SIX - Heppner Gazette-Times, Heppner, Oregon Wednesday, January 22, 2020
Peck retires from fire board
Chief Steve Rhea (left), former Chief Rusty Estes and Rural
Board chair Kelwayne Haguewood (right) present a plaque of
appreciation to Lyle Peck.
Lyle Peck, long-time
member of the Heppner Ru-
ral Fire Protection District
Board of Directors, recently
announced his retirement
from the board. Peck has
served for over 31 years,
having first been elected
in 1989.
In accepting his resig-
nation, the board acknowl-
edged his many years
of service and stated his
knowledge of the district
and its history will be sorely
missed. “We have been able
to keep good equipment
available for our firefight-
ers and I am really proud
of our new fire hall, which
was greatly needed,” said
Peck. “That facility is top-
notch, truly appreciated by
the city, the rural district
and by our firefighters,” he
continued. “We can all be
proud of it.”
The Rural Fire District
contracts with the city of
Heppner for firefighting
services, training and cer-
tification. The rural dis-
trict provides the wildlands
firefighting rolling stock
and equipment, while the
city provides structure fire-
fighting rolling stock and
equipment. The city’s fire
department is an all-volun-
teer group and they respond
to all fires and emergency
calls within both the city
and the rural district.
Peck has overseen
much growth in the rural
district, including the recent
annexation of the entire
Blake Ranch community
and all formerly unprotect-
ed lands in south Morrow
County.
Upon accepting Peck’s
resignation, the rural fire
board then promoted Lex-
ington area rancher Eric
Orem to fill Peck’s position.
Orem has served for many
years on the district’s bud-
get committee and is from
the same geographic area
of the district that Peck had
represented.
Town and Country event
coming soon
Heppner Chamber’s
Annual Town and Coun-
try Community Awards
event is just around the
corner. The event will be
held Thursday, February 6
at the Gilliam and Bisbee
Building, starting at 6 p.m.
with a no host bar operated
by Bucknum’s.
T h e b u ff e t a n d / o r
served dinner will begin at
6:30 p.m. with the awards
program to follow. Alvin
Liu with Gateway Café will
be catering the dinner and
will be serving prime rib
with au jus, creamy garlic
mashed potatoes, green
beans in garlic sauce, gar-
den fresh salad and a dinner
roll with butter, dessert and
a beverage.
Tickets are available at
Bank of Eastern Oregon,
Heppner Chamber, city
of Heppner and Murray’s
for $30 per person until
February 3 when they will
increase to $35 each. A
limited number of tickets
will be sold.
Awards will be pre-
sented for man of the year,
woman of the year, busi-
ness of the year, youth,
citizen-educator of the year
and the lifetime achieve-
ment award. The event
is sponsored by NextEra
Energy Resources, Portland
General Electric, Represen-
tative Greg Smith, Commu-
nity Counseling Solutions,
Northwest Farm Credit
Services, Invenergy, LLC
Willow Creek Energy, Mid
Columbia Producers, Inc.
and Heppner Community
Foundation.
For additional informa-
tion or to reserve tickets or
seating contact the Heppner
Chamber at 541-676-5536
or email heppnerchamber@
centurytel.net. Reserved
seating is available for
groups six or more.
FSA urges agricultural
producers to enroll
USDA’s Farm Service
Agency (FSA) is encourag-
ing agricultural producers
to enroll in the Agricul-
ture Risk Loss (ARC) and
Price Loss Coverage (PLC)
programs. March 15 is the
enrollment deadline for the
2019 crop year.
Although more than
200,000 producers have
enrolled to date, FSA antic-
ipates 1.5 million producers
will enroll for ARC and
PLC. By enrolling soon,
producers can beat the rush
as the deadline nears.
“FSA offices have mul-
tiple programs competing
for the time and attention
of our staff. Because of the
importance and complex-
ities of the ARC and PLC
programs; and to ensure we
meet your program delivery
expectations, please do not
wait to start the enrollment
process,” said FSA Admin-
istrator Richard Fordyce.
“I cannot emphasize
enough the need to be-
gin the program election
and enrollment process
now. Please call your FSA
county office and make an
appointment soon to ensure
your elections are made and
contracts signed well ahead
of the deadlines.”
ARC and PLC pro-
vide financial protections
to farmers from substantial
drops in crop prices or
revenues and are vital eco-
nomic safety nets for most
American farms.
The programs cover
the following commodi-
ties: barley, canola, large
and small chickpeas, corn,
crambe, flaxseed, grain sor-
ghum, lentils, mustard seed,
oats, peanuts, dry peas,
rapeseed, long grain rice,
medium and short grain
rice, safflower seed, seed
cotton, sesame, soybeans,
sunflower seed and wheat.
Until March 15, pro-
ducers who have not yet
enrolled in ARC or PLC
for 2019 can enroll for both
2019 and 2020 during the
same visit to an FSA county
office unless yield updates
are requested. Additionally,
farm owners have a one-
time opportunity to update
PLC payment yields that
take effect beginning with
crop year 2020. If the owner
accompanies the producer
to the office, the yield up-
date and enrollments may
be completed during the
same office visit.
Mustangs compete in Farm
City Invitational
Suzanneah Cason wrestling Juan Lauriano of Othello. -Photo by Damon Brosnan.
Heppner High School
wrestlers traveled to Herm-
iston on Saturday to par-
ticipate in the Farm City
Invitational. The Mustangs
were among eleven teams
that competed on Saturday.
Success for the Hep-
pner boys and girls was
hard to come by but hard
matches were easy to find.
Roen Waite, wrestling at
106 pounds went one and
two with one victory by fall
over a wrestler from Rid-
gevue. Bryan Collins, at
120, had two tough matches
with wrestlers from Herm-
iston and Othello that would
leave him with a zero and
two record.
Suzanneah Cason, at
126, also wrestled twice
against wrestlers from
Hermiston and Othello and
would end the day with a
zero and two record. Saul
Lopez competed at 132
pounds and would wrestle
four times on Saturday.
He would come away with
two victories, by fall, over
wrestlers from Hermiston
Saul Lopez taking down Lance Stover of Chiawana. -Photo
by Damon Brosnan.
and Richland.
Edward Ellsworth was
on the sidelines with an
injury and didn’t partici-
pate on Saturday. Jace Coe
and Conor Brosnan, once
again, both competed at 160
pounds. Jace would end
the day with two victories
over Hermiston and Irrigon
participants and two losses.
Conor went home with one
victory over Irrigon and two
defeats.
The Mustang boys and
girls had a tough day but
the level of competition
they faced will only make
them better wrestlers for
the remainder of the season.
The team is in action next
on Friday, the 24 th at Grant
Union. The action starts at
10 a.m.
Backpack program feeds
students on weekends
The Heppner Hunger
Backpack program has
been working diligently to
feed students on the week-
ends in the community. The
program is supported by
various grants provided by
Willow Creek Valley Eco-
nomic Development and
National FFA Foundation,
as well as animals donated
by the Morrow County Fair
livestock auction and other
donors. Also, an anony-
mous donor provided meal
certificates at Thanksgiv-
ing.
The group has handed
out 30 backpacks in the
school. Each family gets
one and it is filled with
fruit, vegetables and snacks
along with breakfast and
Visiting Oregon FFA state officers help with the delivery of
the backpacks earlier this year. Pictured are Ellie, Matt Orem,
Blake Carter, Roy Collins, Deidre Schreiber, MaKayla Silvia
and Suzy Cason in front. State officers are in official dress and
other students pictured are the managers of the local project.
lunch meals they do not re-
ceive on the weekends since
they are not school days.
The FFA chapter will
hold a food drive next
month while celebrating
FFA week. Donations that
would help fill the back-
packs during that food drive
include peanut butter and
jelly, chips, granola bars,
fruit cups, canned vegeta-
bles and fruit, macaroni and
cheese, cereal and oatmeal.
Ione 4-H club holds meeting
The Ione Community
4-H club held a meeting
January 12 at their leader’s
house with eight members
present. The meeting was
held for election of officers.
SATURDAY
Febru ary 1st
2 02 0
HEPPNER
HIGH SCHO O L
10:00 AM
Bank of Eastern Oregon’s
12TH ANNUAL
CONCESSIONS
available.
Invitational
WRESTLING TOURNAMENT
Hosted by the Heppner Mustangs
Member FDIC
279 N. Main Street
HEPPNER, OREGON
Pictured (L-R) back row: Carson Eynetich, Lewkus Burright,
Eva Martin, Larysa Burright, Novalee Cambell and Cory Rice.
Front row: Phegley Padberg and chicken, Blitz.
Phlegley Padberg did
a presentation for fellow
members on how to show
a chicken. Members in
attendance were Carter
Eynetich, Carson Eynetich,
Phegley Padberg, Novalee
Cambell, Cory Rice, Eva
Martin, Larysa Burright and
Lewkus Burright as well as
four parents.
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188 W Willow Street
Heppner, OR
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