TSA competes in winter
competition
Heppner Gazette-Times, Heppner, Oregon Wednesday, March 9, 2022 -- NINE
Quilt sale to benefit
impoverished Kenyans
Quilt sale Saturday, March 12, Heppner United
Methodist Church
Pictured front: Trevor Nichols, Madison Palmer, Saul Lopez, Jacob Haugen, Roen Waite, Aden
Lathrop and Dailen Shultz. Back: Cody Fletcher, Joe Sherman, Jacob Finch, Daemon Worden,
Ty Boor, Cameron Proudfoot, Jaime Cavan-Harris, Serena Humphreys, Karver Wilkins and
Thomas Bales. Not pictured: Hanna Finch and Advisor Dave Fowler. -Contributed photo.
The Heppner High
School Technology Stu-
dent Association (TSA)
Chapter recently competed
in the Oregon TSA Winter
Competition at BMCC in
Boardman.
Architectural Design
involved researching, de-
signing and building a mod-
el for a lodge to house
National Park Rangers. Out
of 13 entries, the first place
team was Madison Palmer,
Jacob Finch and Daemon
Worden; second place team
was Ty Boor and Cameron
Proudfoot, third place team:
Trevor Nichols, Joe Sher-
man and Cody Fletcher.
CAD 3D was creating
detailed computer aided
drawings of mechanical
parts. Third place: Roen
Waite. Promotional Design
was producing graphic mar-
keting projects to promote
a business. Second place:
Serena Humphreys.
A spokesperson told
the Gazette, “Everyone did
a great job representing
Heppner. Our next compe-
tition is the state conference
in April.” The state contest
will include VEX Robot-
ics, Technology Problem
Solving, Dragster Design
and Fashion Design and
Technology. In May there
will be a Virtual event for
the Technology Bowl. Four
Heppner students will be
attending the National TSA
Conference in June located
in Dallas, TX.
County allocates $100,000 for
Mormon Cricket control
By David Sykes
County Commission-
ers last week allocated
$100,000, if needed, for
control of a Mormon Crick-
et infestation currently ad-
vancing toward Morrow
County from the west.
Extension Agent Larry
Lutcher requested the funds
saying the money would be
spent on chemical spraying
and maybe some bait. “I
come with hat in hand for
financial support,” Lutcher
told the commissioners in
requesting the funds. To be
ready he asked that he and
Gilliam County Agent Jor-
dan Maley be able to “pull
the trigger” when funds are
needed to begin spraying.
“Funds will be used for the
cost of chemicals and appli-
cation and maybe some bait
as well. Everything needs
to be ready to go,” Lutcher
said. The money would be
enough to treat up to 10,000
acres he said.
The spraying and treat-
ment will be done inside
Morrow County if needed
to try and contain a cricket
infestation that Gilliam
County has been fighting
for years now. The crickets
have been slowly advanc-
ing eastward and when the
weather warms up eggs will
start hatching and the two
agents will then be able
to see how much they are
into Morrow County and
where spraying would be
needed. The crickets must
be sprayed when young for
the spray to be effective.
When the crickets age then
the Dimilin spray is no lon-
ger effective, and they must
switch to the less effective
Sevin bait.
Morrow County has a
multi-million-dollar agri-
cultural industry to protect
from the potential destruc-
tion from the insects, which
will feed on range land veg-
etation as well as cultivated
crops. The crickets could be
especially damaging if they
migrate into the irrigated
and organic croplands of
northern Morrow County
but can be a threat any-
where.
Morrow County has a
couple of large landowners
where the crickets could
become a problem. The Na-
ture Conservancy has about
350 acres in the county
and the US Navy operates
the 48,000-acre bombing
range here. Lutcher says he
has approached both about
possible cricket control on
these large parcels. Lutcher
says he has “opened dis-
By April Hilton-Sykes
“How can we help a
broken world to be made
whole? Do all the good you
can, by all the means you
can, in all the ways you can,
in all the places you can,
at all the times you can, to
all the people you can, as
long as ever you can.” John
Wesley, the founder of the
Methodist Movement, in
the late 1700’s.”
And that is exactly
what Cara Osmin, with the
help of the Heppner Unit-
ed Methodist Church and
the people of Heppner and
Morrow County, are going
to do this July. She, “along
with the Heppner United
Methodist Church’s pas-
tor, Rev. Jim Monroe, and
nine others are going to a
small, impoverished rural
village in Northern Kenya,
planning to do all the good
she can in two weeks and
change the lives of a lot of
people.”
“How?” asks Pastor
Monroe. This is what he
said:
“1. In one week, with
Cara’s help, a new home
will be built for a fami-
ly of orphaned children,
giving them and a vetted
elder guardian housing,
education, medical care
and a place to live made of
wood – rather than made
of cardboard and plastic
wrap. Neither plumbing
nor electricity are possible
in such an isolated area, but
the home will be turnkey
ready in four days.
2.Help provide relief
for up to 2,000 children
from hookworms, round-
worms, ringworms, tape-
worms and other internal
parasites for six months
(when another team will
visit those same children’s
schools and repeat the treat-
ment – one simple tablet
per child).
3.Provide support for
a mission hospital of 250
beds that serves almost one
million people. This will in-
volve painting wards, help-
ing with hospital construc-
tion projects, and simply
visiting patients and giving
words of encouragement
and hope.
4.Spending a day with
medical staff from the hos-
Cara Osmin shows one of the quilts she has made.
pital as they go to an iso-
lated rural village and see
up to 1000 people, some
of whom have never seen a
doctor or nurse (or proba-
bly even an American) and
need medical care, ranging
from HIV testing and med-
ication to treatment for
malaria. She may also help
distribute reading glasses.
These will be men, women
and children who cannot
afford a trip to the hospital.
5.Work with children
in a high mountain village
who live in an orphanage.
Some are old enough to go
to school, but some are just
County Commissioners last week voted unanimously for
a few months old and need
cricket control funding
as much cuddling as they
cussion to both the Navy and we have been treating
can get. Plus, she will prob-
and the Nature Conservan- them and why hasn’t this
ably paint a room or two.
cy” and he said they may problem gone away? And
6.And if all that is not
be open to “some kind of that is a concern of mine,”
enough, Cara will visit a
treatment. That’s huge and I he said. “I have been told
variety of small, isolated
think you have a shot at get- that once the eggs have
schools and deliver school
ting some cooperation from been laid they can remain
supplies, a soccer ball or
the Navy as well,” he said. viable in the soil for seven
two, and let the children
He was told to come up years so some of those eggs
of Kenya know they have
with a proposal on control. may hatch in year one and
friends and people who care
Lutcher said there some in year three,” he said
half a world away.
may be some people who of the difficulty of treating
“In a world currently
wonder why, if the cricket the infestation. “I think
savaged by war and armed
problem has been around this would be absolutely
conflicts, it will be several
so long, it has not been reasonable to evaluate this
weeks of doing all the good
brought under control. on a year-to-year basis and
she can in all the ways
“Might be some people make sure we are spending
she can to as many people
who think this problem has our money wisely,” he said
as she can. You can bet
been around for 6-7 years of the funds allocation.
that when she comes back
home, the lives she touched
in Kenya will know there is
a place called Heppner and
Morrow County; a place
where people care.
Like any such effort,
funds are needed to help
make these good things
happen. Cara, and every
other team member, is cov-
ering her own personal
expenses. But the costs of
the various projects and
making them happen are
raised through fundrais-
ing activities,” says Pastor
Monroe.
“If you want to help
make a difference in the
lives of children and those
who care for them in an
oft forgotten corner of the
world, here is what you
can do:
Saturday, March 12, at
the Heppner United Meth-
odist Church, the quilt sale
G-T intern reporter, Blake Carter (also inset), leads the Union Bobcats students in cheering will start at 8 a.m. “Cara
Osmin is an accomplished
for their team.
Mustangs help cheer on other
teams at 2A state tournament
While in Pendleton you
often see great basketball
games played all week-
end long where along with
those great teams are great
student sections. These
student sections show their
school pride and cheer their
team to victory. Often other
schools will join student
sections to create a cheering
squad that engulfs an entire
section of bleachers. Hep-
pner was just one of many
teams that joined that tradi-
tion by cheering on Bandon
and Union during the girls
2A state tournament.
The Mustangs boys’
basketball team helped
cheer on the newly crowned
2A girls’ basketball state
champion, Union Bobcats
during both their semifinal
and championship games.
While at the tournament
Heppner senior Blake Car-
ter was seen leading the
signature “roller coaster”
routine. Carter imitated
all the twists and turns of
a roller coaster as the en-
tire section mimicked his
movements. Along with
Carter were the rest of the
Mustangs basketball team,
and students from other
local schools.
quilter and is selling quilts
to fund the projects listed
above. Come, buy a quilt,
and be a part of the good
that is going to happen in
Kenya in July,” says Pastor
Monroe.
“Sunday, April 3, at 12
noon, also at the Heppner
United Methodist Church,
Stanley Gitari, the Kenyan
coordinator of most of the
projects noted above, and a
senior staff member of the
Maua Methodist Hospital
in Kenya, will be in town to
share about the hospital, the
projects and the difference
they have made over the
years in the lives of those
he serves.”
“Stanley Gitari is a
graduate of the hospital’s
nursing school, as well as
a distinguished alumni of
Oklahoma City University
where he received his BA
in nursing. He also has a
Master of Public Health
degree from the Univer-
sity of Ghana. Passing up
lucrative job offers in both
the US and in Nairobi, Mr.
Gitari has spent his career
life serving the people of
his home area. When once
asked why he didn’t opt for
making a whole lot more
money than a rural, mission
hospital can pay, Mr. Gitari
answered, ‘How could I
face myself each day if I did
not do what was right for
my neighbors and friends.’”
“So, again in a world
where we daily see the
bombings and ruins of war,
help make a difference for
the good. Come March 12
and April 3 and see what
you can do to create a world
for the better.”
“And if you are unable
to attend either event, but
still want to help change
lives, then a check can be
made out to The Heppner
United Methodist Church,
with the notation at the bot-
tom “Kenya Team Fund”,
and mailed to: The Heppner
United Methodist Church,
PO Box 733, Heppner, OR
97836.
“All such gifts are tax
deductible, but, more im-
portantly, they help build
a better world,” concluded
Pastor Monroe.
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Heppner, OR
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