Image provided by: Morrow County Museum; Heppner, OR
About Heppner gazette-times. (Heppner, Or.) 1925-current | View Entire Issue (Dec. 24, 2014)
I Bessie Wetzell Newspaper Library University of Oregon Eugene, OR 97403 VOL. 133 NO. 44 8 Pages Wednesday, December 24, 2014 Heppner celebrates Christmas Morrow County, Heppner, Oregon The Reason fo r the Season... This nativity scene, or creche, in front of the Christian Life Center glows in the twilight as it celebrates the “Reason for the Season.” For more Christmas inspiration from area churches, see PAGE SIX; Christmas greetings from local businesses are found on pages FOUR and FIVE. -Photo by Andrea Di Salvo Lexington declares council vacancies The Town of Lexington has declared three council vacancies following the Nov. 4, 2014 general elec tion. Lexington was in the unusual position of having openings for the mayoral and all four council posi tions this election, with only one candidate, Deona Siex, running for Lexington Town Council Position 2. W hile all the other council positions received w rite-in votes, Morrow C o u n ty C le rk B obbi Childers says only mayoral write-in candidate, Arietta Arnspiger, responded to accept her election. Since none of the other write-in vote winners responded to accept the council positions by the Dec. 19 deadline, those council positions remain vacant for the time being. Lexington City R e corder Kevin McCabe says the Town of Lexington is now seeking letters of inter est for council positions 1, 3 and 4. Letters should be ad dressed to Town ofLexing ton, PO Box 416, Lexing ton, OR 97839 and need to Enoc, Emily and Adrian Sanchez are all smiles after their conversation with Santa at the Hep pner Chamber of Commerce's annual Celebrate Heppner Christmas event. The festive evening last Thursday featured food, pictures with Santa, encounters with Scrooge, and numerous prize drawings sponsored by local businesses. Photo by Megan Putter CREZ makes grant awards Commits funds to housing and “Community Enhancement By David Sykes The Columbia River Enterprise Zone (CREZ) last Friday awarded a total of $500,0*00 in grant funds throughout the county, ear marking half for housing and the other half for "com munity enhancement.” The Willow Creek Val ley Economic Development Group (WCVEDG), rep resenting Heppner, Lex- ington and lone, received $100,000 to continue its popular housing grant pro gram. Under the program purchasers o f residential real estate can receive up to a $5,000 per purchase. Boardman also received $100,000, and Irrigon was awarded $50,000. Anyone in South Morrow County interested in the program details can contact WC- $ 100,000 for enhancement. CREZ disbursed money from funds received from various business which have located or expanded in the enterprise zone, located at the Port of Morrow near Boardman. The money is collected in lieu of higher property taxes, a technique used to entice new business to locate there. Local man killed in single car crash 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 Thursday, Jan. 1, for New Year's Day. Normal business hours will resume Friday, Jan. 2. Local man Ryan Bennett was killed when his car crashed into We wish everyone a safe and happy Christmas this airplane hangar between Bunker Hill Road and the old Kinzua Mill site. -Photo courtesy o f Oregon State Police season and New Year. G-T Trophy Corner VEDG director Sheryll Bates at 541-676-5536. In addition the CREZ also made $75,000 avail able to WCVEDG for use in a new community enhance ment program. Details of this program have not yet been worked out by the WCVEDG board of direc tors, but will be announced later. Irrigon also received $75,000 and Boardman ” Oregon State Police investigation into the Sat- (OSP) is continuing the urday morning car accident that killed 21 -year-old Ryan Bennett o f Heppner. The single vehicle crash oc curred on Highway 207 between Heppner and Lex ington. On D ecem ber 20 at 9:32 a.m., OSP troopers were dispatched to the sin gle-vehicle fatality crash on Highway 207 near milepost 42, between Bunker Hill Road and the Kinzua Mill site. According to inves tigators, Bennett’s 2002 Hyundai Elantra was south bound on Highway 207 and failed to negotiate a curve. His vehicle left the roadway and crashed into an airplane hangar adjacent to the highway. Bennett, who was the sole occupant in the ve hicle, died at the scene from injuries sustained in the crash. Investigators believe that speed was a contribut ing factor in the crash; seat- belt use was undetermined. OSP was assisted at the scene by Morrow County Sheriff’s Office. ODOT, and Heppner Fire Depart ment. -See obituary PAGE TWO American Sniper movie set for Christmas, January release dates Healy, 15, of Heppner bagged this cow elk recently in Bowl. - Contributed photo ALL NEWS AND For those who have been following the progress o f Heppner native Scott McEwen and his involve ment in “American Sniper: The Most Lethal Sniper in U.S. History,” there is a new m ilestone on the horizon. The American Sniper film,, directed by living legend Clint Eastwood and. starring Hollywood heavy hitter Bradley Cooper, will hit select theaters Christmas Day, with a general release Jan. 16. Unfortunately, lo cal viewers will have to wait, since that that Jan. 16 release date includes the aters in Hermiston, Pendle ton and the Tri-Cities. Along with Cooper, the film ’s cast also in cludes Sienna Miller, Luke Grimes, Jake McDorman, Cory Hardrict, Kevin Lacz, Navid Negahban and Keir O'Donnell. Oscar-winning filmmaker Clint Eastwood (“ Million Dollar Baby,” “U nforgiven” ) directed "American Sniper” from a screenplay w ritten by Jason Hall, based on the book by Chris Kyle, with McEwen and Jim DeFelice. The autobiography was a runaway bestseller, spend ing 18 weeks on the New York Times bestseller list, 13 of those at number one. Last time the Gazette- Times spoke with McEwen, he was pleased with the film’s progress. “I felt like the filming was really compelling. I felt like the storyline and the points that were getting into the scenes were amazingly well done. I’m not a pro Heppner native Scott McEwen was involved in the making of the American Sniper movie, which stars Bradley Cooper (pictured) as Navy SEAL sniper Chris Kyle. -Contributedphoto at this by any means, but Carthy of The Hollywood the scenes felt very, very Reporter wrote, “Starring a compelling to me,” he said. beefed-up and thoroughly -See AMERICAN SNIPER Reviewers in general MOV1EJPAGE THREE seem to agree. Todd Mc- Mcmfmaecoff. CLOSING AT NOON CHRISTMAS EVE CLOSED CHRISTMAS DAY! OPEN DECEMBER 26TH & 27TH CLOSED NEW YEARS DAY M o r r o w C o u n ty G r a in G r o w e r s G r e e n F e e d A S e e d 242 W. Linden Wiv. Heppner • 676-9422 • 989-8221 imcgo main offlc»
