Bessie Wetzell Newspaper Library
University of Oregon
Eugene, OR 97403
VOL. 133
NO. 19
10 Pages
Mustang golf takes districts
Wednesday, May 21, 2014
Morrow County, Heppner, Oregon
Both the Mustang boys' and girls’ golf teams took district titles last week at the tournament
in Pendleton. Standing L-R: Coach Greg Grant, Shane Miles, Logan Grieb, John Propheter,
Tate Gentry, Jesse Corbin, Caden Hedman, Coach Matt Scrivner and Coach Barry Munkers.
Kneeling L-R: Macy Gibbs, Emily Rea, Paige Grieb, Blake Greenup, Maddie Lindsay and
Amanda Rea. Contributed photo
-See fu ll story PAGE FOUR
Cardinals send three BMCC president says college asking
to state track meet why people voted down bond issue
Levy passed in Morrow County and Pendleton , but failed
everywhere else
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Jessie Flynn sails over the final hurdle in the 300M hurdles at
the district meet in Moro; she took second and advanced to
state in that event. -Contributedphoto
The Cardinal track team
attended the 1A Special
District 3 Championship
S atu rd ay , M ay 17, at
Sherm an C ounty High
School in Moro. Out o f a
field of 11 teams, lone men
placed fourth and women
were sixth.
E le v e n C a r d i n a l
athletes achieved Personal
Records (PRs) as noted in
the stats below. Three lone
athletes qualified for the
state tournament.
Advancing to state will
be: Cord Flynn, discus;
Bailey Haguewood, high
jump, long jump and triple
jum p; and Jessie Flynn,
400M, long jump and 300M
hurdles.
O S A A 1 A S ta t e
C h a m p io n s h ip s w ill
take place Thursday and
Friday, May 22-23, at the
U niversity o f O regon’s
-See fu ll story PAGE THREE
By David Sykes
P re s id e n t o f B lue
M o u n tain C o m m u n ity
College Camille Preus was
in Heppner last week and
said the community college
planned on putting a bond
issue back on the ballot, but
added, “We have a lot of
work to do.”
The $28 million bond
m easure w as d efeated
in Umatilla County and
passed in Morrow County.
All cities in Umatilla voted
against the levy except
fpr Pendleton, where the
college is located.
P re u s p ra is e d the
work of local men Louis
Carlson and Chris Brown
who served on the Friends
o f BM CC c o m m itte e
working to pass the budget
in Morrow County. She
also acknowledged Nancy
Snider, a 17-year board
member of the college.
When taking questions
from th e C h am b er o f
Commerce members Preus
was asked what w ould
be cut from the proposed
projects when the bond is
put up for a vote again. The
proposed construction of a
rodeo arena at the college
in Pendleton arose several
times.
“We have had a lot of
people ask, ‘Why build
an arena when there are
already plenty around?’”
Preus said.
She explained that the
Round-Up arena cannot be
used for high school rodeo
because of the grass arena,
which is not allowed, and
that the arena could also
be used for other animal
training at the college.
She also pointed out
the success of the rodeo
team , with BMCC men
ranked number one in the
country and the women’s
team ranked second
Other new construction
projects that would have
been funded had the bond
passed were the STEAM
(s c ie n c e , te c h n o lo g y ,
engineering, arts and math)
Center, to be located near the
SAGE Center in Boardman;
Camille Preus, President of BMCC, addressed the Heppner
Chamber of Commerce last week. - Photo by David Sykes
the P recision Irrigated
A g ric u ltu re C en ter in
Hermiston; and the Applied
Animal Science Education
Center in Pendleton. Preus
said currently the college
has a total o f just under
10,000 students with 338 of
those from Morrow County.
She said the majority of
the students who use the
college do so with online
classes.
Preus said she has
been in conversation with
the Port of Morrow to see
how the college can offer
more training in the food
processing business, an
area that is showing big
expansions at the Port in
Boardman.
In re s p o n s e to a
question from the audience
she said the college had no
plans to implement a wind
turbine training program,
saying Colum bia Gorge
C om m unity C ollege in
The Dalles has this type of
training.
“ T h is is a v e r y
expensive program and we
can’t afford to build it. Not
as high of a demand for that
skill now,” she added.
Wyden to hold M oCo
town hall M em orial
Day weekend
Getting to know your exchange students
U.S. Senator Ron Wyden will be in Boardman for
Antonia Tebbe
My mom w as re a lly
Age 15, Junior, Heppner good, but I’m not good
Where are y o u fr o m ? at volleyball. Everyone
else was really good which
Munich, Germany
Host Parents: Amy and
makes it kind of
hard.”
Brian Kollman
What do you think o f
What did you like
Heppner?
best?
“I like it here;
“ Basket bal l
it’s way different. I
and track. I like my
like how everyone
friends and family
knows each other Antonia Tebbe here.”
since they were little
Did you go to Prom ?
kids and are sticking
What did you think
together.”
o f that experience?
How has the experience
“Really cool. We don’t
been for you?
have it, so it was really
“ Really
g o o d . nice. I like the dresses.
Everyone is really nice. My It’s cool that you can wear
host family is cool. I like dresses like that. I like the
Oregon and I like Heppner. corsages even though they
It’s really cool here.”
are really uncomfortable.
What was the most difficult Some people asked each
thing about this experience? other to Prom, and that’s
“Learning volleyball. really funny.”
Tobias Mueller
“Really good.”
a town hall meeting Sunday, May 25, at 3:30 p.m. The
Age 16, Junior, Heppner What was the most difficult
meeting will be held at the SAGE Center, 101 Olson
Where are y o u f r o m ? thing about this experience?
Road, Boardman.
Vienna, Austria
“The food. It is kind of
Host P a re n ts:
weird.”
A shley and John
What did you like
Gould
best?
What do you think
“The school and
o f Heppner ?
the school activities.
“It’s awesome.
I really like the
Heppner is great. It
community.”
is a great little town. Tobias Mueller Did you go to Prom?
P E N D L E T O N — Education Service District I like the people,
What did you think
Three local women were 2014 Crystal Apple Awards everyone is super
o f that experience?
honored for their role in May 21 in Pendleton.
nice.”
“Great. It was a great
educating area children -See CRYSTAL APPLE/PAGE How has the experience n ig h t; I m ade lots o f
FOUR been fo r you?
at th e In te rM o u n ta in
memories.”
,
Local
teachers sta ff
honored at Crystal
Apple Awards
Ci-
High-tech jobs offer unexpected
opportunities in rural areas
By Andrea Di Salvo
The job landscape in
Morrow County has long
been nearly as predictable
as the land itself. It’s a
landscape grounded in
agricultural, built through
timber and then expanded
into the food processing
plants along the Columbia
River. As the county enters
the 21 * century with the rest
of the world, though, that
landscape is changing. Now,
some seeking employment
in Morrow County may
swap out their tractors or
potato chips to work on
another kind o f farm.
New, high-tech server
farms, or data centers, are
popping up throughout
Eastern Oregon, attracted
to the state by tax breaks,
relatively cheap power and
‘ a mild climate that helps
keep their computers cool.
B uildings like the new
Vadata, Inc. structure at the
Port of Morrow house some
of the web’s most advanced
technologies, and they’re
hiring for jobs to match.
Take, for instance, some
of Vadata’s current postings
on internet jo b s ite s...
c a b lin g in fra s tru c tu re
engineer, senior manager of
data center operations, data
center technician, and lead
cabling support technician.
If the name Vadata
doesn’t sound familiar, you
might be more familiar with
its parent company, the web
mammoth Amazon.com.
It’s through server farms
like those at the Port that
the internet giant powers
its international commerce
Graduation approaches
for local seniors
)ata centers like this one are popping up throughout
Eastern Oregon and changing the face of jobs in the region.
-Contributed photo
empire. Amazon isn’t alone
in its interest in Eastern
Oregon, either. Facebook
based its first-ever data
center in Prineville, OR,
while Google now has a
state-of-the-art complex
near The Dalles.
While the complicated
softw are p rocesses are
usually handled from a
company’s home base, it
still needs people on the
ground locally to make sure
the hardware keeps running
smoothly. For that, they’re
willing to hire locally, as
long as the right candidates
can be found.
-See DATA CENTERS/PAGE
FIVE
for H eppner wi l l tak e
place Wednesday, May 28,
at 7 p.m. at St. Patrick’s
Catholic Church.
lone’s commencement
will be held Friday, June
6, beginning at 7 p.m .
Baccalaureate services will
be held Monday, June 2,
at 6 p.m. at St. William’s
Catholic Church.
P O L A R IS S E R V IC E S P E C IA L
Get your ATV Summer Ready!!
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G-T closed Memorial Day
The Heppner Gazette-Times office will be closed Memorial Day, May 26, for the
holiday. All news and ad deadlines will be Friday, May 23, by 5 p.m. The newspaper
office will reopen on Tuesday, May 27.
G ra d u a tio n day is
quickly approaching for
seniors at Heppner and lone
high schools.
H e p p n e r ’ s
commencement ceremony
will take place Saturday,
May 31, beginning at 2 p.m.
in the Heppner Jr./Sr. High
School gymnasium.
Baccalaureate services
iw /lW m
CALL SHAWN TO SCHEDULE 541-989-8221
M o rro w
C o u n ty d r a in
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