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About Heppner gazette-times. (Heppner, Or.) 1925-current | View Entire Issue (March 4, 2015)
Heppner Gazette-Times, Heppner, Oregon Wednesday, March 4, 2015 Ramos recognized by Ione school board Bink Ramos was recognized for his service at the February meeting of the Ione School Board. Ramos has been a board member for eight years and recently moved out of the district. “It has been a pleasure to work with Bink over the years,” said Board Chair Bill Jepsen. “He will be greatly missed.” Pictured (L-R) are Bink Ramos and Bill Jepsen. –Contributed photo Revisiting ‘Higher Ground’ Local residents and history buffs are invited to the SAGE Center theater April 4 at 2:30 p.m. for a free viewing of “Higher Ground,” the story of relo- cating the Boardman com- munity in the 1960s. Boardman’s reloca- tion was necessary due to construction of the John Day Dam, 60 miles west of Boardman. Small Columbia River communities along Oregon and Washington shores were demolished and relocated to provide electric power generation and flood control for the Portland area. The movement of four towns—Arlington, Board- man and Umatilla, OR, and Roosevelt, WA—as well as l40 miles of railroad, 87 miles of roads and many people with firmly estab- lished daily lives required patience, understanding, discussions aplenty, nego- tiations and, in some cases, legal proceedings. The SAGE Center is located at 101 Olson Road, Boardman. The movie starts at 2:30 p.m., but attendees are invited to come early and tour the SAGE Center for free. “Higher Ground” was the winner of the 2007 Or- egon Heritage Commission Award of Excellence. The viewing is presented by the North Morrow Community Foundation. For more infor- mation, email cnrmichael@ gmail.com. - THREE Wranglers set 2015 Show Irish pride, support the play dates The Wranglers Riding Club met on Feb. 18 and set the dates for this year’s play dates. Play dates for 2015 will be on Sundays, beginning at noon with a potluck lunch and events starting at 1 p.m. Membership dues for the year will be $55 per fam- ily, $40 for an individual 18 or over, and $15 for a single day. Wrangler members also planned for the annual can drive, which will start on Sunday, March 15. A trailer will be parked in the back parking lot of Les Schwab in Heppner through Thurs- day, March 19, with club members there to sort cans on the evening of the 19 th . “Our can drive is our biggest fundraiser and helps us to pay for the insur- ance we need to use the fairgrounds, and to pay for our awards,” said a club representative. “If you have some cans or bottles that you would like to get rid of, please bring them dur- ing this time! We really appreciate the community’s support.” The club also will be having a Bunco night fun- draiser on Saturday, March 21. Anyone looking for an evening out is invited to call the sitter and come support a good cause. The Wranglers’ next meeting will be Wednes- day, March 11, at 6 p.m. in the conference room of the Gilliam-Bisbee building on Main Street in Hep- pner. Anyone interested in participating in this year’s events is asked to please try to attend this meeting. celebration with buttons and can cozies While everyone ap- preciates the free events that take place over the St. Patrick’s Day weekend, not everyone may realize ex- actly what it takes to make those events available…or what they can do to help. One way the general public can help fund the many free events is by purchasing the $3 buttons designed by Julie Baker and sold by the St. Patrick’s Celebration Committee. The buttons are sold at Murray’s Drug, Com- munity Bank and Heppner City Hall; they are also sold at various events dur- ing the celebration. Each button purchased gets the purchaser a chance to win $100 in a prize drawing; one drawing at the Irish Boxing Smoker on Friday and one drawing at the Ceili on Saturday afternoon. The committee also Queen tryouts for the May 23-24 Spray Rodeo will sells can cozies for $3 each take place Saturday, March 21, at 1 p.m. at the Spray to raise funds. They are Rodeo Grounds. available for sale at the Contestants do not need to be local or Wheeler County same locations as the but- residents. They must be at least 15 years old, and must never have been married or had children, For further information or an application, call 541- 468-2442. Spray Rodeo queen tryouts planned Fr. Condon’s Play to be held March 12 The original drama, “A Thought of Hope”, featur- ing the St. Pat’s Players and written and directed by F. Gerry Condon, will be held at the St. Patrick’s Parish hall Thursday, March 12, at 7:30 p.m. Admission is free, but donations will be accepted. Proceeds will go to the St. Patrick’s Parish Hall restora- tion project. Heppner TSA places in graphics, architecture St. Patrick’s Celebration but- tons and can cozies, priced at $3 each, help keep many of the Wee Bit O’ Ireland events free to the public. –Contributed photos tons and come in four de- signs, each designed to show Irish pride while keeping the St. Patrick’s celebration alive. Talent show added to St. Pat’s lineup A new event for Heppner’s St. Patrick’s Celebration this year is a talent show on Saturday, March 14, at 6 p.m., right before entertainment by the Gothard Sisters. There will be tryouts for the talent show Sunday, March 8, at 6 p.m. at the St. Patrick’s parish hall. All ages and all talents are welcome...dance, vocal, piano, instrumental, etc. This event is for enjoyment only and will not be judged. For more information, contact Leanne Lindsay at 541-379-6331. USDA provides one-time extension to update base acres or yield history for ARC/PLC Programs Farmers now have until March 31 to update yields and reallocate base acres; deadline for choosing between ARC and PLC remains March 31 WA S H I N G T O N , D.C.—Agriculture Sec- retary Tom Vilsack an- nounced last week that a one-time extension will be provided to producers for the new safety-net pro- grams established by the 2014 Farm Bill, known as Agriculture Risk Cover- age (ARC) and Price Loss Coverage (PLC). The final day to update yield history or reallocate base acres has been extended one addi- tional month, from Feb. 27 to March 31. The final day for farm owners and producers to choose ARC or The Heppner High School TSA (Technology Student Association) Chapter participated in the PLC coverage also remains Oregon Winter TSA Competition at Blue Mountain Community College recently. Heppner placed first and second in Promotional Graphics, designing a poster to advertise a charity March 31. If no changes are made to yield history or base acres by March 31, the farm’s current yield and base will be used. A pro- gram choice of ARC or PLC coverage also must be made by March 31, or there will be no 2014 pay- ments for the farm and the farm will default to PLC coverage through the 2018 crop year. “These are complex decisions, which is why we launched a strong education and outreach campaign back in September. Now we’re providing a one-time extension of an additional month so that every pro- ducer is fully prepared to enroll in this program,” said Vilsack. Covered commodities include barley, canola, large and small chickpeas, corn, crambe, flaxseed, grain sor- ghum, lentils, mustard seed, oats, peanuts, dry peas, rapeseed, long grain rice, medium grain rice (which includes short grain rice), safflower seed, sesame, soybeans, sunflower seed and wheat. Upland cotton is no longer a covered com- modity. To learn more, farmers can contact the local Farm Service Agency county of- fice at 541-676-9011. event. Heppner students also placed second and third in Architectural Renovation, design- ing a house and building a model. Heppner TSA did not place in Computer Aided Drafting (3D Design). The Oregon Spring TSA Competition will be April 23 at BMCC. The events will include Dragster Design, Fashion Design and Technology Problem Solving. Pictured: TSA participants (L-R) Tim Gould, Kane Sweeney, Kolby Currin, Kai Arbogast, Daichi Walters, Ross Cutsforth, Bryan Fowler, Jerimiah Petzoldt, Jesse Boyd and Taylor Hamby, with Cade Arbogast in front. –Contributed photo Irrigon students move First up in Battle of the Friday Friends Books competition Warm weather, low moisture expected to continue this month of Jesus this week According to NOAA’s National Weather Service in Pendleton, the warm trend that has marked most of this winter will continue into March. According to prelimi- nary data received by the Pendleton NWS, tempera- tures at Heppner averaged much warmer than normal during the month of Febru- ary. The average temper- ature was 43.6 degrees, which was 5.8 degrees above normal. High tem- peratures averaged 53.4 de- grees, which was 6 degrees above normal. The highest was 65 degrees on the sixth. Low temperatures averaged 33.9 degrees, which was 5.7 degrees above normal. The lowest was 17 degrees, on the 22 nd . There were 10 days with a low temperature below 32 degrees. Precipitation totaled 0.81 inches during Febru- ary, which was 0.31 inches below normal. Measurable precipitation of at least .01 inch was received on 10 days with the heaviest, 0.34 inches, reported on the 28 th . Precipitation this year has reached 1.28 inches, which is 1.31 inches below normal. Since October, the water-year precipitation at Heppner has been 5.32 inches, which is 1.33 inches below normal. The outlook for March from NOAA’s Climate Pre- diction Center calls for above-normal temperatures and near- to below-normal precipitation. Normal highs for Heppner rise from 51 degrees at the start of March to 58 degrees at the end of March. Normal lows rise from 30 degrees to 36 de- grees. The 30-year normal precipitation is 1.52 inches. The National Weather Service is an office of the National Oceanic and At- mospheric Administration, an agency of the U.S. Com- merce Department. This month’s edition of First Friday Friends of Jesus will be held on Friday, March 6, from 8 a.m. to noon at All Saints Episcopal parish hall in Heppner. This monthly program is offered free of charge to all children in the community ages four to 12, and includes Bible stories, music, crafts and games, concluding with a free lunch. More information is available by calling the office of the Shared Ministry of Hope Lutheran Church and All Saints Episcopal Church at 541-676-9970. Pictured are third- through fifth-grade champions, The Titans, (L-R) Kaleb Nielson, Isaias Gomez, Cyrus Piel and Anthony Standley, as well as the sixth- through eighth-grade champions, Brody & the 3 Es (L-R) Brody Sowards, Emma Mueller, Emily Sorensen and Ella Hagel. –Contributed photo IRRIGON—Morrow County School District and Ir- rigon Elementary School have announced that they are sending two teams to the Oregon Battle of the Books re- gional competition at Blue Mountain Community College in Pendleton this Saturday, March 7. Both teams qualified for the March 7 tournament by winning school-level competitions in their respective grade spans. This is the first time in Irrigon Elementary history that teams have attended the regional event.
