Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About Heppner gazette-times. (Heppner, Or.) 1925-current | View Entire Issue (March 8, 2017)
Heppner’s 35 th Wee Bit O’ Ireland is coming March 16-19 HEPPNER G T 50¢ azette imes VOL. 136 NO. 10 8 Pages Put on your green hats, jewelry and clothing and get ready to have some good old “Wee Bit O’ Ireland” fun, starting on Thursday, March 16, at 7 p.m. with Father Gerry Condon’s original play, “A Rose in Bloom.” The performance will be held at St. Patrick’s Catholic Church parish hall, 560 NW Jones, Heppner. Friday will start the weekend event with lots of arts, crafts, the annual book sale, food galore and a three-on-three basketball competition starting at 6 p.m. at the Heppner High Dom Monahan and Butch Laughlin in the Great Green Parade from years past. The parade and the rest of the festivities return to Heppner March 16-19. -Contributed photo day, starting at daylight School gym. Saturday is truly a full with the sheep dog trials, and lots of places to shop, Wednesday, March 8, 2017 Morrow County, Heppner, Oregon eat and sit. Remember to check out the Vendor’s Square, the annual book sale, and arts and crafts around town. If you are up for a Remembrance Walk and 5K run, you will find of 19. T h i s K e n n y that, too. year’s Great There will be Cruz-In was accom- Green Parade vehicles on display and an panied by grand mar- opportunity to take part in his cousin, shals ha ve the Welly Toss. Sit for a Mary Gaff- roots that are spell at the KUMA Coffee ney. Mary buried deep Hour, or visit the Morrow was 17 years in both the older than County Heritage and Agri- soil of Mor- M i k e a n d cultural Museums. For the row County had a sis- younger crowd there will and in the ter living in be a Leprechaun Run for green hills of Oregon. So, children in grades kinder- Ireland. Re- while most garten through six. Back ceiving the immigrants by popular demand, the honor for the th had the East O’Planky Team Relay Race 35 annual St. Patrick’s C o a s t a s will take place before the Celebration their desti- Great Green Parade, which is the Kenny nation, the is scheduled to start at 1 family, and two cousins p.m. Following the parade many of the The children of John and Bridget (Mollahan) Kenny perform at the KUMA Coffee Hour dur- w a n t e d t o there will be other activities, Kenny cous- ing the early years of the St. Patrick’s Day celebration in Heppner. L-R: Eddie, Emmett, Pat get to Or- including bouncy houses (Erwin), Billy, Matt, James and Ilene (Richards), with Carly Drake on piano. -Contributed photo ins will gath- egon. After and other inflatable units for er from far enduring preschool children through and wide to represent their farming on Sand Hollow, Carrigan, County Leitrim, many hardships along the high school at the Bouncin’ family and lead the parade for more than 100 years. Ireland in 1859. He grew up way, they finally arrived at Leprechauns Fun Zone in on Saturday, March 18. Family patriarch Michael on the family farm before the Umatilla Landing. Kenny family named grand marshals of St. Pat’s Great Green Parade Heppner native named to Happy Canyon board PENDLETON, Ore.— A Heppner native is one of three new members on the Happy Canyon Board of Directors, the organiza- tion announced this week. Casey Evans, Casey Hunt and Becky Waggoner all join the board this year. “Happy Canyon is hon- ored to have Casey Ev- ans, Casey Hunt and Becky Wag- goner join our Board Casey Evans of Direc- tors,” said Happy Canyon President Corey Neistadt. “They all have deep roots in our show and our community.” Involvement and vol- unteerism with Happy Canyon and the Pendleton Round-Up has been in Ev- ans’ and his wife, Kylee’s, families for four genera- tions. Evans himself has been involved in the show since 2007, taking over the part in the Trunk Act and Duck Act. He was born in Heppner and moved to Pendleton after high school to attend Blue Mountain Community College. Evans, who works for the Oregon Department of Transportation, and his wife have two daughters, Finley, 8, and Adilynn, 4, and re- The Kenny family has Kenny immigrated to Ore- leaving his homeland to lived in Morrow County, gon in 1878. He was born in come to America at the age -See GRAND MARSHALS/ PAGE THREE Is Horseshoe Bend finally getting a straightening? Local man comes up with unique plan to take out the extreme highway curve long talked about, but never accomplished, project com- pleted: straightening out the extreme curve west of Ione on Highway 74, known lo- cally as Horseshoe Bend. DeMayo told the court the Army National Guard has a program called troop construction where Army construction units come in and do projects at no cost, except for materials, includ- PAGE FOUR ing big construction jobs— just like knocking out the neck and taking the “bend” out of Horseshoe Bend. He said if approved the Army would bring survey- Win A $50 Bill! ors, equipment and explo- sives for the job, and then The Shamrock Hunt is the county and Oregon back! The first person to Department of Transporta- find the hidden sham- tion (ODOT) would step in rock will win a $50 bill and finish it up. He said the donated by the Bank of Guard, of which DeMayo Eastern Oregon. was a member for many years, could accomplish -RULES- two thirds of the work on 1. A new set of clues to guide you to the hidden shamrock the project, thus reducing will appear in each edition of the Heppner Gazette-Times. the cost dramatically. 2. A total of five clues beginning with the Feb. 15 edition will Over the years ODOT By David Sykes “The more you sweat in peace, the less you bleed in war,” local man Dave DeMayo told the Morrow County Court last week. The former Heppner City Manager was repeating a saying used in the Army about being prepared and staying ready for conflict. DeMayo hopes to tap into -See HAPPY CANYON/ that ethos to possibly get a F ind the S hamrock ! 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 #4 Streets, games and fairy tales You’re blown along this Heppner drive Wanting a sign of where next to strive You know that game from last week’s clue So look for rails between the avenues Atlantic and Illinois, that’s where you’ll gaze Then look between ‘em, to get through this maze You drop Ohio and yes there it is Turn right – now be ready – for A big quiz: There were caprines in this Norwegian tale? Answer that one, and you cannot fail Sponsored by Bank of Eastern Oregon and The Heppner Gazette-Times Spring ahead The extreme highway curve west of Ione called Horseshoe Bend may be finally be getting a straightening, thanks to a proposal to use Army troops for some of the work. Former Heppner City Manager Dave DeMayo (inset) has approached the National Guard about helping with the project. has been asked many times about straightening out the extreme bend, but has al- ways come away saying the project is just too expensive for the remote and low- use highway. It has been estimated the project could cost up to $3.5 million, money ODOT is just not willing to spend. With the Army involved, DeMayo says that would knock the project cost down so much that ODOT and the county might be willing to take it on. He said he earlier met with ODOT officials in La Grande about the project. “I have talked to the Army National Guard in Eugene and I am propos- ing to you,” he told the court, “that we approach them about this project.” He said the Army would get the curve knocked down to grade and then the county and ODOT could take over and finish the job, thus greatly reducing the price tag. “This has been a prob- lem forever,” Commis- sioner Don Russell said in response to DeMayo’s presentation. “People have always talked about the cost to the state and it al- ways falls off because it is so remote,” he said. He encouraged DeMayo to move forward and contact the Guard. -See HORSESHOE BEND/ PAGE FIVE -See WEE BIT O’ IRELAND/ PAGE FOUR Cool, wet weather to continue into March February was cold and wet—a trend that is likely to continue into March, according to the National Weather Service in Pend- leton. According to prelimi- nary data received by the NWS Pendleton office, temperatures at Heppner averaged colder than nor- mal during the month of February. The average tem- perature was 34.9 degrees, which was 2.9 degrees be- low normal. High tem- peratures averaged 44.1 degrees, which was 3.3 degrees below normal. The highest was 60 degrees on the 10 th . Low temperatures averaged 25.8 degrees, which was 2.4 degrees be- low normal. The lowest was nine degrees on the first. There were 23 days with the low temperature below 32 degrees. There were four days when the high temperature stayed below 32 degrees. Precipitation totaled 1.24 inches during Febru- ary, which was 0.12 inches above normal. Measurable precipitation of at least .01 inch was received on 14 days with the heaviest, 0.24 inches, reported on the eighth. Precipitation this year -See WEATHER/PAGE FIVE MCGG WANTS TO SAVE YOU SOME PRESIDENTS! Everyone is reminded to Spring Ahead and set clocks ahead one hour be- fore bedtime this Saturday, March 11. Daylight Saving’s Time begins Sunday, March 12. $ AVE 15% OFF ALL FLEETGUARD FILTERS Thru March 18th Morrow County Grain Growers Lexington 989-8221 • 1-800-452-7396 For farm equipment, visit our web site at www.mcgg.net