80 attend 2nd youth crime meeting
HEPPNER
imes
VOL. 117
NO. 29
8 Pages
Wednesday, July 22,1998
Morrow County, Heppner, Oregon
W heat yields excellent, but prices are down
More stones o f crimes,
harassment and unruly behavior
on the part of Heppner young
people were told at a public
meeting Monday night.
The meeting was held to find
solutions to a youth crime
problem many feel has been
escalating in Heppner.
About 80 people attended the
meeting at the Senior Center in
Heppner. The meeting was a
follow up to one held at city hall
last Monday.
The meeting was chaired by
Darwin Merrill, director of
family and children's services for
Morrow County, but many towns
people spoke on their personal
experiences with unruly and law
breaking young people in town.
Floyd White, the local
Oregonian dealer who started the
community meetings through his
letters to the editor detailing
problems he's had with youth in
the early morning hours on his
paper route, told the crowd that it
was of to a good start by at least
acknowledging that there was a
problem.
Although there were no
solutions arrived at the meeting,
a 10-person committee of
volunteers agreed to meet again
next week to try and come up
with solutions to the increased
problems of youth harassment,
vandalism and other bad
behavior around town.
Last week in response to
citizen's complaints, the city
council vote to close the city
parks from 9 p.m. to 6 a.m.
Young people tended to gather in
the park and there were reports of
drinking and other unruly
behavior there.
Several local businesses also
are putting up "no loitering"
signs which will give the police
more authority to ticket and
disperse young people who
congregate in store parking lots
and other private property areas.
Although the Gazette has been
unable to obtain any figures from
listen to police radio calls to
determine where the patrol car is.
Rathbun said the city has been
using it’s second vehicle at
certain times of the day in an
effort to have more police on
patrol.
Police officer Mike Sweek said
the police cannot be everywhere
all the time, and he asked
citizens to be more watchful of
strange or different activity
around town.
It was also suggested that groups
of citizens might be out around
town with video cameras filming
illegal or strange activities.
One of the solutions the
committee will be considering is
community watch program
where unarmed citizens patrol
the town and report suspicious
activity.
Much of the frustration at the
meeting was directed at the lack
of respect for authority by many
local youth. Meml pointed out
that there is not much parental
control with some of the young
people. "These kids have not
been taught to be responsible,"
he said.
Other suggestions to dealing
with the problems including
publishing the names of juvenile
offenders in the newspaper. At
the present time only those over
18 years of age are put in the
Heppner Gazette. And people
taking notes and getting good
descriptions of people involved
in suspicious activity in order to
give better information to the
police dispatchers.
Representatives of a church
organization Campus Life were
also at the meeting and suggested
that there isn’t enough for young
people to do in Heppner. They
asked that some sort of youth
center be considered to give the
young people more activities.
They pointed to their own
activities, in with they included
some
of
the
known
troublemakers in town. One man
said he took a group of Heppner
youths swimming out of town.
One of the youth was identified
as a know troublemaker. "He was
a perfect gentleman on the trip,"
the Campus Life representative
said. "They need some positive
activities," he added.
The committee chosen to work
on the youth problems will meet
next Tuesday at 7p.m. at the
Children and Family Services
office above the Coast to Coast
building in Heppner.
The ten chosen for the
committee are: Betty Doherty,
Samarrah Van Dorn, Marilyn
Bader-Nesse, Lyle Verrall, Jay
Coil, Sharon Brace, Julie
Howard, Rick Bellew, Gail
Burkenbine and Bob Ployhar.
lawn enforcement or other
agencies to measure an increase
in youth or other crime in
Heppner recently, most people at
the meeting agreed that they feel
intimidated and threatened by
certain young people in town.
Merrill did not site any figures,
but did say that many of the
offenses are being committed by
people from out of town, and
many are being done not by
juveniles (which are classified as
under 18 years of age) but by
young adults 18 to 25.
Meanwhile local people who
spoke at the meeting told of
several incidents which backed
up their concerns about youth
crime.
One man who recently moved
to Heppner from Salt Lake City,
where he says there is too much
gang activity, says he found a
young person urinating on his
lawn one night. When he told the
person to leave, the person
wanted to fight. He says later he
found the w indshield of his car
smashed.
A woman said she was
harassed by youths and called
names because her husband
works for the school district.
Others said senior citizens feel
threatened and that groups of
youth congregate and are unruly
and obnoxious in front of stores
in town. There were also reports
of
vandalism
to
plants
downtown, and drinking and
vandalism in the small park at
night next to Murray's Drug.
City police were in attendance
at the meeting, and told the
towns people that they are not
able to be everywhere at once,
and that there are times when no
police are on duty.
Police Chief Dough Rathbun
said the town has most of its
trouble between the hours of 3:30
and 6 p.m., and that many times
youths see police go to one end
of town, and the go to the other
end and cause trouble. He said
they also have scanners and
Pioneer Resources, LLC
announces acquisition
Wheat is already being stored on the ground at North Lex.
Morrow County Grain Growers
manager Chris Meyer said
Tuesday that the wheat yields
this year are "excellent", but, he
added, "of course prices are not
so good."
Meyer said that the local
harvest is "progressing well" and
nearly 40 percent has been
completed. The remainder of the
harvest is expected to be
completed within about three
weeks. Harvest is just getting
underway in the Ruggs area and
has yet to begin in the Heppner
area.
Meyer said that storage is a
concern, since yields are
expected to be high and more
wheat than usual had been stored
previously. "We do have the
ground pile at Hogue-Wamer and
North Lex," he said. "The good
yield forced us to go on the
Court attends dinner etiquette session
Photo courtesy o f Larry O 'Rourke
(L-R): Morrow County Fair and Oragon Trail Pro Rodeo Queen Macl
Childers, Princess Lindsey Ward and Princess Bobbie Rankin
Early this summer the Morrow
County Fair and Oregon Trail Pro
Rodeo C ourt Queen Maci
Childers, Princess Lindsey Ward
and Princess Bobbie Rankin at
tended dinner and an etiquette
training session at Raphael’s res
taurant in Pendleton.
The meal was hosted by Tim
and Susan O ’Rourke, also of
Pendleton.
Pioneer Resources, LLC, a
privately
held
timberland
management and sawmilling
company
headquartered
in
Eugene and owner of Kinzua
Resources in Heppner, has
announced the acquisition of
80,000 acres of second growth
redwood
timberland
in
California.
The purchase brings the group's
total timberland holdings in
Washington,
Oregon
and
California to 410,000 acres.
" The acquisition provides an
excellent complement to our
existing land base and offers
expansion
Photo by Andy Sykes s i g n i f i c a n t
opportunities for Pioneer in both
ground sooner." But, he added land
management
and
that there will be sufficient manufacturing," says Gregory M.
storage space.
Demers, chief executive office
Meyer said that price is
'and principal owner.
"definitely a concern" this year,
Demers also pointed out that
probably $ 1 -$ 1.50 below last
with this acquisition, Pioneer
year's price.
Resources, LLC, has doubled the
Wheat prices quoted Tuesday
were $2.78 for July, $2.80 and size of its land base since 1996.
$2.83 for August and $2.86 and
$2.89 for September. The loan
deficiency payment was 43 cents.
New
manager
hired at pool
The Willow Creek Park District
Board, at an emergency meeting
in Heppner Tuesday night, voted
to hire Bobbette Lovgren as
personnel manager of the Willow
Creek Waterpark and Mandi
Gutierrez and Josie Proctor as
lead lifeguards, effective July 24.
The board's action follows the
resignation of previous manager
Sarah Carlson and assistant
manager Karen Morgan. Carlson
said she resigned because there
were too many issues on which
she and the board did not agree
and because the pool programs
are "continually tampered with
by the board". She also cited
personal and health reasons in
her decision. Morgan resigned
following Carlson's resignation.
Current evening assistant
manager Tina Edwards will
remain in her position.
In other business at the
meeting, board chairman Skip
Matthews swore in newly-
appointed board member Kim
Cutsforth-Armato.
According to Damck D.
Salyers, chief operating officer
for Pioneer, rationale behind the
acquisition includes:
-the "excellent fit" with
Pioneer's existing timberland
base in California;
-advancement towards Pioneer's
goal of managing its overall
holdings on a sustained yield
basis;
-an "attractive investment
opportunity" in a high-growth
plantation;
-diversification offered by
adding second growth redwood
to the company's product
offering; and
-significant
expansion
opportunities for Pioneer over
the next five years.
Pioneer Resources, LLC, is
controlled by Demers of Veneta.
Other owners include Salyers,
Edward J King, T. Yates Exley
and James A. Youel, all of
Eugene.
Assisted living
receives award
The Willow Creek Valley
Assisted Living Corporation has
been approved for a $10,000
Challenge Fund award.
The Challenge Fund is an
interest-free loan which will fund
pre-development costs for a
proposed assisted living facility
to be located in the Willow Creek
Valley. Pre-development costs
include funding for a feasibility
study, consulting fees and an
architect's schematic drawings. If
the facility is not built, the loan
will not have to be repaid.
The proposed Willow Creek
Valley Assisted Living Facility
would provide 15 units of
housing for elderly persons in the
Willow Creek area who need a
varying amount of assistance in
daily living, but who are not yet
ready for a nursing home facility.
County open horse show, Aug. 9
The Morrow County Open
Horse Show will be held on Sun
day, Aug. 9 at the Morrow County
Fairgrounds in Heppner, starting
around 8 a m., depending on how
many late entries are received.
Rules, regulations and entry
forms which are attached, may be
found at the following businesses:
Heppner, at G ardner’s M en’s
Wear and Green Feed and Seed;
Lexington, at Temple's Veterinary
Clinic and Morrow County Grain
Growers; lone, at the post office;
Boardman, at Inland Empire
Bank; and Imgon, at Columbia
River Tack.
The new premium book has all
the information. If forms are not
available from the above busi
nesses, call 676-9664, or the fair
office, 676-9474 and leave your
name and address. One will be
mailed to you.
All participants are cautioned
to look over the rules and regula
tions carefully, as changes have
been made, as well as new classes
added.
Pre-fair issue deadline, July 31
The Gazette-Times invites
articles and advertisements
concerning the Morrow County
Fair and Oregon Trail Pro Rodeo
in their special fair edition to be
published August 12.
The deadline for articles to be
Judge rules in
M CU R D favor
The Morrow County United
Recreation District has received
turned in to the G-T is Friday, notice that a tax judge has ruled
July 31, at 5 p.m.
in favor of MCURD in a suit
Articles should be legible and filed against the district by Ed
include a phone number for a Glenn of Boardman.
contact person. If articles are
Glenn's suit challenged
typed, the G-T prefers that they MCURD's funding of school
not be typed in all capitals.
athletic programs.
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Reg. $324.95 • SALE $259.95
Sale good through August 8th
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