Mustang girls take district
basketball title
HEPPNER
G T
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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
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