Image provided by: Morrow County Museum; Heppner, OR
About Heppner gazette-times. (Heppner, Or.) 1925-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 8, 2006)
Industrial park purchase from Port moves closer to reality Bessie Wetzell Newspaper Library University o f Oregon Eugene, OR 97403 Following a meeting last W ednesday a deal to purchase the South Morrow Industrial Park (form erly Kinzua Mill) from the Port of Morrow by Western Sates Land R elian ce T rust (W SLR T) m oved a step closer to reality. W SLR T has proposed to buy the site and restart the co-generation plant to produce electricity from wood and other waste. The trust has also said it plans to bring in additional businesses interested in using the low pressure steam left over by the facility to grow or m an u factu re o th er products. Wednesday the Port appeared to hammer out the final kinks in the deal that will see the property leased to WSLRT for up to two y ears until it co u ld be purchased for around $10 million from the Port. The two years are needed to m onitor w ater quality in Willow Creek to satisfy requirements of the D ep artm en t of Environmental Quality. After satisfactory monitoring the DEQ w ould issue a “ no further action” letter that clears the way for WSLRT to purchase the property. At the annual meeting of the Willow Creek V alley E conom ic Development Group Jan. 26, featured speaker Dan Desler of WSLRT. said he wanted to get a lease established soon so his group could begin d ev elo p m en t and operation of the industrial park. Desler, whose group has en v iro n m en tal experience from working with other abandoned mill sites, said he saw no problems with eventually getting the DEQ clearance. Desler mentioned a veneer plant, glue lamination com pany, m ushroom growing operation and an ethanol plant as some of the businesses he has already been in contact that are interested in the site. Following the port m eetin g , several port members said they hoped to have a signed lease agreement with WSLRT in a couple o f w eeks, and possibly receive the first lease payment by the end of February. New sculptures adorn HHS walls VOL. 125 NO. 6 10 Pages Wednesday, February 8,2006 Morrow County, Heppner, Oregon Combined lone- Heppner Booster Club dinner deemed a success H om e of the t U UST angs New sculpture located in stairway when leaving HHS gym. Michelle Stone (front right), music teacher at lone Community School, performs for the attendees of the annual combined lone and Heppner Booster Clubs Dinner. The com bined Heppner and lone Booster Club dinner, held on Feb. 4 and sponsored by Morrow County Grain Growers, was a “huge success,” said Lynn Dee R am os, C ard in al B ooster C lub p resid en t. Diners enjoyed a steak and salmon dinner, along with live entertainment, a raffle and an auction. Approximately 275 were served at the dinner and many stayed to participate in the raffle. An impromptu auction was also held, with the left o v er steak and salmon being auctioned and a bike, which had been won in the raffle, donated back for the auction. Performances for the evening began with Amy Jepsen playing the harp and later, Michelle Stone, lone Community School music teacher, played the keyboard and sang several songs. Monies raised will be split between the Heppner Booster Club and the lone Booster Club. The Booster Clubs, along with Morrow County Grain Growers, plan to keep this an annual event. Two new sculptures have been added to the wall of Heppner High School. The first is a new mascot, made of steel, of a blue horse with a flow ing blue and yellow tail. It was unveiled during the HHS game versus Irrig o n . The second sculpture is also made of steel and features a waterfall and scenery. The p ieces were m ade by artist Jam es Montgomery from Gresham. He works out of his home, hut also displays his work in galleries in and outside of Oregon. The work is funded by the student body, the H eppner H igh School B o o ster C lub, w hich is applying for a grant and community members who have donated tow ard the New Mustang mascot located in the Heppner High School gym- project. HHS Principal Daye Stone saw Montgomerty's work on display at South W asco High School and took a group o f student leaders, including student body p re sid en t L aurie Murray and student body publicity director Heather Rill, to see the artwork there. They lik ed it and commissioned Montgomery to do the work for HHS. Community volunteers make reading program successful Volunteer James Pappas, with reader, Becea Waddell. The SMART (Start hour at a tim e with tw o M aking a Reader Today) separate students. program is continuing strong The program is to at H eppner E lem entary help give a little boost to the School. The program, which readers, as well as the build has been at HES for the past a love of reading. “Children three years, currently helps learn to read in kindergarten 36 stu d en ts in the through third grade and kindergarten through third afterwards, have to read to grades. Thirty volunteers learn.” explained SMART from th ro u g h o u t the coordinator Barb Moore. com m unity take an hour Volunteers don't teach the each week on Tuesdays and students to read, hut lend the Thursdays to read for a half encouragem ent to create strong reading habits. Along with the time spent with adults reading, the SM ART program provides each child with two books a m onth o f th eir choice. The students also have the chance to work on th e ir acce lerate d read er goals during their SMART reading time. Each student has a set goal of books to read, and after they read each book, they take a short test on it to review the book. The SMART readers have also been working on c o m p letin g a project of choosing the “Top Book.” Each year all of the SMART coordinators vote for their fav o rite books and a committee chooses a "Top 10" list, which the students then have a chance to read the books on the list and then vote on them. After all the student votes are tallied, a top book is chosen and each student gets a copy of that book. Voting is still in progress. On Tuesday, Jan. 31. the HES SMART group held a special presentation, where they aw arded v o lu n teer Kelly Vanderwalker with the Volunteer of the Semester award. Vanderwalker put in three extra hours over all the volunteers. V olunteers are alw ays w elcom e and currently the program is looking for at least three extra volunteers to serve the c h ild ren . If you c a n 't volunteer your time, there is also the o p p o rtu n ity to donate to the program. The program is funded by private donations and by business sp o n so rsh ip s. W ilcox Furniture has been active in sp o n so rin g the program th ro u g h o u t M orrow and Umatilla counties. If you ha-ve questions, you can contact Barb M oore, SM ART Volunteer of the Semester, co o rd in ato r, at H eppner Kelly Vanderwalker, with Elementary School at 676- reader, Jessy Wolford. Photo 9128. by Alita Nelson. NAPA PARTS NOW AT MCGG Heppner Auto Parts 8 its inventory i |\| A DA k are now at MCGG, Lexington See us fo r all your quality Napa Auto Parts! Morrow County Grain Growers Lexington 989-8221 • 1-800-452-7396 For farm equipm ent, vltlt our web *lte a t www mcRf net
