Flood commemoration event to be held
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Massive damage from Heppner's 1903 flood
VOL. 122
NO. 5
8 Pages
Wednesday, January 29, 2003
Morrow County, Heppner, Oregon
Health district, Dr. Boss agree on contract
T h e M orrow C o u n ty
H ealth D istrict and Boardm an
physician, Dr. Robert Boss, have
agreed on a contract after over a
year o f negotiations. Dr. Boss
operates the privately ow ned
Boardm an Health Care Center,
but is subsidized by the health
care district to provide m edical
care in the Boardman area.
A ccording to the term s
o f the contract, Dr. B oss will
re c e iv e $ 1 4 0 ,0 0 0 from th e
district for the first year o f the
three-year contract and increases
according to the consumer price
index for the second and third
years.
In o th e r b u s in e s s ,
M CHD Board:
-le a rn e d from C h ie f
F in a n c ia l O f f ic e r N ic o le
M ahoney that the district lost
$ 5 7 ,6 9 1 fo r th e m o n th o f
D e c e m b e r w ith an a v e ra g e
Library patrons can check
Inter-library books from home
out
Heppner librarian. Barb Orwick, prepares Interlibrary loan materials to
be mailed back to their home libraries.
If y o u ’re looking for an
early Nora Roberts romance, the
latest Steve Martini legal thriller
or a recent book on fibromyalgia,
g e ttin g th e m th ro u g h th e
interlibrary loan program will be
easier starting Feb. 3,2003.
Beginning Feb. 3, adult
O regon Trail Library D istrict
c a rd h o ld e rs w ill be a b le to
request their own materials, place
and cancel holds on materials at
the library, or from home or work
through the Internet.
T h e r e a re o v e r o n e
million items available through the
70 libraries that belong to the
Pioneer System . Patrons will
need to com e in to the library for
some training on the system and
to r e c e iv e th e ir p e rs o n a l
identification number.
A lso beginning Feb. 3,
patrons w ill be charged $2 per
item arriving from a library outside
the Oregon Trail Library District
(H eppner and Boardman). This
fee will be charged whether the
item is picked up or not. The fee
is due to rising costs o f m ailing
books back to their home library.
For m ore inform ation
c o n ta c t B arb O rw ick at the
Heppner library, 676-9964.
Garden Club to
hold meeting
T he H eppner G arden
C lub will hold their m onthly
m eeting, Feb. 3, at St. P a t’s
Senior C enter in Heppner, at 7
p.m.
Jan Stroeber and JoAnn
Burleson will host the meeting,
which will include a yard o f the
month video.
m onthly loss o f $25,000 for the
year.
- le a r n e d fro m C E O
V ictor V ander D oes th at he
received information that zones
w ithin the health district are
illegal. The board postponed any
action on dissolving the zones and
electing board members at large
until the board receives a legal
o pinion on the issue. B oard
m em ber Ed Glenn, Boardm an,
said he is c o n c e rn e d ab o u t
representation and believes that
the district would be “ill served”
by disso lv in g the zones and
electing at large, w hile board
m em bers Larry Mills, Heppner,
and John Prag, Boardman, said
they favored changing to an at-
large board. The district is under
the gun to make a decision as the
deadline for candidates to file for
the M ay election is M arch 20.
Board m em bers Linda LaRue,
lone, and M ills will be up for
election.
-learned from Vander
Does that according to the latest
figures from the state, the Pioneer
M e m o ria l N u r s in g H o m e
residents believed to be in danger
o f losing their M edicaid monies
are now not believed to be in
danger o f losing their funding.
A c c o r d in g
to
p re v io u s
in fo rm a tio n from th e state,
several residents at PM NH did
not meet state criteria to be able
to keep getting their M edicaid
funds, so that they could remain
at PM NH.
-learned from Vander
Does that even w ith the passage
o f Measure 28, the nursing home
is expected to lose $ 13 a day per
resident, w hich w ill becom e
another negative im pact on the
district’s bottom line-to the tune
o f around $ 100,000 a year. The
district is still exploring a way to
change the way nursing hom e
beds and hospital swing beds are
c o u n te d ,
w h ic h
c o u ld
dramatically increase revenue.
-approved a flex-lease
for $67,000 for three years to
fund purchasing o f two pieces o f
laboratory equipment.
-learned that tw o full
time registered nurses have been
hired at the hospital.
ALL NEWS AND ADVERTISEMENT DEADLINE:
___ MONDAYS AT 5:00 P.M.
“ The
F lo o d :
We
R em em ber,” a special flood
com m em oration show will be
held, Thursday, Feb. 6, at 7 p.m.,
at the C atholic Parish Hall in
Heppner. No adm ission charge
will be charge, but donations are
welcome.
“ S h e n a n ig a n s ! ” - a
group o f young musicians from
M orrow County, is joining with
th e F lo o d C o m m e m o ra tio n
Committee to present an evening
rem em brance o f the great flood
o f 1903. The show will include
narrative reading accom panied
by photo slides, background
m u sic a n d d a n c in g as th e
audience is taken on a journey
into history.
O n Ju n e 14, 1903 a
cloudburst over the area drained
by Willow Creek and Balm Fork
dum ped over an inch and a half
o f rain onto a 20 square mile
area in a very short period o f
time. This huge volume o f water
rushed down the steep canyons
descending on unsuspecting
Heppner a little after 5 p.m., that
afternoon. It left alm ost total
destruction in its wake. The total
count o f victims is uncertain, but
it is generally accepted that at
least 247 people died, som e o f
whom could not be identified
before burial.
The show will open at 7
p.m. w ith a few fiddle tunes by
Mulligan Stew, another group of
y o u n g m u s ic ia n s . D u rin g
interm ission, the m em bers o f
“Shenanigans!” will have CDs for
sale (their first release) and will
also have raffle tickets available
for a hand made quilt, a bike and
a D V D /V C R p lay e r. A fte r
intermission “Shenanigans!” will
present an old time fiddle show.
This group is w orking to raise
money for a study trip to Ireland
w here they w ill attend an Irish
fiddling school.
The
F lo o d
Commemoration Committee will
have desserts available for sale
at the end o f the show. They are
raising m oney for a perm anent
m em orial to the flood victim s,
which will be placed in Heppner.
R eaders for the show
include Dan Brosnan, Andrew
Johnson. Robanai Disque, Katy
West, Bob Jepsen and Paul Clay.
M em bers o f Shenanigans are
Brynna Rust, Kate Kendrick,
Eric Jepsen, Matt Holland, Kara
Clay arid Alex Carlson. They are
in fifth, sixth and seventh grade
and have been playing their
instruments betw een four and six
years.
Morrow County awarded grant for ATV park
The O regon Parks and
R e c r e a tio n
C o m m is s io n
aw arded a $1.72 m illion All-
terrain Vehicle (ATV) Program
g ra n t to M o rro w C o u n ty ,
Thursday, Jan. 23, to purchase
land for a county park dedicated
to o ff-h ig h w a y v e h ic le and
motorcycle recreation.
Morrow County will use
the grant to buy 6,200 acres o f
property known locally as the
K inzua R eload for the park,
m uch o f which will border the
M orrow-G rant county line and
Umatilla National Forest.
“ We are excited about
the opportunity to develop a safe
environm ent for the grow ing
num ber o f ATV users seeking
places for recreational off-road
driving,” said M orrow County
Public Works Director Burke
O 'B rien . “ Local user groups
have already volunteered to help
build trails, bridges and anything
else we may ask o f them to help
develop the park.”
O 'B rien explained that
the land is well-suited for ATV
recreational use, especially since
the adjacent national forest land
is open to ATV riding. “ The
terrain is diverse,” said O ’Brien.
“It will provide a wide-variety o f
ATV riding experiences. We plan
HHS Drama Club to present Alibis
T h e H e p p n e r H ig h
School D ram a C lub will be
performing their first play o f the
year, “Alibis,” by Peter Kennedy.
The play is a comedy that is based
upon solving a murder. The play
w ill keep you gu essin g and
laughing all at the same time, said
a play spokesperson.
S o m eone has been
murdered in a mansion at Seven
O aks and it is up to Mr. E.S.
S o lv e d d , p la y e d by T y le r
Henderson, to figure out w hich
o n e o f th e s u s p e c ts is the
murderer. O ther cast m em bers
are Kyler Lovgren, Courtney
N elson, Tylynn Smith, Shanna
R ie tm a n n , C o d y W a lto n ,
M adison Bailey, Sarah Barrow,
A leshia Geer, Colton Helfrect
and Blair Keithley. The play is
directed by Sarah Barrow. Linda
Dutcher is AM Aadv isor.
The play will be shown
two different times in the month
o f February at the Heppner High
S c h o o l. T h e firs t wi l l be
presented on Sunday, Feb. 9, at
3:30 p.m. and the second on
Sunday, Feb. 16 at 3:30 p.m.
rhere is no admission; however,
donations would be appreciated.
Hardman Community Center
elects officers for 2003
The
H a rd m a n
C o m m u n ity C e n te r held its
annual meeting Jan. 7, at John's
Other Place in Heppner.
O fficers for 2003 were
ele c te d and are as follow s:
p resid en t- B ob A llen; vice-
p r e s id e n t- Tom W ilso n ;
tr e a s u r e r - B e tty C a r ls o n ;
secretary- Sylvia A llen; and
advertising-Archie Padberg.
Volunteers for the Oyster
Feed were accepted. Plans were
made to rem ove the building at
the Hardman IOOF Cemetery to
be replaced w ith a cem ent slab
bench and table. It was also
decided to level o ff the graves
and mow the grass.
The late 1800 pictures o f
the Hardm an area have been
enlarged and returned to the
HCC so that they can be framed
and placed in the main hall by
mid-May.
The next meeting o f the
HCC will be in April.
to use existing logging roads and
skid trails left on the land for
recreation trails, and develop
new' ones only to create trail
loops.”
T h e la n d , O 'B r ie n
added, includes a large, flat area,
w hich he c a lled " id e a l” to r
cam ping and for loading and
unloading ATVs. "The location
c o u ld a ls o be u se d fo r
snowmobiling and cross-country
skiing in the w inter," he said.
“Excellent access” to the
property exists from Highway
2 0 7 , s a id O 'B r ie n . T h e
property's original owner, the
Kinzua Lumber Company, used
the site as a “ log deck,” w here
lo g s w e re u n lo a d e d by
specialized logging equipm ent
then reloaded onto regular log
trucks. A laige machine shop with
electricity and well water still
stands on the property, which is
n o w o w n e d by P io n e e r
Resources o f Oregon.
G lennys Lindsay, the
O regon Parks and Recreation
D e p a rtm e n t's (O P R D ) ATV
grants and education coordinator,
said the grant to Morrow County
will help narrow the gap between
the growing number o f ATV users
and the places to ride. "This park
has the potential o f being one o f
the prem ier riding areas in the
state,” said Lindsay. "Finding
h ig h - q u a lity lo c a tio n s is
important right now in meeting
the increasing demand for riding
areas and the safety o f those w ho
use them."
The state ATV' grants are
funded by ATV permit sales and
un-refunded gas tax revenue. A
seven-m em ber ATV Allocation
C om m ittee appointed by the
O regon Parks and Recreation
Com m ission adv ises OPRD on
the dispersal o f grant awards.
For m ore inform ation
about Morrow C ounty's park
p la n s , c o n ta c t th e M orrow '
Countv Public W orks at 989-
9 5 0 0 .'
JOIN US FOR CUSTOMER APPRECIATION DAY
and PANCAKE BREAKFAST
on Saturday, February 15, from S a.m. to noon
Morrow County Grain Growers
Lexington 989-8221 • 1-800-452-7396
Fir tam rquipmrnt mil Mr m t u» >t m meg M!