Long-time Heppner market to close doors
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Shannon Wicklund works the counter for the remaining weeks at Court Street Market. She and her
husband Tom (who was fighting a fire when this picture was taken) plan to close the store at the end of
the month because of poor economic conditions. The store has been in continuous operation in Heppner
since 1946.
V O I 119_______NO. 42
10 Pages
Wednesday, October 18,2000
Heppner home damaged in fire
Firemen place ladders on the roof in attempt to put out fire
A house at 460 S. Main in
Heppner caught fire Tuesday,
sustaining "substantial damage,"
according to Heppner Fire Chief
Rusty Estes.
Estes said that the Heppner Fire
Department was paged out
around 1:13 p.m. Tuesday to the
home of John and Shelly Wight
of Heppner. He said that the fire
wasn't detected until it was
spotted by a passer by and "by
then it was coming out the
windows."
Estes said that the blaze
appears to have originated in the
kitchen, but said that an official
determination is pending.
Three Heppner Fire Department
rigs, seven HFD fire Fighters, six
from the lone Fire Department
and one from the Lexington Fire
Department responded to what
Estes called "a hard fire to fight"
because of the age of the home.
He added that he was grateful to
the
lone
and
Lexington
departments for their response
with manpower and air bottles.
"It was nice to have the
surrounding area respond," he
said.
He said the fire fighters finally
left the scene around 6:30 p.m.
Benefit fund started for twins
A benefit fund at the Bank of
Eastern Oregon has been
established for the family of Matt
and DeRma Howard of Heppner.
The Howards recently had twin
boys who will require an
extended stay in the hospital
before they can be brought home.
The babies, Dakota Dale Howard
and Derek Matthew Howard,
each weighing three pounds,
three ounces, were bom on
October 2 at Kadlec Medical
Center at Richland, WA.
The fund will help the Howards
cover expenses until the
homecoming of their twins.
Morrow County, Heppner, Oregon
the store at its present location
across from the courthouse in
1946. After Leonard's death in
1972 Len and Ann operated it for
six years before selling.
Tom and Shannon aren't sure
what they are going to do next.
"Next thing is to go out and try to
find work. We own our home
here," she says. "We might put
the building up for sale. We just
don't know. We have a lot to
think about," she says.
anymore," Shannon said Tuesday.
"The breaking point was when the
mill shut down. We kept thinking
things would get better, but they
haven't. We probably hung on
too long as it is," she added.
The Wicklunds took over the
store four years ago from
Shannon's parents Jack and Ruth
Maben, who ran the store for 18
years after buying it from Len
and Ann Schwarz in 1978. Len's
parents Leonard and Mary built
Voters to face
Soccer explored for south M orrow Co.
four-year
South
Morrow
County coach/referee and need to leam games will be played in
(Heppner-Ione-Lexington) has the ropes).
Hermiston with some games
option levy
developed
an
exploratory
possibly played in Boardman.
A no vote on the county's four
year $1,500,000 option levy
facing voters in the upcoming
election w ill result in further cuts
to county services, Morrow
County
Commission
Dan
Brosnan has said.
The county is asking voters to
approve a levy of $1.50 per
thousand of valuation to raise
about $1,500,000 each year-for
the next four years.
The county is facing a serious
shortfall of funds this year and
Brosnan says if voters say no, the
county will have no choice but to
"take cuts across the board" in
county services.
After compression,
uncollectible and city road tax
distributions, it is estimated the
county will collect approximately
$1,100,000 from the levy.
The money will be put in the
road fund and used for road
operations only. This would free
up money in the general fund that
had previously been transferred
to the road fund.
The levy money is also
needed because the county is
receiving less and less federal
timber receipts money, Brosnan
says, from a high of $369,768 in
1993, to an estimated $45,000 for
the year 2000.
To make ends meet the county
has recently laid off 13 full and
part time employees, as well as
made cuts to the road department.
To deal with the shortfall the
county has also taken money from
"tippage fees" (money received
from the Finley Buttes landfill)
and placed it in the general fund.
This was a one time transfer and
won't be done again, Brosnan
said.
Because of state property tax
limit laws, residents of the city of
Heppner will vote on the option
levy, but if the levy is approved,
will not see an increase in their
tax bills.
Advisory
committee
meeting
The Heppner Advisory
Committee will hold a special
meeting on Thursday, Oct. 19, at
5:30 p.m. in the Heppner
Elementary School library.
P H O T H C T A M TH
F Growers - do you still hare fall teed to treat? We carry a full line
of seed protectants, Including Dividend XI and Vitavax RTU
Give us a call at our fertilizer Dept., 421-7289.
M o r r o w C o u n t y G r a in G r o w e r s
Lexington 989-8221 • 1-800-452-7396
Court Street Market, doing
business on the same street comer
in Heppner for the past 54 years,
is closing its doors at the end of
the month.
Owners Tom and Shannon
Wicklund say the store cannot
remain competitive anymore and
they plan to shut it down. The
recent mill closure in Heppner
also played into their decision.
"We just can't compete with the
Wal-Marts, C’oscos and Safeways
i* lam n wy wm m l Mir »«t im
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committee to look into the
possibility of forming teams to
play in the Columbia United
Soccer Club, the regional leagues
of the American Youth Soccer
Organization (AYSO).
The Columbia United Soccer
Club has asked for information
on how many children in what
age groups would play and how
marry parents would commit to
coaching/assistant
coaching/refereeing. (Training
will be provided for parents who
would like to coach/assistant
To qualify to play, a child must
be four year old by January 31
and no older than 13 years of age
on July 31. Cost to play in the
2001 season will be between
$25-$30 and a local group is
planning to have scholarships
available. The season begins
August 1 and lasts through the
first week of November.
Practices will be in south
Morrow County. Games are
weekends for younger teams and
weekends/evenings for older
teams. Organizers say they
expect that most (if not all)
Those interested are asked to
fill out forms and return to their
child's school no later than
October 31. The form is not an
official registration form, but
rather a means to assess interest
in the community.
Organizers stress that response
to the form does not obligate the
parent or child to participate..
For more information, call Tina
Edwards or Darrell Raver
weekends or evenings at 676-
8710,
or
Kim
Cutsforth
weekdays at 676-9625.
Courtroom video system to
benefit county law enforcement
A newly installed video
system now in place at the
Morrow County Courthouse in
Heppner is expected to greatly
benefit
law
enforcement
throughout the county.
The new system consists of a
video unit at the Morrow County
Courthouse in Heppner and
another at the Justice Court at the
Morrow County Annex building
in
Irrigon.
The
system's
transmission lines run from
Heppner to Irrigon and then to
Pendleton, where there is a
control unit that acts a bridge,
whereby the system can be
hooked up to
compatible
systems virtually anywhere in the
state or even the world.
Compatible units are also in
place at all four courtrooms in
Pendleton, the courtroom at
Hermiston, tw o rooms at the jail
in Pendleton and at the Umatilla
County District Attorney's office
in Pendleton.
The Morrow County system
will facilitate arraignments and.
because it is also compatible with
the state prison system, parole
hearings will also be feasible.
The system not only picks up
video and audio transmissions
from three different locations
(for example, the DA at the
Morrow County Courthouse, the
prisoner in jail and the judge in
Hermiston), but is also voice
activated. At the Morrow County
Courthouse, the pre-set, voice-
activated camera automatically
moves from the judge's bench, to
the jury box. to the attorney,
depending upon who is speaking.
Currently the sound comes
directly from the. television
speakers, but ultimately the
sound system will be connected
to the courthouse speakers.
The new system will
dramatically cut the time sheriffs
deputies spend transporting
prisoners to and from court and
jail for ?Taignments.
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Morrow County Sheriff Verlin Denton (left) and Morrow County
District Attorney David C. Allen demonstrate a new courtroom video
system.
"It will save a tremendous
amount of time," says Morrow
County Sheriff Verlin Denton.
"We were averaging about 450
hours in transport every six
months. We figure we'll save
around 600 hours (over the next
six months). We can keep all
those man hours in the county
now. That's hours spent in the
county, on the streets, rather than
transporting prisoners."
Morrow County District
Attorney David C. Allen said that
the first two proceedings held via
the new system last Thursday
took only around five minutes.
Before, the process would have
taken at least six hours.
Previously a deputy would have
to travel to Pendleton to pick up
a prisoner, transport him to court
in Heppner and then transport
him back to jail in Pendleton
before returning to the sheriffs
office in Heppner.
Denton and Allen said that on
occasion three vehicles, and
consequently
at least three
deputies, have been required to
transport prisoners. In one
instance they recall, one vehicle
transported three prisoners,
another transported two and a
third was required to transport a
female prisoner.
Allen said that the courts are
also enthusiastic because it will
cut down on travel time and
scheduling problems for judges
Denton said that another
benefit of the new system will be
increased security. "One of my
concerns was the security issue
with prisoners who might be
escape risks," said Denton. "They
can have their day in court and
never leave the jail."
Allen said that the two units
were purchased for $25,000.
Funding was obtained by Allen
through a Rural Domestic
Violence
and
Child
Victimization Grant administered
by the U.S. Department of
Justice as a part of the Violence
Against Women's Act.
Allen said that one goal of the
grant is to decrease the isolation
of rural victims.
The video
system will enable people in
Morrow County to obtain
restraining
orders
without
traveling to Hermiston or
Pendleton, thus making the
process more easily attainable for
victims of domestic violence.