Remembrance Walk funds
given to emergency services
HEPPNER
G T
50¢
azette
imes
VOL. 134
NO. 12
10 Pages
Wednesday, March 25, 2015
Morrow County, Heppner, Oregon
BMCC to take bond to
voters again
Friends Helping Friends committee members Kathi Dickenson (far left) and Mary Haguewood
centric by critics, so the (far right) present the proceeds from the St. Patrick’s Remembrance Walk/Run to Ione Fire
Chief Virgil Morgan (center left) and Heppner Fire Chief and EMS Coordinator Rusty Estes
college cut renovations (center right) in front of the Heppner Fire Hall Monday. The committee chose to donate this
to the pool and theater, as year’s event proceeds to fire and ambulance services in South Morrow County. The event,
well as the construction of held each year in the memory of community member and nurse Donna Schonbachler, raised
a new indoor arena for the $6,733.85 this year. Heppner and Ione fire departments received $3,366.92 between them, and
school’s rodeo team at the the South Morrow EMT Association received $3,366.93. –Photo by Andrea Di Salvo
BMCC President Camille Preus gave a presentation to the Hep-
pner Chamber of Commerce recently regarding the proposed
bond. –Photo by David Sykes
By David Sykes
Blue Mountain Com-
munity College will be
going out for a $23 million
bond levy in May, with the
money to be used for new
programs and facilities, and
to fix and upgrade existing
buildings and infrastruc-
ture.
The college held a simi-
lar levy for $28 million that
failed in November. And
after a listening tour and
input from the public, a
BMCC blue-ribbon panel
decided to pare the levy by
$5 million and try again. If
approved, the 15-year levy
will require a 25-cent-per-
thousand-dollars valuation
property tax to support it.
The last failed levy
was deemed too Pendleton-
Pendleton campus.
A partial run-down on
what the bond is going
to buy includes $3.2 mil-
lion for a precision irri-
gated agricultural facility
in Hermiston, a $4.7 mil-
lion workforce training
and early learning center in
Boardman, and $4.7 million
in work on the Agriculture
Center of Excellence in
Pendleton. There will also
be $1 million spent on in-
struction equipment for
diesel tech, dental, nursing
and other programs.
On the renovation side,
the college plans to spend
close to $12 million on
upgrades and repairs to
buildings, data center, tech-
nology and other college
infrastructure.
An example of one of
the projects on the bond is
a proposed precision irri-
gated agriculture facility in
Hermiston that would cre-
ate a partnership between
BMCC and Oregon State
University. Should the bond
pass, OSU has agreed to
provide the land to BMCC
for the facility at little or no
cost in exchange for use of
the building.
SPECIFICS OF BOND
PROJECTS
Hermiston Precision
Irrigated Agriculture
Cost of whole project:
$3,229,470
Pendleton Agriculture
Center
A renovation of the
agriculture center on the
Pendleton campus would
allow for an expansion of
BMCC’s agriculture pro-
gram, allowing for a veteran
assistance program and
additional opportunities in
soil, horticulture and animal
sciences. Cost of renova-
tion: $2,250,000. Cost of
whole project: 4,782,360.
Boardman Workforce
Training & Early
Learning Center
A partnership with the
Port of Morrow would place
a workforce development
and early learning center
behind the SAGE Center if
the bond is approved. The
facility would house pro-
grams in advanced manu-
facturing—much needed
training for local jobs at
the Port of Morrow and
in surrounding communi-
ties—and early learning
in partnership with Inter-
Mountain ESD and Head
Start. The program would
also provide students in
BMCC’s early childhood
programs a chance to learn
and gain experience in the
field. Cost of construction:
$3,582,360. Cost of whole
project: $4,782,360.
Other Projects
Also included in the
bond is money that would
protect the community’s
investment in BMCC facili-
ties, which are 53 years old.
A front entry renova-
tion in Milton-Freewater
would improve safety at the
facility, while updated tech-
nology infrastructure and
classroom technology at
the Pendleton Campus and
Milton-Freewater, Hemis-
ton and Boardman centers
would improve students’
learning environments and
potential for distance learn-
ing opportunities.
Improved security
and surveillance, includ-
ing lighting, ADA access
and surveillance cameras,
would also take place at all
BMCC locations in Uma-
tilla and Morrow coun-
ties. The Pendleton campus
would also receive a sec-
ondary access road to the
facility for use in emergen-
cy situations. The HVM and
electrical systems would
also be upgraded if the bond
were to be approved.
Proctor retires from Bank of EO, beautification committee
“Wherever we lived—
Hermiston, La Grande,
Heppner—we had a child
in each place,” says Proctor.
“We moved here in ’86 and
decided this was where we
wanted to raise a family.”
While Mike continued
his career with Les Schwab,
moving from sales to as-
sistant manager to manager,
Proctor says she “worked
up and down Main Street,
a lot of different places.”
She spent some time at Les
Schwab as a bookkeeper,
but also drove school bus
for a while, worked at Coast
to Coast Hardware, co-
owned Green Feed and
Seed with Mike for several
years, and worked as a jani-
tor for the county.
“I loved taking care
of the courthouse. It’s a
pretty special building,”
says Proctor, adding that
she also loved doing the
landscaping around the
historic building.
Proctor describes gar-
dening as a “passion,” and
that passion may be one
thing for which she is best
known around Heppner.
She says she came by
her love of gardening and
landscaping from her par-
ents.
“My dad had the veg-
etable garden and my mom
had the flower garden,
so I had the best of both
worlds,” she recalls.
Proctor was instrumen-
tal in getting the faltering
Heppner Garden Club go-
ing again when the Proc-
tors bought the feed store
in 1990.
“We told the garden
club we’d sponsor them if
they started up again,” says
Jim Benson and Haryss Padberg with Haryss’s 49” sturgeon. Proctor.
Then, after the couple
–Contributed photo
By Andrea Di Salvo
Bank of Eastern Ore-
gon customers may already
be missing the friendly face
of bank teller Kay Proctor,
who retired March 6.
Proctor, 60, spent nine
and a half years as a part-
time teller at the bank.
While many people might
crave promotions or career
advancement, she said she
was happy right where she
was.
“I loved working with
the public,” she says. And
that, she says, is what she
will miss as she retires.
“There’s a lot of good peo-
ple in this community who
I won’t see as often.”
While Proctor’s career
with the bank was relatively
short, she has a long his-
tory in the Heppner com-
munity. Born and raised
in nearby Hermiston, she
graduated from Hermis-
ton High School in 1972.
She then spent a couple
of years in Seattle before
returning to Hermiston in
1974. She married Mike
Proctor in 1978. They con-
tinued living in Hermiston
until Mike’s work with
Les Schwab Tires moved
the couple to La Grande in
1983; they remained there
three years, moving to Hep-
pner in 1986.
In that time, the cou-
ple’s three children, Josie,
Julie and Roy, were born.
G-T Trophy Corner
sold the feed store in 1998,
Proctor herself became an
active member of the gar-
den club. Aside from her
own garden work, Proctor
can also be seen around
town talking to Yard of the
Month recipients and shar-
ing their stories with the
Gazette-Times.
Around the time she
joined the garden club, in
the early 2000s, Proctor
recalls that the City of Hep-
pner’s Beautification Com-
mittee also was formed.
“I think I joined (the
committee) on their third
meeting,” she says. She
was an active member of
that committee for the next
15 years. She stepped down
recently after completing
her final project with the
committee, Heppner’s new
“talking rocks.”
While Proctor has re-
tired from work and the
Kay Proctor, who recently retired from her position as part-
-See PROCTOR RETIRES/ time teller at the Bank of EO, helps customer Mike Gorman.
PAGE TWO –Photo by April Sykes
Area pastors invited to submit
Easter messages
Easter is April 5. The Heppner Gazette-Times invites area
pastors to submit Easter messages to be published in the paper’s
April 1 edition. The deadline is Friday, March 27, at 5 p.m.
Messages can be dropped off at the Gazette office, emailed
to editor@rapidserve.net, or faxed to 541-676-9211. Call 541-676-
9228 with questions.
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