SIX - Heppner Gazette-Times, Heppner, Oregon Wednesday, February 3, 2016
Ione JV teams split Cardinals face
weekend games
rough week, fall to
sixth in Big Sky
Ione varsity boys
played hard Friday but were
outscored by Sherman in
last week’s Big Sky match-
up in Ione. Ione lost 30-82.
Then, the Ione Cardinals
just couldn’t catch a break
in Saturday’s game in Con-
don against the Knights. By
the end of the irst quarter
the Knights led 17-0. Con-
don/Wheeler won the game
with 67 points to Ione’s 38.
Ione is now ranked sixth in
the Big Sky League.
L-R: Lady Cards Maggie Flynn (22), Katie Gilbert (12), Ivy
Sandford (34), Rachel Holland (32) and Morgan Orem (14)
defend the basket in Saturday’s game against Condon/Wheeler.
-Photo by Sylvia Sandford
Ione’s Emily Taylor (22) and Sydney Qualls (40) prepare to
screen for teammate Susie Teeman (10) as she drives to Ione’s
basket in Friday’s game against Sherman County. -Photo by
Sylvia Sandford
Ione JV Girls played
two quarters against the
Huskies, with Ione win-
ning the half game 11-10.
The JV girls only played
two quarters against the JV
Lady Knights in Condon
Saturday but played a well-
executed game and held
their own, inally losing to
Condon 12-26.
The Ione JV boys tied
up Friday’s home game
against the Sherman Co.
Huskies 39-39 at the end
of the third quarter, but fell
behind 53-48 in the last few
seconds of the fourth quar-
ter. They turned it around L-R: Ione’s Colton Hollis (11) passes the ball to Aaron
on Saturday, coming out Smythe (21) against Sherman in Ione. -Photo by Sylvia Sand-
against Condon/Wheeler on ford
the road and winning 42-35.
International club
rafles baskets for
Spring Break trip
Ione Inter-
national Club
members are raf-
fling off baskets
at Ione Cardinal
home games to
raise money for
their trip to Ireland
and Scotland dur-
ing 2016 Spring
Break.
Items to be This cooking basket valued at $70 is just
raffled include one of the items the Ione International
a 40” Smart TV Club will rafles to raise funds for its
with HDMI cable, upcoming trip. -Contributed photo
cooking basket
valued at $70, Play Station 4, two move baskets valued
at $30 each, A $25 candy bouquet, and a Build a Fort
basket worth $30.
Tickets are one for $5 or ive for $20. Winners will
be announced at the Ione Cardinal basketball game on
Friday, Feb. 12.
Community lunch
menu
Ione’s varsity girls
played a fast-paced game
last Friday when they host-
ed the Sherman County
Huskies. The Lady Cardi-
nals defeated the Huskies
42-35. Ione and Condon/
Wheeler were tied for irst
place in the Big Sky League
with 7-1 going into their
game Saturday. It was an
intense, fast game in which
GROUNDBREAKING
-Continued from PAGE ONE
L-R: Ione’s Umaedali Rajabaliev (33) waits to assist as team-
mate Tyler Carter (32) jumps to steal the ball in Saturday’s
game in Condon. Austin Carter looks ready to rebound in back.
-Photo by Sylvia Sandford
Lady Cards fall to
second in league
bake sales we have in us,”
she joked.
While Farra’s donation
made the dream possible, it
didn’t make it easy. Even
knowing they needed a new
ire hall, the city and ire
department still had to navi-
gate a series of obstacles.
The dificulties started
in the fall of 2014 with the
location of the new fire
hall. The City of Heppner
owned the land adjacent
to the existing ire hall on
Willow St., they began their
search there.
As they soon found,
however, that location
wasn’t as practical as it
seemed.
“Any addition wouldn’t
have been eficient,” said
Cutsforth, explaining that
the Willow St. location
wouldn’t have been practi-
cal to accommodate the ire
department’s large engines
and equipment.
The proximity to other
buildings also added con-
cerns about, ironically, ire
safety.
They started looking
for other locations but,
because much of Heppner
is located on a lood plain,
options were limited.
“They won’t let you
build essential services on
a flood plain,” explained
Cutsforth.
At the same time, they
knew the ground for the
hall had to be lat. Most ire
department accidents are
the result of engines hav-
ing to back up, Estes said,
and he wanted to avoid that
by having a space where
ireighters could pull the
engines straight through
the hall.
“That was the only
thing he insisted on,” added
Cutsforth.
They soon located the
empty lot on Riverside.
Just outside the city limits,
the land owned by Mor-
row County Grain Growers
seemed ideal.
Cutsforth called
MCGG General Manager
John Ripple. After a few
meetings, MCGG came
back with a response—if
the lot was feasible for the
fire hall, MCGG would
donate the land.
Next came the survey
of the land to see if it would
work. The lot was clear
of the flood plain, but it
included an old railroad
easement owned by Mor-
row County.
According to easement
conditions, nothing could
be built on the property. A
few phone calls and meet-
ings later, the county had
granted the city permission
to amend the easement so
they could build a ire hall.
There were still more
hoops to jump through. In
order to access the land
from Riverside, Devin En-
ergy Group had to grant an
easement. Morrow Soil and
Water Conservation District
had to grant another ease-
ment in order to access the
lot from Hwy. 74.
And, along the way, the
City of Heppner and the
Heppner Fire Department
realized they wouldn’t be
able to pull it off on their
own inancially. They ap-
proached the Heppner Ru-
ral Fire Protection District,
which agreed to join with
them in putting forth bond
measures to inance the new
ire hall.
Elks awards Most
Valuable Student
scholarships
Hope and Valby Lutheran and All Saints Episcopal
church volunteers will serve lunch on Wednesday, Feb.
10, at St. Patrick’s Senior Center. Lunch will include meat
loaf, mashed potatoes and gravy, green beans, orange-
The Heppner Elks
kissed beets, hot rolls, and red velvet cake.
Lodge #358 has announced
Milk is served at each meal. Suggested donation is the winners of the Elks
$3.50 per meal. Menu is subject to change.
Most Valuable Student
Scholarship Contest. The
scholarships are awarded
each year to well-qualiied
seniors based on scholar-
ship, leadership, commu-
nity service, extracurricular
activities, financial need
and an essay.
The local Elks lodge
was able to award three male
and three female scholar-
ships totaling $2,500. The
recipients are as follows:
Skyler Palmer, $700;
Patrick Collins, $350;
Weston Putman, $200; Ra-
chael Holland, $700; Jes-
sica Kempken, $350; and
Jessie Flynn, $200.
Collins placed second
at the district competi-
tion, earning an additional
$1,600, while Palmer and
Holland placed third at dis-
tricts, earning an additional
$1,400 each. Kempken
didn’t earn any additional
money at the district level
but still inished in the top
10.
“Many outstanding
young men and women
competed for awards this
year,” said Elks scholar-
ship chairman Tim Dick-
enson. “The committee
would like to thank all the
applicants for their impres-
sive brochures and want to
encourage you to apply for
the upcoming Buchanan
Memorial Scholarships.”
For more information
about those scholarships,
contact Dickenson at 541-
676-8990 or dickenson-
chiro@centurytel.net.
The two bonds, which
totaled $975,000, went be-
fore voters in last Novem-
ber’s election and passed
overwhelmingly in a wave
of public support from both
city and rural voters.
“It was amazing that it
was the only thing on the
ballot and we still got so
many ballots back,” said
Cutsforth.
Estes and Cutsforth
added that many other peo-
ple helped out along the
way, including the Morrow
County Planning ofice; the
Morrow County Clerk’s of-
ice; individuals like Larry
Mills, Howard Bryant and
David Sykes; the Heppner
volunteer firefighters and
their families; and all those
who anonymously donated
funds toward the hall.
“We’ve had a lot of
generous donations from
various people,” Cutsforth
said.
Port of Morrow also
lent a hand, breaking the
ground and donating time
and equipment to complete
the subgrade work.
All of that support led
to Monday’s celebration.
True, the building isn’t
complete; there are months
of work ahead.
Cutsforth said the city
will open bidding to con-
tractors Feb. 18, and en-
gineers estimate the hall
could be completed by the
third week of August.
However, for the local
citizens, firefighters and
dignitaries who gathered
this week, that irst turn of
the shovel was the realiza-
tion of all their sweat, their
stress and their faith.
And, in the middle of
the picture, a 90-something-
year-old woman with a
heart for ireighters.
“Without her we never
would have had enough
money to do any of it,”
inished Cutsforth.
“Without Ida, the an-
swer would have been,
‘You’re not gonna do it.’”
Ione played hard. They
just weren’t themselves
going into the second half,
though; the Knights antici-
pated the Lady Cardinal’s
plays and prevented them
from scoring enough to
catch up to Condon/Wheel-
er’s 17-point lead. Ione lost
29-46, placing them second
in the Big Sky League with
a 7-2 league record.
MCGG
donates land
for ire hall
Latest donation
just one of many
by co-op
The new ire hall under
construction (see ground-
breaking story in this week’s
G-T) was made possible
in part with the generous
donation of the land by the
local grain co-op, Morrow
County Grain Growers.
This donation, however, is
only one of many projects
the co-op supports and
sponsors for the beneit of
all the communities that
they serve.
In addition to the recent
land donation MCGG has
in the past donated land for
the Lexington Fire Hall,
and they currently own the
former Ione Grange Hall,
which they allow to be used
for ire department training.
Over the years MCGG
has run its “Fueling the
Future” program in which
the company donates funds
to local schools for each
delivery of fuel made to
homes and businesses in
their service areas. So far
they have given more than
$25,000 to the schools.
MCGG has also given
to local booster clubs in
their communities, FFA
programs, and they show
support for county fairs and
by purchasing livestock at
the 4-H livestock auctions.
The co-op donations have
helped put on the rodeos,
and they support youth
sports activities includ-
ing baseball, basketball,
football and soccer in all
their communities. MCGG
is a member of the local
chambers of commerce, and
shows support for special
projects and improvements.
In all MCGG makes
annual donations of over
$35,000 to benefit their
communities.
Ladies Night
Steak Dinner
Thursday, February 4th 6pm
DINNER:
MARINATED NEW
YORK STEAKS,
BETH'S CHEESY
POTATOES,
SALAD, ROLL
AND DESSERT
Elks members and their families