Image provided by: Morrow County Museum; Heppner, OR
About Heppner gazette-times. (Heppner, Or.) 1925-current | View Entire Issue (April 10, 1980)
O BESS I E WETZELL U OF ORE NEWSPAPER LIB EUGENE OR 07403 S f y t y - , "5 - t "i The KaUrr tmnnv m vrry popular during hi visit to llrppnt-r Saturday asbr hhakrk hands with votingtilrr while othrr rr given ramlv. Wheat growers need herbicides to Wheat is unique in Morrow. Umatilla and Wasco counties Ixfause more bushels are grown ;r drop of water than anywtiere Hse in the world, according to Tom Zinn, Wasco County Extension Agent. Zinn spoke al two recent meetings of the Morrow ''v t Tom .inn uses a visual aid to show that chemical herbicides are sprayed very thin over cropland. Recreational vehicle park for downtown Heppner approved by council John Skow's recreational vehicle park for north of the R&W Drive In and west of Trish's Beauty Shop in Hepp ner was approved by the Heppner City Council Monday night. The RV Park will be allowed a conditional use in a commer cial zone under the supervi sion of the Heppner Planning Commission. The planning commission previously ap proved the change. Skow, who owns the North west -jrn Motel in Heppner, cannot build a stucture on the land so instead he wants to build a RV park with 16 spaces. It will be designed for VOL. H NO. 15 .. r . County Wheathearts on the topic of Pesticides-What They Mean to You " He explained the wheat growing prtx ess to the womi-n saving that during the spring, farmers till the soil to make sure that no water escapes. "Weeds and all plants y ... temporary occupancy only. A daily fee, will be charged. The amount of time a RV can stay in the park is still under consideration. The size of the RV's is also under consideration but it will probably be 40 feet long or less, Skow said. No mobile homes will be allowed. "I want no part of a mobile home park," Skow said. Skow said Heppner needs the park for hunters in the winter and for summer travel ers. If the Willow Creek Dam is built, the councilmen said they do not want workers to stay there any longer than 30 days. THURSDAY, APRIL 10, j j ...... .. v " , . ' ? . S extract water from the soil and in dry areas like this, farmers need to save as much water as possible." Zinn said. "With the rod weerter and chemical tilling. farmers starve the weeds and kill them at the roots." When farmers plant the wheat seeds, they use a deep furrow drill to make sure the seeds are planted in moist soil six to eight inches down so the seeds can germinate. The farmer then covers the seeds with about three inches of soil, he said Zinn said if a farmer seeds late, he will have a smaller crop with up to 18 bushels per acre difference. "They need to get the weeds to conserve the moisture." he explained. "It is like having a milkshake with straws in it. The more kids thai go after it, the taster it will go." To get rid of the weeds. Zinn said farmers have to use herbicide chemical sprays. "If we forget chemicals and do it by hand, we would need thousands of people." he said. "It would be physically impos. siblo on the large farms." If the weeds are not con trolled, they will reduce the total crop yield 10 to 20 percent, slow the harvesting time, tear up combines and reduce crop grades and qua lity, Zinn said. "We cannot go back to the small farms." he said. "There Warren Plocharsky was the only councilman not to vote for the conditional use. Charlene Paptneau spoke to the council about writing a letter to the Forest Service saying the city is against the sale of the Willow Creek Watershed. The Forest Ser vice is planning to sell the land in 1982, she said, and the land must not be logged because the wells in Heppner area will run dry. Papineau said timber sales are important, if the county gets the timber, but Kinzua Corp. has only had two of the last seven sales and the rest The Morrow County's Home-Owned Weekly 19X0 2 At Monday's meeting Morrow County' school budget for 1980 81 was cut $rfl.276 at a special school Ullman chairman named Oregon Congressman Al Ullman ha named Betty Brown and Mike Swee ney co-chairmen of his Mor row County Re-Election Com mittee. Ullman will make the announcement during his visit to Heppner today. 'I am very honored that Betty and Mike have agreed to head up my local campaign effort." Ullman said. "I've known Betty and Paul Brown for over 25 years and am thankful for their generous support and assistance. Their advice has always been sound and their recommendations helpful. 'i also look forward to retain water in soil is tod much of a demand for food. Malnutrition kills 150.000 people in the world daily. That shows we are not exporting tnaigh." He said the controversy over the use of herbicides is not valid because the only risk is in the misuse, not the use, of chemical sprays. "If you don't take the precautions that are on the label, you are in trouble," he said. He said farmers are becom ing more aware of the problems associated with chemicals and that misuse before was caused by lack of education. Zinn said 2. 4 D is a safe and inexpensive herbi cide that is used. He added that there is a ban on the use of the chemical 2. 4. 5-T because it has a dioxine that has been found to be carcinogenic in rats at certain temperatures causing abnormal cell growth. "The Environmental Pro tection Agency ban on 2.4.5-T has caused industry to suf fer," he said. "The protection agency did not do its home work. There is no chemical proof that the chemical caused abortions. The scare tactics are being used because the spray has destroyed mari juana hidden on forest lands. The press in the metropolitan areas has sensationalzied the accusations and put the scien tific results in the back pages." have gone to outside sources. "Future generations here will be in trouble if the 4,000 acre watershed is not pre served." she said. Mayor Jerry Sweeney said city engineers are currently studying the water system and that when that study is completed, the council will make a decision on where it stands on the watershed controversy. Jerry Samples spoke to the councilmen about the use of the city swimming pool. Since the city budget did not pass at the election two weeks ago, the councilmen said they did not know if the pool will Heppner 11 CENTS Ichool budget cut $58,276 board meeting Monday night in Irrigon. With the budget cuts, tax- working closely with Mike. He's a fine young attorney and a credit to the Heppner community." Mrs. Brown, who. along with her husband, operates the family wheat farm, ex plained her strong support of Ullman. "Paul and I have known Al for many years. He's not just our Congress man: he's our friend. Hepp ner's not a large community and it's not on a ain thoroughfare. But. ovet the years. Al has never forgotten his friends. He always works us into his busy schedule and the people of Morrow County appreciate it." Zinn said if poison is expected, a person should call the "Poison Control Center in Portland 24 hours a day at 1:800-452 7165. Nuclear plants better than coal3 PGE employee says A spokesman for the Port land General Electric Carty coal-fired plant near Board man said Monday at a Chamber of Commerce meet ing that he personally thinks that nuclear plants are safer than coal plants, although that may not be PGE's stance. Dave Sick'e, permanent planner scheduler for the maintenance supervisor, said scare tactics are slowing down the process of nuclear energy. He said he worked in "nukes" for 12 years and found them to be much safer, cleant r and required less maintenance, and lfhs land. "Coal is more hazardous to work in but I am biased toward nukes," he said. Sickle told the Heppner Morrow County Chamber members that he is all for having a road built across the bombing range that would connect south Morrow County to the Cartv plant. He said it even open this year. They said if it does, the swim team will be able to use it as usual. Samples said the swim team is "desperate" for a coach so that when a pool manager is hired, he asked that the swim team pay part of his salary so he could be their coach. The council will look into it, members said. The council heard from city attorney Bill Kuhn about the city suit with Jim Dowe over some overtime he said he had coming. The city lost the case but only for $440 of the requested $4,400. Newspaper 12 PAGES payers in the county will have a 35 cent increase per $1,000 valuation more than they paid this year for the school taxes. If the new budget is ap proved by the voters at the May 20 primary election, taxes will be assessed at $8.08 per $1,000 instead of the $8.22 per $1,000 that would have been assessed if the first budget passed. Taxpayers paid $7 73 per $1,000 this year. The school board budget committee cut a bus from the budget, a bus route, reduced the expenditures for lawn care equipment, cut district travel, cut unemployment costs and cut one teacher's salary. The board added $9,650 in receipts so the new levy for May 20 is for $3,595,445. cut from the original proposal of $3,670,160. The amount voters will see on the ballot which is outside the six percent limitation is for $3,006,935. Taxes on a $50,000 home, for the school budget, will be $404 while a person paid $386.50 this year for the same valued property. Taxes on that pror would especially benefit the plant workers who live in I.exington and lone who have to drive either miles out of their way or have to cut across the range on gravel roads that "destroy cars." On the possibility of building a second plant next to the existing one. Sickle said, "I still don't know. It's a well kept secret." Sickle said the maintenance part of the plant has about 60 people who will work 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. once the coal plant is fired up June 1 but currently they are working six days a week for 10 or 12 hours getting the plant ready. He said :?no.oM) tons of coal have been delivered to the plant already and there has been a lot of breakdowns in the conveyor belts that move the coal. "Instead of the trains com ing every 2' a days as planned, they are coming in back to back which requires high "We set a precedent be cause I don't think too many people will sue the city over overtime again for that amount of money." Kuhn said. Attorneys fees were also awarded hut Kuhn is still arguing in court over that amount. Howe's attorneys are asking the court for $2,600 but they are willing to settle out of court for $1,300. Kuhn said he did not think the judge will award even that amount and the city council decided to see what the judge will award rather than settle out of court. Kuhn received more than $1,600 for his work on the case. Mayor Sweeney said the city HEPPNER. OREGON perty would have been $411 with the original proposal. The school board decided to I- Easter bunny maintenance," Sickle said. "We can now unload a train in four hours when it took seven hours at first." He said the plant pulveri zers will require about 900 hours of maintenance a year and there are eight of them at the Carty plant. He said they are looking into preventative maintenance by monitoring and lubricating the equipment so it does not break down as often. Some chamber members expressed concern about the smoke that will be emitted from the plant but Sickle said about $30 million has been spent to try and keep the ash inside the smokestack. He said if a second plant is constructed, a scrubber will be added to the emission system to clean the emissions even more. Sickle said there are week end tours at the plant and that is when coal is usually council budget committee has 2' j months to work on another budget for the June 24 election and that the budget must be certified at the county clerk's office by May 19. Budget committee meetings will be gin April 16. Sweeney recommended, even though he is not on the budget committee, that the members seriously think about using the same budget because "it is a good budget" and just work harder on explaining what it means to the city and what will happen if it is reduced. He said the last thing they - f i i (i 3 postpone work on a new tax base until the November election. cuddles a small girl. dumped. "PGE is a good neighbor." Sickle said. "They do not just do what they want to as some utilities have done in the past. They are willing to listen." In other chamber announce ments, Randall Peterson said there will be a Moonlight Sale in Heppner April 25. Mayor Jerry Sweeney said there will be a meeting on flood insur ance at the county courthouse May 1. It was also announced that a committee composed of chamber members has been formed and will talk to Al Ullman this morning about the Willow Creek Dam. Next week's Chamber of Commerce speaker will be Buddy Toadvin, Port of Mor row manager, who will dis cuss what the port can do for south Morrow County. The following week. Gene Klurty, of the Department of Motor Vehicles office in Heppner, will show a film on forgery. should cut is personnel be cause the city has trained personnel now that they don't want to lose. City Administrator Mar shall Lovgren said he thought the Letter to the Editor published in the Heppner Gazette-Times written by councilmen and budget com mittee members Joe Miller and Warren Plocharsky hurt the city's chances of passing the budget. He also said resources will be down from past years and the contingency fund is being used up so the budget has to be bigger to keep the lame services.
