Council votes to apply for loan to renovate Hotel
Thr Heppner City Council voted
Monday to apply for a *800.(100 loan
for renovation of the Heppner Hotel
into an apartment com plex for the
elderly
The loan is the first step in a
rehabilitation project that is expect
ed to cost *1.097.805. and » i l l turn the
old hotel into a like new facility with
24 apartments
Repayment of the loan will come
from rentals of the apartments A
federal grant for housing projects
for the elderly hopefully will provide
the balance of the money needed
Tony Barnhart of the Hast Central
Oregon Association of Counties, a
group working toward approval of
the project, was at the city council
meeting to give a presentation
Barnhart said the project has a
good chance of being approved, and
that there appears to be a need for
elderly housing in this area
He said under the proposed rules,
the city would buy the old hotel from
present owner Arnie Hedman for
*125,<X»l and then oversee the ren
ovation work
Once completed,
management of the apartment com
plex would lx- turned over to the
Umatilla Housing Authority Kents
from the apartments would retire
the S i s s i ' X X I loan he said The i i!\
would remain owner of the property
and the hotel
"L e t me make it cle a r.” said
Barnhart, "th e city would not man
age or put any money into the
facility Y ou 're actually just lending
your name to it," he told the council
' The facility itself will be self
supporting." hie stressed, "and not
require any city funding
He said if
the project went bad. the housing
authority would only have the as
sests of the hotel to come back on
The old Heppner Hotel is presently
in bad shape, and the renovation
calls for 21 one-bedroom apart
ments. two studio apartments, two
guest rooms, a lounge, community
room and a lobby area No com mer
cial space is planned
The hotel
presently has a fabric and furniture
store operated by the Hedmans on
the ground floor
Kaeh apartment will also have its
own kitchen area, said Barnhart,
and there will be pull cords for the
elderly tennants in case they would
need emergency help
The renovation calls for com plete
ly red oin g the whole hotel, with new
plum bing, e le c t r ic a l w ork, new
flooring and new windows, along
with carpeting and other work
A representative of the Umatilla
Housing Authority at the meeting
told the council the apartments
would be rented "on a first com e "
basis, and that there would be some
low income renters, whose rent
would be federally subsidised
City attorney Bill Kuhn said the
prelim inary application for .he loan
does not mean the city is committed
to anything, and can back out
anytime it wants He said word of
whether or not the loan application
was approved should be received by
February 14 of this year
In other business at the meeting,
the council
heard from Heppner high school
Principal Jim Bier, who asked that
the city provide a police officer at
home football and basketball games
to patrol the grounds Bier said the
problem of violence at home games
was discussed at the last school
hoard meeting, and that the board
instructed him to come to the council
asking for increased security The
council did not take action on the
request but agreed to review the
matter Bier said the main problem
was fighting and drinking in the
parkin g lot outside du ring the
games and that it seemed to be
coming mostly from recent high
school graduates and out of town
people Police Uhief Doug Kathbun
said his men had been patroling the
area more heavily recently, but he
could not have a man stationed there
during the entire gam e
voted to raise city sewer rates by
one dollar to six dollars per month
Lundin joins Extension staff
Fred Lundin
Fred l.undin has joined the Kxten
sion staff at the Morrow County
office of the Oregon State University
Fxtension Service He. his wife, and
their three children, Mynah II.
Haakan. 2 V and B nlta. 8 months,
have moved to Heppner from Keno,
Nevada
l.undin earned his Bachelor of
Science degree in pest control and
his Master of Science i 1981 > in plant
science at the University of Nevada
at Keno Following conferral of his
masters degree, he accepted a post
tion as an agent at Hardin. Montana
When his wife's father becam e ill
they returned to Keno to be w ith him
until his health improved and they
accepted the job here
Prior to entering the University of
Nevada, l.undin was in the m ilitary
for 10 years as an Arm y aviator He
is currently a reserve Chiel W arrant
Officer 3rd He also worked in the
gaming industry in Keno for 10
years
l.undin describes his jot) here as
half adm inistrative and half advis
mg dryland farmers
He explains
that he will be reviewing the exten
sion s four year plan and talking
with local farm ers to begin with " I
don't think anyone can come in from
outside and form a program w ithout
talking to the farm ers," he said
l.undin invites all those farm ers who
are planning a trip into town to stop
by the extension office and visit He
also plans to visit farms to learn
local problems, farm ers plans and
ideas about what extension needs to
do for them
Methodists welcome new pastor
The increased rates would raise an
additional *» t*x> per year and coun
cU members felt, help balance the
city's budget
discussed raising the fee to the
Heppner rural fire protection dist
net. for which the city provides
protection, but took no action The
fire district presently pays *4,530 per
month
learned that workmen's compen
vat ion insurance for the city will
increase bv 26 percent, or *4 050 this
year
the next m eeting of the city
budget com mittee will be on Janu
ary 20
Historical Society
considers marker
for W ells Springs
By lle lph a tones
The Hoard of Directors of the
Morrow Uounly Historical Society
met at the home of Jim and Barbara
Bloodsworth for the annual polluek
dinner and social evening A short
business meeting was held at which
time the Wells Springs Cemetery
was discussed A com mittee of Irvin
Kauch Sue Vinson and Kuth Me
Cato" wax appointed to check the
area out as to needs and perhaps the
erecting of a Morrow County llistor
leal sign
Sue Vinson and Barbara Bloods
worth reported on the sale of the 1885
Chronicles and the ralrndar which
was printed for the first time, as a
Centennial calendar If this proves a
•“ 'pillar item the group plans on
printing another There are still a
few available and can be purchased
by calling Sue or Barbara
These
are pictures of Morrow County now
and years ago. with Hardman hall
la-na Post Office and others
Barton Clark reported on the
Century Farms, and if you are a
Century Farm please contact Clark
or Jean Nelson as the awards are
planned to lie presented at the
Memorial Day Picnic
A stew supper was enjoyed, after
which the group enjoyed the slides of
the bus trip to Astoria and the
Centennial dinner and program at
Heppner
Those present were
guests. Irvin Kauch Judge and Kuni
Funice M cKlligott. Darrel and Sue
Vinson, Harold and Fdna Peck.
Kuth McCabe. Barton Clark. Delpha
and Cecil Jones and the host and
hostess Jim and Barbara Hloods
worth
Moving In
Above > Mov ers haul a load of (Mixes into the new offices for the Fxtension
Service, the Soil Conservation Service and the Weed Control District
Below i Claudia Hughes left i und Melinda West unpack boxes in the new
home of the extension service near Pettyjohn's Builders Supply at the north
end of Heppner
The offices were closed Thursday and Friday Jan 2 and I whilr
»■rsonnel transferred furniture records and equipment from the office s
orm er location
The office has tx-en oju-n for business as usual since
Hondav
Family Services
counselor tells
schedule change
Adult and Fam ily Services coun
xelor Janet Phillips will be at the
Heppner Neighborhood Center one
day only during Junuary Wednes
day. Jan 22. from 9 a m
noon, she
will be accepting food stamp appll
cations
Food stam p a p p lic a tio n s are
a v a ila b le at the N eigh b orh ood
Center week days during regular
office hours
Next month. Phillips
will beat the Center on her regularly
scheduled days
Annual C h am ber
banquet slated
Don, three-year old Corley. and Dianne Boyce
Aaul was napping at photo lime
By Justine W rath rrforri
The new Methodist pastor Kcv
Donald Boyce and his fam ily are
getting settled in the parsonage on
Church Street
Next Sunday, Jan
12, the fam ily w ill be welcomed at an
after church potluck
The four Boyces moved here on
New Year x Day and Kcv Koyce
gave his first sermon in the Heppner
church on January 5. when an
ama/mg number of members of his
new c on grega tion m anaged to
attend in spile of the very Ireacher
ous ice
Some in this community recall
that Don and Dianne Boyce lived
here during the l<Mo SI school year
when he was the hand instructor for
grades 5 12 and dues ted the Melho
■
I
The couples 11-month old son.
dist choir part of the year Dianne
taught piano and did some clerical
work in the Kin/ua Mill office that
year
D o n 't hom etow n is D e n v e r;
Dianne s is Pueblo, Colorado They
m arried in I two, having met in
Pueblo where Don was teaching
Don Boyce holds both a bachelor s
and master s degree in music
He
tell i ailed to enter the ministry when
he was here in Heppner
Then he enrolled in lliff School of
Theology in Denver from which he
gained his degree in theology in
June 1985 Instead of going straight
through seminary, Boyce served one
year us an intern pastor in the
Melhodivt churches at Joseph and
Wallowa O reg o n in 198 1 He says he
and the fam ily like t tregon. and he is
pleased to be a full m ember of the
Oregon Idaho Conference of the
United Methodist Church
The foursome cam e to Heppner
from Union and North Powder,
where I Ion had served the two
Methodist churches from June. 1985
through December. 1985. when he
was appointed to the church here
Dianne who says she will accept a
lew piano students to lie taught in
the parsonage expects to give most
of her energy to her young family lor
some years
The Boyces really like north
eastern Oregon and expect to hast*
happv busy years in Heppner
The annual Chamber of C om
merce banquet will lie held Tuesday.
Jan 14 at the Heppner Klks l.<>dge
The public is invited to attend The
public is invited to attend Tickets
can be purchased at the d oo r, a
social hour will begin at 6 p m and
dinner
n n r r will tie
IX- served
XCIVCVJ at 7
i p p i m
n
Ä Ä S r S I.2 3
Chamber
1986
Chamber
installed
officers
will
be
Merchants slate
annual meeting
The Heppner Merchants Commit
tee will hold its annual meeting and
potluck Thursday. Jan 16, 6 30 p in
at the home of Jerry and JoyccKay
Hollomon
A ll H eppner M erchants are
invited to come help plan the year's
schedule
Kegular meetings of the
merchants com mittee are held the
third Friday of each month
«
I l
«
Ice storm blamed for outage
Sunday night's power outage was
the clim ax of hundreds of smaller
outages caused by the weather
during the past two weeks said
Columbia Basin Flectric Co-op man
ager Fred Toombs Twenty to thirty
extra helpers have assisted the
regular crews with scraping ice.
repairing wire and replacing poles
because of the many problems
Since the outage occurred at II
p m . the darkness slowed locating
it
K xtrem ely icy conditions Sunday
also made It difficult to gel to the
problem "T h ere was so much ice
you couldn't walk an yw h ere." said
Mealsite schedule resumes Jan. l.’l
The Senior Citizen* weekly noon
ineal at the fairground was to have
resumed on Monday Jan 6. but
because of the power outage was
cancelled liut will resume Monday.
Jan 13
These noon meals are
I
p re p a re d by head cook
Mel
H am m ons and assistant cook
Kleanor t.onty Fach week women
from local church«-* assist the rooks
with preparation and serving
All
seniors arp Verv welcome
Toombs "It sounds silly, but we had
to d rive everyw here we went "
The outage Sunday was caused
tier a use lines were so heavily iced
with frost and freezing rain than
when the wind cam e up and ice
tiegan to melt off. the wires flew up
from the loss of weight around them
and when two wires cam e together,
connecting wires and transformers
were burned out
Most of the system was without
power from II p m Sunday until 9
a m Monday , although some C B F
( ' customers did have power for
portions of that tim e
Although power has been restored
to all customers. Toombs said Tues
day morning that crews will be
making repairs for several weeks in
order to get the system back to
normal The co op appreciates the
patience of its customers during the
outages, he says, with the bad
weather
W e've really had our
hands full