0 OF ORE
NEWSPAPER L I 8
V G E ?: E OH 9 7 4 0 3
AZETH
Morrow County's Award-Winning Weekly Newspaper
Donald F. Gilliam, official Tues., Sept. 4
weather observer for Hepp- Wed., Sept. 5
ner, reports the following high Thurs. Sept. 6
and low temperatures and Fri.,Sept.7
measured rainfall for the past Sat., Sept. 8
week, starting Tuesday, Sept. Sun., Sept. 9
4. Mon.,Sept. 10
VOL. 97, NO. 37
20 cents
12 PAGES
THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 13, 1979
HEPPNER, OREGON
Hi Low Pre.
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Congress appropriates Willow Greek
funds; bill sent to President Carter
An appropriations bill au
thorizing $3.2 million for
construction of the proposed
Willow Creek Dam has been
passed by both Houses of
Congress and sent to the White
House for signature by Presi
dent Jimmy Carter, Keith
Kennedy, an administrative
aide of Oregon Sen. Mark
Hatfield said Monday.
The President has 10 work
ing days in which to sign the
legislation approving the om
nibus bill containing alloca
tions for other water projects.
Approved in a House-Senate
conference committee, HR
4388, also contains several
appropriations for energy pro
jects including the Tellico
Dam project in Tennessee.
Environmentalists say if the
Tellico Dam is constructed, it
would endanger the survival
of the snail darter, a small
fish. For that reason, Hat
field's aide held out the
possibility of a veto. Congress
could override the veto, Ken
nedy said, or it could approve
legislation deleting the Tellico
Dam project from considera
tion with the bill.
Five years ago, President
Gerald Ford vetoed similar
legislation appropriating
funds for the Willow Creek
Approximately, 45 per cent of
Dam project along with other
projects.
Dugger Edwards, Public
Affairs Officer for the U.S.
Army Corps of Engineers,
Walla Walla District, told the
Gazette-Times Monday that it
would be guesswork to deter
mine "how many people
would move here or live in the
community because of the
anticipated dam construc
tion." However, with the proposed
project starting in fiscal year,
1980, the Corps projects 35 in
1980, 140 in 1981, 155 by 1982,
and 22 by 1983, the year of the
Mayor urges study of
future water sources
Authorization for the Phase
I Master Water Study of
Willow Creek was given last
week by the Heppner City
Council which approved a
$10,000 contract with Barrett
and Associates, an engineer
ing consulting firm.
As the study continues and
more money becomes avail
able, the city will pay another
$5,000 to the firm, according to
Mayor Jerry Sweeney.
Sweeney and U.S. Army
Corps of Engineers officials
are confident that President
Jimmy Carter will sign legis
lation September 17 allocating
$3.2 million for the proposed
Willow Creek Dam project.
The plans also call for
relocation of the city's water
reservoir in Willow Creek
Canyon and restoration of an
old water line, connecting the
Wrestling
program sought
in school district
A group of citizens and
students interested in having a
-school district wrestling pro
gram will submit a list of
petitions in favor of the
proposal Monday night at the
Morrow County School Dis
trict meeting beginning at 8
p.m. at the District office in
Lexington.
Ken Hutchison, one of the
backers of the proposal, said
he has eight or nine pages of
petitions to submit to the
board. He said a wrestling
program would provide "a
real benefit to a great many
kids."
The county school board
turned down a request at its
August meeting to add cross
country to the sports program
citing the need to cut down on
gasoline use and the expense
of adding other sports.
The petitions for the wrest
ling program were collected
last spring and the drive
restarted this fall through the
efforts of Hutchinson and Dick
Rice.
city wells on Willow Creek to
the city limits, with a new
system. .
Mayor Sweeney also asked
Councilman Cliff Green and
the other members of the city
water committee to consider a
hydrological study of the
wells, the city's primary
source of water relative to the
future potential of the Willow
Creek watershed. Sweeney
says no such study has ever
been made of the water
resources and he wants to
know how much water will be
available 25 years from now.
He noted that Rock Creek
recently went dry and years
ago, the ghost town of Hard
man was no longesr used as a
stage coach run because its
well dried up.
The extent of the proposed
study would be from the water
resources from the headwat
ers of Willow Creek at the falls
at the top of Coal Mine Hill
above Willow Creek to the city
of Heppner.
In the September 6, 1929
issue of the Heppner Gazette
Times, it was reported that 50
years ago, the first well-drilling
efforts were made on
Willow Creek from authoriza
tion by the city council.
An ordinance was approved
by the Council regulating
removal of abandoned vehi
cles on city streets or parked
on private property. Passage
of the ordinance is expected to
provide City Police Chief
Dean Gilman more authority
to deal with the problem and
part of the enabling legislation
to cities granted by the states.
The Council signed an
agreement with Peck's Auto
Salvage to remove the vehicles.
Annetta Spicer named
Deputy District Attorney
Annetta Spicer, attorney
with the Heppner firm of
Abrams, Kuhn and Spicer, has
been named as the new
Deputy District Attorney by
Morrow County Prosecutor
Dennis Doherty.
Spicer, a 1977 graduate of
Lewis and Clark Law School,
Portland and a 1972 graduate
of Portland State University is
married to Bill Kuhn, also a
partner in the firm. The
couple has one child, Phillip
Aaron Spicer-Kuhn.
After graduation from Port
land State where she majored
in special education, Ms.
Spicer taught special educa
tion for two years at the
Clackamas Intermediate Edu
cation District.
She is active with the
Methodist Church and AAUW.
At present, she and her
husband are actively engaged
in fixing up their home.
The new deputy district
attorney will work part-time
in the position during the
month of September and
starting October 1 will work
full-time.
anticipated completion date.
There could be anywhere
from 30 to 300 families and
according to the Corps, the
impact of the anticipated dam
construction would fall mainly
on the school system.
After land acquisition pro
ceedings are carried out and
contracts let for the various
construction phases, the Corps
expects to have a firmer idea
of what to expect.
"Several years ago, people
would have commuted from
Tri Cities to Heppner but with
the higher costs of energy, it's
out of range," Edwards said.
One thing which would help
the situation, the official said,
would be installation of a
trailer court.
Board to select
Administrator
Frederick Martin, chair
man of the Pioneer Memorial
Hospital board, said the hospi
tal directors will meet Mon
day, Sept. 17, to select a new
hospital administrator.
The meeting will start at 7
p.m. in the conference room of
the Columbia Basin Electric
Co-operative.
"This is a meeting of the
board to make a decision,"
Martin said. "We have the
resumes of a couple c
candidates and a choice will
be made."
. Nii niiill
... jj
Festival Fun
Seekers
Children enjoyed themselves on a float in Saturday's Harvest Festival Parade in
Boardman. There were 45 entries in the annual parade including horse groups and antique
cars. Harold Peck of Heppner won the antique car division and the Morrow County Fair and
Rodeo Court was voted the best of the royalty.
estival celebrates harvest time
Boardman celebrated the
end of summer Saturday and
Sunday with its Harvest
Festival activities.
The highlight of the annual
celebration was Saturday's
Festival parade drawing 45
entries incli.j g many color
ful floats. Inland Empire Bank
of Boardman won the com-
ercial division of floats and
The Tops Club placed second.
In the non-commercial divi
sion, the Boardman-Tillicum
Club placed first trailed by the
Boardman Community
Church in second place. The
specialty division was won by
Kay Trumbull, the Boardman
Lions Club's Mother of the
Year pedaling a three wheeled
bicycle. Harold Peck and the
Morrow County Historical
Society claimed first prize in
the antique car division and in
second place was an old truck
owned by the Riekkola Farms
of Boardman. The custom
car-boat division was won by
Mike Denton with his display
of a racing boat.
The Morrow County Court,
Queen Debora Palmer and her
two Princesses, Lori Edwards
and Jennifer Wenholz, won the
royalty division and Gilliam
County placed second. The
novelty horse group was won
the Combewood-Hackney
New workers escalate housing
demand in Heppner area
Highway construction be
tween Heppner and Lexing
ton, anticipated influx of
workers to construct the
proposed Willow Creek Dam
and new teachers have school,
industry and real estate offi
cials searching the area for
available housing.
The biggest demand for
housing, according to Bob
Harris of Northwestern Real
Estate in Heppner, is for
mobile home parks.
"People are buying mobile
homes, then expecting to find
places for them. While they
look, they are paying their
monthly payments."
Harris says county zoning
regulations are a factor in
discouraging mobile home
developments around Hepp
ner, citing the 20-acre mini
mum lot size in farm-zones
property.
Asked about the situation,
County Planning Director
Dean Seeger said there was
little land around Heppner
which was zoned farm resi
dential, which would allow
development of one-acre
mobile home tracts, and he
doubted whether the State
Land Conservation and De
velopment Commission would
allow such development out
side the city's urban growth
boundary.
Harris says he generally has
4 or 5 inquiries a week from
people interested in purchas
ing retirement property as
well as interest in mobile
home property from Kinzua
workers. Workers from the
temporary construction area
between Heppner and Hermis
ton are also searching for
housing further adding to the
heavy demand for housing in
the south end of Morrow
County.
Recently, the Heppner City
Planning Commission ap
proved conditional permits for
location of trailers on existing
plats within the city in R-2
zoned property.
Asked by the G-T if
there had been any proposals
from citizens to enlarge the
farm residential zoning
around the urban growth
boundaries of Heppner, See
ger said no.
The housing crunch has
been with the community for a
number of years and local
school principals in Heppner,
Don Cole and Jim Bier, have
been helping out new teachers
by finding available housing.
Principal Don Cole said he
was able to find housing for
nine teachers.
"We really have been fortu
nate and since the first of
September, have been doing
pretty good."
Cole said the rumor M 1,
has made the rounds in
Heppner that several teachers
decided not to accept positions
with the school system be
cause of the housing situation
was probably not accurate,
but could have been in the
early stages of the teacher
recruitment process.
Says Cole: "It's tight, but
it's not impossible to find
housing."
Many landlords locally pre
fer renting to teachers, says
Cole.
"This town could still use a
half dozen rentals," he said.
The Elementary principal
remembers that in 1961 when
he first came to this commu
nity with his wife that housing
was also tight but they have
managed to find housing ever
since. Cole has personally
loaned his old home to a
teacher without housing.
He has known teachers who
would like to install their
trailers on lots here but could
not find property.
Allen Nistad. owner of the
Evergreen Apts. in Heppner
and general manager of the
Kinzua Corporation, said the
apartments have 40 on the
waiting list.
At one time, there was a
committee attempting to alle
viate the housing crunch in
Heppner. according to Cole,
but il obtained only verbal
committments to create mor.
housing in the city.
To newcomers to the city in
search of apartments, the
effort can sometimes be
frustrating. Some come to the
city and find nothing for the
first two or three weeks;
others are lucky and find what
they are looking for in a
matter of days.
At present, there is no
housing referral agency in the
south end of the County. House
and apartment hunters scan
the want ads in the Gazette
Times, check with Far Wes
tern Real Estate or listen to
word of mouth news about
someone leaving. Word of
mouth is apparently the
easiest means of locating a
place to live.
Office closed
Sept. 17 -21
The Heppner office of the
Motor Vehicles Division will
be closed Sept. 17 through
Sept. 21. Manager Rose Mc
Coy says the one week
interruption of service is
needed to allow her to attend
an office managers confer
ence in Portland.
Pony Farm of Mosier, Oregon
and winning the horse division
group award was the Mustang
4-H group of Irrigon. In second
place was the Melvin Bozarth
family which wore buckskins
in the morning parade.
The adult winner in the
individual horse division class
was Mary Thompson of
Boardman riding a Tennessee
walking horse and junior
division winner Betty Slocumb
and Karen Carlso of the
Boardman Community Club.
The festival started with a
barbecue Friday night and on
Saturday morning before the
parade, a breakfast was held.
Following the parade, a
produce auction was held with
the sale of produce, a beef,
airplane rides, merchandise
donated by Boardman mer
chants, grape plants from the
local winery, gravel, lube and
oil and other miscellaneous
items.
There were games at the
Boardman Park and a pet
show with awards to most
unusual.
On Sunday, hydroplane
races were held on the
Columbia River.
Port meeting slated
Thursday in Heppner
The Port of Morrow Com
mission meets Thursday at 1
p.m. at the Bank of Eastern
Oregon in Heppner.
On the agenda were to be
discussion of a proposed
foreign trade zone by Vern
Chase. of the Port
of Portland, effluent land
lease, Gourmet bonding,
techite pipe update, effluent
system improvement plan
"A" revised, R.L. Jensen
Associates proposal, center
pivot payments, port revol
ving plan, the Morrow County
Court and Charles Lands- ,
kroner of Union Pacific Kail-road.
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