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