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Heppner Gazette-Times, Heppner, Oregon Wednesday, May 27, 2015 Ione track and field makes good showing at state Ione juniors (L-R) Jessie Flynn, Jorge Aguilar and Rachel Holland at the state championship meet. -Photo by Paula Em- mel By Paula Emmel Three Ione athletes at- tended the 1A state track and field meet in Eugene this past week. Ione junior Jorge Agui- lar competed in shot put finals on Thursday. He placed eighth with a put of 39’2.25”. As the only men’s competitor from Ione, he earned one team point and placed, as a team, in a tie for 36 th of 36 scoring teams. Junior Rachel Holland competed in javelin, throw- ing 96’9” on Thursday and placing 11 th in finals. She also ran the 400M prelimi- naries and ran a personal record (PR) of 1:05.95a, placing 10 th . Junior Jessie Flynn rounded out Ione’s team at state; she competed in long jump finals on Thursday and placed fourth with a jump of 15’4”, earning five team points. After her first jump in long jump she went to run the 100M preliminar- ies. She qualified for the finals, seeded second, in the 100M with a time of 13.16a placing first in heat 1 of 2. Next she ran the 100M hurdles, placing easily in first with a new personal record of 16.33a in heat 2. The PR time was more than a second faster than her previous PR. After her fantastic finish in the 100M hurdles, she ran the 300M hurdles about an hour and a half later in the evening. She gained another person- al record of 48.16a, placing first in heat 2 prelims. Her new PR was just under a full second improvement, qualifying for finals in both hurdle races on Friday. Friday during 100M finals, the top three finishers were only five hundredths of a second apart from first to third place, with the fourth position only three hundredths behind them. Relying on a photo finish, OSAA officials de- termined the placing. Flynn placed third, earning six team points. She was running a per- fect 100M hurdle finals race, in first place, when her toe got caught on the ninth hurdle, placing her steps off for the 10 th hurdle. She fell on the 10 th and rolled toward the finish line, got up and finished in eighth place. She had been on a 16:30ish finish pace but ended, after the fall, with 18.51a. Jessie earned one more team point. About an hour and a half after her fall, she ran a 48.76a placing third over- all in the 300M hurdles and earning six more team points. Flynn earned all the Ione women’s 18 points, placing the team in a tie for 15 th place of 39 scoring teams. Ione FFA celebrates with first annual banquet Submitted by Chapter Re- porter Austin Carter. The Ione FFA chapter had its first annual banquet last week and the event was hailed a success. Nine students earned their chapter degree. Distin- guished Service and Honor- ary degrees were presented, member awards were re- ceived, and new officers were elected. Congratulations go out It's Spring and we have NEW HOME DECOR to spruce up any room in your house. CONGRATS 2015 SENIORS- Good luck in the future REMINDER- Father's Day is Coming MURRAY'S DRUG - PHONE 676-9426 Hunter Education Courses to be held June 16th, 18th, 23rd and 25th 6:00 - 9:00 p.m. at Heppner High School With a field day Saturday June 20th at Lexington Gun Club 8am -12 noon Any person under 18 who wishes to hunt must pass this course in order to acquire a hunting license in the State of Oregon. Any person wishing to hunt out of state must also hold a valid Hunter Education Card. The course is being taught by Jim and Darlene Marquardt. Questions, call Jim at 541-969-4845. To register for the class go to http://www.dfw.state.or.us/education/hunter/ and follow registration instructions. The fee for the course is $10 and is set by ODFW to Distinguished Service recipients Morrow County Wheat Growers, Eric and Brandi Orem and the Ione Education Foundation, and also to Honorary Degree re- cipients Loyal Burns, Sarah Crane, Brent Martin, Brian Rust and Bill Jepsen. The 2015-16 officer team is President, Mor- gan Orem; Vice President, Tarynn Angel; Secretary, Katie Gilbert; Treasurer, Emily Taylor; Reporter, Austin Carter; and Sentinel, Danny Doherty. The next FFA meeting is June 2 at 4 p.m. in the Ag room; dinner will be served. HONOR FLIGHT full emotion of the memo- -Continued from PAGE ONE was interviewed for Bend television. “He watched them raise the flag at Iwo Jima. I was glad that he got that recog- nition,” recalled McCabe. “I saw on TV today that one in three Marines was killed. When we were there, George told my son, John, ‘I didn’t get a scratch, and I don’t know why I didn’t.’” Griffith said seeing the famous monument was cer- tainly a the trip’s highlight for him. “When we were on the island, the picture that the memorial was made of was taken about four hours after George Griffith the first flag,” he recalled. “When they raised the first flag I just happened to be looking at the top of the mountain with a pair of field glasses. I saw this group of men up there and wondered why they were exposing themselves like that...when I turned around, that flag was up there. “That flag’s pretty im- portant to me,” he finished. As a member of the military police, Griffith said he was one of the last to leave the island. Also in the jam-packed tour were the Navy Me- morial, the Air Force Me- morial and the Women in War memorial, where they were greeted by Steve El- lis of Baker City, whose daughter, Army Cpl. Jes- sica A. Ellis, was killed while serving as a medic in Iraq. Matthews said the memorial was supposed to be closed that day, but a general opened it specifi- cally for the group to meet with Ellis. One of the last stops in D.C. was the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. Mat- thews said the weather for their trip had been perfect throughout, but their group leader told them he was “praying for rain” for that stop, so everyone in the group could experience the Magnetic Door Signs! rial. Whether or not the group members appreciated the answer to that prayer, it certainly made the stop memorable. “Just as we were get- ting there, there was a big boom like a cannon went off. I thought, ‘Maybe that’s part of the ceremony,’ but it wasn’t,” said Lloyd Mc- Nary. “It started to rain and we got two or three more big booms and then it rained buckets on us. That poor guard that marched back and forth, he never hesi- tated. I never saw it rain so hard in my life.” “When we were get- ting on the plane to come on, I saw a lot of people had plastic sacks; I’m sure they had their wet clothes in them,” McNary added with a chuckle. Though the visits to the capital’s memorials were emotional, almost over- whelming at times, group members said they were floored by the reception they received everywhere they went. “Everywhere we went, people would start applaud- ing the vets and saluting them. Wherever we went, it was like the parting of the sea; they would see us coming and send the veterans to the front of the line. We never had to wait,” said Matthews. “Little kids would come up and shake their hands and salute them and thank them for their service.” “I never thought I’d be so emotional. I can’t believe the emotion I went through all four days,” said McCabe. Though the schedule was grueling for the vets, participants said Honor Flight volunteers and guardians did everything they could to make travel easier. “There were a lot of leaders from down there in Bend, and they were really nice, helped you on and off the bus and things. Our leader, Darla, was really great,” said McCabe. “My son, John, he really did a good job of taking care of me and pushing me around in the wheelchair. He just did everything he could to help them, too.” “The food was very good and the flights were good. We had to get up at - THREE three o’clock in the morn- ing and that wasn’t much fun. But I really enjoyed the whole thing,” said Tatone. “It was kind of tiring but it was a lot of fun,” added McNary. While the trip to D.C. was the core of the experi- ence, the honors the vet- erans received didn’t end with the return flight. They received a heroes’ welcome at PDX when they returned to Portland May 17. “It took us an hour to get through the airport when we got back to Port- land. There were people there to welcome us, Viet- nam vets standing along the way. The whole airport was full of people,” recalled Matthews. Mary Jean McCabe, Er- nie McCabe’s wife, didn’t go on the trip because of physical stipulations for guardians, but was on the concourse in Portland to greet her husband when he returned. “When the vets came off the plane and saw that all the applause and cheer- ing was for them…” she recalled. “People in all the shops at the airport, just the general public, man the cheering and the applause started all the way down the airport.” The experience wrapped up with a “mail call” in Portland, with let- ters of appreciation handed to each veteran and the pre- sentation of a personalized quilt made for each vet- eran and registered with the Quilts of Valor Foundation. “Man, we were treated well. It’s an amazing trip,” said Matthews, adding that it was also a bonding expe- rience for the veterans who made the trip. “The 48 vet- erans arrived as strangers but parted as friends.” According to HFN, time is of the essence for our World War II veterans. Most of the veterans on the tour were between 88 and 95 years old, with the average age of World War II veterans being in their late 80s; we have already lost 90 percent of World War II veterans, and close to a thousand die each day. Visit http://honorfligh- tofeasternoregon.org/ for more information on the program, or visit them on Facebook at “Bend Heroes Foundation.” Ione staff honored at Crystal Apple Awards *Lots of Sizes* * Lots of Colors* * Free Quotes* CALL The Heppner Gazette Times (541) 676- 9228 Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife and Morrow County Parks are sponsoring a FREE YOUTH FISHING DERBY Where: Cutsforth Park Start Time: 8:30 am When: Saturday, June 6, 2015 End Time: 11:00 am For children 14 years old and younger Address: 58430 Willow Creek Rd., Heppner, Oregon For more information contact Kirsti Cason or Betty Gray at the Morrow County Public Works Office (541) 989-9500 M I N N O W S TROUT Ione School District had two staff members honored at the 2015 Crystal Apple Awards Wednesday in Pendleton. Top is Brandi Orem with her family, including kids Matt, Morgan, Madi and Mason, husband Eric Orem, and parents Bonnie and Bob Ball. Bottom is John Bristow with his wife, Linda. –Contributed photo