FOUR - Heppner Gazette-Times, Heppner, Oregon Wednesday, July 1, 2015
APARTMENT FIRE
Charred ruins are all that remain of apartments some local
residents called home. –Photo by David Sykes
-Continued from PAGE ONE have only lived in Hep-
I didn’t know they were
burned yet.”
Silvia’s burns turned
out to be severe enough to
keep him off his feet for a
while; he now rolls around
in a wheelchair at his tem-
porary home at Northwest-
ern Motel in Heppner. His
grandmother was worse off,
having to be flown by air
ambulance to a burn center
later than night. Last he
heard, she was conscious
and talking. Of her condi-
tion, he says, “She alive.
Not alive and well, not alive
and good, but alive.”
Silvia and his grand-
mother were the only re-
ported injuries in the fire.
Others were away from
home when the fire started.
Joe and Marti Koerner said
they had gone to a friend’s
house for dinner. They had
seen no sign of fire when
they left their apartment,
Joe Korner said, but no
more than 10 minutes had
passed when their friend
said, “There’s smoke com-
ing from the top of the hill.
You’d better go save your
dogs.”
The Koerners, who
pner eight months, did
save their dogs. They also
count themselves as among
the lucky ones, since their
apartment was among the
least damaged. By the time
the last firefighters cleared
the scene around 11 p.m.
Saturday night, two apart-
ments had been completely
destroyed and two had re-
ceived heavy damage from
smoke and water. Two oth-
ers received minor damage
and two appear to have been
undamaged, MCSO reports.
Joe Koerner said he
was amazed how quickly
the blaze spread.
“If the firefighters
hadn’t kept water on it, the
whole building would have
gone,” he said. “The fire-
fighters did their best. It’s
amazing they could save as
much as they did.”
Tuesday morning, the
building inspector declared
three of the apartments to
be livable, which means
those tenants will be able
to move back in. However,
the remaining five, which
suffered the heaviest dam-
age, will take much longer
to restore.
That leaves many of
the apartment residents
displaced for now. Some,
like the Koerners, expect
to be able to move back in
and pick up the pieces with
comparatively little trouble
now that their apartments
have been given the all-
clear. Others lost everything
in the fire. All suffered tem-
porarily in limbo, relying
on the kindness of others to
provide daily needs.
Fortunately, that kind-
ness was quick in com-
ing. While some who were
displaced by the fire had
relatives and friends to turn
to, others had nowhere to
go. Many of them found a
haven at the Northwestern
Motel in Heppner, where
employee Melba Folck-
omer says the local refu-
gees have six rooms, many
residents having to double
up. Folckomer also said
someone donated the use
of an RV, while the motel
donated the RV spot across
the street.
“It’s good to see people
come together like this,”
says Folckomer.
The American Red
Cross stepped forward and
paid for the hotel rooms
for three nights, but Neigh-
borhood Center Execu-
tive Director Lisa Patton
says it may be up to the
community to pick up the
slack once that aid runs out.
The Neighborhood Cen-
ter has already started the
process, opening its doors
on Sunday so those who
lost possessions in the fire
could come and get clothing
and food. That assistance
will continue, she said,
as well as help furnishing
apartments once they’re
repaired.
Monetary donations
have also been coming in;
Patton says the Neighbor-
hood Center board will
meet Wednesday to decide
how best to use those funds
to help people find places
to live until they can move
back into their apartments.
“Everyone’s in agree-
ment about helping,” adds
Patton, “the only question
is how much and where it
should go.”
Patton said some sug-
gestions for those who
would like to help include
not only cash donations
toward housing but also
gift cards from the grocery
store. The Neighborhood
Center, she says, would be
happy to receive donations
and distribute them as need-
ed. “The Neighborhood
Center will do everything in
our capacity to help them,”
she says.
The residents, some of
whom still appear in shock,
say they appreciate the
kindness of their neighbors.
“It’s a wonderful feel-
ing to know people care,”
says Joe Koerner.
Oregon State Fire Mar-
shal’s office, the Heppner
Fire Department, and the
Morrow County Sheriff’s
Office are still looking into
the cause of the fire. While
the cause of the fire hasn’t
been conclusively deter-
mined, Heppner Fire Chief
Rusty Estes says investiga-
tion so far indicates the fire
may have been caused by
an improperly discarded
cigarette.
As of press time, the
investigation is ongoing and
anyone with information is
encouraged to call the Mor-
row County Sheriff’s Office
at 541-676-5317.
Red Cross seeks local
volunteers
The American Red Cross is seeking community
members to be trained as disaster services volunteers.
Available volunteer opportunities include disaster
action team member, preparedness presenter/outreach
worker, fire prevention team smoke alarm installer, fire
prevention team educator, Disaster mental health vol-
unteer, government liaison volunteer, sheltering team
member, disaster health services volunteer, and more.
Please contact Lisa Stroup, Executive Director, for
more information at lisa.stroup@redcross.org, or go on-
line to register at www.redcross.org/cascades.
The Red Cross is seeking disaster services volunteers to help
their communities in times of need. -Contributed photo
Over the Tee Cup
It was a hot day for
the 17 ladies who showed
up for the ladies play day
at Willow Creek Country
Club on June 30. Despite
the heat, Virginia Grant
took low gross of the field,
Tiffani Clements had low
net, and Betty Burns had
least putts.
Fir Flight A, Eva
Kilkenny walked away
with low gross, while Karen
Thompson had low net.
On Flight B, Lorrene
Montgomery had low gross,
Sarah Rucker low net and
Shirley Martin least putts.
For Flight C, low gross
went to Judy Harris, low net
to Jackie Allstott and least
putts to Kris Lindner.
Chips-ins were Judy
Harris #18, Kris Lindner
#16, and Karen Thompson
two times on #10.
Chamber lunch meeting
The next lunch meeting of the Heppner Chamber of
Commerce will be an all entities report this Thursday,
July 2, at noon in Heppner City Hall conference room.
Cost of lunch is $10.
Chamber lunch attendees are asked to RSVP at 541-
676-5536 no later than the Wednesday before to guarantee
a lunch.
Heppner FFA to
HHS announces
semester
honor
roll
11
Grade—Jessica
Logan
Grieb
4.0,
Taylor
Eighth Grade—Madi-
Heppner Jr/Sr. High
attend national
School has announced stu- K e m p k e n 4 . 0 , S k y l e r Hamby 4.0, Kevin Murray son Combe 4.0, Jacee Cur-
dents named to the 2015-16 Palmer 4.0, Kai Arbogast, 4.0, Demitra Schmidt 4.0, rin 4.0, Jaiden Mahoney
2 Honor Roll. Patrick Collins, Weston Kane Sweeney, Caden Hed- 4.0, Hunter Nichols 4.0,
convention in Kentucky Semester
Students are listed by grade Putman, Rylee Wagoner, man, Jacob Lindsay, Clyde Olivia Schmidt 4.0, Leo
th
A group of young men
and women from Heppner
High School FFA will be
attending the FFA National
Convention in Louisville,
KY in October. The at-
tendees are Rylee Kollman,
Caitlynn Bailey, Alex Lind-
say, Katlyn Harper, Tim
Gould, Taylor Nelson and
Nichole Shaw.
To help pay for trip ex-
penses, this group of young
adults will be doing several
fundraising events over the
next few months.
To kick off these events,
Thursday, July 9, FFA will
host a dinner at the Heppner
Elk’s Lodge. Dinner will be
at 6 p.m. and they will be
serving pork loin, cheesy
potatoes, rolls and a desert
for $15 a plate.
Bent on Blues July 6
at Music in the Parks
Bent on Blues
July 6 at the Irrigon
Marina Park, Bent On Blues
will honor our veterans dur-
ing Music in the Parks.
The group says it’s
dedicated to playing and
performing originals and
classics tastefully inter-
preted and presented in
ways guaranteed to “Git yer
mojo workin” and “yer hips
a-shakin, baby.”
All performances will
be on Monday evenings.
All performances are free,
with funding provided by
Morrow County Unified
Recreation District and
Portland General Electric.
Performances in both
parks will be in the Picnic
areas.
To get to Irrigon Ma-
rina Park from Highway
730, turn north toward the
river on 10 th St. For in-
formation, contact Renee,
541-922-1560.
Community lunch menu
Lunch on Wednesday, July 1, at St. Patrick’s Senior
Center will include cheeseburgers, potato chips, coleslaw,
broccoli salad, and a red, white and blue dessert.
Lunch on Wednesday, July 8, at St. Patrick’s Senior
Center will include fish and chips, a seven-layer salad,
bread sticks, and strawberry shortcake.
Milk is served at each meal. Suggested donation is
$3.50 per meal. Menu is subject to change.
as follows:
1 2 th G r a d e — P a i g e
Grieb 4.0, Maddie Lindsay
4.0, Jenny Marick 4.0, Jo-
seph Schmidt 4.0, Ella Mc-
Cormick, Makenzi Hughes,
Erica Nelson.
Rylee Kollman, Tommy
Bredfield, Sydney Maben,
William Lutcher, Kaelyn
Lindsay.
10th Grade—Kolby
Currin 4.0, Kellie Eadler
4.0, Bryan Fowler 4.0,
Britt, Emily Cecil, Riane
Dompier.
Ninth Grade—Cara
Arbogast 4.0, Sophie Grant
4.0, Reiah Waite 4.0, Mor-
gan Correa, Alex Lindsay.
Waite 4.0, Carson Bros-
nan, Keegan Gibbs, Claire
Grieb.
Seventh Grade—Kel-
len Grant 4.0, Nicole
Propheter 4.0, Jason Rea.
FSA county committee nomination period in
Morrow County now open
Heppner—Morrow
County USDA Farm Ser-
vice Agency (FSA) Execu-
tive Director Kyle Carnine,
announced that the nomina-
tion period for local FSA
county committees began
on June 15. Nomination
forms must be postmarked
or received in the Morrow
County FSA Office by close
of business on Aug. 3.
“County Committees
are unique to FSA and allow
producers to have a voice
on federal farm program
implementation at the local
level,” said Carnine.
To be eligible to serve
on the FSA county com-
mittee, a person must par-
ticipate or cooperate in
an agency administered
program, be eligible to vote
in a county committee elec-
tion and reside in the Local
Administrative Area (LAA)
where they are nominated.
This year, nominations
and elections will be held in
LAA 1, which includes the
northern portion of Mor-
row County and the Butter
Creek area.
Producers may nomi-
nate themselves or others
as candidates. Organiza-
tions representing minority
and women farmers and
ranchers may also nomi-
nate candidates. To be-
come a nominee, eligible
individuals must sign form
FSA-669A. The form and
more information about
county committee elections
is available online at www.
fsa.usda.gov/elections.
Elected county com-
mittee members serve a
three-year term and are
responsible for making
decisions on FSA disaster,
conservation, commodity
and price support programs,
as well as other important
federal farm program is-
sues. County committees
consist of three to 11 mem-
bers.
“It is important that
county committees are
comprised of members who
fairly represent the diverse
demographics of produc-
tion agriculture for their
community,” said Carnine.
“All producers, including
women, minority and be-
ginning farmers and ranch-
ers are encouraged to par-
ticipate in the nomination
and election process.”
FSA will mail election
ballots to eligible voters
beginning Nov. 9. Ballots
are due back in the Morrow
County office by mail or in
person no later than Dec. 7.
All newly-elected county
committee members and
alternates will take office
January 1, 2016.
“Nominating potential
county committee mem-
bers, voting for candidates
and serving on the com-
mittees are truly services
to your community and the
agriculture industry,” said
Carnine. “County Com-
mittee members make im-
portant decisions on how
federal farm programs are
administered locally to best
serve local needs and inter-
ests.”
For more information
about county committees,
contact the Morrow County
FSA office at 541-676-9011
or visit www.fsa.usda.gov/
elections.
Murray's Bridal Registry
Trevor Rhea & Mollie Henderson Wedding - July 11
Laurie Murray & Sean Wood
September 5, 2015
WE ALSO HAVE A
BABY REGISTRY
To set up a bridal table or
baby registry contact Lori
Snyder 541-676-9158
Murray's Drug, 217 N. Main, Heppner • Phone 676-9158
Have a news story or photo for the Gazette? e-mail editor@rapidserve.net
call 541-676-9228 or stop by the office on Willow St., Heppner Today