Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About Heppner gazette-times. (Heppner, Or.) 1925-current | View Entire Issue (April 22, 2015)
Boardman police chief appointed to Port commission HEPPNER G T 50¢ azette imes VOL. 134 NO. 16 8 Pages Wednesday, April 22, 2015 Morrow County, Heppner, Oregon At a special meeting April 6, the Port of Mor- row Commissioners voted to appoint Boardman Chief of Police Rick Stokoe to fill the board vacancy com- missioner Don Russell will leave when he resigns. Stokoe lives in Board- man with his wife of 22 years and is active in sev- eral community organiza- tions, as well as being on the board of directors of the Oregon Association Chiefs of Police. He has served 25 years in the field of public safety, three of those years as Chief of Police for the City of Boardman. Stokoe says though Commissioner Rus- he feels his years of law sell will be truly missed, I enforcement experi- am confident that I ence have given him have the right expe- the opportunity to rience, energy and learn about the “in- judgment to ably tricacies of govern- complete his term. ment,” including the I look forward to legislative process serving with the rest and the relationship of the commission- between the state Rick Stokoe ers to keep the Port and local munici- of Morrow moving palities. forward in a positive and “It is my sincere goal proactive manner,” said to continue to contribute Stokoe. “The Port Manager to the betterment of all of Gary Neal and his strong our county in order to pro- team of employees have vide the brightest possible done a great job and I plan future for my children and -See POM BOARD/PAGE SIX our future generations. Al- Getting to Retiring hospice volunteer is grateful Getting to know your for life lessons of ‘living through dying’ know your process of “living through exchange On March 31, the Rev. exchange Carolyn dying to a peaceful death.” M. Willey retired In the late 1980s, Wil- students from her role as Pioneer students ley was introduced to hos- Memorial Hospice vol- Jan Glasen Age 18, Junior, Heppner Where are you from? Kai- serslautern, Germany, about 1-1/2 hours outside of Frankfurt Host Parents: Brian & Amy Kollman What do you think of Heppner? “When I first came here, it was weird. The city I come Jan Glasen from is like the size of Kennewick or Richland, about 100,000 people. I came into Pas- co and then, driving from Hermiston to Lexington, there was nothing, just des- ert. Then, coming into Lex- ington, everything was built in this old Western style. There are all these farms. Everyone has all these acres and, of course, we don’t, because in Germany there’s no room.” How has the experience been for you? “It was pretty cool. I came here at fair time. That was interesting. Football was just a great experi- ence, to be part of a team, the team spirit. That’s what got me the most, the team spirit.” What was the most difficult thing about this experi- ence? “Because you have those cultural differences, you might say something that you mean to be nice, but here it might sound rude, because I guess we just speak differently. The beginning of school was hard, getting to know peo- ple and the language. I had a lot of trouble with the accent.” What did you like best? “You have a feeling of freedom. Everything is so big. I don’t feel they have that many restrictions like we do. That’s really cool. Of course, the food can unteer after 13 years and 1,432 total volunteer hours logged. Willey, who will be 79 this year, began life on a farm outside of Buhl, ID, where she was born at home. She says her grand- mother wrapped her in a receiving blanket and placed her in the stove to keep warm; years later, she visited her grandmother and saw that same stove still sitting in the house. From that humble be- ginning, her life would take a winding and varied road. She graduated from Buhl High School, but then her path took her eastward for many years. She earned an Associate in Arts degree from Colorado Women’s College in Denver and then a Bachelor of Independent Rev. Carolyn Willey retired as long-time hospice volunteer at the end of last month. Willey was instrumental in helping to start the local hospice program. –Photo by Andrea Di Salvo Study from the University of South Florida in Tampa. She then went on to earn her Master of Divinity degree from Chicago Theological Seminary, becoming an ordained minister. “My life opened,” she says. “I didn’t seek any of it.” -See HOSPICE VOLUN- TEER RETIRES/PAGE TWO Heppner council endorses BMCC bond passage By David Sykes The Heppner city coun- cil voted unanimously last Monday to support the up- coming BMCC bond levy. Blue Mountain Community College will be going out for a $23 million levy in May, with the money to be used for new programs and facilities, and to fix and upgrade existing buildings and infrastructure. The college held a simi- lar levy for $28 million that failed in November, and the college pared down the request and decided to bring it back again for voter approval. A t l a s t M o n d a y ’s council meeting Friends of BMCC members Chris Brown and Louis Carlson, who are handling Morrow County’s efforts to pass the levy, asked the council to show its support. “Let’s keep our young people home,” Carlson told -See EXCHANGE STU- the council. “But we need to DENT/PAGE FOUR give them the training for the jobs that are right here in Morrow County.” BMCC Morrow Coun- ty Coordinator Anne Morter was also in attendance, and she also urged the council to show support for the college. “People will come from all over to get this training (that the new facilities will offer),” she said. “It is get- ting bigger and bigger all the time.” The council responded and voted unanimously in favor of a resolution of support. In other business the council voted unanimously to give all city employees a 2.45 percent pay increase for fiscal year 2015-16. The increase is based on the Portland CPI, or con- sumer price index, which is a measure of the average change in prices in a fixed market basket of goods and services over the past six months. In other business the Heppner native helps bring Pendleton Underground to life Those who know Hep- pner native Chris Sykes won’t be surprised that he has a bit of acting in his blood, but they may not know he gets to let it shine every year during Pendle- ton’s Underground Comes to Life tours. Sykes, 37, is the son of David and April Sykes of Heppner. He now works with brother, Andrew Sykes, operating Sykes Brothers Printing in Pendle- ton, which is coincidentally located right on top of the Pendleton Underground. It was through a friendship with Brooke McKay and She began her ministry in 1966 on Longboat Key, FL. Her lifelong journey with hospice care began after attending two day- long seminars presented by Dr. Elizabeth Kubler-Ross based on her book “Death and Dying.” Willey says she awakened then to the pice care within her con- gregation in Bradenton, FL. Then, at a hospice team meeting as a volunteer hos- pice chaplain, she says she witnessed the support and care for her client as a whole person—physically, emotionally, mentally and spiritually—and the sup- port offered to the client’s family. A hospice team con- sists of at least a doctor, nurse, aide, social worker or counselor, chaplain and, as needed, volunteers making visits wherever the client lived. “I saw so much change come in their lives when they had this kind of sup- port,” she recalls. In 1992, Willey be- council heard a report about progress on a new proposed fire hall in Heppner. Coun- cilmember Corey Sweeney is heading up a commit- tee to build the new hall, which would be located on Riverside Street. Sweeney said after taking in five bids the city has chosen the engineering firm of CK3 from Ontario to design and engineer the new hall. A cost analysis will now be done to determine how much money is needed for construction. The city has some funds and will seek grant money to help, but expects to ask voters for a bond levy to complete construction of the larger, newer facility. The present facility on Willow Street is too small and is in a dete- riorating condition. In other fire depart- ment business, Chief Rusty Estes gave the following report for activity in the month of March: two rural wild land fires, one tractor fire, secured the helicopter landing zone three times, one motor vehicle accident, two structure fires, five lift assists, two smoke alarm in- vestigations, one mountain rescue and 29 chief calls. In other business the council accepted a sheriff’s department contract for po- lice protection in the com- ing fiscal year, which will stay the same. However, the department warned that next year there would most likely be an increase. “I feel it is important to note that this contract has stayed ‘static’ with very lit- tle change in cost to the city for an inordinate amount of time,” Undersheriff Steven Myren wrote in a letter to the city. “I cannot stress enough that next year we must begin to try and bring our contracts up to match our labor costs. I am hop- ing that our willingness to accommodate your needs this fiscal year will translate into a desire to meet us part way next year,” he told the council. Myren emphasized that the reason the sheriff’s de- partment was able to hold the line was that the depart- ment had two new deputies this year that are at entry level salaries, and therefore cost less than a “mid-level” deputy would. In other action the council approved two ani- mal permits inside the city limits. One was to Zach Bredfield at 560 Cowins St. for two pigs for Morrow County Fair animals, and the other was to Zabrena Masterson at 275 Church St. for two Morrow County Fair sheep. Len Havermeier Age 16, Junior, Heppner Where are you from? Lüdinghau- sen, Germa- ny, about an hour from the Nether- lands Len Host Par- Havermeier ents: Ray- mond & Jennifer Cecil What do you think of Hep- pner? “Small towns. Ger- many is big cities. Here’s… nothing. But it’s nice. You know everyone.” How has the experience been for you? “It was really good. I saw a lot. I’ve been to Boise, ID, Portland, Las Vegas.” What was the most difficult thing about this experi- ence? “At the beginning, the language, of course.” What did you like best? “At my school (in Germany) we didn’t have sports at all. I enjoy sports, so that was kind of nice for me. I went skiing with the outdoor club and that was a lot of fun. We went camp- ing, also.” Did you have the chance to attend any special events? What did you think of that experience? “I played football, bas- ketball, and now I’m in track. That’s what I enjoy. I went to Homecoming. It was okay but it wasn’t just the dance, it was the before and after, hanging out at someone’s house, movie night, good food.” Any other thoughts? “My brother just turned 19 and he went to Idaho Falls. That’s the main rea- son I went on an exchange. Most of my friends don’t want to go because they don’t know if they’ll get a good placement. I think you have to take the step. I want more people to go. I think it’s great. “My host family went to Germany several years ago. My host mother lived there on a military base. My host brother and some friends will go (now) for two weeks and stay at my home. “We’ll travel around a little bit so they can see my country, also. We’ll go to Berlin, maybe Munich.” Rebates up to $ 1400 oFF + Financing as low as 1.99% apR w/ oac Chris Sykes, far left, with the group of misfits in the Pendleton Underground’s Shamerock Room. –Contributed photo Pam Severe, who work on tours nearly 10 years ago. the production, that he first “They asked me to act became involved in the -See PENDLETON UNDER- Underground Comes to Life GROUND/PAGE EIGHT HuRRY! sales event enDs apRil 30tH 2014 RangeR staRting at $8000 limiteD to stock on HanD Morrow County Grain Growers Lexington 989-8221 • 1-800-452-7396 For farm equipment, visit our web site at www.mcgg.net ALL NEWS AND ADVERTISEMENT DEADLINE: MONDAYS AT 5:00 P.M.
