d " 3 s
i
e.
w 7
• *_
C ity dedicates wastewater fa cility
E U a
f.
H y
Oh
374
7
heppner
Photo by Joyce Hughes
Cutting the ribbon at the wastewater treatment facility dedication Friday were L-R: past mayors
Cara Osmin, Kay Robinson and present mayor Bob Jepsen.
imes
VOL. 113
NO. 49
6 Pages Wednesday, December 7, 1994
Morrow County Heppner, Oregon
Santa makes annual visit to Heppner
A dedication ceremony Fri
day, Dec. 2 capped the city of
Heppner's long and sometimes
frustrating effort to upgrade the
city w astew ater treatm ent
facility.
On hand for the 11 a.m.
dedication were the current
mayor of Heppner, Bob Jepsen;
two form er m ayors, Cara
Osmin and Kay Robinson, who
had been involved in the pro
cess; city m anager, Gary
Marks; city clerk, Rene Devin;
DEQ rep resen tativ e, Don
Caldwell; city foreman, Dave
Winters; council member, Mar
cia DeBo; and Allen Rieke,
Anderson Perry Associates
en gin eerin g firm , am ong
others.
The plant had been in the
planning stages since 1987
w hen D epartm ent of E n
vironm ental Q u ality , E n
vironmental Protection Agency
and federal Clean Water Act
mandated the city to come up
with an alternative way to
dispose of the treated effluent
which had been dumped in
Willow Creek. The city would
no longer be able to pipe the ef
fluent into the creek during the
summer months of low stream
flow. The city now has a con
tract with Willow Creek Coun
try Club to spray the effluent
on the golf course during the
summer months.
A series of problems, involv-
ing engineering, siting, lan
downers, the DEQ, funding,
and most recently, leaks in the
newly constructed sludge tank,
plagued the project over the
years, exasperating city officials
and causing delays.
The $2 million project was
funded through a $625,000 ci
ty sewer bond, $250,000 in
grant monies and a $220,000
loan through the Oregon
Economic Development De
p artm e n t's Special Public
Works Fund; $800,000 in EPA
grant monies; and around
$115,000 in accrued interest.
The wastewater treatment
facility includes a chlorine con
tact basin, a sludge storage
tank, a 460,00 gallon effluent
reservoir, an irrigation pump
station and a modem control
system. The sewer plant con
trol building, clarifiers and
sewer filters were refurbished
and the sewer pipelines re
paired.
Jepsen said that the treatment
facility has the capacity to serve
a community of over two thou
sand people. Since Heppner
now has around 1,400
residents, the facility will ac
comodate for growth.
"W e all feel real good about
the whole thing," said Mayor
Bob Jepsen. "O ur contractor
did a real good job for us. We
have a first class plan t."
In his dedication speech,
Jepsen took note of the mayor
Neighborhood Center receives
donation from Lutherans
Linsey Hodges visits with Santa during the Artifactory last Saturday, Dec. 3 in Heppner. The
annual Artifactory, sponsored by the Soroptimist International Club of Heppner is held at the
Morrow County Fairgrounds the first Saturday in December.
Passing school bus when lights are
flashing is against the law
Motorists are reminded to
take extra caution when ap
proaching school bu ses.
Drivers who pass school buses
on a yellow light are endanger
ing children, and are advised to
slow down and be prepared to
stop. Drivers who run red
lights on school buses can be
heavily fined. Failure to stop for
the bus safety lights is a class
A traffic infraction and can
result in $630 in bail, warns
Oregon State Police Senior
Trooper Tim Cundell.
Morrow County School Dis
trict transportation supervisor
Burke O'Brien says that failure
to stop for school buses has
become a problem.
Trooper Cundell notes that
the law applies to drivers ap
proaching school buses from
either direction. Motorists must
stop before reaching the bus
and remain stopped until the
bus safety lights are no longer
operating.
Cundell says that bus drivers
and private citizens may file
complaints with law enforce
m ent p erson n el against
motorists disobeying the bus
safety laws. "D o n 't run the
yellow lig h t s ," cau tions
Cundell, "a s red are soon to
follow ."
Irrigon man arrested by narcotics team
Victor Angel Olivas-Lopez,
1800 N.E. 10th, Space 67, Her-
miston, was arrested Nov. 30
by the Blue Mountain Enforce
ment Narcotics Team and of
ficers from the Morrow Coun
ty Sheriff's Office, the Umatilla
County Sheriff's Office and the
Oregon State Police.
Olivas-Lopez was charged
with three counts of delivery of
a controlled
su b stan ce,
methaphetamine; four counts
of possession of a controlled
substance, methamphetamine;
and one count of theft by
receiving. He was lodged at the
Umatilla County jail.
According to the Morrow
County Sheriff's Office, a small
quantity of methamphetamine
was seized from the residence
as well as approximately $5,000
worth of stolen property. The
property included a motorcycle
reported stolen from The
Dalles, as well as miscellaneous
tools and equipment from
regional burglaries investigated
by the Morrow and Umatilla
counties' sheriff's offices.
Morrow and Umatilla coun
ties' sheriff's deputies are con
tinuing the investigation regar
ding the stolen property.
The Neighborhood of South
Morrow County was recently
selected as the recipient of $200
through Lutheran Brother
hood's "C are and S h are "
program.
Linda Shaw, fraternal com
municator for Hope Lutheran
C hurch and Tim K lipfel,
Lutheran Brotherhood branch
representative from Walla
Walla, WA. coordinated the
donation. Janice Skaggs, direc
tor of the Neighborhood Center
said she welcomed the dona
tion at a time that funds were
needed for the purchase of
items for the Thanksgiving
baskets for needy families in
the local area.
Lutheran Brotherhood, an
aid association for Lutherans,
provides a wide range of finan
cial services, such as life in
surance, for members. It also
provides educational assistance
and matching funds to con
gregations, support for projects
for disaster relief and orphans,
and scholarships for higher
education. Lutheran Brother
hood's mission is "to work
together to provide financial
security for members and to
serve Lutherans, their con
gregations, institutions and
communities, said Shaw. The
"C are and Share" donation
was the first one awarded in
South Morrow County.
Burkenbine steps down as fire chief
H eppner V olunteer Fire
Chief Forrest Burkenbine has
announced that he will step
down as fire chief as of Dec. 31.
According to city manager
Gary Marks, Burkenbine was
‘W e’(l
asked to take over as "tem
porary" fire chief 28 years ago.
A new chief is to be named
at the regular city council
meeting Monday, Dec. 12.
and city council members who
were commemorated on a pla
que when the first sewer plant
was built in 1953. One coun
cilman was Jack Van Winkle,
who is now living in Sun City
Arizona for the winter. Accor
ding to Jepsen, who spoke with
VanWinkle last week, Van-
Winkle said that "T h e sewer
plant was the best thing that
ever happened to H eppner."
Before that, the town was on
septic systems. Problems often
occurred with the septic tanks
arid drain fields. Oddly, some
areas on the outskirts of
Portland are still on septic tank
systems.
According to VanWinkle,
said Jepsen, the 1953 project
was not without its problems
either. The city had to dig deep
trenches to lay the sewer pipe
and they didn't get filled in
when it was time for rodeo.
Apparently city officials were
concerned at that time that
cowboys coming out of the bars
after an evening of celebrating
would fall into the trenches.
The mayor at the time of
completion of the 1953 sewer
system was J.O . Turner, at
torney. Council members, in
addition to VanWinkle, were
Ed Gonty, who owned the
shoe store; Bill Collins, who
had a dry cleaning business;
W.C. Rosewall, who had the
Ford-Mercury dealership; Bob
Grabeel, who had a Caterpillar
and John Deere dealership; and
Dr. L.D. Tibbies.
1994 marks a busy year for
the city of Heppner, with the
culmination of the city sewer
project, the fire hall addition
and remodeling, and the street
renovation project, in addition
to the building of the Sperry
Street Bridge.
Jepsen says that keeping up
city water service has also been
a challenge this year.
The 25 year-old monitoring
system in city hall has not been
operating correctly, at one
point showing much more
water in a well than was actual
ly there; lightning hit one well
twice and burned the motor
out; and a tree fell and knock
ed out the power to another
well.
Both Dave W inters and
Marks have said that replace
m ent parts for the aging
m onitoring system are no
longer available and repairs no
longer possible. So, the city
plans to install a new $30,000
electronic telemetry system to
monitor the city's water. The
project will be funded through
a reserve account created in
1982 through a water system
bond, which has since been
paid off.
keep y o u warm winter
insu
*ea,
Morrow County Grain Growers
Lexington 989-8221
1-800-824-7185