Staying cool at the fair
HEPPNER
G T
50¢
azette
imes
VOL. 135
NO. 33 8 Pages
Police
investigate
Irrigon
stabbing
Wednesday, August 24, 2016
Morrow County, Heppner, Oregon
Daemon Worden and Camryn Scrivner pause for a photo op while tending their sheep at
the Morrow County Fair last week. The Morrow County Fair and Oregon Trail Pro Rodeo
are over for another year, leaving behind good memories of “Country Scenes and Children’s
-See more fair and rodeo photos, PAGE EIGHT.
Dreams.” -Photo by Andrea Di Salvo
Houweling to retire, sells Heppner
Family Foods
Saturday, August 20,
at 11:16 p.m., the Morrow
County Sheriff’s Office dis-
patch center received a 911
call reporting someone had
been stabbed, the agency
announced Monday.
MCSO reports that law
enforcement arrived on the
scene 13 minutes after the
incident was reported, and
that Ivan Salas Salas, 26,
of Irrigon was transported
by private vehicle to Good
Shepherd Medical Center
in Hermiston with multiple
stab wounds to the back.
Salas reportedly was at-
tending an event on Depot
Lane in Irrigon when the
incident occurred.
Heppner Family Foods will change hands next month, but current owner Bert Houweling
-See IRRIGON STABBING/ says he doesn’t expect the new owners to make any big changes. -Photo by Andrea Di Salvo
PAGE TWO
MCGG
receives
Connect
Oregon
VI grant
The Oregon Transpor-
tation Commission last
Friday approved 39 multi-
modal projects from around
the state for $49,518,726
in funding, provided by the
ConnectOregon VI pro-
gram.
Among the approved
grant projects was a Board-
man grain elevator unit
train unloading project
by Morrow County Grain
Growers. MCGG was
granted $2.5 million for
the project, which is esti-
mated to cost a total of $6.5
million. MCGG plans to
use the funding to expand
the existing truck-to-barge
grain-handling facility so
it will have the capability
to unload unit trains of grain
-See MCGG GRANT/PAGE
THREE
By Andrea Di Salvo
For those who visit
Heppner Family Foods in
the coming weeks, every-
thing should look much the
same in the local market.
However, there will be one
big change—the store will
have a different owner.
Bert Houweling, who
has owned the local grocery
store for the last 17 years,
has sold Heppner Family
Foods to Kirby Company,
owned by David Kirby.
Kirby Company also owns
stores in Saint Helens and
Toledo, OR and Shelton,
Cathlamet and Goldendale,
WA. Houweling says the
company will take owner-
ship of the store Sept. 9.
Houweling, who give
his age as “Old enough,
but young enough to do it
again,” says it wasn’t an
overnight decision. In fact,
he’s been thinking of selling
the store and retiring for a
while now.
“I’ve always been in
grocery or wholesale, one
or the other,” he says. “I’ve
been in this my whole life,
and here for 17 years. It’s
just time to retire.”
When he decided it
was time to sell the store,
he used his connections at
URM Stores. URM, among
other services, is a food dis-
tributor for many grocery
stores in the Inland North-
west, including Heppner
Family Foods. Through
them, he says, it was easy
to make a connection with
Kirby.
Despite his history
owning one of Heppner’s
mainstay businesses, Hou-
weling started life a long
way from here. He was born
in Holland but spent most
of his life in Washington.
He graduated from high
school in Bellevue, WA “a
long time ago.” He then
attended college for about
half a year, he says, before
-See FAMILY FOODS/PAGE
THREE
Gutierrez retires after nearly 30 years
with MCGG
By Andrea Di Salvo
Kim Gutierrez will be
putting down his tools at the
end of this month, ending a
27-year career as a service
technician with Morrow
County Grain Growers.
Gutierrez, 58, will take
an early retirement this
year because of arthritis, he
says. A quiet man, he would
prefer to go out without the
fuss his coworkers choose
to make over him.
“I was hoping to go out
quietly in the night and not
make a big deal about it,”
he says.
errez attended Blue Moun-
Gutierrez was born tain Community College
in Hood River, OR but for two years, earning an
raised in Cascade
associate’s degree
Locks until the age
in diesel technol-
of 11, when his fam-
ogy. He then took
ily moved to Ione.
a job with Swingle
He then attended
Machinery in The
the Ione school,
Dalles. He didn’t
graduating from
ease his way into
Ione High School Kim
servicing big rigs,
in 1976. It was also Gutierrez
but rather started
at IHS that he met
immediately work-
his high-school sweetheart, ing on Caterpillar machin-
now wife of 38 years, Gay- ery.
le.
He left Swingle in
After high school, Guti- January of 1983 to return
to Morrow County, where
he worked for the Mor-
row County Road Depart-
ment through 1988. It was
during that time that the
couple’s two children were
born—Jessica in 1984 and
Joshua in 1987. Jessica
lives in Portland and Joshua
in Boardman; the Gutier-
rezes now also have two
grandchildren, ages five
and three.
In January of 1989, he
took a job as a service tech
-See GUTIERREZ RETIRES/
PAGE THREE
Fourth-quarter rally lifts East to win
Shrine game
It’s back to East scores winning touchdown midway through fourth
for 15-12 victory
school next quarter
By Gerry Steele. Reprint- East-West Shrine All-Star Braden Clark (Scappoose) regained the ball on the
ed from the Aug. 8
Football
in the end
West 27 with 7:59
week
Baker City Herald.
Game at
zone for a
left in the game.
It’s back to school for
area students; school will
begin in both Heppner and
Ione schools next Monday,
Aug. 29.
G-T closed
for Labor
Day
The Heppner Gazette-
Times will be closed for the
Labor Day holiday on Mon-
day, Sept. 5. The deadline
for all news and advertising
for the Sept. 7 issue will be
Friday, Sept. 2, at 5 p.m.
Normal business hours will
resume Tuesday, Sept. 6.
Editor’s note:
CJ Kindle and Pat-
rick Collins, Hep-
pner, and Fredy
Vera, Irrigon, rep-
resented Morrow
Patrick
County in the start- Collins
ing lineup for the
East team in the
Aug. 6 game. Not starting
but selected as alternates
were Weston Putman and
Kaden Clark, Heppner, and
Cougar Kroske, Irrigon.
Kellen Grant of Heppner
also was selected as a stu-
dent manager for the East
team.
The East rallied in the
fourth quarter Saturday to
earn a 15-12 win over the
West in the 64 th -annual
Chase
paving
project
planned
Thursday
The City of Heppner
will be paving Chase St.,
Skyline Blvd. and Bruce
Kelly Dr. this Thursday,
Aug. 25.
These streets, begin-
ning south of Cannon St.,
will be closed by 7 a.m. on
Thursday and will remain
closed until the project is
completed later in the day.
The pavers also will
be paving the new fire hall
and patching areas around
town on Wednesday; mo-
torists are asked to watch
for workers during that
time.
Heppner
receives
grant to aid
TSP update
SALEM—The City
of Heppner was one of 15
communities across Or-
egon—from the Klamath
Tribes to Estacada—that
have been awarded Trans-
portation and Growth Man-
agement Program grants
to fund transportation and
land-use planning projects.
The city plans to use
the funds, the amount of
which has yet to be deter-
mined, to update and amend
the prioritized project list of
its existing Transportation
System Plan (TSP). Updat-
ing the TSP is a process that
local governments must do
regularly in order to move
transportation and land use
projects forward.
The Transportation and
Growth Management Pro-
gram (TGM), a 23-year
partnership between the
Department of Land Con-
servation and Development
and the Oregon Department
of Transportation, awards
grants to support Oregon
communities working to
create vibrant, livable plac-
es where people can walk,
bike, take transit or drive
where they want to go.
“These grants reflect
both the transportation
planning needs of local
governments across the
states and the innovation of
cities, counties and tribes to
meet those future needs for
their communities,” said
Erin Doyle, Intergovern-
Baker Bull-
safety. That
The East then
dog Memo-
pulled the
ran more than 5 min-
rial Stadium.
East to with-
utes off the clock on
T h e
in 12-9 with
a 10-play drive, all
win, the
10:25 left in
on the ground.
East’s sec- CJ Kindle
the game.
Cascade’s Gar-
Fredy Vera
ond straight,
Then,
rett Coffey scored
gives the East a 31- a f t e r t h e t e a m s
-See SHRINE GAME/PAGE
-See HEPPNER TSP
FOUR
GRANT/PAGE FOUR
30-3 overall lead in traded fumbles, the East
the series played to benefit
the Portland Shriners Hos-
pital for Children.
The East defense start-
ed the rally.
Forced to punt trailing
12-7, East punter Isaiah
Cranford of La Grande put
the West in a hole when
he angled his kick out of
bounds at the West 1.
Morrow County Grain Growers
Two plays later the East
Lexington 989-8221 • 1-800-452-7396 For farm equipment, visit our web site at www.mcgg.net
defense tackled the West’s