Rock Creek floods again after
20 years
HEPPNER
G T
50¢
azette
imes
VOL. 136
NO. 8 8 Pages
Wednesday, February 22, 2017
Morrow County, Heppner, Oregon
Rock Creek in flood last Thursday, Feb. 16—apparently doing its best, though unsuccessfully,
to wash out another bridge. -Photo by Claudia Smythe
Mustangs take fourth in districts
For the second time in
a little more than 20 years,
South Morrow County’s
Rock Creek is bursting its
banks in a big way.
On Dec. 31, 1996,
Rock Creek flooded, wash-
Flynn, Antonucci head to state championship
to recede that evening.
The “new” higher
bridge held, fortunately,
and although there were
water issues reported at
MP 18, so did the highway.
Most of the water appar-
Above left: Trevor Antonucci of Heppner faces off against Steven Beckman of Joseph/Wallowa during the championship bout.
Above right: Cord Flynn pins Joseph Aguilar of Pine Eagle for first place. Flynn won the championship bout by fall at 2:46
for the district title. -Photos by Kirsti Cason
A photo from the archives of the Heppner Gazette shows a
It was Antonucci’s and matches by the tourna- telephone worker repairing a phone line at the washed-out
T h e H e p p n e r / I o n e total team points. Every
bridge on Rock Creek below Anson Wright Park in January
wrestling team competed Mustang wrestler stood on Brosnan’s first time to earn ment’s number-one seeds of 1997. -File Photo
in the OSAA 2A/1A Special
District 4 championship
tournament on Friday. Ten
teams comprise the special
district.
The young Mustang
team, which consists of
seven sophomores and one
senior, finished fourth in
the podium and received a
medal on Friday night.
Three Heppner/Ione
wrestlers made it to the
championship bout, Trevor
Antonucci at 106 pounds,
Carson Brosnan at 145
pounds and Cord Flynn at
195 pounds.
a spot in the district finals,
while Flynn is a return-
ing district champion from
2016.
Antonucci and Brosnan
both pinned their opponents
in the semifinals to reach
the championship, but were
each defeated in their finals
for their weight classes.
Flynn was hardly chal-
lenged en route to his sec-
ond district championship.
After receiving a bye in
the first round, he pinned
-See MUSTANG WRES-
TLING TO STATE/PAGE
THREE
Event founder honored on this
year’s St. Pat’s button
The founder of Hep-
pner’s St. Patrick’s Cel-
ebration, the late Jimmy
Farley, is being honored on
this year’s fundraising lapel
button.
Born in 1917 in Hep-
pner to Irish-born Peter and
Nellie Kelleher Farley, Jim
graduated from Heppner
High School, and then Or-
egon State College with an
agricultural science degree.
He served in the military as
an officer in Europe from
1943 to 1945. Upon return-
ing to Morrow County, he
F ind
the
married Louise Anderson
and they raised two daugh-
ters, Trisha Huddleston and
Shanny Miller.
Owner of Farley Mo-
tors on May Street for 40-
plus years, he was active
in the greater community
and church events, being
honored as the Chamber
of Commerce’s Man of the
Year for 1991. In 1988 he
was the honored Irishman
of the St. Patrick’s Celebra-
tion, and the Farley fam-
ily was recognized during
2007’s gathering.
S hamrock !
Win A $50 Bill!
The Shamrock Hunt is
back! The first person to
find the hidden sham-
rock will win a $50 bill
donated by the Bank of
Eastern Oregon.
-RULES-
It bothered Farley that sold since 1987 as a fund-
Pendleton celebrated St. raiser. Selling for $3, there
Patrick, the Catholic pa- are two drawings for $100
tron saint of
on Saturday,
Ireland, and
March 18.
Heppner did
Buttons can
not, so he
be purchased
put together
at Heppner
a public cel-
City Hall,
ebration in
the Heppner
1982. He in-
Chamber of
vited KUMA
Commerce,
radio from
M u r r a y ’s
Pendleton,
Drug, and at
local musi- The founder of Heppner’s St. various loca-
c i a n s , a n d Patrick’s celebration, Jimmy tions during
o p e n e d u p Farley, will be honored on this the celebra-
lapel button. -Contrib-
t h e d o o r s year’s
tion.
uted photo
to his show
It is cur-
room for the
rently de-
first Farley’s Social Hour. signed by Julie Proctor
His popular annual event Baker of Lexington, and
grew to the current four-day many people save each
Wee Bit o’ Ireland Cel- year’s buttons. Jimmy’s
ebration, promoted as the Irish smile on this year’s
Pacific Northwest’s largest button marking the 35 th year
of the event may make it a
St. Patrick activity.
The buttons have been treasured collector’s item.
ing out a bridge and part
of Hwy. 207 below Anson
Wright Park. One lane of
the highway opened with
a pilot car on Jan. 6, 1997,
according to Gazette-Times
archives. The bridge was
rebuilt—higher if a little
narrower—and that portion
of the highway had to be re-
built “from the bottom up,”
according to the story in the
Jan. 8, 1997 G-T.
Last Thursday, resi-
dents along Rock Creek
reported that the creek was
again in flood, hitting flood
stage about 9 a.m., cresting
later the day and beginning
ently came off the Opal
Butte side of the creek, and
Parkers Mill received some
damage as some of the cab-
ins took water.
This week, Rock Creek
continues to run high, but
no further damage has been
reported to the Gazette so
far.
Like this year, 1997
was a notable year for high
water; the Jan. 15 issue
of the Gazette reported
flood damages throughout
the county estimated at
$250,000 and mounting,
not counting private utili-
ties.
G-T Trophy Corner
County school district
releases plan to make
up snow days
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. 15 edition will
be published each week on the front page.
3. The hidden shamrock is not on private property and no
Heppner—When the
-April 7, 14 and 28
digging or moving of objects, dirt or other materials is neces-
Morrow
County
School
are
now designated as
sary to find the shamrock.
District
established
its
“Snow/Inclement
Weather”
4. The first person to find the shamrock and bring it to the
2016-17
school
year
cal-
make-up
days
for
Heppner
Heppner Gazette-Times office will claim their prize.
CLUE #2
Ciphers!
You waited here, on 74,
Ciphers and integers this week galore
So grab your abacus, pencil or pen
And calculate how this hunt you will win
Do this real quick, 1*17*37 and tripled by you
Gives a GREAT BIG, and so obvious clue
Stand on that and look right up
The LXVI building, don’t make me do all the work!
Way at the top you’ll see what you want
Runes, and numerals, to continue the hunt
Put ‘em together and then what you’ll need
Is Larry and Sergey’s communication machine
Get it sent, the subject is shamrock
Then you’ll receive a nice clue for your stalk
Sponsored by Bank of Eastern Oregon and The Heppner Gazette-Times
endar, administrators built Schools.
in extra days to allow for
-In the event of another
potential snow days. Due to snow day, the dates listed
extreme inclement weath- above will not change.
Tresslyn McCurry with her first cow elk, taken New Year’s
er conditions this winter,
Boardman and Irrigon Eve day. Tresslyn, the daughter of Tony and Tiffany Clement
and David and Michelle McCurry, took the shot with Tony
schools in Boardman and
-See MCSD SNOW DAY Clement’s .30-06 during her first hunt on a long, cold, windy
Irrigon have been closed
MAKE-UP/PAGE THREE day. -Contributed photo
for seven days and Heppner
schools were closed for five
days. To compensate for
this lost instructional time
for students, the MCSD will
now be implementing the
following adjustments to
the 2016-17 calendar:
Heppner Schools:
-Heppner schools will
make up three of the missed
student contact days due to
Morrow County Grain Growers Green Feed & Seed
inclement weather closures.
242 W. Linden Way, Heppner • 676-9422 • 989-8221 (MCGG main office)
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SELECT
WINTER
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APPAREL
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