Image provided by: Morrow County Museum; Heppner, OR
About Heppner gazette-times. (Heppner, Or.) 1925-current | View Entire Issue (April 3, 1996)
W L celebrates agriculture day P F S S ! F. VV ~ T Z F L ' U OF ORE f • ’ S P A T E ’ R L I i ■ EUG ENE OH & 7 4 G 3 The Oregon Wheat League celebrated National Agriculture Week with a booth at Central Red Ap ple Market. Geri Grieb, Morrow County Wheat League president (left in photo) and Shannon Rust, Morrow County Wheat League public relations committee chair, celebrated National Agriculture Day with a booth at Central Red Apple Market in Heppner. VOL. 115________ NO. 14________ 8 Pages Wednesday, April 3, 1996,________ Morrow County Heppner, Oregon County has no authority to allow Boardman withdrawal By April Hilton-Sykes The Morrow County Court told the city of Boardman in a letter, dated March 28, that the court does not have the au thority to let the city out of the Morrow County Health Dis trict. The city wrote to the court March 27 requesting the court to remove the city from the health district. The Boardman City Council told the court that the council "unanimously resolved" to seek the withdrawal of the area of the City of Boardman from the district. The letter further stated that "m ore than sufficient" regis tered voters signed the peti tion" and the council con ducted public hearings concer ning the issue. In reply, the court said that the task of removing the city from the district "clearly be longs to the initiators of the proposed action" and added that the court believes that such action would constitute an "im proper intrusion" on behalf of the county to initiate such a process, "particularly when the county may ultimately be re quired to serve as an objective hearings board regarding some aspect of this m atter." They further stated that the county is a third party to matters bet ween the Morrow County Health District and the city of Boardman. The county did, however, direct Morrow County counsel to research questions concern ing the withdrawal. The action of the Boardman Council follows a proposal from the Morrow County Health District to put a bond issue before the voters to build a new, larger clinic in Board- man and to build a clinic in Ir- rigon. Boardman Clinic em ployees and other citizens from the Boardman area said that the proposal was unnecessary. However, they earlier said that the clinic was too small. The Boardman Council's let ter to the court said that "it would not be in the best in terest of anyone to proceed with any proposals for bond financing issues by the Health District at this time" and obli quely threatened a lawsuit if MCHD did proceed. At the core of the issue is the MCHD's strained relations with Dr. Robert Boss who has a contract with the district to provide medical services at the Boardman Clinic. The district at one point offered Boss a con tract to become a district em ployee, similar to a contract the district has with Drs. Ed and Jeanne Berretta, who staff Pio neer Memorial Clinic and Pioneer Memorial Hospital in Heppner. Unable to resolve certain issues with Boss, MCHD then offered him a one- year extension on his current contract, which spells out a $130,000 a year salary for Boss to keep the Boardman Clinic open four days a week, six hours a day. Clinic employees say, however, that Boss keeps the clinic open much more than the minimum 24 hours a week. In the agreement with MCHD Boss keeps the receipts on the clinic and MCHD provides the clinic to him free of charge, in addition to paying an addi tional amount for clinic ex penses. MCHD had earlier sought an audit of Boss' operations, say ing that since he is using public funds, an audit is appropriate. MCHD previously offered Boss $154,000 (an additional $2,000 a month) if he agreed to the audit. Boss, however, maintains that as a private contractor, he is under no obligation to pro vide an audit. Some Boardman residents said that they are happy with Dr. Boss and fear that the com munity will lose him if MCHD and Boss cannot come to a con tract settlement. Some Board- man residents have accused MCHD of trying to "get rid" of Boss. The next MCHD meeting is set for Monday, April 8, at 7 p.m. at the Boardman ambu lance hall. Grieb and Rust gave customers samples of this year's Wheat League cake. The recipe for the pumpkin cake with cream cheese frosting is as follows: Oregon Wheat Growers League Pumpkin Cake: Vz cup shortening U/4 cups sugar 2 eggs 2Vi cups cake flour 2 teaspoons baking powder 1 teaspoon salt V 2 teaspoon baking soda 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon 1 teaspoon ground nutmeg V 2 teaspoon ground ginger 1 cup solid pack pumpkin V 2 cup milk Preheat oven to 350° F. Beat shortening and sugar until fluf fy; blend in eggs. Sift together flour, baking powder, salt, bak ing soda and spices. Add dry ingredients alternately with combined pumpkin and milk, mixing well after each addition. Spoon into two greased and floured 8” pans. Bake 30-35 minutes or until cake tests done. Cool 10 minutes; remove from pans. Cool completely on wire racks. Cream Cheese Frosting: V 2 cup butter 1/8 teaspoon salt 3 oz. cream cheese 1 teaspoon vanilla 1 lb. powdered sugar Combine melted butter and cream cheese and blend thoroughly. Add sugar, salt and vanilla and beat well. If the mixture is too thick to spread easily, add milk V 2 teaspoon at a time. Easter egg hunts set for Saturday The annual Easter egg hunts for area children will be held this Saturday, April 6, in Hepp ner and lone. lone's hunt, for children up to the fourth grade, will be at 10 a.m at St. William Catholic Church. The egg hunt at Heppner, sponsored by the Elks Club, will also begin at 10 a.m. Prschoolers will hunt at the ci ty park next to the museum; first and second graders at the Heppner Elementary lower field; and third and fourth graders at Hager Park near Willow Creek Dam. Easter "SonRise" service April 7 Gutierrez to run for treasurer An Easter "SonRise” service will be held at the Morrow County Fairgrounds in Hepp ner on April 7, at 7 a.m. The service is sponsored by the South Morrow County Minis terial Association, a consortium of 12 local churches. The Reverend Andrew John son of the First Christian Church will give the message. The Reverend Tim Van Cleave of the Christian Life Center is in charge of music and several other area ministers will be in volved. Everyone is invited to attend. Remember, daylight saving's time begins on Sunday. Angus breeder recognized Kathryn Healy, Heppner, has been recognized national ly by the American Angus Association for having one re gistered Angus cow included in the American Angus Associa tion's (AAA) 1996 Pathfinder Report. Only 1,647 of the more than 29,000 members of the AAA are represented in this year's re port, according to Richard Spader, executive vice presi dent of the AAA. The Pathfinder Program identifies superior Angus cows based upon recorded perfor mance traits that are economi cally important to efficient beef production. These traits include regular caving and heavy weaning weights, reports John Crouch, director of perfor mance programs for the AAA. All registered Angus cows that meet the strict Pathfinder stan dards are listed, along with their owners, in the Pathfinder Report, which is published an nually by the AAA. Heppner Little League tryouts set Tryouts for the Heppner Lit tle League major league teams (nine to 12 year olds) will be held this Thursday, April 4, at 5:30 p.m. and Saturday, April 6, at 10 a.m. at the George Waterland field at the dam. Players must attend at least one session to be on a major league team. Math contest slated April 10 The annual Morrow County School District elementary math contest will be held on Wednesday, April 10, at Sam Boardman Elementary School at 6:30 p.m. in Boardman. The public is welcome to observe the contest. Theresa Proctor-Reece is in charge of local arrangem ents at the school. Refreshments will be served at the end of the competition. Gayle Gutierrez, Heppner, is running for the office of Mor row County Treasurer. Gutierrez, a long-time resi dent of the county, graduated from lone High School and Blue Mountain Community College. She is currently em ployed by the Morrow County Accounting office. Gutierrez has a working knowledge of several different county offices as she has work ed in the treasurer/tax collec tor's office, the assessor's office and the public works office. Her husband, Kim, is em ployed at the Morrow County Grain Growers as a mechanic and their two children, Jessica, 12, and Joshua, 9, attend Hepp ner schools. Her parents, Lloyd and Shirley McNary, live in lone. Gayle Gutierrez Denise Betsinger, Lexington, is Gutierrez's campaign mana ger. Fair Board plans barn project The Morrow County Fair Board is organizing a steering committee to oversee a new 4-H and multi-purpose barn project. The plan is to have a facility that can be used year- round and is safe for children and animals. The Fair Board is also accepting donations for the project. The board is currently accep ting applications for two at- large positions. Anyone in terested in serving on this com mittee should contact the Mor row County Fair office, 676-9474. Jay Gibbs joins NRC Service Jay Gibbs A new face can be seen around the Pettyjohn Office Building these days. Jay Gibbs, National Resources Conserva tion Service (NRCS) team lead er for the John Day Umatilla Basin has moved to Heppner from Condon with his wife, Sue, and two-year-old son, Garrett. Gibbs grew up on a farm in Helix, but has also lived in Prineville, Madras, Redmond and Lakeview. His father, J.C. Gibbs, worked as a range con servationist for the NRCS (for merly the Soil Conservation Service) before becoming a plant materials specialist for the western region. Jay attended Oregon State University and worked sum mers for the NRCS as a co-op student. Upon graduation in 1989, he went to work full-time as a soil conservationist in Pen dleton. Three years later, he moved to Condon and became the district conservationist for Gilliam County. In January 1995, he took on the new role as NRCS team leader for the John Day Umatilla Basin, an area comprising Morrow, Uma tilla, Gilliam, Grant and Wheeler counties. Gibbs hopes his recent trans fer to Heppner will be his last move for awhile. The Gibbs have purchased the Pettyjohn place just south of Heppner and are busy remodeling the house. Sue has started a day care in their new home and is an active barrel racing member of OBRA and GCBRA. "W e have really enjoyed Heppner," says Jay, "especial ly the openness and friendli ness of the people." SNAPPER LAWN MOWER SA LE Continues thru April 15th Morrow County Grain Growers Lexington 989-8221 1-800-452-7396