VOL. 101 NO. 2 THURSDAY, JANUARY IJ. 1M3
Guest speakers give
Tony Barnhart
Inventory your land, Inves
tigate financing and pinpoint
types of businesses, and above
all don't be discouraged.
Those were the words of ad
vice given to the new Heppner
Economic Development Corp.
by guest speakers at the first
annual meeting of the corpor
ation, held Monday night.
Joe Burns of the llermiston
Economic Development
Corp.. and Tony Barnhart of
the East Oniral Oregon As
sociation of Counties spoke to
a group of about 50 people who
had gathered at the Heppner
Elk's Lodge, about the diffi
culties and possibilities of
economic development in
Heppner.
The Heppner corp., formed
several months ago to pro
mote growth and improve
economic health In the area.
now has 19 members, (five
Joined Monday at the meet
ing) and a host of ideas on
Improving the economic sit
uation here.
Barnhart said Heppner
should look at any possible
sites for new businesses,
check for proper zoning and
Investigate avenues of finan
cing for expansion or new
businesses.
Local congregations to sponsor Polish family
By JUSTINE
WEATIIEREOKD
The Rev. John S. Maas of
Hope and Valby Lutheran
churches has relonwl en ex
planation this week clarifying
the sponsoring of a refugee
family by these churches. He
states that the two congrega
tions were recently told that
the Hiri Cerveny Family has
been resettled In West Ger
many. The south Morrow
County congregations, along
with much local help, had
made all the preparations to
resettle this Czech family in
Heppner, The U.S. State De
partment errantly released
the Cervenys for sponsorship
before it had approved them
for immigration into the
United States.
"The congregations were
stunned to hear that the Cer
veny family was not coming.
A home had been rented and
furnished, job leads had been
established, and plans had
been made to help them fit
into their new way of life.
Fortunately for the parish,
Lutheran Immigration and
Refugee Service, the agency
they are sponsoring the refu
gees through, has been able to
help with the rent because the
family sponsorship fell
through. The sponsorship
costs of the refugee family is
being borne entirely by the
two congregations in the par
"Look at your businesses
that are already here. In
Oregon 85 percent of new jobs
are created by businesses
already in Oregon," he poin
ted out.
He urged the corp. to make
use of available resources; the
port commission. G E O. D C.
and the county.
As far as the type of new
businesses that may locate in
Heppner, Gardner said to
"decide who you want and go
after them." He said the cor
poration should make a
"laundry list" of businesses
from which to work.
Joe Burns, who has had 17
years experience with the
Hermiston Economic Devel
opment Corporation, had
some suggestions on how to
Columbia Basin lowers increase
An increase In electrical
power usage costs will be
reduced from 1.5 to 1.1 cents
per kilowatt hour effective
with the January billing, it
was announced at a Columbia
Basin Electric Co-op Board
meeting last Thursday. Co-op
Manager Fred Toombs said
the reduction was due to re
duced termination costs of
Washington Public Power
Supply System's nuclear
plants 4 and 5. "Because
WPPSS termination costs on 4
and 5 have been reduced, we
are able to reduce the amount
we have to collect from cus
tomers." he explained.
Rates were increased 1.5
cents per kilowatt hour last
month to cover the coop's
involvement in the two plants,
even though the co-op won't
start making payments on the
debt until ordered to do so by
law. Funds from the increase
are being held in interest
ish and other individuals of the
county area," Maas said.
Upon receiving the shocking
news, the Lutherans immedi
ately selected another refugee
family to sponsor. The new
family is Polish and the con
gregations hope there will not
be a long wait before they
arrive.
According to Barbara Daw
son of the Lutheran Immigra
tion and Refugee Service,
names of refugees come to
private placement agencies
from the U.S. State Depart
County's value increases
By MARY ANN CERULLO
Morrow County's assessed
value has increased by
$3,236,292 since July, reported
Morrow County Planner,
Deene Seeger, last week.
Seeger stated that in the
past six months the new build
ing inspection office has
brought in $19,471.55 in fees
School board
A regular meeting of the
Morrow County School Board
will be held at Sam Boardman
Elementary School at Board
man on January 17 at 7:30
p.m.
The board will hear a dis
cussion of the district's special
education program and the
use of non-teaching staff as
athletic coaches, said a
spokesperson for the board.
Tit Hppiair
c
Morrow County's Home-Owned
8 PAGES
Economic Dev. Corp.
proceed.
"It's tough out there.
There's a lot qf competition,
but you can start by making
an Inventory of your assets.
You have a lot of assets you
may overlook."
Burns urged the corporation
to work with the port and
check out ways to finance.
"And protect what you al
ready have," he urged.
Burns said the development
should be approached in a
"methodical, think tank"
way.
"You have to do it your
self." he said. "You have the
expertise here to do it, and
don't give up."
Following the two guest
speakers' discussions, presi
dent of the corporation, Jim
bearing accounts until them.
If the co-op is not required to
make payments to WPPSS.
the funds will be returned to
consumers either In the form
of reduced rates or in cash.
Columbia Basin Is one of 16
utilities involved in a suit
claiming they are not respon
sible for the debt because the
plants were not completed and
no energy will be obtained
from them. Toombs said a
review of the suit was heard at
the board meeting Thursday.
North co.
A petition drive, requesting
that a county sheriff's deputy
be stationed in the Irrigon
area, was started in Board
man and Irrigon last week.
Sponsor of the petition,
George Kenny of Irrigon, says
ment. The people that are
released for sponsorship are
supposed to be cleared by the
State Department to come to
the U.S. somehow, the Cer
vcr.y's names were released
before that approval was
given. She assured Maas that
the Polish family has been
approved.
This new family will be the
Andrze Doboszynski Family.
Mr. Doboszynski was intern
ed, or Jailed, by the Polish
government for seven months
with $5,667.17 as the county's
share. He said $3,236,292 in
assessed value of construction
had been done, the largest
being the U & I Inc. project at
the Port of Morrow in' Board
man. This means that the
county's assessed value has
Increased by that same
amount, concluded Seeger.
to meet
In other business, the board
is expected to consider a
request for attendance from
an out-of -district student, the
adoption of a procedure to be
used to fill vacancies on the
board and the district's stand
ing committees, and direc
tives to local committees In
volved in preparing local
school budgets.
Weekly Newspaper
25
Hayes, of Heppner. gave an
overview of how the corpor
ation got started and what It
was trying to accomplish.
He said anyone can join the
non-profit corporation, and ,
the membership fee is $100.
Prior to the annual meeting,
the corporation had 14 mem
bers: however, five more
signed up at the meeting.
In other business, the cor-
poration:
elected Jim Hayes, Bob
Abrams. Fred Toombs. Kent,1
Goodyear, Ralph Limanen,
Charles Hutchinson and Joan
McDonald to three-year terms
as directors on the board.
Joan McDonald replaced
Helen Riehl who declined to
run.
and that the first hearing was
scheduled for January 10.
Toombs reported Friday
that November 1982 usage was
the lowest for any month in
many years. "We had to go .
back to 1972 to find when '
usage had been as low as "
during November '82," he
said.
In other business, the
board:
changed two policies con
cerning collecting past due
accounts which put more re
residents petition for
the recent murder of a gas
station operator here was "the
catalyst" that got the drive
going.
"It wasn't the only reason,"
says Kenny, who along with
because of his activities on
behalf of the Solidarity
Movement. He had served as a
treasurer of a union local
since 1981. He is 32 and is a
trained technical mechanic.
His wife, Barbara, is 29 and
is a bookkeeper. Both have
yars of experience in their
professions. Their two child
ren are a daughter, Inga,
eight, and a son, Wojciech,
four. The family is Roman
Catholic, and they have little
command of the English
language.
Maas said he does not know
yet when this family will
reach Heppner.
Reservoir could begin
to fill next month
Depending rain, spring
run-off and flood conditions,
Willow Creek Dam reservoir
could begin to fill with water
next month, the Army Corps,
of Engineers says.
Ken Gardner of the public
affairs office of the Corps,
says gates to control the flow
of water out of the dam are
expected to be installed by
mid to late February, after
which water could be collected
behind the dam.
The water level in Willow
Creek will have to be main
HEPPNER. OREGON
advice
t
IX
Joe Burns
: heard a report from
Treasurer Kent Goodyear,
who reported $1863.98 in the
corporation account.
: re-elected Jim Hayes
president of the corporation.
strictions and penalties on
consumers who are discon
nected for non payment.
tnet with several local
irrigators to discuss their
problems caused by increas
es. Toombs said the board is
working with the irrigators to
develop a rate which will
allow them to keep irrigating
their crops, at no cost to other
consumers.
his wife operates Kenny's
Farm Market on the edge of
town. "There has been a
series of house hreak-ins and
burglaries, including one
here," he says, pointing to the
store.
Kenny says he hopes to
gather at least 1,000 signa
tures on the petition, which
will be presented to the county
court at its next Irrigon meet
ing on Wednesday, Jan. 26.
The petition, copies of which
have been placed in all busi
nesses in both Irrigon and
Boardman, asks that the Mor
row County sheriff's office
give "more equitable distri
bution of deputy officers."
According to the petition, 45
percent of Morrow County's
registered voters reside in
Irrigon and Boardman, but of
the six sheriff's deputies en
gaged in police work, five
reside in Heppner, the county
seat, one in Boardman and
none in Irrigon.
The petition states that over
tained at a certain level, so
when the reservoir is filled
will depend on the amount of
rain fall, and run-off from
snow in the spring, Gardner
said.
He said work at the dam is
now limited, to grouting
around the foundation where
the foundation rock comes into
contact with dam concrete.
"There have been no serious
problems (with the dam),"
Gardner said. "Everything is
going right along on
schedule."
Weather
by the City of
50 to 60 percent of Heppner
still lies in flood plain
Heppner's Willow Creek
Dam may not reduce the flood
plain as much as expected.
According to maps recently
Sabre Farms
final stages
By MARY ANN CERULLO
The sale of Sabre Farms on
Homested Road, southeast of
Boardman is currently being
finalized by a Korean firm,
announced Deene Seeger,
Morrow County Planner, last
Wednesday.
Seeger, who was unable to
Proposed school budget up
4.3 percent
Morrow County's proposed
1983-84 school budget is up 4.3
percent over the present year;
' however, locartaxes' to baf
ance the budget are expected
to raise about 13.6 percent,
the budget committee was told
last week.
Meeting for the first time to
start preparations for a bud
get election, the committee
heard a report from superin-
deputy
half the criminal activity in
the county occurs in the
Boardman-Irrigon area.
"For the foregoing reasons,
we request that there be a
redistribution of sheriff's per
sonnel which would ensure the
presence of at least one resi
dent deputy in Irrigon," the
petition says.
Kenny says facts in the
petition were supplied by the
sheriff's department and the
county clerk's office.
"There's more crime up
here. We need more police
protection. I don't think that's
unreasonable," Kenny stated.
New faces
Mike Oths
Photo and story by
MARY ANN CERULLO
Two new faces were seen at
the Morrow County Court
house in Heppner as they took
over their new positions last
Monday, Jan. 3.
Irv Rauch of Lexington was
the first new face who took
over the position of Morrow
County Commissioner from
Dorothy Krebs of lone. Ac
cording to Krebs, she will be
hi
Heppner
released by the Corps, of
Engineers, much of the town
will still be in the flood plain
even now that dam construe-
sale in
name the firm, reported that
the sale will include 14,812.11
acres of land actually owned
by Sabre Farms, plus 995.19
acres of state-leased land for a
total of 15,807.3 acres.
The figures of the sale
hadn't been released, but See
ger estimated it to be in the
vicinity of $15 to $20 million.
tendent Matt Doherty who
said although the total in
crease in the budget is
modest,'outsklr revenue for
the district is expected to be
donw. This will cause more
money to be raised locally, he
said.
"The revenue picture does
not look as favorable this
year. We expect to have less
money from carryover funds,
from federal forest fees, from
prior years' taxes and from
several of our smaller sources
than we had available last
year." Doherty said.
Doherty estimated outside
revenue to be down by $585,000
next year.
However, he did say that
basic school support, the lar
gest source of revenue outside
of local taxes, may be up from
the present year.
"The governor has proposed
that the amount appropriated
for basic school support
should be increased next
year." He added that the
legislature will have more
answers on basic school sup
port once it convenes.
The total amount of local
seen at courthouse
putting most of her efforts
back into the family sheep
ranching business.
The other new face can now
be found in the courthouse
with the title of Morrow Coun
ty Counsel. His name is Mike
Oths, 25, originally from Ohio
and most recently from Eu
gene. Oths is currently
settling in Heppner.
During the first meeting of
1983 for Morrow County Court,
on Wednesday, Jan. 5, the
court authorized Judge Don
McElligott to approve the re
ferral of cases from the dis
trict attorney's office to Oths'
as indeendent special prose
cuting attorney. The D.A.'s
office reportedly has a back
log of 60 felony cases.
In other business, Al Corder
and Nick Friend of the audit
ing firm Nieni, Holland and
Scott of Kennewick, Wash.,
discussed the 1982 Morrow
County Audit Report with the
court.
HI LowPreclp.
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Wed.. Jan. 5
Thurs.. Jan. 6
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Sat.. Jan. 8
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Mon.. Jan. 10
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tion has been completed.
"About 50 to 60 percent of
the town will still be in the
flood plain," Heppner city
attorney Bill Kuhn told the
Chamber of Commerce Tues
day. Some homeowners have re
portedly already cancelled
flood insurance which they
will need to reinstate. "The
restrictions won't be as great
as before, but it's still more
than we thought," said Kuhn.
"For $40 million dollars I
don't think we got a whale of a
deal," concluded Kuhn.
taxes needed to fund the bud
get is estimated to be
$5,894,273, up $703,747 over the
previous year. " ' "
Of the local taxes, $700,923 is
within the tax base, $585,459
will be used to fund bonded
debt, $3,721,565 would be the
maximum allowed for in an A
levy (partially funded by the
state), and the remaining
$886,326 would be a B levy
(totally funded by local
taxes).
With an estimated property
valuation of $644 million in the
county, tax payers would face
a rate of $9.15, up $1.20 from
this year's rate of $7.95 per
thousand.
At the first meeting, Jan. 3,
the budget committee elected
Jack Strege as chairman, Jer
ry Holloman vice chairman
and Alice Vance, secretary.
At its second meeting, Jan.
10, the committee reviewed
the budget and made several
minor changes.
The next meeting of the
committee is scheduled for
Monday, Jan. 24.
The election for the budget
is set for March 29.
"With the economic climate
as it is, Morrow County is
doing phenomenally well and
the court has acted as good
stewards of the county
assets," said Corder.
The court continued with the
following business:
discussed negotiations
that are being conducted be
tween the court and Eldon
Padberg of Lexington to ob
tain a rock pit site on his
property in exchange for a
compressor and an old junked
engine.
discussed the resignation
of Milo Prindle of Heppner
from the Morrow County Air
port Committee.
looked over carpet sam
ples for the interior of the new
Morrow County Road Dept.
office in Lexington with Don
Briggs, Public Works direc
tor. Briggs estimated that the
department wouM be ready to
move in by the end of January.