Image provided by: Morrow County Museum; Heppner, OR
About Heppner gazette-times. (Heppner, Or.) 1925-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 11, 1979)
BESSIE WET2ELL U OF ORE NEWSPAPER LIB. EUGENE OR 37403 The Heppner A n I GAZETTE-TIMES 'cSSr EoRintlilnn fop I Morrow County's Award-Winning Weekly Newspaper Everyone I Nation ltmw Wtk Oct. 7 1, 197t 1 I VOL. 97 NO. 41 THURSDAY, OCTOBER 11, 1979 20 cents 12 pages . - HEPPNER, OREGON I Former Sheriff Mollahan .5 fii & . ws v fc . . Y ( j ''fp? I j nominated, county judge Mike Smith rips apart a car at the Lexington dump with the jaws-of-life extrication machine. Glenn Miller awaits his turn. Jaws is here Security boosted at coal-fire plant Jaws is here in Heppner. No, there is not a movie out entitled, "JAWS THREE." This jaws is the jaws-of-life extrication machine which can rip apart an automobile in seconds without much move ment of the vehicle. In this way, a person who is trapped in a car can be removed without much movement so any injury to the person wii not become worse. The piece of equipment consists of a motor and a giant pair of scissor-shaped jaws made of heavy metal and weighing approximately 80 pounds. The jaws-of-life cost about $5,500 and is the new property of Morrow County along with the new ambulances. Jernstedt files for re-election State Sen. Ken Jernstedt has filed for re-election to his fourth term in the State Senate. Jernstedt, a Republican, represents District 28, which includes Morrow County. Jernstedt 's candidacy was the seventh official filing accepted by Secretary of State Norma Paulus, the Sen. Bob Smith of Burns, the Senate Minority Leader predicted that the number 7 would be "a lucky number for Jernstedt." The veteran lawmaker be gan his service in Salem as a member of the House in 1967. He was elected to the Senate in 1968, and has been re-elected since. No one has yet expressed an intention of running against Jernstedt. Jernstedt, the assistant mi nority leader, was nominated for Senate President last January, and drew the solid support of his Republican colleagues. Senate President Jason Boe, D-Reedsport, recently praised Jernstedt for his hard work and contributions to state government. Anexplosion at the Portland General Electric 's Carty coal fired plant injured six people and spokesman Tom Kingston saidfoul play is expected to be the cause but the company is not involving the police or county sheriff's office in the search for the culprit. "Our main concern is to keep it from happening again," Kingston said. "Our own security people at the plant are taking care of it but they haven't found anyone yet and no one is saying any thing." "They are watching and keeping an eye out," he said. "We do not want to involve the police because it was not that serious. There is no need to involve the police if we can keep it from happening again. The injuries to the workers were not that serious. All but one of them returned to work the next day." Kingston said he did expect someone who worked inside the plant was behind the explosion but PGE has about 1,300 workers at the construc tion of the plant. The explosion occurred Oct. 2. A tool shed filled with acetylene exploded when a workman went to light an . acetylene torch near the shed. The six men were taken to Good Shepard Hospital in Hermiston and all but one of the men were released. An inspection into the explo sion showed that it may have been sabotage and not an accident. Four tool sheds in all were found filled with acety lene gas and valves had been left open. Investigators said it was a strong possibility the gas was leaked intentionally. Only one of the tool sheds had exploded. Security has been increased at the plant and inspections will be made more often. Injured in the initial explo sion were Clifford R. Hyde of Boardman, Raymond Fisher of Boardman, Dennis L. Johnson of Vancouver, Wa., Pete W. Fetha of Richland, Ruchard Quinn of Phoenix and John Elliott of Orofino, Id. Former Morrow County Sheriff John Mollahan was nominated last Thursday by the county Democratic Cen tral Committee to be the new county judge. The final decision on who will replace Judge D.O. Nel son will be made sometime next week by Oregon Gover nor Vic Atiyeh. Shirley Woodrow, the gover nor's assistant, said Atiyeh will not select Mollahan auto matically but he will take the ex-sheriff's nomination into serious consideration. She said the governor will look at all of the applicants who went to the Democratic committee and any other qualified candi dates who may be interested in the job but did not seek the : committee's recommenda tion. ' ' - ' - Mollahan was chosen by the committee instead of Daniel Creamer, a retired tug boat captain from Irrigon. Pat Wright, county public health nurse, turned down her nomi nation for the job because she felt she could not spend that much time away from her fifth grade child. Mollahan, 44, was born and raised in Heppner and atten ded school here. His education after high school was limited to some night school classes at Blue Mountain Community College. He was in law enforcement for 14 years and he twice was elected as sheriff of Morrow County. He first was elected in 1968 and again in 1972. Since he resigned about four years ago, he has worked with the city police, been a carpen ter, drove truck, farmed with his family and worked at the Kinzua Mill. He has run for the county judge position twice before and he said he will again if he is not chosen for the job. Democratic committee chairman Paul Jones said the attitudes of Creamer and Mollahan on the issues of the hospital problem and the East Central Oregon Association of Counties may have made the difference. Mollahan said he would appreciate the help of the E.C.O.A.C. and the revenue sharing monies they would contribute, while Creamer said the county should be run by the county government and he would want as little interference from the outside as possible. cl f "t i j 1 John Mollahan has been nominated to be the new Morrow County judge Lions donate $115 to Foundation The Heppner Lions Club met last week and presented a check for $115 to the Oregon Lions Sight Foundation. The money came from the Lions Golf Tournament and the Lions Bingo game at the Fair. Visitors at the club meeting were Ted Weber of Odell, district governor, and Skip Zimmerman of Pendleton, who is the deputy district governor of the Lions Club. The club members also saw a film narrated by Chet Huntley called, "In the ser vice of others." The Lions initiated five new members at the meeting. The Lions organization is one of the largest service organizations in the world. The nationwide and statewide organizations concentrate their efforts on sight, hearing and disaster relief problems. The local club concentrates on any type of community need. All proceeds received by the local chapter are given to the state or national fund, except for expenses. The cost to join the club is $10 entry fee and $15 yearly dues. The Lions meet at the West of Willcv Restaurant on the first and third Tuesdays of each month at 7 p.m. "Membership is by invita tion only but anyone who shows an interest in serving the community is certainly encouraged to join," John Edmundson, president of the club, said. The committee voted by secret ballot during an execu tive session after the public meeting and the members decided overwhelmingly in favor of Mollahan, according to Jones. "I am sure we chose a good candidate," Jones said. Pat Wright was the only woman in contention for the job and she was asked by Jones along with Mollahan and a few other local people to run for the post. "Pat was a good strong candidate and one of the outstanding people in our county but I was no more in her favor than for Mollahan," Jones said. Even though Mollahan is not guaranteed the position be cause of the Democratic Central Committee's recom mendation, he is confident that he will be chosen by the governor. "I will work with all the government officials closely and study each problem," Mollahan said. "The county has many problems and the road prob lem is probably one of the most serious and since winter is coming, it will get worse. That problem will be a top priority. "I also understand some private people are looking into the possibility of low cost housing and I would support that. Some of the existing housing is substandard and that problem will have to be looked in to," he said. If selected, Mollahan would work on the three-member county commission. His pow ers would be mostly executive but he would be given the title "Judge" because he would preside over the Juvenile Court. "I don't see that part of the job as being a large problem for me," Mollahan said. "As sheriff I spent a lot of time working with lawyers. I will consult a lot with the juvenile counselors." Mollahan is planning to be married this Saturday, Oct. 13, to Julia Lee Roberts. He has two children from a previous marriage. They are his older daughter, Jackie, who is a freshman at Blue Mountain Community College, and his son, Joe, a junior at Heppner High School. The family lives on a farm four miles north of Heppner. Animal disease causes some concern in Morrow County State and federal veterinar ians have discovered brucel losis in several herds of beef cattle owned by a Northeast Oregon feedlot operation, and quarantines have been im posed at several ranches in Oregon and Washington. State Veterinarian Dr. Glenn . Rea said that the quarantine affects animals owned by the L.B.J. cattle feeding organization at Athe na, and company -owned herds at several locations in Oregon and Washington. Brucellosis is a bacterial disease of cattle, and can be transmitted to humans through milk of infected animals. This far, said Dr. Rea, there is - no reason to believe that this outbreak has affected dairy animals. The state veterinarian said that the first confirmation of the disease in animals related to the Athena feeding opera tion took place in mid-September when a federal veterina rian in Washington found an infected animal and tests showed the animal to be from a herd kept at a ranch near Umapine. "Subsequently, we have . found reactor animals (cattle proven to have the disease) at the feedlot, and ranches in Wild Horse Canyon and another near Prineville," he said. Dr. Rea said that testing of neighboring herds has shown no indication of the disease, but other herds suspected to have been exposed still are being tested. Federal regulations require strict quarantine measures once the disease is confirmed. Animals with confirmed cases of brucellosis must be kept away from uninfected animals and must be branded with the letter B on the cheek. Such animals can be trans ported only on approval of authorities and must be sent to slaughter under close scru tiny. No human health hazards exist in beef from an infected animal and federal regula tions do allow meat to enter the food marketing system. 'There is nothing wrong with the meat," according to Heppner Veterinarian J W. Norene. "The organism dies when the meat hangs in the cooler after slaughter. The disease can be transmitted to man through milk or by directly coming in Contact with the meat at the time of slaughter." Norene said a fair percent of calves in Morrow County are vaccinated against brucello sis. Once an animal has brucellosis, it has the disease permanently until it dies and there is no treatment for it. "All heifers should be vac cinated, it's a standard recom mendation," Norene said. "It is a potent vaccine and is controlled by the state. The state supplies the vaccine to me and I charge to put it into the animal." Norene said brucellosis in animals is much like malaria in humans. The human dis ease is called "Undulent Fever." It is very drastic and recurrent attacks can occur for years. The fever comes and goes but ii can be somewhat controlled in humans. Harold Kerr, of the Morrow County Extension Service, said Morrow County cattle owners do not have to worry too much about their animals obtaining the disease, unless they do not vaccinate their animals "If they follow the recom mended vaccinations, there is not much worry," Kerr said. 'There is not really the potential for an epidemic but there is a lot of expense for the farmers (If their cattle get the disease.)" Kerr said farmers should be alerted that the disease is around and vaccinations are recommended. He said cattle that run on the range with the infected cattle could have the disease. It can be passed on from cattle to cattle when they havedirect contact, especially during breeding season. Brucellosis can also occur in swine and goat, Kerr said. Port of Morrow meets today A regular meeting of the Port of Morrow Commission was scheduled for today, Thursday, at the port head quarters in Boardman. The session was to start at 1 p.m. The agenda included discus sion of the Harbor Timber Co. lease, effluent land lease, the Port Revolving Loan Fund, the matter of an interchange with Interstate 80, and other v. She said, in a telephone interview, that the housing area of the base has been maintained as a private rental project under the manage ment of Paul Vaden.
