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About Heppner gazette-times. (Heppner, Or.) 1925-current | View Entire Issue (Dec. 25, 2019)
TWO - Heppner Gazette-Times, Heppner, Oregon Wednesday, December 25, 2019 The Official Newspaper of the City of Heppner and the County of Morrow Heppner GAZETTE-TIMES U.S.P.S. 240-420 Morrow County’s Home-Owned Weekly Newspaper SEARCH OLD COPIES OF THE HEPPNER GAZETTE-TIMES ON-LINE: http://oregonnews.uoregon.edu/ Published weekly by Sykes Publishing and entered as periodical matter at the Post Office at Heppner, Oregon under the Act of March 3, 1879. Periodical postage paid at Heppner, Oregon. Office at 188 W. Willow Street. Telephone (541) 676-9228. Fax (541) 676-9211. E-mail: editor@rapidserve.net or david@rapidserve.net. Web site: www.heppner.net. Postmaster send address changes to the Heppner Gazette-Times, P.O. Box 337, Heppner, Oregon 97836. Subscriptions: $31 in Morrow County; $25 senior rate (in Morrow County only; 65 years or older); $37 elsewhere; $31 student subscriptions. David Sykes ..............................................................................................Publisher Bobbi Gordon................................................................................................ Editor Giselle Moses.........................................................................................Advertising All News and Advertising Deadline is Monday at 5 p.m. For Advertising: advertising deadline is Monday at 5 p.m. Cost for a display ad is $5.25 per column inch. Cost for classified ad is 50¢ per word. Cost for Card of Thanks is $10 up to 100 words. Cost for a classified display ad is $6.05 per column inch. For Public/Legal Notices: public/legal notices deadline is Monday at 5 p.m. Dates for pub- lication must be specified. Affidavits must be required at the time of submission. Affidavits require three weeks to process after last date of publication (a sooner return date must be specified if required). For Obituaries: Obituaries are published in the Heppner GT at no charge and are edited to meet news guidelines. Families wishing to include information not included in the guidelines or who wish to have the obituary written in a certain way must purchase advertising space for the obituary. For Letters to the Editor: Letters to the Editor MUST be signed by the author. The Heppner GT will not publish unsigned letters. All letters MUST include the author’s address and phone number for use by the GT office. The GT reserves the right to edit letters. The GT is not responsible for accuracy of statements made in letters. Any letters expressing thanks will be placed in the classifieds under “Card of Thanks” at a cost of $10. Cattlemen announce scholarship winners The Umatilla Coun- ty Cattlemen’s Associa- tion (UCCA) recently announced scholarship winners and honored past cattlemen at their annual luncheon. This year’s schol- arship winners are Morgan Orem of Ione, Amie Coff- man, Athena and Hannah Walker, Hermiston. A total of $7,500 was awarded this year. The UCCA Memorial Scholarship was established in 1992, with the Oregon Community Foundation. The annual scholarships promote higher education in agriculture majors and assist in the development of future leaders in agricul- ture. The memorial schol- Hannah Walker with Pam and Mark Wunderlich arships also recognize and honor cattlemen in the area of Umatilla and Morrow counties. To date, 41 schol- arships have been presented and 39 past leaders of the Mary Ashbeck, Jennifer Ashbeck, Amie Coffman, Mary Gill and Jeanne Daly agriculture industry have been recognized. This year’s memorial honorees and past cattle- men include Charles J. Daly and Richard “Dick” Wilkin- son, both from Heppner, and Robert “Bob” Hop- per from Adams, OR. The scholarship winners and the families of memorial hon- orees were in attendance and memories of those past cattlemen were shared. Morgan, a student at Oregon State University, is pursuing a degree in Animal Science and Agricultur- al Business Management. After graduation, she plans to pursue a career as an Agribusiness/Marketing COUNTY YOUTH and at-risk students age 10 to seventeen. An exam- ple of how they help is to “surround the youth with support, tutors and mentors who provide the opportuni- ty to build self-confidence, morals and good character.” In real life this means mak- ing sure the student has a ride to practice and sports gear for after school activ- ities. They will also help families get their kids off the couch and into positive activities with others. They are not an organization that just gives things away, but instead teaches life skills and offers guidance and as- sistance. The organization also works with the entire family if asked. “We want to stop the cycle of youth problems,” says Board President Tim Handforth. Handforth is a volunteer who graduat- ed from Pendleton High School and is committed to offering encouragement and assistance to youth. He recently retired from the Marine Corps and Army and is currently attending classes full time through Blue Mountain Community College. He is married with three children of his own. He, along with Kenny urged the commissioners to part- ner with Made to Thrive. “We want to stop the cycle of youth problems,” he said. “We have people in poverty, life transitions and divorce. We want to get kids into sports and other activities and keep them out of pris- on,” he said bluntly. Made to Thrive has been around for about six years serving mostly Uma- tilla and the Hermiston area and some work in Board- man and Irrigon. They start- ed with 12 students and last year serviced over 300 low income and foster youth. Handorth said his organi- zation is always looking for volunteers to help out with the kids and urged anyone interested to contact them. Now with their part- nership they intend to of- fer more services in Mor- row County communities. Along with the agreement comes a $60,000 grant to Morrow County to imple- ment the program. “Sports is a wonderful thing to do,” said Commissioner Jim Doherty saying how it was a positive influence on his life when he was young. Commissioner Melissa Lindsay, who is also the chair of the county Public Safety Council, said that or- ganization urged approval. The commissioners voted unanimously to approve the partnership. In other business at the Dec. 18 meeting the com- missioners voted to approve a new electronic health records system. They ap- proved a new system which will “enhance the capability of client medical records, improve immunization ser- vices, streamline billing (improve efficiency, reduce errors and result in great- er revenue), and decrease duplicity in staff worktime such as immunization re- porting and billing.” Cost of the system is a total of $106,694 over the life of the five-year contract. The commission voted unani- mously to approve. In other action the commission voted to reap- point three members to the Wolf Depredation Advisory Committee. Dean Rob- inson, Paul Hisler, Jr and Cameron Sweeney were all appointed to another four- year term. Robinson is the current chairman. In other appointments the commission named Commissioner Jim Doherty as an alternate to serve on the Columbia River En- terprise Zone. He replaces Manager particularly with- in the animal agriculture industry. The memorial honoree was Robert “Bob” Hopper of Adams with Pat- sy Taylor (Bob’s daughter) in attendance. Amie Coffman, a stu- dent at Eastern Oregon University, is majoring in Agricultural Sciences with Morgan Orem and Patsy Taylor a minor in Animal Science. After graduation, Amie plans to continue her edu- cation at Oregon State to receive a master’s degree in Education, with the end goal of becoming a high school Ag teacher. Charles Daly’s daughters, Mary Gill and Jeanne Daly, along with Mary and Jennifer Ash- beck, (granddaughter and great-granddaughter) were in attendance. H a n n a h Wa l k e r, a student at Oregon State University, is majoring in Animal Science (biohealth/ pre-professional option) and minoring in Spanish. Her career goal is to be a veterinarian and attend the Carlson College of Veter- inary Medicine at Oregon State University. Pam Wun- derlich (Dick Wilkinson’s daughter) and Mark Wun- derlich were in attendance. For more information on the scholarship, how to apply for the scholarship, or to donate to the me- morial scholarship fund, contact Melinda Platt at 541.443.3232 or Randy Mills at 541.969.8564. -Continued from PAGE ONE County Administrator Dar- rell Green. In other county busi- ness the budget committee met on December 11 to talk about changing the wages and benefits of two elected officials, the Justice of the Peace and the Treasurer. Any changes to elected official’s salaries must be approved by the budget committee. The committee looked at changing the Justice of the Peace salary and benefit package from the antici- pated $127,427 a year to $124,205. Current Justice Anne Spicer is retiring this year. She currently has a salary and benefit package of $120,732 a year, but because of increases in health and dental insurance premiums would have seen that increase by about seven thousand next year. A new Justice of the Peace has been appointed however the budget committee is considering a lower sal- ary because he does not have a law degree as does Spicer. The proposed low- er JP wage and benefit package breaks down like this: $74,820 for salary, $24,845 for health and den- tal insurance, $4,638 for FICA, $18,555 for retire- ment fund, and the rest for disability, life insurance, Medicare and life flight payment. On the treasurer sala- ry, the budget committee looked at three different salary options. Leave ev- erything the same for a $127,152 per year salary and benefit package, 25 percent cut to $101,609, a 50 percent reduction to $76,066 and a 75 percent reduction to $50,524 yearly pay and benefit package. The budget committee did not take any action on the proposals. Sheryl Angell, RN, BSN Trauma Coordinator Since 1993 “It’s not just what I do, it’s who I choose to be.” Determined, Kind, Positive A Healthier Morrow County is Within Me. People who pursue a healthcare career are motivated by something or someone. For me, it was an upsetting encounter with a nurse as child. I became a nurse to be a better, more compassionate nurse than what I experienced. Patient advocacy, safety, and compassion inspire me to always do the very best I can. Read About How We are Working Together to be a Healthier Community Today and HealthyMC.org Where healthier is happening... Boardman | Heppner | Ione | Irrigon | Lexington 541-676-9133