Image provided by: Morrow County Museum; Heppner, OR
About Heppner gazette-times. (Heppner, Or.) 1925-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 24, 1980)
EESStE WETZltL U OF. ORE N EWSPAPER LlB 8 BBS The Heppner Weather Morrow County's Home-Owned Weekly Newspaper By Don Gilliam VOI,. 98 NO. 4 20 cents 12 PAGES HEPPNER, OREGON THURSDAY, JANUARY 24, 1980 Tues, Jan. 15 Wed., Jan. 16 Thurs.. Jan. 17 Fri., Jan. 18 Sat.. Jan. 19 Sun., Jan. 20 Mon., Jan. 21 Hi Low Pre. 50 30 49 32 .03 42 30 .02 33 19 .03 ('' snow) 32 36 31 14 16 16 mm . f i f iii Kinzua, G-P end negotiations Dr. Fontaine (Dale Holland) gives Renee (Alice Abrams) an evil glance in a scene from the Heppner High School play, "The Night Is My Enemy." The mystery production will be performed two nights next week. Georgia-Pacific Corp.. one of the nation's giants in the forest products industry, and Kinzua Corporation of Hepp ner have ended their negotia tions for a merger. The announcement was made last week from G-P corporate headquarters in Portland, where a spokesman said the two organizations had not reached a satisfactory agreement on the acquisition of Kinzua. The original agreement, disclosed Dec. 13, provided for G-P to acquire Kinzua through an exchange of stock. The purchase would have included the sawmill in Heppner and Kinzua's eastern Oregon tim ber holdings. At the time the merger discussions were an nounced, the local firm had decided to shut down its plywood manufacturing plant and continue only with saw mill operations. Kinzua's decision put 150 persons out of work. However, the company still employs 150 in the sawmill. Harry Kennison. general manager of Kinzua. said the two firms "couldn't agree, it was an impasse. Georgia-Pacific decided they weren't interested. They did not dis close any details. You can speculate, but they're not going to come forth with any more." It was under rules of the Securities and Exchange Commission that the "agree ment in principle" for the merger had been announced. With the negotiations ended, the two-sentence announce ment last week "was all that the attorneys would let us say," the G-P spokesman explained. Kennison commented that (he short-term lumber market is "horrible." "We might curtail produc tion or we might not, depend ing on what the bottom line is," he said. "We're selling our wood but at a loss." He admitted the closure of the plywood mill had been a blow both to Kinzua and the community, but it was (he result of market conditions and the fact the raw materials had (o be brought here from such a distance from loca tions in eastern Oregon and Idaho. Kennison said the company expects lumber market condi tions (o improve. No matter what Gray will run for justice court position Mystery play planned The Heppner High School drama club will put on its first play of the year Jan. 29 and 31 called. "The Night Is My Enemy." Starring in the three-act mystery production will be Alice Abrams as Renee, the blind girl, and John Bier as Gerald Clayton, the young attorney. Other, stars' include Dale Holland as Dr. Fontaine and Jana Steagall as Mrs. Fon taine. Rounding out the cast are Jim Ackley, Lisa Nix, Danny Nix, Ron Young, Susan John son and Margaret Kincaid. Shari Cowett is in charge of sound effects, Mardell James is the stage manager, and Susan Jacobs is in charge of lighting. The members of the cast have dedicated the perfor- mance in memory of Chuck Wyatt, the young teacher who died in an auto accident in December. Director Jane Rawlins said he was very involved in the play before his death. The play evolves around an insane killer who is out to rid the world of defective people, Mrs. Rawlins said. About halfway through the two-hour play, the audience will know who the killer is but the blind girl, Renee, does not figure it out until the end. , The play will start at 8 p.m. Tuesday and Thursday. The cost is $1.50 for adults and $1 for students. Pre-schoolers will get in free. All proceeds will go to the drama club, which operates without a budget. Rawlins said she hopes to put on a musical in the spring. M-80 culprits to cut wood as punishment for crimes Ron Schwarz of Heppner and John Clow of Irrigon have agreed to diversion proceed ing prepared by Morrow County District Attorney Den nis Doherty. The two boys were arrested for the bombings of four mailboxes on the Sand Hollow Road. The diversion proceeding means the criminal charges for disorderly conduct will be dismissed after six months and taken off their records if certain conditions are met. The conditions of the diver sion proceeding are: Both boys must make full restitution to the people whose mailboxes they destroyed. They must donate $160 to the Neighborhood Center in Heppner. As part of the agreement, they can work for the Center for $4 an hour instead of paying part of tne money. Schwarz and Clow must cut, split, haul, deliver and stack five cords of wood for the benefit of someone the Neighborhood Center decides on. They must comply with all laws. If the two boys meet all the conditions for 180 days, the misdemeanor charges will be dropped. If they do not meet the conditions, Doherty can prose cute by other means for the disorderly conduct charge and possible add more charges. The disorderly conduct car ries with it a maximum penalty of $500 and six months in jail. Krebs may lose leased land Henry and Dorothy Krebs of lone may lose one-fourth of their land and therefore Krebs Brothers, Inc. may have to cut back its number of sheep and cattle by one-fourth. In a telephone interview recently with Mrs. Krebs, county commissioner, she said they leased 5,921 acres of public land from the Bureau of, Land Management. They have leased land from the BLM since 1942. The BLM wants to trade that public land for 165 acres of private land along the Deschutes River that is owned by Roger T. Justeson. Justeson said in a story in the East pregonian newspa per that he would be willing to lease the land to the Krebs but Mrs. Krebs said Justeson has "never approached us." The BLM said it is in the public interest to trade the lands because the Krebs land is separated from other public lands and is desert grassland so it has low public value. On the other hand, the Justeson land is adjacent to other BLM land and is in an area of high recreational demand. The land the Krebs lease from the BLM has been appraised at $35 an acre for the trade while Justeson's land has been appraised at $1,250 an acre. Henry Krebs disagrees with that appraisal saying it is worth $300 an acre. In 1974. Portland Gejieral Electric purchased nearby land in the same condition from the Krebs for $189 an acre for the Pebble Springs nuclear site. Mrs. Krebs said she was told if the lands were re-appraised, both would be higher so it would still come out equal and the trade could be made. She said there already is a wool shortage so it does not make sense to cut down their operation, which is one of the largest in Oregon with 4,400 ewes. The Kasl Central Oregon Association nf Counties, of which Mrs. Krebs is a member, has opposed the trading of the lands saying it will have an "adverse econo mic effect on the region." Mrs. Krebs did not vote on the issue but the ECOAC did express its concern that the new owner would not continue to use the land for grazing. The Krebs Brothers, Inc. . found out in 1978 that they might lose their grazing rights to the land because of a possible trade. Mrs. Krebs said they have opposed the issue for the last two years and they have contacted their Oregon con gressmen, who gave the reply that the BLM is within its legal rights to make the land trade. "We have had the land for awhile and now we may lose it without having a chance to buy it or trade for it (with the BLM),' Mrs. Krebs said. She said if the Krebs Brothers, Inc. lose one-fourth of their range, their "mode of operation will have to change pasture is not avail- if the able." She said the trade could adversely effect the six fami lies that are fully dependent and the four families that receive additional income from the Krebs operation. Mrs. Krebs said they may be interested in purchasing the land from Justeson if the trade is made, or leasing it, if the price is right. "Sheep need a spring range close to your base operation." she said. "You can't hold them in a pen. Good spring range just is not available. "Costs would be higher to move them (the sheep) away to another range and we would have to set up camps we could nol afford. "Our interest is two-fold. The public deserves a fair shake. There is a big differ ence in the amount of land being traded. "We take the grass off of it but it is still public land, there (Continued on page 3) Doherty said he talked it over with the people involved and they all agreed the diversion proceeding would be the best way to prosecute since neither of the boys has had any prior trouble with the law. Doherty said he talked with Glen Ward,-.game commis sioner; J.L. Edwards, postal inspector: Sheriff Larry Fetsch, Jean Ann Turner, Richard Drake and Mr. and Mrs. Bill Kenny. The district attorney said formal action will be taken against the three other boys connected with the M-80 explosives as soon as the Schwarz and Clow case is completed. Doherty said, to the best of his knowledge, the M-80s have all be confiscated, with the help of Clow and Schwarz. Doherty said if anyone has any knowledge about the M-80s. please get in touch with him or the sheriff's office. The Morrow County Court has formed a committee to look into the possibility of combining the 5th District Jus! ice Court in Irrigon and the 6th District Justice Court in Heppner. The committee met last week in Heppner and will meet next week in Irrigon. District Attorney Dennis Doherty said combining the two courts could save the county $3,000 or more and still give the.county as good, if not better, service. Doherty said opposition to the combining of the two courts came from Irrigon Justice Ernest Jorgensen. who said the two court system .is doing a good job. Justice Charlotte Gray in Heppner said she definitely will run for office if the two courts are combined and even if they are not. Gray said she has already petitioned to run for office for the 6th District and will re-petition if the two courts are combined. She said whether the courts are combined or not, she is going to ask for more money when budget requests are reviewed next month. Gray said she is going to request to be paid the same as the justice court in north Morrow County. The 5th District Court is budgeted about $5,000 more to include a justice of the peace and a file clerk. Since Gray does both jobs in Heppner, she said she should be paid for both jobs. ' Gray said the Irrigon Court has justified being paid more because it handles more cases but Gray said most of those cases are traffic offenses which do not take up as much time as the trial cases she handles. Doherty has most of his trials in the Heppner Court. As to the combining of the two courts. Gray said. "Yes. it seems feasible." "The travel would not bother me although I might have some trouble in the winter." she said. Both terms for the two justices expire this year and that is why the committee is looking into combining the courts now. Elections will take place in May for the one. or both, justice positions depending on the recommendations of the committee. Statistics from 1979 show that Justice Charlotte Gray in Heppner has handled 821 cases. Civil cases numbered 13. small claims 45. game cases 83. misdemeanors and felony offenses 107. and 573 traffic cases. In Irrigon. Justice Ernest Jorgensen handled 3.361 cases. Civil cases numbered 38. small claims 104. offenses (game violations, felonies and misdemeanors) 82. and 3.137 traffic cases. Of the 3.361 Irrigon cases. 85 were driving while under the influence of intoxicants. 47 driving with a suspended license, three reckless driving and five attempting to elude an officer. During the year, the Irrigon Court collected $72,439.19 with $36,480.58 going to the county and $35,958.61 going to the stale. In Heppner. the court collec ted $31,547.77 with $22,213.47 going to the county. $8,124.30 going to the state and $1,209 going to the city of Heppner under the city-county agree ment that the county court handles some of the city cases. Gray said the amount of money going to the city is low because there was not an Oregon State Police resident traffic officer in the city for six months in 1979. The Heppner Court had ils best month in December with $4.(190.97 collected and its worst in January with $1,174 collected. The Irrigon court had its best month in October with $7,584.10 and its worst in January with $4,051.26 collec ted. Gray explained that when the officer cites an offender, if it is a stale officer, half of the fine money collected goes, to the state and the other half goes to the county. If the citing officer is county, all the money goes to the county. All misdemeanor monies go lo the county. In the case of the Heppner Court that handles the city cases, the city and county divide the money until $1.600 is in the citv fund and then the rest of the money goes to the county. dray said all citations have an assessed amount that goes to the state ranging from $2 to $25 depending on the size of the fine. Portland man to get public works job The Morrow County Court has hired Donald L. Briggs of Portland to be the new public works director for the county. T-ii applicants filed for the job hut Briggs was chosen, according to Judge Don McEI lieoit. because he got a tremendous recommendation from his current supervisor. Hena Koosmn. who is the director of environmental works for Multnomah County. McEllicott said she told him in a telephone call that Morrow Count v could get "no better man" than Briggs and 'hat Briggs' next promotion would be lo road supervisor but it may not he for a few vears and I hat is why Briggs wants lo come o Morrow Count v. MeElligotl said Briggs (old him his job in Portland is getting routine and he thinks tha pulic works job here will be a challenge. Judge McElligott said there were a lot of good applicants and five were personally interviewed for the position. One of the five withdrew at the lasl minute so there actually were four finalists. t The judge said the county court has accepted Briggs but the salarv still has . to be worked out. The position was advertised as "salary negoti able." Briggs is the bridge section maintenance supervisor for( Multnomah County. He has1 held that position since 1974. Prior to that, he was a maintenance man and main tenance foreman for the Multnomah County Public Works. From 1962 to 1968 he was in private industry. Briggs was in the navy from 1958 to 1961 and was involved with the construction and maintenance of heavy equip ment. He got his college degree by going to night school after working during the day. He attended Portland Community College for two years and Portland State University for three years getting his degree in engineer inc and management. McElligott said Briggs is about 40 years old but does not know for sure because his age was not on the application. Bricus was born and grew up in Mt. Pleasant. Iowa. He has a son who is a senior in high school and a daughter "ho is nMondinc a heautv school in Vancouver. Wash. Briggs is an antique car buff. In his current job. Briggs has been responsible for a $75i).ono budget. He has been in charge of the repair and maintenance of the 69 bridges in the Portland area, including two draw bridges. He is a certified bridge inspector. Briggs was in charge of all equipment, materials, perso nel of 30 or more and the bridge inventory. Judge McElligott said he hopes Jo have Briggs in the position in early February. As the public works director for Morrow County. Briggs will be responsible for the road department, the opera lion of the public parks, the county landfill and the mainte nance of the courthouse crounds.
