Image provided by: Morrow County Museum; Heppner, OR
About Heppner gazette-times. (Heppner, Or.) 1925-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 13, 1995)
MAO(Wt“î0ApP lOôcSp^fÆ ^fcCncKl j LtB(lAe.V UMwieasnv c ro e o -o s ) EUhaofc.Oi- 9 0 4 0 3 '1 3 9 T Rural residents propose livestock district The now popular use of "districting” has spilled over into south Morrow County's livestock industry where an open range policy has prevail ed. A majority vote of resident property owners within the proposed boundaries of a clos ed livestock range will deter mine the outcome. A closed livestock district must encompass at least 2,000 acres by law. The proposed district is roughly described as private property below Hepp- ner stretching from Willow Creek to Fuller Canyon and bordered by the Slaughter house county road and the Bunker Hill area. County roads will not be included. South Morrow County has been under an open range livestock policy as many ranch holdings are divided by road ways that separate grazing land from available livestock water. Therefore animals have the "right-of-way" which means "driver beware". Livestock owners in an open range area cannot be held liable for animal trespassing or damages from accidents involving vehicles with animals. Abandonment of the Hepp- ner spur railroad has created problems. Neighborly differ ences including the age-old problem of sharing limited ir rigation water from Willow Creek, were accelerated when Union Pacific Railroad officials allowed competitive bidding by anyone for the purchase of this abandoned railway. Although unsuccessful in a high bid to purchase the railroad right-of-way from Heppner on down to his place between Heppner and Lexing ton, newcomer Jim Starr ap pears to be caught up in the controversy. Starr says he didn't receive a fair share of irrigation water for his 20 acres of pasture land. By obtaining the railroad proper ty, he hoped to obtain a new point of diversion for water from Willow Creek. Part of the irrigation ditch to his property now crosses a neighbor's land. But the fenced-in former rail road track doesn't include outlying boundaries of railroad land, some of which has been utilized as part of fields by farmers. Neighbors say that a 1920 water right on Starr's proper ty doesn't entitle him to receive ample water when supply is limited. Starr contends that some irrigators with older water rights have been water spreading. Meanwhile railroad officials rescinded a prior decison to sell to the highest bidder. They have allowed some adjacent property owners to increase their bids and purchase adjoin ing tracts of railroad land. However the rail line property includes some blocks of government land that will be under the jurisdiction of land agencies and may revert back to the county. During this turmoil, some landowners submitted a peti tion to the county court to form a livestock district. Perhaps the motive was to fence Starr in pending his successful pur chase of the rail line. Local petitioners for this livestock district including Terry and Karen Thompson, Paul and Betty Brown and Jack and Ruth Maben, were not pre sent at the Sept. 6 hearing for the petition that was held dur ing court meetings at the court house. "I'd like to know what the point is?" asked Starr, who voiced his opposition to this district at the hearing. "People may be irritated with me, but this is taking away my rights and the rights of others," he said. "It means we now have to fence your cows out, the other way you would have to fence your cows in," said landowner and neighbor Jim Bloodsworth, the only person present at the hearing favoring formation of the district. Although Bloods worth's property is outside of the proposed district, he in dicated that he would probably annex into the district pending its formation. According to petitioner Jack Maben, '"lire word was out that this man (Starr) was going to buy all the railroad right-of- way and pasture it. I didn't think that was fair. We were just trying to help people out to keep Starr from getting it," Maben said. The Mabens are store owners whose home pro perty at the lower edge of town joins the railway. "It seems like a moot point at this time," said petitioner and Bunker Hill landowner Paul Brown, who, like Maben, is not a livestock operator. Brown said he was willing to go along with his neighbors, namely the Thompsons and Bernard Da mon, a son-in-law of Happy and the late Claude Graham, whose place is currently under lease to the Carlsons. Damon is not a resident of the area, so he could not sign on as a peti tioner. "Is this a safety issue or to get back at a person?" asked Oliver Devin, the former owner of Starr's property. Devin, who was present at the hearing, ex pressed opposition to forming a livestock district. He said this could set a precedent for future livestock districts or the expan sion of the proposed district which could impact him and others. It could adversely affect livestock growers that con tribute to a major south Mor row County industry, Devin added. "W hatever happened to neighborly concerns and values, including working things out and helping each other?" said Monique Devin, who also voiced opposition to a livestock district formation during the hearing. " I didn't move here to get in a fight with anyone. Maybe the government will move me someplace else," Starr said. Starr purchased this local ranch after the Dept, of Natural Resources bought his property near Lyle, Washington, under the Scenic Rivers Restoration Act. Hearings slated on park district The Morrow County Court has scheduled a public hearing Monday, Sept. 18, at 7 p.m. at the courthouse. The hearing is concerning landowners who have petitioned out of the Willow Creek Park District. In March, voters passed a park district bond issue to build a swimming pool and a three operating levy for the pool. Morrow County Judge Louis Carlson said that the hearing will be the second continuation of the first hearing and the first hearing for the second group of petitioners. A third hearing will be held for both the first and se cond groups of petitioners. Hearings will also be schedul ed for a third group of petitioners. Architects selected for pool proposal Rundquist and Hard, an ar chitect firm from Spokane, have been selected as the ar chitects for the proposed Willow Creek Park District swimming pool. According to Gary Marks, pool project manager, Rund quist and Hard were chosen from eight applicants, three of which were selected for inter views. Yaw's Restaurant open for business By April Hilton-Sykes With three vital re quirements, good food, good atmosphere and good service- a new restaurant in Heppner can't lose. Yaw's restaurant, formerly Cal's, recently opened on Main Street in Heppner following an extensive maiceover. Steve and Linda Yaw "gut ted everything but the kitchen" in the restaurant, replaced paneling with sheet rock, painted, recarpeted, redecor ated and put in new booths. "We got a lot of support from local merchants and from the Bank of Eastern Oregon," said Steve Yaw. "Thanks to our friends, we remodeled the whole thing with volunteer labor." But despite the bright new in terior, the Yaws still aren't quite done. Steve Yaw says that they plan to put new doors on the restrooms and eventually want to put in a new heating and air conditioning system next spring, buy some new cooking equipment, increase I their hot water capacity and put a new heating system in the bar. Yaw's will feature some of their best family traditions, hamburgers, French fries with gravy, roast beef and French dip sandwiches made with slic ed prime rib, tenderloin and steak dinners, seafood, home made soups, soft chocolate and vanilla ice cream and milk shakes. They will have at least three specials nightly over and above the regular menu and will have lunch specials Mon day through Friday. The res taurant is open from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m. and the bar, 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. The bar is only one of two in Heppner which are licensed to serve hard liquor. The Yaws also plan to put video poker and Keno in the bar as soon as they are able to get a license. The Yaws are in the process of "retraining and training" their employees, said Steve. He anticipates that they will even tually employ 10 to 12 people when the restaurant is com pletely up and running. "Bus iness has been excellent," said Steve. "Service has been a lit tle slow because we're training, but most customers are really understanding. We'll work on speed as we go. We've also been plagued by breakdowns." Steve says that in addition to a dress code, they will have ran dom drug screening, as re quired by their insurance com- Steve and Linda Yaw, owners pany. "Service is almost as im portant as the quality of the food," he added. The Yaws aren't going into the restaurant business as babes in the woods. Between the two of them, they have over 40 years in the business and Steve's family has a long and celebrated tradition as restauranteurs. Steve's grandfather, W.P. Yaw, founded the first Yaw's Restaurant in 1926, which, says Steve, was the same year W.P. and Engleburt Franz invented the hamburger bun. Another of his grandfather's innovations was the gas sliding broiler, which sears the meat on both sides and holds the juices in. This type of sliding broiler is now used by a famous hambur ger restaurant chain. In 1946 Steve's dad took over the business, putting in the first car service in the Northwest and enlarging the business four or five times. He was also the president of the National Res taurant Association. Steve took over the restaur ant business after his father died in 1979. He expanded at five locations, three of which were franchised. In 1988 Steve got out of the restaurant business, but not for long. A year later he moved to Wasco and bought the Wasco Inn. In Wasco he also bought a small ranch and began rais ing cattle and hay. He then found a ranch at Rhea Creek and moved to Morrow Coun ty. " I liked the area and the people here," said Steve, who branched out into the supple ment business. But when the Yaw's restaurant in Orchard, Washington, sold, the family, at the urging of Linda and S tev e's daughter, Heidi, bought Cal's restaurant in Heppner. " I just couldn't let the tradition die after 71 years," laughs Steve. Linda has also had a long time career in the restaurant business. She started working in a restaurant when she was only 15 years old. The two met when she was hired as the manager of the Orchard res taurant. Steve had been train ing cutting horses and one of the horses rolled over on him. Pretty much helpless, Steve was unable to fix his own meals or even eat, so Linda brought meals to him. Six months later, he asked her to be business partners with him. "Sh e was such a fine cook," he says. For awhile it was all business, but then they started dating and married after moving to Heppner. Now married for four years, Steve, 49 and Lin da, "39 and holding", worked together in the supplement business too. "W e're a good team ," says Steve. "S h e 's good on the ranch and good in the business." Linda, who has also worked at RJ's and Cal. 's, will take care of the day to day operations at the restaurant and Steve will handle purchas ing and quality control. Steve says Heidi, 25, is plan ning to work her way into the business. Now living in Wil- sonville, she hopes to move to the Heppner area as soon as she can find a place to rent. Steve also has a daughter, Deanna Wright, 26, who lives on Rhea Creek not far from the Yaws, along with her husband, Dean, and children, Christina, 5, and Alisha, 3. Steve's son, Steven Jr. 27, is a cabinet maker in Milwaukie. He has a son, Jeff, 3. Linda has two children, Nicole Ernst, 26, who has a son, Andrew, 5, and Fred Ernst, 20, who works for Kinzua. Steve says that they plan to buy as much as they can local ly. "W e want to keep our money in the area," he adds. History Center planning meetings slated The Morrow County History Center's planning team will be in Heppner Sept. 17-23 work ing at the GEODC building for an intensive community design workshop. This effort follows several months of research directed at understanding the land, people and landscapes of Morrow County. In addition to plans for the museum itself, the design team will be exploring the possibili ty of integrating the museum's site design with street im provements already scheduled for 1997. The goals of the workshop are: to establish a direction for the future of the museum as an institution, a direction for the physical design of the buildings and exhibits and to integrate these goals with existing plans for community development. Members of the community may choose the level of in volvement that they are com fortable with, said a planning team news release. "They may simply attend the opening and the closing public sessions. They may attend open houses at noon on Tuesday, Wednes day, and Friday. They may schedule individual appoint ments to share family histories. Regardless of the level on in volvement, the design team Ballots due Tuesday, Sept. 19 Voters are reminded that the deadline to submit ballots for funding for the Morrow Coun ty Unified Recreation District is Sept. 19. Ballots must be turn ed in at the Morrow County Courthouse Clerk's office by 8 p.m. The district is asking for $450,000 a year for three years to pay for sports, clubs and other extra-curricular activities for county school children. hopes that people will bring in their ideas, concerns, or objec tions; old family photographs and Bibles; photographs of potential items to be donated; and the stories that come from multiple generations of families rooted in the land." The design team's prelim inary schedule is as follows: Sept. 17, 12 to 5 p.m., design team sets up workshop in GEODC; Sept. 18, 10:30-11:30 a.m. consultants' work period with individual public appoint ments, 5-8 p.m., introductory public forum; Sept. 19, 12 to 1 p.m. community open house, 5-8 p.m. public forum; Sept. 20, 10:30-11:30 a.m. consultants work period with individual public appointments, 12 tol p.m. community open house, 5-8 p.m. public forum; Sept. 21, museum planning and design; Sept. 22, museum and exhibit design, rough drafting strategic plan report; Sept. 23, museum and exhibit design, 12 to 3 p.m. public design forum. DANNER Boot Solo Our in Store prices 10% oft Sale through 9-30-95 top by and check our super pricing on DANNER Work and Sporting boots. Morrow County Grain Growers Lexington 989-8221 1-800-4S2-7396
