Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About Heppner gazette-times. (Heppner, Or.) 1925-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 21, 2018)
Mustang girls take district basketball title HEPPNER G T 50¢ azette imes VOL. 137 NO. 8 8 Pages Wednesday, February 21, 2018 Morrow County, Heppner, Oregon Ione FFA members place at district meet Bottom (L to R) holding plaque: Sophie Grant, Morgan Correa and Kacie Gray.Standing: Coaches Russ Nichols and Michelle Ashbeck; Players Makayla Silvia, Marlee Mitchell, Madison Combe, Sydney Wilson, Jacee Currin, Jaiden Mahoney, Jenna McCullough, Madelyn Nichols, Madison Ashbeck, Sage Ferguson, Aimee Turrell and Coach Rob Wilson. -Contributed photo The Lady Mustangs captured the Columbia Basin Conference district title after securing weekend wins over Culver and the championship game over Weston-McEwen. This is the girl’s first district title in the last 10 years. The Mustangs’ first game against Culver was a defensive showcase. The girls held Culver to just eight points in the second half and only one point in the fourth quarter to notch a 38-25 victory. Both Jacee Currin and Sydney Wilson had double-doubles with 13 points and 10 rebounds each. Madison Combe chipped in six points. Cur- rin also had five assists and three steals to lead the team. In the championship game the Lady Mustangs had another dominant per- formance beating Weston- McEwen by a final of 48- 35. The girls controlled the game from start until finish. Jacee Currin led the scoring with 15 points, followed by Sydney Wilson with 12 points, Morgan Correa with eight points and Kacie Gray with four points. Wilson showed dominance on the glass grabbing 16 rebounds. District awards were also handed out on cham- pionship night. Both Jacee Currin and Sydney Wilson received a first team all- league award and Morgan Correa and Sophie Grant re- ceived honorable mention. Next up for the Mus- tangs is a home state playoff game versus Central Linn Cobras at Heppner High School on Saturday, Feb. 24 at 1 p.m. State Degree Recipients (L-R): Austin Morter, Erin Heideman (advisor) and Emily Taylor. -Contributed photo The Ione FFA Chapter had a terrific showing at the district leadership career development events this past week. First place in Advanced public speak- ing, a six-eight minute pre- pared speech about an ag topic with questions, was Sonia Medina and second was Morgan Orem. Creed speaking, memorizing the five paragraph FFA creed and answering one ques- tion, was Grace Ogden in third place and Larysa Bur- right in ninth. Emily Taylor earned fifth in extempora- neous public speaking. Morgan, Sonia and Grace will be represent- ing Ione at sectionals on Feb. 14 at Eastern Oregon University. Two members of the Ione FFA chapter will earn the highest degree that Or- egon FFA can bestow upon its members, the State FFA Degree. Austin Morter and Emily Taylor will earn their way into the ranks of de- gree holders after the State FFA Convention the first weekend of spring break in Redmond. To be eligible to earn the state degree, members must complete the follow- ing and then present before a community panel: Received the Chapter FFA Degree; been an active FFA member for at least two years; completed the equivalent of at least two years (360 hours) of sys- tematic school instruction Commission makes several appointments Planning, Fair Board, Road Committee get new members By David Sykes The Morrow Coun- ty commission last week moved to fill several vacan- cies on various committees. The commission appointed Michelle Seeley of Board- man to fill a planning com- mission vacancy created when Kathy Neal resigned in January. Seeley is cur- rently an employee of the city of Boardman and said she has worked closely with the building and commu- nity development depart- ments and has a position as recorder for the city of Boardman’s planning commission, giving her knowledge of regulations, statutes and zoning. It was also announced that Ken Bailey had also resigned from the planning com- mission which still leaves an open spot for a Heppner resident. Planning Director Carla McLane said if she is not able to secure someone from Heppner they would begin to look at an at-large person to fill the vacancy. There are two vacant positions on the county fair board and the commis- sion filled one of them by appointing Buck Elliott of Boardman. He will take the place of Kym Erevia who has left the board. On the county road committee Donna Riet- mann, Karen Pettigrew, Frank Osmin and Aaron Palmquist were appointed as representatives with terms until 2021. Named as alternates were Gerry Arn- son, Kyle Robinson, Joe Ri- etmann, Kim Cutsforth and Bob Nairns. Their terms run until 2021 also. In other business at the February 14 meeting, the commission heard from Planning Director McLane who said she is close to launching a buildable lands inventory and housing study on land through- out Morrow County. She said because of anticipated growth and a current and ongoing shortage of hous- ing in the county, the study will prepare maps and lists of available land zoned for residential purposes. The study will also look at avail- able industrial and com- mercial property. Accord- ing to her report the study will, among other things, “project the number of new housing units needed in the next 20 years,” look at what type of housing the future populations of the county will want, determine what types of housing is likely to be affordable based on household incomes and estimate the number of ad- ditional units by housing type needed. Cost of the study will be divided up among the county and the cities, with the county paying $30,000, and the city of Boardman and Irrigon pledging $5,000 each, Heppner $1,000 and Ione and Lexington $200 each. The study is expected to be completed no later than the end of 2018. In other action the commission decided to give county employees and elected officials a three per- cent cost of living (COLA) raise in the coming fiscal year. This falls in line with the three percent increase the union-represented Sher- iff’s Department received during their earlier labor negotiations with the coun- ty. It is the commission’s responsibility each year to set the COLA increase for all nonunion and elected of- ficials not covered by union negotiations. However, there was some discussion by the commission members be- fore they unanimously ap- proved the increase. The general county employees, including the road depart- ment, has receive a three percent COLA increase ev- ery year since 2009. County managers and elected offi- cials have received a three percent increase every year since 2012. -See COMMISSION/PAGE FOUR District leadership group pictured (L-R): Erin Heideman, Advisor, Emily Taylor, Sonia Medina, Morgan Orem, Larysa Burright and Grace Ogden. -Contributed photo in agricultural education at or above the ninth grade level, which includes a su- pervised agricultural expe- rience while in high school; earned and productively invested at least $1500 or un-paid placement hours; demonstrate leadership ability by performing 10 procedures of parliamenta- ry law, giving a six-minute speech on a topic relating to agriculture or the FFA and serving as an officer, committee chairperson, or participating member of a chapter committee; have a satisfactory scholastic record as certified by the local agricultural education instructor and the principal or superintendent, which must have an accumulative GPA of 2.0 as of Dec. 31 of the year applying; have participated in the plan- ning and completion of the chapter’s program of activities; have participated in a total of 30 activities with at least five FFA ac- tivities above the chapter level; have participated in a minimum of ten school and/ or community activities; completed at least 25 hours of community service in a minimum of two different activities. Murray to speak at conference in Pendleton Former Heppner resi- dent, Dr. Luke Murray, will be a featured speaker at the Northwest Catholic Men’s Conference Feb. 23 and 24 at the Pendle- ton Convention Center. Fr. Kumar Udagandla, pastor of St. Mary’s in Pendleton and Fr. Luis Alva, pastor of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Boardman will also speak at the conference. Dr. Murray graduated from Heppner High School in 2004. He received his Bachelor of Arts studying philosophy from Mt. Angel Seminary in 2008, a mas- ter’s degree in Theology from Franciscan University of Steubenville, Ohio in 2010, a doctorate degree in Systematic Theology from Ave Maria University in 2014 and another doctor- ate in Historical Theology focusing on Early Mod- ern (1450-1650) Catholic biblical scholarship from The Katholieke Universit- eit Leuven, in Belgium in 2016. He is currently the Berkel Chair of Theology at the St. Lawrence Institute for Faith and Culture at the University of Kansas. Dr. Luke Murray, PhD Systematic Theology The conference begins at 4 p.m. on Friday and ends at 5 p.m. on Saturday. For additional information, call St. Mary’s Parish at 541- 276-3615. Morrow County Grain Growers Lexington Morrow County Grain Growers Lexington 989-8221 • 1-800-452-7396 For farm equipment, visit our web site at www.mcgg.net ALL NEWS AND ADVERTISEMENT DEADLINE: MONDAYS AT 5:00 P.M.
