Articles from the February 1, 2024 edition


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  • Put it Up 4-H food preservation club meets

    4-H Student Reporter|Updated Mar 20, 2024

    By Avery VonBorstel, 4-H Student Reporter "Put It Up" 4-H food preservation club met January 26 at 12:21pm at the Extension Office. Fourteen members were present. The Tolentinos led the Pledge of Allegiance, the Cooks led the 4-H Pledge. Leader Kayla Ingram had a lesson about using mason jars for freezing: why/why using shoulder type jars vs straight sided. Talked about jamming. Made chocolate cherry jam and low sugar classic cherry jam (using frozen cherries). Ate a mix of...

  • LETTER TO THE EDITOR: Tom Cutsforth

    Updated Mar 20, 2024

    Hello, big game hunters: I'm the chairman of the Veteran's Hide Committee and of the Veterans Service Committee for the Condon Elks Lodge #1869. I know deer season was a bit slow for most of you as I only received 65 hides. 15 years ago we would receive 100s. This year we did receive 70 elk hides which were in exceptional condition. Very few with the hair and hide burned off by dragging them behind an ATV. Only had trouble with one elk hide from the Fossil unit. It was split down the back and essentially worth very little....

  • LETTER TO THE EDITOR: Lenn Ball

    Updated Mar 20, 2024

    Letter to the Editor, Gilliam County is blessed with low unemployment. This means most of our good citizens are working during the day. This also means they are unable to attend the County Court meetings which are held during the day. The City Council in both Condon and Arlington meet in the evening. School Boards and Health Boards even the Port Board meets in the evening. The reason is simple, they value the people they serve and want their input. Our County Court is in the process of making sweeping and monumental changes...

  • OBITUARY: Kevin Scott Logan

    Updated Mar 6, 2024

    Kevin Scott Logan passed on January 25, 2024 at Kadlec Hospital in Richland, Washington at the age of 62. He resided in Kennewick, Washington in the last years, but grew up in Arlington, graduating from high school in 1980. Kevin is preceded in death by his mother, Cami Conners (John) of Boise, Idaho in 2016. He is survived by his father Buzz and wife Jeanette of Ione, Oregon. Surviving siblings include: Jeff and Donna Logan of Anchorage, Alaska; Toby Logan of Thailand/and McMurdo Station, Antarctica; Travis and Janell Holycr... Full story

  • OBITUARY: Thomas Dawson Callahan

    Updated Mar 6, 2024

    Thomas Dawson Callahan died peacefully on January 20th at Quail Park Memory Care in West Seattle, surrounded by family. He was 94. He was born in Portland, Oregon in 1929. His parents divorced when he was young, and during that upheaval, he and his sister grew very close. Their mother later married a construction worker, and they moved frequently in their younger years. Eventually the family settled in Manning, Oregon, where they ran a small café. They had a succession of... Full story

  • OP-ED: Lawmakers must address flaws with measure 110

    Dave Drotzmann, Mayor of Hermiston and President of the League of Oregon Cities|Updated Feb 26, 2024

    Three years ago, Oregon voters approved a ballot measure that would have dire consequences for the health and safety of our communities. Measure 110 may have been passed with the best intentions, but it has proven to be an abject failure. It has exacerbated the drug crisis while offering little incentive for users to seek treatment. The law does nothing to prevent public drug use on our streets. It has left us with a system that lacks the authority to hold individuals accountable for their actions, resulting in more crime...

  • DAYS OF YORE: Week of February 1, 2024

    Updated Feb 26, 2024

    1 years ago— Do you remember when you noticed that the City Parks in Fossil and Mitchell had been beautified, and landscaping spruced up? What about the weekend when the Pioneer Museum in Spray was teeming with volunteers giving it a fresh coat of paint? Well, those beautification projects were the results of a group of 25 volunteers participating in the 2011 Ford Institute Community Building Program. 25 years ago— From Spray Facts and Fallacies written by Virginia Humphreys, a retired Mitchell teacher: Sally Bourgeois gav...

  • Wheeler County SWCD offers no cost fruit tree pruning class

    Updated Feb 9, 2024

    A master gardener from Oregon State University will be at the Mitchell School on February 10 from 9am to 3:30 pm to offer a free workshop on tree pruning. David Cowan, a certified OSU Master Gardener, will help new gardeners and even those with a green thumb to hone their pruning skills. Focusing on fruit trees, Cowan aims to help gardeners build confidence with fruit trees and to understand the benefits of proper pruning techniques. The content-rich workshop includes 3.5...

  • Wheeler Co. Court returns Oregon Leave Act to State

    Stephen Allen|Updated Feb 9, 2024

    The Wheeler County Court will return a program designed at helping families in crisis to the state of Oregon after realizing it had a budget shortfall of $18,000. The Wheeler County Court realized that it would be unable to facilitate the Paid Leave Oregon Act. The Oregon Family Leave Act (OFLA) and Paid Leave Oregon Act were merged last year. Under the revised Paid Leave Oregon Act, a worker or self-employed person could be provided up to twelve weeks of time off a year due t...

  • Gilliam Co. Court approves of emergency aid for those impacted by deep freeze

    Stephen Allen|Updated Feb 9, 2024

    The Gilliam County Court has given $5,000 to help residents in distress after sub-zero temperatures in January caused pipes to break and heating bills to skyrocket. Kari Keown, who volunteers with the Arlington Church of the Nazarene, told the county court that people in mobile homes were hit particularly hard during the cold snap. Those affected the most seemed to be the people that reside in the mobile home park by the Arlington School. Keown told the court that people in...

  • Rockslide closes Highway 30 near Biggs Junction, Rufus

    Updated Feb 9, 2024

    Large boulders, some as big as cars, fell off a cliff near Biggs Junction and onto Highway 30 on Tuesday, January 30. Luckily, nobody was injured in the rockslide though the Oregon Department of Transportation (ODOT) says that there will be a prolonged cleanup and that a "lengthy closure" should be expected. At approximately 9:15 AM, ODOT shared a photo of the massive rockslide, which covered all of Highway 30 on both sides of the road. The owner of Amayah's Indian Food...

  • BEO Bancorp reports 2023 earnings

    Updated Feb 9, 2024

    Heppner, OR - BEO Bancorp (OTCBB:BEOB) and its subsidiary, Bank of Eastern Oregon, announced consolidated year end 2023 earnings of $14,208,000; Total assets were $860.6 million; net loans were $521.9 million, while deposits ended the year at $776.4 million. "Shareholder equity increased 28.2% over the past year, with Return on Average Equity at 24.91% and Return on Average Assets of 1.62%. Earnings per share were $11.75 and we paid our highest dividend ever at $1.15 per...

  • Inaugural Barney Lindsay Scholarship Dinner and Auction exceeds expectations

    Updated Feb 1, 2024

    Heppner, OR - The inaugural Barney Lindsay Scholarship Dinner Auction, held this past Saturday, January 27, was an overwhelming success, grossing over $54,000 to support scholarships in each of the four high schools in Morrow County. The event, organized in memory of Barney Lindsay, a long-time farmer in the Heppner/Lexington area and a Morrow County School Board member, saw tremendous support from the community, showcasing the power of unity in fostering education. The event...

  • Area Scots celebrate Robert Burns at Condon Elks Lodge

    Stephen Allen|Updated Feb 1, 2024

    An impressive turnout of people filled the downstairs of the Condon Elks Lodge on Saturday to commemorate the great Scottish bard, Robert Burns. Estimates of the crowd put about 100 people inside the Elks, with many of them being families and kids. Cameron Stinchfield and his wife Lara were in attendance, with their two children, as was Andrew Stinchfield with his three bairns. Also in attendance were Mike Durfey and his daughter Tula, along with grandma Rene Durfey. Also, a...

  • ODFW's Conservation and Recreation Fund grant cycle now open

    Updated Feb 1, 2024

    SALEM, OR - The Oregon Conservation and Recreation Fund's request for grant proposals is now open and will close on March 26, 2024. OCRF has supported 140 projects since it was formed in early 2020 and more than $5 million has been awarded statewide with an average of $35,000 per project. OCRF is a way for Oregonians to support projects that protect and enhance species and habitats identified in the Oregon Conservation Strategy and to create new opportunities for wildlife...

  • ODFW sets meetings for mule deer plans

    Updated Feb 1, 2024

    SALEM, OR - ODFW will host three in-person public meetings in February to present and get public input on the draft Mule Deer Management Plan. The meetings start at 6:30 p.m. and are Feb. 1 in Salem, Feb. 6 in Bend and Feb. 7 in La Grande. See more details below. ODFW biologists recently completed a full draft of the revised Plan, which they presented in a series of webinars. Find the draft Plan at the Mule Deer Plan webpage. The upcoming meetings provide an in-person option...

  • Don't Go Ask Alice; Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore, Part Two

    Lawrence J. Hammar|Updated Feb 1, 2024

    The real author of Go Ask Alice, not “Alice” and not “Anonymous, but a disaffected Mormon mom from Utah, Mrs. Beatrice Sparks, has the fictive diarist try her best to “stay away from drugs,” to “keep away from boys,” but drugs. “Alice” (never named) gets clean--and then relapses. She goes to j ail--and gets out. On probation, she’s caught in a police raid--then gets out and runs away. She hitchhikes with Doris--also a victim of drug-use and sexual abuse. She does more drugs, r...

  • The Banana Bread Hack

    Isabel Montclaire|Updated Feb 1, 2024

    You know by now that I am a fan of food made from scratch ingredients. Usually boxed food or “cheat and heats” just don’t hold a candle to food cooked with love and real ingredients. I can’t now recall how a box of Pillsbury Quick Bread banana nut mix made its way into the pantry. Perhaps in the middle of the night it snuck in on little cat feet? Or maybe in an unconscious daze I plucked it off a shelf at the grocery store. Regardless, there it was sitting in the cupboar...

  • Gilliam County seeks funding for internet expansion efforts

    Stephen Allen|Updated Feb 1, 2024

    A special meeting of the Gilliam County Court was held on January 24 with the focus being on expansion of internet services in the county. The court has strived to bring fiber-optic connectivity to all residents, an ambitious goal that is expected to cost $30 million. The court has worked to map existing fiber-optic lines and to survey the entire county in a feasibility study that was completed in 2023 by LS Networks, a consultant group that specializes in broadband...