New flood plain maps good news
for Willow Creek Valley
' it II I l i l i la l i I | | | i , it, jfil, ,j|
Bessie Wetzel 1 Newspaper L ibrary
University of Oregon
Fugcne. OR •>''403
HEPPNER
New flood plain maps such as this should be available in about a year
imes
VOL. 124
NO. 28
10 Pages
Wednesday, July 13,2005
Morrow County, Heppner, Oregon
New wheel chair ramp installed at library
Workers for J&G concrete install a wheel chair ramp at the Morrow County
Library and Museum. Left to right are Alex Rystedt, Jim Jones, Mikel Cribbs and
owner Frank Jones.
J&G has been in business since 1998 and does concrete construction, concrete
and asphalt grinding and removal, retaining walls, footings and other related work.
Dinner Theatre at the Cemetery returns
D inner T heatre at
the C em etery retu rn s to
Heppner on July 30. This
y e a r’s pro d u ctio n , “The
R oberts O pera H ouse
Revue”, will begin at 6:30
p.m., and seating will again
be limited to 100 guests.
Proceeds from the event will
go to the museum.
The ev en in g w ill
begin with a dinner menu
from 1905. Available in
1905 was the c ate rin g
service of the Palace Hotel,
so the meal “will be catered
by Mr. Metschen, Jr., of the
Palace Hotel.”
In 1905 Heppner. the
opera house sat at Main and
C en ter S treets. It and
Roberts Hall were the two
venues
for
cu ltu ral
entertainment. Performers
from as far aw ay as
California included Heppner
in th e ir to u rin g -sh o w
schedules. Some of those
performers, reported on the
pages o f the “ G azette
Times”, will return from the
past w ith a v ariety o f
selections for the pleasure of
the July 30 guests.
Popular at the turn of
the century was recitation by
renow ned e lo c u tio n ists,
some of whom will join the
R evue.
They prided
themselves on their dulcet
tones and e x tra o rd in a ry
abilities to memorize even
long humorous, classical,
and contem porary works.
The R evue w ill include
m usical
co m p o sitio n s
perform ed by a sm all
orchestra, a visiting baritone,
and a local soprano.
Final arrangements
are now being made for a
visit of a thespian from the
Seattle area, previously from
Heppner. The backbone of
the evening’s production will
again be the local thespians
w ho have d e lig h te d the
cemetery audiences for three
years.
T ick ets fo r the
d in n e r
and
th e a te r
production are now on sale
at the B ank o f E astern
O regon
in
H eppner.
Questions may be directed to
C liff G reen at H eppner
Hardware.
Vacation Bible
school July 18-22
V acation
B ible
School will be held at the
H eppner
S ev en th -d ay
A d v en tist C h u rch , 560
M inor Street, July 18-22
from 6:30-8:30 p.m. The
theme is “Under the Sea”. All
c h ild ren ages 4-12 are
invited to attend; children
ages 13 and up are invited
to come and help with the
school.
Students will learn
about “G o d ’s love from
animals of the sea and with
B ible s to rie s ,” said a
spokesperson. Additionally,
“We have some very special
crafts planned and everyone
will win a prize, with ways
to earn extra prizes, like
bringing a friend," said the
spokesperson.
ALL NEWS AND ADVERTISEMENT DEADLINE:
MONDAYS AT 5:00 P.M.
The city of Heppner
unveiled the new flood plain
maps M onday night, and
they are good news for many
re sid en ts w ho now are
req u ired to pay flood
insurance.
The F ederal
Em ergency M anagem ent
A ssociation (FEM A) has
been studying and updating
the whole W illow Creek
Valley's (Heppner, lone and
Lexington) Hood plains, and
preliminary indications are
that the size o f the flood
plain will shrink in most
places, some by as much as
65 percent. What this means
is that some people with
bank m ortgages on their
homes will no longer be
req u ired to carry flood
insurance, which can range
up into the $600 per year
range.
The reduced flood
plain will also mean that
building restrictions in many
areas of the cities will be
relax ed also and m ake
development and building
less costly, which will be
good for development in the
cities.
New overhead
p h o to s o f H ep p n er are
available for viewing at city
hall; however, the Final maps
of the revised new flood
plain will probably not be
available for another year.
The maps will also be posted
on the internet at that time
with overlays of the flood
plain so that citizens will
know exactly what property,
homes and lots will be in or
out of the flood plain. The
maps were presented at the
m onthly m eeting o f the
council Monday night.
In other business,
the council received a letter
signed by seven property
owners on North Main and
Campbell Way requesting
that the city pave their street.
It is now gravel and property
owners asked that the city
pay for the cost of paving.
North Main and
Campbell Way are not up to
city standards, said outgoing
city
m an ag er
Jerry
Breazeale, and it is not city
policy to maintain streets
that are sub standard. It was
suggested that the residents
m ight form a local
improvement district to have
the street paved and then the
city w ould take over
m aintenance. The cost to
Old Gazette-Times building will be burned down soon to
make way for new fire department buildings
Residents along North Main Street in Heppner have
asked the city to pave the street
The council
pave was estim ate d at d iscu ssed a proposed
around $7,000.
franchise fee to be imposed
In further action on the both Windwave and
the council agreed to up the C enturytel for providing
amount of free water it gives internet service in Heppner.
to the Willow Creek Little It was reported that Nate
League to w ater the two Arbogast of Windwave has
lower fields by the swimming said Heppner would be the
pool from the cu rren t only city in Oregon charging
400,000 per year to one franchise fees for internet
million gallons, or 500.000 service. Windwave operates
per field this year. Mike wireless and other internet
Correa who maintains the services in several Oregon
Fields for the Little League com m unities. Colum bia
told the council he didn't Basin Electric pays a fee that
think the 400 tho u san d is a percentage o f gross
would get the job done and electrical sales in Heppner. “I
he requested more. He said hope we are not on an island
a new sprinkler system at the blazing new ta x ‘territory,”
two Fields was very efficient council m em ber G eorge
and there was no wasted Koffler said.
water as in the past.
The council heard
The council also a rep o rt that there are
heard from Fire Chief Rusty cu rre n tly four or five
E stes who said he was vacancies at the St. Patrick’s
getting ready to bum the old senior housing center in
G azette-T im es b u ild in g H eppner. The H eppner
“soon”. The Fire department Housing Authority, which
obtained the old building, operates the center, found it
which is next to the fire necessary to raise the rent
department, in a trade for the recently and residents had
former city hall building. He been protesting the $20 per
said a fte r b u rn in g the month (with more possibly
structure the departm ent to come at a future date)
would haul off all the old increase.
debris and then start looking
A discussion was
for grant and other money to held about U turns, speeding
build new buildings to house
fire equipment.
continued page three
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