Rodeo Court has busy weekend
BESSIE
WETZEL!.
U OF ORE
newspaper
LI B
EUGENE
97403
OR
Queen Brenda Holtz shake hands with Heppner city administrator Gary Marks, while princesses
Dawn Boor, Stormy Howard and Beth Hermanns look on.
VOL 115_______ NO. 30_______ 8 Pages Wednesday, July 24, 1996,_______ Morrow County Heppner, Oregon
Auto accident victims update
Adam Doherty, 16-year-old
son of Mike and Cindy Doher
ty, Heppner, who was injured
in an automobile accident July
11, has been moved to another
hospital to begin rehabilitation,
his mother reports.
Adam was moved from
Oregon Health Sciences
University (OHSU) to Good
Samaritan Hospital in Portland.
His address will now be:
Adam Doherty, do Good Sam
aritan Hospital, RIO Room 2B,
Morrow County Jail dilemma
By Sheriff Roy Drago
Morrow County finds itself facing a continually worsening
situation in lodging of our prisoners. The contracted jail bed
resources with other jurisdictions that we have been using are
continually shrinking.
We presently are releasing approximately 78 percent of those
people arrested for criminal acts that should be put in jail. This
means that if someone is arrested on a felony or misdemeanor
crime he/she is issued a citation to appear and released because
there is no jail space available to lodge them. The person then
frequently fails to appear on the court date given to them. A war
rant for the persons arrest is then issued and if we can locate
them they are arrested again. There usually is still no space
available so the person has to be issued another citation to ap
pear and released.
This cycle can repeat itself several times. This is very frustrating
for law enforcement and the victims as well as a joke to the
criminal element. In one recent case the victim of a robbery
reported the crime and identified the suspect that did it. That
person was arrested and then had to be released because of the
lack of jail space. The victim then sees the suspect in his local
grocery store an hour later. Needless to say we now have a very
unhappy victim. This is not an unusual occurrence.
As this is being written we currently are holding 14 prisoners
on various charges. They are serving sentences or awaiting court
appearances. They are being held in three different jails. With
the jail beds available to us now, we are holding an average of
eight to 10 prisoners every day. We should be holding closer to
20 prisoners but are not because of the lack of jail space. The
new state laws and projected increases will increase the number
of prisoners in the next 10 years to an average of 20 to 25 prisoners
per day under current jail space conditions for Morrow county.
Your deputies that are transporting these prisoners are having
to spend more and more time out of the county going to and
from the different jails. This limits the county's effective law en
forcement because its deputies spend so much time on these
transports.
No one is more frustrated than your sheriff at having to release
these criminals back into our community routinely. In an effort
to come up with a solution, your county commissioner are put
ting together a county-wide committee to study our options and
make recommendations to the citizens of the county. Any direc
tion we go is not going to be cheap, so we need to take a close
look at the options. I would urge anyone interested in being on
this committee to call the county court and volunteer. I know
there are a lot of very unhappy victims of these criminals in the
county and I hope some of these people will serve on the com
mittee. You have first hand knowledge of the frustration I speak
of. As it stands now we are totally at the mercy of the jurisdic
tions that we contract with. They could cancel our jail contracts,
as Benton County Washington did, tomorrow and then where
would we be?
NEWS DEADLINE
MON. AT 5 p .m .
Advertising Deadline
TUES. AT NOON
1015 N.W. 22nd, Portland, OR.
97210. Friends may visit him or
call (503) 413-8752 evenings or
weekends. Cindy says that he
will be busy with rehabilitation
during the day.
Adam sustained spinal cord
injuries in the accident.
Bill Schlaich, 18, son of Lor-
rie and Kelly Fox, and Terry
Schlaich, who sustained severe
injuries to his arm, has under
gone several surgeries and is
still at OHSU, 3 N.W. Room
3412, 3180 S.W. Sam Jackson
Park Road, Portland, OR.
97201-3090.
Brian Knowles, the son of
Butch and Mary Knowles, But-
tercreek, who suffered head in
juries in the accident, was listed
in satisfactory condition Tues
day at St. Mary Medical Cen
ter, 401W. Poplar, Walla Walla,
WA. 99362. Upon admission to
the hospital July 12, Brian's
condition had been listed as
critical.
The other two teenagers in
the accident, Shaun Hisler and
Jim Schlaich were treated and
released. Shaun, 18, the son of
Paul and Susan Hisler, Hepp
ner, sustained injuries to his
knee. Jim Schlaich, 17, the son
of Lorrie and Kelly Fox, and
Terry Schlaich, received cuts
and bruises in the accident.
Accounts have been set up at
the Bank of Eastern Oregon for
each of the families of the in
jured teenagers. Those who
would like to donate money
toward the families' lodging,
travel, food, and other ex
penses may do so at the bank.
Lions help
accident victims
The Heppner Lions Club will
be sponsoring a special blood
drawing on Tuesday, Sept. 24,
from 2-6 p.m.
Donors will be able to credit
their blood donations to recent
accident victims Adam Doher
ty, Bill Schlaich and Brian
Knowles. "W e know the blood
drive is a few weeks away, but
we want people to mark their
calendars early in order to help
with this blood drawing," said
Rollie Marshall, Lions Club
organizer.
Lea Calvert, Lions Club pre
sident, said that she "wanted
to let folks know that the Hepp
ner Lions Club projects are
almost always geared toward
helping our local kids."
Anyone interested in becom
ing a Lion or if wishing to
schedule an appointment now
for the blood drawing may call
Marshall at 676-9125.
Last weekend, the 19% Mor
row County Fair and Oregon
Trail Pro Rodeo Court par
ticipated in the Fort Dalles Days
parade, queen's luncheon and
rodeo grand entry. They plac
ed first in the courts division of
the parade.
On July 13-14, Queen Bren
da Holtz and her court travel
ed to Athena and Elgin.
Saturday morning the royals
were accompanied by pennant
bearers Nonie Walters, Maci
Childers and Katie Bacon for
the Caledonian Days Parade in
Athena.
Following the parade, Queen
Brenda Holtz, Princesses Stor
my Howard, Beth Hermanns,
and Dawn Boor, and their
parents traveled to Elgin.
Pennant bearer Sybil Krebs
joined Katie Bacon and Maci
Childers to escort the court
along the parade route at Elgin.
The pennants and chaperone
Glenda Taylor joined the court
at the Elgin Queen's luncheon
where they invited all the
courts to come to the Morrow
County Fair and Oregon Trail
Pro Rodeo Aug 14-18.
All of the past queens for the
Elgin Stampede joined this
year's courts in the grand en
try of the afternoon rodeo to
celebrate the Stampede's 50th
year.
"In spite of the 100 degree
weather both days, I think we
all had a good time spreading
the word about the Morrow
County Fair and Rodeo Aug
1 4 -1 8 ,"
said
a
court
spokesperson.
Tuesday, the Queen and her
court and pennant bearers
were guests at the Heppner
Chamber of Commerce lun
cheon. They were accompanied
by several of their mothers and
chaperone Darcy Robinson.
Next weekend, the court will
travel to Joseph for the Chief
Joseph Days parade and rodeo.
Pool construction plans are on hold
By April Hilton-Sykes
Plans for construction of the
swimming pool to be built in
Heppner, funded through the
Willow Creek Park District
(WCPD), are on hold for the
time being, awaiting a decision
by Circuit Court Judge Rudy
Murgo, as to whether certain
petitioners will be allowed to
withdraw from the district.
"W e hope we would have
had a decision by now ," said
WCPD member Bob Kahl. "He
(Murgo) has had over 60 days."
Kahl said they are not certain
how Murgo's decision will af
fect the funding for the pool's
construction.
While the board is awaiting
the decision, they are consider
ing design issues for the pool,
which they are proposing to
build on the highway coming
into Heppner.
Kahl said that the board is
now considering six lanes for
the pool, rather than the initial
ly proposed four lanes. Kahl
said that six lanes are required
for swim meet competition.
Swim meets would increase
utilization of the pool and in
crease pool revenue, he said.
They would also draw more
people, and subsequently more
revenue into the Heppner area.
"It would be penny-wise and
pound foolish not to consider
it (six lanes for swim meet com
petition)," said Kahl.
Voters approved operating
expenses for the pool for three
years, but after that, funding
•
‘or operating monies is uncer
tain.
An increase in space for lanes
may somewhat alter the pool
design and could possibly place
a proposed therapy pool in a
different place. People for the
Pool, a fund raising group, is
concerned that placing the pro
posed therapy pool in a dif
ferent location at the site, may
put the therapy pool out of
their financial reach. People for
the Pool has raised between $68
and $69 thousand dollars to
fund the therapy pool, which
was originally estimated at
around $100,000. Changes
could bring the price tag for the
therapy pool and its building
up to as high as $170,000, said
a People for the Pool spokes
person.
Kahl, however, stressed that
the basic pool has always been
the WCPD priority and that ex
tras, such as a therapy pool,
would have to be funded
through grants, donations and
other fund raising efforts.
People for the Pool has
planned a meeting on Monday,
July 29, at 7 p.m. at the Colum
bia Basin Electric Conference
Room to receive input and
discuss their options concern
ing the therapy pool. Options
could include: building a shell
to house the therapy pool and
waiting for construction of the
therapy pool until additional
funds are obtained; or continu
ing their fund raising efforts to
earn enough to build both the
therapy pool and its building.
People for the Pool is discuss
ing hiring a professional grant
writer to obtain the balance of
the funds.
People for the Pool are also
seeking additional board
members.
Fair & Rodeo tab
deadline July 26
The deadline for news and
advertising for the Morrow
County Fair and Rodeo supple
ment in the Gazette-Times is
Friday, July 26 at 5 p.m.
Shrine game tickets still available
Gene Orwick, in charge of
local ticket sales for the annual
East-West Shrine game, says he
still has some "extremely good
seats left" for the game, set for
Saturday, Aug. 10, at 7 p.m. at
the Baker City High School
stadium.
Chris Sykes of Heppner will
play in the game.
Orwick says that anyone
wishing to buy tickets should
contact him at 989-8342 by July
31 at the latest. Tickets are $8.50
each.
The weekend starts off with
a Cowboy breakfast in the park,
followed by the parade at 10:30
a.m. Pre-game pageantry will
get underway at 6 p.m. with
kick-off at 7 p.m. Half-time
entertainment will include the
auction of a championship
steer, one football and two caps
autographed by Steve Young
and Jerry Rice of the San Fran
cisco 49ers. Special guest will
be a three-year old bum patient
from Vernonia. A video record
of the game will be available.
"T h e event can only be
enhanced by a sell-out atten
dance," said a Shriners news
release.
A squad of 32 players and 32
alternates was chosen for both
the east and the west teams. A
coach and two assistants have
been selected by a rotating pro
cess for each team, and the
team officials have been nam
ed by a similar process.
Melody Wrightman of On
tario is queen for the 1996
season. She and her escort will
join the teams at player pickup
at the Valu-Inn in Oregon City
on August 7. The players will
attend a seven-day training
camp at Eastern Oregon State
College in La Grande imme
diately prior to the game. The
time, talents and energies of all
the participants are donated to
the game. That, plus the state
wide support of businesses,
media, private individuals and
a lot of Shriners help to make
this event the number two
athletic fund raiser for Shriners
Childrens Hospitals in North
America, said the release.
Protect Your Stored Grain
RELDAN 4 E
RELOAN 3% DUST
TEMPO
Morrow County Grain Growers
Lexington 989-8221
1-800-452-7396