The Library
University of Oregon
Eugene, Or 97403
Fred Toombs, manager of
the Columbia Basin Electric
Co-op, Heppner, and Harry
Kennison of Kinzua, Heppner,
announced in a news confer
ence today with the Bonneville
Power Administration that an
agreement has been reached
between the B.P.A. and the
Co-op to finance a four-month
feasibility study that could
lead to the design and con
struction of the first of many
woodburning electric power
plants in the Northwest.
A contract was signed today
in Heppner between Schu
chart and Associates of Seat
tle, an engineering consulting
firm and the Columbia Basin
Electric Co-op, authorizing
that firm to conduct a $45,000
VOL. 97,
Morrow County
Voters
f
say
W
to
levies
i
Pioneer
activities
A flurry of activities are
scheduled for the Memorial
Day weekend locally with
graduation ceremonies, pio
neer picnics and other activi
ties. Heppner High School will
hold its graduation ceremony
Saturday, May 26 at 7:30 p.m.
at the high school. lone High
School has scheduled its
commencement program on
Jim Wishart appointed to school
hoard; teachers resign posts
Jim Wishart, Heppner,
assistant manager of the Bank
of astern Oregon, was ap
pointed Monday to the Morrow
County School Board replac
ing Dr. Wallace Wolff, who
announced his resignation
from thejboard last month.
Wishart joins the six other
school district directors.
The School Board, meeting
at Riverside High School in
Boardman, accepted the res
ignations of three teachers,
Jim Ackley, band teacher,
Heppner High School, who
said his reason was personal
and will remain in the local
area, Syreece McClain, sev
enth and eighth grade science
teacher, Heppner and Shane
Fritz, a language teacher at
Riverside High School.
New teachers hired by the
board include Mary Fleck,
Mildred Baker and Diane
Mathern, A.C. Houghton,
ttioy to explore woocuftiiFiiiiig electric
study to determine whether a
plant should be built at the
Kinzua Corporation lumber
mill in Heppner.
The B.P.A. , Columbia Basin
Co-op, the National Electric
Power Research Institute and
the Kinzua Corporation will
each contribute part of the
study costs.
"The feasibility study will
determine the adequacy of the
fuel supply, where to put the
plant, how large to make it,
what kind of boiler and
mixture of fuel to use, what
kind of pollution control equip
ment will be needed to meet
environmental standards, how
much the electricity will cost,
who will buy it, and what
effect it will have on the
NO. 21
and Pioneer Memorial
A light turnout of voters
rejected the proposed Morrow
County tax levy and separate
tax levy for operation of
Pioneer Memorial Hospital in
Tuesday's county-wide budget
elections.
The county budget levy
request of $494,410 in addition
al monies to balance the
budget outside the six percent
Constitutional limitation fail
ed with 476 "nb" votes and 254
"yes" votes.
The PMH levy vote, re
questing voter approval of a
$598,587 tax levy outside the
six percent limitation failed in
a simple majority vote with
546 "no" votes and 287 "yes"
votes.
County Judge D.O. Nelson
said the county would resub
Picnic to head flurry of
for Memorial Day
Friday, May 25 at the school,
beginning at 8 p.m.
Riverside High School,
Boardman, planned their
graduation exercises at 8 p.m.
Thursday night, May 24.
On Sunday, the 26th Annual
Memorial Picnic will be held
at the County Fair Pavilion,
beginning at 10 a.m., dinner at
noon. Sponsored this year by
the Peck family, the picnic is
Nancy Wellborn, lone Pri
mary; Judy Maas and Linda
Shaw, Heppner Primary.
The board approved a
district policy on treating drug
and alcohol abuse the same,
approved the use of a portion
of Riverside High School by
Krumbien Engineering for
drainage, and approved a
grant application to the North
west Foundation for funds to
hire a resident artist and
pre-school teacher.
The security of the district's
school buses became an issue
before the board following the
vandalism to four at lone High
School last Thursday night.
Supt. Matt Doherty reported
that there have been several
incidents of theft and vandal
ism including the theft of fire
extinguishers, flares and an
electric ignition at Irrigon.
Board members debated
whether to send the buses
community," Toombs said.
The feasibility study will
consider both cogeneration
the dual use of a steam source,
one of which is the generation
of electricity and the genera
tion of electricity itself. The
congeneration alternative
would extract steam from the
turbine at a pressure suitable
for use in the mill. This would
conserve the heat that other
wise would be lost in a cooling
tower when only electricity
was generated. Officials said
the possibility of using forest
slash and municipal refuse
will be considered along with
the study of mill residue.
Robert M. Harris, vice
president of Schuchart and
Associates, Seattle, said other
OjilC, il 11 JET 11
Morrow
HEPPNER, OREGON
Hospital levy requests soundly defeated
mit the county budget levy as
soon as possible, noting that
last year's levy request re
ceived a tie vote and had to be
resubmitted, resulting in a 2-1
margin of approval. He attri
buted Tuesday's defeat of the
separate county budget issue
to higher property taxes.
As expected by county
officials, opposition to the
county budget issue was
heavy-in- the Irrigon and
Boardman areas. In Board
man, 75 voters cast no votes
against 49 in favor of the levy.
Irrigon rejected the county
budget 75-38. lone surprised
Nelson and other poll watch
ers by voting 89-44 against the
levy request but surprisingly,
voters there cast a majority of
votes in favor of the PMH levy
expected to draw upwards of
200 people from the local area
and annual visitors to Hep
pner. The planning committee
will furnish ham and potatoes
and those attending, salads
and desserts.
Harold "Shorty" Peck will
display his collection of an
tique farm machinery and a
special Memorial Day Service
home with the drivers, secur
ity fencing or other means of
protecting district property.
In other business, the board
considered adoption of school
visitation guidelines. At pres
ent, no policy exists for
district-wide regulation of
visitors to the schools other
than the principals.
City to start
ticketing cars
The city of Heppner will
start ticketing cars parked on
downtown streets if they are
parked longer than two hours,
Winn Crist, the city's parking
control officer said Monday.
Crist said motorists have
had a grace period since the
wood-burning industries are
investigating the possibility of
converting their by-products
to electrical energy and a
study recently completed in
North Bend.
Kennison told the Gazette
Times that the idea of
generating electrical power
from wood by-products was
first proposed four years ago
but the need for additional
sources wasn't as great.
And Toombs added that the
B.P.A. has informed Colum
bia basin Co-op of "insuffic
ient energy" by 1983, causing
a stronger interest in develop
ing alternative sources of
energy. According to a recent
wood products magazine art
icle, 15 percent of Vermont's
The Heppner
County's
request. Lexington voters cast
50 no to 33 yes votes while
Heppner was the only voting
precinct in the county to cast a
majority of "yes" votes for
the county levy, 190-187.
There was a larger vote
margin against the PMH levy
request. Boardman voters
rejected the PMH levy by
107-19; Irrigon polled 99-14
against; Heppner voters cast
a majority of ballots against,.
237-141; Lexington voted a
gainst the budget request
45-38; and lone approved the
levy request 75-58.
Voter turnout was extreme
ly light, according to County
Clerk Sadie Parrish, who
reported that only about 300 of
Continued on page 3
is planned by the American
Legion.
Peck says the event could
draw visitors from as far as
Georgia and offers a chance to
socialize and generally have a
good time.
Monday will be marked by
several business closures. The
Gazette-Times will
open until noon.
remain
School is out for students
June 1 but the board will
continue holding its monthly
meetings, with the next sched
uled at Lexington. The last
day for teachers is June 5 and
graduations are scheduled at
Riverside High School, May
24, lone High School, May 25
and Heppner High School,
May 26.
first of the year but since
people are getting lax in
leaving their cars in the same
parking place, the city will
step up enforcement.
The ticketing starts today
and fines are $2 if paid within
24 hours
electrical energy supply
comes from the burning of
waste products from the
lumber industry.
The Co-op manager noted
that the power produced at the
Heppner site would cost sub
stantially more than the
power supplied by Bonneville
to the Co-op.
"That probably means that
some sort of arrangement will
be worked out which will allow
the owners to market the
power to a purchaser under a
contract containing a pullback
clause that will allow them to
have it for their own power
requirements in case of a
shortage."
B.P.A. Administrator
Munro said "this is a relative
Award-Winning Weekly Newspaper
THURSDAY, MAY 24, 1979
Glen w
eppner's 6Mr. Elk9
Glen Ward, secretary of the
Heppner Elks Lodge 358, and
his wife, Joyce, received a
token of his 22 years of service
in the post from his fellow
Elks and friends Saturday
night a check for $1,080 to
attend the National Elks
Convention.
The occasion was a dinner
Saturday night honoring Glen
for his assistance and service
to 22 Exalted Rulers.
Dr. Wallace Wolff, a Past
Exalted Ruler and retired
physician, made the presenta
tion and emceed the "Roast of
Glen Ward" before an audi
ence of 250.
Ward and his wife received
a number of awards during
the evening including a letter
from a former P.O.W., Mike
Benge, who while serving with
the Peace Corps in Vietnam
was captured by the Viet Cong
and spent five years in a
Prisoner of War Camp. Benge
is now an employee of the
State Dept. in Washington,
D.C. Dr. Wolff presented him
with a boar's skull in remem
brance of his job as State Fish
and Wildlife Agent in the local
area and Edward Dick, who
has served the lodge as
treasurer since 1962, gave him
a box of plumbing supplies to
complete his cabin at Lake
Penland.
"Glen is Mr. Elk of 358,"
Dick told the audience who
gave him and his wife a
standing ovation at the con
clusion of the banquet.
Dr. Wolff related how Glen
and he had first joined the
lodge in 1953. In 1958, Ward
was elected Secretary and
among other honors was
named as the outstanding
employee in 1972 and out
standing father in 1973 given
by the Cowbelles.
Glen introduced his family,
County GOP
nomination
up in air
ly small plant and it would
take about 70 of them to
produce as much power as a
nuclear plant." However
while it takes 10 to 12 years to
get a nuclear plant on line, it
will take only three to five
years to get this one going.
That means if we get moving,
plants like this can make a
significant contribution
toward meeting the 1,000 to
3,000 megawatt energy deficit
forecast for any of the next 10
years in which poor water
conditions occur.
"We will have those deficits
even if all 13 thermal plants
nine nuclear and four coal
now under construction or
scheduled for the region are
built on the current time
TWO SECTIONS 16 PAGES
ard honored
j
Y v
Joyce, his wife, Ron and
Sandra, his children, then
quipped that most of his
family was here tonight.
State Elks officers and Past
Exalted Rulers of 358 paid
tribute to Glen's work with the
lodge and his attendance at
state conventions.
Tony DiBiaso called him a
"wonderful secretary at your
lodge. He has done a wonder
ful job for Heppner."
Mayor Jerry Sweeney pre
sented him with a key to the
city of Heppner.
power plant
schedule. It is far more
probable, however, that there
will be further delays which
will only service to make those
deficits larger. That is all the
more reason to get moving on
all the cost effective and
environmentally acceptable
sources of electricity we can
find," Munro added.
Munro and Toombs explain
ed that because an electric
power plant will allow Kinzua
to put to use a product that
presently costs them money to
dispose of in a landfill, there
will be benefits to the utility,
the company and the public.
"Preliminary figures indi
cate that the electricity from a
generating plant at the Hep
pner site should be cost
Hi Lo
Tues., May 15 75 50
Wed., May 16 71 50
Thur., May 17 73 42
Fri., May 18 72 48
Sat.. May 19 72 41
Sun., May 20 78 42
Mon.,May21 83 49
IM ' V 11 i t
IT i
Glen ward, (right) secretary of the Heppner Elks Lodge 358
for 22 years, was honored for his long-time service Saturday
evening w ith the awarding of the key to the city of Heppner
by Mayor Jerry Sweeney. Glen and his wife, Dorothy,
received $1,080 from friends and Elks for a trip to the
National Elks Convention.
"If you want something
done, ask a busy man. He has
never complained."
Sherri Mahoney read a
letter from Mike Benge thank
ing Glen for the inspiration
behind his survival in a
P.O.W. Camp and several of
the former Elks officers
praised Glen for his persever
ence in collecting hides in the
organization's charity drive.
P.E.R. Jerry Daggett noted
that "without him, I wouldn't
have made it through my year
Five more persons contact
ed the Morrow County Repub
lican Central Committee to
apply for the vacant Commis
sioner's seat on the County
Court, bringing the total of
announced candidates to 11.
The five additional appli
cants are Irrigon City Man
ager Jack Baisdan, Arnold
Braat, Boardman, Truman
Messenger, Lexington, La
Verne Van Marter, and Paul
Taylor of Lexington. The first
applicants included Dorothy
effective and with the proper
design will be environmental
ly acceptable," Toombs said.
"The cost of power from
biomass plants varies greatly
depending upon the cost of
collecting and transporting
fuel. And because the plant
will be built next door to the
fuel supply, transportation
costs will be minimized. It
should be able to produce
power that is less than the cost
of mill-residue burning plants
where the fuel must be
collected and transported to
the plant site from mills at
remote locations.
Also present for the contract
signing were Randall Peter
son, vice president of the
Columbia Co-op Board,
20 cents
a
V
and Claude Graham added
that he was very proud to have
him as a friend, Mr. Elk of
Heppner."
LeRoy Gardner recalled
Glen's finding of his boxer
dog and said it meant a great
deal to him and his wife.
Cal Sherman added that
Glen deserved a big 10-4.
"He's the best."
Elks and their guests enjoy
ed a hearty potluck supper
and danced following the
banquet.
inn
- 1 '' I 1 'I
i
Krebs, June Lindstrom, Ralph
Crum, Don Peterson, Dick
Wilkinson and Merle Cantin.
The Central Committee will
decide Wednesday night who
they recommend to the County
Court for appointment. Steve
Peck, Lexington, chairman of
the committee, said if all the
precinct committee people
attend the session, the winning
candidate will have to secure
a majority of 18 votes and
need a quorum of at least nine.
4
1
k 1 i