VOL. 96, NO.
5W'
Football rates high among fall activities in Southern Morrow
County as both Heppner and lone teams are standing at the
top of their leagues. In this photo taken at Umatilla last
Friday, no less than six Mustang defenders are in on the stop
Heppner,
Ione&
Lexington
City council and mayoral
races in Heppner, lone and
Lexington failed to develop for
the November 7 election as
most positions had only one
candidate filing.
In Heppner, the mayor's
position and four seats on the
council are open. Mayor Jerry
Sweeney was the only incum
bent to file, to succeed himself
for another two year term.
Filing for council positions
in Heppner were Ron Forrar,
for a two year term; Robert
Local men
on numerous charges
Two farm workers from the
Sand Hollow area of Morrow
County are lodged in Umatilla
County jail on charges rang
ing from first degree theft to
illegal posession of game
animals.
In jail in lieu of $8,000 bail is
Terry Michael Barker, 21.
Lodged in lieu of $6,000 bail is
Rickie Gene Hill, 18.
Both men face charges
including receiving stolen pro
perty, first degree theft,
manufacturing a controlled
substance (marijuana), and
illegal posession of game
animals (deer and pheasant).
Barker faces additional char
ges of driving while suspended
and furnishing alcohol to a
minor.
The two are accused in the
theft of two rifles from the
truck of two Portland hunters
parked in Heppner; five
Morrow County traffic signs;
and CB and AM-FM radios
from a tractor owned by
Ralph Crum.
The arrests were made by
state police, assisted by Hep
pner city police.
After Heppner police logged
the rifle thefts in a regional
police information network,
police in Goldendale, Wash.,
reported that one of the stolen
The Library
University of Oregon
Eugene, Or 97403
For Microfilm
42
.1 t""
it. 1 8s
Candida tes file for city
council,
"Butch" Laughlin, Frank
Pearson and Joe Miller, each
filing for seperate four year
council terms. Laughlin was
recently appointed to the
Heppner council to fill the
unexpired term of Hubert
Wilson, who resigned earlier
this year:
Lexington council incum
bents Ed Baker and Bill Smith
have filed for their positions
again, each for four year
terms.
A race did develop in
arrested
weapons had turned up there,
according to local law enforce
ment officials. An
investigation by Goldendale
officers provided information
that led local lawmen to the
Morrow County suspects.
Cases against the two will be
presented to an upcoming
Morrow County grand jury for
consideration, according to
District Attorney Dennis Doh
erty. Stolen pickup
recovered here
Two Washington teenagers
were arrested on auto theft
charges last week, following a
20-mile high-speed chase up
Willow Creek Road.
Heppner Police Chief Dean
Gilman apprehended the pair
after they wrecked a pickup
truck reported " stolen from
Yakima a short distance
below Cutsforth Forest Park.
The youths, both 16, escaped
serious injury in the smashup,
but the pickup was demolish
ed. The truck was spotted in
Heppner, after officers here
were alerted to the theft and
warned that the suspects
might be headed this way.
I 1 jsfl I I 33 CSV
THURSDAY, OCT. 19, 1978
tv
iNiaf
of a Viking. Pictured clockwise are Joedy Marlatt (58),
Larry Palmer (81), Steve Marlatt (44), Earl Hammond (48),
Jim Parker (74), and Doug Holland (4). The Cardinals play
at Echo Friday while the Mustangs host Wahtonka.-
mayor positions
Lexington for a two year
council position between Bill
Sheirbon and Charlene Pap
ineau. In lone, three incumbents
are seeking four year terms
and one council position had
Board sets bid date, accepts
representation area changes
A revised plan for construct
ing a new shop building at
Riverside High School will be
put out for bid on Nov. 1, with
Nov. 21 set as the date for
opening bids on the project.
The bidding timetable was
set during a Monday night
meeting of the Morrow County
Board of Education.
Last month, bids on the
original design for the River
side shop building came in
well above the amount the
school board had budgeted for
structure. The low bid on the
shop was $478,000 and the
amount the board had planned
on spending was $330,500.
On Oct. 9, the board voted
not to accept the $478,000 low
bid, and to rebid the project on
a plan that would use a steel
modular design, with a comb
ination steel and block
alternate.
Superintendant Matt Doher
ty announced that there were
no responses to advertise
ments to bid on a contract for
a bus run to Blakes Addition
along upper Willow Creek.
The board voted to accept a
report from a special com
mitee to consider board
representation changes. The
report recommends that scho
ol district zones 6 and 7 at
Heppner, currently represent
ed on the board by Pauline
Winter and Dr. Wallace Wolff,
eventually be expanded to
include the school district at
large.
The change in representat
ion is being proposed to keep
up with shifting population
The Heppner
Morrow County's Award
no one file. Seeking re-election
are Bill Rietmann, Albee
Akers and Elmer Holtz. May
or Linda LaRue has filed to
succeed herself in that pos
ition, having been appointed to
the post last May.
patterns in the county, most
notably the increasing popula
tion in the county's north end.
The special commitee had
considered adding two addit
ional school board positions to
accomodate the north end
increase, but rejected the
concept of a nine-person
board, since such a panel was
felt to be too large to function
smoothly,
The expanded representa
tion area of board members
representing zones 6 and 7
would not take effect until
- Winning Weekly
HEPPNER, OREGON
Corps
flood
Final
Even if the proposed Willow
Creek dam becomes a reality,
it appears that the down
stream towns of lone, Lexing
tonand quite possibly even
Heppner will not be out of hot
water in terms of highly
restrictive flood plain desig
nations by the U.S. Army
Corps of Engineers.
The three Southern Morrow
County communities, in order
to comply with federal Flood
Insurance Administration reg
ulations, earlier this year
requested the Corps to provide
updated general flood plain
maps. The maps would show
potential floodway patterns
and give approximate depths
that floodwaters could rise in
the event of a catastrophic,
"100 year" flood.
lone, which also needed the
maps in order to plan the
location of a lagoon for a
proposed new sewer system,
recently received the results
of the updated Corps survey.
,. Similar updated . flood plain ,
maps are expected to be
completed for Lexington and
Heppner by the end of the
month.
In the case of lone, should
the Corps survey stand as
presented, "it's going to kill
this town," said Mayor Linda
LaRue. The Corps' map puts
more than half of lone in
either a "floodway" category,
or within the theoretical
100-year flood plain.
Under Flood Insurance Ad
after the terms of Mrs. Winter
and Dr. Wolff expire. The
change in representation must
also be approved by county
voters during a school district
election. The next such elect
ion is scheduled for April of
next year.
In other developments Mon
day night, the board voted to
hire Mildred Baker as first
grade teacher at A.C. Hough
ton; Joyce Fenton as fourth
and fifth grade teacher at A.C.
Houghton; Liz Curtis as home
economics teacher at Heppner
Heppner gets full
time DMV office
A full-service licensing and driver examination office
will become a reality in Heppner sometime this coming
spring, the State Department of Motor Vehicles announced
this week.
Last Friday, the Oregon Legislature's Emergency Board
approved a request for funding for the Heppner DMV office.
The city has been served by a mobile DMV examining office
on a once-a-month basis.
DMV officials in Salem said that the new office in
Heppner would be open on a four-day per week basis, staffed
by one person. The Heppner examiner would travel to
Condon or Fossil during the fifth working day of each week.
Personnel from the state's General Serviced department
are expected to arrive in Heppner soon to begin locating a
site for the office. DMV officials said they did not know
whether the office would be rented or if a new building would
be constructed.
Target date for opening the office will be sometime in
March, although it may take as long as May before the
Heppner DMV branch opens for business.
Newspaper
TWO SECTIONS
returns with big
plains
figures for
ministration regulations, no
new buildings or additions to
existing structures can be
built in the floodway, and no
buildings can be built or major
improvements made in the
flood plain, unless the struc
ture is floodproofed. Flood
proofing requires raising
structures above the 100-year
flood elevation, which in the
Corps survey of lone is about
three feet above ground level
for most of the flood plain
area.
The lone schools complex,
and most of the area between
Second Street to the south
canyon wall is included in the
floodway designated area.
Although lone does not have
a history of serious floodings
it even escaped serious dam
age during the 1903 flood that
devastated Heppner Corps of
Engineers personnel deter
mined through their computer
aided study that a floodwave
of 30,000 cubic feet of water
per second was possible within
the next 100 years, according
to Mayor LaRue.
"I was told that that was
equivalent to the output of the
Columbia River, above the
Snake (River confluence),"
she said. "...We asked them
for the data they used to feed
into the computer to arrive at
this conclusion. They said
they'd get the information to
us,. but I haven't seen it yet."
Mayor LaRue said that
before undertaking the lone
Elementary, and Joy Krein as
art teacher at Heppner Elem
entary. Vickie Van Dorn was
hired as a title 1 aide at A.C.
Houghton and Joel Lydy was
hired as a bus driver at
Riverside.
The board voted to seek bids
on three new school buses, and
deferred making a decision on
whether to reimburse teach
ers for uninsured personal
items stolen during recent
break-ins at Heppner High
School and A.C. Houghton
Elementary.
16 PAGES
for towns
lone devastating
flood plain update, Corps
officials assured her that local
flood history would be taken
into account. "But they didn't
do it," she said, "they said
they couldn't use the past to
predict what could happen in
the future."
If lone accepts the flood
plain designation, growth
would be stifled in the
floodway area, since no new
structures would be allowed to
be built. Floodproofing could
well prove to be cost prohibit
ive in the flood plain
designated area. A sizeable
area of the city that is not
included in either the flood
way or flood plain is located on
a 200-fot-wide railroad right-of-way,
where construction
would also be impossible.
Meaning that if lone is to
grow, it would basically have
to grow on the steep canyon
walls, where development
would be extremely costly.
Should lone reject the des
ignation, and thus lose federal
flood insurance benefits, pro
spective homeowners would
face extreme difficulty in
securing financing for pur
chasing shelter, since most
federal lending agencies and
banks require flood insurance
in flood zones.
During hearings in Heppner
last year, Corps officials
stated that a Willow Creek
dam would decrease but not
eliminat the danger of flood
ing downstream from
Heppner. The recently reveal
ed flood plain update for lone
indicates that the dam's effect
on that city's flood potential is
negligible at best.
Terming the Corps' flood
map "unrealistic," Mayor
LaRue noted that it would
make more sense to outlaw
construction along the San
Andreas fault line in Califor
nia, where there is substantial
"proof that a hazard really
exists," due to earthquakes.
"I think there might be a
better chance that Mt. Hood
will erupt than for a flood of
this size to happen," she said,
"but they're not stopping
people from building over
there."
The lone mayor said her
city plans to appeal the Corps'
designation, by gathering hist
orical weather data, and
possibly "somehow scraping
the money together to hire our
own engineer." The East
Cental Oregon Association of
Counties plans to join the fight
by helping to gather the
weather data, and alerting
area political figures to the
town's plight.
Although flood plain updates
for Heppner and Lexington
are not expected to be
released sooner than the end
of the month, Morrow County
and ECOAC officials anticip
ate similar trouble for the two
upstream towns. In a draft
letter to Land Conservation
and Development Commission
(LCDC), Chairman Richard
Gervais, the ECOAC stated
that it expects flood plain
updates for Heppner and
Lexington to be "at least as
extensive as those reported in
lone."
"I hate to think what
Heppner will be like," Mayor
LaRue quoted a Corps official
as saying as he left a heated
20c
ger
public meeting on the lone
flood plain update.
The Corps flood plain update
for lone, coupled with antici
pated flood plain changes for
Lexington and Heppner,
throws a wrench into the
comprehensive planning ef
forts of the three
communities. The cities rec-
ently completed long-range
comprehensive plans, which
used preliminary and now,
apparently outdated flood
plain studies to design
comprehensive plan maps,
technical reports, zoning and
subdivision ordinances.
Since the updated lone flood
plain designation has changed
so dramatically from the
previous study, with similar
changes expected for Heppner
and Lexington, ECOAC has
requested that the LCDC the
agency requesting the plans
give the three cities until July
1 of 1979 to revise their
comprehensive plans. ECOAC
is also seeking $9,691 to fund
the revised planning effort for
the three municipalities.
"Why build a dam if the
flood plain's not eliminated?"
questioned Judge D.O. Nelson,
when the new flood plain woes
were outlined Tuesday during
a meeting of the Morrow
County Intergovernmental
Council.
The Intergovernmental
Council plans to meet with
representatives from the
Corps during the group's next
meeting early in MNovember.
Applications
being taken for
1978 Morrow
County Fair &
Rodeo Court
Application are now being
considered for Morrow County
girls aspiring to serve on the
coming year's Morrow County
Fair and Rodeo Court.
Those seeking royalty status
must be residents of Morrow
County, at least 16 years of
age or a junior in high school.
Application forms are avail
able at school offices at
Riverside, lone and Heppner
high schools. Further inform
ation may be obtained by
contacting Fay Seitz at 676
5396. Applications must be receiv
ed no later than Nov. 14.
Columbia Basin
plans
power outage
forRuggs area
Columbia Basin Electric
Cooperative customers served
by the Ruggs Substation will
experience a planned power
outage Tuesday, Oct. 24 be
tween the hours of 9-11 a.m.
Routine repair to the sub
station is the reason for the
outage, according to a CBEC
spokesman.
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