Thursday storm gives South
Morrow a wild ride
Bessie W e tze ll N ew spaper Library
U niversity o f Oregon
Eugene, OR 9 7 4 0 3
By Andrea Di Salvo
VOL. 133
NO. 44 8 Pages Wednesday, December 17, 2014
/O n th eh iside~r^ s
Obituaries ....
TWO
PAGE
Church & Community
Hews.... PAGE TWO
Morrow County, Heppner, Oregon
Last Thursday’s wind­
storm may not have been
strong enough to transport
someone to Oz, but many
area residents might have
been afraid they would take
flight in wind gusts that the
National Weather Service
reported reached up to 88
mph locally.
While no major dam­
age has been reported, items
ranging from shingles to
wheel lines received a lift
throughout Morrow County
during the blustery after­
noon.
Sustained winds aver­
aged in the low 50s, with
gusts into the 80s through­
out South Morrow County.
Oregon Dept, of Trans­
portation (ODOT) reported
that the road damage in
Morrow County seemed
confined to downed road
signs; several signs still
rest on temporary supports
along highways 74 and 207.
Tom Strandberg at the
ODOT Region 5 office
said other areas weren't so
lucky.
“ In Umatilla County
we had a truck blow over
and damage some guardrail
on OR11 east of Pendleton.
It was pretty w ild,” said
Strandberg.
Nope, these cookies aren’t for Santa
Baking Christmas treats is an act o f good citizenship for these
4-H youth and volunteers
Mustang Wrestling ...
PAGE THREE
Mustang Boys' Basket­
ball.... PAGE THREE
Mustang Girls' Basket­
ball.... PAGE FOUR
Mustang Sport Sched­
ules .... PAGE FOUR
USD A News .... PAGE
FOUR
Chamber Chatter ....
PAGE FIVE
Sheriff's Report
PAGE FIVE
....
Classified A ds.... PAGE
SEVEN
Cardinal Basketball....
PAGE EIG H T
Cardinal Sports Sched­
ules .... PAGE EIGHT
Morrow County 4-H members and volunteers made more than 600 cookies last week for distribution to community organiza­
tions and businesses. Pictured from left to right are master bakers (back) Grace Crum, Lexie Garrett, Eva Martin, Miranda
Taylor, Zabrena Masterson, Renee Peterson, MaLinda Morter, (front) Jayne Simpson, Grace Ogden, Mackenzie Heideman,
Madison Orem, Havlie Peterson, Cecilia McElligott and Hailey Heideman. Not pictured: Morgan Orem. -Contributedphoto
Morrow County 4-H
members stirred, rolled,
baked and delivered more
than 600 cookies to lo­
cal communities this past
week. During a workshop
held at lone Community
Church on Friday, Dec. 12,
4-H members and volun­
teers baked seven different
Christmas cookie recipes,
creatively decorated cook­
ies like gingerbread and
sugar cookies, then plated
them up to donate to local
community organizations
and businesses.
Sixteen youth mem­
bers baked the following
recipes: Christmas magic
seven-layer cookie bars,
C hristm as w hoopie pie
-See CHRISTMAS COOKIES
/PAGE TWO
Rep. Smith appointed to key committees for
2015 legislative session
S A L E M -R ep. G reg
Smith (R -H eppner) an ­
nounced that he has been
appointed by House Speak­
er Tina Kotek to the follow­
ing committee assignments
for the 78th Assembly of the
Oregon Legislature:
-Joint Committee on
Ways and Means, Vice Co-
Chair;
-General Government
Subcommittee on Ways and
Means, Co-Chair;
-Capitol Construction
Subcommittee on Ways and in order to run for governor.
Means; and
“I am honored
-Joint Commit­
that Speaker Kotek
tee on Legislative
and Leader McLane
Administration.
would entrust me
Rep. Smith was
w ith these p o s i­
also appointed by
tio n s,” said Rep.
H ouse R e p u b li­ Representative Smith.
“ I look forward
can Leader Mike Greg Smith
M cLane to serve
to continuing serv­
as the House Republican ing District 57, our state,
Caucus Budget Chair. This and House Republicans in
position was vacated by 2015.”
Rep. Dennis Richardson,
“Rep. Smith and I will
who did not seek re-election be working closely together
to craft a Republican re­
sponse to the governor’s
proposed bu d g et,” said
McLane. “I appreciate his
willingness to serve in this
leadership capacity.”
Hermiston Chamber of
Commerce Executive Di­
rector Debbie Pedro stated,
“Once again, Rep. Smith
shows his ability to be a
leader for Eastern Oregon.
We will continue to be well
represented in Salem.”
“We are pleased to see
Celebrate Heppner this Thursday with Santa,
Scrooge, prizes and shopping rewards
R ew ards cards and
shopping local bring Christ­
mas to Heppner with the
Celebrate Heppner Christ­
mas event this Thursday,
Dec. 18, starting at 6 p.m.
at the Morrow County Fair­
grounds.
Anyone who has been
busy collecting rewards
cards for shopping local
is reminded to bring them
and come and participate
in this annual community
get-together.
The event will start
with a dinner o f lasagna,
salad, roll, beverage and
dessert served by Corner­
stone Gallery. The cost is
$7 per guest, or $20 for
a family o f four ($5 for
each additional person from
the same household). Also
available will be a no-host
beer and wine bar provided
G-T Trophy Corner
Joseph Zellars, 15, with the doe he harvested Thanksgiving
weekend during the Morrow County youth doe hunt. The doe,
bagged in the north end of the county, was Joe's second in two
years. Joe attends Riverside Jr./Sr. High School in Boardman;
he is the son of Casey Zellars of Boardman and grandson of
Jim Zellars of Pendleton. Contributed photo
by Bucknum’s. Attendees
will also receive a $10 re­
wards card for every meal
purchased.
During the evening, be
on the lookout for Scrooge,
and see if you can get him
to hand over a reward card
or two before the evening’s
drawings.
Families will have the
opportunity to have a pic­
ture taken with Santa from
Think you
missed
your
chance to
send in a
Trophy Corner photo?
Whether you bagged
deer. elk. marlin or
marmoset, we still want
to hear from you.
Email photos and
details to editor@
rapidserve.net, stop by
to have your picture
taken, text 541-980-
6674 or
drop them
o ff at our
office.
ALL NEWS AND ADVERTISEMENT DEADLINE:
MONDAYS AT 5:00 P.M.
[
6-7 p.m.; cost is $5 per
picture.
Penny board and raffle
basket items will be set
up in the dance hall, with
reward card prizes set up
in the annex. Penny board
and raffle tickets need to
be purchased and rewards
cards with names clearly
printed on them need to
Rep. Smith appointed to
these leadership roles. His
budget expertise will be
beneficial to his colleagues,
and will serve our growing
communities w ell,” said
M ilton-Freewater Mayor
Lewis Key.
Rep. Smith is joined
by two other legislators
serving as the most senior
members of the 60-member
Oregon House. Smith has
served in the Oregon House
since 2001.
Morrow County Sher­
iff” s office received reports
of road hazards that ranged
from a downed tree across
H ighway 74 outside o f
Lexington, to a wheel line
blown into the road near the
intersection of Alpine Lane
and Bombing Range, to
tumbleweeds that blocked
the roadway on Highway
207 near North Lex.
The most dangerous
driving obstacle that day
wasn't on the ground, how­
ever. Highway 207 was
closed from Little Butter
Creek to Baseline Road for
a while due to blowing sand
that brought visibility down
to zero.
Closer to the city limits,
the wind threatened injury
and property damage as it
overturned swing sets and
fanned the flames of con­
trolled bums in backyards.
Lexington residents
reported that two carports
had blown away.
One caller near Pioneer
Memorial Hospital reported
a trampoline that was blow­
ing around.
The wind also dam ­
aged the buildings at the
old Kinzua Mill site, and
one observer noted that the
doors on the sheep bam at
the county fairgrounds had
almost been ripped “off
their hinges.”
Another inconvenience
to area residents was a
power outage that occurred
in part of Heppner and most
o f Lexington Thursday
afternoon.
Josh C oiner o f C o­
lumbia Basin Electric said
most of the problems that
occurred were due to tree
branches blown into power
lines; a feeder line that runs
from Heppner to Lexing­
ton was affected, causing
outages in the area around
Heppner High School and
the sh e riff’s office and
down the valley to Lex­
ington.
O therw ise, he said,
“Most o f Heppner would
have just seen a flicker.”
“The rest of the outages
we had were fairly isolated,
up in the timber country,”
Coiner said, adding that
Umatilla Electric got hit
much worse. “We’re fortu­
nate our system’s in good
shape and we didn’t have
much damage.”
G-T closed for
Christmas,
New Year’s
The Gazette-Times will be closed Thursday, Dec. 25,
and Friday, Dec. 26, for the Christmas holiday. Normal
business hours will resume Monday, Dec. 29.
The Gazette-Times will also be closed Hiursday,
Jan. 1, for New Year’s Day. Normal business hours will
resume Friday, Jan. 2.
We wish everyone a safe and happy Christmas
season and New Year.
-See CELEBRA TE HEP­
PNER /PAGE TWO
Area pastors invited to submit
Christmas messages
Businesses, individuals also invited to send in Christmas
greetings
The Heppner Gazette-
Times will publish a Christ­
mas edition on Dec. 24.
Area pastors are in­
vited to submit Christmas
messages to be published
in the Dec. 24 edition. The
deadline is Friday, Dec. 19,
at 5 p.m. Messages can be
dropped off at the Gazette
office, emailed to editor@
rapidserve.net, or faxed to
541-676-9211.
Any businesses or in­
dividuals who would like
to purchase space on our
special Christmas greeting
page in the Dec. 24 Gazette
should call 541-676-9228
or email m egan@ rapid-
serve.net by Monday, Dec.
22, at 5 p.m.
CLOSING AT NOON CHRISTMAS
CLOSED CHRISTAAAS DAY!
OPEN DECEM BER 26TH & 27TH
M ERRY CH RISTM AS
Morrow County Grain Growers
Lexington 989-8221 » 1-800-452-7396
Tor finn
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