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About Heppner gazette-times. (Heppner, Or.) 1925-current | View Entire Issue (Dec. 5, 2018)
HEPPNER G T 50¢ azette imes VOL. 137 NO. 49 8 Pages Wednesday, December 5, 2018 Morrow County, Heppner, Oregon Man donates firewood By Bobbi Gordon Cole Crosthwaite, Heppner, recently donated several cords of wood to people in the Heppner area who were unable to afford it themselves. He shared a post on Facebook asking people to send him a private message or call him with names of people who could use some help. Crosthwaite said he was blessed with a great wood cutting spot this year and he felt like giving back to the community of Hep- pner. He said, “I’m honestly just tired of hearing all the negative and no one actu- ally doing anything about it. I’ve been down and out before with not very many people that were willing to lend a hand, so I know how it can be.” He said he still had to pay for the permits and going to get the wood, but he knows it went to a really good cause. He was able to donate five cords of wood to sep- arate households who were elderly and could rarely afford firewood, as well as to some people who were normally his good custom- ers who couldn’t afford it this year. “So I just looked at it as if they were in my shoes or if they were my grandparents or family,” he stated. Shannon Boor told the Gazette about his moment of goodness directed to- ward her family. She said Crosthwaite delivered a cord of wood to her parents at no charge. “He didn’t even tell them it was from him, just that he had a cord of wood that was a donation for them,” she said. She said her dad has stage four Mantle Cell Lymphoma and her mother has health issues as well. They are living on a very fixed income and have to travel to Portland and Walla Walla to the VA Murray’s/Breaking Grounds take first in light parade Above: Murray’s Drug / Breaking Grounds Coffee were the winners of the this years’s light parade. Below: Six month old Bennett Eberhardt son of Danielle & Lynn Eber- hardt of Heppner meets Santa for the first time after the light parade in Heppner. The Murray’s Drug/ Breaking Grounds Coffee float took first place at the holiday light parade held on Main Street in downtown Heppner last Thursday eve- ning. The Columbia Basin Electric float took second place. Various merchants offered refreshments and some stayed open late for the parade viewers. Santa and Mrs Claus also made a visit to Market Fresh after the parade The story of the star at Cutsforth Corner as told by Justin Nelson Pictured is another Heppner firewood cutter, Matthew (left), I had just gotten home us for the who was gracious enough to help Cole (right) go cut, load, from my first winter break electricity split and deliver the wood. -Contributed photo.Dentes Cupimmo Cole Crosthwaite for medical care frequently, which leaves them without much extra. “This was a blessing for them and it touched me today,” she stated. Cole said he grew up ranching and training horses his whole life until about four years ago when he fractured his back and couldn’t do very much, let alone take care of himself. “It took a while to be able to get back to cutting fire- wood and now I’m in some of the best shape of my life. I was blessed with the healthy healing of my back. I just wanted to be able to return the favor because I felt like something kept telling me to do it.” He said he has lived in and around Heppner for about 10 years and so does his mother. He said she is the big reason he is still here; it is so hard through the winters. “We are all we have and have lost family, so know how important it is to cherish them while they are still around,” he said. Crosthwaite told the Gazette, “I don’t want it to just be about me. My intentions were to show ev- eryone that if even someone like myself could donate a portion of what I make my living on, it just might inspire others.” He ended by saying, “Imagine if this entire com- munity would come togeth- er how many people we could help. I do odd jobs here and there to make a living so it’s not like I have much to contribute, but if we all got together, just imagine the wave we could cause. The only thing holding most of us back from helping is because we are worried no one will help if we get into a bind or we will help too much and go broke. We can change that, but it’s going to take a community to do it.” Community pride meeting draws scant attendance Only 11 show for follow-up gathering at Oregon State University in December of 2000. My father, Chuck Nelson, a lo- cal wheat farmer, had been hatching a plan for a new addition to our Christmas light display. Generally we would have a few lights on our house, but being so far out in the country no one usually saw them. Dad thought it would be nice to make a star and light it up, but wasn’t sure where to put it. At first we did not have a place in mind, and we put it on our house the first year (I think). Dad had a lot of heavy angle iron around the shop, and decided to use that for the star. We called my friend and classmate, Matthew Van Liew, for some guid- ance on the engineering of the star. Matt was at- tending Stevens Institute of Technology in New Jer- sey majoring in civil en- gineering, and we thought he could be helpful. Af- ter talking with Matt for a bit and getting some dia- grams, Dad went to work and put together the star in one day. The star was very heavy and required our old hoist truck to move around. At first the star was lighted with incandescent c9 bulbs. Even though it was bright, it was hard to see from different angles. Not too long after the star was done we moved it to Cutsforth Corner, on Jeff Cutsforth’s property so more people could see the star. Jeff has never charged and has let us keep the star on the prop- erty for the whole time. Dad also thought hav- ing the star on the corner might help people driv- ing at night in the fog. The 9 0 - d e g r e e Star at Cutsforth Corner corner can be a dangerous spot in the fog and icy con- ditions, but if drivers see the star they realize that the corner is coming up. After a few years my dad realized that with the C9 bulbs the Chuck Nelson (left) and Justin Nelson star looked great when you at the Veterans Home in looked at it straight-on, but The Dalles with liver fail- if you got behind the star, ure and dementia issues, or looked at different an- but I have wanted to keep gles, you either could not the star tradition alive. I see the lights or it looked appreciate the help of my off. He decided to wrap wife Andrea Nelson taking the whole star in rope the time to help with the light, and now you can see lights- usually involving the star from any angle. several hours in the cold, The hard part with rainy weather to put on rope light is that the rub- those new lights every few ber outside ages quickly in years, and a lot of effort to the sun during the summer. lift the star back up. We ended-up replacing the I don’t think my dad rope lights with a new set ever really made a big deal of LED rope lights which about the star to folks. It should last longer, but also was just something he be very cheap on electric- wanted to share with peo- ity. ple and I would like to con- My dad is currently tinue to do the same. Pastors invited to submit messages Morrow County Commissioner Melissa Lindsay (left) listens and documents thoughts of community members attending a community pride meeting last week By David Sykes problems like drugs, vandal- were discussed. In what was meant to The meeting led off with ism and crime in Heppner. It be the next step in building discussion about the Commu- was decided at that time to community pride in Heppner, nity Action Program of East follow up with the commu- an open town meeting last Central Oregon (CAPECO) nity pride meeting to discuss week drew a low turn-out and how to get that agency economic development, jobs, when only 11 people showed more involved with Heppner. government and faith-based up. The meeting was called services as well as parental According to CAPECO’s web- as a follow-up to the hugely and school support. Although site its vision is “the success of successful community meet- turnout at this meeting was ing in August where over 200 -Continued on PAGE low, many important topics people came out to address FOUR The Heppner Ga- zette-Times will publish Christmas messages from area pastors on Wednesday, December 19. The deadline to submit messages will be Monday, December 17, at 5 p.m. Those planning to sub- mit Christmas messages may email them to edi- tor@rapidserve.net, send via mail to Heppner Ga- zette-Times, P.O. Box 337, Heppner, OR, 97836 or drop them by the office at 188 West Willow, Heppner, Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Pastors are also invited to submit separate news ar- ticles for Christmas church services or activities. PURINA HOME GROWN LAYER 50 LB BAG PELLETS & CRUMBLES ONLY $9.99 Montana Silver 20% OFF Morrow County Grain Growers Green Feed & Seed 242 W. Linden Way, Heppner • 676-9422 • 989-8221 (MCGG main office)
