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About Heppner gazette-times. (Heppner, Or.) 1925-current | View Entire Issue (May 9, 2018)
Orem receives scholarship HEPPNER G T 50¢ azette imes VOL. 137 NO. 19 8 Pages Wednesday, May 9, 2018 Morrow County, Heppner, Oregon Morgan Orem, a senior at Ione Community School was one of ten of the recipi- ents of $1,000 scholarships awarded to high school se- niors by the Oregon Wheat Foundation. Morgan is the daughter of Eric and Brandi Orem of Heppner. After graduating, Orem plans to study animal science and agricultural business at Oregon State University. Her long term goal after earning her Doc- torate of Veterinary Medi- cine is to become a large animal veterinarian, hope- fully opening her own clinic in her hometown of Ione. She competed in school sports including, volleyball, basketball and softball. As a senior, Orem served as Last year’s operators back at OHV Park The Landing Barb Harris and Jacob Richmond sign contract with county By David Sykes Last year ’s popular operators of The Landing Lodge restaurant at the OHV park are back and ready to begin serving cus- tomers during the upcom- ing recreational season, it was recently announced. After a somewhat con- tentious parting of the ways last year, restaurant op- erators Barb Harris and her son Jacob Richmond came back, patched up their differences with Morrow County and are now back in business. “We are happy to announce that we have come to an agreement with Morrow County allow- ing us to once again oper- ate their Landing Lodge kitchen,” Harris posted on the Facebook page. The first day of operation is Thursday, May 10. Harris and Richmond had some contractual dis- agreements with Morrow County, which is owner of The Landing that is located at the Off Highway Vehicle park located in the moun- tains south of Heppner. The county contracts with operators of the restaurant, who pay the county a per- centage of gross revenues as a franchise agreement. There are also other rules about how to operate the business. Last year both parties were unable to reach a con- tract extension agreement enabling Harris and Rich- mond to keep operating the popular restaurant, so the county decided to put the operating agreement out for “proposals” from interested parties. Harris and Richmond indicated interest in com- ing back as operators and submitted a proposal. After several “sit down” meet- ings with county staff and commissioner Don Russell, everyone came to an agree- ment and a new contract was okayed and signed by commissioners at last Wednesday’s commission meeting. After the signing, the commissioners seemed glad to have the issue set- tled and an operator back in place. “Maybe we should have a commission meet- ing up there,” Russell said. Commissioner Jim Doherty John and Barb Harris will be back at The Landing this year. -Contributed photo. agreed, however, saying he did think the process of put- ting out for proposals was a good idea, as it stimulated a conversation with the op- erators, got issues out on the table to talk about and also showed the public that the franchise awarding process was transparent and open to everyone. Barb Harris was also glad to be back on the job. “Myself and my son are working together as a uni- fied unit to make the park a better place to be. We had a sit-down meeting and we are in agreement (with the county). We can put this OHV park on the map and make people happy while they are there,” she told the Gazette-Times Tuesday. Heppner weather slightly colder than normal in April According to prelimi- nary data received by NO- AA’s National Weather Service in Pendleton, tem- peratures at Heppner aver- aged slightly colder than normal during the month of April. The average tempera- ture was 48.6 degrees which was 0.4 degrees below nor- mal. High temperatures averaged 59.7 degrees, which was 1.2 degrees be- low normal. The highest was 76 degrees on the 27 th . Low temperatures averaged 37.5 degrees, which was 0.3 degrees above normal. The lowest was 27 degrees on the 3 rd . There were three days with the low temperature below 32 degrees. Precipitation totaled 1.85 inches during April, which was 0.34 inches above normal. Measurable precipitation of at least .01 inch, was received on 10 days with the heaviest, 0.65 inches reported on the 12 th . Precipitation this year has reached 5.43 inches, which is 0.19 inches below normal. Since October, the water year precipitation at Heppner has been 9.19 inches, which is 0.49 inches below normal. The highest wind gust was 40 mph which occurred on the 1 st . The outlook for May from NOAA’s Climate Prediction center calls for above normal tempera- tures and below normal precipitation. Normal highs for Heppner rise from 64 degrees at the start of May to 73 degrees at the end of May. Normal lows rise from 40 degrees to 47 degrees. The 30 year normal precipi- tation is 1.66 inches. Heppner student qualifies for college rodeo finals in Wyoming The Blue Mountain Community College men’s and women’s rodeo teams may have ended the season in third place in the North- west Region standings of the National Intercollegiate Rodeo Association, but five Timberwolf student- athletes will head to Casper, WY in June for the College National Finals Rodeo. Kolby Currin, a fresh- man from Heppner, leads the nation and the North- west region standings in steer wrestling as he heads to CNFR. Other students that qualified are Clay Hall, a freshman from Toowoom- ba, Australia, Preston Ped- erson, a sophomore from Hermiston, Cole White, a third-year student-athlete from Hermiston and Kaylee Aldrich, a sophomore from Terrebonne, OR. The women’s team ended the year ranked fourth in the national stand- ings, while the men’s team landed in 17 th . CNFR takes place June 10-16 at the Casper Events Center in Casper, WY. Morgan Orem was awarded a $1,0000 scholarship by the Oregon Wheat Foundation. student body president and Chapter FFA president. She was District FFA secretary in both her junior and senior years. She is active in the National Honor Society as president, active within her FFA chapter and has entered various projects and animals at county fairs. She also volunteers on sev- eral school and community projects. Students were judged on their community in- volvement, academic achievement and an essay on a wheat industry topic. Oregon Wheat Founda- tion scholarships are open to high school seniors whose parents are members of the Oregon Wheat Growers League or whose parents are employed by grower members of the organiza- tion. The scholarship is also open to students employed by grower members. Scholarship informa- tion can be found in the Oregon Wheat Foundation section of the Oregon wheat website at www.owgl.org. Applications are accepted beginning in October. Painted rocks found in Heppner By Bobbi Gordon According to area resi- dents, painted rocks are finding their way into Hep- pner. What is it all about? Have you been so lucky to find any painted rocks hidden in town? Have you wondered what the craze is all about? Or maybe you’ve never heard of this creative trend towards kindness. In short, the painted rocks are a creative project that has taken the nation by force, with the number one goal to make someone smile and brighten their day. When someone finds a rock, they can be sure it’s been painted with love from anyone ranging from little bitty kiddos to skilled artists and everyone in-between. Participating is some- thing any one of any age can do, all you have to do is find one. The rocks will usually have a hashtag or Facebook page written on the back. This shows where the rock came from and often with directions to post a picture to that area’s painted rock Facebook page or hashtag. You can either keep the rock or re-hide it. The general rule is that if you find and keep a rock, you create another one to re-hide somewhere else in your community. The idea really is as simple as inspiring someone through a random act of kindness. According to infor- mation on Facebook, the original idea came from The Kindness Rocks proj- ect, although there have been many others that have been inspired and have be- gun their own rock sharing groups in their communi- ties. There are a few rules of thumb for participating This rock was placed on the windowsill at the Gazette to spread some sunshine. This rock was found near the door of the Century Link building. The finder says it is just something really nice and would like to thank the mystery folks for their little bit of cheer to the community. in the painted rocks across America craze: -You should always paint on clean rocks. If you find rocks outside to paint, a quick soap and water bath, scrub, and thorough drying should be fine. -You should always seal your rocks when you’re finished painting them. One sealer suggested was Rus- toleum Clear Enamel from a spray can, but others use Mod Podge. -Never hide your painted rocks where they’ll cause property damage or on private property without permission. -Don’t trespass to hide rocks. -Don’t hide them in tall grass where lawn equip- ment could be damaged. -Be aware of your sur- roundings when hiding and also searching for rocks. Painted rocks groups can be found by searching Facebook or hashtags. Sev- eral have been formed in other cities in Oregon, but the groups can be found all across the nation. Area experiences power outage MOTHER'S DAY SPECIALS Columbia Basin Elec- tric Co-op reported that it experienced a system wide outage on the eastern half of the service territory last night. According to Tommy Wolff, CBEC’s power source from Bonneville Power Administration was interrupted. CBEC employ- ees conferred with BPA to determine the cause and power was restored in a little more than one hour. ALL NEWS AND ADVERTISEMENT DEADLINE: MONDAYS AT 5:00 P.M. -Hanging Baskets Planters -Color Bowls -Montana Silver Jewelry 20% OFF Morrow County Grain Growers Green Feed & Seed 242 W. Linden Way, Heppner • 676-9422 • 989-8221 (MCGG main office)