Image provided by: Morrow County Museum; Heppner, OR
About Heppner gazette-times. (Heppner, Or.) 1925-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 10, 1974)
LIBRARY U 0 F 0 EUGENE, ORE. 9 74 03 Water improvement moves ahead City council blasts Corps, Ullman 4-H medal award winners named Medal awards were pre sented to Morrow County's outstanding 4-H Club members Wednesday night at Heppner Hih School at the annual 4-H award dinner. Mike Howell, county exten sion agent, was master of ceremonies and presented medals to the following: Anita Davidson, consumer education: Michelle McElli gut, bread: Kristi Edmund son, Carol McElIigott and Sandra Palmer, clothing; Terry and Grace McElIigott, food-nutrition: Kathy Wolff, clothing ; Janet McElligolt, food-tint ri t ion : and Mark Sargent and Jan Peterson. achiev emenl ; Cathy Palmer, swine; Kate and Erin Evans, Debora and Donna Palmer, horse; Mike Drunk charges filed Sloven John Stai, 19, Port land, was issued two citations Saturday night by Heppner City Police; one for driving while under the influence of liquor, the oilier for driving a .motor vehicle with a blood alcohol content of 0,15 or greater. Stai was driving his pickup south on S. Court Street when he apparently lost control of the vehicle. He jumped a curb, knocked down 20 feet of wooden fence, struck a rock v -v" V. ; 'Y i V- s V Michael J. McElligolt, lone High School senior, has been named a Merit Program Commended student by the National Merit Scholarship Corporation. He was selected from among approximately one million students on the basis of his high performance on the 1973 preliminary scholastic aptitude test administered by NMSC. Commended students are in the upper 2 per cent of those expected to graduate from high school in 1075. He is the son of Mr. and Mrs. Jerry McElligolt. McElligolt, petroleum power; Rhonda Sargent and Glen Griffith,' agriculture; Karl Palmer, sheep; and Julie Grieb, beef. Pam Cant in was winner for the secretary's book. Record, book winners are: junior agriculture, Paula Palmer; junior home economics, Jyl Hobbs: intermediate agricul ture, Mark Sargent; inter mediate home economics, Jan Peterson; senior agriculture,. Rhonda Sargent ; senior home economics, Sandra Palmer and Anita Davidson. Style revue awards went to Lori Rhea. Jan Peterson, Kay Rergslrom. Kathy Gilbert, Cathy Palmer, Kathy Wolff, Carol Holt, and Sharon McCarl. bank which slowed him down before he continued another 30 feet to smash into the home of Mr. and Mrs. Verdin Heliums. The Heliums were away from Heppner, visiting in Van couver, Wa.. at the time. The impact did both interior and exterior damage to the house. . Stai told police he was traveling at 25 miles per hour. He was treated at Pioneer Memorial Hospital for minor cuts and bruises before being released. This charming old house at Hardman is typical of those in the ghost town area. The owner must believe a man's home is his castle, as witness the No Trespassing sign on the sagging gate. fife 'Hf Doug Gonty, son of Mr. and Mrs. E.E. Gonty, has com pleted his military basic training at Lackland ,. Air Force Base, lex. He is scheduled for a five-week school in security training. Schools closed Oct. 11 Morrow County Schools will be closed all day Friday, Oct. 11, in order to allow the teaching staff to attend in service training activities and special education sessions as a part of (he statewide inservice day for schools. One day of each school year is designated as a statewide inservice day with nearly all of the state's schools closed on that day. Most Morrow County tea chers will attend sessions in Pendleton and Richland, Wa., with a few journeying to the Willamette Valley and Med ford. Sessions available for parti cipation by teachers include all subject matter areas as well as some of the more specialized activities such as special education, testing and guidance. Few game violations to date A roadcheck at Hardman Sunday by Oregon State Police and members of the Oregon Wildlife Commission revealed only minor game violations. According to reports, a few does and fawns have been shot and left at the scene, and the culprits have not been ap prehended. At Bull Prairie a five-point elk was shot and left, but was discovered in time to prevent the meat from spoiling. The meat was taken to Condon for distribution at the school. According to reports, hunt ing is about the same as last year, with most of the bucks being taken in the foothills due to the dry weather conditions. The Doctors' Search Com mittee will meet Tuesday, Oct. 15, 7:30 p.m., at the courthouse. , THE GAZ Vol. 91, No. 34 Heppner Water Control District ocal Chamber of Commerce members were given an insight into the workings of the Heppner Water Control Dis trict Monday, with this or ganization becoming more important in flood control now that Willow Creek Dam has been killed. The program w as presented by Dave Franzen, Soil Con servation Service, and Dick Wilkinson, chairman, Hepp ner Water Control District. The district was formed to prevent or lessen the flooding problem in the city of Hepp ner, which has experienced 17 floods since 1893. The district is maintaining the channel through town to eliminate obstructions; establishes land treatment works (dams and terraces) in Shobe Canyon, operates the automatic storm warning devices in Balm Fork and Shobe Canyon, and now proposes to extend the land treatment project to the remainder of the land within the district. There are 106 square miles in the HWCD. In this area, it is proposed that 950,000 feet of diversion terrace be built, along with 6,000 feet of grassed waterways, 5,000 feet of streambank stabilization and 135 debris basins. Such Dick Wilkinson explains j 1 ' An angry city council Mon day night blasted the U.S. Corps of Engineers and Cong. Al Ullman for their part in killing the Willow Creek Dam Project and served notice on the Department of Housing and Urban Development its intent to seek a federal injunction, if necessary, to prevent enforcement of com pulsory flood insurance re cently required of residential and commercial property owners in the city. "The Willow Creek Dam is dead and can't be revived," Mayor Jerry Sweeney told the council. We never led the people to believe that we had a firm commitment from the Corps of Engineers for the project although the Corps led us to believe that con struction of the dam would be a matter of routine once the bill passed the U.S. Senate. However, the bill was defeat ed in Congress, which now places the blame for its defeat on the new administration, while the new administration places the blame on Congress." J plan to control flooding projects are calculated to reduce the sediment carried in fia'dwaters and to retard formation of downstream flood crests. Total construction cost is estimated at $268,000. Seventy-five per cent of this cost would come from an agency administered by the SCS, with the local share at $67,000. Landowners are expected to share $40,000 of this cost, which would leave $27,000 as the district's share of the cost over a five-year period. HWCD is required to perform maintenance on the entire project after construction, which is expected to run from $5,000 to $6,000 a year. Voters in the HWCD will be asked to approve a $6,250 tax levy at the Nov. 5 election to provide the district's portion State colleges to visit here Heppner High School will host a visitation by two representatives from the Ore gon State System of Higher Education, Monday, Oct. 21, water district plans. Sweeney said that neither Cong. Al Ullman nor any member of his office appeared before the congressional com mittee to testify on behalf of the dam, "so Congress figured the people of Heppner didn't want it, and it was killed." City Engineer Steve Ander son, who had gone to Washington to testify before a Senate sub-committee on the dam, and later talked with Sen. Mark Hatfield and his associates, said he was assur ed by them that approval of the dam would be a matter of routine business. "Had I known that Congress wanted someone to speak in favor of the project I would have testified before the House rather than the Sen ate," Anderson reported. "It appears that I, as well as other interested persons who have gone to Washington, have appeared before the wrong committee, and at the wrong meeting." City Attorney Bob Abrams brought up the question of ending the compulsory flood insurance administered bv THE - Heppner, Ore., Oct. 10, 1974 of the funds required. By Oregon law, the district is authorized to collect one half mill, or 50 cents per $1,000 truecash value of the property in the district for a period of three years, beginning in 1972. After the three-year period ends in 1975 the district will no longer have a source of income unless voters approve the tax base request on the November ballot. The district is requesting that voters establish the tax base at $6,250 per year. If approved, the levy will not increase the present tax rate because the levy has been in effect the past three years. It is now expiring, and approval on Nov. 5 would merely maintain the tax paid in former years. In fact, the tax rate will go down due to 1974, at 12:46 p.m. They are Howard Anderson, associate dean of students at EOSC, LaGrande, and Al Roberson, director of admissions at OIT, Klamath Falls. Unique throughout the United States is a visitation by representatives of the Oregon State System of Higher Ed ucation to every high school in the state. The team impresses upon secondary students the need for some type of educa tion or training beyond high school. The visitation supplements the guidance program of Heppner High School. Stu dents will be given first hand information about course of ferings, admission require ments, housing, costs to at tend, financial aids and scholarships and other in formation pertinent to plan ning for the college ex perience. Parents are invited to at tend the visitation and are urged to discuss post high school plans with their sons and daughters before and after the conference. Fl'LLETONS OFF TO THE BAHAMAS Roice Fulleton says this is the first time he ever won anything. He has started right. Mr. and Mrs. Fulleton leave today for a five-day expense paid trip to the Bahamas, the result of his having won the "Chevrolet Summer Selling Spree" contest. HUD. "Since the Corps of Engi neers," he asked, "has deter mined there is no flood danger in the City of Heppner, why should the city abide by the rules and regulations set forth recently by the Department of Housing and Urban Develop ment in proclaiming that the city lies in a dangerous flood zone?" He suggested that rather than comply with HUD-ad-ministered flood insurance, HUD should be asked to check the Corps of Engineers' recent and surprising testimony before Congress that no flood danger exists. For the past 28 years the Corps has maintain ed, on the basis of research, that there have been 17 disastrous floods since 1898. If there is indeed no flood danger, he said, then there is no logical reason why the flood insurance program be requir ed in Heppner. There was talk in the council of securing an injunction to prevent HUD from admini stering the flood insurance program in Heppner because TIM increased assessed valuation of property within the district. . Wilkinson, chairman of HWCD, said the 1972-73 asses sed valuation in the district was $12,500,000, which requir ed a tax rate of 50 cents per $1,000. In 1977-78 the assessed valuation is estimated at $19,500,000, which would re quire only 32 cents per $1,000 to raise the needed $6,250 ner Morrow County Bicentennial Chairwoman Mrs. Marlene C. Peterson, Heppner, has received from Circuit Court Judge Charles S. Crookham, vice-chairman of the American Revolution Bicentennial Commission of Oregon, Oregon's Bicentennial Franklin Mint medal, a gift from Governor Tom Met all to all Oregon county bicentennial chairmen. Mrs. Peterson also received the official bicentennial lapel pin as a gift from John W. Warner, the national bicentennial administrator, and the first of a series of Oregon photo murals, a gift from the ARBC of Oregon.. These presentations were made at a luncheon meeting during the all-day conference of bicentennial county chairmen held Sept. 27 in Portland. t. of last, week's action to permanently kill the dam project, which for many years has been strictly a flood control measure, and not a recreational project. The mayor' said that if another flood hits the city, "and it will," the city should not be held liable for property damage and possible loss of life. "The city has been fighting for this project for the past 28 years," he said, "with the Corps of Engineers agreeing that the only type of dam needed to prevent loss of life is a flood control dam. They changed the type of dam from one classification to another, which required re authorization of funds, and then killed it." "Therefore," he ' told the council, "I believe the Corps should be held responsible for any and all damages, includ ing loss of life." A motion, unanimously ap proved, would place full blame for any future flooding with the Corps of Engineers rather than with the city. (Continued on page 3) ES 15c year for flood control and land erosion projects. The HWCD was formed after the 1971 flood when Heppner residents demanded that something be done to reduce the threat of floods. HWCD officials are Wilkin son, chairman; Claude Bus chke, Gene Pierce, Don Ben net and Marcel Jones, Directors. iff MmmW lw4