FOUR - Heppner Gazette-Times, Heppner, Oregon Wednesday, December 16, 2015
Glowing with Mustang Pride
This congratulatory sign glows prominently from the home of
Gary and Barb Watkins in Heppner. It’s the second sign Gary
Watkins has made for a Mustang champion football team, the
irst being at their last state championship in 1992 (pictured
below). -Contributed photos
The Watkins home in
Heppner glows with Mus-
tang pride thanks to the
handiwork of Gary Wat-
kins.
To celebrate the Mus-
tang football team’s recent
state championship, Wat-
kins created an eight-foot
by eight-foot particle board
sign that reads “Merry
Xmas Mustangs 2015 State
Champs.” The sign stands
near the Watkins home
on the hill near the high
school where anyone driv-
SCHOOL DISTRICT
sociation conference they
-Continued from PAGE ONE
petition in Chicago.
In other business, the
board:
-learned from Superin-
tendent Dirk Dirksen that
Irrigon Junior/Senior High
School will become a 3A
school next year and will
remain at that level for at
least two years. He said that
IJSHS will join Riverside
Junior/Senior High School
in that OSAA category and
both will be traveling to
Burns, also a 3A school, for
sports competition, which is
a long travel time for both.
-discussed the process
for superintendent evalua-
tion and decided to remain
with the current plan this
year but streamline the pro-
cess for next year, starting
with a board work session
in August.
-heard from Dirksen
concerning federal and state
education regulations. He
said that educational re-
quirements will remain but
will be monitored at the
state rather than federal
level.
-heard from board
members concerning the
Oregon School Board As-
attended.
-approved a trip request
from Nelson for her and
around eight students be-
longing to the HJSHS Art
& Culture Club to travel
to Victoria, British Co-
lumbia, Canada, in June.
The board’s approval was
contingent on insurance
coverage when traveling
out of the U.S. Students
on this trip will need pass-
ports. Nelson said the trip
would give the students an
international feel, but with
only around six hours in
travel time.
-received the follow-
ing enrollment report for
December: A.C. Houghton
Elementary, Irrigon-269;
Sam Boardman Elementary,
Boardman-340; Heppner
Elementary-171; Irrigon
Elementary-195; Windy
River Elementary, Board-
man-214; Heppner Jr./Sr.
High School-154; Irrigon
Jr./Sr. High School-379;
Riverside Jr./Sr. High
School-400; Morrow Edu-
cation Center, Irrigon-42;
total-2,164.
-approved policy on
“Local Wellness Program,”
and Student Hazing/Harass-
ing toward the school can
see it. However, Watkins
wanted the sign to really
send a message. So, after
wife Barb Watkins drew
the lettering for the message
on the sign, he proceeded
to drill quarter-inch holes
along the lettering, through
which he pushed white
Christmas lights—nearly
2,000 holes for nearly 2,000
lights.
Watkins, who describes
himself as a die-hard Mus-
tang fan, says some people
ask him if the sign wasn’t
a lot of work, to which
he replies, “Not nearly as
much work as those kids
and coaches put in.”
This is the second time
Watkins has constructed
a Christmas greeting for a
victorious Mustang team.
The irst was after the Mus-
tang football state champi-
onship in 1992. That time,
he said, he didn’t have a
shop in which to construct
the sign.
“They got these huge,
big plyboards and he
brought it into my living
room,” remembers Barb
Watkins. “He started drill-
ing holes for this sign, wood
chips lying everywhere.”
This time, however,
Watkins constructed the im-
pressive sign in a security
of his shop. He did note,
though, that he could see a
way to save himself some
work in the future.
“I’m going to save this
sign this time,” he says. “I
told coach Grant and coach
Payne that it would be real
easy to turn that ive into a
six or an eight.”
ment/Intimidation/Menac-
ing/Sullying/Cyberbully-
ing/Teen Dating Violence/
Domestic Violence.
-received the follow-
ing employment action:
resignations/non-renew-
als-Lucia Zavala, Irrigon
Elementary School educa-
tion assistant; extra duty
contracts-Marie Cain,
RJSHS head volleyball
coach, 2016-17 season;
Megan Fischer, IJSHS head
junior high girls’ basketball
coach; Darcee Mitchell-
HJSHS assistant junior
high girls’ basketball coach;
Robert “Jody” Saunders,
IJSHS assistant high school
girls’ basketball coach; Ken
Thompson, IJSHS assis-
tant high school wrestling
coach.
-approved annual orga-
nizational details, including
designating district posi-
tions, custodian of funds,
borrowing limit, facsimile
signatures, budget oficer,
newspapers of records, le-
gal counsel, insurance agent
of record, depositories for
district funds and auditors.
-heard the following
announcements: Christ-
mas break, Dec. 18-Jan.
3, school resuming Jan. 4;
Heppner JV defeats Honkers
The Heppner Mustang
boys’ junior varsity basket-
ball team won their game
last week by a score of
48-34 over the Arlington
Honkers.
It was a close game in
the irst quarter. Arlington
has a 6’7” freshman post
player who has some skills
and scored eight points in
the quarter. It took a while
for the Mustang defenders
to get a handle on him, but
they held him to just seven
points for the rest of the
game. It turned out to be a
good battle of post players
as Wyatt Steagall scored six
points of his own in the irst
quarter. The score ended
up tied at 10-10 after one
quarter of play.
Heppner outscored the
Honkers in the second as
Coby Dougherty attacked
the basket and scored six
points. The score at halftime
was 19-16 in favor of the
Mustangs.
It was the third quar-
ter where the real differ-
ence was made. Dougherty
would attack the hoop and
drop off passes to Steagall,
who then inished at the rim
with a score. Steagall had
eight points in the quarter.
The Mustangs put up a total
of 18 points to only eight for
Arlington. Heppner led at
the end of the quarter 37-24.
The Mustangs scored
11 points in the fourth quar-
ter and Arlington inished
with 10. The Heppner JV
Jake Lindsay leaps for the basket over the heads of the Honk-
ers during the junior varsity game last week. -Photo by Sandra
Putman
team got the win by the
inal score of 48-34.
Steagall led the team
in scoring with 15 and
Dougherty was next with
eight. Kevin Smith and
Trent Smith finished the
game with seven points
each. Kaden Corbin racked
up ive points for the Mus-
tangs. Beau Wolters, Da-
kota Howard and Cason
Mitchell all scored two
points each in the game.
The JV team plays
three games this week. On
Tuesday they hosted the
Sherman County Huskies.
On Friday they travel to
Imbler to play the Panthers.
The team will then inish
the week by hosting the
Grant Union Prospectors.
Elks holds annual Hoop Shoot
On Dec. 13, the Heppner Elks Lodge held its annual Hoop Shoot Free Throw contest. Twenty-
ive participants ages eight to 13 shot 25 free throws during the contest in hopes of advancing
to the Northeast District Hoop Shoot in Hermiston in January. The following participates
have earned that spot: for the 8-9-year-old girls, Hallee Hisler; for 8-9-year-old boys, Jackson
Coiner; for 10-11-year-old girls, ZaBrena Masterson; for 10-11-year-old boys, Brock Hisler;
for 12-13-year-old girls, Sydney Wilson; and for 12-13-year-old boys, Casey Fletcher. Other
participants included Katie Spivey, Zaleta Masterson, Lynn Williams, Ireland Martin, Zandra
Masterson, Janelle Blakley, Madelyn Nichols, Damien Sheoships-Ball, Aden Lathrop, Zander
Fisher, Cody Fletcher, Caden George, Isiah Martin, Joe Sherman, Jacob Finch, Trevor Nichols,
Jorden Sweeney, Derrick Smith and Kason Cimmiyotti. –Contributed photo
Heppner wrestling to get new
mat
The Morrow County
School District has ordered
a new custom wrestling mat
for the Heppner program.
The 40-foot by 40-foot
mat is a lightweight foam
mats with an antimicrobial
inish. The mat will feature
a 30-foot wrestling circle
and a six-foot Mustang
logo. Unfortunately, it will
be 10-12 weeks before it is
delivered.
“It is a signiicant in-
vestment by the school dis-
trict of nearly $10,000 into
your wrestling program,”
says Heppner Wrestling
Coach Mark Lemmon. “It
represents recognition to
a legacy of the past and
current wrestlers who have
made this program a suc-
cess over the last 10 or so
years, and their sweat and
blood contributed in prov-
ing that we can wrestle in
south Morrow County.”
CONGRATULATIONS TO RYAN SMITH
&THE HEPPNER MUSTANGS WRESTLING
TEAM ON THEIR VICTORIES AT THE 2015
MUILENBURG TOURNAMENT
124 N. MAIN STREET HEPPNER OR 97836 541- 676- 9481