Image provided by: Morrow County Museum; Heppner, OR
About Heppner gazette-times. (Heppner, Or.) 1925-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 16, 1992)
BESS ! E W E TZ E L L U OF O R E Additional EPA funds doubtful for project NEWSPAPER L ! R E U G E N E OR 9 7 4 0 3 The city of Heppner may not 1989, but problems with siting, receive an additional $241,113 landowners, and government Environmental Protection Agen regulations prevented implemen cy grant to complete the city’s tation of the plan and successive sewer project, it was learned at ones. The revised plan, approv the city council meeting Monday ed by the council, was the seventh night, Sept. 14. such plan, but is the least expen DEQ earlier indicated that sive alternative, according to there was a good possibility that Allen Rieke, project engineer the city would be granted addi with Anderson Perry and tional EPA monies, according to Associates engineering firm. The city officials. plan, which also has cooperation The city has been working of the landowners.calls for a split toward a sewer treatment plan flow disposal of the effluent. The since 1988 when a DEQ edict effluent will be dumped into demanded that the city reduce the Willow Creek in the winter amount of effluent dumped into months and sprayed onto the Willow Creek during the summer Willow Creek Country Club and months. the adjoining Fred Hoskins place The original alternative sewage from May to October. Construc treatment plan was completed in tion is anticipated in the fall and winter of 1993. Costs for the plan have risen to $1,715,500. City voters approv ed a 625,000 sewer bond, EPA granted $742,180 for the project and another $107,207 has been earned in interest for a total of $1,474,387 available. City officials still have hopes for obtaining the grant and are in the process of contacting county and state officials to help advance their cause. Council members discussed obtaining a DEQ loan or raising rates to pay for the pro ject as a last resort if the EPA grant is not approved. City sewer rates are now $19.80 per month. Loan program improves store fronts VOL. 111 NO. 36 8 Pages Wednesday, September 16, 1992 Morrow County Heppner, Oregon Douglas Orwick presented award ! .... ► ' —s WHH Photo by Joyce Hughes Douglas Orwick (R) and his helper Marcy Miller sort paper to be recycled. From seven to 78, you’re never to young or too old to recycle. Seven year old Douglas Orwick persuaded 25 teachers and 350 students that they should be recycling during his first grade year at Heppner Elementary School. He researched recycling collectors and the types of paper that could be recycled, wrote a formal presentation and delivered it a faculty meeting on Earth Day 1992. Teacher Linda Shaw, ex pected that the school might begin a pilot project in three or four classrooms but what happened was a landslide of approval. Now the paper is collected and sorted by Douglas and other students and picked up by CAPECO, a non-profit recycler that drives 60 miles from Pendleton to Heppner. With the new school year, a new program has already begun and the school is planning to add more materials to its recycling program. Douglas accomplished what many adults could not. Not only did he plan and promote a recycl ing program in an institutional setting, he overcame the obstacles of skepticism, poor markets and the absence of a local recycler. Douglas, son of Mike and Bar bara Orwick, Lexington, was honored with the Steele Gale Martin Recycling Achievement Award by the Association of Oregon Recyclers on Sept. 12 at the association’s 14th annual fall conference at the Eugene Hilton and Conference Center. The Association of Oregon recyclers is a professional organization made up of in dividuals, organizations, businesses and government agen cies qre dedicated to ad vancement of recycling. AOR each year recognizes deserving individuals and organizations that have contributed significantly to recycling. The Steele Gale Martin Recycl ing Achievm ent Award is dedicated to the young recyclers of the state of Oregon. To be eligible for this award the nominee must be an individual or group under the age of 18 or be a high school senior at the time of the recycling activity and be a resident of Oregon. Douglas was nominated by Linda Shaw, teacher and Bryan Traylor, principal at Heppner Elementary School. Local woman part of Happy Canyon New store fronts are popping up all over town. Green Feed and Seed is in the process of getting a new store front. Left to right; Roy, Kay and Mike Proctor discuss progress with loan officer Rollie Marshall from the Bank of Eastern Oregon. New store fronts are going up all over town as the Bank of Eastern Oregon’s Low Interest Main Street Improvement Loan Program kicks into high gear. The program, started last fall, allows Main Street businesses to fix up the exteriors of their businesses with interest rates of five percent. The Heppner Vision 2000 Committee, a committee formed to write a strategic plan for the city, was able to get a $10,000 grant from the Oregon Economic Development Depart ment. This grant, administered by the city, will pay the five percent interest charged by the bank, ef fectively making the loans interest free. As a young girl watching Hap py Canyon, local woman Joyce Hughes used to imagine how much fun it would be to be one of the Happy Canyon dancers. This year she gets to find out. Joyce says her dad Carl Mar- quardt would take the family each year to see the western show dur ing Pendleton Round-up. “ I real ly liked Happy Canyon, but I especially liked the dancers. I always thought it would be fun to be a dancer in it.” This year she is doing it. After being encouraged to try out by one of the Happy Canyon direc tors, Joyce made the cast of dancers, and will be perform every night. Wednesday through Saturday Show time is 7:45 p.m committed, the grant money is quickly running out. There are still enough funds available for several more projects, however,” Koffler said. The Bank of Eastern Oregon, which is making this same low interest offer to Lex ington, lone and Arlington businesses, still has about $75,000 available in the Heppner area for these low interest loans, he explained. According to Kof fler, the program will cost the bank about $15,000 the dif ference between a market rate and the low interest rate charged on the loans. “ We’ve been very pleased with the response of the business community to this pro gram and are hopeful that other businesses will take advantage of the opportunity,” said Koffler. Heppner voters retain motel tax New mechanic at Skaggs The repeal of Heppner’s five percent transient motel tax was defeated by 47 votes Tuesday, 303 no to 256 yes. A no vote means that the tax approved by the city council April 13, will remain in effect. Ten percent of the tax collected will go back to the motel owners for costs involved in collecting the tax, another 10 percent will go the city of Heppner for ad ministrative costs and the re mainder is earmarked for use by the Heppner Chamber of Com merce. The tax is expected to generate around $5,000 annually. Proponents of the tax maintain ed that a tax paid by out-of- towners would benefit the entire community by helping to promote business and tourism. Opponents of the tax cited several reasons for the opposi tion. They maintained it would open the door for additional tax without a vote of the people; and invade the motels privacy by ex amination of their books. Happy Canyon can can dancers l-r: Liz Doherty, Joyce Hughes, Tammy Schultz, Carrie Robin son, Laura Brice. Five Main Street businesses have completed the projects they have undertaken. Those include R & W Drive-In, the Shoe Box. Murray Drugs, Contry Rose and the I.O.O.F. Lodge. The other project in process besides Green’s Feed & Seed store is Bucknum’s Tavern. According to Heppner branch manager George Koffler. six other businesses have made loan requests that have been approv ed and those projects should be finished within the next 60 days. Those include Ployhar Insurance, Heppner T.V., Van Matter & Kahl Insurance, Cheri’s Hair & Nails, Gardner’s Men’s Wear and Peterson’s Jewelry. “ With all of those projects Dave Miler has joined Skaggs Auto Clinic Dave Miler has been hired as a new mechanic at Skaggs Auto Clinic in Heppner. Miler. 30, comes to Heppner from Salem. He has extensive background and experience in auto repairs. “ I've spent my whole life in the business,” says Miler, “ the last 12 professional ly ” Miler is married, his wife’s name is Wendi and they have two children. “ We want to invite everyone to stop by and meet our new mechanic, and just say hi.” says Frank Skaggs, who along with his son Rob operate the auto repair business. Bank o f Eastern Oregon HOME LOAN PROGRAM Rates as low as 7.125% n A h j K OF — ---- D p a s te r n (jreqon Arlington • Heppner • lone >. .ff, Member F D I C " liiili ri h , h nt I h iii, Ih iiir il Hiinl Ì
