t z c
The Library
Uaiversity of Oregon
Eugene, Or 97403
For Microfilm.
The Heppner
,
1 1
- 4 I 1 4 M
Morrow County's Award-Winning Weekly Newspaper
VOL. NO. 32
HEPPNER, OREGON
THURSDAY, AUGUST 10, 1978
12 PAGES
PRICE 20i
Heppner polling heavy
Piling up
Yields look
This year, an average of 30
to 31 bushels of wheat is being
gleaned from each acre of
dryland grainland, compared
with the county norm of 26
bushels and in sharp con
trast to last year's disap
pointing 12 bushel per acre
average harvest caused by
drought.
The midharvest averages
are nearly identical to esti
mates made in June by Larry
Mills of the Morrow County
Grain Growers and County
Extension Agent Harold Kerr.
Earlier this week, soft white
wheat for immediate delivery
was selling for $3.78 per bushel
in Portland.
Japanese youths experience many
jir&is in
Seeing a wild deer or
hearing the lonely nighttime
yipping of a coyote may not be
unique experiences for Mor
; row Countians, but they open
' up a whole new world to a
f person like Keiko Kaneko.
Miss Kaneko, a 16-year-old
eleventh grader from Kashi
wa, Japan, is one of 14 La bo
International Exchange Foun
dation students spending a
month with families in the
area.
A total of 142 teenage and
seven adult Japanese arrived
in Oregon late last month to
take part in the exchange
program, now in its sixth
year. The Oregon 4-H pro
gram cooperates in the ex
' change.
While the Japanese youths
learn what life with Oregon
families is like, 23 Oregon
teenagers are now in Japan,
living with families and at
tending Labo camps and
programs.
Miss Kaneko is staying with
the James Bloodsworth family
good at wheat harvest
The new Stephens wheat
variety seed crop being pro
duced by three Morrow
County growers was report
tedly doing remarkably well.
An ample amount of the new
variety seed should be avail
able to Morrow County farm
ers for planting this Fall,
according to Kerr. Participat
ing in the Stephens variety's
first year of seed production
are Ken Turner, Gary Grieb
and Eastern Oregon Farming
Co.
At Oregon State Univer
sity's wheat variety test plot
at the Tad Miller ranch near
Lexington, the Twin variety, a
spring wheat, topped all other
morrow
between Heppner and Lexing
ton, a far cry from Kashiwa,
located an hour's ride by
bullet train from Tokyo, one of
the world's largest cities.
Aside from sightseeing trips
and observing firsthand the
workings of a ranch operation,
the Japanese teen has at
tended a Bloodsworth family
wedding, a ceremony quite
different from those held in
her native country.
Brides in Japan, she said,
may change costumes several
times during the wedding day,
then host receptions in which
more than 500 persons may
attend.
Her first impression of her
American youth counterparts
are that they are a bit more
sophisticated than those in her
Japanese peer group. Strong
Japanese emphsis on educa
tion may have a lot to do with
the difference, since it's more
difficult to be sophisticated
when there's little time for
anything but study.
Miss Kaneko, whose father
v - 1
Wheat is piled on ground from full-to-capacity North
Lexington grain elevator as the county's abundant harvest
season passes the midpoint.
varieties with an average
yield of 32.4 bushels per acre.
Kerr noted that while Twin
topped production at the test
plot, the spring variety may
not be suitable for planting
during years marked by
severe winters.
The Hyslop variety of winter
wheat averaged 31.9 bushels
per acre at the test site,
followed by Stephens at 29.5;
Luke at 28.4; Nugaines at 28,
and McDermid at 26.5.
Protein tests have not been
completed on the recently
harvested test grains.
In barley results at the
Miller test plot, the Steptoe
county visit
is a manager of a metal plant,
hopes to pursue a career as a
tax consultant or a teacher.
She said she has strong
interests in mathematics.
Also experiencing a number
of firsts during her stay in
Morrow County is Hideko
Nabeshima, a tutor for Labo,
and a chaperone on the
current exchange visit.
A guest of the Leslie
Paustian family in Heppner,
Miss Nabeshima has had her
first experiences at milking a
cow, petting a horse, baking
pumpkin pie, taking in a
rodeo and getting bitten by a
dog.
She characterized the rodeo
as 'exciting," noting that she
had never before seen "wo
men riding horses so beauti
fully. ..and the cowboys looked
so manly."
Miss Nabeshima said she
was also impressed with the
county's huge sprinkler irriga
tion systems, the harvest
workings of combines and the
fact that you could actually
midpoint
variety, also a spring grain,
topped production with an
average yield of 2,386 pounds
per acre. The Kamiak variety
yielded 2,054 pounds, and the
Hudson variety 1,898.
While devaluation of the
dollar has caused headaches
in most sectors, it may have
some positive effects on area
wheatgrowers. Japanese
grain importers, backed with
the increased buying power of
the yen, may now find
Northwest wheat more attrac
tive than Canadian wheat, in
light of the dollar's decline in
value.
Cont. on page 3
get a feeling for the world's
roundness by viewing the
county's wide-open horizon.
The area's scenery is "so
peaceful and so quiet, it
makes you wonder why there
have to be wars," she told
Mrs. Paustian.
The local Labo exchangees
will be in Morrow County until
Aug. 21.
ISi;
Weather
by Don Gilliam
Hi Low
Wed., Aug. 2 94 53
Thurs.,Aug.3 99 59
Fri., Aug. 4 97 62
Sat., Aug. 5 92 60
Sun., Aug. 6 95 53
Mon.,Aug. 7 95 59
Tues.,Aug.8 101 59
County levies are paed by
substantial margins
The Pioneer Memorial Hos
pital and Morrow County
operating budget levies were
both approved by substantial
margins Tuesday, when both
measures faced county voters
for the second time this year.
Unofficial results show the
hospital levy passing by a 711
to 398 margin, and the county
operating measure winning
voter approval by a 641 to 468
margin.
Turnout was light in nor
thern Morrow County, where
those who did vote generally
cast their ballots against both
measures. The situation was
different in Heppner. how
ever, where nearly half of the
city's registered voters
showed up at the polls to vote
3!Mi-188 for the county mea
sure, and 387 to 196 for the
hospital levy.
Only about one in seven
voters turned out in Irrigon.
where the vote was 46 to 66
against the county levy, and
1K-94 against the hospital. Less
than one in five voters made it
to the polls in Boardman.
where the hospital measure
Went down" 22-85. and the
county levy was approved by
11 votes 62-45.
lone voters supported the
county levy by a comfortable
142-45 margin, and gave
Fairgrounds
workday set for
Saturday
Everyone is invited to a
workday Saturday, Aug. 12
at the Morrow County
Fairgrounds.
The fun and games start
at 10 a.m., according to
Extension Agent Harold
Kerr, with general clean
up and setting up of
livestock pens in mind.
Hideko Nabeshima, left,
taste of life in the saddle at
Creek. Miss Nabeshima and
I XX
r j
nearly identical support to the
hospital measure with 140
voting yes and 47 voting no. In
Ixxington. the poll was 65-45
for the county general operat
ing fund, and 74-46 for the
hospital.
The county levy approved
by voters Tuesday was identi
cal to one that was deadlocked
in a 513-513 tie on June 27.
During the same election,
the hospital measure was
defeated 450 to 568.
More than $43,000 was pared
from the hospital levy during
the second go-around at the
Morgan Bridge project
scrapped, council approves
Chase Street subdivision
Hopes for a new Morgan
Street Bridge over Willow
Creek went down in flames
during a Monday night Hepp
ner City Council meeting.
During a second round of
bidding held on the project
last month, the low bidder
turned in a figure of $118,800
14 per cent higher than the
$105,000 budgeted for the
project. In June, the low bid on
the project was $134,500.
The lion's share of the
project would have been paid
for with federal matching
funds, with the city of Heppner
chipping in $18,000.
During Monday's meeting,
the council had to decide
whether to scrap the project,
or somehow come up with the
extra funding totaling some
$26,000 needed to trigger the
construction.
Roger Lang, federal-state
programs coordinator for the
Oregon Department of Tran
Home on
and Keiko Kaneko. get first
the Wilgers' ranch on Rhea
Miss Kaneko are in Morrow
polls. The revised budget also
included a $20,000 item ear
marked for physician recruit
ment, to find and secure
doctors to staff the troubled
medical facility. Currently,
only one physician, Dr. Wal
lace Wolff, is located in
Morrow County, and there are
no physicians to staff county
subsidized clinics in Heppner
and Boardman.
Passage of the hospital
measure means that $146,598
in property tax funds will go to
offset the facility's current
operating loss and purchase
sportation, told the council
that the bridge project could
proceed if the ,city made a
$5,000 deposit, and paid off the
balance of the extra costs
within three years.
Several councilmen noted
that the city did not have
$5,000 for the down payment,
and expressed reluctance to
commit the city to paying off a
three-year debt before a new
budget was drafted.
Others complained that the
pricetag for the span was
simply too high, and unlikely
to get any lower should it be
put out to bid again.
"We've got to get away from
that concrete monstrosity,"
commented councilman War
ren Plocharsky. "The city
can't afford the luxury of
having this kind of bridge,"
said councilman Larry Mills.
"We've got to get a bridge that
we can live with," stated
councilman Cliff Green.
": ' 1 J.
';
J i ?
, f
the range
County to take part in the
program.
k v
4 '
several badly needed items of
equipment, as well as toward
finding new doctors.
The County's operating bud
get will include $246,665 out
side the six per cent limita
tion, in order to balance the
budget while maintaining on
going programs and services.
No major new capital im
provements are included in
the county budget.
Both measures combined
will cost county property tax
payers less than $3 per $1,000
assessed valuation extra.
The council voted unani
mously to withdraw from the
bridge project. The move will
mean that the city will have to
pay engineers' fees totaling
about $11,000 for a bridge that
will apparently never be built,
leaving only about $7,000 in the
city's budget for the bridge.
Council membei s expressed
hope that the $7,000 could be
applied towards making re
pairs to bring the bridge up to
standards. Steve Anderson,
the city's consulting engineer,
last month disclaimed any
responsibility for keeping the
decrepit span open to traffic.
Councilman Plocharsky
said he would tour the bridge
site with County Roadmaster
Doc Sherer to determine what
repairs would have to be made
to bring the bridge up to par,
and report back to the council.
Lang said his department
Cont. on page 12
- t
a."
U.S.-Japan Labo exchange
,w