TWO - Heppner Gazette-Times, Heppner, Oregon Wednesday, December 1, 2021
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 publi-
cation must be specified. Affidavits must be requested 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.
Chamber Chatter
The Heppner Cham-
ber’s Christmas schedule:
-Thursday, December
9 at 7 p.m., painting party
at the Heppner Christian
Church.
-Saturday, December
11, Artifactory Bazaar at the
Gilliam and Bisbee build-
ing, sponsored by Heppner
Daycare.
-Sunday, December 12,
5 to 7 p.m., “Searching for
Christ in Christmas” wise
man scavenger hunt spon-
sored by Hospice.
-Monday, December
13, Christmas trivia night
at Flood Town Bookstore.
-Tuesday, December
14, Merry Grinchmas party
at Flood Town Bookstore.
-Wednesday, December
15, Wine and Design event
at Murray’s Drug.
-Thursday, December
16, 6 to 9 p.m., Chamber
of Commerce hosts Cel-
ebrate Christmas event at
the fairgrounds. Included
at the event will be the Re-
wards Card raffle, all ages
coloring contest, Santa and
Mrs. Claus and the Parent
Teacher Club bake sale.
Pick up coloring pages at
the chamber office or city
hall lobby. Return to the
chamber office by Decem-
ber 13.
-Friday, December 17,
Polar Express at the Sage
Center.
-Saturday, December
18, dedication ceremony
for Thomson Square. Mex-
ican hot chocolate will be
served courtesy of Tacos
Hometown.
-Saturday, December
18, the Heppner Outreach
Council hosts the Night-
light Parade and snowball
drop.
-Heppner Chamber of
Commerce is holding a
Christmas home decorating
contest. Participants must
live inside the Heppner
city limits and names and
addresses must be sub-
mitted to the chamber by
December 13 with judging
to take place December 14.
Categories will include Vic-
torian: old fashioned, tradi-
tional and nostalgic holiday
display; Clark Griswold:
excessive use of lights and
decorations; and crazy in-
flatables: must have three or
more inflatables to qualify.
For additional informa-
tion or for anyone interested
in participating contact the
chamber at 541-676-5536
or email heppnerchamber@
gmail.com. Additional de-
tails will follow next week.
INTERNET
-Continued from PAGE ONE
Heppner, but the Broadband
Benefit Program is open to
anyone no matter where
they live.
Which brings up the
main purpose of the Mor-
row County Broadband
Team and having Moss
here. In partnership with
Lead for America and Til-
lamook Creamery Associ-
ation, the county is hosting
Moss to help bridge the
digital divide in the area.
He is working to assist
the county’s efforts in im-
proving internet speeds,
broadband availability, plan
affordability, and growing
digital skills among citi-
zens. From Portland, Moss
is living here for at least a
year to head up the effort.
Moss said the main
effort of the team is to
bring broadband to areas
of the county now either
underserved or without
service. And with the new
infrastructure program just
passed by Congress, the
government will soon be
giving out millions in grant
money which the county
should be ready to receive.
“We first need to define the
needs and where those areas
of need are,” he explained.
He said the team is gather-
ing information from peo-
ple now about “the story of
what (the internet) means to
their life, and what it means
for those people that don’t
have it.”
Moss said while the
internet is not perfect, con-
necting to it is becoming
more important in people’s
existence. “I know there is a
lot of good things the inter-
net can do, and there is also
a lot of bad things it can do.
I’m not a proponent that the
internet can fix all problems
and that we should put our
lives completely online.
But I also acknowledge the
necessity of the internet
including health benefits
and education,” he said.
He said the main emphasis
of the team, and the reason
he is here, is to improve the
infrastructure and speed of
the internet providers who
will ultimately be the ones
getting better service out
to the underserved areas of
the county.
To get ready for the
new grant money Moss says
the county needs a plan.
“We better have our ducks
in a row,” he said in prepa-
ration for the $65 billion in
federal money, plus $126
million already earmarked
by the state of Oregon.
“Once that money does start
to come down and grants
become available, we need
to be ready.” He said the
money should start being
available by the middle of
next year and will be used
to help build out internet
service in the unincorpo-
rated areas of the county.
Inside the city limits inter-
net has already been taken
care of by providers, “But
getting to areas the market
hasn’t addressed because
of low population, grant
money is going to be very
important,” he emphasized.
Take the internet speed
test
ALL NEWS AND ADVERTISEMENT DEADLINE:
MONDAYS AT 5:00 P.M.
High School, singing and
dancing with the expertise
of experienced actors. And
my eyes were especially
on granddaughter Amy,
a sophomore who totally
enjoyed the eight perfor-
mances as a member of the
ensemble. This was her first
stage appearance, but I am
positive that it won’t be her
last. I am sure that she will
find time for drama in her
schedule of standard class-
es, choir and the school
newspaper. (Unbiased as-
sessment: She was great.)
Everyone is encour-
aged to contribute to this
column dedicated to every-
day positives, some huge,
some small, all sources of
pleasure for our readers.
Please, send your good-
news tidbits before Monday
afternoon to dbrosnan123@
gmail.com, or call 541-223-
1490.
Here’s hoping that
some good news comes to
everyone reading this.
-Continued from PAGE ONE
Moss said if citizens
want to help out in the effort
they can take the internet
speed test at home. It’s
free and will allow him to
build a data base of inter-
net speeds and where the
service is located.
To take the test go
to: speedupamerica.com.
Once there click on the icon
“Take the Test”. Select “Use
My Browser’s Location,”
then “Get My Location,”
and “Let’s Begin.” Choose
“Work,” or “Residential.”
Enter as much additional
information as you would
like, including, “How are
you connected,” “Price per
month,” and “Advertised
download speed.” Click
“Take Test” and wait for
test to complete.
If you have any ques-
tions about this test or the
county’s work on broad-
band, feel free to reach out
to Moss through email at
amoss@co.morrow.or.us or
by phone at 541-676-5664.
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Contact Giselle
Call or text cell# 541-914-2157
(PLEASE leave a message if I don't answer!)
office# 676-9228
email graphics@rapidserve.net
By Doris Brosnan
New holiday decora-
tions are up on the street
lights, contributing to a
cheerful atmosphere on
Main Street. Thanks go
out to the city maintenance
crew.
Adding to the cheerful
atmosphere at the Gary and
Barb Watkins home is the
return of their son, Jeff, who
graduated from HHS in ‘97.
Since then, Jeff has lived
in Beaverton, working for
the same company for 21
years. Though he periodi-
cally toyed with the idea of
moving back to Heppner,
he actually made the move
a month ago, when he was
hired by the Morrow Coun-
ty Grain Growers to work at
Green Feed. A big welcome
to another returnee.
Some good news this
week seems to belong to
me. I have thoroughly en-
joyed two performances of
“Mamma Mia” performed
by students at West Salem
COUNTY COVID
TESTS
WWW.HEPPNER.NET
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YOUR
STORY!
Do you have a community project?
Good News Only
tion for our employees and
everything to do with what
the state and feds rule us to
do,” she said.
New bus design ap-
proved
In other business at
the meeting the commis-
sioners approved a design
for the three new buses it
will use on the new Port
of Morrow-Boardman to
Hermiston bus route, and
potentially the Heppner to
Boardman route. The logos
will be a vehicle “wrap”
around the busses. “The
concept of the large picture
graphic is to showcase all
industries in Morrow Coun-
ty and provide a visual aid
associated to the Loop,”
County Transportation Di-
rector Katie Imes said in
presenting the design to the
commissioners.
In other business the
commissioners voted to
reappoint Barbara VanArs-
dale to the Airport Advisory
Committee, a seven-person
committee.
Send out your Christmas wishes
to your customers and the community!
The Heppner Gazette-Times will publish our
special Holiday edition on December 22nd.
The Christmas section will be full color and
is a great way to thank your customers for
their support throughout the year.
Contact Giselle at the Heppner Gazette-Times
for more information on how to have your
advertisement included.
Deadline for the December 22nd issue is
Monday, December 20th at 5pm
graphics@rapidserve.net ● heppner.net
541-676-9228 ● 188 W Willow St., Heppner