Heppner gazette-times. (Heppner, Or.) 1925-current, February 22, 2006, Image 1

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    Lexington water use, reports on track
111111 • 11111 1 1 1 1 ..........M i I m
I
Bessie Wetzell Newspaper Library
University of Oregon
Eugene, OR 97403
HEPPNER
imes
VOL. 125
NO. 8
8Pages
Wednesday, February 22, 2006
Morrow County, Heppner, Oregon
lone teams head to state tournament
The lone Lady
Cardinals won first place at
the 1A District Tournament
in Umatilla. They now
advance to the first round of
the OSAA State 1A
Tournament and will host
Crane on Friday, Feb. 24.
The game will start at 4 p.m.
The Cardinal boys
came away from the 1A
District Tournament in
Umatilla with the third seed
position. They will play
against Damascus Christian
at Boring in the first round
of the OSAA State 1A The lone Community Pep Band won the first place trophy for
Tournament. The game will Outstanding Pep Band at the District Tournament. Jeff
Eynetich (above) accepted the award. Photo by Donna Rietmann.
start at 5:30 p.m.
The Lexington Town
Council learned, at their
regular meeting Tuesday,
Feb. 14, that their water use
and water use reports are on
track.
Brad Baird of the
Anderson
&
Perry
Engineering firm told the
council that their reports
indicate that their current
well can meet the town’s
demand, the “water right
situation is in a great place”
and the town has only 5.2
percent of unaccounted-for
water. “You’re in a great
shape there,” said Baird,
who added that the state
prefers that entities keep
their unaccounted-for water
under 10 percent. “You have
low unaccounted-for water,”
he said. He also said that the
town already reports “almost
all of the mandatory items
anyway and some of the
extras.”
The town hired
Anderson & Perry to
complete a required water
conservation management
plan. Baird said that creating
such a plan would be “pretty
simple because everything’s
in good order.”
Baird, however, did
say that the town’s “water
use is a little bit high
compared
to
other
communities” and “in the
summer the well works
awfully hard to keep up with
the peak demand.” He said
that one deficiency is that the
Health District launches
new website
M o r r o w C o u n t
'«•tv “t-t o! I c lima1
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only if a new speedway is
built, and only on visitors to
the raceway.
Although no final
deal to locate a raceway here
has been finalized, talks have
been heating up recently
lone Community Church
receives new minister
lone Community Church welcomes Rev. Dr. Lori
Wiley as its newest minister. She comes from New
Hampshire, having spent some time in Boise, ID. A former
teacher and teacher educator, she is ordained in the National
Association of Congregational Christian Churches. She is
a graduate of Gordon-Conwell
Theological Seminary and the
Congregational
Foundation of
Theological Studies.
Her field of interest is moral and
spiritual development at all ages. In
addition to being a minister, she is a
developmental psychologist and
nationally-known character educator
(www.charactered.org).
Her husband, a retired law
enforcement officer, will be joining her
at the parsonage in March. Their two
children are in college in New Hampshire Rev. Dr.
Lori W iley
and Massachusetts.
lone Community Church has undergone a transition
this year, changing its name back to lone Community
Church, which reflects its main value, that of serving the
community.
There is an early morning informal service at 9:45
a.m. on Sundays, concurrent with Sunday School. The 11
a.m. service has a new worship team formed under the
leadership of Beth Heagy. Youth group is held on
Wednesday evenings, call Dave Heagy for details.
Guests and visitors are always welcome to church
events. For further information, call 422-7530, or write
lone Community Church, PO Box 346, lone, OR 97843.
between raceway developers
and the Port of Morrow,
which controls the property
near Boardman where the
NASCAR style track would
be built. The county planning
commission has also been
working on rezoning the
property to be more suitable
for a speedway.
The special sales tax
will be limited to the area of
the proposed raceway, and
proceeds would be used to
pay for expenses incurred
having the speedway located
in the county. Since the sales
tax would only be levied in
the raceway area, only
visitors using the speedway
would pay the tax, one
county official emphasized.
The county court is
holding an open meeting
March 1, 10 a.m. at the
courthouse to discuss the
proposed new tax, and the
public is invited to attend.
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The Morrow County Health District has launched a
new website to better inform the public about its facilities
and services.
T he
a d d ress
for
the
w eb site
is
ww w.morrowcountyhealthdistrict.org and features pictures
and information about the hospital, clinics, home health,
emergency medical services and other services the Health
District offers.
The new site was produced and is maintained by the
Heppner Gazette-Times.
South Pacific to be performed
by RHS
and 7 p.m.
The Riverside High
School drama and music
department is presenting
Rodgers and Hammerstein's
South Pacific, March 10 and
11. The performance will be
held at the R.L. Bateman
Auditorium at RHS.
Performances will be Friday,
March 10 at 7 p.m., and
Saturday. March 11 at 2 p.m.
M o rr o w C o u n t y
H e a lt h D i s t r i c t
•m m
New ‘Speedway Tax’ proposed by county
Voters in Morrow
County will be asked to
approve
a
special
“Speedway Activity Tax” at
the May 16 election, county
officials have announced.
The sales tax would be levied
town has only one reliable
well and commented that the
town will have problems if
that well should go out. He
said that a second well with
good water quality would be
a good idea.
Also at the meeting,
the council again discussed
the issue of trees in the creek
that could create flooding
problems. Bob Steagall
suggested that the town
approach a different
landowner than previously
discussed to arrange for
removal of the wood. The
council directed town
recorder Nicki Clement to
write a letter to the second
landowner
asking
permission to take out the
trees.
In other business the
council:
-was reminded by
Mayor Val Doherty that
budget time is fast
approaching and set the first
budget meeting for Monday,
March 20, beginning at 7
p.m. The budget must be
approved by June 15.
-learned
from
Doherty that the town had
received a request to
comment on a proposed
wind power project in
Arlington. The council
tabled a decision until the
next meeting in order to
garner information on the
project.
-learned
from
Doherty that the town had
Tickets can be
purchased through the
school, from cast members
and at the door. Cost for all
seats is $5.
WCVEDG to
meet March 8
The Willow Creek Valley
Economic Developoment
Group will meet March 8 at
8a.m. at Heppner City Hall.
Items on the adgenda in­
clude non-profit status, and
Industrial park sale update.
received a letter from
Portland State University
inviting the town to update
the
tow n’s
census
information.
-learned
from
Doherty that the town had
received a request from
Morrow County Public
Works to write a letter in
support of the proposed
Lexington Airport project.
The council said that they
had received no information
on the project and opted to
write a letter to the county
seeking information before
they decided whether to
indicate their support to the
project or not.
-heard
from
Lexington Fire Chief Charlie
Sumner that the lone Fire
District has asked Lexington
if they would like to join
them Sumner said it would
benefit the town and
Lexington residents. Sumner
said that the Lexington Fire
Department has lost one
member due to moving from
the area and expects to lose
another.
-discussed
the
proposed fire hydrant
project and asked Sumner
and
Dan
Marshall,
Lexington public works and
maintenance, to prioritize
needs for the project.
-heard a brief report
on the town audit and
learned that the auditor’s
report indicated that the
town is in compliance. The
audit also indicated that the
town's TV fund is stagnant,
which council members had
already become aware. The
council tabled action on the
report until the next meeting.
-discussed bringing
the town’s paid holidays in
line with federal holidays.
-learned
from
Marshall that he has replaced
water meters at a residence,
which had earlier shown a
discrepancy between water
used, according to the meter
at the residence, and actual
use. Marshall said replacing
the meter dram atically
reduced the difference from
around 60,000 gallons to
6,000. He said the remaining
difference will not be fixed
until a new line is installed.
-received a letter
from John Neys from
Arlington who indicated that
his company may be
interested in taking over the
town's ailing cable tv system.
The council decided to send
a notice to townspeople
indicating Neys’ interest.
The town has 39 customers
currently and, according to
Clement, Neys would need
at least 20 customers.
Clement said that Neys said
that the town’s cable tv
system is not in too bad of
shape, but a few more
receivers would improve the
tv picture. She also said he
indicated that he would not
increase the cable rate until
they increased the lineup
offerings.
-approved
a
proposal for a credit card for
the town. The council agreed
to have one credit card
account through the Bank of
Eastern Oregon with three
individual credit cards.
-discussed a local
option tax, excise tax or fuel
tax to provide the town with
more revenue to complete
needed town projects.
NAPA PARTS NOW AT M CGC
Heppner Auto Parts & its inventory J N A D A k
are now at MCGG, Lexington
See us fo r all your quality Napa Auto Parts!
Morrow County G ra in Growers
Lexington
9 8 9 -8 2 2 1 • 1 -8 0 0 -4 5 2 -7 3 9 6
For (»m equipment, vlftt our «rob tit* at www.nKgg.not