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About Heppner gazette-times. (Heppner, Or.) 1925-current | View Entire Issue (May 31, 2023)
Heppner women take second at state meet Nichols, Hisler take state championships 50¢ VOL. 143 NO. 22 10 Pages Wednesday, May 31, 2023 Morrow County, Heppner, Oregon Ione American Legion restores memorial plaque Restored WWII memorial plaque. - Photo by Brian Reitmann By Chris Sykes The names on the plaque are local service members killed in action during WWII: Tench B. Aldric was born in 1924. He was a Private First Class with the 138 th Glider Infantry, 11 th Airborne Division. A U.S. Army paratrooper, he was killed in action by enemy gunfire on the island of Luzon in the Philippines on February 10, 1945. He was awarded the Purple Heart Medal. He was 21 years old. Herbert R. Davidson was born in 1918. He was an Army staff sergeant. He was killed in action in 1943; while flying on a mission over Blachhamer, Germa- ny, the bomber next to his was hit and exploded. That explosion tore the wing off the bomber he was in. He was 25 years old. Alfred C. Emert was born in 1919. A first lieu- tenant, he was a bombardier on a B-24. He was killed in action when his bomber was shot down by a German fighter plane over France on July 4, 1944. He was 25 years old. Clarence T. Harris was born in 1919. He was killed in action on Okinawa in the spring of 1945. He was 26 years old. Bobbie E. Morgan was born in 1918. A techni- cal sergeant with the 46 th squadron, 34 th Air Survey Group, he was killed in action in Palermo, Sicily on August 17, 1943. He was 24 years old. Paul V. Reitmann was born in 1923 and enlisted as a private in the Army Au- gust 20, 1943. He was killed in action on “D” day at the landing on Normandy in 1944. He was 20 years old. The Heppner girls track team taking a selfie while celbrating their 2nd place win at state. ~ Contributed photo The Heppner women traveled to the OSAA 2A Track and Field Champi- onships at Hayward Field in Eugene last week and came home with a second-place trophy to prove they made their mark at the state level. The women were second Brian Reitmann standing out of 27 2A teams, only along side the restored WWII three team points behind - Photo by Chris Sykes first-place Bandon. The American Legion While not fielding as Post 95 in Ione has restored a flagpole and memori- al plaque to honor fallen World War II veterans. Joe Milder first ap- proached post command- er Brian Reitmann about large a team, the Heppner men still placed eighth in a field of 33 2A teams. Individually, two Hep- pner athletes took state championships. Senior Trevor Nichols placed first in the 3000-me- ter with a 9:03.58a personal record—11 seconds faster than his previous PR. Nich- ols also placed second in the -Continued to PAGE SEVEN Commissioners approve grant for fiber, power at Lexington Airport -Continued to PAGE SIX CCS writer, artist pair up to publish children’s book Angel Kisses illustrator Mat- thew Thornton (left) and Leilani Faber (right) display a photo of the children’s book, which came out in March. -Contributed photo By Andrea Di Salvo Tw o C o m m u n i t y Counseling Solutions staff are branching out and shar- ing their talents with a larger audience through a children’s book, Angel Kisses. Angel Kisses is a 20- page children’s illustrated poetry book about angels interacting with humans even though we may not see them or feel them. Au- thor Leilani Faber and il- lustrator Matthew Thornton both work at CCS in dif- ferent capacities, which is what brought them together to collaborate on the book. Faber, 60, was born in Las Vegas and raised all over Nevada and Cal- ifornia. Her family ended up in Cassville MO when she was 15. She spent 40 years there before making her way to southeast Wash- ington. Along the way, she earned bachelor’s degrees in professional writing and psychology, as well as a master’s in criminal psy- chology. She has worked for CCS in counseling and therapy for 11 years. She currently works as clinical supervisor over Assertive Community Treatment (ACT) in Umatilla County. ACT works with adult cli- ents who have serious and persistent mental illness, like schizophrenia, bipolar disorder or Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). “Our whole goal is to keep them in their home, in their community, with the lowest treatment possible,” she explains. “It’s a whole team of people. I love ACT and I love that team.” While her life has taken a lot of different directions, Angel Kisses was born early on. Faber wrote it for a class assignment in 1982, while she was working toward her bachelor’s degree in professional writing. The class was taught by Sandy Asher, who is a children’s author herself. Faber says she remem- bers that writing the book came easily. The main character is a red-haired, freckle-faced girl. The book takes her through difficul- ties, and how angels inter- ceded in the situations and how they help her through. Part of Faber’s inspiration came from seeing the way certain freckle-faced red- heads got bullied more than other children. “Red haired children, freckle faced children, get bullied so much,” said Faber. “In a way its cele- brating (them) and trying to do away with that negative connotation.” The theme of the book is a reference to the idea that freckles are Angel Kisses. “I don’t know why I used that, but kids seem to like it,” she says. After that class, she tucked the manuscript away, and it was several decades until it saw the light of day again. “It was just a typed manuscript that followed me around in several moves,” she says. The cover of Angel Kisses. -Contributed In fact, it followed her around for about four de- cades. She says she forgot all about the manuscript until her sister rediscovered it in 2018. “She called and read it to me, and I started crying,” says Faber. “I had forgotten all about it. It was like find- ing lost gems that you didn’t even know you had lost.” She decided to try to publish it. The problem was, she had a manuscript but no illustrations. “I could not get anyone to help me with illustrating until I noticed that Matthew Thornton was always doing creative things,” she says. “I asked him if he would be interested, and he said yes.” Thornton, 27, was born and raised in Hermiston, graduating from Hermiston High School. He said he worked mostly in manu- al labor, everything from working for Ace Hardware to lumber, before finding a home at Community Coun- seling Solutions. “When I found this job, I think I found my niche,” he says. He current- ly works as a receptionist at the Hermiston Mental Health Office but says he just got the call that he’s been approved to move up to Peer Support Specialist. “It’s one of the things that always came naturally to me,” Thornton says of his artistic skills. “I was the kid who was always drawing on papers all through school. People would come to me and ask me to draw them stuff. That’s kind of what Leilani did.” “I felt really honored,” he adds. “To be a published illustrator is very cool in my opinion. I jumped at the opportunity when she offered it to me.” Faber says Thornton was willing to work free of charge, but she wouldn’t let him. “He didn’t realize how difficult it was going to be,” she says. “He re-did and changed things for me mul- tiple times until we worked something out.” For Thornton, working on the book was a first for him. He knew he had to de- part from his usual style to illustrate a children’s book. “I definitely worked outside my comfort zone for it. I did a lot to look into other children’s illus- trators,” he says. “I wanted it to capture an image that I had in my head from chil- dren’s books when I was growing up that were very colorful and playful and caught your attention.” The Lexington airport will get an upgrade in power and fiber lines thanks to a new grant program from the state. By Andrea Di Salvo The Morrow County Airport at Lexington could be getting a little higher tech this year due to an Emerging Opportunity Pro- gram grant from the state. The Morrow County Board of Commissioners sealed the deal when it approved a grant agree- ment with Oregon Business Development Department on May 17. The $296,000 grant will be used to install fiber and power infrastruc- ture to enable investment and growth at the county airport. “It’s a brand-new grant for economic development and starting new projects in commerce,” Sandi Pointer, Morrow County Public -Continued to PAGE SIX Works Management Assis- tant, told the commissioners at the meeting. Specifically, phases one and two will extend three- phase power near the ex- isting electrical building to future hangar units and then to the infield area for future agricultural buildings, as well as installing a water line for future hangars. Phase one is estimated at $103,000, while phase two will cost around $77,000. “If we want to have any kind of growth or any kind of new hangars built or en- tertain the UAS activity to come in, they like to have fiber, and this might make it a little more appealing,” Pointer said. “I feel this is a good project and I feel we can get it done in the time -Continued to PAGE EIGHT CALL 541-989-8221 ext 204 for more information
