Relay for Life returns
this weekend
Bessie Wetzell Newspaper Library
University of Oregon
Eugene, OR 97403
5<K
Last year’s Morrow County Relay for Life raised more than $24,000, earning the event the
New Hope award for highest revenue front a rookie event. -Contributedphoto
The M orrow County
Relay for Life will take place
this weekend at the Morrow
County Fairgrounds.
A group o f M orrow
County residents will be
com ing together to help
raise m oney fo r c a n ce r
research and support this
Saturday and Sunday, Aug.
VOL. 132
NO. 31
8 Pages
Wednesday, July 31, 2013
Morrow County, Heppner, Oregon
Merkley to hold town hall
P o rtla n d , OR —
O r e g o n ’s S e n a to r J e f f
Merkley will hold a town
hall for Morrow County in
Irrigon on Thursday, Aug.
8, at 5 p.m. The meeting
will be held in the Irrigon
Junior/Senior High School
g y m n a s iu m at 315 E.
Wyoming in Irrigon.
D uring the m eeting,
M erkley plans to update
constituents on his work
in W ashington, D.C. and
answer questions and invite
suggestions about how to
tackle the challenges facing
Oregon and America.
“ T alking d irectly to
Oregonians in every county
is a great way to hear about
the issues folks want me to
fight for in W ashington,”
said M erkley, w ho w ill
hold a U m atilla C ounty
tow n hall in Pilot Rock
that same day. “I urge all
residents o f Umatilla and
Morrow Counties to come
and share their opinions and
Local teen brings
home national title
Lillian Sandford, Miss
Oregon High School Rodeo
A s s o c ia tio n , r e tu r n e d
from the N ational High
School Rodeo Finals with
the coveted title o f Miss
Congeniality in the Queen
C ontest. The finals were
h e ld in R ock S p rin g s,
WY July 12-20. Sandford
competed against 40 other
contestants from across the
work with me to make our
state and nation a stronger
place.”
In 2 0 0 8 , M e rk le y
pledged to hold town halls
in each o f O re g o n ’s 36
counties every year. He
upheld his pledge in the
previous four years and is
continuing that commitment
in 2013.
Umatilla and Morrow
Counties will be his 168lh
and 169lh town halls as a
U.S. Senator.
3 and 4.
Last year the Morrow
County Relay for Life team
raised $24,547 and received
th e A m e ric a n C a n c e r
Society New Hope award
for having the event with
the highest revenue from a
rookie event.
A lth o u g h the ev en t
d o esn ’t have a set goal,
whatever funds the event
raises will go toward finding
the cure for cancer.
Anyone is welcome to
participate or get involved.
S e e th e s c h e d u le of
events for ways in whiph
individuals and teams can
participate.
‘Other’ taxing districts
discuss distribution of
CREZ money
By David Sykes
A b o u t 18 p e o p le
representing eight taxing
districts met last week to
discuss how they w ould
like to see funds collected
by the C o lu m b ia R iver
Enterprise Zone (CREZ)
distributed in the county.
M orrow County U nified
Recreational District Chair
Cyde Estes organized the
meeting in response to the
large amount of “fees in lieu
o f taxes” the CREZ will
collect in the coming years, must meet certain wage,
The Enterprise ^
_____ i n v e s t m e n t a n d
Zone is an economic
employment figures
d ev elo p m en t tool
j H M h to receive the tax
u s e d to a t t r a c t P k *
abatem ents, which
b u sin e sse s to the K F
can range from the
P o rt o f M o rro w *— **—
standard three years
at B oardm an, and - e . s te * up to 15 years tax
allow s b usinesses the meetinR free,
to pay fees to the
discuss
Under
the
CREZ, which would distribution of CREZ rules, a board
be le s s th a n th e CREZ funds, o f six people made
property taxes which
up from the Port of
w ould be p aid w ith o u t
-See CREZ DISCUSSION/
the zone. The businesses
PAGE FIVE
100 years for Mary Beamer
Heppner woman celebrates centennial birthday
United States, Canada and
A u stralia. She receiv ed
flowers, a sash and a Gist
silver saddle concho as her
awards.
D u rin g th e w e e k -
long contest, the young
la d ie s w ere ju d g e d on
h o rse m a n sh ip , p erso n al
in te rv ie w , a p p e a ra n c e ,
Contributed Story
Celebrating her 100th
birth d ay , M ary B eam er
has lived a modest life as a
ranch wife. Her longevity
may be due to a healthy
lifestyle, never pampering
herself, while caring more
about family and friends.
She was bom July 27,
-See MISS CONGENIALITY/ 1913 in Heppner to Robert
PAGE FOUR and LaVonnie Gam m ell.
She attended schools in
H e p p n e r. In 1924 sh e
m arried R alph B eam er,
Saturday August 3
who had moved to this area
Noon— Teams can start to set up their camp sites
from Virginia. They lived in
5:00 pm— Open Ceremonies "Survivor Lap "Caregiver Heppner for a while, where
Lap "Teams state w/Team Banners
R alph had th e g ro ce ry
5:00 pm — Singing o f National Anthem - Zechariah delivery business; he also
Hintz
delivered milk and fuel oil.
5:00 pm— Silent Auction bidding begins
Af t e r b u y i n g t he
5:30 pm— Survivor Dinner
Charles Cox place
6:30 pm— Limbo Lap (Activity)
southwest o f Heppner, the
7:00 pm— Super Hero/Fight Back Lap (Dress-up)
B eam ers becam e w heat
7:30 pm— People Mache Start (Activity)
farm ers and M ary began
8:00 pm— Cut-off bidding for Silent Auction / Cut-off ranch life there w ithout
time to make Luminaries
the aid o f e le c tricity or
8:00 pm— Special entertainment - Joe Lindsay (1 hour)
8:30 pm— People Mache Finish and Walk (Activity)
9:00 pm— Luminary ceremony and Lap o f Silence
9:00 pm— Bucknum’s Team will be serving hamburgers
(will serve until midnight)
9:30 pm— Glow in the Dark Lap (show your glow, be
a light in the dark) (Dress-up)
10:00 pm— Three-Legged Lap (Activity)
11:00 pm— Patriotic Lap (Dress-up)
11:00 pm— Special Entertainment - Skyler Hawk - Vi By Andrea Di Salvo
Road crews have
hour
been busy in the Heppner
Sunday. August 4
M id n ig h t-M id n ig h t M adness, Sw itch D irection area over the past several
(Activity)
months but, after this round
12:00 pm— BEO Team will have Bunco and Bingo in o f repairs and renovations,
the Annex Building
th in g s will be qui et in
1:00 am— Secret Agent Lap (Dress-up)
S o u th M o rro w C o u n ty
2:00 am— Toga (Dress-up)
for the next few y ears,
3:00 am— Red Light Green Light (Activity)
O re g o n D e p a rtm e n t o f
T ra n sp o rtatio n (O D O T )
4:00 am— Poker (Activity)
rep re sen ta tiv e s told the
5:00 am— Recycle Lap (Dress-up)
5:30 pm— Breakfast served in the Annex for a donation Gazette-Times this week.
6:00 am— Sole-mate Lap (Activity)
South Morrow County
7:00 am— Funky Hat Lap (Dress-up)
has seen a flurry o f ODOT
8:00 am— Sing Happy Birthday Lap (Activity)
activity over the last year,
8:30 am— Clean-up Crew (sport your trash bag -
from the rock-fall project
start with empty bag - check back in with trash) on H w y. 74 b e tw e e n
(Activity)
Lexington and lone to the
9:00 am -Closing Ceremony
current work to upgrade
Night-long activities: Holy Walkamolies will have a Barrati Blvd. in Heppner.
photo booth (individual and team photos can be
The Barratt Blvd. job,
contracted at more than a
taken)
Relay for Life Schedule o f Events
Mary Beamer at her 100"' birthday gathering; this family photo includes three generations.
-Photo by Whitney Knowles
indoor plumbing. They later
sold that ranch and bought
the Quaid place on Balm
Fork, at that time owned by
Hugh Smith. This continues
Besides developing a
to be the Beam er ranch,
where they gradually made cow herd, the B eam ers
improvements and built a also leased wheat ground
-See BEAMER TURNS 100/
new house. Ralph passed
PAGE FIVE
away in 2000.
ODOT gives project update for
Morrow County
Horseshoe Bend not on the list through 2018
I
million dollars, was funded
through the Oregon Jobs
and T ran sp o rtatio n A ct.
Slated to be completed this
fall, upgrades to B arratt
Blvd. include installing a
retaining wall, modifying
sew er/w ater connections,
modifying
road
configuration, improving
access to Pioneer Memorial
Hospital, upgrading
walkway stairs and more.
O D O T c re w s ha ve
also been working on the
Sperry St. Bridge project,
r e m o v i n g t he e x i s t i n g
bridge and building a new
street connection.
Both o f these Heppner
projects were coordinated
by the City of Heppner with
assistan ce from ODOT.
Other city projects, such
as the current Q uaid St.
pro ject in H eppner, are
com pleted strictly at the
local level without ODOT
-See ODOT UPDATE/PAGE
SIX
Morrow County Grain Growers Green Feed A Seed
»