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About Heppner gazette-times. (Heppner, Or.) 1925-current | View Entire Issue (Dec. 6, 2017)
Local businesses to host open house activities HEPPNER G T 50¢ azette imes VOL. 136 NO. 48 8 Pages Wednesday, December 6, 2017 Morrow County, Heppner, Oregon Roice Fulleton celebrates 100 th birthday Roice Fulleton recently celebrated his 100th birth- day at Willow Creek Ter- race with his family who enjoyed reminiscing about his life. Roice was born on Dec. 3, 1917 to Edith (Roberts) and Frank Fulleton of Mc- Grew, NE. Roice attended primary grades and high school in McGrew, but as with all farm families of the time, spent many hours caring for animals and cul- tivating crops – of course without any mechaniza- tion. The Fulleton family farm raised sugar beets, corn, cattle and hogs until the impact of the dust bowl prompted their relocation to Oregon. In 1936, at the age of 18 years, he enlisted in the U.S. Navy and served at several different naval air stations. Very notable to Roice, was time spent on the U.S.S. Overton de- stroyer on neutrality patrol near Panama and later on the U.S.S. Pennsylvania. Roice related that while stationed at Long Beach, CA, he and his shipmate, Woody Predmore, would go ashore together on times of leave. In 1939, Woody had invited his mother and sister to visit from Nebraska and was to meet his family on his leave day. It was then that Roice was introduced to Woody’s sister, Betty. The young navy men and visitors all attended the World’s Fair together in San Francisco to celebrate the opening of the Bay and Golden Gate Bridges. After a long-distance courtship, Roice and Betty married in Chadron, NE in 1941. After the attack on Pearl Harbor and the U.S. entry into World War II, Roice re-enlisted in the Navy in 1942 as an air- craft mechanic and supervisor. Roice Fulleton celebrated his 100 th birth- He was assigned day with his daughters Becky (Dave) t o t h e P a s c o Cannon, Diane (Archie) Ball, grand- Air Station for daughter Andrea Fletcher and great grandsons Casey and Cody Fletcher. – a year and then Contributed photo was Seattle-based serving at Attu, but the Battle of Attu ranks Alaska from 1943-45. Dur- as the second deadliest bat- ing this time, Roice pre- tle in the Pacific Theatre (in pared and installed guns proportion to the number of and bombing mechanisms troops engaged) falling just on bombers and also re- behind Iwo Jima. paired the damaged bomb- While Roice was in ers upon their return. It was Pasco and Alaska, Betty during this time, the U.S. continued to live and work Navy bombers based on the at the Pasco Air Base where Aleutian Islands bombed she was secretary to the the infamous Paramushiro base commander and then Island, a Japanese naval employed by Boeing in air base. The Americans Seattle, during the war. achieved nearly complete After Roice was honor- surprise and escaped with ably discharged, he and small losses. However, later Betty moved to Vale, OR raids became heavily op- near Roice’s parents (the posed and the effort was too first sugar beet growers in costly for the U.S. to con- Oregon). Roice became a tinue. Roice recalls many partner in an auto repair details of his time spent on business and Chevrolet car the Aleutian Islands during dealership. While living in the war and has many, many Vale, a daughter, Diana, stories of his over-seven was born in 1946 with Ruby years of military service following in 1950. prior to and during World In 1952, Roice and Bet- War II. It is not well-known ty purchased Hodge Chev- Parade of Lights to be held on Dec. 7 at 5:30 p.m. -File photo On Thursday, Dec. 7 local businesses in Hep- pner will host a variety of activities to welcome the holiday season. From 10 a.m. until 2 p.m., Bank of Eastern Oregon, Blondee’s Salon, the City of Heppner, Cornerstone Gallery and Heppner Auto Parts will be serving cookies, cider and other refreshments. Community Bank will serve refreshments from 9 and will serve hot chocolate and candy canes from 6-7 p.m. when Santa and Mrs. Claus will be available for pictures, with your own camera. Murray’s will hold hourly door prizes and Mur- ray’s Christmas Wish List from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. with a mini wine tasting from 5-7 p.m. Peterson’s Jewelers will stay open until 7 p.m. County and The Landing operators part ways Morrow County unable to reach contract terms with operators of The Landing Restaurant at the Off Highway Vehicle Park. By David Sykes Morrow County is un- able to reach a contract extension agreement with the operators of the popu- lar Landing Restaurant at the Off Highway Vehicle, (OHV) park in the moun- tains south of Heppner, so the two are parting ways. The restaurant operates un- der a franchise agreement with the county which owns the park and the restaurant building. The Landing opera- tors Barb and John Har- ris have been running the restaurant under a year to year contract, however dis- agreements about hours of operation and other issues were unable to be resolved -See ROICE/PAGE THREE with the county, so the Har- rises will no longer be the operators. “To all our valued and loved customers of The Landing Lodge, we are saddened to have to tell Free Duffley concerts planned in Heppner and Condon Christopher Duffley will be performing in Hep- pner and Condon next week. The Heppner concert will be held at the Hep- pner Junior/Senior High School gym on Dec. 10 at 6:30 p.m. and at the Con- don High School gym on Dec. 13, also at 6:30 p.m. A concession operated by HHS FBLA will offer light dinner options and snacks during the concert in Hep- pner. Community Counsel- ing Solutions is sponsoring both concerts, which are free to the public. By all accounts, Chris- topher Duffley didn’t have a fighting chance. Born in May of 2001, Duffley’s biological parents tested positive for Oxycontin and cocaine, contribut- ing to a premature birth. Weighing in at less than two pounds, Christopher was born permanently blind (detached retinas), along with a myriad of other health problems, requiring a seven-month hospital stay. Initially placed in fos- ter care, Christopher’s aunt and uncle soon took him in as their own, eventually adopting him at the age of two. As if his existing a.m. until 3 p.m. and Break- ing Grounds will serve cookies and hot cider from 5-7 p.m. Sweet Productions will serve cookies and cider all day. The Parade of Lights will begin at 5:30 p.m., with a toy drive and spaghetti meal immediately follow- ing at the Heppner Elks Lodge. Market Fresh Foods will have free coffee all day you we will not be given an extended contract with Morrow County to operate the restaurant,” they said in a recent Facebook posting. The Harrises went on to say the dispute involved a disagreement over hours of operation, menu and giving priority to park guests to eat at the restaurant. “While we are saddened by the outcome, we are firm in our belief that the county’s demands did not fit logisti- cally or financially within our business plan,” they added. In an apparent ef- fort to put pressure on the county, they also provided the names and emails of county officials to contact on their Facebook page. The county commis- sion discussed the con- tract and its problems with the Harrises at its Nov. 29 meeting, however they did not go into the details of the disagreements and the Harrises were not present at the meeting. “The current users were doing things out- side the contract,” Interim County Administrator Kim Cutsforth told the commis- sioners. “The operators said if they have to do anything different they didn’t want to renew (the contract),” she added. The commission disagreed with The Land- ing’s postings which placed the blame for the disagree- ment solely on the county. “They made it sound like we threw them out, which is not true,” said Cutsforth. She said the county wanted Barbara Harris to give them a proposal and attempt to work out the differences. Cutsforth said the county regretted the negative com- ments that went out on Facebook, and even pointed out that John Harris had been a great help doing -See LANDING/PAGE FOUR Heppner temperatures above normal in November Christopher Duffley will perform in Heppner and Condon. -Contributed photo. health problems weren’t enough, Christopher didn’t speak in full sentences until the first grade and was later diagnosed with autism. Despite the challenges, Duffley’s adopted parents (who are devout Chris- tians), didn’t lose hope or waiver in their faith. And as the years passed, they would discover that Christopher displayed a tremendous gift in music. Particularly fond of Chris- tian praise and worship songs, Christopher is now in high demand to perform at churches, sporting events and other venues. According to his par- ents, Duffley’s story is an amazing testament that no matter how challenging one’s situation may appear, there will always be silver linings in the midst of the obstacles and pain. In fact, Christopher’s parents have used his story to advocate on behalf of pro-life groups to show that what soci- ety would often consider damaged or unwanted, is actually something to be considered very special. From Manchester, New Hampshire to Heppner and Condon, Christopher has a story to tell to each and every one of us. According to prelimi- nary data received by NO- AA’s National Weather Ser- vice in Pendleton, tempera- tures at Heppner averaged warmer than normal during the month of November. The average tempera- ture was 43.7 degrees which was 2.4 degrees above nor- mal. High temperatures av- eraged 54.2 degrees, which was 3.4 degrees above nor- mal. The highest was 71 degrees on the 23 rd . Low temperatures averaged 33.1 degrees, which was 1.4 degrees above normal. The lowest was 19 degrees, on the 7 th . There were 11 days with the low temperature below 32 degrees. Precipitation totaled 1.63 inches during Novem- ber, which was 0.03 inches above normal. Measurable precipitation, at least .01 inch, was received on 16 days with the heaviest, 0.32 inches reported on the 16 th . Precipitation this year has reached 12.42 inches, which is 0.26 inches below normal. Since October, the water year precipitation at Heppner has been 2.87 inches, which is 0.13 inches 20% OFF above normal. The highest wind gust was 39 mph which occurred on the 26 th . The outlook for De- cember from NOAA’s Cli- mate Prediction Center calls for above normal tem- peratures and below normal precipitation. Normal highs for Heppner fall from 44 degrees at the start of De- cember to 41 degrees at the end of December. Normal lows fall from 28 degrees to 25 degrees. The 30 year normal precipitation is 1.32 inches. CHRISTMAS TREES IN STOCK! Montana Silversmith Jewelry now thru Christmas Morrow County Grain Growers Green Feed & Seed 242 W. Linden Way, Heppner • 676-9422 • 989-8221 (MCGG main office)
