Shooting team competes in
Texas
HEPPNER
G T
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azette
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VOL. 137 NO. 17 8 Pages
Wednesday, April 25, 2018
Morrow County, Heppner, Oregon
WCVEDG gives out
community enhancement
$60,972 in 14 grants to South
grants
County
By David Sykes
The Willow Creek Val-
ley Economic Develop-
ment Group, WCVEDG,
awarded $60,972 in grants
to local cities and groups in
south Morrow County last
week. The grants ranged
all the way from $6,000
for a new RV dump station
in Ione to $8,618 for work
at the little league field in
Heppner.
WCVEDG made the
grants after receiving the
funds from the Colum-
bia River Enterprise Zone,
CREZ, earlier this year.
WCVEDG advertised that
the funds were available
and local groups and mu-
nicipalities submitted re-
quests and proposals for
the money. WCVEDG was
able to fund all the requests
it received.
One particular program
funded is a backpack pro-
gram developed by the
Heppner High School Fu-
ture Farmers of America,
FFA. Teacher Beth Dick-
enson handles the program
through her FFA classes
to provide students with
school supplies and if
needed, food. Dickenson
said the backpack program
started when the FFA had
one hog left over at fair
last year, which they sold
at the auction for $12,000.
They then used the money
to start providing the packs.
The packs originally started
out with just school sup-
plies. “If a student doesn’t
have the supplies they need,
how can they learn?” Dick-
enson said. She added that
her FFA students had been
raising chickens and hogs
and donating the eggs and
meat (after proper USDA
processing) to the neighbor-
hood center for distribution
to those in need in the com-
munity. “This was a great
learning experience for our
kids,” she said. “Showing
them that they can make
Pictured (L-R): Stanley Cutsforth, Heppner, Bill Poor, Texas, Kasey Jones, Heppner and Casey
Knorr, Utah. -Contributed photo.
Last week Stanley
Cutsforth and Kasey Jones,
along with two other mem-
bers of their ELR (Ex-
treme long range) shooting
team named Team West
ELR, competed in their first
World’s Longest Shot chal-
lenge held at the Valdina
Ranch outside of San Anto-
nio, TX. The shoot brought
together some of the top
ELR shooters in the nation
to compete at distances
starting at 1,760 yards (one
mile) and moved out to
4,900 yards. Each shooter
was allowed five shots at
each target and their fel-
low team members were
spotting and calling wind
to help the shooter get on
target.
The first day of the com-
petition, Stanley Cutsforth
set a new match and Texas
state record by shooting 5-5
at the one-mile target, in-
cluding the first shot which
was cold bore. Kasey Jones
went 4-5 at the one-mile,
just missing the cold bore
shot. At the completion of
the shoot Stanley had 2/5
at 2,000 yards, 2/5 at 2,400
yards and Kasey had 2/5 at
2,400 yards.
The shooters battled
with 18-mph winds and
mirages that made for very
poor shooting conditions.
Only three of the 30 shoot-
ers that competed in the
match hit the 2,680-yard
target and moved on to try
their hand at the two-mile
shot. With the poor condi-
tions, none of the shooters
were able to make contact
at that distance and the
competition ended.
According to a spokes-
person, Team West did
some amazing shooting and
walked away with Stan-
ley Cutsforth in 4 th place,
Kasey Jones in 5 th place and
other team member out of
Utah, Casey Knorr, taking
7 th place in the category
for above .338 caliber non-
factory rifles. You can find
the team on Facebook to
follow their future matches
@TeamWestELR.
Judge and commission
candidates speak to Chamber
of Commerce
Sheryll Bates (right) with WCVED presents $5,000 check to
FFA Advisor Beth Dickenson for use in a “backpack” program
at county schools. The program provides school supplies and
lunches for local students. -Photo by David Sykes
a difference in their com-
munity.”
With the $12,000 they
started the backpack pro-
gram with the school sup-
plies, which are available
not just at Heppner schools
but all the schools in the
county, Ione, Boardman
and Irrigon. Dickenson said
that in talking to teachers
she then learned that some
students were not getting a
lot to eat on the weekends,
when they weren’t able to
get free and reduced lunch-
es at school, so the FFA
is expanding into sending
home food with those chil-
dren in their backpacks over
the weekend. “Children
can’t learn when they are
hungry,” she emphasized.
“And that’s not okay.” She
said they are not just giving
the supplies and food out
to anyone, but just to those
who really need it. “This
is a great program and this
money will help a lot,” she
said when accepting the
$5,000 grant check from
WCVEDG.
WCVEDG is able to
give these grants because
the money first comes to
CREZ by way of payments
in lieu of taxes by busi-
nesses located in the enter-
prise zone near Boardman.
The zone is set up to offer
tax reduction incentives to
have new businesses locate
there and existing busi-
nesses expand there. The
enterprise zone has been
very successful over the
years, allowing the CREZ
to grant money throughout
the county for schools,
public safety, housing and
community enhancements.
Since 2015 the group has
awarded over $170,000 in
just community enhance-
ment grants in south Mor-
By David Sykes
Two Circuit Court
judge candidates and one
of the county commissioner
candidates came to the
Heppner Chamber of Com-
merce Candidate’s Forum
and lunch last Thursday to
speak to a packed room and
answer questions from the
public.
Judge candidates Mi-
chael Breiling and Robert
Collins, both running for
Circuit Court Sixth Dis-
trict position one, mostly
gave a rundown of their
biographies and why they
felt most qualified to earn
the public’s
vote.
Collins
is a long-
time Pend-
leton native,
having grad- Judge
uated from c a n d i d a t e
P e n d l e t o n Robert Collins
High School
and then going on to college
before entering law practice
with his father and brother,
forming Collins and Collins
law firm. He said he has a
broad background in law
in private practice which
would make him a good
judge. He also cited his
extensive volunteer work
with numerous charitable
and civic organizations.
Breiling graduated
from Northwestern School
of Law at
Lewis and
Clark Col-
lege and
then went
on to serve
a s a t r i a l Judge
lawyer with candidate
“thousands Michael
of hours in Breiling
hundreds of
trials” for everything from
“barking dogs to murder
cases” he told the chamber
crowd. He said this experi-
ence would make him a
better judicial candidate
than his opponent.
Neither was able to an-
swer many questions from
the audience at the Cham-
ber luncheon, as moderator
local attorney Bill Kuhn
explained that because they
may be presiding over cer-
tain cases, they do not let
their political beliefs be
known. As such they did
not answer questions about
abortion or their stand on
sanctuary cities.
Commissioner Don
Russell is running for re-
election and gave a brief
talk on his qualifications
for the job,
includ-
ing serving
many years
on the coun-
ty planning
commis-
sion, Port of Commission
Morrow and candidate Don
the Board- Russell
man Rural
Fire Protection District.
Russell told the crowd he
feels he has done a good
job in his first term and
would continue to do his
best to listen and serve the
people of Morrow County
if re-elected. His opponent,
Raymond Akers, was not
in attendance, however, his
wife Tanya was there and
passed out campaign bro-
chures on his behalf.
Episcopal Bishop makes visit
-See WCVEDG GRANTS/
PAGE FOUR
Perry retires from BEO
By Bobbi Gordon
Joe Perry, 67, will be
retiring from Bank of East-
ern Oregon on Apr. 30 after
serving seven and a half
years there. A retirement
open house will be held at
the bank on Apr. 27 from
1:30 to 4:30.
Perry has worked in the
banking business for more
than 35 years, stating, “I
can honestly say the Bank
of Eastern Oregon (BEO)
is the best bank I have ever
worked for. It has the best
management and the best
co-workers.” He is a com-
mercial loan officer at BEO,
processing loans for busi-
nesses and farmers. During
his years at other banks, he
has been a manager but said
he has always made loans.
Although he was born
in Portland, he only lived
there one month and was
raised in Pasco, WA. He
attended WSU and has his
undergraduate
degree in eco-
nomics and a
masters in ag-
ricultural eco-
nomics.
P e r r y ’s
wife has been
deceased for
11 years, but
h e h a s f o u r Joe Perry
children; a son
in New York City, a daugh-
ter in Wisconsin, a son in
Salt Lake City and a daugh-
ter in Camas, WA. He also
has 20 grandchildren.
When asked how he
feels about retiring, he ad-
mitted to having mixed
emotions about leaving. He
said, “I always felt that peo-
ple work past their health. I
have my health, so should
be able to enjoy my retire-
ment.”
His retirement plans in-
clude visiting family, seeing
the country and maybe the
world traveling
with some of his
brothers who live
in Pasco, Yakima
and Virginia.
Perry indi-
cated one of his
retirement goals
would be to go
on a mission for
the LDS church.
He stated that
the church will
send missionaries anywhere
in the world if the host
country allows it. Younger
missionaries are on their
missions for a minimum of
two years, but older people
can go on a mission for six
months to two years. He
said that missionaries for
the LDS church do not get
compensated for going on
missions, in fact they are re-
quired to pay a monthly fee.
He said he plans to
continue living in the local
area while traveling.
The Rt. Rev. Patrick Bell, Bishop of the Diocese of Eastern Oregon made his annual visit
to Heppner Sunday, where he gave the sermon and then met with parishioners at a potluck
afterwards. Pictured above is Rev. Bell with Rev. Katy Anderson, Pastor of All Saints and
Hope Lutheran Churches in Heppner.
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