Community members work to save Dixon Melon's after burglary

Matt Unrau

Harley and Joey Hettick of Dixon Melons have been known as generous people as long as they’ve been working in the area. They’ve donated money to children’s organizations, they’ve given people a helping hand and they’ve given people jobs in an economic time when employment was scarce.

So, when Dixon Melons Inc. was robbed on September 12th of approximately $60,000 it came as a cruel twist of fate that the very couple that had given so much to the community would be robbed by three young men that had in fact worked at one time or another for Dixon Melons Inc.

However, now the community has responded to their tragedy with an outpouring of cash and gifts, so they can get the farm on its feet once again.

It first started with a couple weeks after the robbery when a man from the Plains area donated $5,000 to the Hetticks saying he would hate to see another farm go under. Since then, Harley says he’s gotten more calls with people pledging their support than he’s gotten asking them about melons.

So far all the support has been only a drop in the bucket, of the financial pickle that the Hetticks are in as they are in the midst of paying their property taxes and further down the road they will soon need to buy seed for next year’s crop.

However, the drops in the bucket could very soon overflow as a group of area residents who have worked for the Hettick’s in the past are holding two silent and live auctions for the melon company. The items ranging from breathtaking artwork to automotive equipment and home decor to day spa gift certificates will first be up for bid this Sunday at Big Sky Kuboda in Missoula and the next will take place at the Dixon Senior Center on the 13th.

For Michelle Kuntz, organizer of the auctions, this is an opportunity for the community to give back to a couple that has given so much to the community.

“This is a chance for everyone who knows them to give to them now. Just a little bit of payback,” says Kuntz. “We want to make sure we have Dixon Melons. Everyone would miss it.”

Kuntz has been a friend of the Hettick’s since the 70s and her husband worked for Harley at Big Sky Kuboda in Missoula when it was called Big Sky Tractor.

“You couldn’t ask for better bosses,” says Kuntz who has happy memories of her time working for the Hetticks. “they always treat people very good. If you’re a friend of theirs or work for them you will be treated very well.”

It’s not often that you see a company’s employees turn around and work so hard to put money back in the hands of the man that signs their checks, but that’s exactly the case of “Friends of Dixon Melons” who is the group in charge of the auction. Becky Shaver,from Dixon, along with her two daughters Brittany and Sarah and Gay Shepard, also of Dixon, all worked for the Hetticks as part of the melon crew, which included weeding, picking and cleaning up the farm.

Now all of them are working tirelessly to put money back in the pocket of the Hetticks, much to the pleasant surprise of Harley.

“I didn’t know we had that many friends out there…I guess over 23 years of selling melons and putting a smile on their face they feel a part of the operation.”

Not only are there auctions, but Kuntz is hoping that the two biggest items, raffle tickets for two Delta Airline tickets flying anywhere in the United States and a brand new Weatherby stainless steel rifle with scope can be the figurative cherry on top to raise enough money for Dixon Melons to stay in business.

For Harley the generosity of his neighbors is a welcoming reminder of human kindness after the bitter taste of betrayal he experienced during the robbery.

All three of the boys arrested for the crime, William Weatherwax, Dylan Leigh Rude and Trevor D. Nault, had worked for the Hetticks and one of the boys Harley and Joey had especially been trying to help succeed in life.

As they do with many of their high school employees, the Hetticks pay the students for grades. They usually give the teenagers $20 for every A on their report card, $15 for every B and so on. The Hetticks were doing this for one of the three arrested for the crime, and says he felt betrayed after the fact.

“That’s the one thing that kind of hurt,” says Harley. “To think someone that we’re really trying to help, would stick it to you.” However, Harley hasn’t lost faith in the system and says paying for grades works for most of the students.

“Some of the kids we help out become straight A students,” says Harley. “I would recommend that program to anyone who wanted to adopt a kid to help him stay in school.”

Despite his optimism, Harley does confess to an increased paranoia. He has installed a motion detector system and is now negotiating for a camera system, and have become zealous about locking up their place and not letting people know when they are gone from home.

“We’re a heck of a lot more cautious about locking up now,” says Harley. “You won’t understand this until you’ve been robbed.”

Questions or comments on this story can be emailed to Matt Unrau at editor@VP-MI.com or by calling him at 826-3432.