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.
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