Lions club holds
annual meeting,
elects officers
50¢
VOL. 140
NO. 22
8 Pages
Wednesday, June 2, 2021
Morrow County, Heppner, Oregon
Heppner graduate joins Team Mexico
for shot at Olympics
By David Sykes
Heppner High School
graduate San Juanita Fe-
tuuaho (Elguezabal) may
have a chance to participate
in this summer’s Tokyo
Olympic games after being
recruited by Team Mexico
to play as a member of that
country’s up-and-coming
rugby team. The Heppner
Gazette-Times spoke to San
Juanita Friday just before
she packed her bags and
left Saturday for Monaco
in preparation to play in a
qualifying tournament June
19 – 20. There will be 12
teams in the tournament,
with the top two going on
to the Olympics.
“I like the physical part
of the game,” San Juanita
said about what originally
attracted her to the game
of rugby while she was
attending Western Oregon
University in 2004 on a
softball scholarship. “They
were putting together a
new rugby team and I saw
people playing the game
and I was drawn to it,”
she recalls. “I like the full
contact aspect to the game.
Full contact for women.”
she explained.
Western University
rugby was pretty good for a
new team and in her senior
year, the year she started
playing, she and the team
did very well, going all the
way to the Division I play-
off and taking second place.
Because of her college play
Fetuuaho says she was rec-
ognized by the American
rugby coaches and “put
San Juanita Fetuuaho (Elguezabal) shows her trademark toughness while carrying the ball
in the 2019 Pan Am Games. She is now headed with the Mexican rugby team to Monaco this
week for a shot at qualifying for this summer’s Tokyo Olympics. Fetuuaho attributes much
of her competitive drive to her father Juan Elguezabal (inset) who coached her during high
school at Heppner.
on a fast track for Team
USA” which she played
from 2008 until 2013. She
then retired from the sport
at age 30 and settled down
with her family, husband
Talo and son Juan Talo, 2,
in West Linn.
But the competitive
drive has never left San
Juanita and in 2018 at age 35
she was contacted by Team
Mexico (the Serpientes -
Serpents) about playing for
them and she jumped at the
chance. Team Mexico was
putting together a rugby
team and went looking for
experienced players they
could use to “beef up,” she
recalls. “When you play for
a team it’s called capturing
that player and then you
are capped,” she explains.
She says Mexico contacted
the USA coach and wanted
to know “do you have any
players you haven’t cap-
tured? Maybe some older
players that have some life
in them. That was me,” she
says. “It was really exciting
because there has only been
one other player in the Unit-
ed States who has played
for another country’s team.”
But how could San
Juanita, as an American
citizen, play for another
country? “I was eligible
because my father was a
Mexican citizen,” she says.
“When you play in the
Olympics everybody has to
be a citizen of the country
they are playing for,” San
Juanita explained. She has
what is called a natural
born birthright because of
her dad’s citizenship. The
family moved to Heppner
when her father, Juan, got a
job as teacher and coach at
the Heppner High School,
Economic development group reviews
community investments
$429,829 went to businesses - $230,168 to housing rehab
nomic development funds
from the state of Oregon
from lottery money.
On the business incen-
tive grant side WCVEDG
has awarded $429,829 in
grants to local businesses
to help “stimulate private
investment, expand the
tax base and provide job
opportunities and encour-
age business owners to
expand, re-locate and invest
in the appearance of their
property,” according to a
PowerPoint presentation at
the annual meeting. “The
Business Incentive Grant
Program may contribute up
WCVEDG board members (L-R) Heppner City Manager Kraig Cutsforth, Bank of Eastern to a maximum of $25,000
Oregon President and Chief Executive Officer Jeff Bailey, Howard and Beth Bryant Trust or 50 percent of the project,
Administrator Kim Cutsforth (WCVEDG Chair), Bank of Eastern Oregon Executive Vice
President and Chief Credit Officer Ed Rollins, and Nancy Snider attended last week’s annual
meeting. -Photo by David Sykes.
By David Sykes
The Willow Creek Val-
ley Economic Development
Group (WCVEDG) used its
annual meeting last week to
review investments it has
made into the south county
area and tell of its plans
for the future. The main
areas WCVEDG has made
investments is in housing
rehabilitation and business
enhancements, Chair Kim
Cutsforth told the crowd
using a PowerPoint pre-
sentation.
A total of 28 homes
have benefited from the
rehabilitation grants to
make improvements to ex-
isting single-family and
multi-family stick-built
dwellings in the Heppner,
Lexington and Ione area.
The grants are made in
an effort by WCVEDG
to increase the available
housing units. South county
has been in the middle of a
chronic housing shortage
for some time, a situation
the WCVEDG board of
directors recognized as an
economic impediment to
the area. If local businesses
cannot provide adequate
housing they will have a
difficult time attracting
employees and growing.
WCVEDG has paid out a
total of $230,168 with an
additional $136, 715 in the
pipeline and committed.
WCVEDG receives
its money for the grants
from the Columbia River
Enterprise Zone, a special
business zone set up to
administer tax breaks for
businesses locating in the
county. Money is collected
from this business in lieu
of regular property tax-
es, which would be much
higher without the tax break
incentives. WCVEDG has
also been receiving $25,000
in funding from Morrow
County which in turn re-
ceives over $75,000 in eco-
-See ECONOMIC DEVEL-
OPMENT GROUP/PAGE
TWO
Jaylene Papineau is sworn in as a new member by President
Alan Scott (right) and Sec/Treasurer Steve Rhea. -Photo by
David Sykes
The Heppner Lions
Club held its annual meet-
ing last week, enjoyed a
steak dinner at the park, and
reelected current officers
for the coming year. Alan
Scott was named president,
Steve Rhea was elected
sec/treasurer, Dan Sharp
VP, Andrew Johnson Tail
Twister and Jimmy Fichter
will be Lion Tamer. New
Lion member Jaylene Pa-
pineau was also sworn in.
Anyone wishing to join the
Heppner Lions club, and
be a part of community
service, is encouraged to
call Rhea at 541-980-4232.
but he had never given up
his Mexican citizenship. “I
feel so lucky and so blessed
that my dad retained his
citizenship,” she says.
Her name, if she is to
play in the Olympics, will
also reflect the mixed her-
itage she comes from. Her
mother Mary Ann’s maid-
en name is Dority, and in
Mexico they use the com-
bination of the father and
mother’s names so on the
programs and other places
at the Olympic Games, she
will be referred to as San
Juanita Guadalupe Elguez-
abal-Dority.
San Juanita says one
of the benefits she will
bring to team Mexico is
her ability to read defenses
and do “off the ball work.”
When there is a tackle, she
explains, there is then a new
phase and the game moves
forward building on phases.
“I like the mental part of the
game. I like to move the
defense around and I under-
stand this better now that I
am older with more expe-
rience,” she says. Fetuuaho
has also played against both
the New Zealanders and
Australian teams whose
players are “some of the
best players in the world.
They have vision and I have
learned a lot about the game
from them,” she says.
Fetuuaho’s style of
play is aggressive, and she
knows it. “I am known
for my physicality. Teams
love and hate me. I get a
kick out of being a pest,
and I’m quite good at it,”
she says. In rugby there are
two positions the forwards
and the backs. The forwards
are known for being tough-
er and bigger and backs
smaller and more athletic,”
she points out. “I am one
of the smaller forwards,
but I’m known for being
more physical,” she says
mischievously.
Her mother also tells
a story about young San
Juanita. “The first sentence
out of her mouth was ‘I do
it myself’,” says Mary Ann.
She also remembers in the
sixth grade San Juanita
broke her leg. “She was
out playing tackle football
– with the boys. The doctor
told her she would never
play catcher in baseball
again and only outfielder.
But she did,” recalls her
mother.
Before packing up her
cleats and heading off to
Monaco, San Juanita gave
a big “shout out” to people
in her life who have helped
her in the achievement of
the success she has experi-
enced. “I have to thank my
mom (Mary Ann Elgueza-
bal) who was there for me
when I went away to play.
I have to leave for Mexico
sometimes to play and she
comes here, stays in the
house and takes care of our
son, little Juan Talo, while
I am gone and makes it so I
am able to do this,” she says
adding that “young Juan
Talo already has rugby in
his blood.” All of Heppner
was supportive of her too.
“The whole community has
helped make me who I am.
The church and teachers
all encouraged me, and I
wouldn’t be where I am to-
day without the community
I came from behind me,”
she says.
But she says the biggest
motivation for her drive and
competition comes from the
influence of her father Juan,
who coached her during
high school. When asked
what he would think about
her making the rugby team
and possibly heading to the
Olympics, San Juanita gets
a little emotional. “It brings
tears to my eyes to think
about when he coached
me,” she recalls. “He said,
‘she may a not be the most
talented player out there,
but no one works harder
than her. And that is what
makes me so proud of her,’”
she remembers. Her father
passed away from cancer in
2000 when San Juanita was
17 years old.
She recalls that softball
was always her best sport
and once at the all-star
game someone asked her
dad if San Juanita would
be playing college softball.
“He said if she works hard
enough she can play wher-
ever she wants. To be able
to play on Team Mexico
with his name is one of the
greatest things I have ever
done. It brings tears to my
eyes,” says San Juanita.