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The Heppner
Gazette-Times
Tues Aug 14
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M o rro w C o u n t y 'a H o m e - O w n e d W e e k l y N e w s p a p e r
vol
1*2 NOJ4 TMl KNDAY, A l (.1 ST 13. IWM
H eppner. Oregon
MORROW
COUNTY
C E N T E N N I A L
1885
ft iC fe
The Grand Sweepstakes Winner of
the 1984 Morrow County f a i r and
Kodeo Parade was built by Morrow-
County employees and is intended to
tie a permanent float, available for
use by cities of Morrow County It is
representative of the one room coun
try schoolhouse which once was a
major source of schooling in Morrow
County The flagpole on the school
house was donated by County Com
missioner Irv Kauch and is the
original pole from the Strawberry
School located about 10 miles north
of Lexington The school on the float
has everything the old schools had
Co. Court meets ‘Herb"
H\ MARA A N N l'F.K l 1X0
Last Wednesday during Morrow
County Court, County Sheriff Hoy
Drago introduced to the court a
potted pot plant" which stood
approximately four and a half feet
high The pland. dubbed "Herb" by
the Sheriff’s department, had been
saved from a recent raid of 25 potted
plants in an Irrigon corn field
According to Drago. "Herb"would
remain on display at the Sheriff's
Dept for a short time as an example
of a marijuana plant
In other business, Drago request
ed the court's approval of an inter
governmental agreement with the
Condon Police Department for a
dispatching service Drago stated
that Condon has agreed to pay
Morrow County $300 a year for the
service
4 » A
Marlene v u trin who was juilged
teachers, including veteran district
teachers Juanita Carmichael. Freda
Slocum and Lorena Jones, students
and even a dunce Another tea. her
of note who was not able to ride on
the float Saturday is Marguerite
Glavey She used to teach in the
Democrat Gulch School now located
behind the museum
From the
McGuffey Header to the little globe
the one room schoolhouse is a re
minder of the setting in which many
Morrow Countians began to learn
their Headin', n tin g ' and ’nthm atic
said a parade spokesperson
"This is a good service we d be
providing especially for under a
dollar a day." Drago said
The court approved the intergov
ernmental agreement with Condon
and approved Drago's approaching
Wheeler and Gilliam Counties with
the same agreement
Morrow County Court continued
with the following business
discussed connecting the county-
health nurse's office to the county 's
new operator phone system
discussed the possibility of a
computer for the health nurse s
office
^signed the third draft to an
intergovernmental agreement be
tween the county, the city of Hep
pner and the Morrow Co School
District for a sewage line The line
w ill run behind the fairgrounds and
into town
Schwarz wins saddle
% 1 4*1»
I« P l o t s
trophy saddle from Harry Kenmson, general manoger
of Kinzua Carp
More Morrow County Rodeo results on Page 6
l’ r «
l>> li)«* C i t i o f H eppner
"R est Cowgirl over 12 rode on a
side saddle that is over 10U years old
It belong«-«) to Katie Currin. Grand
Marshall George (Turin's mother
Charlotte. 15 and Greg. 13 P ar
sons. The Windy (Tty (Towns, from
Skokie. Illinois are visiting their
aunt and uncle. George and Anna
Mae Steagall of Heppner for the first
lime They also have the distinction
o( traveling the larthest for this
parade
Judges included Clare Koznek,
Julie Warren Luke Hibby. Gene
Pierce Beth B rya n t. M arianne
Kahl. Mike Oths, Tom Alexander.
Mike Lott, lamny Watne. LaHae
Kindle. April Sykes, Bobbie Angell,
and Clista Venard
Morrow County Wranglers Hiding
(Tub donated the public address
system used for the parade
M o r e resu lts puge 5
‘Mr. Budweiser*
was show stopper
Saturday afternoon at the Morrow
County Open Kodeo. Mr Hudweis
e r," a lug. ugly one ton Brahma bull
with big ugly horns stopped the show
for about a half hour when he broke
loose bent up a gate and came
through the Ijttle la-ague Parking
lot knucking a camper off the
camper jacks
Confusion followed while the stock
contractor chased him and finally
got a rope on him "You don't do
much leading, but it stops him from
going so fast said one rodeo board
member He was soon under control
and the rodeo continued
Accident injures
Round-Up princess
During the Grand Entry at last
Saturday's rodeo performance at
the Morrow County Fairgrounds in
Heppner two of the Pendleton
Hound Up Court princesses and
their horses collided
Both girls
were thrown from their horses
Nancy M iller of Heppner was un
hurt
Cindy Insko of Pilot Rock
received a broken jaw and a concus
sion according to a spokesperson
She underwent surjery on her jaw
Sunday morning at St Mary Medi
cal Center in Walla Walla where she
was taken by LifeGuard III from
Pioneer Memorial Hospital in Hep
pner
Insko s horse was unhurt after
bumping shoulders with M iller's
horse M iller s horse, however was
taken to a veterinary clinic in Walla
Walla with nerve damage to its
shoulder She reports that it w ill tie
a few days before they w ill know if
the horse w ill be all right
It is expected that Insko w ill be
released from the hospital this week
A combine throws a spark
Flames shoot up from stubble and
wheat
Immediately, the harvest
crew on that field starts fighting the
fire with fire extinguishers and
whatever else they have available,
whether shovels to smother the fire
with dirt a pumper on a pickup with
a tank or wet sacks to beat out the
flames Spray planes Ix-gin dump
mg water
Morrow County Grain
(¡rowers and Columbia Basin Klee
trie arrive w ith 4x4 pickups outfitted
water tanks and pumps Neighbors
with water trucks shovels, and
more wet sacks out of no where
everywhere, people come to help
There is no organizes! e ffo rt. only a
spirit of co operation because its
harvest time and fire danger time in
Morrow County
There is one rural fire district in
southern Morrow County, it encom
passes an area, with Heppner as its
center, within a seven and one half
mile radius We cannot respond i to
a fire ' out of our d istrict." said
Heppner Fire Chief Forrie Hurken
bine hut when there is a fire within
the district fire fighters and equip
men! are sent to fight the blaze
We must leave one pumper truck
inside the city lim its all the time
continues Hurkenbine
M ainly,
when the fire crew arrives at a
wheat fire they try. if possible to get
ahead of it and stop it "Time is also
a factor we must evaluate every
situation is different " Sometimes
crews are more effective elsew here
Burkenbme says that the Fire Dept
no longer uses backpacks with five
gallons of water because firemen's
time and effort are more effective in
other ways
Hob Costa of Morrow County
Kxtension Service explains that sev
cral years ago there was a list of
■quipment available at various
, irm s which was kept at the Kxten
sion office
If a fire started
someone would call them and they
would liegin calling people on the list
nearest the fire's location The list
however, has not I icon updated for
several years and the current sys
tern is informal, he says Farmers
learn by word of mouth' who has
what equipment available
Morrow County Grain Growers
seem to lie as organized as anyone in
getting the word out about a fire
Manager Larry Mills says that if a
fire is called in, they w ill dispatch a
crew from M C G G and notify Gar
Aviation The main thing which the
Grain Growers ask is good direc
tions to the blaze
The Grain
Growers equipment consists of a
4x4 pickup with a tank and sprayer
on the back and a fertilizer truck
which is kept full of water during the
harvest season The fertilizer truck
cannot go into the fields. Mills
explains, but it can he parked close
to the fire so that the pumper trucks
don't have to go so far to get a fresh
supply of water
Mills says that although they do
not have a designated fire crew. they
always have people around and
they go with the equipment to do the
"handwork" with shovels and wet
sacks which are needed to make
sure the fire is completely out
Columbia Basin Electric Co-op
also has a 4x4 pickup with a loo
gallon tank and pump on the hark
which has been available for about
the last year, reported Fred
Toombs, co-op manager The main
reason that CBEC acquire«) the fire
equipment was to preserve their
power poles when in danger from a
wheat fire Toombs explains that
C B E C likes to know about fires
within their service area because
fires "can be expensive, and we w ill
send our truck with whoever is
available as a crew " Toombs says
that If no poles are in danger, the
crews are to "go ahead and try to
help stop the wheat fire
Mel Boyer of Gar Aviation ex
plains that during harvest especial
ly. they scan the horizon If they see
smoke, first they decide how far
away it is and if they think it is a
wheat fire, they go without waiting
to be railed Sometimes if everyone
at the airport is busy in the shop,
they don't see the smoke Both fires
that they have helped with this year.
they receive«! .1 call from M (’ G G
telling them the location
Hover explains that nothing is
organized but that it's fairly com
mon in th«- wheat basin for everyone
av a 1 la hie to help with possible wheat
fir«« Because he has the planes
available always full of water, this
is the wav he fev-ts that he can help
most Seitz Currin have also sent
their plane to fight fires this year
Hover however inherited the fire
fighting role from Car 1-eyva about
25 y«-ars ago He says that some
farmers have tried in the post to pay
for his service, hut that he won't
accept pay
It is volunteer, and
available to whomever neetls the
help
In the (vast, he explains that he
would add a retardant to the water
in the plane s tanks but that it takes
time and W le«-ls he can do more
go.nl by getting to the fire faster
The planes are alway s full of water
and ready to go
Duane Uisque and Gene llrw ick of
la-xington Lumber in the same
volunteer spirit decided about two
years ago that they would lx- more
effective helping to fight a fire if
they filled the tanks on the planes
and moved the tanker so that the
planes could reload closer to the site
of the fire
Not all spray planes have the right
kind of dump valve to fight fire,
Boyer explains Some valves will
dump the entire load in one spot and
that doesn't do much good for
fighting fire
Boyer says that if they can stop a
fire from the head, they do hut if it
is burning downwind, sometimes
they can I do too much ahead to stop
it so the standard pro« «-«lure is to
«time along the edge and drop water
to cool the fire down The p«-ople on
the ground then "jump in and clean
up
The uirplan«-s dump water for
a 2tx> urn yard stretch, then. hop«-ful
ly if things are going smoothly,
another plane is there ready to lake
over while the first one goes for
another loud The plan«*x can put the
fire out completely, hut only for a
short distance, so it proves more
effective to drop enough water to
r r - M
An accident north of Lexington on
Highway 207 near milepost four left
one man dead Saturday. Aug IS
The Oregon State Police from
Hermiston responded to the accident
at 9 50 p m The 0 S P report says
that the car was traveling south on
Hwy 207 when it ran off the right
side of the road came back on the
highway, ran off the road to the left,
came hack on the highway again and
rolled over, coming to a rest on its
top on the roadway
Driver of the vehicle. David Allen
Kirhards. 21. of George. Washing
ton. was taken by ambulance to
Pioneer Memorial Hospital in Hepp
ner where he was treated for lacer
ations. a back injury, and bruises,
and released
The passenger, l-eonard Lee Gib
honey, 21. of Davenport. Washington
was dead following the accident,
concluded the spokesperson for the
Oregon State Police
cool the fire down and then for the
grourni crews to go in and finish the
job
If there is an average fire ."
Boyer says, "it probably starts when
the emergency brake is left on and
the driver moves a loaded wheat
truck Bacause the truck is loaded,
the driver doesn't feel that the brake
is on. and it is stain so hot that it
ignites stubble
Another common
cause is a combine covered with
chaff whu-h can get against the
manifold and become hot
Hopefully the fire is "s m a ll"
which means that a farm crew can
stop it on the spot, but if his planes
are involved, Boyer says the fire
probably encompass«-* 40 acres or
more and takes about two hours to
put out Of course, if the wind is
blowing, the fire w ill not stay in that
small of an area for two hours
Many factors determine the way
the fire is dealt with the lay of the
land and natural breaks, the wind
direction, and which side is most
expensive
If buildings or uncut
wheal is on one side of the fire and
stubble or scab land on the other
side, if possible, the planes attack
the expensive side first Sometimes,
the fire is approache«! by dousing the
sides to let the r<*st of the fire burn
toward a road or fallow field which
will not burn
'Sometimes the fire is too hot for
the ground crews and equipment
Sometimes, they're too hot for us,
loo, but we go anyway If we can get
on some of them in time, we can do a
lot more than if we get there later
When the ground crews are some
what organized, it helps too. and
most of them are. just because
they've lw-en to many fir«*s."
This has been a fairly go«xt year,
with only a few fires. Boyer con
tmues, "and that says something
atiout human nature " In years, like
this one when everything is dry and
there is the worst hazard, we esper
lence the fewest fires Three years
ago when the hazard was average
there were about 30 fir«-s
No charge- «'all us. we'll come and
bring whomever we can During fire
season, at least, neighbors still do
care about one another
■'2SB ■
J V.
---gyj, a Jg
\.L e x . wreck leaves 1 man dead
Pat Schwarz (left) accepts the amateur calf roping
la»*
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Call of ‘fire’ brings out help during harvest
time in South M orrow County
Morrow Co. employees build
Grand Sweepstakes winner
Grand sweepstakes float
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High
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M el
Boyer
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fights
wheat
fire