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.