Heppner Gazette-Times, Heppner, Oregon Wednesday, May 13, 2015
- THREE
BARTHOLOMEW BUILDING Local youth attend writing festival
Alba G. Bartholomew was
Morrow County Judge during
the Heppner Flood in 1903.
–Contributed photo
-Continued from PAGE ONE
consider a Hero of the Hep-
pner Flood,” Byrd wrote
as a result of her research.
“He is worthy of having
his name on something in
Heppner.”
One of the past coun-
ty judge’s claims to fame
stands to this day, right next
to the building that will be
named in his honor. Bar-
tholomew was instrumental
in the construction of the
original Morrow County
Courthouse, and even put
in the landscaping himself.
As impressive as that
heritage is, however, the
reason to put his name on a
building goes much deeper.
Bartholomew, then 58,
was in his second term as
Morrow County Judge on
June 14, 1903.
He was also, as it hap-
pened, both the founder and
superintendent of the Meth-
odist Episcopal Church
South Sunday school.
On that June morning, he
and his 19-year-old son,
Fred, had 60 children at
the church rehearsing for
Children’s Day.
“When the rehearsal
was over Bartholomew re-
fused to let any of the chil-
dren go out into the storm,”
Byrd wrote. It was later
calculated that at least 23 of
those children would have
died trying to get home.
Bartholomew himself
lost neither his home nor
any of his family. He did,
however, have to make
major repairs to his Star
Rooming House.
The county judge was
also instrumental in the
aftermath of the flood.
“Two days after the
Flood, Bartholomew and
two other men were named
to the Relief Committee,
and it appears to me that he
interviewed all (or at least
most) of the survivors who
would—or would not—re-
ceive money or other sup-
port from funds donated
to the community,” Byrd
continued.
At the same time he
was helping the survivors,
Judge Bartholomew was
handling all the probate
proceedings and decisions
for the families of flood
victims. In the huge hand-
written Probate Journal D in
the Morrow County Court-
house basement is recorded
the fact that Judge Bar-
tholomew was responsible
for 94 estate proceedings of
victims’ families.
From Byrd’s book,
“Calamity,” p. 74, comes
more on Bartholomew’s
contribution to post-Flood
Morrow County: “he spent
parts of the next two and a
half months interviewing
survivors. Alba’s judicial
responsibilities must have
been just as taxing. Both
the legal and relief work
involved his friends and
neighbors, their children
and their spouses, their par-
ents, brothers and sisters.
Even in a county where op-
timism was the rule, every
family that came before him
was coping with sudden,
inexplicable loss.”
Bartholomew’s own
family experienced sud-
den loss when he died on
Nov. 2, 1903. His obitu-
ary declared, “The main
cause of his death was over-
work…he collapsed under
the strain of his labors of
attending to public and
private affairs….”
His granddaughter,
Mary Bartholomew Sether,
wrote a book, “The Judge’s
Family.” In it, Sether quotes
his obituary further:
“As county judge, his
administration of county
affairs has been very suc-
cessful and the present
satisfactory condition of
county matters is due to
his efforts. He was a man
of good judgment and was
probably one of the best
posted officials on county
matters in the state.
“While he was very
enterprising and progres-
sive, his first consideration
was for the public welfare.
COMMUNITY
WIDE
CLEAN UP
Organized by The City of Heppner
& Heppner Jr./Sr. High School
Mustang Mop-up Wednesday May 13th.
FREE Dumpster for waste collection available
at the City Yard on Riverside Ave.- May 13th
through Sunday May 24th . There will also be a
spot to leave yard debris and burnable material. Any
residents that are unable to transport their
debris to the yard can contact City Hall for
pickup prior to Mustang Mop Up day. The material
must be bagged and ready to haul.
The City will not accept tires, hazardous waste or
household chemicals.
Please contact the City of Heppner
for more information 541-676-9618.
The building of Morrow
County’s fine stone court
house was largely due to
his enterprise. He was one
of the promoters in the
building of the IOOF stone
block and other substantial
monuments that stand today
in his memory…”
In fact, that row of
stone buildings on the west
edge of Main Street turned
the flood waters and saved
both the business district
and an untold number of
lives.
When Sykes passed
Byrd’s findings on to Tall-
man, the choice immedi-
ately resonated with the
current county judge, who
passed Byrd’s write-up on
to the commissioners.
“Not only did he do
something to get that build-
ing (the courthouse) built,
but he did all those things
to serve the flood victims of
Morrow County, both those
who lived and those who
died. He put a lot of work
into doing that,” Tallman
said. “It (the name) wasn’t
a stretch. It almost seemed
like a no-brainer.”
The Bartholomew
Building is scheduled for
completion October 1-10
of this year, Tallman said.
“Our schedule right
now says we’re gonna be
there,” he added.
Byrd was offered the
$100 prize for finding the
new building’s name, but
said she would like to do-
nate the money to the Farm
Foundation for the Heritage
Museum.
On Friday, May 1,
a few local students and
teachers went to Portland to
attend the Oregon Writing
Festival, an event for fourth
through 12 th graders, and
even adults, to learn about
and improve their writing
skills.
About 750 students
from across the state at-
tended, including five from
Heppner: Kellie Eadler,
Cara Arbogast, and Joe,
Demi and Olivia Schmidt,
accompanied by teachers
John Flaherty and Andrea
Nelson.
In addition to attend-
ing the Writing Festival,
the group learned about
Chinese culture and plants
at the famous Chinese Gar-
dens. They also perused
Local students Kellie Eadler, Cara Arbogast, and Joe, Demi
and Olivia Schmidt went with teachers John Flaherty and
Andrea Nelson to the Oregon Writing Festival on May 1 in
Portland. –Contributed photo
the books at Powell’s City
Group members pro-
of Books and even saw a nounced it a “very memo-
belly dancer at Marrakesh rable and blithesome expe-
Moroccan Restaurant.
rience.”
Free instructor training to teach
falls prevention program for
older adults
The Oregon Public
Health Division is spon-
soring a free two-day in-
structor training in Tai Chi:
Moving for Better Balance
(also known as Tai Ji Quan:
Moving for Better Balance)
Monday and Tuesday, May
18-19, at the Harris Junior
Academy Gym in Pend-
leton.
Training is from 9 a.m.
to 4 p.m. each day; atten-
dance is required at both
days for certification. Tai
Chi: Moving for Better Bal-
ance is a gentle fitness class
designed for older adults
that is proven to reduce the
risk of falling. Instructor
trainees must have some
experience teaching groups
of older adults; no tai chi
experience is necessary.
Contact Lisa Shields
for more information at
lisa.m.shields@state.or.us.
Read more about the Ore-
gon Senior Falls Prevention
Program at healthoregon.
org/fallprevention.
Anyone would like to
partner with CAPECO as
a volunteer instructor in
Umatilla and Morrow coun-
ties, contact Helena Wolfe,
Health Promotion Coordi-
nator at the CAPECO Area
Agency on Aging.
As a volunteer instruc-
tor trainee, mileage reim-
bursement to attend the
training could be avail-
able. For more information,
hwolfe@capeco-works.org
or 541-561-5443.
Oregon Trail Library District joins Passport
Program
If you have an Oregon
Trail Library District li-
brary card you now have a
“passport” for registering
for library cards at other
participating libraries in
Oregon.
The Passport Program
allows cardholders from
participating libraries to
register and use other par-
ticipating libraries around
the state.
The OTLD library card
now becomes a passport to
more libraries and more
access to materials when
traveling on vacation or for
business in Oregon.
Patrons are responsible
for complying with the
policies of the other library
including due dates, over-
due fines, and lost/damaged
materials charges. Patrons
must return materials to the
library from which they are
borrowed.
A list of participating
libraries can be obtained
at http://librariesoforegon.
org/passport.
BEO Bancorp among 200 top performing
banks in nation
Bank of Eastern Or-
egon was one of three Or-
egon and three Washington
banks named among the
top 200 community banks
in the country by American
Banker magazine.
The magazine, a trade
publication based in New
York City, named BEO
Bancorp of Heppner, OR;
Summit Bank of Eugene,
OR; Siuslaw Financial
Group of Florence, OR;
Baker Boyer Bancorp of
Walla Walla, WA; Cash-
mere Valley Bank of Cash-
mere, WA and First Sound
Bank of Seattle, WA to the
list based on average re-
turn of shareholder equity
between 2012 and 2014.
Banks with less than $2 bil-
lion in assets were eligible.
At 13.11 percent aver-
age return, Baker Boyer
Bancorp ranked number
28. Cashmere Valley Bank
came in at number 47 with
11.90 percent. At 11.89
percent average return,
BEO Bancorp ranked 48.
At number 78 First Sound
Bank had an average return
of 10.82 percent while with
a 10.60 percent average re-
turn, Summit Bank ranked
number 84. With a 9.44
percent average return Sius-
law Financial Group ranked
number 152.
“We are extremely
pleased with the recogni-
tion in American Banker
magazine. This is the third
year in a row that we find
ourselves included in this
list; we are in the company
of some of the best ran
and most admired banks
in the nation.” said Jeff
Bailey, President and CEO
of BEO Bancorp and Bank
of Eastern Oregon. “This
is testimony to the dedica-
tion of our employees and
the tremendous support of
our customer base. We are
proud of our track record
serving the region’s com-
munities for over 70 years
and are delighted to be the
only bank in eastern Oregon
that can make the claim of
being in the top 200 com-
munity banks in the coun-
try,” concluded Bailey.
Hunter ed classes
planned in Heppner
Hunter education class-
es will be held June 16, 18,
23 and 25 from 6-9 p.m.
at Heppner high School. A
field day will be held June
20 at Lexington Gun Club
from 8 a.m. till noon.
The course is taught by
Jim and Darlene Marquardt.
Cost for the course is $10.
Any person under the
age of 18 who wishes to
hunt must pass a hunter
education course in order
to obtain a hunting license
in Oregon.
For questions, call Jim
Marquardt at 541-969-
4845.
To register, go to http://
www.dfw.state.or.us/educa-
tion/hunter/ and follow the
registration instructions.
HEPPNER LES SCHWAB CONGRATULATES
THE CARDINAL TENNIS TEAM ON THEIR 2015 SEASON
BOYS’ TEAM: Jan Glasen, Bryan
Fowler, Enrico Macciotta, Jared Sny-
der, Kai Arbogast, Dalchi Walters,
Tom Gould, Tim Gould,
Colton Hollis, Amir Bayanayev.
Record: 10 wins 0 losses 3 ties
GIRLS’ TEAM: Karina Rios, Babali
Peterson, Rita McElligott, Katelyn
Bass, Maia Fuchs, Hannah Flynn,
Rylee Wagoner, Erica Nelson, Kelsey
Van Os, Natalie Grigg, Reiah Waite.
Record: 5 wins 8 Losses 1 tie
124 N. MAIN STREET
HEPPNER OR 97836 541-676-9481
B oys second place trophy at suBdistrict .
G irls tied for 6"‘ place at suBdistrict .
Q ualified for d istricts : J an G lasen ,
K ai a rBoGast /d aichi W alters
d istricts : M ay 15 & 16 at t ri -c ities
c ourt c luB in K enneWicK Wa