Image provided by: Morrow County Museum; Heppner, OR
About Heppner gazette-times. (Heppner, Or.) 1925-current | View Entire Issue (Dec. 31, 1981)
BESSIE WET2ELL U OF ORE NEWS PAPER LIB ' EUGENE OR 97403 VOL. NO. Man power Two days of hard work by 19 area men nan resulted in water being saved for Willow Creek, which may have been diverted into the John Day River, Dick Wilkinson of the Willow Creek Improvement District says. For many years a man made diversion ditch nan been carrying water into Willow Creek at a point above Cutsforth Park. Last Spring the Forest Service informed Morrow County that a conditional use permit allowing the Smith Ditch diversion would not be renewed, unless the stream were cleaned up and better maintained ugainst erosion. The Forest Service suid if the permit were not renewed, about 90-acre feet of water that had been flowing into Willow Creek would be diver ted into Ditch Creek, which feeds into the John Day on the other side of the mountain. Not wanting to lose valuable irrigation and other uses of the water, the improvement dis trict put together a work party of volunteer labor and machi nery, and on October 13 and 14 went up to the Smith Ditch. The men spent the two days clearing out vegetation, instal ling rip rap and cleaning the creek bed for about one mile. Four bulldozers and a back hoe were donated for the work by area farmers, and both the Morrow County Grain Grow ers and Kiii7.ua Corp. donated trucks. Also saved by the work of the improvement district was a 340-foot waterfall, which flows near Cutsforth Park, and would hove been wiped out by the water diversion into Ditch Creek. After the work was done, a spokesperson for the Forest Service said he anticipated issuing a new conditional use permit to the county for the Morrow Co. Court endorses L.C.D.C. resolution lV MARYANN CEKl'M.O Morrow Counly Court en dtused a resolution presented by the Klamath County Com mission, concerning the con trol of the Land Conservation and Development Coin mission L.C.D.C.) and sent it on to Salem last Wednesday, Dec. 23. "L.C.D.C. if no longer meeting the needs of city and county jurisdictions and their people, showing no deference to the productivity of the land, or to the economy of the area, but instead using the taxpay er's money on expensive legal actions and continual hearings at Salem in a futile effort to satisfy the philosophies of the Stale Commission. . . "stated the resolution. The resolution went on to slate that as L.C.D.C. is no longer meeting the needs of the cities and counties on land issues, it should be put buck under more local control. "L.C.D.C. began as a coop erative agency, to work as a working partnership between the cities and counties on land GAZETTE- Morrow County's S3 saves water for Willow Creek f c o h ' IMIMMwE" HI 'I " ' 1 1 Hll mm Bmnnin i iii ,,,11,,,, 1-1 ' f ' ? ra I : ... J' .- ' : f k " '1'3 Eldon Padberg with water diversion, but that it would be for one year only. "We're concerned the prob lem (erosion) might move down (Smith Ditch). We're going to go back and look at it in a year, and we'll see what it looks like then," he said. Men who participated in the work included: Jim Bloods worth, Cecil Jones, Sam Byrne, John Wood, Mack Hoskin, Randy Ball, Don Evans, Wayne Evans, Roger Mortimore, Gene Crowell, Tim Cheney, Dick Tarrell, Joe McElligott, Jerry McElligott, Eldon Padberg, Hank Krebs, Dick Wilkinson, Charlie Mackey and Tom Wilson. "There were a lot of people there, but I think this was all who participated," Wilkinson said. issues. But now they (L.C. D.C.) have become more dictatorial . telling rather than advising" said Commis sioner Dorothy Krebs in a further explanation of the resolution. In other business. Judge Don McElligott informed the court that the deadline to submit a jail proposal to the slate is February 1, 19H2. A regional facility is the only type which would be eligible for state funds, stated McElli gott. The study group which is currently looking into all options for a county correct ional facility will present its findings prior to the deadline. The study group was organ ized during a public meeting December 9 and held its first session Monday, Dec. 21. Ed Glenn of Boardman was appointed chairman of the group and Diane Brownley became secretary, reported McElligott. Morrow County Court continued with the following business: The Heppner Home-Owned THURSDAY. DECEMBER 31, 1H1 equipment used in Smith Ditch work A cleaned up Smitli received notification of a rescheduling of the meeting with Umatilla Counly Com mission for January 7 at 11 :45 a.m. in Pendleton. The original meeting was set for December 30 to discuss court financing. approved recommenda tions for six month salary raises within the assessor's office, made by Greg Sweek. received word from Morrow Counly Health Nurse Pal Wright, of her concern over her malpractice insur ance. Wright requested thai the court review her insurance policy and the possibility of increasing her coverage. No action was taken. heard the weekly Road Report from Don Briggs, director of the Public Works Dept. Twenty bids had been received from local contract ors, as of December 2:t, for construction of a new county maintenance shop in Lexing ton, said Briggs, and the department still intends to publicize statewide. TVTTET Weekly Newspaper H PAGES 20 CENTS : j-. . m4 Ditch New phone tax for 1982 A new tax, part of a law passed by the 1981 Oregon legislature to implement 911 emergency telephone systems throughout the state, will begin appearing on Pacific Northwest Bell telephone bills after January 1, 19H2, slated a news release from PNB. The three percent slate excise tax will be applied to the amount paid by customers for local exchange access, according to Glenn Kennedy, area manager-Community Affairs. It will not be applied to monthly charges for leased telephone sets, other tele phone equipment or long distance calls. Tax dollars are transferred to the State Department of Revenue which distributes them to local 9tl jurisdictions. Some 33 other telephone companies providing local exchange service in the state also will collect the tax through monthly bills, the news release continued. The new 911 law will be effective through 1991, at which time the state has mandated that all local gov ernment jurisdictions must have 911 emergency telephone systems in place. HEPPNER. OREGON Columbia study bids By MARYANN CERULLO A meeting of the Board of . Directors of the Columbia Basin Electric Cooperative was held last Wednesday, Dec. 23, to discuss three acceptable bids which the co-op recently received for a cost of service study, i Fred Toombs, manager of ' Columbia Basin, presented the three bids to the board, beginning with the engineer -' ing firm of Minor and Minor of Montana. Rate consultant for ; the company, Robert Scriv t ner, gave their estimated cost of the study at $19,800. Black and Veatch out of Kansas was listed next with an estimate of $19,500. - The last bid came in at $16,800 from Economic Engi Proposed Budget cuts proposed by the Oregon State Legislature to jfeduce state department em ployees by 20 percent could hit home and hit hard in Morrow County, District Attorney Ann Spicer informed the Gazette Times during an interview last week. If passed, the proposed 20 percent cuts are to be made in all state departments in five percent increments over a two year period, said Spicer. These cuts would mean the state could lose about 184 Oregon State Police troopers, Spicer emphasized. She said from figures learned at the Oregon State District Attor neys Conference, held in Eugene Dec. 2 - 4, the proposed cuts would mean the dismissal of all troopers hired during the last five years. Looking at Morrow County's crime rate statistics for the past seven years, defines Spicer 's concern over the proposed cut-backs. During 1975 through 1977 inclusive, there were 77 felony indictments through grand juries in Morrow County. In 1978 there were 15 indictments through grand juries plus 248 other criminal cases (misde meanors and felonies on waiver of indictment) bring ing the total criminal activity record for 1978 to 263 cases, Spicer illustrated. 1979 shows total criminal activity at 341 cases, with felony indictments jumping 340 percent from 15 to 51 cases over 1978. 1 During 1980 crime was down in the county, but in 1981 it jumped to a record high, 73 felony indictments and 318 other criminal cases. If the proposed cuts become WIw will be the first 1982 baby born in Heppner? Who will be the first baby born at the Pioneer Memorial Hospital in 1982? That's hard to say, but whoever it is will once again be showered with gifts from Weather By City of Heppner Basin board discusses service at Wednesday meeting neering Service (EES) of Seattle. Toombs presented high rec ommendations for each firm. Three other companies which had been contacted declined to give estimates. The board agreed on the formation of an advisory committee, but agreed that final decisions would rest with the board of directors. After some discussion the board moved and seconded to meet with the rate consul tant of each firm on the morning of Thursday, Jan. 7. Following the three inter views, it was decided that the consultant for the firm chosen to do the rate study would meet and exchange ideas with the board and advisory com mittee. The board recognized Har budget cuts reality, Morrow County will definitely be noticing some changes. Spicer said the cuts would most effect traffic work and predicts an increase in bur glaries as well as accidents. In Irrigon alone, there were 22 reported burglaries be tween August 18 and Nov. 27 of this year, Spicer said. There may have been more that were not reported, she added. Of those 22 burglaries, 10 were investigated by the OSP, the other 12 were handled by the Morrow County Sheriff's Department. Last year, the state began releasing about 80 troopers, Spicer said. "My feeling is, we can't afford to lose any of them -not when crime is going up that fast." What do the Oregon State Police do for Morrow County? OSP troopers do much of the trained investigating for the county and aid the county sheriff and deputies in re sponding to accidents, Spicer reported. On the average, she said, one county deputy is on duty at a time. The Arlington and Hermiston OSP offices pre sently have troopers available for Morrow County, if needed. The OSP have investigated many burglaries and perform much of the major investiga tion work. The OSP handled almost all of the Guzman murder (Boardman) investi gation the D.A. said. 'The Sheriffs Department does do investigating, but they don't have the man power to do it all," said Deputy District Attorney Harold McLean. At present, Spicer reports, the Arlington office, whose troopers patrol the Arlington, many of Heppner 's businesses and merchants. For complete details of the first baby contest, see page five of this week's Gazette-Times. High Low Precip 40 32 trace of snow 41 32 .09 52 36 trace of snow 44 32 3 in snow 38 28 'i in. snow 41 30 .02 in. snow 39 20 0 Tues., Dec. 22 Wed., Dec. 23 Thurs., Dec. 24 Fri., Dec. 25 Sat., Dec. 26 Sun., Dec. 27 Mon., Dec. 28 old Peck of Heppner who voiced a concern over the wisdom of spending the con sumers' money on a rate study. "What's the point if you're not going to follow this rate study and just compromise all over again?" inquired Peck. Columbia Basin approved a rate increase last July 30. The increase was the result of a compromise between a rate study commissioned by the co-op and one by the large irrigators. The board reasserted that all final decisions would lie with them. Peck next questioned whether members of the advisory committee would be knowledgable enough to know what to look for and what to ask. could hit Condon and Boardman areas, is proposed to be closed. The Hermiston office will remain . open, but with a reduced staff, she continued. One of the major changes in services from the OSP, Spicer said would be response time. , Spicer went on to explain, for example, if the county deputy was working in the Hardman area, and someone needed help in Boardman there may not be an OSP trooper available to respond, posing a possible dangerous Hey big guy... 3 ? V J 4 Last week's snowfall prompted many kids, young and old to get out and have some fun in the snow. As a result, snowpersons began popping up in yards all across town. This one, which stands about 7 ft. tall was built Saturday by Vince Brant 19, Hermiston, and Susy Olson, 15, formerly of Heppner, and now living in Hermiston. The snow man, as of Monday, was residing on Susy's father, Eddie Olson's lawn at Shobe Street in Heppner. Fred Toombs agreed to contact members of both the board and the committee to discuss what questions should be asked of each firm. "The intent of this cost of service study is to come up with a rate increase that will be fair to all consumers involved," said Toombs. The advisory committee for the cost of service study includes, as of Dec. 23: John1 Bristow and Raymond French who will represent the resi dential consumers; Forrie Burkenbine and Bill Flatt for small commercial; Al Osmin and Phil Wilson, small irrb gators; Marvin Padberg and Brock Tucker are to represent the large irrigators; and Bob Lankford and Harry Kennison for the industrial consumers., home hard situation. "After cuts, we will not have the availability of OSP troop ers that we have now, if at all," the D.A. continued. If people will get going and write letters prior to the January 11 legislative session (when the final decision will be made) maybe the cuts won't be so severe," Spicer added. "I urge people to write their congressmen and state legis-1 lators and give support to the OSP," added McLean. - - -Crr V 1 1 0 S" "if f 3
