Heppner teams punch tickets
to state golf tournament
HEPPNER
G T
50¢
Girls take district championship
azette
imes
VOL. 135
NO. 20 8 Pages
Wednesday, May 18, 2016
Morrow County, Heppner, Oregon
The Mustang girls’ and boys’ golf teams traveled to the district competition in Pendleton last
week, where the girls brought home a championship while the boys took an impressive second
place. Pictured are: Back L-R: Caitlyn Scrivner, Claire Grieb, Sophie Grant, Amanda Rea,
Madison Combe, Riane Dompier. Front L-R: Charles Cason, Reno Ferguson, Cason Mitchell,
Logan Grieb, Logan Burright, Dan Bretsch. -Contributed photo -See fully story PAGE THREE
Health partnership aims to
immerse medical students in
rural health care and way of life
Published May 16, 2016 by
Northeast Oregon AHEC.
Reprinted with permission.
According to the Na-
tional Rural Health Asso-
ciation, only about 10 per-
cent of physicians practice
in rural America despite the
fact that nearly one-fourth
of the population lives in
these areas.
“When I tell people
who are not from a rural
community that I wish to
practice rural medicine
they generally give me the
same response. They react
with a look of sympathy and
congratulate me on my al-
truistic sacriice to society,”
said Nicholas West, MD small-town life is like,” said
candidate 2019, at Oregon Emily Thompson, MD can-
Health & Science Univer- didate 2019 at OHSU, from
sity (OHSU) School of Heppner, OR.
Medicine, from Imbler, OR.
First-year medical stu-
This illustrates the un- dents Thompson, West and
deniable need for the redis- Abigail Huddleston are part
tribution of primary care of a rural student advisory
providers, but how?
group to the assis-
“I believe phy-
tant dean of rural
sicians from small
medical education
t o w n s a r e mo r e
in the OHSU School
likely to return to
of Medicine. During
small towns. By tak-
their spring enrich-
ing on a leadership Emily
ment week, May 23
role as a medical Thompson
to 25, these students
student from a small
along with North-
town, I hope to create more east Oregon Area Health
opportunities for medical Education Center (NEOA-
students to experience what HEC) have planned activi-
ties in three communities in
Northeast Oregon, includ-
ing Heppner, La Grande
and Pendleton. The op-
portunity was offered to all
OHSU first-year medical
students.
“We are pleased to
work with NEOAHEC on
this rural enrichment expe-
rience for medical students.
We’re inding exposure to
rural communities and rural
medical practices opens
students’ eyes to possibili-
ties they hadn’t considered
before, which will hope-
fully mean more rural phy-
Teen arrested for rest
stop stabbing
A 17-year-old Idaho
boy allegedly stabbed a
51-year-old woman in the
women’s restroom at rest
stop near Boardman Satur-
day afternoon, police say.
Morrow County Sher-
iff’s Ofice received a 9-1-1
call at 3:44 p.m. Saturday
reporting an attack in the
restroom of the state rest
stop off the westbound
side of I-84, just outside of
Boardman. Oregon State
Police responded, and po-
lice arrested Talon James
Davis of Clarkston, ID, who
-See RURAL HEALTH/PAGE will turn 18 in June.
TWO
The victim, Sandra
Byers, was taken to Good
Shepherd Medical Center
in Hermiston with non-life-
threatening injuries. She
was reportedly released
Monday morning.
Davis was lodged at
Northern Oregon Region-
al Correctional Facility
(NORCOR) in The Dalles
with bail set at $100,000.
Davis is being charged
with irst-degree assault and
unlawful use of a weapon.
Because assault I is a Mea-
-See TEEN ARRESTED FOR
STABBING/PAGE THREE
Area bids farewell to long-time Local girl on target in archery
community members, volunteers championship
Al and Jean Brazell stand in the midst of a few of the lowers
that are Jean’s pride and joy. Among her other pursuits, she
is an avid gardener, and husband Al says he has been spoiled
by all the fresh fruits and vegetables over the years. -Photo by
Andrea Di Salvo
By Andrea Di Salvo
The Heppner Method-
ist Church will bid farewell
to long-time choir director
Jean Brazell this Sunday
as she and husband Albert
“Al” Brazell of Lexington
attend worship there for the
last time as members. They
leave for a new home out-
side of Roy, WA on May 28.
However, her time as
choir director at the Meth-
odist church—important
as that is—only scratches
the surface of the Brazell’s
involvement in the South
Morrow County Commu-
nity.
Neither of the Brazells
was born her, though Jean,
who turns 73 the day they
move, came here young—
her father brought the fam-
ily up from Central Oregon
around 1947 to take up
G-T Trophy Corner
Kayden Piper, 7, of Heppner caught this 10-1/2 inch trout at
Anson Wright Park on Sunday, May 15. It was his second time
ishing. -Contributed photo
G-T closed Memorial
Day
The Heppner Gazette-
Times ofice will be closed
Memorial Day, May 30,
for the holiday. All news
and ad deadlines will be
Friday, May 27, by 5 p.m.
The newspaper ofice will
reopen on Tuesday, May 31.
wheat farming outside of
Ione.
“I’ve been around do-
ing 4-H and all that when I
was a kid,” she says.
Jean Martin attended
school in and graduated
from Ione before going
on to obtain a Bachelor of
Science in home economics
from Oregon State Univer-
sity.
Al Brazell’s journey
to Lexington was a little
longer. Born in West Palm
Beach, FL and raised in
northern Florida where his
father was stationed at an
Air Force base, Al says he
came west “for the trees.”
“My uncle had a saw-
mill, and I used to work
there. A big tree there is
two feet in diameter,” the
73-year-old says. “I wanted
to see the really big trees.”
He attended OSU to
pursue a degree in forestry.
The two met there, and
were married in the Meth-
odist church in Corvallis.
As it turned out, though,
he decided working for the
forest service wasn’t for
him. After the couple spent
a summer at a guard sta-
tion in Utah, he went into
logging for a short time.
The two then both attended
the University of Idaho,
she to obtain a Master of
Arts in Teaching (MAT) in
home ec and he to inish
his bachelor’s degree in
forestry. Even though he
never worked for the forest
service, Al Brazell still says
it was worth the time, espe-
cially the machine classes.
“It’s amazing how
much of that info you use
in a lifetime,” he says. “It
wasn’t wasted time.”
Jean had been teaching
while he inished his degree,
but didn’t argue when Al
took them to Castle View,
WA to work for Longview
Fibre. He worked there for
nearly 10 years, while she
taught and then subbed, and
raised their two children,
Brian and Kathleen. They
left Western Washington
-See BRAZELLS SAY
GOODBYE/PAGE EIGHT
Brianne Smith, an eighth grader at Heppner Junior/Senior High School,
spent Mother’s Day week-
end in Redding, CA defend-
ing her national title at the
second largest Marked 3D
Archery competition in the
world.
This was Brianne’s last
year in the Youth Bow-
hunter Freestyle (BHFS)
class, in which the archers
use a compound bow with
ixed sites, short stabilizer
and a release. At the end of
the weekend Brianne had
Brianne Smith with four of her Wyoming state trophies; she won her fourth national
also completed a set of four national trophies over Mother’s marked 3D championship,
Day weekend. -Contributed photo
winning all three years she
was in the youth class and
once as a cub.
Brianne was curious
about archery from an early
age. Her dad, Brian Smith,
is an avid archer and hunter.
She watched her dad come
home from hunting with his
bow and she watched him
come home from archery
tournaments with trophies.
When Brianne was two, her
dad bought her a recurve
bow and taught her how to
shoot. Noticing Brianne’s
desire to shoot archery, her
mom, Megan Smith, gave
up archery to help Brianne
participate in the sport.
At age three Brianne par-
ticipated in her irst archery
shoot.
By age ive Brianne had
won her irst state archery
tournament, the Wyoming
State 3D in 2007. She con-
tinued her winning streak
by winning three archery
categories at age six: Wyo-
ming State Field, Wyoming
State Target and Wyoming
Students at Heppner High School celebrated prom on Satur-
day, May 7. Pictured is the prom court. Front L-R: Princesses State 3D.
As a pre-teen she con-
Sydney Maben and Jessica Kempken. Middle L-R: Princess
tinued
to impress the adult
Kaelyn Lindsay, Queen Rylee Kollman, King Kaden Clark
Heppner shines on
prom night
and Princess Caitlyn Bailey. Back L-R: Princes Tommy Bred-
ield, C.J. Kindle, Will Lutcher and Weston Putman. -Photo
by Moderne Studio
-See TEEN ON TARGET/
PAGE FOUR
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