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The Heppner
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Morrow County's Award-Winning Weekly Newspaper
VOL, 97, NO. 32
IF
HEPPNER, OREGON
THURSDAY. AUGUST 9, 1979
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mzua sawini
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adjust
er to ae daiiiage
Insurance adjusters were
expected to inspect the dam
age caused to the old Kinzua
Mill in Wheeler County Wed
nesday by a fire Sunday night
which fully destroyed the old
sawmill, power and fuel
house, according to Vic Wal
lace, caretaker for the Kinzua
Corporation.
Wallace said the adjusters
would assess the damage for
BH and R Enterprises, a
Eugene firm, which pur
chased the old mill from the
Kinzua Corporation after its
closure last year.
Saved from the fire was the
green chain, dry kiln and
planer building.
The caretaker said he first
noticed the fire between 7:30
p.m. and 8 p.m. Sunday while
making rounds through the
mill and company town, which
was being torn down for
salvage by private companies.
At that point, the fire was
burning at the east of the the
sawmill and tin was coming
off of the roof.
Initially fighting the blaze
were four men, Wallace and
three others who laid hose line
around the fire to contain it.
Within 15-20 minutes, Wallace
said crews from the Depart
ment of Forestry had arrived
on the scene from Fossil and
by 1 a.m., a busload of Kinzua
employees had arrived from
Heppner.
The firefighters stopped the
fire from reaching grass and
heavy forests within 200 yards
of the mill but were busy most
of the night with spot fires
started from the blaze. On
Tuesday, State Dept. of For
estry crews were still patrol
ling the spot fires to ensure
they were out.
Wallace said the sawmill
fire destroyed the head rig,
trimmer and other mach
inery. A cause has not been
assigned to the fire although
Packwood here
Thursday noon
Oregon Sen. Bob Pack-wood-R
and Congressman Al
Ullman-D will make separate
visits here Thursday and
Friday and speak at two
different luncheon meetings at
the West of Willow Restau
rant. Packwood arrives on the
special election day Thursday
and is scheduled to speak at a
no-host luncheon at the West
of Willow. He will be coming
from a stopover at The Dalles
and leave Heppner by 2 p.m.
following a scheduled inter
view at the Gazette-Times
Ullman
injured
Congressman All Ull
man, D-Ore., has cancelled
his tour of Eastern Ore
gonincluding a stop in
Heppner this Friday be
cause of a fall in his home
in Washington in which he
cracked a knee cap.
A spokesman informed
the Gazette-Times in a call
from Washington that doc
tors had X-rayed the injury
and advised Ullman to stay
off his feet and in his home
for the next few weeks.
Two of his staff members,
however, will be making
the tour, and will attend a
scheduled luncheon at the
West of Willow Restaurant.
The Congressman's
stand-ins will be Bill Rob
ertson, administrative as
sistant, from Washington,
and Gayle Gilmour, field
representative, from
Salem.
Ullman is expected to be
back on his feet in the early
part of September.
office. After that, it's off to La
Grande.
Legislative Assistant Brad
Stocks said Oregon's Junior
Senator is making a visit to
communities along the Col
umbia Gorge.
Congressman Al Ullman
will be in Heppner at 11 a.m.
and speak to another no-host
luncheon meeting at the West
of Willow, moves on to Condon
for a 3 p.m. citizens meeting
and travels to Fossil at 7:30
p.m.
His campaign tour includes
trips August 8 to a Nyssa
Sugar Factory, an Ontario
Press conference, a Vale
citizens meeting and on
August 9, he travels to the
John Day area.
Ullman was able to gain
House-Senate conference ap
proval of a $.3.2 million
appropriation for construction
of the proposed Willow Creek
Dam Project and has been
working with Sen. Mark
Hatfield R on the legislation.
Both men are expected to
seek re-election in 1980. Ull
man is chairman of the House
Appropriations Committee.
Packwood is a member of the
Senate Finance, Commerce
Science and Transportation,
Budget and Small Business
committees.
In 1968, Sen. Packwood was
elected to the U.S. Senate as
the youngest Senator of the
91st Congress.
In 1974, he was re-elected to
a second term in the Senate
and in October, 1978, named as
"most effective Senator" in a
poll taken by the news media
who coyer the Senate. He was
one of three Senators from the
West, who were voted the
distinction.
He was elected chairman of
the Republican Conference,
the third position in the
elected Republican leadership
of the Senate, in January,
In November of 1962, Sen.
Packwood was elected to the
Oregon House of Representa
tives as the youngest member
of the Oregon Legislature and
in November, 1965, re-elected
to a second term in the State
Legislature and re-elected to a
third term in November, 1966.
workmen were using torches
to dismantle machinery in the
mill Saturday morning.
By Tuesday, the burned out
hulk of the mill machinery had
been cooled down but accord
ing to Wallace, the building
was a death trap to walk into.
A bulldozer was being used to
knock down the twisted
wreckage left by the blaze.
Two smokestacks fell over
during the firefighting effort
without causing injuries. Wal
lace says with all the excite
ment Sunday, he was unable
to hear the crash amidst the
crackling and popping of the
fire.
In the 8 years he has lived
there, this was the biggest fire
Wallace has seen, though' he
has fought several small fires
in the fuel house. Before the
fire, Wallace, the only Kinzua
employee left at the site, was
expecting to leave by the fall
rains.
The Kinzua Corporation has
retained its ownership of the
property on which the mill
sits. Officials could give no
dollar estimate to the damage
Tuesday.
The Heppner Ranger Dist
rict also dispatched pumpers
to the blaze, at the same time,
officials were at the fire at
Ukiah.
OPENING DAY AUG. 17
'Something new at fair, 9
Chamber members told
life:
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"There's something new at
the fair this year," Delpha
Jones, Morrow County Fair
Board Chairman told Heppner
Chamber of Commerce mem
bers Monday at their regular
weekly luncheon meeting at
the West of Willow Restau
rant. She urged people who have
seen exhibits to come to the
fair again and have fun
participating in the many
events and exhibits planned.
"Buy your fair buttons; it
helps finance the fair."
The fair starts Friday.
August 17 at 9 a.m. with
judging of 4-H clothing and a
knitting style revue at Hep
pner Jr. High and each ci.i.v the
exhibit buildings at the fair
grounds will be open from 8
a.m. to 10 p.m.
Saturday is a big day with a
Family Fun Night scheduled.
Michelle Collette is ill this
year and won't be able to
attend but a replacement
group, the Jesse Rucilez group
featuring the singer, who was
the 1978 Male Vocalist of the
Year in Country Music, will
perform. Also featured during
Saturday night's family fun
night is a parade of antique
cars staged by Bob Harrison.
Harold Peck's 1907 Inter
national Harvester auto
mobile won't be there but will
be in the parade the following
weekend.
Hungry fair appetites will
be nourished by Big Jake's
Kentucky Fried Chicken.
During the day
and Sunday is the amateur
horseshoe pitching contest.
County Judge D.O. Nelson is
the defending champion.
Another fun event set for the
fair is the women's nail
driving contest which drew 30
last year with Garu Grieb as
chairman. The tobacco-spitting
championship won't be
held this year.
In a slide show presentation,
Virginia Grieb, a member of
the Fair Board, pointed out
some of the fun events ranging
from the kid's coin hunt in
sawdust ($21 more was found
by the kids than the $35 thrown
in the pile due to parents,
friends and onlookers) from
4-5 p.m. on Sunday afternoon
to the many exhibits of
animals.
"This is Morrow County's
big celebration," said Delpha
Jones, "and we have always
managed to raise our own
budget. We have never been
on the tax rolls."
She said fair officials say
Morrow County's exhibition of
chicken and bird displays and
the art exhibit are exceptional
and one of the greatest in the
state.
"Come out this year and see
some of our new exhibits,"
Delpha said.
There will be new competi
tions in open class table
settings and senior citizens
will judge cookies.
Mrs. Grieb said the young
sters showing livestock and
staging exhibits are learning
about the good times a fair can
produce and this will aid them
someday in taking the reins
,'and directing the fair activi
ties.' Another new item at this
year's fair ,-will be a plastic
beehive designed to show
young people a living bee's
nes.
There's a lot of fun in this
year's fair, with the theme of
"Down a Country Lane."
Eagle scout's
project
A freedom tree and plaque have been established at I lager
Park in Heppner to honor former POW Mike Bengefnow an
employee with the U.S. State Department. The work was
accomplished by Perry Cooper working for his Eagle Award
in Scout Troop 661. Before leaving for duty in the U.S. Air
Force, Cooper did the work with assistance from Glen Ward.
Freedom tree plaque
honors former P.
Mock disaster drill
slated for lone area
A mock disaster drill will be
held next Wednesday in lone
by the newly-formed Quick
Response Unit, according to
Coordinator Linda Connor.
Connor says the mock
disaster involving a car acci
dent and fire will be held about
7:30 p.m. at an undisclosed
location. Residents are ad
vised not to become alarmed
by the practice emergency.
In Boardman, the Quick
Response group recently
staged a three car pileup to
give emergency teams some
practice.
A plaque, which was given
to Mr. and Mrs. Terrel Benge
of Heppner by the U.S. State
Department in honor of their
son, Mike Benge, a Prisoner of
War released in 1973, has been
placed at the site of a freedom
tree planted at Hager Park by
Perry Cooper, a Life Scout
working on his Eagle Project.
Before he left Heppner to
join the U.S. Air Force, Perry
with assistance from Glen
Ward, installed the plaque in
concrete at the far end of the
new park.
Benge returned to the
United States March 8, 1973 as
a member of the second group
of POW's released from a
North Vietnamese prison
camp and was honored by
over 500 friends in a "Mike
Benge Day" in April, 1973.
Benge spent five years in the
POW camp after being cap
tured in 1968 in a Montagnard
village of Ben Me Thout,
Darlae Province.
He survived the ordeal of
walking more than 600 miles
barefooted when captured as a
civilian working for the
Agency for International Dev
elopment among the Montag
nard tribesmen. His capture
was during the 1968 Tet
offensive in the central high
lands of South Vietnam.
Benge, a graduate of lone
High School and Oregon State
University, served as a mem
ber of the same Scout troop as
Cooper, Troop 661.
When he returned home at
the age of 37, Benge was the
recipient of the Award of
Heroism by the State Depart
ment, received keys to the
cities of Lexington, lone and
Heppner and a welcome from
his friends and acquaintances.
"You don't know how much
it means to us to once again be
back in the free world."
Benge is an employee of the
State Department in Wash
ington, D.C.
Today's vote to decide fate of
orrow County hospital f acilitiei
M
Thursday, August 9 is D
Day for Pioneer Memorial
Saturday HospilaLwilJi. county voters in
north and south ends deciding
the fate of the proposed
$506,474 tax levy outside the 6
percent limitation.
The loss of the levy a third
time at the polls would mean
loss of the entire tax base,
according to Ed Dick, Hos
pital Board Member. In other
words, the hospital budget,
separated from the main
county budget last year, is
dependent on a simple major
ity of votes in favor of the tax
levy.
Continued operation of the
hospital and the county's
remaining medical care fac
ilities, the Pioneer Memorial
Nursing Home and North
Morrow Clinic are also part of
the proposed hospital budget
levy. County officials and
hospital board members have
expressed concern that the
hospital might have to close
should the question failto win
a simple majority of votes.
In the last levy vote, a levy
of $."49,077 failed by five votes
Exercise
your
franchise
Polls open
8to8
with heavy voting against the
measure in the north end of
the county, where residents
are used to using the Umatilla
County hospital facilities.
County Judge D.O. Nelson
recognized the problem rec
ently at the Heppner Chamber
of Commerce meeting and
said, "I don't want it to close.
We have to make a concerted
effort to get out the vote."
He praised the hospital
board for a great deal of effort
and working on solutions.
Since the failure of the
second levy request this
summer, the hospital board
has slashed over $38,000 from
the levy request, accepted the
resignation of Hospital Ad
ministrator Bob Byrnes and
begun the hospital long-range
planning effort.
In dollars and cents, today's
levy request asks a levy rate
of $1,125 per $1,000 in assessed
valuation, $.20 cents lower
than the original levy rate this
summer or $1.32 per $1,000.
In the special election,
voters will be asked, "Shall
Morrow County be authorized
to levy and collect taxes in the
sum of $506,474 outside the 6
percent limitation imposed by
Article 9, Section 11 of the
Oregon Constitution?"
The levy request is marked
by several changes made
after the failure of the second
levy vote June 26: Hospital
patient services were reduced
from $465,451 to $457,109,
physician clinic services were
dropped from $94,976 to $56,232
thereby lowering the bottom
line figure of the budget, while
$2,700 was budgeted for rental
of the administrator's house
balanced by the expenditure
side of the budget in salary
and administrative salaries to
$58,774 from $56,074. Total lab
and x-ray budgeted items
were increased $72,949 from
the previous $68,949 to allow
for more in-house laboratory
work, a medical staff recom
mendation. Physician recruit
ment was reduced by $5,000
from $25,000 to $20,000, the full
time physician's salary was
dropped from $50,000 to $37,500
and total physician services
lowered from $139,588 to
$88,449.
The levy amount requested
is needed to balance the total
medical levy budget for the
current year, none of which is
covered by a tax base. The
hospital must seek the total
amount of its budget each
year, with the exception of a
small amount received from
the county general fund.
This is the second year in
which the hospital levy has
been on a separate ballot from
the county tax levy.
The polls are open from 8
a.m. to 8 p.m. at the Old
Library Building in Heppner,
at Lexington City Hall, at the
lone City Hall, at the Green
field Grange in Boardman and
Morrow County Office Build
ing in Irrigon. Hardman
voters will vote in Heppner.
Driver's license
office closure
The State Motor Vehicle
Division will be closed August
15 and 16 in Heppner.
The driving examiner will
be in Condon and Fossil those
days.