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No free right turn in Heppner
HEPPNER
50 <
Something missing? The right turn without stopping sign has come down on the comer of
May and Mam streets in Heppner. The signs was removed to make for safer driving conditions during
the downtown renovation project. Motorists are remined that they must now come to a complete stop
before turning right on to main street.
The Heppner Police Department
reminds motorists that they must remiLV"1S'
Main Street.
now make a complete stop at the
c stoP Sl^n Pre%lous>
Heppner Police Office Merle
stop sign at the comer of May allowed a tree right turn without
Cowett said that motorists may
and Main streets
(by Les stopping, but recent construction
proceed right without stopping
Schwab and Coast to Coast) and narrowing of Main Street
only if being flagged through the
before turning right. The free has created a dangerous
stop sign. He warned that traffic
right turn sign has been taken intersection. Traffic has now
fines double in construction areas
down and only a stop sign been moved to the east side of
in the state of Oregon
imes
VOL. 116
NO. 25
8 Pages
Wednesday, June 18,1997
Local inventor creates electronic gate
Morrow County, Heppner, Oregon
lone gets ready for big 4th celebration
Volunteer workers lay sod on the new stage at the expanded lone park. The city is getting
ready for its annual 4th o f July celebration, which w ill be bigger this year with the addition of
a blues festival featuring name bands from the Northwest.
Volunteers were out in force
last week, preparing the new
expansion of the lone park in
preparation for the upcoming
4th of July celebration.
The celebration will be
special this year as it will
feature
appearances
by
Northwest Blues sensation The
Paul deLay Band, as well as
Jimmy Lloyd Rea and the
Switchmasters and Li’l Lynne
and the Smokin' Soles.
Last week volunteers were
preparing the new stage area
that will be used for the
performances.
"This is a real community
effort," said Shelly Rietmann
who arranged for the bands, as
she watched sod being laid and
new trees planted in the park
expansion area.
The Morrow County Arts
Council and the Morrow
County Unified Recreation
District are helping to fund the
blues bands appearance in
lone. And the list of donors for
the park expansion is long.
The Wiloow Creek Parks
Dist., The Port o f Morrow,
Bank o f Eastern Oregon, City
o f lone, Pettyjohn Lumber,
Monte Crum Ranches, Irene
Swanson, Columbia Basin
Electric Co-op, Bob Hubbard,
ICABO, Morrow County
Grain Growers, Murray's Drug
and Wheatland Insurance are
all some o f the businesses and
individuals
who donated
money, materials or other
items to make the park
expansion possible and ready
for what promises to be a big
day in lone on the 4th o f July.
Heppner, Morrow County in dispute over tax monies
A dispute over tax monies
between the city of Heppner and
Morrow County may leave the
city $56,531 short and minus
their third city policeman
beginning fiscal year 1998.
The city's shortfall resulted
from a change in disbursement of
tax monies following the passage
of Ballot Measure 50, which was
supposed to simplify the tax
system and free up more monies
for local governments. But,
according to Heppner City
Manager Gary Marks, BM50
created an anomaly for the city,
giving it less money instead of
more. The taxpayers, however,
will still pay the same amount of
money.
With the new formula. Morrow
County will receive $90,789
more under BM50 than it would
have under BM47. The county
would have received $3,427,717
under 47 and will receive
$3,518,506 under 50.
Both city and county officials
testified before the Oregon
Senate Revenue Committee last
week
concerning
the
disbursement. And what the city
believed would be a formality to
correct the situation turned into a
disagreement between the county
and city. According to Marks,
members of the revenue
committee hesitated to give the
money to the city when faced
with county opposition. "I think
its bleak at this point that we're
going to collect it," said Marks.
Prior to passage of BM50, city
of Heppner voters passed a city
levy which would enable the city
to keep a third city policeman,
whose salary has been paid by a
grant obtained by the city, which
is due to expire soon. BM50, in
effect, negates the levy, said
Marks. He said the money lost
amounts to around 20 percent of
the city's tax collections
compared to around eight tenths
of a percent of the county's
collections."It would impact the
city to a much greater extent," he
said.
"Ray (Morrow County
Commissioner Ray French) and I
went down and testified against
the (city's) proposal My position
continued page two
V m im m m m *
"The livestock industry has
been around for over 5000
years, and for 5000 years
producers have had three main
worries: heifers, bankers and
gates," says the advertising
about a new device for
ranchers.
From a cluttered workshop
on his dad's ranch outside
lone, young inventor Barney
Zinter hopes he has done
something to eliminate one of
those worries. No, he hasn't
found a substitute for bankers,
but he has come up with an
alternative to that age old
nemesis, the gate.
Zinter has invented a device
to keep cattle from going
through an open gate.
Called The Gatekeeper, the
device hangs on a gate post,
and when a switch is Hipped
cattle won't come in or go out,
thus eliminating the tiresome
and time consuming task of
opening and closing gates
In fact it was doing this job
that gave Zinter the idea for
The Gatekeeper. "We were
moving cattle here on the
ranch, and I bet I got in and
out of the rig 15 times," he
says. "I just thought, there has
to be a better way." And there
was.
In a small workshop
squirreled away in the attic of
his home, Zinter assembles
the electronic components that
make The Gatekeeper work.
A built-in motion detector
senses when cattle come near,
activates a battery-powered
speaker unit and the ensuing
loud noise scares the cattle
away from the open gate. And
those who have used it like it.
Richard Kinzer o f the
Mahoney ranch stopped by
during a recent demonstration
in the larger workshop where
final
assembly o f The
Gatekeeper is done, to offer
his opinion. "Oh yeah they
work," said Kinzer. "Cows just
wont go through 'em." He said
the Mahoney ranch has two.
Joe Halvorsen of lone also
uses them on his ranch.
Zinter has been developing
his idea for the past year and a
half and actually making the
devices for sale for the past
five months. He has about 24
o f the units out.
The Gatekeeper sells for
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$225 and is available for
demonstration and sale at the
Morrow
County
Grain
Growers in Lexington. Doug
Holland, who runs the store at
the co-op helped Zinter get the
machines into the store and in
front of the public.
Zinter says he is constantly
working on improving the
device. (He is presently
working on a remote control
sensor that will allow' a horse
rider to shut it off before
riding
through.)
Each
Gatekeeper comes with a set
o f instructions for setup and
operation.
Motar
To do its job and keep cows
away. The Gatekeeper emits a
series o f six loud noises, from
a siren like sound to a loud
beeping.
Cattle don’t get used to the
sound, and they will go
through the gate when the
device is shut off, says Zinter.
Being around cattle all the
time, he has been able to
constantly test his invention.
Zinter says he has applied
for a patent and, as far as he
can tell from research, there
has never been a device
anything like it patented.
Main Street construction update
A1 Frye, project manager of
the Heppner Main Street
Renovation, has provided the
first update on construction for
area residents, businesses and
motorists.
Following is the update for the
w eek of June 18-25:
"As you can see," says Frye,
"we moved the traffic to the east
side of Main Street We have
been stripping off sidew alks and
asphalt on the east side of Main
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St. Patrick Catholic Church in
Heppner will offer a summer
school program from June 23
through June 27. The "Miracles
of Jesus" will be the week's
focus, and a surprise "Green
Day" will add a touch of
excitement during the week.
All area children from
kindergarten age through eighth
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Street.
"We will continue putting in
storm sew er pipe on the west side
and grading out and putting in
concrete sidewalks. (We will)
also start with the water serv ices
going into houses and private
businesses
"We're going to follow up this
work with excavating, then
putting on the gravel base,
followed up w ith the bottom lift
of asphalt (approximately four
w eeks of doing this w ork).
grade are invited to attend.
Information is available by
calling 676-9462.
Sisters of St. Mary will be in
Heppner for the summer program
and several local parishioners
will help with the classes.
Classes will begin each day at
8:45 and continue until noon.
Each session will end with the
celebration of a mass at noon.
ONLY 890
per quart
l (when purchased in cases)
OU Sale
Lexington 989-8221 1 -800-452-7396
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M O R R O W COUNTY GRAIN GROWERS
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St. Patrick's plans summer school
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Barney Zinter shows his invention "The Gatekeeper"