A Look back at
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VOL. 140
NO. 52
8 Pages
Wednesday, December 29, 2021
Morrow County, Heppner, Oregon
Local woman sews dresses for orphans
By Bobbi Gordon
Lois Connor, Heppner,
spends her spare time sew-
ing dresses for kids in an
orphanage in Africa. For-
mer pastor of the Heppner
First Christian Church, Ray
DeLoe, usually makes a
trip to Africa to deliver the
dresses once a year.
She began making the
dresses in 2018 when her
aunt, Betty Marquardt,
asked her if she would like
to help out. Betty brought
her the dresses she had
already cut out along with
the pattern and Lois fin-
ished them. “Aunt Betty
also gave me other stuff to
get started,” Connor report-
ed. Later a cousin passed
away and Connor was able
to bring home a lot of the
material that she had. The
simple dresses she makes
are sizes three to eight and
take approximately a yard
of fabric each.
Connor told the Gazette
that so far she has made
815 dresses, with a goal
of completing 12 every
See pages six and seven for a pictorial view of local happen-
ings in 2021.
Lois Connor
week. When asked when
she makes the dresses, she
said, “I make dresses all
the time.”
“I have also purchased
some dresser scarves and
place mats and made those
into dresses,” Lois noted.
She said most of the mate-
rial is donated by people at
the Heppner First Christian
Church, however, she pur-
chases other supplies such
as thread, bias tape, etc.
herself.
Connor reported that
she also made more than
1,000 masks at the begin-
ning of the COVID pan-
Lois Connor makes simple dresses with double-fold bias tape
as the straps. -Contributed photos.
demic and gave them to the
grocery store in Heppner
for their customers. At other
times she makes hats for the
local grade school kids.
She said she is happy to
receive donations of fabric
or other supplies if anyone
would like to share. She
suggested contacting the
church to make arrange- Lois Connor shows off the simple dresses she makes with dou-
ments to donate.
ble-fold bias tape as the straps. -Contributed photos.
Challenge of Champions Bull Riding
coming to St. Patrick’s Day Celebration
Manager Paul Gray said as
of last week 11 percent of
the intensive care units in
our region were being used
for COVID patients. This
compares with 16 percent
statewide.
Gray also said there is
now a shortage of nurses
developing locally and that
he was approached by Pi-
oneer Memorial Hospital
officials about the short-
age. Gray said a request
was made to the Federal
Emergency Management
Agency for assistance in
staffing because many of
the nurses are leaving to
take higher paying jobs as
traveling RNs, where they
can make up to $150 an
hour, which is more than
they make working locally.
“We are having issues with
our hospital, and they are
looking for nurses,” he said,
adding that the hospital also
asked him to make a request
for staffing assistance to the
Oregon Health Authority
(OHA).
County Commissioner
Melissa Lindsay was not
pleased with nurses being
recruited away. “We have
talked about this with OHA
because once you start
poaching each other’s em-
ployees, which they have
been doing for two years
now by paying them more
than we can pay them lo-
cally, you are not helping,”
she said. I just throw that
out there so the governor
is aware because it is caus-
ing a problem, right?” she
asked Gray. “Yes,” Gray
said. He said the hospital
made the request so it could
be on record asking for the
extra nursing staff.
It was also reported that
the sixth circuit court has
upheld a federal mandate
that all employees, includ-
ing county employees, must
now either provide proof
of vaccination or get tested
weekly. Only 54 percent of
county employees have so
far provided proof of vac-
cination, so under the now
reinstated federal mandates
the county would need to
start testing the other 46
percent of unvaccinated
employees beginning on
February 9. Human Re-
source Manager Lindsay
Grogan said she was sur-
prised with the low rate,
saying she expected more
of the county’s employees
to get vaccinated. Grogan
also said one employee told
her they wouldn’t provide
vaccination status until they
saw a written policy from
the county.
Now that the courts
have upheld the federal
vaccination or test mandate,
the county was preparing
a memo to send out to
employees informing them
of the rules. However, last
week commissioners were
concerned that prior to the
February 9 deadline the
state could still send out its
own different set of guide-
lines and upend the whole
process. The state can ap-
parently enact stricter rules,
but none less restrictive
than the feds. “It’s a hell of
a way to run an operation,”
Commissioner Don Russell
commented in frustration
with the process.
But can the county even
get the testing kits if need-
ed? Russell related how he
saw long lines of people
on the news waiting to get
tested, and he fears with
the mandate “hundreds
of thousands” of Oregon
workers will now have to
get tested, and there will be
a shortage of kits. “Where
do all the tests come from
and the capacity to do the
tests? Is the home test a
viable option for us?” he
asked Gray. Gray said after
President Biden recently
announced the federal gov-
ernment would send out
free tests, it has become im-
possible to buy them. “I was
looking at purchasing them
and there was a company
who had enough for what
we were looking for,” he
said. “Then Biden said he is
going to release 500 million
free tests and all those that
were available are no longer
available,” Gray reported.
He also said the health
district has a mechanical
COVID testing machine,
with results available in 15
minutes, but it is broken.
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Bull riding fans will get a show on St Pat’s Day this year
Gray said the state refused
to replace the machine and
told them to send it off to be
fixed instead.
Purchases new road
dept. equipment
In other business at the
meeting the commission-
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188 W Willow, Heppner • 541-676-9228
ers approved the purchase
of several pieces of road
equipment. A 2021 Dyna-
pac asphalt roller, a 2018
Superior rotary broom and a
2020 road widener were au-
thorized for purchase by the
public works department.
E L E VAT E YO U R A DV E N T U R E
541-989-8221
ext 204
NEW
2022
FOR
By David Sykes
Bull riding fans will
get a special treat this
spring when the Challenge
of Champions, a major
bull riding tour throughout
the western United States,
brings its show to the Hep-
pner rodeo grounds during
the St Patrick’s Day Cele-
bration on March 19. The
event is being sponsored
by the Morrow County Fair,
and at their meeting last
week county commission-
ers signed off on the event.
Fair Secretary Ann
Jones told the commis-
sioners the bull riding event
should draw a good crowd
and provide a boost to the
local economy. Jones said
while the event is not ex-
pected to make a lot of
money the first year, the
fair board liked the idea of
bringing in the event during
St Patrick’s Day weekend
and was willing to take
a chance on it. She said
the cost would be around
$29,000, but there would
be activities such as food
and entertainment, as well
as sponsors to generate
an estimated $15,000 in
revenue to help offset the
costs. The commissioners
voted unanimously to sign a
contract with the company.
COVID report
In other business at last
week’s meeting the com-
missioners heard a report
on COVID-19 activities
in the county. Emergency
for more
information
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