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About Heppner gazette-times. (Heppner, Or.) 1925-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 18, 1979)
The Library University of Oregon Eugene, Or 97403 For' i-uorof iln XL JiiW 'Mikity i4 I J f 4 7 " Morrow County's Award-Winning Weekly Newspaper VOL. 97, NO. 3 HEPPNER, OREGON THURSDAY, JAN. 18, 1979 TWO SECTIONS 14 PAGES 20 cents Corps of Engineers seeks comment on Willow Creek Dam construction The Army Corps of Engi neers is seeking public com ment on the construction of the Willow Creek Dam, in addition to requests for a public hearing on the struc ture. Requests for a public hearing should arrive at the Corps of Engineers office in Walla Walla no later than Jan. 29. Morrow Grain Growers dock likely to handle log loading for timber export firm Logs are being stockpiled at the Morrow County Grain Growers' Patterson Ferry barge port facility, while attorneys for the Grain Grow ers and Harbor Timber Co., Inc., are completing a con tract to allow the Washington Former Heppner residents join in exodus from Iran Former, Heppnerites Dan and Barbara Morris and son Mike, have been evacuated from trouble-ridden Iran it was learned this week and are now residing temporarily in Seattle. Dan McBride of Heppner, a friend of the Morris', told the Gazette-Times this week the family was evacuated from Iran on two-hours notice by the Canadian firm which While the recent deluge of snow and subzero tempera tures caused most of us to grumble, the icy weather brought a smile to the face of Raymond DeJong. . . DeJong.ah 18-year old Lions International exchange youth from Perth, Australia, had never seen snow prior to his arriving in Heppner. And he's really been making up for his lost time since his arrival here in December. Late last month, DeJong accompanied Dick and Mark Sargent to the Malheur Wild life area south of Burns for a camping and bird watching trip. Camping in a tent the first night, temperatures hovered around zero. But on the second night, the mercury plunged to nearly 20 below zero, forcing the trio to spend the night in the Sargents' pickup truck, wrapped in sleeping bags, blankets, tarps or any other available mater ial. While stating that the Malheur trip was enjoyable, "it was a long night," Ray mond admitted. DeJong, who graduated from high school in November The first phase of funding for the dam was approved last fall. Preliminary work, ex pected to begin within the next several months if plans move according to schedule, would include relocating a city water reservoir and water lines, and re-routing the Willow Creek Highway around the dam and lake site. log export firm to use the Columbia River port as a regional barge link. Harbor Timber last month approached the Port of Mor row with a proposal to use the Port's Boardman facility for a log sorting and barge loading employed Morris in a plywood mill there. The family was flown by a Canadian Air Force plane to Turkey for a short stay, then to Switzerland, on to the Netherlands and finally to- New York before a cross country flight to Seattle, where Morris awaits word on where he will be sent to work by the Canadian lumber firm. Freezing weather a new experience for Australian exchange youth (school terms start in Feb ruary in Australia), is staying with the Cliff Green family in Heppner. The Greens, along with other Morrow Countians, have seen to it that Raymond gets as good a taste of local life as possible during his six-week stay here. Raymond has toured some of the county's larger wheat and potato farms, attended the Hermis ton cattle auction, toured the Morrow County Grain Grow ers barge loading facility on the Columbia River, gone inner tube sledding in the Blue Mountains, and spoken to a variety of area civic groups and school classes. During his first days here, he admits to having had a bit of difficulty in following American accented English, and likewise making himself understood in his own "down under" dialect. Now, he says, the American accent sounds normal. "The people here have all been really nice," said De-. Jong, noting that there is not really much difference Plans call for the re-routed Willow Creek road to follow a high contour of Cemetery Hill to Balm Fork, then to proceed along the western shore of the impoundment before resum ing its current course at a crossing well above the dam's backwaters. A small portion of Balm Fork road near the site of the dam would also operation. "Negotiations with Harbor Timber are still open," said Port Manager E. "Buddy" Toadvin on Tuesday. But, he explained, the log exporting firm apparently needed an immediate site from which to ship logs, at least on a short-term basis. Robert Patton, president of Harbor Timber, told Port Commission members last month that his firm hopes to ship some 15-million board feet of raw timber per year Bees win in Heppner planning decision The City of Heppner Plan ning Commission last week approved a conditional use permit for John Weygandt for the construction of a building at 504 Hager Street, to be used for building bee hives and extracting honey. between Morrow Countians and Australians. But there are some signifi cant differences between Mor row County and DeJong's Western Australia homeland. Temperatures in the Perth area seldom dip below 40 degrees, with summertime temperatures (Australia's summer ranges from Decem ber to February) often peak ing above the 100 degree mark. "It's hot enough that you can swim all year round," he said, adding that only once has he experienced tempera tures dipping to the freezing mark in his homeland. Among minor cultural dif ferences, Raymond noted that drinking black coffee is a bit of a rarity in Australia. At dinnertime, Australians the world's most voracious con sumers of beef keep their knives firmly in their carving hands throughout their meal. While today's rapidly spiral ing prices continue to chagrin American consumers, the pricetags on many goods are cheaper in America than in Australia, according to Raymond. require re-location. The dam itself would be a rockfill structure rising nearly 150 feet above the streambed, with a length of 1,770 feet and a top width of 24 feet. The dam is expected to create a lake with a maximum size of 242 surface acres, and having 11,500 acre-feet of water storage capacity. from the Blue and Wallowa Mountains of Oregon down the Columbia River to Astoria, where the logs would be loaded onto Orient-bound ocean-going vessels. The Carl- sborg, Wash., firm is under contract to Kaiser Aluminum. Kaiser, a major importer of raw materials from the Orient for aluminum and cement fabrication, hopes to see its ships return across the Pacific with easily marketable tim ber. The Commission will meet again Monday, Jan. 22 to act upon a conditional use request by the Christian Life Center, Assembly of God Church, for the construction of a church school facility on Morgan Street. Gasoline, for instance, runs about $1 per gallon in Perth. In Australia, new American sized automobiles retail for prices in the $15,000 to $20,000 range, with full-size pickups often selling for well in excess of $25,000. DeJong knows of one in stance in which a Western Australian purchased a club cab style American pickup for the sky -high price of $80,000. On the other side of the coin, beef and mutton are relatively cheap in Australia the world's leading meat export er. Colleges and universities if you qualify for admittance are free. Raymond said he expects to learn within the next several days whether or not he was accepted to university. Before leaving on Jan. 23, DeJong will likely see a lot more of the region. Immediate plans include a ski trip with the John Edmundson family. Raymond will stop in Los Angeles for a day prior to returning to Australia, giving himself and fellow exchange youths the opportunity to take in Disneyland. According to a public notice released by the Corps, "opera tion of the reservoir would be such that a minimum conser vation pool of 2,000 acre-feet (88 surface acres) would be maintained to provide for fish and wildlife and general recreation use, except during flood periods when flood water would be stored in the reservoir." Plans also include the con struction of a Right Bank Boat Launch area about 2,000 feet upstream from the dam, Union seeks contract from Pioneer Hospital Negotiations may begin soon between the administra tion of Pioneer Memorial Hospital and the hospital's non-professional staff, repre sented by the American Fed eration of State, County and Municipal Employees, . AFL-CIO. Hospital Administrator Bob Byrnes recently received a letter from Sam Gillispie, from the union's Salem head quarters, stating that mem bers of the hospital local "would like to begin negotiat ing a contract at the very earliest possible date." Roughly 25 employees of the hospital are represented by the union, following a vote in November in which the union was authorized to serve as the 1 UN . j ' x . j which would include a small picnic area and parking area, and a Spillway Picnic Area, which would include a small park-like area with restrooms and parking, adjacent to the dam's spillway. Requests for information and comments on the prop osed structure should be addressed to the Walla Walla District, Corps of Engineers, ATTN: NPWEN-PL, City County Airport, Walla Walla, Wash., 99362. employees' collective bar gaining agent. Only the hos pital's administrative staff, LPN's and RN's, and depart ment heads are not represent ed by the union. The hospital is considering hiring a labor relations con sultant to handle negotiations. No date has yet been set for negotiations to begin. A meeting of the hospital's board of trustees was sched uled for Tuesday, night, but a quorum of trustees failed to appear. The agenda from Tuesday night's meeting is scheduled to be taken up during a workshop meeting of the trustees set for Jan. 25 at 10 a.m. at the Nomad in Boardman. Australian Raymond DeJong a Lions Club foreign exchange student chats with the Cliff Green family after a typically active day here in the states. DeJong has been living with the Greens while staying in Heppner. School discipline policy topic of Jan. 25 meeting A meeting of the Concerned Parents group has been sched uled for Thursday, Jan. 25 at the Heppner Grade School muti-purpose room at 7:30 p.m. Discussing the new elemen tary and junior high discipli nary policy will be Grade School Principal Don Cole and district staff members. They Foundations report on hospital to be aired tonight at Courthouse Recipients of the Pioneer Memorial Hospital planning study recently completed by the Northwest Medical Foun dation are notified that last week's cancelled meeting has been rescheduled for tonight (Thursday, Jan. 18) at 7:30 p.m. The meeting will be held at the Courthouse. Ohe injured, one cited in Saturday car wreck Jack Edward Coulter, 18, of Heppner, was cited for driving while under the influence of intoxicants, following a one car accident on Hwy. 74 near the Kinzua Corp. mill early Saturday morning. Lou Anne Way, 17, of Lexington, a passenger in Coulter's car, suffered a fractured leg in the accident, and is recuperating in St. Anthony's Hospital in Pendle ton. Morrow County Sheriff's deputies said the accident occured shortly after 2 a.m., when Coulter lost control of rrr i i i i I: i ft- i ' ff I I . :1 I ' " - i ' v'" 'VI ; v f vl . -' will examine the steps in development of the new com prehensive policy, as well as clarify the student conduct code and the discipline options available to school personnel. The presentation will be followed by a question-answer session. The public is encour aged to attend. Judge DO. Nelson said persons unable to attend are requested to submit their comments in writing. Tonight's meeting is for recip ients of the draft study and community officials. Public meetings on the planning study will be scheduled in the near future, noted Nelson. the vehicle, veered off the highway, struck a post, a fence and a wooden pump house before the car rolled and came to rest on its roof. Miss Way was thrown nearly 100 feet from the car, and Coulter was pinned in the wreckage. Coulter was not seriously injured in the crash, and was released from Pio neer Memorial Hospital on Sunday. Dr. Joseph Gifford and an ambulance crew provided emergency treatment at the scene. i f ? .1 i i. 3
