ditya cooks gourmet Indian and Asian-style food—and trav eling both in the U.S. and internationally for mission projects and for leisure. Sharma says she has been to Mexico, N icara gua, K enya, Zim babw e and India, and has traveled through many other coun tries en route to these. She travels regularly to India to visit with her in-laws, and she has dreams of returning for further mission work in Kenya and Zimbabwe someday soon. The family has only been in Heppner since Sat urday, but Sharma says it has been great so far. “So far everybody has been friendly, welcoming and helpful,” she says, add ing that there were around a dozen people on hand to help them move in when they arrived last weekend. She says a man who hap pened to be jogging by—- not even a member of the Methodist church—stopped and offered to carry a few boxes into the house. The town also gets a thumbs-up from son, Ash win, who is excited about the pool, the park, the li brary, and the new friends he has already made. A com m unity meet- and-greet ice-cream so cial is planned for Sunday, July 21, at 12:30 p.m. at Horseshoes hang on the solid- Hager Park in Heppner for wood fence M el Dieter built, Heppner Methodist church ready for a game in the care members and the greater fu lly-c ra fte d horseshoe pits. Heppner community to get -Photo by Kav Proctor to know Pastor Elke. All are invited. Joan Dieter with a picture o f her late husband M e l D ieter (inset). Photo by Kay Proctor and Mel added an iron rail ing he made. The house’s exterior had gutters in stalled and older windows replaced. Mel’s favorite part of the yard was the generous back patio they put in, where he enjoyed his coffee every morning. Custom built with no steps, a canopy was added so they could both use their grill and barbecue year round. Mel specialized in brisket, beef ribs and beef bacon; no pork. When smoking beef, he used an apple/pecan wood-chip mix or, more often, mesquijte chips. No surprise for a man w ho farmed and ranched in Texas. And, of course, the Lone Star state flag still flies along with Old Glory by the front porch. An iron welcome sign by Mel hangs on the front gate while an iron Lone Star is on the side gate. A Texas license plate is on the door of his shop. Calling it a “work-in progress," Joan who is orig inally from central Wash ington, “enjoys getting her hands dirty” working in the yard. She especially likes the pear tree and snow ball shrub they planted. A healthy, but trimmed back, Marionberry that started on their Salem farm produces enough fruit to remind her o f w estern O regon. A l though her home is in town now, Joan states that Hep pner “is peaceful” and “is like living in the country." Preparing for an up coming family wedding, selling Mary Kay products, working full-time and doing yard work (with help from a couple of neighbors) have kept Joan busy since last September. Over Memorial Day weekend, a gathering of 63 friends and family members met in her yard to honor Mel. She has remind ers o f his woodworking skills with furniture and gunstocks, and mentions how her husband liked to “keep moving." Joan shares that few people knew Mel did not have the use of his left hand, the results of a neck and back injury. She says she feels their Yard of the Month recognition is a tribute to her husband's hard work. That seems ap propriate; hard work is ap preciated by all those who recognize it. Yard of the Month is co-sponsored by MCGG- Green Feed, the City of Heppner and the Heppner Volunteers. CREZ MAKES A LIST Zone s list o f county s charitable organizations is growing , says Zone manager -Continuedfrom PAGE ONE When businesses locate in the CREZ, they negotiate deals with the board and pay fees in lieu of property taxes, which will be lower than property taxes would be if they had not located in the enterprise zone. The zone consists mainly of a 12-square-mile area at the Port of Morrow in Board- man. Companies will pay these negotiated fees over three to 15 years to the CREZ, which will in turn distribute the funds to tax districts affected by the location o f the businesses there. If they choose, how ever, businesses may donate part of those fees to chari table organizations that may include anything from chambers of commerce to museums, and any other organization not politically or religiously oriented, the board has said. As an example, Pioneer Memorial Hospital Foun dation, M orrow County Museum, OHV Park, 4-H, ICABO, Heppner Chamber of Commerce and the South M orrow N eighborhood Center are ju st some of the organizations that have contacted McLane to be included on the list. CREZ board members said Monday they want the list to be as inclusive as PROPANE appliance and tank sets July 10% DISCOUNT on installs Call for quotes. Restrictions apply M o rro w County G rain Growers«« Phone; K U 541-989-8221 possible and it will be lim ited only to organizations located in Morrow County. Anyone who wants their organization included can email McLane at cmclane@ co.morrow.or.us, or call her office at 541-922-4624. “I think we are going to end up with a nice long list,” McLane said. “Just because you are on the list doesn’t mean you are going to get some thing,” said acting CREZ Board Chairman Don Rus sell. “We want to make it as all-inclusive as possible but it’s up to the businesses who they give their money to.” So far the CREZ has deals lined up over the next 15 years that will bring in over $21 million, with more businesses and money to come. Distribution of the majority of the funds will be decided by the CREZ board and given to taxing districts deemed by the board to be most affected by the businesses locating in the Boardman area...for example, fire and police services. In Qther business, the board discussed fees o f $45,000 that have been received by the CREZ but were deposited in Morrow County governm ent ac counts. The board learned that it may lose this money as it did not get the money transferred to its new fiscal agent, the City of Boardman, before the end of the county fiscal year. The money may roll over into the county’s new budget year and there fore not be transferrable to CREZ. Some on the board suggested that the money could be counted as reim bursement for time McLane spent as CREZ manager; McLane is an employee of Morrow County as county If you or someone you know has a gambling problem, help is available and that help Is FREE of charge. If Y O U h a v e a fa m ily m e m b e r w h o su ffers fro m g a m b lin g ad d ic tio n , Y O U c a n a ls o re c e iv e F R E E tre a t m e n t e v e n if th e g a m b le r is not re c e iv in g tre a tm e n t. If yo u a r e a re s id e n t o f M o rro w C o u n ty a n d yo u w ish to ta k e a d v a n ta g e o f th e s e rv ic e s a b o v e or d e s ire m o re in fo rm a tio n . P le a s e call a n y o f th e follo w in g n u m b e rs to s e t up a L O C A L a p p o in tm e n t o r just to talk: B o b b y H a rris @ 5 4 1 - 6 7 6 - 9 9 2 5 or 5 4 1 - 2 5 6 - 0 1 7 5 Comm unity Counseling Solutions (C C S ) @ 541-676-9161 O R 1 - 8 7 7 - 6 9 5 - 4 6 4 8 ( 1 -8 8 8 - M Y L IM IT ) planner. The board also brief ly discussed a m eeting planned on July 25 at 7 p.m. at the Port of Mor row Wells Springs room. The recreation district has invited all the taxing dis tricts in the Columbia River Enterprise Zone II to “ ... begin a conversation re garding Enterprise Zone negotiations,” according to a meeting notice from the recreation district. The CREZ board is made up two members each from Morrow County, City of Boardman and the Port of Morrow. These members will decide how the money will be spent, and at least one tax district has asked for more input into the pro cess of how the funds will be disbursed. A new board m em ber will be named soon, as county assessor Greg Sweek has announced his resignation. Since he is also a board member o f CREZ, his resignation will cause a vacancy on the board. At this time. Morrow County Commissioner Leann Rea and Sweek represent Mor row County on the CREZ board. County Judge Terry Tallman and Ken Grieb are alternates on the board and the county court will name a new board member. Mike Gorman has been named the replacement for Sweek as county assessor, and he will be giving technical taxing advice to the CREZ board during future nego tiations with businesses. The board set its next meeting for July 15 at 10 a.m. at the Port of Morrow. McLane said anyone wish ing to be notified of future meetings should contact her and they would be added to the email notification list. County parks meeting postponed The Morrow County Parks quarterly meeting set for July 16 will be postponed until Tuesday, October 22, at I p.m., location to be determined. Anyone w ith questions or concerns, notify Betty Gray, Morrow County Parks Chairman, at 541-989-8214 or bgray@co.morrow.or.us. Meetings are open to the public; anyone with suggestions or concerns regarding county parks is invited to attend.
