50¢
VOL. 145
NO.7 8 Pages
Wednesday, February 12, 2025
Morrow County, Heppner, Oregon
Matheny places second
at state hoop shoot
New coordinator takes helm at Neighborhood Center
Nikki Clark
By Andrea Di Salvo
Visitors to the Neigh-
borhood Center in Heppner
will now be greeted with a
new, but maybe familiar,
smiling face. Nikki Clark
has taken over as Neighbor-
hood Center Coordinator as
of last month.
The mother of four has
a long, if intermittent, his-
tory with Heppner. She was
born here to parents Matt
and Charlene Clark. She
attended school in Heppner
and spent the first several
years of her life on her
family ranch, the Horse-
shoe Hereford Ranch near
Ruggs.
She was seven when
she moved away with her
mother but says she re-
turned to visit her father
and Clark relatives during
vacations.
“There’s a lot of us in
different age groups that are
around still,” she says.
From there, life took
her to various places,
though “mostly Texas,”
she says. They lived in
Arlington, TX from the
time she was in sixth grade
until her junior year of high
school. They then moved
to Oshkosh, WI, where she
graduated from high school.
After high school, she
and her daughter, Tatum,
moved to Texas. She was
then married and had three
more children, daughters
Serenity, Aubriana and So-
phie Rose Rodriguez.
In 2011, Clark and
Sophie Rose went to a
wedding in Oregon. It was
shortly after that visit that
her family decided to move
to Heppner.
“We sold everything
and came out here. It was
the best thing we ever did,”
Clark says.
The family made a
home here for several years.
In 2015, Clark took a job
as the secretary for the
Episcopal Church and later
a position with Morrow
County Healthy Families,
a job she held until 2017.
In that role, she visited
new or expecting mothers
in their homes, connecting
them with much-needed
resources. It was a job that,
in many ways, prepared her
for work at the Neighbor-
hood Center.
“I know there is a need
in this community. This is a
place where you can come,
your friend can come, and
no one will judge you.
Someone will help,” says
Clark. “We all just scoop up
each other and help, and it’s
beautiful, and that’s what
it’s like to work here.”
It wasn’t an immediate
connection, though. Clark
and her family left the area
in 2018, but it seemed Hep-
pner wasn’t done with her.
Six years later, she would
be back.
She came to Heppner
to visit over the holidays.
Aside from her Clark family
connections, the location is
somewhat central to Wash-
ington State University in
Pullman and Oregon State
University in Corvallis,
where three of her daugh-
ters have attended.
She planned to leave
town on Jan. 11.
“But Heppner asked me
to stay,” she says.
Actually, it was Hep-
pner woman Barb Orwick
who saw Clark at their
church coffee hour and
asked what she was doing
for work. Clark told her she
was open to possibilities.
“I might have an op-
portunity for you,” Orwick
had said.
Of course, that oppor-
tunity was the coordinator
position at the Neighbor-
hood Center. Rather than
leaving Jan. 11 as planned,
Clark began in her new role
Jan 14.
The acting coordinator
role had been held by Kelly
Fritz until Nikki became the
new coordinator.
“Kelly has done a phe-
nomenal job keeping this
place together,” Clark says.
With Clark in the role
of full-time coordinator, the
Neighborhood Center has
returned to its regular hours
of 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday
through Friday.
“So we can serve more
people, we can help more
people,” says Clark. “Help-
ing the community any way
we can.”
Clark says she is excit-
ed to serve the community
and wants to let people
know about all the resourc-
es the center has.
“My cup overflows,”
says Clark. “Being with and
without over my lifetime,
I’ve given and received,”
she says, adding that she
is grateful to be where she
is now.
“We have the resources
here. We are here and we
can help,” she says.
For instance, most peo-
ple are familiar with the
Neighborhood Center’s
thrift store and food pan-
try. The food pantry will
provide one food box per
month for those who need
them.
However, the center
also offers emergency assis-
tance including fuel, shelter
and clothing. A weekly
Wednesday bag sale lets
shopper fill a grocery bag
with clothes for only $15
while also helping to fund
the Neighborhood Center’s
food pantry and other assis-
tance programs.
Clark says she is
thrilled both to be at the
Neighborhood Center and
back in the arms of the
Heppner community.
“It’s really been a big
God thing for me,” she says.
“It’s almost like coming
full circle. I’m so happy to
be here.”
Citizens honored at Town & Country awards
It was a star-studded
evening last Thursday in
Heppner, when several
community members were
honored at the annual Town
and Country Awards.
Woman of the Year was
Trish Maben, Man of the
Year was Jerry Conklin,
Business of the Year was
Gar Aviation, Citizen-Ed-
ucator of the Year was Ken
Grieb, the Youth award
was presented to Katie
Spivey and the Lifetime
Achievement Award went
to Sheridan Tarnasky.
Also part of the festiv-
ities was the coronation of
2025 Morrow County Fair
and Oregon Trail Pro Ro-
deo Queen KC Anderson.
The crown was presented
by Sue Gibbs, Judy Healy
and past queen Macy Gibbs
Goodwin. KC is Morrow
County’s first fair and rodeo
queen in 10 years.
“It was a fantastic night
and a full house of commu-
nity support to honor these
fine citizens,” Heppner
Chamber of Commerce Di-
rector Madison Rosenbalm
said in a Facebook post.
“Emcee Ken Grieb kept the
night rolling, event after his
own award!”
Around 200 commu-
nity members attended the
banquet to honor this year’s
award recipients. Alvin Liu
and his crew prepared a tri-
tip dinner, while the Broken
Spoke serviced the no-host
bar. Dinner service and
cleanup was provided by
the Heppner High School
senior class.
Sandy Matthews pre-
pared a slideshow for the
event, while Dale Bates
(L-R) Citizen-Educator of the Year Ken Grieb , Youth Award recipient Katie Spivey, Man of the
Year Jerry Conklin, Woman of the Year Trish Maben, Lifetime Achievement Award recipient
Sheridan Tarnasky, Business of the Year Award Gar Aviation owners John and Kelly Boyer.
-Photo by Brooke Christy Photography
provided sound and live-
streamed the event to Face-
book. And, of course, Joe
Lindsay’s song about the
award winners was a big hit
as always.
Woman of the Year was
presented to Trish Maben
by Amanda Roy and Anne
Hamann. Maben, a nurse at
Pioneer Memorial Clinic,
was honored for more than
40 years as a nurse in the
Heppner community.
“Trish has spent 46
years as a nurse caring
for the residents of Mor-
row County and wears her
‘heart on her ears,’ as she
would say,” Roy wrote in
her nomination letter. “She
brings health and health-
care education to another
level and is an asset to this
community.
“Our community is
healthier because of her
knowledge and willingness
to teach and help others.”
Former PMC provider
Jeanne Berretta wrote that
she had worked with Ma-
ben since 1988 and that the
nurse is “literally a godsend
to providers.”
“I have found her to be
compassionate, competent,
steadfast and dependable,”
wrote Berretta. “She is
often the first one at work
and the very last one to
leave, making sure that all
the phone calls have been
made, the paperwork com-
pleted and patient questions
answered.”
“The residents of South
Morrow County have great-
ly benefited from Trish’s
clear instructions and re-
liable follow-through for
decades,” said former Mor-
row County Health Dis-
trict nurse and home health
and hospice director Molly
Rhea. “It is time to show
her how much we appreci-
ate her.”
Man of the Year Jer-
ry Conklin received his
award from Molly Rhea.
Conklin, home health and
hospice chaplain for Mor-
-Continued to PAGE SIX
Scout Matheny of Heppner
placed second in the girls’
eight- to nine-year-old age
group in the state hoop shoot
competition through the Or-
egon State Elks Association.
-Contributed photo
Scout Matheny of Hep-
pner represented the Hep-
pner Elks Lodge and the
East District at the Oregon
State Elks Hoop Shoot
competition on Feb. 8 in
Silverton, OR. Competing
in the girls’ eight- to nine-
year-old age group, she
placed second in the state.
Scout shot 12 of 25,
tying with another partic-
ipant and forcing a shoot-
off. Both girls made three
of five shots, leading to
another round of five. In
the intense competition,
Scout outscored her oppo-
nent to claim second place.
“I was pretty nervous,
but it was a lot of fun!”
Scout said. “Also, I got
to talk to the other girls
and make friends.” She
expressed pride in rep-
resenting her area and
participating in the event.
Her mother, Chelsea
Matheny, shared her ex-
citement in a Facebook
post: “We are so proud
of this girl. She was cool
and calm in a very intense
shoot-off for second place.”
Scout is the daugh-
ter of Stefan and Chelsea
Matheny of Heppner.
Library district
shares dreams for
Heppner library
Possible expansion could include
new facility at Heppner City Park
By Andrea Di Salvo
Oregon Trail Library
District is looking to ex-
pand in Heppner, and Hep-
pner City Park may be one
spot that’s in the running for
a new building.
If that does happen—
and that’s a big if—it’s
still a long way off. OTLD
Director Kathy Street and
board member Bill Kuhn
were at Monday’s city
council meeting to put out
feelers regarding such a
move.
“We’re just launch-
ing ourselves,” Kuhn said.
“The library district is in its
very initial conception of
what we want to do.”
Street and Kuhn told
the Heppner City Council
that OTLD is putting to-
gether a facilities master
plan. They plan on spending
the next two to four months
gathering ideas from the
communities the district
serves.
“This is all very con-
ceptual. We have no money
for this yet,” Kuhn added.
They already know,
though, that a much-needed
expansion of the Heppner
library is high on the list.
The library district has
existed for 28 years. The
Heppner library is the old-
est of the district’s three
library buildings.
“It’s been quite a while.
It’s older than a lot of coun-
cil members and the mayor,
probably,” said Kuhn. “And
it’s got some problems.”
The building was do-
nated to the county by
Amanda Duvall. The li-
brary shares the building
with the Morrow County
Heritage Museum. The
county owns the building,
but the City of Heppner
owns the lot.
The library’s current
footprint is about 1,150
square feet. Street told the
city council that they need
at least 3,500 square feet,
but ideally between 4,500
and 5,000.
“If we get for story time
six or seven children and
there are adults that come
with them, that is really
crowded,” said Street of the
existing building.
Along with more space,
Street said they are looking
to create a space that is “in-
clusive and comfortable for
everybody that comes to the
library.”
“We want it to be invit-
ing,” she added.
OTLD has consulted
with Hacker Architects, a
Portland-based firm spe-
cializing in library design,
regarding the possible ex-
pansion of the existing
library building. The firm
is currently working on the
Hermiston Public Library.
The architects have
-Continued to PAGE SIX
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ext 204
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