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About Heppner gazette-times. (Heppner, Or.) 1925-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 11, 1980)
' BESSIE WETZELL U OF ORE NEWSPAPER LIB EUGENE OR 07403 The Heppner Tue.Sept.2 71-58 Wed., Sept 3 73 - 39 Thurs.Sept.4 82-4J FH.,Sept.5 88-47 Sat., Sept. fl 89-56 Sun., Sept 7 79-53 Mon.,Sept.8 75-40 GAZ .04 a iU li s Morrow County's Home-Owned Weekly Newspaper VOL 98, NO. 31 THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 11. 1986 14 PAGES 2 CENTS HEPPNER, OREGON Dam changes Mr. and MrB. Peter Lennon '' have until July 1 of next year to clear off their property. It's not thiil they want to leave he 92-acre spread they have lived on since 1940they've got no choice. The Lennons live on Balm Fork ouoilde Heppner; the same Halm Fork that, along with Willow Creek, will be dammed In two years and nuide Into a reservoir by the Army Corps of Engineers. The Lennons are not happy about leaving, but, like other property owners in the area, their lund is destined to end up al the bottom of a reservoir. The Corps of Engineers has already purchased some land, is negotiating with other land owners, and has even started condemnation proceedings against two. "It's an eviction notice, Hint's what it is," says Peter Lennon, as he sits on his front lawn overlooking rich farm land, that produces cattle. sheep, huy, and, in past years, 2 lieal. He said appraisers from the Corp recently came, looked at his house, barn and land and made him an offer. Except, says Lennon, it wasn't really an offer. "What they mean is, 'if you don't like it ( the money offered) we'll kick, you out anyway." Voters to Morrow County voters will go to the polls next Tuesday, Sept. 16, to vote on a county budget for the third (and final, officials say) time. Voters turned down a bud get May 24 and again on June 24. WHO. County commissioners cut in.riH from the amount previously rejected by the voters. Earlier commissioner Krctm had said that, another vole could betaken November Fire damages Heppner home mm ' i rU r:: i 9 Heppner firemen responded to a house fire Monday at the home of Leon Reed, 460 S. Main. The firealarm was turned in around 12:30p.m. and the fire was believed to have started in the laundry room. :No estimate of damage was given , however, the fire destroyed heavy damage to the roof. The Lennons in front of home they have lived in for forty years. decide budget fate Tues. 4. however, she said last week the commission has decided not to present the budget again if it fails this time. "It (passing of a Nov. 4 budget) would require us to send out two tax statements, and that would not be feasible. We have decided not to exercise that option," said Krebs. Instead Krebs says if the budget goes down next Tues day, the county will start making cuts, and bring the s ; : course if I " . .V I : vMfn, - - - - ' budget within the six percent increase limitation allowed without a vote. "If it goes down then we will just make our cuts and live within the six percent." She says if the budget fails the county will cut 55 percent from the road department and 25 percent from the general fund. The proposed levy voters will decideon totals $1,073,224. Approval of the budget will re quire an estimated tax rate of most of the upper story, and did of lives as well as course of creek If i n .....LI -o. $3.08 per $1,000 of true cash value. Polls will be open from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. next Tuesday, polling places will be as follows : Boardman - Greenfield Grange lone - lone City Hall. Irrigon - North Morrow Office Building. Lexington - Lexington City Hall. Combined Hardman-Hepp-ner-Old City Library Bldg. Clerk did not promote voter registration, says Sweeney Michael Sweeney, chairman of the Morrow County Demo cratic Central Committee, issued a statement Tuesday, contradicting charges made two weeks ago that County Clerk Barbara Bloods worth promoted voter registration at the Democratic party fair booth this year. Pauline Winter, candidate for the county clerks position, had made the charges in a press release printed in the Gazette-Times August 28. Says Sweeney: "Pauline Winter, candidate for Morrow County clerk recently issued a statement to the press alleging that Barba ra Bloodsworth, the incum bent clerk promoted voter registration at a political campaign booth, and further considered it an inherent conflict because she was a member of the Democratic Central committee. "I respectfully submit that Ms. Winter did not know what she was talking about. The Democratic Central Comm it tee agreed to prepare a booth at the fair where political candidates could display their campaign literature. On the last day of the fair I received a visit from a member of the state organization who gave It's official-biggest harvest on record With 99 percent of the harv est in Morrow County comp leted, it looks official this will be the biggest wheat harvest in county history. Reports from the county ex tension office in Heppner put the 1960 harvest for the county at 9,960.000 bushels. The previous high was last year when 8.3 million bushels were harvested. "It was just about as good a harvest year as possible," said County Extension Agent Harold Kerr. He said a wet me voter registration mater ials and signs which I immed iately displayed in our booth. 'There was absolutely nothing wrong in setting up the display, as a function of the committee is to encourage voter registration. "FurthermoreMrs. Bloods worth was totally and com School volunteers should sign up soon Anyone interested in being a volunteer teacher's aide at the Heppner Elementary school this year should be reminded that they should sifjn up for the program soon. Someof these aides are high school students for whom the work is a regular class for which they receive credit. Other aides are adults from the community who partici pate as part of the L.A.P.P. program. LA P.P. stands for Learn ing plus Appreciation plus Praise equals Progress. L.A.P.P. volunteers help in the classroom in a variety of ways: working with individ- Free senior posses available Free senior citizen passes for Heppner High athletic events, are now available at the high school. Th mmi urilt vnnhiallv v- - -..j end up buying, through con demnation if necessary, 462 acres belonging to 19 different owners in the Willow Creek Balm Fork area. Accordinglo a Corp spokesman, 4.4 acres have already been purchased, and eight acres belonging to two separate property owners have been turned over to the courts for condemnation pro ceedings. "They might be able to do something like this in Russia, but they cant do it here," laments Lennon. He says the whole thing is a "bunch of politics," and that the dam and reservoir shouldn't even be built. "They say this dam Will stop flooding, but in the last flood the water came down Shobe canyon, over there-not here," he says pointing to a nearby hill. "Besides, it doesn't make sense to build a $23 million dam to save a $3 million town (Heppner)" Dug Dugger, public affairs officer for the Corps of Engineers, says Lennon 's land is the second largest piece of property that will be pur chased for the dam and reservoir. The largest tract is 285 acres owned by R. S. Thompson, which is still being appraised. Lennon asked that the price the Corps offered for his property not be publicized to protect others who are now spring and dry fall produced the bumper crop. Kerr said the county aver-age-bushel-per-acre was 40, and that included all dry land acreage except for a small portion, mainly at the higher elevations, which has not been harvested yet. He said the average irrigated acreage produced 85 bushels per acre. Of the total 209,000 acres in wheat this year, Kerr said 40,000 acres were irrigated, producing 3.2 million bushels, and 169,000 were dry land, producing 6,760,000 bushels. pletely unaware of my act ions. Ms. Winter's attack upon Mrs.' Bloodsworth was un founded, and unfair, and Mrs. Bloodsworth deserves an apology" Winter will face Bloods worth in the election this November. ualsand small groups who are learning words or math facts, listening to individuals or small groups read, or discuss ing books read for recreation al reading. Aides generally come to the grade school once or twicea week, staying for an average of one to three hours. More volunteers are needed for the 1980-81 school year. The L.A.P.P. Program will start around the first of October, and anyone who is interested in participating should call the grade school office, 676-9128, or Linda Shaw, 676-5238, to sign up or to obtain more information. Anyone over 65 years of age is eligible for a pass, which will admit them free of charge to all athletic functions. negotiating. He did say, how ever, that it was less than half of what he was offered by a private party several years ago. Duggers says construction of the dam calls for relocating both the lower Willow Creek Road and the main Willow Creek Road, as well as a city water line and reservoir. He was not sure of the date relocation construction would begin, "We haven't gone ahead with relocation con tracts because we don't have all the property," he said. But he says the Corps hopes to award dam constrution bids in July of 1981. Duggers says construction of the dam should be completed during the first six months of "good con struction weather" in 1982, sometime around September. He says total construction ' costs for the dam will be about $35 million. Money for the construction DA to resign 1 I '" J Dutrict Attorney Morrow County District Att orney Dennis Doherty has announced he is resigning his office October 31. He says he plans to start a private law practice in Hermiston. Doherty has been DA here for five years and ten months, and says of the job it "is no longer compatible with the family, professional and pers onal goals which I established upon graduation from law school 10 years ago." In a prepared statement Doherty added, "There have been ups, downs, good times and bad. I've seen super people at their best, dirt-bags at their worst and a consider able range in between. In retrospect, it's been always educational, frequently frust rating, occasionally pleasur J Former G-T owner accepts position Former Heppner Gazette Times owner "Jerry" Reed announced last week he has accepted the position of pub lisher of Post Publications, Inc., Camas, Wash. Reed, who has been publish er of the Hermiston Herald for the past 10 years, was owner and publisher of the Gazette Times from May of 1976 until August of 1979. at which time he sold the paper to Jerome and Jane Sheldon, who in turn of the dam has not been approved by Congress, but Duggers feels the project will receive funding and be built. "We can't announce what moneywehavetfor 1981 fiscal year) until Congress announ ces it." says Dugger. "But,"'he says, "it's finally here, and I personally feel confident that your represent ative will get it built." Peter Lennon says he does not want to be one who stands in the way of progress, but states repeatedly that comm unication betweenhimself and the Corps has been poor. "They (the Corps) haver had the courtesy to tell us what they are doing." Lennon says that the Corps will come in and pack him and , his wife up and move them to their new home when it comes time to leave, but Carmel, his wife says, "It's rough on people, especially on people our age. You don't know what to do, where to go." 1 -I 9 J K Tfe Dennw Doherty able, and generally satis fying." Doherty says he plans to start a private law practice in Hermiston on November 1. "In my general law practice I hope to be able to balance my time between office and trial work and, eventually, to emphasize certain areas of law in which I have a strong background," he stated. Doherty said he was making his resignation announcement early, before the county bud get election so that, "if the budget doesn't pass I don't want people to think I resigned out of spite." He said that the governor, who appoints district attor neys, should name his replace ment before Doherty leaves October 31. sold to the present owners in June of this year. The Hermiston Herald is part of Eagle Newspapers. Inc., which own 16 publicat ions in Oregon and Washing ton. Eagle and Post publicat ions recently completed a merger agreement. Reed is vice president of the Eagle group. t Reed named Alan Donnelly news editor of The Herald for the last five years, to replace him . publisher.
