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About Heppner gazette-times. (Heppner, Or.) 1925-current | View Entire Issue (April 6, 2016)
Warm weather to continue into April HEPPNER G T 50¢ azette imes VOL. 135 NO. 15 8 Pages Wednesday, April 6, 2016 Morrow County, Heppner, Oregon Suspect sought in Irrigon home invasion, robbery Morrow County Sher- iff’s Ofice is still inves- tigating a home invasion and robbery that frightened an Irrigon woman and sent schools into lockdown last Wednesday. The woman told depu- ties that a man dressed in a gray hoodie knocked on her door just before 9 a.m. March 30 and, when she answered, he forced his way inside at gunpoint. The suspect stole a purse and other belongings from a bedroom and ran away, according to Morrow County Sheriff Kenneth Matlack. Deputies notified Ir- rigon schools, which went into lock-out until the area was checked by law en- forcement. Boardman Police De- partment assisted in the searching for the suspect. MCSO reports that, as of Tuesday, the suspect re- mained at large, but there does not appear to be a threat to the general public. Heppner natives join area police departments March’s warm weather will continue into April, according to information from the National Weather Service in Pendleton. According to pre - liminary data received by NOAA’s National Weath- er Service in Pendleton, temperatures at Heppner averaged slightly warmer than normal during the month of March. The aver- age temperature was 45.6 degrees, which was 1.4 degrees above normal. High temperatures averaged 55.3 degrees, which was 0.4 degrees above normal. The highest was 64 degrees on the March 2. Low tem- peratures averaged 35.9 degrees, which was 2.4 degrees above normal. The lowest was 26 degrees, on the 18 th . There were six days with the low temperature below 32 degrees. Precipitation totaled 1.59 inches during March, which was 0.07 inches above normal. Measurable precipitation of at least .01 inch was received on 15 days with the heaviest, 0.36 inches, reported on the 21 st . Precipitation this year has reached 3.18 inches, 0.93 inches below normal. Since October, the water year precipitation at Hep- pner has been 7.02 inches, 1.15 inches below normal. The highest wind gust was 51 mph, which oc- curred on the 13 th . The outlook for April from NOAA’s Climate Pre- diction Center calls for above-normal temperatures and near- to below-normal precipitation. Normal highs for Heppner rise from 59 degrees at the start of April to 64 degrees at the end. Normal lows rise from 36 degrees to 40 degrees. The 30-year normal precipita- tion is 1.51 inches. Myren retires as Morrow County Undersheriff By Andrea Di Salvo New Morrow County Undersheriff John Bowles will have some sizeable shoes to ill when he takes over for retiring undersher- iff Steven Myren this week. However, while Bowles is working hard to protect county residents, Myren himself doesn’t exactly plan on putting his feet up and calling it quits. Myren, 53, officially retired last Friday, April 1, beginning life as a so- called retired person this week. However, he admits that, after 36 years in pub- lic safety—23 of those in law enforcement—he’s not quite sure what this retire- ment thing is all about. “I’m petriied.” Myren says honestly. “I was 18 when I was first drafted into the ire department and I’ve been in uniform ever since. So I’m a little bit ap- prehensive.” He was born in Silver- ton, OR and grew up on a 60-acre farm near Scotts Mills, OR, where he at- tended elementary school before attending Silverton High School. L-R: Morrow County Sheriff Ken Matlack, retiring undersheriff Steve Myren with a plaque rec- ognizing his service to Morrow County, and new undersheriff John Bowles. -Contributed photo He started at age 18 as a volunteer firefighter with Silverton Fire District, where he served until 1989. Over the years, Myren says he has taken college classes here and there. More important to him, he also earned EMT (Emergency Medical Technician) and ireighter credentials. “I’ve always been in- volved in EMS ever since I irst started as a ireighter, and I’ve been a volun- teer ireighter most of that time,” he says, adding that one of his plans for retire- ment is to get back into volunteer ireighting. During his time in Sil- verton, he also became dispatcher for a couple of years, starting with the Mount Angel Police De- partment in 1987 and work- ing there until 1989. In 1989, Myren began the irst of two stints with the Morrow County Sher- iff’s Ofice. He worked as a patrol deputy, taught the DARE (Drug Abuse Resis- tance Education) program in schools for several years, was a firearms instruc- tor and spent time on the -See MYREN RETIRES/ PAGE THREE School district’s ‘Wellness Hub’ aims to create success for students Zachary McCarl (left) and Curtis Harper both graduated from the Oregon Public Safety Academy last month. -Contributed photo Heppner natives Zach- ary McCarl and Curtis Harper graduated from the 16-week Oregon Public Safety Academy in Salem, OR on March 18. Both men have taken jobs with area law enforce- ment in Umatilla County. McCarl is an oficer with Umatilla Police Depart- ment, while Harper is an of- icer with Pendleton Police Department. Both men graduated from Heppner High School in 2010. Both were also members of the Boy Scout Pack and Troop #661. After graduation, Mc- Carl joined the U.S. Marine Corps and served a tour in Afghanistan. Harper gradu- ated from Western Oregon University with a degree in criminal justice. Heppner grad lives life in the fast lane “Ladies and gentlemen, start your engines!” Those words are the new norm for Heppner graduate Thomas Gould. After graduating from Heppner High School in 2015, Gould made his way to South Carolina to live with family friends Terry and Stacey Premo. He was then accepted into NAS- CAR Technical Institute in Mooresville, NC, a school that offers NASCAR tech- nician training. Not satisied with going to school full time, Gould got a job at GoPro Motor- plex, a motorplex frequent- ed by NASCAR drivers and amateurs alike. During his irst term at school, thanks to the Premos, he celebrated four times in the winner’s circle through NASCAR sponsor, Freightliner. Gould also recently accepted an internship with the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Bolen Motorsports team, with Jordan Anderson driving the No. 66 Chevrolet Sil- verado. His irst real race as a co-mechanic was during The Morrow County School District (MCSD) says it’s on a mission—a mission to improve stu- dent attendance, to provide medical and dental care for students, to support fami- lies of their students and to increase student safety at all of its buildings. Thanks to the new Wellness Hub, the district believes it is succeeding. The Wellness Hub is a “braiding” of resources that already exist in Morrow County—from dental and healthcare professionals to CARE coordinators and safety resource officers who coordinate with lo- cal law enforcement. The Wellness Hubs are an initia- tive of the InterMountain Education Service District (IMESD), which is plan- ning to implement more hubs in its school districts in the region. Although Morrow County has wanted to bring this concept to fruition for the last three years, it took much coordination to secure partnerships and funding. Services now include two safety resource oficers, one family support coordinator, two CARE coordinators, three community counsel- ing counselors, one early learning care coordinator, a school nurse and dental services through Advantage Dental, all of which are services students can access through their schools. The goal is to provide immedi- ate, eficient services so that students don’t have to miss school or can get back to school sooner. Dirk Dirksen, super- intendent of the Morrow County School District, said the school district is realizing about $700,000 worth of employees and services, but because of partnerships with partici- pating agencies, the district pays only $185,000. “The school district is getting so much support for our students, resourc- es that reach beyond the eight hours students are in school—that’s priceless. Now the care is so immedi- ate—kids can get vaccines or glasses or dental screen- ings in a day or two when it took much longer before,” Dirksen said. Mark Mulvihill, IMESD superintendent, said although the concept of providing services such as these is not new, Morrow County School District has implemented the Wellness Hub admirably. “Few districts have successfully embraced the Wellness Hub as quickly as MCSD—what the district is doing and the degree of their implementation is really transformational for their students,” Mulvihill said. Depredations lead to lethal control for wolves in Wallowa County Four wolves of the Im- naha pack associated with recent depredations were shot and killed last Thurs- day by Oregon Dept. of Fish and Wildlife (ODFW) staff on private land in Wal- lowa County. Last week ODFW confirmed five livestock depredation incidents on private land within the past three weeks by some wolves in the Imnaha pack, despite continued efforts by -See GOULD IN FAST ODFW, Wallowa County LANE/PAGE TWO oficials and area livestock ALL NEWS AND ADVERTISEMENT DEADLINE: MONDAYS AT 5:00 P.M. producers to deter wolf- livestock conlict with non- lethal measures. With the pack involved in chronic livestock depredation and as part of implementation of Oregon Wolf Conservation and Management Plan pro- visions, ODFW lethally re- moved depredating wolves to reduce the likelihood of further losses. Information from two collared wolves—OR4, the alpha male and OR39, the alpha female—indicated that they and two younger wolves had regularly used an area of private land on the westernmost portion of their known home range. While infrequent visits were historically made to the area by this pack, the near continual use of the -See WOLVES KILLED/ PAGE THREE NOW IN STOCK SEED POTATOES - ONION SETS POTTING SOIL & AMENDMENTS, GARDEN SEEDS COLD CROP VEGETABLES Morrow County Grain Growers Green Feed & Seed 242 W. Linden Way, Heppner • 676-9422 • 989-8221 (MCGG main ofice)