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