TWO - Heppner Gazette-Times, Heppner, Oregon Wednesday, June 13, 2001
The Official Newspaper
o f the City o f Heppner and the County o f Morrow
Heppner
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Engagement
Zacharias-Bacon
Assisted living board addresses
location question
To the Editor:
We appreciate every opportunity
to inform our com m unity o f our
assisted living project, and the recent
question o f the facility’s location
is such an opportunity.
"Willow Creek Terrace" will sit
south o f the Heppner Cemetery,
east o f the Van Liew home, west
o f Willow Creek Lake. The facility
will be adjacent to the Lakeview
Heights subdivision, at the end o f
Frank Gilliam Drive.
The Port of Morrow donated the
land on which the facility will be
situated. This gifted land is valued
at $50,000. $50,000 represents a
substantial savings to our effort.
The property is within the city limits
and has im mediate access to all
utilities, representing another
important savings.
Eight of the apartments at Willow
Creek Terrace will have a view o f
Willow Creek Lake. Eight o f the
apartm ents are to have a view to
the west, the familiar "hills of home"
and the grazing Van Liew sheep
and lamas. Should the view to the
northeast create a problem, we are
prepared to plant a wall o f arbor
vitae to block that view. (We hear
a surpnsing vanety o f thoughts on
this neighboring expanse o f
m anicured green grass. One
suggestion is to seek permission
to put a gate in the fence so that
tenants and visitors can easily access
the area for walks, and walks down
"memory lane.")
We welcome suggestions and
questions from our community as
work on our facility progresses. And
we hope others share our excitement
over knowing that as the projects
takes shape, our goal becomes
closer. We want to provide a safe,
comfortable, attractive home-like
environment where our seniors and
disabled can live close to those they
love.
(s) Suzanne Jepsen
Board o f Directors chairperson
W illow Creek Valley
Assisted Living
Spending education dollars for nothing
To the Editor:
At Superintendent Anderson's
direction, the M orrow County
School Board has hired a retired
judge from LaGrande to take o ff
their hands a decision concerning
the board's attempt to dismiss two
duly elected members o f their own
board.
A decision by a retired judge
would have no legal standing but
would cost taxpayers $ 150 an hour
plus expenses.
The original board action for
dism issal
was
irresponsibly
instituted by the board as a result
of an anonymous letter. The board's
vote at the June 6 hearing is once
again a glaring example o f spending
education dollars for nothing.
If teachers are now to be held
accountable, so too should boards
and superintendents.
(s) M eg Murray
lone
Join voluntary blackout
J en n ifer Z aeh arias and Jakfe B acon
Jennifer Ann Zacharias and Jake Allen Bacon have
announced their engagement to be married.
Jake is the son o f Bill and Marcy Bacon. Prtneville.
iorm erly ot Heppner and lone. He graduated from lone High
School in 1994 and received a bachelor o f science degree from
Eastern Oregon University in 1999. He is employed as a middle
school PE and health teacher and coach for the Grant Union School
District 3.
The bride-elect is the daughter o f Judy Norberg, Boise,
Idaho, and Paul Norberg. Joseph. She graduated from Joseph High
School in 1993 and received a bachelor o f science degree from
Eastern Oregon University in 1998. She is employed as an
elementary school teacher for the Grant Union School District 3.
The couple plans a July 4 3 p.m. wedding at the Oxbow
Ranch Bed and Breakfast in Prairie City.
A barbecue and reception will follow the ceremony.
Friends and family are invited to attend.
Gutierrez - Wilson
To the Editor:
Have you ever noticed that when
the power goes out, everybody gets
together to try and figure out what
happened. People leave their homes
and go out into their hallways and
streets and meet and greet each
other. There's something mysterious
about it, yet community building.
Well, if that's been your experience,
or not, 1 have som ething to share
with you ...
Roll your own blackout/National
Voluntary Blackout, the first day
of summer. Thursday, June 21. from
7-10 p.m. worldwide, all time zones.
There's a grassroots effort to have
everyone in the country "roll their
own blackout." I call it a National
Voluntary Blackout. It's in part a
response to the following item from
The Times o f London which
appeared in The Vancouver Sun
on Monday, May 14, p.l 1.
"[George W.] Bush, a Texas
oilman, was asked last week if
Americans, the world's biggest
energy consumers, should change
their lifestyles to counter shortages.
An Fleischer, his spokesman, said;
"That's a big 'no.' The president
believes it's an Am erican way o f
life, and that it should be the goal
o f policy-m akers to protect the
American way of life. The American
way o f life is a blessed one; and
we have a bounty o f resources m
this country."
Whether you agree with Mr. Bush
or not, we do live a "charmed" and
comfoitable life here in this country,
and I urge all Americans to seriously
consider turning off as many of your
electronic appliances as possible
on Thursday, the first day o f
summer.
If everyone participates (or a
good portion o f everyone), the
energy-saving voluntary blackout
will roll across the whole
hemisphere. So, turn o ff your lights,
TVs, and computers from 7-10 p.m.
on June 21. Unplug whatever you
can unplug in your house. Light
a candle, take a stroll in the dark,
watch the stars. Do anything that's
not electronic. If everyone
participates, we can make a
difference and send the message
that we're willing to be part o f the
solution.
(s) M onika Hunter
Heppner
Elks Father's Day picnic scheduled
This Sunday, June 17, the
Heppner Elks Lodge will again host
the annual Father's Day Picnic at
Cutsforth Park for all current Elk
m em bers and their families.
The festivities will begin at 11
a m. with hot dogs and beverages
provided by the Elks. Salads and
desserts are potluck. Games and
fun for all ages will be held: coins
in the straw, egg toss, football
accuracy competition, softball and
the annual horseshoe pitching match
are all on the schedule.
"Pack up the kids and head to
the mountains... enjoy a day with
the family and have some outdoor
fun," said an Elks spokesperson.
Secret agents
To the Editor:
Life is sacred. The feeling o f your
muscles growing weak and then
collapsing on your airway. Your
respiration becoming shallow and
labored; you struggle to breath
Death from certain nerve gases can
either be rapid if the gas is absorbed
quickly or slow and prolonged from
smaller does o f the chemical agent.
In reality you probably would not
come in contact with enough
chemicals to have the effects
m entioned above occur. But you
could already be absorbing enough
chemical agent to cause you or your
children to have an increased risk
o f cancer. Either way, dying from
being in contact with chemical
agents is not a painless or good way
to die.
The Umatilla Chemical Depot
(UM CD) is in the Um atilla and
Morrow counties o f Oregon and
three miles south o f the Columbia
River. The Depot stockpiles around
12 percent of our nation's chemical
weapons, including some o f the
nerve gases that could have effects
on surrounding residence as stated
above, if there were to be the
smallest amount o f a leak in just
one o f the bunkers. Weapons
stockpiled at the Umatilla Depot
consist o f rockets, land mines and
spray tanks, along with nerve agents
from World War II. The Army needs
to do more testing to make sure that
there is no chance the families living
around the Depot get in contact with
these harmful chemicals and the
army should inform those families
o f the dangers and ways to prevent
contam ination if a leak occurs.
There are current signs o f
possible present leaks. According
to the United States Environmental
Protection Agency (EPA) press
release on the US Army Umatilla
Chemical Depot, "In September
1999 approximately 34 constructions
workers at the Umatilla Chemical
Agent Disposal Facility were
affected by an unknown substance
and
required
m edical
treatment."(EPA 1)
The workers alleged that they
were in contact with chemical agent
and requested the EPA's help in
investigating the matter further. The
EPA agreed with the ’Army's
assessm ent
that -» it - t was
"unlikely"(EPA 1) that the chemical
agents had anything to do with the
workers' injuries. It makes the
credibility o f the Army and the EPA
(both government-run agencies)
come tnto question when so many
workers were in contact with the
unknown substance and that most
o f them believe it was chemical
agent that they came in contact with.
The EPA did however give
recommendations o f how the Army
should follow up on the
investigation.
The EPA also found Army data
from air m onitoring stations that
showed the presence o f very low
levels of chemicals agent. However,
at these levels there is an uncertainty
as to what is being measured (EPA
1). The possibility is still there that
the readings where caused by
warfare chemical agent and not by
some agricultural chemical blowing
past the depot. Even if present leaks
are too small to hurt a human being,
why should we wait until there is
a large leak or break out to do
anything more and protect our
families? The levels might have
been very low, but neither the Army
nor the EPA explained what would
happen to the residence living
around the depot if small prolonged
contact with the chemical agent was
occurring.
The U.S. Army is in construction
o f a warfare weapons disposal unit.
The disposal unit is going to be
constructed on the depot to break
A m anda G u tierrez and J e ff W ilson
Kevin Gutierrez o f Prineville and Barbara Zeller o f lone announce
the engagement ot their daughter. Amanda Christine Gutierrez o f Pendleton,
to Jeff D. Wilson. Pendleton.
Ihe bride-elect graduated from Heppner High School in 1997. She
is employed by OSU Extension Service in Pendleton and will graduate
this fall from Eastern Oregon University with a bachelor o f science degree
in psychology. She will then enter graduate school at Washington State
University, majoring in psychology and social services.
Wilson is the son o f Carmen Wilson and Dan Looslie o f Lexington
and Danny Wilson, Heppner. He graduated from Heppner High School
m 199” and is now self-employed as a contractor and owner of Jeff Wilson
Construction.
Gutierrez is the granddaughter o f Lee and Mary Ann Palmer, lone,
Geneva Palmer. lone, George Gutierrez, Heppner, and the late Helen
Drake
W'dson is the grandson o f Ray and Gay Papineau, Lexington, and
Bud and Delores Wilson. Hermiston.
The couple will be mamed August 25. 2001, at St. Patrick’s Catholic
Church in Heppner. with a reception to immediately follow at the Heppner
Elks Club.
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down and destroy chemical
weapons. To be more exact, the
Army is m ounting a $1.2 billion
effort to dispose o f munitions
containing more than 3,000 tons
o f nerve and mustard agents, enough
to kill about 90 percent o f the U.S.
population (Hunsburger 1). This
is a giant step forward for the U.S.
Army in reducing the risk of human
fatalities caused by chemical agents.
However, the transportation o f
chemical agents to the new disposal
unit justly adds to the need for
additional testing o f leaks.
The leaks of chemical agent could
be either by direct air contamination
or
through
ground
water
contam ination. Either way, you
could be contaminated and not even
realize that it is occurring.
According to geocities.com, a
website dedicated to giving you the
facts about what chemical agents
do and how they do it, "Gases (and)
vapors . . . when inhaled can be
absorbed through any part o f the
respiratory tract"( 1). Absorption
o f these chemicals can have senous
effects and can cause death. Some
o f the possible effects are anoxia
resulting from airway obstruction,
weakness o f the muscles or
respiration, blood pressure falling,
and unconsciousness.
Human lives are not the only
thing at risk for the surrounding
residence if ground water is
contaminated. Residents could loose
their crops or livestock. Families
surrounding the Depot depend on
their crops and livestock for money
to survive. It is their first, and, in
most cases, only source o f income.
It would be nearly im possible to
clean-up the chemical agents and
the water supply would be
drastically lowered. Families would
be forced to move, if the situation
was bad enough.
Some people may say that the
Army is doing everything they can
right now to test and notify the
public o f leaks. Is there really such
a thing as enough testing when lives
are on the line, especially when there
have been signs o f possible present
leaks? In The Oregonian editorial
entitled "Umatilla Chemical Depot
em ergency plan shows flaws,"
colum nist Brent Hunsberger
questions the response time to alert
nearby residents o f a nerve-agent
release. 'H u n s b e r^ r ’ reported,
"Hermrston's chief, whoi“uis
responsible for mobilizing hundreds
o f emergency workers, thinks it's
inexcusable that for an hour and
a half his department sat unaware
o f the site's evacuation. Had
chemical agents been involved...
the results could have been
disastrous for the 30,000 people
who live within about eight miles
o f the depot." This slow o f an
emergency response is dangerous
and gives even more reason for more
testing to be done.
As a resident living near the depot
I understand the uncomfortableness
o f knowing that my family's health
is at risk. I share the values o f our
crops and animals' lives. I want to
know that my family is as safe as
it could possible be when they are
home and that is why I am reaching
out to you, my community, to stand
and take all the precautions available
to keep our loved ones-children,
grandparents, aunts, uncles and
friends safe from harm.
As stated earlier, life is sacred
and worth enough to take the extra
precautions to save. All that I am
asking o f you is to write your
government officials and stand up
for children o f the future, for they
are the ones who are going to suffer
the consequences if nothing further
is done to protect lives. It is time
to stop ignoring the warning signs
and do what is necessary to defend
against the cruel death a chemical
leak can cause. All we need is a few
more precautions and public
awareness to get this goal
accomplished.
Our
Oregon
government representatives are there
listen and serve us. Join together
and write a letter to save lives.
(s) Amy Papineau
Lexington
WCCC plans
family barbecue
The Willow Creek Country Club
will have a family barbecue on
Sunday, Jun 17, at 4 p.m. The
golfing is for both men and women
with the type o f play determ ined
by the com m ittee in charge.
Each family will bring their own
meat to the barbecue. Those whose
last names begin with "A" through
”K" should bring salad and "L"
through "Z", dessert.
Hosts for this family barbecue
will be John and Kelli Boyer, Gary
and Becky Hunt, Dale and Karen
Holland, and Del and Linda LaRue