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.”
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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
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