Heppner gazette-times., February 22, 2023, Image 1

Drago selected as third
county commissioner
50¢
VOL. 143
NO. 8 8 Pages
Wednesday, February 22, 2023
Morrow County, Heppner, Oregon
Local pizza shop creates a living legacy
their oldest son, William, paramedicine work focus
when they received a sur- more on Breaking Grounds.
Next came Breaking
prising offer. John and Ann
Murray decided to close Bread, the local bread
their coffee shop inside route. Again, it was an op-
Murray’s Drug in Heppner portunity that found them
and contacted them to see if rather than something they
they wanted to take it over. were looking for. Former
“Tayllor has been doing “bread man” Tim Adams
coffee since she was 10,” was ready to retire, and
Brannon says. Tayllor did asked Brannon if he would
start young, making coffee like to take over the route.
at the church her family Brannon’s grandpa, Bob
attended in Silverton, OR DeSpain, had done the
when she was a child. “It’s route for eight years about
in her blood now,” he says. 50 years ago.
Drew Brannon demonstrates tossing the dough at DeSpain
“Tim Adams thought
It seemed like too good
Pizza in Heppner. The dough takes three days to make, and
it
was
a fun idea,” says
an
opportunity
to
pass
up.
every crust is hand tossed. -Photo by Andrea Di Salvo
They moved back to Hep- Brannon.
By Andrea Di Salvo
found out Two Old Hags pner, and Tayllor took on
Third was Sage Gar-
Drew and Tayllor Bran- was closing, he said to Tayl- the bulk of the coffee shop, den Preschool, which they
non of Heppner are out to lor, “Are we really going to which they named Break- started with Eric and Darcie
make something special do it?”
of their latest venture, De-
He says they discussed
Spain Pizza—from the leg- it for 10 or 15 minutes and
acy of the name right down said, “Yeah, let’s do it.”
to their hiring philosophy. That was the beginning of
Taking on the Heppner business number five.
pizza shop was a surprise
“It’s been fun. It’s been
twist for the couple, who an adventure,” says Bran-
already juggled four busi- non.
nesses and two children.
Drew and Tayllor Bran-
In fact, Drew remembers non both graduated from
talking about taking a break Heppner High School in
from their hectic pace while 2012. They spent a year
coaching T-Ball last year. attending different colleges,
They have started a busi- Tayllor studying small busi-
ness every year since mov- ness and entrepreneurship
ing back to Heppner from at Mt. Hood Community
Gresham, and they decided College and Drew studying Drew and Tayllor Brannon named their new venture after
it was time to stop starting paramedicine at Oregon Drew’s grandparents, Bob and Aloha DeSpain. A photo of
businesses and focus on the Institute of Technology/Or- Bob and Aloha stands displayed on the counter in DeSpain
ones they already had.
egon Health and Sciences Pizza. -Photo by Andrea Di Salvo
“I looked at Tayllor and University in Wilsonville. ing Grounds, while Drew Chick.
“They’re one of our
said, “The only exception They got married after a worked to start a Commu-
best
friends, and they’re
nity
Paramedic
Program
is the pizza shop,’” says year and settled in the Wil-
just
as
crazy as we are,”
through
Good
Shepherd
in
Brannon. If that happened lamette Valley.
says
Drew.
“We figured that
Hermiston.
Then
the
busi-
to come up for sale, he said,
They were living in
matched
up
pretty good.”
ness
started
growing,
and
he wanted to go for it.
Gresham and Tayllor was
Drew
had
to
dial
back
his
Last fall, when they seven months pregnant with
-Continued to PAGE NINE
Heppner council adopts goals for 2023
John Doherty selected to fill council vacancy
John Doherty
Heppner Mayor Corey
Sweeney swore in new
council member Cody High
at the Feb. 13 meeting of
the Heppner City Council.
High was appointed to fill
the remainder of the term
left vacant when Sweeney
was elected mayor.
The council also voted
unanimously to appoint
John Doherty to the coun-
cil vacancy left upon John
Bowles’s resignation. Out
of three candidates, the
council narrowed to the
field to Doherty and Justin
Hoeft before making their
selection.
“Two perfectly good
candidates right here,”
said Sweeney of Hoeft and
Doherty. “Both have great
extracurricular service,
which is what this council
needs.”
Bowles’s resignation
also left the position of city
council president vacant,
and the council unanimous-
ly elected Adam Doherty as
the new president. Doherty
was not present at the meet-
ing, but High said he nom-
inated him because he was
the longest-serving current
council member.
“I trust his leadership
and judgment,” said High.
Kim Cutsforth, Execu-
tive Director of the Howard
and Beth Bryant Founda-
tion, appeared before the
council to discuss transfer
of land for a miniature golf
course within Heppner.
The course would be on the
site of the old swimming
pool. Cutsforth said she
had approached the council
a couple of years ago and
they had been amenable to
it then, but COVID-19 had
put things on hold.
Willow Creek Park
District has agreed to part-
ner with the Howard and
Beth Bryant Foundation
to build and maintain the
miniature golf course.
“We’re back on track,”
Cutsforth told the council.
“I’d like to move forward
with getting land trans-
ferred to the Willow Creek
Park District, because
they’ll have ownership of it,
before we start the project.”
Sweeney said he
thought they could get that
done, but also said he saw
two immediate problems.
The first is that the old
pool site is one of four that
have been set before Judge
Daniel Hill as possible sites
for a new Umatilla/Morrow
County Circuit Court build-
ing. Another possible site
is at the corner of May and
Chase streets. Sweeney said
he was not able to divulge
the other two sites.
“We put everything on
the table for him and the
circuit court,” said Swee-
ney, though he added that
it didn’t look like the pool
site was the most feasible
for what the circuit court
wanted.
Cutsforth replied that
the old pool site has flooded
repeatedly and added that
that would be a problem for
a circuit court building but
not for the golf course since
it would be considered a
bare ground project.
“It’s a better project,”
she said, “but I can wait
until they make a decision.”
Sweeney said he also
thought there might be a
problem with transferring
that piece of land because
of the way it was deeded,
but that was something the
city would have to look
into.
“Other than that, that
would be great, Kim, and
we would like to work with
you on that,” Sweeney said.
Cutsforth also men-
tioned that she was working
with Heppner Day Care,
and they needed to move
in order to meet growing
needs. She said if the circuit
court did not choose the site
at May and Chase streets,
it would be a good site to
develop for the day care.
“It would be a great spot
for the day care, it would be
a great spot for the circuit
court,” said Cutsforth, “but
I would like to have that on
your brains, thinking about
it, in case the circuit court
doesn’t go there.”
Regarding the street
project, Heppner City Man-
ager Kraig Cutsforth said
he was working on the HB
2017 project extension with
ODOT. He also informed
the council that the city is
still holding $200,000 in
retainage from Premier,
the contractor for the street
project.
Retainage refers to
funds that are withheld until
a project is completed to a
client’s satisfaction. In this
case, the city is still waiting
for street striping, which
Premier sub-contracted to
a company called Stripe
Roy Drago Jr.
The Morrow County
Board of Commissioners
selected Roy Drago, Jr. of
Boardman to fill the vacant
Commissioner Position 1
position at its meeting Feb.
15. Morrow County Clerk
Bobbi Childers will swear
in Drago prior to the Feb.
22 meeting, and he will be
seated as a commissioner
Feb. 22.
In speaking of his de-
cision, commissioner chair
David Sykes said all three
of the finalists were solid
candidates.
“They’re solid citizens.
They’re good solid people,”
he said, and added that he
was basing his decision on
experience. “Who’s served
in government. I think that’s
important.”
Commissioner Jeff
Wenholz agreed that any
of the three finalists would
have made a good com-
missioner but that he also
was basing his decision on
experience.
“Junior has been elect-
ed twice to the Boardman
City Council and has expe-
rience serving and some fa-
miliarity with public meet-
ings and everything that
goes along with it. I think
Junior will have the time to
devote to it,” said Wenholz.
Sykes added that this
was an appointment and
that the position would be
up for election in two years.
“Jeff and I will be up
for election, too. The ones
that are interested in serv-
ing… I saw good things
in all of the six, actually,
so come back and try it at
the ballot box,” he said.
“We need good people in
government.”
Morrow County School
District receives clean
audit
By Andrea Di Salvo
The Morrow County
School Board swore in a
new board member, saw
a Heppner coach honored
and learned the school dis-
trict has a clean audit at a
busy meeting in Heppner
recently.
Morrow County School
District (MCSD) Board
Chair Becky Kindle swore
in new council member
Ashley Lindsay at the Feb.
13 monthly meeting. The
board had appointed Lind-
say to fill vacant Position
6 after interviewing candi-
dates at a special meeting
last month.
Also at the meeting, the
board welcomed visitors
from the Oregon Athletic
Coaches Association. As-
sociation president Rob
Younger was there to con-
gratulate Heppner Jr./Sr.
High football coach Greg
Grant and present him
with an award. Grant was
named Coach of the Year
for 11-player football by
the National Federation of
State High School Coaches
Association.
“We honor a lot of
coaches every year,” said
Younger of the state awards.
“A lot of times these awards
are given to coaches who
have an outstanding year
or two.”
On the national lev-
el, he said, longevity and
community service were
big factors, with only 20
coaches receiving national
awards in their respective
sports every year. Grant
has a 330-76 record in 41
years of coaching and ranks
number four on the all-time
coaching victories list. He
-Continued to PAGE SEVEN
Ukrainian refugee
looks back a year after
Russian invasion
By Andrea Di Salvo
“You slowly become
this zombie. You kind of get
ready to die. You wake up
in the morning and you’re
like, I’m still alive?”
That’s how Irrigon res-
ident Iryna Pustyakova
describes the Russian inva-
sion of her home city in the
Ukraine last year. It was 5
a.m. on February 24, 2022,
in the city of Mykolaiv
when Pustyakova woke to
the sound of explosions.
The Russian invasion had
begun, and the 42-year-old
Ukrainian woman found
herself living a nightmare
she never really thought
would come true.
“I was there, we all
woke up at around 5 a.m.,
-Continued to PAGE TEN because of that explosion
when they started targeting
the airports,” she recalls
nearly a year later. “And
we all woke up because of
the sound.”
Pustyakova lived in an
apartment building near a
military base in Mykolaiv,
a city in southern Ukraine.
The bombings started an
immediate exodus among
those who had the means.
“Everybody who had
cars, they just left,” Pustya-
kova says. “By 6 a.m., the
house was empty.”
Pustyakova, who
worked online teaching
English, had no car. She
started messaging friends.
One, who had a cat shelter
in her home in another part
of the city, invited her to
-Continued to PAGE TEN
CALL
541-989-8221
ext 204
for more
information
-Continued to PAGE SEVEN