TWO - Heppner Gazette-Times, Heppner, Oregon Wednesday, February 15, 2023
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.
Chris Sykes ...............................................................................................Publisher
Andrea Di Salvo ............................................................................................ Editor
Cindi Doherty.........................................................................................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.
Doherty hired at G-T
-Continued from PAGE ONE decided to talk to Chris and
“You didn’t have
any of the computers. You
had to lay it all out on the
boards, and it took all night
long,” she remembers. “It
was fun, but computers
make it a lot easier.”
After about a year
at the Gazette, she worked
for Hutch’s Printing, stay-
ing there for another couple
of years.
Over the years, she also
worked as a 911 dispatcher
at the sheriff’s office for
eight years, with the soil
and water conservation dis-
trict for about a year, in the
Morrow County tax office
for eight years and for the
City of Ione about for about
a year and half.
She also worked as a temp
at the forest service from
1990-1993. She returned
there in 2002 as a perma-
nent employee, working at
the front desk at the Hep-
pner Ranger District from
then until her retirement
last month.
Much of Doherty’s
life had been spent working
with the public, and that
was the case at the forest
service. She was the front
line of public contact for
the ranger district office,
dealing with paperwork,
wood permits and quarters,
among other things.
“I was the public person,”
says Doherty.
She says it wasn’t
boring, though. In fact, her
time there gave her some
opportunities she would
not have had otherwise,
including travel.
“I got to travel
some places,” she says,
“and I really like that. I got
to do a lot of things.”
Some of those things in-
cluded time spent working
at the Pendleton and Ukiah
offices and traveling for
wildfires—not as a fire-
fighter, but in a supporting
role. For local fires, she
would collect food orders
from the community busi-
nesses and make food runs
for those fighting the fire.
Doherty even got
to visit Louisiana in the
aftermath of Hurricane Ka-
trina when the forest ser-
vice helped with the recov-
ery from that catastrophic
event. She says she stayed
in Pineville, LA. While she
didn’t know it at the time,
she later found out her
father had been stationed
there during the Korean
War.
At 65, though,
Doherty decided it was
time for a change.
“I loved the job. The forest
service people are great,
nice people. I do miss the
people,” she adds. “It was
just time to do something
else.”
That something
else turned out to be a little
way down Main Street and
full circle in terms of career.
“I wasn’t sure I wanted
to stay home five days a
week,” says Doherty. “I
saw the ad in the paper. I
see what he thought.”
“And now I’m back at the
Gazette.”
Doherty fits right in
at the Gazette; not only does
she have experience in the
work, but it’s a little bit like
family. Gazette owner Chris
Sykes has been a friend of
her son Adam since they
were boys.
“I like it,” Doherty
says of the Gazette. “I know
everybody. I hope I’m pro-
gressing some.”
Her job at the
Gazette is part time, and
Doherty still plans to enjoy
her “retirement” when she’s
not working for the news-
paper. She wants to spend
time with her parents, and
traveling is high on her list.
“I do want to do a
little bit of traveling,” she
says. “I like to go to the
beach. I take my mom and
dad a lot.”
She also looks forward to
annual trips to Mexico with
friend Gayle Gutierrez. She
wants to spend more time
with her grandkids—Lylian
is seven, Bridget is 18 and
Malcolm is two.
“They grow up too fast,”
she says.
Doherty is at the
Gazette-Times Mondays,
Tuesdays all day and
Wednesday mornings. Any-
one wanting to place an ad
or wish her a happy retire-
ment can stop by the office
on Main Street in Heppner,
call 541-676-9228 or email
graphics@rapidserve.net.
Sandford
Celebration of
Life planned
Richard “Rick” Sand-
ford III
The family of Richard
“Rick” Sandford III invites
the community to a celebra-
tion of his life on Feb. 25 at
11 a.m. at the Ione Legion
Hall. Rick was born Nov. 11,
1969, and passed away Dec.
6, 2022.
After the celebration
of life, guests are invited to
bring a side dish and stay for
a potluck, his favorite music
and a video/photo show by
his daughters.
The Legion hall is locat-
ed at 325 W. 2 nd St. in Ione.
In place of flowers, memorial
contributions can be made to
the Ione American Legion
Hall or a charity of choice.
His family hopes all will
join them in celebrating this
special man’s life.
County can increase tourism dollars with planning,
consultant says
By Andrea Di Salvo
Tourism consultant Ka-
rie Walchli says tourism is
on the upswing in Morrow
County, and the county
is in a good spot to take
advantage of some of Ore-
gon’s most popular tourism
niches.
Walchli is a private
consultant contracted to
serve as Tourism Coordi-
nator for Morrow County.
Her job is to find ways to
help grow Morrow Coun-
ty’s tourism economy in a
“sustainable” way. She re-
cently appeared before the
board of commissioners to
give an update on her work.
According to Walchli,
the state and regional pillars
of tourism are agritourism,
the outdoors, and culture
and heritage.
“These are the pillars
within the state of Oregon
that they really have a lot
of the focus on, and they fit
beautifully into what Mor-
row County has to offer,”
says Walchli.
Tourism dollars in
Morrow County had been
on the rise. In 2019, she re-
ports that total direct travel
spending in the county was
$17,100,000, directly sup-
porting 250 tourism-related
jobs. Walchli says it takes
63,333 in visitor spending
to support one job, so every
$100 a visitor spends con-
tributes $33 to employee
earnings and $4.03 to local
and state tax revenue.
After 2019, things
changed.
“In 2020, as we
all know, things kind of
crashed,” she says. “The
nice thing now is, we are
coming up. We are on the
way back up for the tourism
footprint.”
Tourism spending in
the county dropped from
$17.1 million in 2019 down
to $9.2 million in 2020. In
2021, the most current year
available, that number was
back up to $13.9 million.
In the past year, Walchli
worked with communities
and individuals in Morrow
County to identify opportu-
nities and challenges. That
work included five commu-
nity studio input sessions
with approximately 128
attendees, an online survey,
and various outreach calls
to community leaders.
“Our goal here is to find
at least three action items
that can work throughout
the county, and we would
seek funding for those,”
Walchli says. “It was real-
ly fun to meet with these
communities. There is a lot
of desire for tourism de-
velopment within Morrow
County.”
Some of the coun-
ty-wide assets recognized
in Walchli’s work were the
Columbia River, county
parks like Anson Wright
Park, Cutsforth Park and
the OHV Park, Umatilla
national Forest, the Blue
Mountain Scenic Byway,
rich local history and the
Heritage Trail.
One of the things that
Walchli says surprised her
a little was the enthusiasm
for a county-wide walking
trail system.
“That was a really neat
thing to find out because
trails are a hot item in Ore-
gon, and there’s lots of op-
portunities,” says Walchli.
Also at the top of the
list was the desire to pre-
serve and share local his-
tory.
“One of the key things
that people mentioned,
these small communities
have such rich history, they
don’t want people to for-
get,” she says. “They also
want to make these commu-
nities places where the next
generations come back to.”
While Morrow County
is poised to take advantage
of those trends, she says, it
also has to happen in way
that preserves and cele-
brates the local culture and
landscape.
“Which is integral to
parts of Morrow Coun-
ty and Umatilla County,”
she says. “We’re natural
resource-based assets, and
we want to make sure we’re
preserving our lands.”
Most people involved
in the process respond-
ed favorably to the idea
of increasing tourism in
Morrow County, but not
everyone was enthusiastic.
Walchli says some residents
thought the county needed
to address priorities other
than tourism, and others
worried about maintaining
small-town character. Some
were flat out opposed.
“I do not want them
(assets) developed. I do not
feel Morrow County needs
to rely on tourism,” said one
survey respondent.
Walchli says that is part
of the process.
“We just wanted to be
cognizant of the concerns,
because this is a continu-
al education process, that
people understand the eco-
nomic footprint,” she says.
Walchli says the next
steps for the county if it
wants to pursue more tour-
ism will include establish-
ing a destination marketing
organization and creating
a tourism committee. The
county will then need to
use the information she has
given them come up with a
strategic plan and market-
ing plan to move the county
forward.
Basketball, band seniors honored at last
league games
Basketball and band seniors and their families were honored at the games on Friday. Pictured (L-R/B-F):
Peter Wenberg, Sheena Shank, Hailey Wenberg (Senior), Jeremy Cimmiyotti, Tylynn Cimmiyotti, Tucker
Ashbeck (Senior), Michele Ashbeck, David Cribbs (Senior), Andy Ashbeck, Jesse Rodriguez, Trevor Nichols
(Senior), Russ Nichols, Toni Nichols, Lily Nichols, Hailey Cimmiyotti, Fabian Guerra, Adan Guerra (Senior),
Claudia Guerra, Khamila Guerra, Julia Finch, Jacob Finch (Senior), Tripp Finch, Daemon Worden (Senior),
Nikki Bergstrom, Eva Worden, Oakley Bergstrom, Kelsie Worden, Rick Worden, Ryder Worden, Ashley
Lindsay, Dan Lindsay, Arianna Worden, Lucas Worden, Madison Palmer (Senior), Ryan Lindsay (Senior),
Jennifer Palmer, Jason Palmer, Brook Wilson (Senior), Aymee Wilson. Not Pictured: Coach Rob Wilson.
-Photo by Tylynn Cimmiyotti
Heppner High School band
What is Cursillo?
Make a friend, be a friend and bring a friend to
Christ. Come and join us Sunday, February 19th
for an evening of fellowship with your brothers
& Sisters in Christ. A Spaghetti dinner will be
provided. Our evening will begin at 5:00pm as
we gather for dinner at Hopeful Saints Church. If
you know of someone that is interested or curi-
ous about The Cursillo Movement invite them
to join us. We will be sharing information about
Cursillo & this year’s upcoming weekend. We will
also have applications available to work on the
team. If you are reading this and you are curious
about Cursillo please do come and share a meal
with us, there will be plenty for everyone. We do
hope you will join us: February 19th @ Hopeful
Saints Church, (140 Church Street Heppner, OR)
beginning at 5:00PM. Dinner is provided by the
Heppner area 4th Day Group. For further infor-
mation please contact: Diana Sharp 509-781-1028
or George Nairns 541-571-6519 Eastern Oregon
Cursillo Community Mission Statement: Cursillo
is an ecumenical community of faith, love and
hope that supports individuals in our search for
discovery and renewal in Christ.
Valby Lutheran Church
Valby Road
Ione Oregon. 97843
Church Services
1st & 3rd Sundays
10:00 AM
Available for:
Weddings • Funerals
Family Events
541-422-7300
Old
Country
Church
All Are
Welcome