BESSIE WETZELL
U OF ORE
K E W S P A P E R LI3'
EUGENE OR 97403
Don and Jean Bennett reap award for
conservation onHinton Creek farm
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Conservation Man of the Year
Don and Jean Bennett stand on a diversion on a terraced hillside wheat field, with their Hinton
Creek farmhouse in the background. Bennett was named Morrow County's Conservation Man of
the Year during last Friday's Wheat League meeting in Heppner.
Ullman aide ay Congressman
will seek funding for WC dam
Oregon Rep. Al Ullman will
ask for funding of the Willow
Creek Dam for fiscal year
1980, Gayle Gilmour, district
administrative assistant to the
Congressman, said last week.
Gilmour came to Heppner
for a brief meeting with
County Judge D.O. Nelson and
Heppner Mayor Jerry Sween
ey last Tuesday. He told the
local officials a news release
sent out by Ullman 's office a
couple week's earlier was
worded improperly.
A story in the April 12 issue
of the Gazette-Times taken
from a news release and
subsequent calls to the Con
gressman's Oregon office
stated that Ullman would not
include the Willow Creek Dam
in funding requests for the
President's 1980 water de
velopment budget for the
Pacific Northwest.
At that time the Second
District Congressman cited
"local concern" over the
proposed dam and "the need
for a revised cost-benefit
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ratio" as reasons for not
seeking construction funding
during the coming year.
Gilmour said a cost-benefit
study underway by the Corps
of Engineers will be com
pleted about June 15 and at
that time Ullman will seek
funding for the 1980 year
under the main bill if it hasn't
gone to committee.
If the main bill has already
gone to committee when the
cost-benefit study is com
pleted in mid-June, Gilmour
said Ullman would then ask
for funding in a supplemental,
budget that is sent to Carter
later in the year.
The cost-benefit study is
required by the Office of
Management and Budget. Un
der federal guidelines for
public work projects such as
the dam, construction costs
must at least equal the value
of benefits to be received after
completion. In the case of the
Willow Creek Dam, the bene
fits would be measured in
terms of property that would
Catapult contest tests students engineering skills
42Mt
be saved from potential flood
ing. As the rules now stand,
the value of human lives that
could be saved through build
ing the dam may not be
included in the benefit value.
Local officials were con
cerned about further delay in
starting construction of the
project because it leaves the
City of Heppner up in the air
about what to do with its
deteriorating water line ex
tending to municipal wells up
Willow Creek. If the dam is
constructed the line will be
replaced as part of the
project at minimal cost to
the city. If the dam isn't
funded in the next year, city
officials will probably have to
go to the voters with a special
bond issue to finance replace
ment of the line.
For several weeks during
February of this year Heppner
residents were forced to boil
their water as the city's lines
had become contaminated
with muddy water, believed to
have entered the system
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Just keeping soil in the
fields along the flood-prone
slopes of Hinton Creek is no
easy task, but Don Bennett
has met the challenge with a
flourish.
During 1976 and 1977, Ben
nett installed some 57,165 feet
of terraces, one acre of
grassed waterway, 16 sedi
ment dams, and seeded 167
acres of steep cropland back
to grass. For his efforts,
Bennett was named Morrow
County's Soil Conservation
Man of the Year during a
special meeting of the Morrow
County Wheat Growers
League last Friday.
Bennett's terracing project
was the first performed under
the Heppner Water Control
District program, in coopera
if i
VOL. 97, NO. 18
through broken pipe some
where along Willow Creek.
Last year Senator Mark
Hatfield and Ullman were
instrumental in obtaining
$500,000 for design work and
right of way acquisition for the
Willow Creek project. Hatfield
Road management plans
for Heppner Unit
now available
Proposed interim Road
Management Plans for the
Heppner and Ukiah Ranger
Districts will be available for
public review at the Heppner
Ranger District Office.
Individuals interested in
reviewing these plans may do
so between the hours of 7:45
a.m. and 4:30 p.m., Monday
through Friday, May 7 to May
18.
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tion with the Soil Conservation
Service and the Resource
Conservation and Develop
ment program.
Last year, the Hinton Creek
rancher harvested his first
crop from the newly terraced
wheat fields, and experienced
yields averaging in the vicin
ity of 55 bushels per acre.
Bennett and his wife, Jean,
farm about 480 acres of
cropland on their Hinton
Creek spread. About 150 acres
are devoted to alfalfa, with the
bulk of the remaining acreage
used for wheat and fallow
land. In addition, they main
tain a 150-unit cow-calf opera
tion on their 2,000 acres of
carefully grazed range land,
A '77 !! ,
Morrow County's Award-Winning Weekly Newspaper
HEPPNER, OREGON
has been pushing the Corps of
Engineers this spring to
complete necessary studies so
funding for a construction
start could be obtained for
1980, eliminating further delay
of the project, according to an
aide.
The Forest Service solicits
written comments regarding
these plans but verbal input
will be accepted.
The purpose of Road Man
agement Plans is to fulfill the
needs of various user groups
and to manage the transporta
tion system with concern for
land management objectives,
safety and economics.
Ml
V
A
summering the cattle on
leased pasture near Ukiah.
The farm has been in Mrs.
Benni 'i family for more
than io ears, and in fact,
Jean was born in an upstairs
room of the home place. The
Bennetts have been operating
the farm for the past 15 years.
Prior to that time, Don, a
native of Kansas, spent 16
years with Morrow County
Grain Growers.
Bennett said he was sur
prised and pleased over being
named Conservation Man of
the Year though he did
question whether he really
deserved the honor. His first
reactions included the feeling
the award may have been
premature. "I thought, 'why
now?' I'm not done, yet. I've
The Heppner
T3 ecsa
THURSDAY,
Auxiliary hosts Open House at
Pioneer Memorial Hospital
An open house will be held
Friday, May 11 between 3-5
p.m. at Pioneer Memorial
Hospital in Heppner to com
memorate National Hospital
Week May 6-11.
The open house will be
hosted by the newly-formed
Pioneer Memorial Hospital
Auxiliary, who will also be
subscribing new members
during the afternoon.
Pro-tern pore officers have
been elected to stimulate
organization of the PMH
Accident claims life of 11 -year
old Robert Kinzer
A weekend baseball game at
a Heppner area farm ended in
tragedy, when 11-year-old
Robert Lee Kinzer was struck
in the stomach by a batted
ball, then collapsed and died,
almost instantly.
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got other things in mind. And
though I'm conservation
minded, I feel some of my
efforts may have been for
naught," Bennett said.
But being selected for the
honor has been gratifying. It's
especially pleasing when, as
Olex rancher Marion Weath
erford told Bennett in a
congratulatory call, "it was
neighbors that chose you for
the award. ..They felt you were
doing a good job."
In addition to operating
their ranch, the Bennetts
somehow find the time to be
involved in a wide range of
community organizations and
services. Don is vice chair
man of the Heppner Water
Control District, chairman of
the Heppner Rural Fire Dist
MAY 3, 1979
Auxiliary and new officers
will be elected in the coming
months. Sandy Murray is
serving as president; Martha
King, vice-president; Carly
Drake, secretary; and John
Kennedy, treasurer.
Mrs. Murray said the Aux
iliary will recognize nursing
home patient birthdays, pro
vide regular visits to the
infirmed, raise funds for
equipment and generally open
lines of communication bet
ween the community and the
hospital.
Precisely what caused the
death has not been deter
mined. Preliminary results
from an autopsy showed that
young Kinzer, son of Richard
and Klara Schmacher Kinzer
of Heppner, suffered from no
rict, and a member of the
Wheat League, Oregon Cattle
men's Association, the Farm
Bureau and has served on the
school board budget commit
tee. Jean is a member of the
Morrow County School Board,
serves as county brand in
spector, is a past president of
the Morrow County Cowbelles,
and has been active in 4-H
work and as a fair superinten
dent. The Bennetts are the par
ents of three girls, Deborah
Johnston, Judith Barber, and
Sandra Bennett, who is an
employee of the Heppner
ASCS office. They have two
grandchildren, Kimberley and
Jody Johnston.
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20 cents
"We're looking forward to
building a strong membership
of individuals interested in
providing something for
others as well as themselves,
by helping," said Mrs. Mur
ray. A free blood pressure clinic
and pulmonary (lung) screen
ing will be offered during the.
open house by hospital person
nel, noted PMH Administrator
Bob Byrnes.
Refreshments will be
served.
pathological conditions, and
there was no apparent injury
to internal organs.
The Kinzer youth collapsed
after he was struck in his
stomach area when he jumped
Cont. on page 1 2