Image provided by: Morrow County Museum; Heppner, OR
About Heppner gazette-times. (Heppner, Or.) 1925-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 6, 1977)
Page Z, THE GAZETTE-TIMES. Heppner, OR. Thursday, Jan. 6. 1977 CBEC aaipQ 2 per cent franchise o f t V 1 ft - n (Continued from Page 1) agreements, a couple had 3.5 per cent and one, in Creswell, paid five per cent. He added that some were two per cent, including Condon, and that Gold Beach paid zero fees to the city. "We've improved the sys tem and the rates have gone up," Sweeney said. Attorney Bob Abrams told Sweeney and the council that CBEC's fran chise proposal of 25 years was not possible. According to state statutes, Abrams said, Students recognized Two Morrow County stu dents were recognized on the Oregon State University honor roll this week. Students on the honor roll had to have earned a 3.5 grade point average or better on at of least 12 graded hours coursework to qualify. Michael A. Mills, Heppner, a sophomore in business and Catherine C. McElligott, lone, a freshman in science, re ceived the honor. the city could agree to no more than a 20 year agreement. The agreement Monday night, still not voted on as an official franchise agreement, was for a 20 year period with a mandated proposal to review the franchise every five years. Abrams also said that Coops are paying the state three per cent fees on their gross, rather than two per cent. "If the state can get three per cent," Abrams said, "I don't know why we can't get three per cent." Also coming up as a com parison was Carl Spaulding's Cable TV franchise. Spaulding pays 3 per cent on a five year franchise. Mills maintained that the Coop is a "local business" that does a "lot of things for the community, very willingly." After listening to both sides, and being a part of the Heppner City Franchise Com mittee, Councilman Rogers said that though he was at first in favor of the three per cent, he would "concur with Cliff and Larry." ; Rogers was critical of the council gaining additional funds from the taxpayers. Sweeney said as "council men, we have an obligation to protect this community" and Rogers was quick to add that "that's exactly the way we're voting, Jerry." Robert Jones was also in favor of the franchise fee raise, as was newly sworn in councilman Hubert Wilson. Wilson said the city should try to gain funds "where we can and not through the bud get. I believe the three per cent is correct." Rogers said, "We might get more with public opinion if they can believe in us." Abrams was instructed to draft a franchise agreement to be settled on Jan. 17 at a special public hearing and supplemental budget hearing meeting. Snow hit Heppner to delight of farmers, ch are very icy. ildren. (G Roads T Photo) Justice served? Criminal pair get separate sentences Less than three months after his partner was sen tenced to five years in the state penitentiary, another Morrow County man has been sentenced to 30 days. Both sentences stemmed from the same incident. In late July, Rolando Rom inez Martinez, Irrigon, was indicted for first degree bur glary after being caught in C&H Market in Irrigon. According to Dennis Do herty, Morrow County District Attorney, Martinez and George Romo Tellaz were to gether during the crime. The burglar alarm at the market went off and the store owner and Oregon State Police re sponded. The officers found both Martinez and Tellez inside the store room of the building. They found a back window that had been forced open. The duo was found hiding in restrooms, Doherty said. Four rubber gloves, one with a fingerprint of Martinez on it, and two large screw drivers were also found. Both defendants, during their trials, denied knowing how they got into the store, denied knowing the building was a store, and denied any knowledge of the gloves or screwdrivers. Doherty said the pair said they couldn't remember any thing that had happened. They blamed their loss of memory on drinking and taking a drug called Mandrex. Doherty said the fact that the two couldn't remember was interesting since the window they came through was four feet off the ground and boxes in the storeroom had not been moved. A piece had been cut from a door. Doherty said, too, that both men had been in the store, two and three times each, the same afternoon. Store wit nesses said the pair came in and bought shrimp cocktails. They went back across the street and sat in a neighbor's yard, directly east of the window of the storeroom. They sat there all afternoon, Doherty said, eating the cock tails and going back and forth to the store. What is even more inter esting is the jury verdicts in the two separate cases. In October, Tellez was found guilty of first degree burglary and sentenced to five years in the state penitentiary. Last week, Martinez was found guilty of second degree tres passing and received the maximum 30 days in the county jail. By Lavon Starr Irrigation in one form doesn't always have the same end result as irrigation in another form. Circle irrigation is bringing prosperity to the Irrigon area while its great-grandfather, canal irrigation, contri buted to the production of broken dreams. Irrigon's surrounding communities are exper iencing today what it has already known. But perhaps with some dif- Canal project started Irrigon ference. "Around 1909," ac cording to Batie Rand, Irrigon pioneer, "Irri gon's population was rumored to be in the two thousand zone." Farmers were attracted to the area from the midwest by the Oregon Land and Water Com pany. The company had taken pictures of al ready developed land on the lower Umatilla Riv er and Butter Creek and enticed settlers out west. A canal project from the Umatilla River on to Boardman was to sup ply the water necessary to irrigate the 5 and 10 acre lots the company sold to the settlers, sight unseen. "Water running down the ditch seeped away and very little made it to the end," states Max Jones, the second and only other'remaining' Irrigon pioneer. Joiies came to Irrigon in 1914 to work on the canal. His job working with horses and mules moving canal dirt lasted three years from 1914 to 1916. At one time Irrigon boasted a hotel, train depot and newspaper the Irrigon Irrigator. The publisher of the Port of council commended At least part of the Heppner Common Council is to be commended. , We'll be specific: Jimmy Rogers, Larry Mills, Cliff Green and Warren Plocharsky. We'll excuse Hubert Wilson, a new councilman, because he didn't know any better. But for heavens sake, Mayor Jerry Sweeney and nine year councilman Robert Jones should think twice about it. For more than a month, the councilmen have bickered over the Columbia Basin Electric Cooperative franchise. Monday night, four councilmen went with the voters' choice and retained the two per cent franchise fee. :, ; Sweeney, Jones and Wilson were in favor of upping that fee to three per cent, even if it meant that CBEC would billback its constituents. In other words, the voters were going to pay for that extra per cent through their monthly electric bills. And Sweeney was working hard to sway anyone he could his way. Rogers was the first to use a little common sense and smart philosophy. Rogers said he'd trade community support and good public opinion for that reported $1,000 the extra per cent would generate. Mills said he'd told people the council wouldn't "back-door" 'em with little hidden revenue makers. And, he, and Rogers,, and Green and Plocharsky stood up for it. '. Another thing worth mentioning. The CBEC franchise talks were not even listed on Monday night's agenda, even though the franchise is up in February and the regular January meeting was Monday. If Mayor Sweeney proposed to let the talks slip and wait until February to get things done, then that's simple procrastination. If it was the purpose to present a three per cent figure to a council without proper representation from the other party, CBEC, then that's simple underhandedness. . "' We commend the four councilmen who stood strong for the voters. The voters said no to one budget and said yes to a second that had to be chopped. If they'd wanted to spend more tax dollars from their pockets, they'd have said yes to the first one. It is good to see that the councilmen were taking the people's wishes to heart Monday night. As Sweeney said at the meeting, "It is the obligation of this council to protect this community." ' ' "" Justly done, justly done. wcp Snow brings good, bad news The snow is great and even greater when it's melting for farmers in the area. , ; But drivers should take caution and avoid driving if possible. The roads are slick. Packed snow on the back streets of town are producing little more than spinning tires now, but it's what's in store that's scary. If you don't have snow tires or studded tires, beware of the snowy, icy roads. A little warm wind, a bit of sunshine and a night of freezing adds up to one thing : hazardous winter driving. So far, there have been a few minor accidents. One Heppner youth sustained a concussion and separated shoulder when an evening of sledding turned into a car accident. Drivers should take note of the road's shape. Take extra precautions, such as looking a little longer both ways. Not many motorists are looking for a sledder to come darting down the roadway, but it could happen. .; ; Keep the snow pretty. Let it work its natural course, aiding the farmer with needed moisture. But don't egg it on into something it wasn't brought here for. ' " wcp THE " y .bmP HEPFNEH GAZETTE-TIMES The official newspaper of the City of Heppner and the County of Morrow. G.M. Reed, Publisher Dolores Reed, Co-publisher Wil C. Phinney, Editor Published every Thursday and entered as a second-class matter at the post office at Heppner, Oregon, under the act of March 3, 1879. Second-class postage paid at Heppner, Oregon. paper succeeded in get ting the town's name changed from Stokes to Irrigon combining the words irrigation and Oregon. Unfortunately, the ir rigation company went broke by 1907 and in 1915 the corporation dissolved. The com pany's failure led to the farmer's failure. Many of them had come from midwestern cities with little or no knowledge about farming, much less irrigation. They had come with the in tention of raising fruit but most of the trees died from lack of water. "Seven or eight years ago I was walking out in the desert here and found an old peach and almond tree with fruit on them," recalls Jones. Jones had managed to acquire 160 acres out of the 5 and 10 acre lots of those days. He pur chased them for $30 a piece. "Today my son, who bought me out some years ago, is get ting, $3,000 a lot. That's how times have chan ged." With the downfall of the irrigation project came the dwindling of population as families went elsewhere to seek their fortunes. Aban doned buildings burned down and foundations crumbled back into the earth. Signs of the prosperous community have gradually disap peared. "It was all just a lot of speculation," says Jones. "Just like today only this time they're right." WEATHER Wed., H L Pct Dec. 29 34 21 Thurs., Dec. 30 31 26 Fri., Dec. 31 28 25 Sat., Jan. 1 30 24 Sun., Jan. 2 26 19 .17 2" snow Mon., Jan. 3 29 20 .02 'V'snow Tues., Jan. 4 30 11 December precipitation was .36. Normal, 1.38. Prec. for 1976, 11.33. Normal for year, 13.28. 1975 total 12.57. Prec. for Sept., Oct., Nov., Dec, 1.33. Normal 4.84. Western Family Apple sauce i6 oz. 29 Western Family Fruit cocktail 17 oz. 37 Tastewell Grapefruit sections 16oz. 35 Tastewell Yellow cling Peaches cf 1,290, 49 Hi-C Drinks 46 oz. 498 Western Family Grapefruit Waetarn PimSlw I Bartlett PearS16oz. I Pink Grapefrui I w 1 w 46 OZ. Nestles 3,or$1.00 Quick 2lb, Pinic Picnic t Pork shoulder roasts 55f8 $1.69l 8J1.00 No. 1 Potatoes 10 ibs. 65 I Turnips, Rutabagas, Carrots Pork steaks Old Fashion Franks 2 ib.pak whoh Fryers ,v"u,e cut-up Central Market 19 Prices effective Thur., Fri.f Sat., Jan. 6, 7, 8 6 I 99b I $1.49 75V I 1 ts Lroc. 00-70 1 Neai 4 ft r 0 J Groc. 676-9614
