Image provided by: Morrow County Museum; Heppner, OR
About Heppner gazette-times. (Heppner, Or.) 1925-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 1, 2014)
B «* Npwípaper Library University o f Oregon U'geie, OR 97403 Bikeway ride sees successful third year imes » VOL. 133 NO. 33 10 Pages Wednesday, October 1, 2014 Morrow County, Heppner, Oregon Nominations open next week for Town & Country The n ex t H ep p n er Cham ber o f Com m erce Town and Country Com munity Awards will be held on Thursday, Jan. 15,2015. Nominations will be ac cepted beginning Friday, Oct. 5 and running through Monday, Dec. 1, to give community members more time to submit nomination. Everyone is encour aged to nominate a fellow com m unity member for Woman of the Year, Man of the Year, Lifetime Achieve ment and Youth Award. Nomination forms will be available at the chamber office, Bank o f Eastern Oregon, Kuhn Law Office, Community Bank and the post office. The completed nomi nation forms need to be completed and turned in the chamber office or to Kuhn Law Offices by Monday, Dec. 1, to be considered for 2015 community awards event. More information on the event will be available soon. Twenty-nine riders from two states gathered for the third annual Blue Mountain Century Scenic Bikeway ride Sept. 20-21. Many promise to be back for more hometown hospitality. -Contributed photo -See fu ll story PAGE THREE County celebrates tower rededication, groundbreaking for new building Heppner basketball court the completion o f a dream Officials m ark the groundbreaking for new Morrow County adm inistration building Monday. Left to Right: Ron Polintan, LKV Architects; Leann Rea, Morrow County Commissioner; Tom M oran, Community Bank CEO; Rob Naughton, Interm ountain ESD; Ken Grieb, Morrow County Commissioner; Terry Tallman, Morrow County Judge; Though empty on the morning of a school day, the new regula Ryan Swinburnson, Morrow County Counsel; Karen Wolff, Morrow County Personnel Director; Keith Banes, WC tion basketball court on Riverside in Heppner promises hours of play for the city’s youth. The court was a long-time dream Construction; and Scott Rogers, Wenaha Group. A new adm inistration building will be built on the site right next to for many, and finally became a reality thanks to contributions the existing courthouse. -Photo by David Sykes County Clock tolled,” Kop leton prison, said the proj project,” he said of the res by several individuals and organizations. -Contributedphoto By David Sykes The regulation-sized basketball court on River side is a first for Heppner. For many years the town and Willow Creek Park District had been ap proached by students at tempting to get a basketball court that was open to the public. This year it became a reality. Many o f those students have graduated, but their determination and prodding make the court an asset to be shared by other youth o f the community who also love the sport. The court began its path to reality when it initially was funded by a grant from the Wildhorse Foundation. The land for the court was donated to the park district by Morrow County. Sev eral community members and organizations assisted during the construction, including Turner Lindsay Farms, Thompson Ranches, Columbia Basin Electric and the City of Heppner. Dice Construction poured the concrete and donated time and equipment to help finish the project. The court is open from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m., but the park district requests that anyone using the court respect the neighbors and refrain from loud music. Heppner City M anager Kim Cutsforth also reminds those who en joy the court that the hoops are set at regulation height and are not to be adjusted, as adjusting them without the correct tool damages the mechanism. “The park district en courages everyone to enjoy the court,” says Cutsforth. “Even if you do not play basketball, drive by at night and look at the court with the lights on. It looks like a little jewelry box on the edge of town.” Under clear skies and with a slight breeze, the M orrow County C ourt house clock tow er was rededicated at its home atop the courthouse in Heppner Monday. It had been over a year since a crane had removed the tower and clock from the courthouse for reno vation, and many people involved with the difficult and painstaking restoration were on hand Monday to speak about the project, but none said it more elo quently than Master Clock- maker Gary Kopperud, who oversaw the restoration of the histori(?timepiece itself and did not receive any compensation. “ In 1902 th is Seth Thomas Clock left the fac tory in C onnecticut for Morrow County. Less than a year later the flood came through, and the Morrow perud said. “Through good times and bad it tolled. Dur ing World War 1, it tolled. During the Great Depres sion it tolled. During Korea and Vietnam it tolled.” He finished with the famous John Donne quote, “Ask not for whom the bell tolls, it tolls for thee.” Also “on hand” were the group of prisoners at the Eastern Oregon Correc tional Institute who spent many hours working to restore the clock. The pris oners were not actually there in person, but could see the proceedings through a camera hook-up, which beamed the ceremony back to the prison. The crowd showed their appreciation for the prisoners’ work with a round of applause, which they could hear and see. Dwight Hawkins, who is in charge of the inmate work program at the Pend ect was very successful in that it gave the inmates meaningful work and pur pose in their lives. “At first I thought it would be a piece of cake, but when I went to the attic (where the clock was lo cated above the courthouse) I knew this would be a big toration. The clock works were taken to the prison and re stored, partly by purchasing parts from around the coun try and also by machining some other original parts -See BELL TOWER, GROUNDBREAKING/PAGE TEN Morrow County Judge Terry Tallman (left) introduced Master Clock Maker Gary Kopperud, who oversaw the restoration of the historic clock works. - Photo by David Sykes Health districts okays PMH cardiac monitoring system Roth hired to fill clinic, home health directorship Bv April Sykes The Morrow County Health District, at their reg ular meeting Monday night, approved the purchase of a new $91,979 cardiac moni toring system for Pioneer Memorial Hospital. The district chose a Fukuda Denshi, USA, Inc., system, which, according to MCHD CEO Dan Grigg and Director o f Nursing Molly Rhea, fits the dis trict's needs and was the low bid. The district also re ceived a quote of $1 15,166, which included a $43,446 d isco u n t, from P hilips Healthcare (Philips Elec tronics North America Cor poration) and a $110,200 quote from GE Medical Systems (GE Healthcare). The Fukuda system includes four monitors. Rhea says that the com pany came to Heppner to demonstrate the equipment and she and staff were im pressed by the Fukuda sys tem. “The docs and nurses were pretty thrilled on how easy it is to use,” said Rhea. “It’s an exciting, revolu tionary system and it’s a lot cheaper than the big guys,” she said. When asked whether the Fukuda system does everything they need it to do, Rhea replied a resound ing, “Yes.” She said Fukuda is a world-wide company with a larger market share every year and has tech sup port out o f the Tri-Cities. Fukuda has an office in Redmond, WA. “It seems like it fits into our goal of providing qual- -See HEALTH DISTRICT/ PAGE FIVE FALL & HUNTING SEASON SPECIALS! The Heppner Gazette-Times wants to see pictures o f your trophy animals from this hunting season. Stop hy to have your picture taken, drop off photos, or email them to editor@rapidserve.net. P A Y B A C K w Payback b ra n d m in e ra l s u p p le m e n t SA VVE VE A N A D D IT IO N A L $ 40 / TON! Ceorgia & Danner Boots 10% ow HURRY! - S A V IN G S G O O D T H R U O C T O B E R 31 Morrow County Grain Growers Green Feed & Seed _ _ _ 2 4 2 Jfy L^lnderyW ayiJ je p p n g ^ _ 6 7 6 :9 4 2 2 _ ^9 8 9 j2 2 1 (MCGG main oWc«> I t I K I
