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lone board Local soldier returns home
members to
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U o f 0 N e*3pa?er L ib ra r y
E u g a a T , OR
9 .'4 03
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VOL 122
NO. 28
8 Pages
Wednesday, July 9,2003
Morrow County, Heppner, Oregon
U m atilla-M orrow
ESD will meet July 9 in lone
at the Legion Hall to appoint
members to the five positions
now open on the lone School
District Board. The meeting
will be held at 6:30 p.m., and
is open to the public.
Following the ESD meeting,
the newly appointed ISD
Board will hold its first board
meeting.
Six candidates applied
for the board positions: Joe
McElligott, Anne Morter, John
Rietmann, Gregg Rietmann,
Joel Peterson and Debbie
Radie, who had recently been
elected to the Morrow County
School District Board, but had
to resign as she no longer lived
in the district. The MCSD
Board w ill declare the position
vacant at their July 14 meeting
and w ill then advertise to fill
the opening.
Also being advertised
is a superintendent/principal
position for the ISD.
Applications are currently
being accepted and the ISD
Board will decide on the
position at a later date. Until
the position is filled, George
Murdock, superintendent for
the Umatilla-Morrow ESD, is
acting superintendent.
The ISD consists o f
the original ISD, which
consolidated approximately
50 years ago w ith the MCSD,
and the portion o f the Olex
School D istrict that
consolidated with MCSD.
Thus, the ISD will encompass
both Morrow and Gilliam
counties. Lexington, however,
is included in the MCSD and
students who have previously
attended lone Schools will
have to be released by
MCSD or begin attending
Heppner schools»
According to Dr. Jack
Crippen, superintendent for
MCSD, approximately six or
seven students have currently
asked to be released from
M CSD. These include
students who will be seniors
and juniors in the upcoming
school year. Dr. Crippen
stated that there is a policy that
compelling reasons must be
given for the students to be
released to a non-district
school. The MCSD Board
should discuss these requests
at their July 14 meeting. The
lone Self-D eterm ination
com m ittee stated that if
released, the students from
Lexington were welcome to
return.
OTAC show
CashiiT in
Kids look for money during the coin scramble Friday at the annual
lone Fourth of July Celebration. More pictures page 3.
Concerts in the Park to be held
The Willow Valley
Service Club will be hosting
two tree to the public Concerts
in the Park in 2003. The
concerts are sponsored and
funded by the Morrow County
Recreation District.
The first concert w ill
be held in Heppner. July 25 at
the Heppner City Park at 6:30
p.m., in conjunction with the
“C elebrate
H eppner”
activities. The concert will
feature the singer-songwriter
duo o f Steve and Shelley
Hines. An evening of family
entertainment w ill be enjoy ed
by all ages as they sing a
potpourri of music styles from
contemporary to western.
“Everyone
is
welcome, so bring your lawn
chairs and blankets and enjoy
the evening,” suited at W VSC
member.
In August, a concert
featuring The Brian Hansen
Band w ill be held in lone.
The Willow Valley
Service Club meets the first
three Thursdays ofeach month
at John's Other Place fora no
host lunch and welcomes new
members anytime.
For more information
about the concerts, call
Sherree Mahoney or Judie
Laughlin and for membership
information, call Carolyn
Wiley, president or Margo
Sherer, treasurer.
ALL NEWS AND ADV ERTISEMENT DEADLINE:
MONDAYS AT 5:00 P.M.
The Oregon Trail
Appaloosa Club is sponsoring
their 13th Annual Open Breed
Night Show, at the Umatilla
County Fairgrounds in
Hermiston beginning at I p.m.,
on Saturday, July 12.
There w ill be 42
classes ranging from halter,
English, western pleasure,
equitationjumping, trail and
games. This is an excellent
prelim inary for all 4-H
members to practice their
know ledge before their fair
time. Judge this year is Vixen
Barney, who is an experienced
judge in 4-H and open horse
classes. There will also be a
concession stand.
Fees are $6 a class or
S65 for the entire show. For
more info: call 541-567-3076,
or email primrose^/ eoni.com.
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Stacey Lauritsen w hile overseas
Stacey Lauritsen, son
of Carl Lauritsen and Peggy
Lauritsen, both of Heppner,
has returned home after 16
months in Afghanistan and
Iraq. Lauritsen is a Crew Chief
in the U.S. Army and has
served for about seven years.
He is currently home
on leave and w ill be returning
to Hunter Army Airfield, in
Savannah, GA, where he is
stationed. I Ie w ill be heading
to Korea in Nov ember w here
he w ill spend about a year.
Lauritsen said we
need to remember to continue
supporting our out-of-country
troops. He said that in
Afghanistan there was not
much mail as things were fairly
low-key, but at the beginning
of the war with Iraq letters and
support w as pouring in. Now
that new s coverage has
tapered off, many o f our
troops still in these countries
are noticing a real drop in
letters and support from the
general public.
()ne o f the pictures Lauritsen
brought back from Iraq is of
himself wearing a Heppner
football t-shirt sent to him by
Susie Hisler of Heppner.
Environmental assessment for
Willow Creek Reservoir water
releases complete
The U.S. Army Corps
o f Engineers completed an
environmental assessment for
releasing water from Willow
Creek Reservoir in I leppner,
to fulfill temporary contracts
for irrigation.
An inform ational
meeting is scheduled at 7 p.m.,
July 9 at the Heppner Elks
Lodge. The Corps. U.S.
Bureau o f Reclamation and
Oregon Water Resource
Departm ent w ill have
representatives present to
discuss this year's temporary
water releases and potential
impacts. The potential o f
future long-term contract
releases also w ill be discussed.
The
Corps
determined that the proposed
action would not significantly
affect the quality of the human
environment and that an
environm ental impact
statement is not required.
The Corps will begin
releasing w ater in response to
a request from the U.S. Bureau
o f Reclamation once their
contracts are signed.
T hese temporary
contracts for irrigation call for
releases up to 3343 acre-feet
o f stored w ater to be applied
to 1241 acres o f land. Since
Willow Creek Lake has filled
to its normal full pool elev ation
o f2076.5 feet and the project
was authorized for 3500 acre-
feet o f storage for future
irrigation use. the Corps has
determined that the full amount
o f storage is available.
The release o f the
stored water w ill cause an
earlier than normal draw down
of the reserv oir. I Spending on
irrigators' needs and weather
conditions, the Corps will
release at a rate of up to 20cfs.
The drawdown will potentially
reduce the size of the reservoir
from about 157 acres to about
90 acres by Sept. 30 or down
to elevation 2047.7 feet.
The boat ramp
prov ides access to the lake at
elevation
2032;
a
handicapped accessible dock
provide access to elevation
2063.5: and a floating dock
prov ides access and boat tie-
ups alongside the ramp to
elevation 2047. Som e
reduction in recreation use can
be expected.
During the proposed
drawdown for irrigation, water
quality w ill be monitored to try
to meet the temperature
standard while avoiding the
release o f low dissolved
oxygen and high hydrogen
sulfide water. If necessary, the
regulating outlet, normally
located 17 feet below the
surface, can be moved closer
to the surface to adjust water
quality improving dissolved
oxygen and reducing hydrogen
sulfide and associated odor
problems.
A final environmental
im pact statem ent on
constructing Willow Creek
Dam and R eservoir was
issued in December 1979.
Storage for irrigation was an
authorized project purpose;
how ever, impacts of irrigation
withdrawal were not
addressed because there was
not an immediate need for
irrigation w ater.
For more information
on the environm ental
assessment visit the Corps
continued page 2
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