Image provided by: Morrow County Museum; Heppner, OR
About Heppner gazette-times. (Heppner, Or.) 1925-current | View Entire Issue (May 12, 1999)
u OF ORF N F '.V S P A P F R LIS EUMENE 0 7 4 0 3 OR Jepsens selected county conservation farm of the year The Jepsen family (L-R) Matt, Amy, Daniel, Rebecca, Nancy, Eric and Bill. . VOL 118_______NO. 19_____ 10 Pages Wednesday, May 12,1999_______ Morrow County, Heppner, Oregon lone High School crowns prom court lone High School crowned its 1999 prom court at the prom held May 1 at the lone Legion Hall. Court royalty (left to right) included Princess Lela GribsKov, Princess Katie Tworek, Queen Jessica Krebs, Princess Niki Sullivan, King Ryan Bennetto and Prince Serge Malouin. Not pictured are princesses Roseanne Baker and Tori Odinet. Junior court members (front) are Cassie Arbogast and Tanner Rietmann. Phyllis Danielson hired as HES principal The Morrow County School Board, at their regular meeting Monday, May 10, hired a 20-year veteran teacher as the new principal at Heppner Elementary. Phyllis Danielson, 46, of Irrigon, will replace current principal Bill Karwacki who will retire this year. Danielson has been the seventh and eighth-grade language arts and social studies teacher at Columbia Middle School the past year. Prior to that, from 1979 to 1998, she was a classroom teacher for grades psychology from Eastern Oregon two, five and six. During that State College in 1979; and a time, she was also an assistant to master's degree in school the principal, a member of the administration from Eastern Building Action Research Team, Washington University in 1998. a member of the Site Council, Danielson's husband, Paul, is a chairperson for the Student geologist, environmental Management Committee, student specialist. Danielson has two council advisor. Outdoor School children, Danielle, 12, and Drew, teacher/director, textbook 10, and four stepsons, Braden, committees member and was 16, Brad, 15, Mikel, 11, and creator and teacher of the Matt, 11. Responsibility Awareness Class. Danielson says she enjoys Danielson received a bachelor backpacking, hiking, fly fishing, of science degree in elementary reading, painting decorative education with a specialization in birdhouses and walking. Dr. Burnham resigns from health district Dr. Clyde Bumham, a physician employed with the Morrow County Health District, resigned from the district at their monthly meeting held May 6 in Lexington. Bumham, in a letter to the district, said that he had made "poor choices which I regret and which provide the district good cause to ask for my resignation." Bumham added that his resignation was "freely and voluntarily given." Sheila Dahlman, MCHD administrator, said that confidentiality and privacy issues prevented her from discussing the reasons for Dr. Burnham's resignation. However, she did say that the matter was discussed in executive session and the MCHD Board voted unanimously to accept Burnham's resignation "I have an obligation to our patients and to this community," said Dahlman. "I take that obligation very seriously. Unfortunately, as Dr. Bumham states in his resignation, he made choices which left me no choice but to ensure Dr. Burnham's departure from the hospital." Dahlman said that MCHD is "aggressively searching for capable health care providers" and added that many primary care providers have expressed an interest in delivering care to the communities in addition to the current providers. "We will continue to work toward providing the best heath care delivery program to the people of Morrow County. Dr. Bumham worked at Pioneer Memorial Clinic and Pioneer Memorial Hospital in Heppner and at the Boardman Medical Clinic. Dr. Burnham's resignation leaves one physician. Dr. Ken Wenburg. and one nurse practitioner, Wendy Haack, F.N.P., at PMH and PMC; one physician at the MCHD's Irrigon Clinic, Dr. Shamlka DeSoyza; and a physician's assistant, Shendan Tamasky, who divides her time between the Boardman and Irrigon clinics. The 1999 Morrow County Wheat League Conservation Farm of the Year has been awarded to Bill and Nancy Jepsen of Heppner. Morrow County Wheat League President Ken Grieb made the announcement this week in lone at the Wheat Growers spring meeting. Bill Jepsen, his wife Nancy, and children Matt, Daniel, Amy, Eric and Rebecca, farm 3,500 acres located 18 miles west of Heppner. Currently 2400 acres are in crop land and an additional 600 acres are in CRP. Bill is the second generation of his family to farm much of this land. His parents, Bob and Suzanne Jepsen of Heppner, farmed there for 40 years and Bob still helps out with the farm work, especially during seeding and harvest. Bob received the Morrow County Conservation Man of the year award in 1970. Bill graduated from Iowa State University with a degree in veterinary medicine. While at veterinary school, he met his wife, Nancy, who also graduated from Iowa State with a degree in agriculture education. Bill owned and worked at the Oregon Trail Veterinary Clinic in Hermiston for 10 years before moving back to Heppner to take over the farming operation when his dad retired in 1991. The annual rainfall on the Jepsen farm averages 12.4 inches. Almost all of the ground is classified as highly erodible. The clay loam soil and long slopes make water erosion the primary problem. The entire farm is covered with a combination of graded and level terraces. "With the conservation practices Dad implemented over the years we estimate that soil runoff had been reduced by 80 percent or more," stated Jepsen. "The nagging problem is that with a summer fallow system we still have water erosion events, especially frozen ground runoff." In 1996 Bill began looking into no-till farming. This type of farming method is a radical departure from the traditional methods Morrow County residents are used to seeing. It involves three major changes from the present system. -The only tillage performed is a small amount at seeding time with the drill. The seeding and fertilization are accomplished in one pass directly into standing stubble. -The crops grown are primarily spring crops instead of winter wheat. -Crops are grown every year instead of every other year. To accomplish this, a new piece of equipment is required, the "no-till" drill. The drill that Jepsen uses is a chisel type air drill. An air cart carrying seed and fertilizer is pulled in front of the drill. A large fan forces the seed and fertilizer through a series of hoses back to each opener on the drill. The drill makes a narrow chisel mark 3- 1/2 inches deep. The fertilizer is placed at the bottom of the furrow. The seed is then placed above and just 3/4 inch to the side of the fertilizer row. The banding of fertilizer below the seed is one of the key components to making a no-till system work. The fertilizer is immediately available to the crop and not the weeds. By not disturbing the soil with tillage, the precipitation received is quicker to infiltrate the ground and slower to evaporate. Under a continuous no-till system soil erosion is almost eliminated. Crops grown on the Jepsen farm include wheat, barley, and, most recently, mustard. Experimental crops include spring canola, flax, lentils and garbanzo beans. This year Bill also joined with the Monsanto company to initiate a five-year study of different crop rotations. This research trial will compare the yield and economics of a traditional winter wheat, fallow system to various no-till crop rotations. The Jepsen's are an active family in the community as well. Bill and Nancy are members of the Lexington Baptist church where Nancy is an AWANA Bible club leader and Bill teaches Sunday school to the first through third grade class Both are 4-H club leaders Bill plays trombone with the Willow Creek Symphony and is currently on the Farm Service Agency County Committee and State Cereals Advisory Committee. He is a past board member of the Morrow County Soil and Water Conservation District. "No-till farming has been successful and is becoming the predominant form of agriculture in many parts of the world," explains Jepsen. "It's too early to tell if no-till will work in this part of Morrow County, especially with our limited rainfall, but the tremendous conservation benefits that come from this system make it worth the effort. I am just one ot several area farmers who are trying to make this farming practice work. It's an honor to be chosen for this award." A tour of the Jepsen farm, followed by the annual steak barbecue, will be held on Friday June 18. Lexington looks for $2,000 discrepancy The town of Lexington's has yet to find a $2076 shortfall in its bookkeeping system from two years ago, and at last Tuesday council meeting discussed ways to deal with the discrepancy. The state of Oregon Attorney Generals office apparently received an anonymous tip that the money was unaccounted for, but so far has indicated it has no intention of taking any action. Some councilmembers Tuesday were very concerned about the shortfall, and suggestions ranged from ordenng a full scale audit of the city's books, to calling in law enforcement. There is apparently also a $400 shortfall in this years bookkeeping system. A representative of the city's accounting firm Barnett and Moro attended Tuesday's meeting and said that although he would be glad to do an audit to find the money, it might cost more than $2,000 to find the problem. "This is tax payer money and I don't feel good about this (the shortfall)," said councilmember Marsha Kemp. "It is our duty to take care of taxpayer money." Kemp suggested that maybe the shortfall is an issue for law enforcement. The accountant said that although he does do what is called a annual "review" of the city's bookkeeping system, the city's budget is so small that a full scale audit is not done on a regular basis. Councilmember John Renfro echoed Kemp's concern. "We can't have this kind of discrepancy with taxpayer money. We need to find this." The council discussed several options, included having citizen volunteers try and ferret out the shortfall, to purchasing a computerized bookkeeping system to try and help find the problem. In other business at the council meeting, Renfro questioned whether the town is following the law as concerns it comprehensive plan. The comprehensive plan is suppose to guide the city in development and other planning matters, but Renfro said the town is not following the plan. After much discussion including whether the town can deny new water permits within the city limits, Renfro volunteered to head up a committee to update the town’s comprehensive plan. County Judge Terry Tallman was in attendance at the meeting and he asked the council for a letter of support in trying to establish an enterprise zone for the whole south Morrow County area. The zone is being applied for in an effort to stimulate new business growth to replace the closure and loss of jobs at the Kinzua mill. Tallman explained the concept of tax abatements within an enterprise zone and the zone's use as a tool in attracting new business. He said the cities of lone and Heppner have already endorsed the establishment of a zone for continued page 2 DELTA P ic k u p T o o l B o x e s 20% OFF For slock on hand only - Through May 29th Advertising Deadline 12 noon Tuesday M orrow C ounty G rain G rowers Lexington 989-8221 • 1 -800-452-7396 for farm equipmtnt. visit our w*b site at www mcgg.iwt
