Mustang wrestling crowns
district champs, heads to state
HEPPNER
G T
50¢
azette
imes
VOL. 135
NO. 5 8 Pages
Wednesday, February 17, 2016
Morrow County, Heppner, Oregon
Basketball heads to districts
Two Mustang wrestlers have taken championships in the 2A/1A Special District 4 inals
and will be heading to the state tournament in Portland in two weeks. Above left: Ryan
Smith grapples with an opponent at the district inals in John Day. Above right: Cord Flynn
prepares to wrestle his way into the state championship during the district tournament last
weekend. -Photos by Kirsti Cason
The Heppner Mustang
wrestlers competed in the
OSAA 2A/1A Special Dis-
trict 4 championships on
Saturday. Thirteen teams
met in John Day to qualify two wrestlers in each of the
individual wrestlers for the 14 weight classes advance
state tournament on Feb. 26 to the state championship
and 27 in the Portland Me-
-See WRESTLING
morial Coliseum. The top
DISTRICTS/PAGE SIX
Heppner High School’s varisty boys’ basketball team is headed into Columbia Basin Conference playoffs in the number-one slot this week. Meanwhile, Ione’s varisty girls are second seed
going into the Big Sky League district playoffs, and the Cardinal varisty boys will face off in the Big Sky crossover games Wednesday for their chance to battle it out at districts in Madras.
Above left: Heppner’s Caden Hedman looks for an opening in the Rocket press. -Photo by Sandra Putman Above center: Ione players Ivy Sandford (left) and Hannah Padberg ight for the
ball as Rachel Holland (32) and Maggie Flynn (24) stand ready to assist. Above right: Cardinals Jason Juarez (24) and Wyatt McNary (23) watch as teammate Austin Carter jumps to block
a Hawk shooter and Donald McElligott (10) helps. Colton Hollis (11) waits for steal. -Photos by Sylvia Sandford
-See Cardinal sports PAGE FOUR and Mustang sports PAGE SIX
Ione teacher receives award
EOU announces recipients of Inspirational Teacher Awards
LA GRANDE, Ore.— Doherty, 2015 graduate of
Ione High School
Dale Holland, Ione
and son of Brian and
High School math
Peggy Doherty.
teacher, has been
First-year honor
honored with an In-
students at Eastern
spirational Teacher
Oregon University
Award from Eastern
nominated 26 edu-
Oregon University.
Holland was nomi- Dale Holland cators from Oregon,
Washington, Cali-
nated by Joseph
fornia and Nevada to re-
ceive Inspirational Teacher
Awards.
Students who main-
tained dean’s list standing
during fall term were given
the opportunity to nominate
a teacher who inluenced
them on their road to higher
education and academic
excellence.
EOU presents these
awards annually in rec-
ognition of outstanding
high school teachers who
encourage and represent
the importance of higher
education to their students.
Get ready for ‘Boots
in the Air’ 2016
Electric consumers warned of scam
phone calls
The Hermiston Police
Department is warning area
residents to be aware of a
scam circulating in the area.
According to HPD of-
icer Erica Sandoval, Uma-
tilla Electric Cooperative
customers are receiving
phone calls from a service
claiming to be from Paciic
Power Electric and asking
for payment to prevent
their services from dis-
connection. Sandoval said
customers are directed to
call 1-888-582-0003 to
F ind
the
“resolve” the issue.
Sandoval described her
interactions with the scam-
mer in a message to UEC:
“When I Googled the
number, it came back to
a variety of sources, so I
decided to call,” she said.
“Upon calling the number,
it was picked up by an
auto-attendant that gives
you a menu of options. For
example, press one for pay-
ments and billings, two for
service, three, etc. I pressed
one and after a few seconds
S hamrock !
Win $50 Gift Card
The Shamrock Hunt is
back! The first person to
find the hidden shamrock
will win a $50 Visa Gift
Card donated by the Bank
of Eastern Oregon.
-RULES-
1. A new set of clues to guide you to the
hidden shamrock will appear in each edition of the Heppner
Gazette-Times.
2. A total of five clues beginning with the Feb. 17 edition will
be published each week on the front page.
3. The hidden shamrock is not on private property and no
digging or moving of objects, dirt or other materials is neces-
sary to find the shamrock.
4. The first person to find the shamrock and bring it to the
Heppner Gazette-Times office will claim their prize.
CLUE #1
The clover’s concealed, the prize revealed,
So who’s ready to find a shamrock this year?
Four more weeks, and many more clues,
So all you great thinkers, let’s see what you can do.
Be at your best, cuz this year’s a test.
We’ll see if you’re smart, more than the rest?
So we start this hunt at last year’s locate,
you remember, the Groshens Place.
Then go west, then south on the sráid,
0.65 km, but don’t you stray
Next week we continue, from this spot
an easy find? This shamrock is not.
Sponsored by Bank of Eastern Oregon and
The Heppner Gazette-Times
of hold music, a ‘customer
service representative,’ who
would later tell me his name
is ‘Jesse Cross,’ answered
and asked me for my ad-
dress.
“As the call continued,
I attempted to get informa-
tion to verify who he was
and where he was calling
from, which he provided
calmly and, for all intents
and purposes, profession-
ally and courteous. How-
ever, most of the informa-
tion—which included his
location at a call center
for Paciic Power at 638 S.
Highway 395—was false.
Even when confronted with
some of the discrepancies
and after I identiied myself
as a police oficer and the
purpose of the call, the rep
did not break character and
responded to my questions
and concerns.”
Sandoval said that if
she had gone along with
pretending to make a pay-
ment, she would likely have
been asked to either go to
a local Western Union or
MoneyGram outlet to wire
the ‘payment’ or asked to
purchase loadable payment
cards like the GreenDot or
Visa gift cards then con-
tact them again with those
numbers—if they didn’t
just try to get debit/credit
card information from her
directly.
Sandoval added that,
though there is no Paciic
Power ofice located at the
address given, it is a real
address—coincidentally
close to Western Union and
MoneyGram outlets.
While neither Colum-
bia Basin Electric Coop-
erative nor Morrow County
Sheriff’s Office have re-
A young participant prepares to throw the boot at last year’s
Welly Toss. -File Photo
The boots are set to ly
during the St. Patrick’s Day
Celebration on Saturday,
March 19, at the annual
“Welly Toss” in Heppner.
Everyone is invited to en-
ter teams or, if preferred,
come by and throw as an
individual. Children are
welcome to participate.
As in past years, the
event will be held on Wil-
low Street between Mur-
ray’s Drug and the Artisan
Village. Team play begins
at 10 a.m. and continues
until 12 p.m. Teams are
invited to come when they
can, and the Welly crew will
work them in. Team regis-
tration forms are available
at the Heppner Chamber of
Commerce ofice and can
be returned to the chamber
-See PHONE SCAM/PAGE by Thursday, March 10, or
TWO brought to the event and
turned it in at the registra-
tion desk.
A $20 registration fee
will be charged for team
play. The fees collected
fund the prizes and supplies
for the event.
Individual play is free
and begins for all partici-
pants at 10:30 a.m., con-
tinuing until 12:30 p.m. Age
brackets are: kids, two to
12; teens, 13-17: and adults
18 and over for both men
and women.
All kids will receive a
gold coin for playing; prizes
also will be awarded for
the man and woman win-
ners and for youth. The top
teams will receive a prize,
and the irst-place team will
have its name engraved on
the Traveling Boot Award,
currently on display at Pe-
terson’s Jewelers.
Ranger district seeks comments on site
boundary adjustments
Heppner Ranger Dis-
trict has announced that it is
beginning an analysis of the
proposed Administrative
Site Adjustments Project.
Boundary adjustments
are being considered for the
Black Mountain Communi-
cation Site and the Madison
Butte Lookout. Both of the
sites were designated in the
1980 Land and Resource
Management Plan for the
Umatilla National Forest.
The forest service says
ALL NEWS AND
ADVERTISEMENT DEADLINE:
MONDAYS AT
5:00 P.M.
that, over the years, trees
have grown up surrounding
the sites, creating a poten-
tial for damage to the facili-
ties, obstruction to the line
of sight for the lookout, and
increased threat of wildire.
The proposed action is
to implement a new admin-
istrative boundary around
both areas, and would result
in changing 16 acres of C1
land to C4.
Comments will be ac-
cepted until Feb. 24. Writ-
ten comments should be
submitted to Ann Nielsen,
District Ranger, PO Box 7,
Heppner, OR 97836, faxed
to 541-676-2105 or emailed
to comments-paciicnorth-
west-umatilla-heppner@
fs.fed.us.
Questions about the
project can be directed
to Jeromy Wilson, Proj-
ect Team Leader, Hep-
pner Ranger District, at the
above address or by calling
541-676-2103.
- - POLARIS SPECIAL - -
$2,500 OFF
600PRO155 W/ELEC. START
0% FINANCING ON OAC
ONLY 2 LEFT
Morrow County Grain Growers
Lexington 989-8221 • 1-800-452-7396
For farm equipment, visit our web site at www.mcgg.net