Image provided by: Morrow County Museum; Heppner, OR
About Heppner gazette-times. (Heppner, Or.) 1925-current | View Entire Issue (March 6, 1980)
Phenoxy herbicides debated by Wheat League, public Wheat farmers are girding for a political fight to try to defeat an initiative measure on the November ballot that would restrict the use of phenoxy herbicides. Morrow County growers Monday heard the call to battle from Earl Pryor of Condon who said, "It's going to cost money." Pryor, former president of the Oregon Wheat Growers League, said "I'm sure you're going to be solicited for funds, and as sure as I am standing here, it's going to be on the ballot." He spoke at a meeting that had been called to hear pro and con discussion on the use, in particular, of 2,4-D. From 75 to 100 persons crowded St. Patrick's Roman Catholic Church Parish Hall in Hepp ner for the session. Pryor recalled that when he first started farming, "I had a h of a time trying to stay on top of the weeds. I don't like to use chemicals, but they are a necessary tool." He said wheat farmers have formed the Oregon Food and Shelter Committee as a politi cal organization to fight the proposed initiative that, if passed, would severely re strict the spraying of chemical herbicides and require any application to be done by licensed pesticide dealers, consultants, applicators or operators. "You and I, without a consultant's license, will not be able to buy the chemicals," - w y J r I niiirrr 'ir" Tf -- r - 1 Georgia Hoglund -opposes herbicides he declared. "It would elimi nate the opportunity for farm ers to apply their own chemi cals." The pro and con discussions were presented by Dr. Jim Witt, specialist in chemistry and environmental toxology for Oregon State University, and Georgia Hoglund from Clarkston, Wash., chairperson of Citizens Against Toxic Herbicides. In their talks, each pre sented a series of statistical charts with the use of a slide projector. Witt said there is public concern over the use of 2,4-D. "Our main purpose and the thing I want you to watch for," he said, "is whether 2,4-D is harmful or not harmful. There is a way of trying to evaluate the use of any chemical for its safety or as a hazard." He said no evaluation comes out with "neat and safe answers this is a hazard, this is safe." Witt used a Latin formula, "Sola dosis facit venom," which he explained means "the dose alone makes the poison." This supports the principle that chemicals are poisonous but their injurious effect would depend on se veral factors relating to do sage and exposure. "Any chemical can have toxic effects on animals," he said, adding that people must determine comparative risks in their use of such chemicals as 2,4-D. "There is absolute risk, zero risk, and comparative risk," he said. "We have to deter mine what the level of exposure is. What is the largest dose that causes no effect?" If people become ill in areas where chemical spraying has taken place, he said, there may not be a relationship unless a probable exposure level has been determined. Hoglund related the fight of her organization against the use of chemicals in the forests of northern Idaho. She said study groups had delved deeply into scientific litera ture, spent many hours talk ing with experts in many scientific fields, and traveled extensively throughout the United States where phenoxy herbicides have been used. She said adverse health data had been found with such herbicide use. "One of our most astonish ing discoveries is that timber growth is inhibited instead of promoted by the use of herbicides." she said. "It v r - i J i 1 iff f '' I f if J 9 ) p f if " " f J f: 1 1 m . As ,. ' S Dr. Jim Witt analyses the risks The Heppner TTTlft Mor row County's Home-Owned Weekly Newspaper Weather "ii appears that herbicides are being used as an excuse to increase the allowable cut on the national forests, and were part of a paper shuffle used to inflate productivity projec tions for sustained yield." She said her organization has always actively supported weed control, realizing that the agricultural community cannot survive if weeds are not controlled. "We as consu mers don't eat unless weeds are controlled," she said. She said Idaho has intro duced a plan for controlling noxious weeds by biological methods and through trying to prevent their entry into Idaho. Her organization, she said, has made "a major commit ment to the agricultural community. ..to the research of viable alternatives to chemical over-use, to the revision of the state weed law, to support the state's progres sive weed control program." The aim, she said, is Jo phase down the use of chemi cals. The organization also is involved in providing farmers with "cost effective and envi ronmentally sound tools." By Don Gilliam Hi LoPre. Sun., Mar. 2 55 38 Tues., Feb. 26 58 37 .28 Mon.,Feb.3 55 38 Wed., Feb. 27 62 45 .04 Feb. Prec. 1.95 Thurs., Feb. 28 57 42 .22 Feb. (Normal) Fri.Feb. 29 56 33 1.16 Sat., Mar. 1 53 32 Feb. 1979 J. 15 VOL. 98 NO. 10 THURSDAY, MARCH 6, 1980 2i) CKNTS 10 PAGES HKPPNER. OREGON Few challengers Incumbents run for re-election By Steven A. Powell Most of the Morrow County elected officials are running for re-election and they will all win hands down if some interested persons do not come out of the woodwork during this final week for applying. The deadline to file or petition for a county office is next Tuesday, March 11. That does not give inter ested candidates much time but the process to become eligible to be placed on the May 20 primary election ballot is not that complicated. A person can pay a $50 filing fee at the county clerk's office at the courthouse in Heppner or file a petition with the party of your choice. County clerk Barbara Bloodsworth said to file a petition, a person needs 22 signatures from registered Democrats in the county to run as a Democrat and 17 signatures from registered Republicans in the county to run as a Republican. To run as an independent, a person needs approximately 30 signa tures. Names on the petition also must come from at least two different voting precincts. The only qualifications to be eligible for a county elected office is that the person be a registered voter and regis tered to a political party. Applications are available at the courthouse. The appli cation includes a statement asking for 12 words that can appear after your name on the ballot. The positions that are up for election and their current approximate salaries are: county judge ($17,208), two county commissioner posi tions (approximately $9,000 for part-time), county asses sor ($15,695), county clerk ($15,695), county treasurer ($11,326), fifth district justice ($16,770), sixth district justice ($10,939), and the county sheriff ($15,695). Requests have been made to the county budget committee to raise all of the salaries. The request is to have all of the county officials make the same amount of money ($21,720) except the county judge ($25,000) and the two justices (about $17,000 each). Another proposal is to have all the county officials receive raises to $19,618. Whatever salaries are ap proved for the county officials, there are still only two positions as of Monday, that have more than one person running for it. Beverly Launer of Heppner, a Democrat, is running for the position of county treasurer tax collector against Alice Vance of Heppner, a Republi can. In the only other race, Gene L. Allen of Boardman, a Republican, and Jim Brooks of Boardman, also a Republi can, are challenging incum bent Warren McCoy of Irri gon. a Republican, for the four year term of county commi sioner. County Judge Don McElli gott of lone, a Democrat, is the only person running for that office. Ernest Jorgensen of Boardman is the incumbent and only person running for the fifth district justice posi tion. Incumbent Greg Sweek, a Democrat, is a candidate for the assessor's position and Dorothy Krebs is the only candidate for the two-year county commissioner position. The reason that is a two-year position, according to county clerk Barbara Bloodsworth, is because Krebs was appointed to that position because of the death of the previous.cornrnu-;-sioner. The positions ' are supposed to be staggered at two-year intervals and that is why the position this time is for two years but in 1982 it will again be a four-year term. Larry Fetcsh of lone, a Democrat, is the single candi date to be county sheriff and Bloodsworth of Heppner, also a Democrat, is the only candidate to be county clerk. Charlotte Gray is the only candidate for the justice court position in Heppner. Two positions require extra qualifications. The county as sessor must be a certified appraiser and have a certain amount of work experience among other qualifications. The sheriff must be at least 21 years old. be certified or able to be certified by the Board of Police Standards and Training, and the sheriff must have two years of post high school education or four years of experience or four years of combined education and ex perience. County Clerk Bloodsworth added that there are positions open for 18 Republicans and 18 Democrats to file for precinct committee persons. 15 to lose land to Willow Dam project Fifteen Heppner area resi dents plus the city of Heppner and Morrow County will be losing land to the Army Corps of Engineers for the construc tion of the Willow Creek Dam, it was announced Tuesday night at Heppner High School by Corps personnel. R.S. Thompson has the most to lose as the Corps must purchase 283.16 acres of his land. Public affairs officer Dug Duggar said the Corps has four methods of purchasing property. It can pay a fee, transfer or trade property with an owner, license, or pay an easement fee to essentially rent the land so the Corps can use it but the owner will still be the legal owner. Peter Lennon will be paid for 87.21 acres and will receive an easement fee for .30 acres. Carl Thorpe will receive an easement payment for 17.62 acres, Morrow County will receive a fee for a total of 17.09 acres and J.G. Barrett will be paid for 13.26 aeres of land. Richard Wilkinson will lose 7.46 acres because of the dam construction. Larry Angell will receive a fee for 6.27 acres and an easement fee for 1.18 acres. Christopher George will be paid for 6.26 acres, James H. Hager 4.49, Olive B. Hughes 2.86, C.A. Warren 2.13, Gene Pierce 2.11, Eddie Gun derson 1.24, the city of Heppner .92, Robert C. John son .33, Larry Mills .11 and Mary VanBlockland .01. The land acquisition phase began with the informational meeting Tuesday. Duggar said the Corps will begin construction on the dam in the late summer. County favors Beef vote but national voters don't Suspect arraigned in explosives theft Electric rate hikes to increase revenue 37 Rate increases for Columbia Basin Electric Cooperative, going into effect with Febru ary billings, have been de signed to increase the sys tem's revenues by 37 percent, according to a letter issued by Manager Fred R. Toombs. The letter was mailed to consumers last weekend. "Not all of the rates will increase by the same amount and not all consumers under a given rate can expect the same increase, as they may vary with usage," Toombs said in the letter. He pointed out that the cost of serving irrigators "is ap proximately $725,000," and the original rate proposal was designed to collect this amount from them. "However, on close exami nation, it was found that the cost of serving the small pumps was much more than we were going to collect. The rate was then adjusted so each irrigator paid for the cost of serving his particular installa tion," Toombs said. "However, in these changes (affecting irrigators), no other class of consumer was affected. The irrigation class still had to produce the original $725,000." Toombs' letter explains there are five classes of customers under the rate structure residential, indus trial, commercial, irrigation and street lighting. Columbia Basin engaged the service of rate consultants at considerable expense, Toombs said, to determine the fair share of expenses each class of customer should bear. He pointed out that if Columbia Basin had not bought out Pacific Power & Light Co. in Condon, Fossil and Hepp"er, "those areas would be paying a signifi cantly lather rate for the average user. "Both rural and town cus tomers pay the same rate, conforming to the basic princi ple of the rural electric program, which is to provide central-station power to all residences at equal rates," Toombs said. "This was the justification for the government-authorized 2 percent and 5 percent REA (Rural Electri fication Administration) loans which we all benefit from." He said residential rates are in the form of a service charge plus energy at a flat rate. "Thus, conservation efforts on the consumer's part are reflected sharply in the total bill and are consistent with both Bonneville Power Admi-1 nistration and U.S. Depart ment of Energy guidelines. "The average residential user on Columbia Basin's lines using 1,396 kilowatt hours would pay $35.31, while cus tomers of Pacific Power & Light in Oregon would pay $40.27 in the winter and $36.89 r in the summer. "This is significant, as the consumers of Pacific Power & Light are more closely con centrated. "Industrial customers uti lize only the transmission system of the cooperataive and have paid relatively high rates and are served at minimal cost which does not require use of the distribution system ; therefore, the cost-of-service study shows they are paying their fair share at present rates. "The increase to irrigation customers is slightly higher than the system average because of the cost incurred in providing transmission, distri bution and substation capacity costs associated with these , types of services." Toombs said the increases would not have been as great if the recent ice storm had not occurred. Floyd Everett Harshman, formerly an employee at Kinzua, was arrested Feb. 29 in connection with the theft of explosives from an Oregon State Highway Dept. trailer between Lexington and Hepp ner. Harshman was arraigned in the Sixth District Justice Court in Heppner Monday. The formal charge brought against him by Morrow County District Attorney Den nis Doherty is for the felony of theft in the first degree. It is a Class C felony carrying with it a maximum of five years in the state penitentiary and a $2,500 fine. Kinzua personnel manager moves Dan Sweeney, personnel manager for Kinzua Corp. in Heppner, will join Boise Cascade Corp. at its Oregon regional office at Monmouth. Sweeney, the son of Mayor Jerry Sweeney, has been with Kinzua for six years. His new job as employee relations coordinator will start March 17. The charges are for receiv ing, retaining and concealing more than 1,000 pounds of explosives that were in his possession. Doherty said addi tional charges may be added at a later date. Doherty asked for substan tial bail because Harshman does not have any permanent residence in the area. Justice Charlotte Gray set the bail at $25,000. Of that, 10 percent ($2,500) must be posted before he will be released from the Umatilla County Jail in Pen dleton. Harshman requested a court appointed attorney and he filed the necessary forms. Justice Gray appointed Den nis Hackler of Pendleton as his attorney. The theft of the explosives from the trailer off Highway 74 was reported last week by George Siler of Pendleton. William Jay Devin was arraigned Monday for posses-. sion of less than one ounce of marijuana. Doherty said addi tional charges may be brought against him. Devin, Box 515 in Lexington, entered a not guilty plea. Morrow County cattlemen voted 91 percent in favor of the Beeferendum, which would have assessed ranchers 20 cents on each $100 they get from cattle sales to pay for beef research and promotion. While Oregon ranchers fa vored the idea, the proposal was defeated nationally. "We are very disap pointed." said Norma French of Heppner, whose husband Ray is president of the Oregon Cattlemen's Association. "The referendum passed by 91 percent in Morrow Coun ty," she said, "and we were told by the state office, when we called, that it passed by 71 percent in Oregon. . We do know that in the Dakotas, Texas and Oklahoma it was defeated." Mrs. French said she was "very appreciative" of the CowBelles organization that mounted a telephone cam paign to encourage ranchers in this area to vote. "Not at this time," she replied, when asked if another attempt would be made to vote on the research and promotion assessment. "We'll be going back to Washington in the middle of March to attend the National Cattlemen's Association," she said. "There will be discussion there. Ray is on the board." The vote was sponsored by the cattlement with the assis tance of the Agricultural Stabilization and Conserva tion Service. A report carried by United Press International attributed the defeat of the Beeferendum to the current prosperity of the beef industry. JoAnne Smith of Micanopy, Fla., chairman of the group that sponsored the national vote, said consu- research and promotion would be passed on to the consu mers. Farm groups that opposed the proposal said billions of dollars were already being spent on research and adver tising by the food industry and the government. In this connection, Mrs. French commented, "We do have the National Beef Board and the Oregon Beef Council." The Oregon Journal news paper of Portland quoted Dick Nichols of Winston, state chairman for the program, as speculating on two factors for the defeat. One was that the cattle industry isn't the economic disaster area it was a few years" ago. Prices are at a respectable level, he said, and should hold for a while. The other factor was 'that cattlemen favoring the pro gram were so sure that it would be approved they ne glected to vote. "With the market better, it's hard to pass a program like this. The ranchers don't need help so badly," Nichols said. He noted that most of the negative votes came from areas where farming is em phasized more than cattle raising. Divers find body Divers recovered the body of four-year-old Lucas Glenn of Hermiston Sunday in a pond 400 feet from the boy's home. The boy, son of Dan and Jo Glenn, had been the object of a widespread search since Jan. 8. when he went out to play in the snow. The search was launched when he did not return home. No trace was found of him. More than 300 persons were involved in the hunt. The team of divers who found ihe body next a clump of cattails were members of the Columbia Basin Search and Rescue Council of Kennewick, Wash. Initially the search for the boy had been hampered by 13 inches of snow. Survivors, in addition to the parents, include a sister, Kelly Rose Glenn of Hermiston, and the grandparents, Mr. and Mrs. Francis Rondhuis of Portland; Richard Glenn of Pendleton, and Patricia Lee Glenn of Portland. A funeral Mass was to be held Tuesday at Our Lady of Angels Roman Catholic , Church in Hermiston with burial in the Stanfield Cemetery.
