Image provided by: Morrow County Museum; Heppner, OR
About Heppner gazette-times. (Heppner, Or.) 1925-current | View Entire Issue (July 22, 1987)
•• - i * - *% • . i> . . ». c # - . . v i i * / .4h¿. I * .. . t ». —J U . '. :• < U » J. M ; » *• « . ; - » * « :• Morrow County's Home-Owned Newspape The H eppner • , & : . **.•* • j * l- % - . ’. i* ». fa * »" *% • * -J.Z.» * *a. , . * • A* > ,U*i ' V, ^ Jr » * ’ v* ’» V i T t V* V: 4 » . ** * • • * * 4 • *; • • • » A **3 C. • * *'+< * « • w ' y * * Finished Product azette VOL 105 NO 29 imes Wednesday. July 22. 1987 Heppner 25* 8 Pages Doug Dubuque of Kmzua Corp shows members of the Heppner Chamber of Com merce the finished product that comes out of the company's new stud mill The chamber toured both the new stud mill, and the regular saw mill, at Kmzua s Hepp ner plant Dubuque says the new stud mill is operating on the swing shift with about 40 new employees The mill will continue to operate on swing to utilize equipment also us ed in the mam mill during the day The new mill will produce about 30 million board feet of two-by-fours per year “This is really a smooth operation,'* Dubuque said of Ktnzua's latest addition In recent years the company has installed a chipping operation, new small log mill, and a cogeneration plant that produces electrici ty from wood waste Testimony mostly favorable at landfill hearing Testimony on construction of u large landfill in Morrow Couniy. was mostly favorable during a public hearing last week in Heppner Representatives from the Chamber of Commerce. Port of Morrow. and businesses in the county spoke in favor of the 600-acre dump, saying it would be an economic boon to the county Opponents on the other hand, said the landfill wouldn't generate as many jobs as claimed, and would drive tourists away with a bad im age of Morrow County. The proposed dump is to be located at Finley Buttes, about 16 miles south ot Hoardmanofl Bomb mg Range Road Tidewater Burge Lines, the largest shipper on the Columbia and Snake River System, is behind the project, which could see up to 2,500 tons of residential and commercial garbage shipped into Morrow County every day from communities along the Columbia River Life of the dump could be up to 25 years The hearing in Heppner was just one of four held by the county court to gather public feeling on the project. Bob Miller ot Boardman said the project was endorsed both by the Boardman Chamber of Commerce and the Pori ot Morrow "because ot the jobs and economic development it will bring to Morrow County Miller is a member ot the chamber’s economic development committee, and also manager of the Port of Morrow Representatives of I idewaler say the project will generate TO to 50 new jobs in Morrow County. m eluding heavy equipment operators, truck drivers and other landfill operators, lor an annual payroll of $600,000 to SI million Tidewater says spinoff related |obs could total 35 to 65 and have a payroll ot $450.000 to $750.000 Miller also pointed out that Hepp tier's landfill is sc heduled to close in several yearv. and with (he high cost of locating a new landfill, the Finley Buttes site offers a solution to the problem Tidewater officials have said that the dump would be available tor use to people in Mor row County Other testimony in favor irtclud ed letters from John Pragg. a Hoard man real estate broker, who said that Morrow County h a s established i reputation tor dm ing business awav. and that the landfill would be' g o o d economically lor the county. and would help solve Heppner v so lid waste disposal problem Larry Mills, manager of the Mor row County Grain Growers in I ev ington. said the landfill w as a "win. win' project Mills pointed out that having the waste shipped to Morrow County in sealed containers, would mean pjen ty of empty containers would be available lor shipux'n! ot agricultural products back down the river I uck of available containers in the past has apparently hurt shipping oppor (unities in Eastern Oregon Mills also said that he has worked with Tidewater Barge Lines in the past and has found them "to be good neighbors Othexr speaking in favor of the project were Cliff Green, president of the Heppner I conomic Develop ment Committee. Kent Goodyear of Km/ua Corp (a Heppner wood pro ducts company) Bill Doherty, u local wheat farmer. Bill Cox. a local Heppner citizen. Anne Murray of Heppner Bill Kuhn of the Heppner Chamber of Commerce and the Ci ty of Heppner, and Ed Glenn, a Boardman resident and member of the Morrow County health care board of directors Glenn said he was probably closer to the project than any other resident ot the county, “ the lights of the trucks will be shining right in my bedroom window." he pointed out Glenn said he favored the project, but thsnight the county should decide on how to spend the "franchise tees" imposed by the county on Tidewater. i The county is currently negotiating with I idewaler on a per ton fee to be paid tor dumping in the county ) I think we should dedicate the money to help small manufacturing companies locate in the county." said < ilenn Small manul.nturing will bring new money into lire coun ty," he said Four letters in sujifiorl of the land till were a ls o read at the hearing Sunridge Homes. John Gorham, and the Nomad Restaurant, all ot Hoard man. were in favor ot the project as well a s Columbia Basin Electric of Heppner. and B & C Repair of lone B A C asked that it tie stipulated in Tidewater’s contract that goods anil services be purchased locally Pendleton Grain Growers, the large gram so op m Pendleton, also wrote in lavor ot the project, saying that it would cause more shipping con tamers to be available in the area Opposition to the landfill project, voiced at the public hearing, came mainly from two Hoardnun men who have organized a petition drive that will place a resolution on a county wide ballot Nov 3 asking for voter approval before any landfill that accepts garbage from outside the county be built here IVan Mason and Jerry Simpson, employees at the Portland General Electric Coal plant in Boardman, van! they feel a majority of the public don't want the landfill and would vote it down if given a chance "I don't run in the same circles as the Port ot Morrow and the Chamber ot Commerce. Simpson saul m resjv Mise t. the ondii semenfs of the landfill from those groups But he said he read about the land till in the papers and felt there were "a lot of questions asked, and no answers given I had technical and Ian I use questions that weren't ‘answered (by Tidewater and their representatives) Simpson said he was concerned the landfill would turn out like a feedM west of Boardman. which he claims did not live up to promises made before construction On public sentiment about the pro ject, Simpson said he collected 75 signatures in one evening around hiv house in Boardman "I kept getting invited into people's funises, and that made me think there is more opposi lion than has come out " Among other things Tidewater’s projsis.il to jety the county fifty cents per Ion on garbage coming into the county, was too low and would not even jiay tor upkeep on the roads "I see niy taxes going up to cover it." he said Simpson said the initiative petition he and others circulated was an ef fort to tell elected officials how they feel about the project " l e t ’s get this on the ballot and make your (county First load shipped from stud mill court) decision on this dump con tingent on the vote," he said “ We want to insure the public has a right M voice their opinion through Last week Km/ua Corp shipped the pollv." said Mason, who also the first carload of construction 2 x helped with the petition 4s produced by its new stud mill Mason said that economic data us Kituua has hired about 20 people ed by Tidewater to estimate spinoff for the stud mill itself and will re lobs in the county was inaccurate, quire an additional 18 in the planer and should not be taken seriously, i f facility. Personnel Manager Doug you are going to give away the farm, Dubuque said Friday you should at last do it for more." The stud mill, in operation since Mason said July I allows us to use small Mason said a similar landfill pro logs and White Fir better and more jxised for Gilliam County by another economically than before, he said company , offered that county more Company owned land and many of money Fat Wright, a Lexington resident the timber sales coming up have a lot and Morrrow County Health Nurse, of White Fir, he continued, “ with spoke out against the project, saying the stud mill, wc can process it more on her travels around the county she economically than before " So far the studs have been shipped uses Bombing Range Road, which to the Chicago area. Marketing the large container trucks would use Manager Kent Goodyear said, hcav ily because most of the available market “ Wc need the jobs, but my main is in the north eastern quarter of the concern is for public salety," she said W right saul s I k - objects to more U S He expects some later traffic on Bombing Range, and iv shipments to the South Central and Texas area Sales have been to concerned about the Boardman In distribution yards, wholesalers, terchangc. which the trucks would chain yird and home centers, and also use Dr Steve /icluivki of Boardman some directly to retail chains, he said also testified against (he landfill, say mg it would be bad for tourism, and unattractive for the location of a Super Collider to Eastern Oregon Mary Michael. Boardman, was Die Heppner jxiblic hearing on the elected chairman at the Morrow landfill was (he last of four held County Medical Board meeting thriHigh«mt the county, and the coun Monday at the Irngon City Hall ty court is expected to make a deci Jackie Bergstrom, lone, was sion on the project Wednesday. Ju elected vice chairman and Don Ep- ly 22 jH'iibaugh. Irngon. was elected Even it the court approves the pro secretary ject. Tidewater will vtill have to go through a permit application with the I Vparimcnl of Environmental <>iali ty. before the landfill could be built The county has hired an indepen dent attorney to help in contract negotiations with Tidewater, and per ton fees and other details of the con If they haven't already done so, tract are being worked out at this neighbors of yours w ill be calling on time you to get your opinions and ideas to improve transportation and medical care in the county. These volunteers will be spending the next ahead ot it "When the tire turned week and a half meeting with as and came toward us. we had to hop many people as possible The information on transportation on the truck and drive away av fast as wc could,"Assistant Chief Rusty will provide the basis for a grant ap Estes said "We lost radio contact plication the County is submitting to with the other fire truck until we fund a transportation system The questions on medical care address were away from the fire " t he lire finally burned out about concerns of everyone in the couniy and it is hoped that citizens will take 7 p m Charred fields mark it's path Both Burkenbinc and Childers said advantage of this forum to nuke sug that as always farmers sending gevtions to improve service equipment and individuals with Everyone is encouraged to take the time to visit with the survey burlap sa c k s and shovels helped volunteers and join them in taking Spray planes with tanks full of water this first step to enlarge and improve and (irain Growers tanker trucks services in the County heljx'd. too Crews from the Grain (»rowers and Columbia Basin helped the volunteers also Raljvh Crum related that I uesday afternoon one of the truck drivers of his harvest crew forgot to close the gate on a hopper bottom dump truck W hen the combine man dumped his load of grain into the truck, the wheat ran out the bottom and held the truck from moving Wednesday. Crum continued, his crew took a combine over and shoveled wheat off the ground into the header to tree the iriu k It must have been friction on the belts from the weight of the load that taused the spark, he sur mised Water pressure fire ex linguishers on both sides of the com bine failed to put out the flames With it) mph winds and knee high stubble from a near fit) bu acre crop, the fire look off about 2 30 p in and burned tor more than three hours, leaving scorched fields and . a ■> fa -if o 1 Fence posts smolder long after main fire has burned past iv * . ~ acrid air It destroyed one of Crum’s truiks, an old barn used as a grainery temp ty). 300 acres of Crum’s stubble. 200 ai res of standing wheat belong mg to Wayne and Harold Rietmann. and range land to total almost 1200 acres of devastation The fire burn ed to w ithin l(K) yards of two homes and completely circled a third, but did no damage there Crum said tour other ranchers contributed tractors with discs in addition to his rig for building fire lanes The wind was blowing taster than the rigs could go. though, he said The lire jumped the first tire lane and a county road It burned over a pickup destroying a tire but tailing to ignite the fuel tanks full of gasoline on the bac k of the truck, he said The fire west of Heppner started about 3 |() p in near where Bart and Assoc were working on the replace ment main power line tor Columbia Basin Electric Co op A short in the wiring of the power transmission lines which also caused a brief power outage started the fire. Heppner Chief hom e Burkenbinc said The wind whipped fire burned 500acres ot rangeland belonging to Keith Lewis and about 35 acres of wheat belonging to Tony Doherty Firefighters from Hcppner'v rural fire district were not able to make much headway in stopping the fire until John Boyer's planes began to drop water, some tanners sent trac tors with discs, and the county road department sent a road grader out. Burkcnbine said Flames from the fire shot 15' in the air and the fire was moving so fast wc couldn't stav rr. : • • - • * I J 1 • 1 » , . ‘ z • •] 1 1 ■ ». ' I V * ' : , v v- • v .}. • ■-» ' 5 - - • . " '•* v w s ' v’ r \ Transportation, medical care survey underway : V- > • *7- • *4 -* il ^ -a, v. ' * 'V >.*>» J * * *• • u - »3 r f * - v - V * V ïy '& . f i * " ... ‘ - 1 T . :* ,y ' ,- V . * * .a « .- " O « * / - * T T " » - S ' V ' **S * « KV. Saturday's heavy rains washed mud from the newly burned fields down Rietmann grade undercutting portions of the county road and on to lone’s Main St Straw bales kept water and mud out of the few threatened homes and businesses Cm crewman Jim Rudisill was out cleaning up Sunday afternoon Julv 14 ■ 20 High 1.41W P m |(N) x: 64 63 69 79 8.3 58 43 49 51 46 47 50 - 0 0 0 04 0 0 01 li r Market Report CamphffianM at M orto» C o m »« O r» « O r a x lorsdav, Julv 21 Soft Whitt July-Aug Sept, Barley July-Aug Hard Red Winter 11% protein *2 89 *2 90 ? *83 »2 81 PIK Generic Certificates 106 '4% cash » -• * " 'f a .*■ by C*y o* Hip p m f Tues Wed Thurs Fri Sat Sun Mon . s ¿A* ; ”1 ’ Weather Report The (anker trucks from the (irain Growers were a real help, especial ly around the buildings. Harvey Childers who has been trying to get things rolling for a rural fire district in the lone area saul The district wav approved int he |950s. but a board has never been appointed to propose a lax base and get a measure on the ballot W c need people to express in terest in serving on the board and in spending the necessary lime to train and take care of equipment, he said, before we can go any further with the district V ' '.v :*•' j * •» » Wpt Board elects chair Wind-whipped blaze challenges volunteer firefighters Two range fires halted harvest operations in much of the county Wednesday afternoon as crews left the fields to help battle the wind driven inferno Sjvarks started the two fires almost simultaneously , one |ust north of lone in a stubble field belonging to Ralph Crum, the other west of Heppner on range land belonging to Keith larwis »• -*