The Library
University of Oreson
Eugene, Or 97403
!?. Microfilm
The Heppner
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1ST Jl JIFJilC
Year In Review Issue
Morrow County's Award-Winning Weekly Newspaper
VOL. 96, NO. 52
HEPPNER, OREGON
THURSDAY, DEC. 28, 1978
10 PAGES
20 cents
GAZE
City government develop
ments opened a new year of
Morrow County news in early
January, when Heppner City
Council hired the first in a
series of city foreman.
During the first council
meeting of the year, Raymond
Schierman of Milton
Freewater was hired to re
place outgoing foreman Paul
Sumner, who resigned in
December.
Also hired during the meet
ing was city police officer Tom
Howell.
Later in the month, Morrow
County School District Super
intendent Matt Doherty pre
sented the county's new school
budget, which showed a 15.4
per cent increase over the
previous year. Reasons for the
increase included a higher
number of employees needed
to ease overcrowding in the
County's booming North End.
It was in January that
Virginia Grieb of Lexington
was elected president of the
Morrow County Fair Board to
succeed Paul Hisler.
Ione's flood plain problems
were in the news as early as
January, when a public meet
ing was held on the subject.
Officials in lone city govern
ment were attempting to.
complete a long range plan for
the .city, keeping an eye
towards limiting development
in obvious flood-prone zones.
To identify such flood-prone
areas, lone planners used
existing flood hazard maps
drafted by insurance com
panies. Many at the public
meeting complained that the
insurance maps showed the
flood plain area to be too
extensive, and suggested wait
ing for an Army Corps of
Engineers flood hazard sur
vey for the area be completed
before finishing long-range
plans.
The Corps of Engineers
survey, when completed later
in the year, ended up adding
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Looking back at 1978 tells
new dimensions to the mean
ing of the word "extensive."
Morrow County's official
first baby of the year was in no
hurry to claim her distinction.
Born Jan. 15 in Pioneer
Memorial Hospital, Melissa
Dawn Hausaer weighed six
pounds, one-half ounce. Her
Company town
In the closing days . of
January, Kinzua Corporation
announced that it would perm
anently close down its facili
ties at the town of Kinzua in
Wheeler County, and make
"every reasonable effort" to
place 160 terminated employ
ees in jobs at the firm's
expanding operation in Hep
pner. During the same week, John
Maas was ordained a Luther
an minister, and installed as
pastor of Hope and Valby
Lutheran churches. Several
days earlier, the Rev. Wayne
Smith had been named to take
over pastorial duties at the
Christian Life Center As
sembly of God.
Heppner began discussing
.its flood plain problems in
February, when Chuck Steele
of the Flood Insurance Admin
istration appeared in town
during a public meeting. At
that time, flood plain maps
showed Main Street to be
under five feet of water in the
event of a "100-year" flood,
prompting Mayor Jerry
Sweeney to comment, "I think
you're going to kill business
downtown."
When asked what effect
construction of a Willow Creek
dam would have on Heppner's
flood plain, Steele responded
that "except for Hinton and
Shobe creeks, it would be
pretty much eliminate your
problem."
Steele's statement lost some
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Kinzua Corporation officials announced early in the year that operations at the company-owned
town of the same name would cease come mid-summer. The announcement was a shock to many
Kinzuans who Jiave spent most of their lives nestled in the mountain valley.
some o
parents were Mr. and Mrs.
Mike Hausaer of Lexington.
On a dimmer note, 17-year-old
Kenneth Plant of Board
man was arrested two days
later, after he allegedly held
up a Boardman Texaco at
tendent at gunpoint, then
credibility in December, when
Corps of Engineers surveys
showed that a considerable
portion of Heppner would
remain in flood plain designat
ed areas, even with construc
tion of the dam.
During the first week in
February, officials at Colum
bia Basin Electric Co-op were
tabulating losses received in a
recent ice storm that destroy
ed miles of line and some 680
power poles, mostly in the
Condon area. Jack Frost
ended up leaving the coopera
tive with a tab for more than
$250,000 in damages.
. In a second meeting on
floodplain problems held in
mid-February, Ron Barrett of
the Corps of Engineers told
Heppner residents that con
struction of the Willow Creek
dam would result in "shrink
ing the flood plain to zero"
along Willow Creek and Balm
Fork, adding that there was a
"strong possibility that flood
waters would be contained in
the creek channel" for Shobe
and Hinton creeks. At the
same meeting, Steve Hickock
of Sen. Mark Hatfield's staff
said that the senior Oregon
senator would resume efforts
to build the dam, if local
residents strongly demon
strate that they want it.
The Heppner Mustangs
wound up their basketball
season with a 13-7 record a
vast improvement over the
previous year. The Fillies
fared even better, taking
m - .
rwna
threatened police officers with
the weapon when they arrived
at the scene. Plant's shotgun
discharged when police strug
gled with the youth in making
his arrest. Plant was later
convicted for his role in the
incident.
closes
second place in district com
petition. Donna Palmer was named
queen of the Morrow County
Fair and Rodeo in February.
Selected as princesses in her
court were Kim Pettyjohn and
Laurie Childers of lone.
Morrow County voters in
early March went to the polls
for the first of several times
during 1978, to approve by a 6
to 1 margin a three-year, ,;.
$195,000 levy for maintaining ;
and improving county roads.
Following a series of com
mittee meetings and hearings,
the Heppner-Morrow County
Chamber of Commerce went
on record supporting the
proposed construction of the
Willow Creek dam. Heppner
city government and the .
" Morrow County Court follow-
ed suit the next week, stating
that they would support the
dam only if the impoundment
would eliminate flood plains.
The second election in a
year of many decisions was
held in mid-March, with
Morrow Countians voting 764
428 in favor of a $4.8 million
school construction bond
issue. Passage of the measure
allowed the county school
district to accomodate North
End growth by building a new
junior high school in Irrigon
and a new elementary school
in Boardman, as well as to
build a new Riverside High
t's to come in
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shop facility and make ren
novations at existing schools
in Heppner and lone. Work on
the new North End buildings
was well under way by the end
of the year:
Former county judge Oscar
Peterson resigned his post on
the Port of Morrow Commis
sion in March, and Kenneth
Smouse, a Baseline Road area
dryland wheat grower was
Tax
Elections were held in
Morrow County again in April,
with the county school budget
passing by a 584-443 margin,
while voters turned down the
first of several Blue Mountain
Community College budget
proposals 524-466. Bob Riet
mann was successful in turn
ing back the challenge of
Beryle Brizendine to retain his
seat on BMCC's board of
trustees.
Heppner's first annual
Spring Lumberjack Show in
mid-April attracted profes
sional logging sports contest
ants from throughout the
northwest much to the
delight of 800 hometown en
thusiasts who gathered to
watch the event. All-around
lumberjack honors went to
Roy Booth of LaGrande, a
past world champion in three
events. Best local competitor
was Monte Stookey. Events
ranged from a choker cable
race to axe throwing.
During the same week,
Randy Krueger was hired to
Replace Ray Schierman as
city foreman. Krueger had
been serving as the operator
of the city sewer treatment
plant prior to his appointment
as foreman.
Frank Anderson was ap
pointed to the Port of Morrow
Commission in April, filling
the vacancy created by the
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Governor-elect Vic Atiyeh was only one of many political candidates visiting Morrow County this
past year. Shown here with his local campaign chairman, Don Peterson, Atiyeh carried Morrow
County in the November election, as did Republican Bill Bellamy who became the District 55 State
Representative a seat held by former Heppnerite Jack Sumner.
named the 1978 Conservation
Man of the Year.
The county's medical
problems began surfacing in
March, when Heppner physi
cians J.H. Diehl and Richard
Carpenter notified the Morrow
County Court that they would
be unable to staff and operate
the new medical clinic in
Boardman. Plans had called
elections
resignation of Oscar Peterson
in March.
Morrow County and Hep
pner City governments were
in the midst of paring down
budget requests from various
departments, but neither
agency was able to keep
funding requests below the six
per cent limitations.
Heppner's increased budget
went to the polls in early May,
with voters approving the
measure by a 133-78 margin.
Less than 25 per cent of the
city's voters bothered to turn
out for the vote. The budget
exceeded the six per cent
limitation by $36,759.
The lone Cardinals took
home their first track trophy
in a decade in early May,
when they upset eight other
teams to win the Big Sky
Conference district track
meet in Arlington.
Linda La Rue was appointed
Ione's mayor during the same
week, replacing Robert
Drake, who resigned after
selling his Independent
Garage.
Heppner High's Maureen
Healy took first place in the
State Class A track meet at
Lewis and Clark College in the
high jump event. Heppner's
girls golf team took State
Class A top honors for the
third consecutive year during
state tournament action in
Portland. The Mustangs lost
1979
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for the doctors to start
practice at the clinic on April
1. Prompting the doctors'
decision not to operate out of
the Boardman facility was the
departure of Dr. Joe Gifford
from the area. Gifford had
been a partner of the other two
physicians, and his leaving
caused his former associates
"considerable concern
regarding our ability to staff
mark spring
their final baseball game of
the season to Condon, forcing
the Heppner nine out of a
playoff berth despite a 6-2
league record. Condon, with
an identical 6-2 record, went
on to post-season play, since
the Blue Devils accumulated
more AZZI points than Hep
pner. Reaching a major landmark
in their lives in late May were
52 Heppner High and 14 lone
High School graduating
seniors. Kathy Wolff served as
valedictorian during com
mencement ceremonies at
Heppner, while Natalie Tews
was Ione's top student.
The May primary election
saw political newcomer Chuck
Bennett of Gates defeat in
This week,..
This issue of The Heppner Gazette-Times looks back at
what has transpired in southern Morrow County over the past
year. As the headline at the top of this page says, looking
back at 1978 forecasts some of what's to come in 1979.
Regular features and this week's general news appears
on page two and Birdine Tullis' regular column appears on
page nine.
The Gazette-Times office will be closed next Monday,
Jan. 1, 1979 and all news and advertising deadlines will be at
noon next Tuesday.
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the clinic in both Heppner and
Boardman," according to a
letter to the County Court.
The Gazette-Times cele
brated its 95th birthday at the
end of March. The newspaper,
Heppner's oldest business
establishment still in opera
tion, became the eighth oldest
newspaper in the state to be
published continuously since
its founding.
cumbent Jack Sumner of
Heppner for the Democratic
nomination for District 55
representative. A revised Blue
Mountain Community College
budget went down in flames
for a second time, while
Morrow County voters broke
with a statewide trend for Vic
Atiyeh to cast in favor of
Roger Martin as the Republi
can gubernatorial nominee.
Several city streets were
partially blocked during the
month, as Pacific Northwest
Bell workers began laying
underground telephone cable
throughout the city. May also
marked the start of two-hour
parking zones in the downtown
area.