The Library
University of Oregon
Eugene, Or 97403
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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
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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
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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.
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