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
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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
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subscriptions.
David Sykes ..............................................................................................Publisher
Bobbi Gordon................................................................................................ Editor
Giselle Moses.........................................................................................Advertising
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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
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