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NEWSPAPER
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HEDC focus on city improvements
heppner
35C
îmes
VOL. 113
NO. 5
8 Pages Wednesday, February 2. 1994
would be to salvage everything
and use the timber at other
mills,” he said. About 180.000
acres of timberland are included
in the sale.
Pearson said Kinzua would
continue to operate up until the
sale.
including
buying
timberland, cutting trees and pro
ducing lumber. “ We’re not go
ing to let the mill run dry, in fact
we just bought 480 acres of
timber this morning,” he said.
Terms and conditions of the
sale were not announced.
customers over the last decade,”
stated Jim O'Donnell. President
of Kinzua Energy Co.
Since coming on line in 1985,
Kinzua has provided PGE over
half a billion kilowatt-hours of
electricity, enough to serve the
energy needs of more than 5.000
homes each year.
“ We respect and appreciate
Kinzua’s role as a reliable elec
tric provider to PGE,” added
Rich Davis. PGE’s Director of
contract resources. “ It has been
rewarding to work with an
organization such as Kinzua that
has helped us explore ways to
lower customer costs and to im
prove each companies’ com
petitiveness.”
Termination of the 30-year
agreement will become effective
February 7, 1994.
Tourism to sponsor brochure racks
lone’s entreprenurial class “ We Make Products” with Jean Nelson (far left. back).
The Morrow County Tourism
Comittee. at its meeting in Irrigon
last week, voted to contract with
the students in the lone shop en
trepreneurial class “ We Make
Products” to make racks to hold
pamphlets dealing with attractions
in Morrow County. These racks
will be placed in various
businesses in the county so that
the information would be readi
ly accessible to tourists, hunters
and others passing through.
There will be inform ative
brochures dealing with such at
tractions as parks and lakes, the
Oregon Trail, the museum, the
courthouse, the Blue Mountain
Scenic Byway, atractions in the
nine counties of the Eastern
Oregon Visitors Association, the
Irrigon Fish Hatchery and the
l m.idil.i W ild ttfc Refuge Hus is
just one of the many projects that
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John Huffaker
at that time, the local co-op will
remove Main Street service lines.
Those overhead lines will be
moved to the rear of Main Street
buildings he said.
To coincide with this project
the city has obtained a sidewalk
replacement grant of $108.800
through the Intermodal Surface
Transportation Act. All Main
Street sidewalks from the lower
end of Main Street near the city
park and ending at the May Street
bridge below the courthouse will
be reconstructed. To further
enhance the downtown area, the
Heppner chamber has been
holding donations given to
finance planter boxes and trees.
While this major project won’t
happen for three more years, ci
ty manager Gary Marks said that
two city streets will be
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have been completed by the
Tourism Committee since its
organization in 1986.
Anyone interested in working
with this group is invited to con
tact chairman Don Eppenbach,
Irrigon. The group meets mon
thly in different parts of the coun
ty. The next meeting will be Feb.
8. at 4 p.m. at RJ’s Restaurant in
Lexington.
A lawsuit alleging that the city
of Heppner’s performance based
pay policy violated the city
charter was dismissed on Thurs
day, January 27, from Circuit
Court.
On June 7, 1993, city council
member Martha Doherty filed a
lawsuit with the circuit court
alleging that Mayor Bob Jepsen,
the other five city council mem
bers and city manager Gary
Marks had violated the city char
ter when they adopted a new per
sonnel evaluation and merit com
pensation system for city employ
ees in January 1993.
In his ruling for dismissal.
Judge Rudy Murgo found that ci
ty manager Gary Marks was not
a proper party to the action; the
resolution adopting the merit pay
system was validly adopted and
that neither the resolution nor the
merit pay system violates the ci
ty charter; and the plaintiff has no
standing to maintain the lawsuit.
After the ruling. Marks said the
city was pleased that the court had
affirmed the legality of the city’s
policy.
” 1 hope we can all put this
behind us now and devote our
complete attention as a team to
the many projects and issues con
fronting the city,” Marks said.
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Suit against city dismissed in court
Co-Gen plant to close
Kinzua Energy Co., a sub
sidiary' of Kinzua Corporation,
and Portland General Electric Co.
(PGE) have jointly agreed to ter
minate a power purchase agree
ment enterred into in 1983.
Under the agreement, Kinzua
has provided PGE electrical
energy from its 10 megawatt
cogeneration plant located in
Heppner. Changes during the last
several years in the forest and
energy industries such as reduc
ed availability and higher cost of
wood-waste fuel, increased
operation and maintenance costs
associated with electrical genera
tion. and lower-cost resources
available to PGE made ter
minating the current agreement in
the best interest o f both
companies.
“ We are proud to have helped
meet the energy needs of PGE
M
Morrow County Heppner, Oregon
Kinzua Mill sold
Kinzua Corporation announc
ed Tuesday it will sell its Hepp
ner sawmill to a Eugene-based
group of investors.
All 125 employees at the mill
were notified Tuesday they will
be layed off in 60-days. Kinzua
General Manager Frank Pearson
said he did not know if the new
owners planned to operate the
mill or close it down.
Pearson did not divulge the
names of the new owners, only
to say there were four principals,
an investor, a logger and two mill
owners. The name of the limited
liability company formed to buy
the mill is called Pioneer
Resources L.L.C. if 342 E. 112th
Ave., Eugene. Calls placed to the
company Tuesday to discuss the
sale were not returned.
Kinzua Corporation has been in
operation in Heppner since 1959,
and has been owned by the same
group of Northwest families for
over 40 years.
The sale has not yet been
finalized but should be completed
in April. Pearson said.
‘‘The buyers have not made
any decision to operate any por
tion of the mill,” he pointed out.
‘‘There is a definite interest by
them to continue to operate the
v «£;iJl. I’m encouraged, but I don’t
know. You don’t really know un
til *jiey start hiring people back,”
Pearson said. ‘‘The other option
At the annual dinner meeting of
HEDC (Heppner Economic
Development Corporation) last
Wed., Jan. 26, members were
updated on projects already
underway.
Members discussed the Main
Street Improvement Project, the
need for more housing and the
projected addition
of a
motel/restaurant facility.
Guest speaker was John Huf-
faker. The Dalles. He recently
became the north-central regional
business officer of the Oregon
Ecomonic Development Depart
ment, which includes Gilliam.
G rant, M orrow , Sherm an,
Wasco and Wheeler counties.
Huffaker said communities
must take a "bootstrap ap
proach” by demonstrating a need
for funding from state or federal
agencies. Any project must fit
with other aspects of the com
munity. he said, and they must
have the support of both the com
munity and local government
agencies in order to access federal
or state funding.
Members of HEDC plan to
continue meeting with state
highway department officials to
ensure that Heppner’s Main
Street reconstruction remains on
the 1997 agenda. This project
also includes new storm drains
that will handle excessive run-off.
Columbia Basin Electric Coop
manager Fred Toombs said that
reconstructted this year. Revenue
bonds are now being sold to pro
vide $370,000 for the project.
These bonds are supported by
state gasoline tax revenues an
ticipated to be received by the ci
ty. This will not be resident-tax
supported. M arks said the
engineering is now underway.
The city hopes to award a bid in
May with completion targeted for
September 15.
Like other towns, Heppner has
a housing shortage. Many in
quiries as to available housing are
received, according to city of
ficials and the chamber office.
Greg Smith, Heppner, of
GEODC said that Heppner now
has a population of 1412 people.
However 498 households are in
the moderate to low income
bracket. Smith said that there are
low or no-interest loans available
to help refurbish older homes.
Meanwhile HEDC continues to
research avenues to provide hous
ing for middle income families
and senior citizens.
According to HEDC president
Ann Spicer, the Port of Morrow
has agreed to purchase ground
that would be offered to a pro
spective investor of a motel and
restaurant facility. The Kinzua
Corporation site for industrial
development is projected as a
means for adding commerce to
south Morrow County.
Spicer and Cliff Green were re
elected to the HEDC board of
directors.
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Hospital staff receives lab training
The clinical laboratory staff at
Pioneer Memorial Hospital and
Nursing Home in Heppner have
received a certificate of training
from the American Association
for Clinical Chemistry. The staff
has also participated in additional
training over the past six months
to keep their knowledge and skills
updated in the “ ever-changing”
medical field.
Laboratory supervisor Jay
Straley, Shelly W ight and
Elizabeth Hickerson were able to
attend classes through a grant
from “ Northeast Oregon Area
Health Education C en ter”
(NOAHEC), Eastern Oregon
State College, LaGrande.
“ Without the funding from
NOAHEC, our small rural
hospital would be unable to afford
continuing education for the
staff,” said Straley. “ With health
care costs rising and reduced
reimbursement by Medicare, our
laboratory had to make drastic
cuts in its budget. We are
thankful to the NOAHEC and
hope they continue their
necessary and important work.”
“ In our rual setting quality
education in our field is not
available.” added Hickerson.
“ We must travel great distances
for continuing education and
because of the NOAHEC we
were able to afford this training.”
“ In order to keep our license
we must obtain a specific amount
of continuing education. W’ithout
the funding from NOAHEC the
rural community would not have
the same currently trained profes
sionals that are available to the
inner-city population,” said
Wight.
“ With health care under such
scrutiny and the cuts demanded
under Measure 5. it is nice to see
some positive feedback from our
tax dollars,” continued Straley.
“ The rural community is often
ignored in the media unless it is
of a negative nature. The conti
nuing efforts of NOAHEC need
to be continued so all individuals
have the opportunity to have ac
cess to up-to-date diagnostic
testing abilities in the clinical
laboratory.”
Free income tax aide available beginning Feb. 11
Do you have questions about
your taxes? Would you like
assistance in completing your in
come tax forms this year?
Free income tax assistance will
be available to the community
beginning Feb. 11 through the
TAX-AIDE program of the
American Association of Retired
Persons (AARP) in cooperation
with the Internal Revenue Service
(IRS) to all low and moderate in
come people.
Sherron Woodside, local coor
dinator for the tax program, said
the service is designed to help all
low and moderate income tax
payers understand income tax
forms and become familiar with
special benefits available to them.
“ The government may owe
you money. Taxpayers who had
1
a job. earned less than $23.050.
and had a child who lived with
them may be due money from the
government under the Earned In
come Credit,” Woodside said.
On another point Sherron
stated “ we have learned that
many older persons are unaware
of special benefits they are entitl
ed to claim. Some may not be re
quired to file a return because of
limited income.”
Persons using the service
should bring copies of their
previous year's federal and state
tax returns, forms for the current
tax year, relevant material show
ing income for the year (including
W-2’s and I099’s etc.) and
receipts, cancelled checks for
personal deductions (medical,
property taxes, contributions,
etc.).
According to Woodside. TAX-
MCGG
Sm all G rain s
G r o w e r ’s M e e tin g
S tagin g C lin ic
February
11
W illow s G range
1-3 p . m .
W illow s Grange
AIDE counselors are trained to
assist with basic tax forms and
questions. The counselors receive
a week of training covering
federal and state taxes for which
they must pass a test. Individuals
with complex tax assistance needs
may be referred to professional
tax preparers.
“ Our goal is to assist more tax
payers with our expanded site
hours as we are having two Satur
days (Feb. 19 and 26. available
to those individuals that are
unable to receive the assistance
during the week,” remarked
Woodside. Some additional
forms are also available that may
be unavailable at the bank or post
office.
Interested persons may make
an appointm ent by calling
676-5024.
W elding Clinic
MCGG lone
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1:30 p .m .
Starts 9 a .m .
S p o n so re d
by M C G G and D obyns
Pest C o n tro l
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