TWO • Heppner Gazette-Times, Heppner, Oregon Wednesday, July 5,2006
The Official Newspaper
of the City of Heppner and the County of Morrow
H eppner
GAZETTE-TIMES
U.S.P.S 240-420
Morrow County’s Home-Owned Weekly Newspaper
Published weekly and entered as periodical matter at the Post Office at Heppner,
Oregon under the Act of March 3 . 1874 Periodical postage paid at Heppner. Oregon
Office at 188 W Willow Street. Telephone (541) 676-9228. Fax (541) 676-9211 K-
mail: editor«?rapidserve net or davidWheppner net Web site: ww w heppner net Post
master send address changes to the Heppner Gazette-Times, P O Box 337. Heppner.
Oregon 97836. Subscriptions: $26 in Morrow County. $20 senior rate On Morrow
County only; 62 years or older); $32 elsewhere; $26 student subscriptions
David S y k e s.....................................................................................................Publisher
Katie F oster.......................................................................................................... Editor
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For Pubiic/Legal Notices: publio'legal notices deadline is Monday at 5 p.m Dates for publi
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For Obituaries: Obituaries are published in the Heppner GT at no charge and are edited to
meet news guidelines. Families wishing to include information not included in the guidelines
or who wish to have the obituary written in a certain way must purchase advertising space
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GT will not publish unsigned letters. All letters MUST include the author’s address and
phone number for use by the GT office. The GT reserves the right to edit letters. The GT is
not responsible for accuracy of statements made in letters. Any letters expressing thanks
will be placed in the classifieds under “Card of Thanks" at a cost of $10.
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Willow Creek Clinic to close
Dr. Kenneth Wenberg, managing director of Willow
Creek Clinic in Heppner, has announced that the clinic will
be closing the end of July. High malpractice insurance rates
have been “killing [the clinic] financially” and have affected
both the business and Dr. Wenberg’s personal life “to a
degree that cannot continue,” explained Dr. Wenberg in a
letter he sent out to his patients.
“I am not wanting to do this but my hands are tied.
I feel great loyalty to my patients and care about each one
of you very much,” said Dr. Wenberg in the letter.
Those who have been visiting the clinic regularly
will need to find another personal physician before the end
of July. Requests for record transfers will be numbered as
they come in and will be sent out as soon as possible within
the 30 days the law allows.
Obituaries
Merle G. Baker
Merle G Baker, 85,
died June 24, 2006.
A serv ice was
already held with interment
at W illam ette N ational
Cemetery.
He was born Sept.
12, 1920 in Walla Walla and
was raised on a farm in lone.
During World War
II, he served in the Army in
the Philippines. He moved to
Portland in 1956, where he
w as an a cc o u n tan t for
United Grain for 33 years.
In 1942, he married
M arjorie A. Holland; she
died in 2001.
Survivors include his
daughters, Ann M. Greer
and Sheri Watson; son, Jim;
brother, C larence; sister,
H elen S c h le se n e r; six
grandchildren; and six great
grandchildren.
Death Notices
Frances M. Barnett
Frances M. Barnett,
60, of lone died Sunday, July
2. Arrangements are pending
Sw eeney M ortuary of
Heppner.
William P. “Bill”
Monahan
W illiam P. “ B ill”
Monahan, 65, of Hermiston,
died on Saturday, July 1,
2006 at the Good Samaritan
Center in Hermiston.
Viewing will be on
Thursday, July 6 from 10
a.m. until 5 p.m. at Burns
M ortuary
C h ap el.
A
graveside funeral service
with military honors will be
held on Friday, July 7, at 10
a.m. at the Heppner Masonic
Cemetery in Heppner.
Burns Mortuary of
Hermiston, Oregon is in care
of arrangements.
Koffler honored as distinguished
effect for the past 10 years
alumni
and Koffler is the first living
G eorge
K offler,
president of Bank of Eastern
O regon, was
recently hon
ored by Echo
High School as
the 2006 Dis-
tin g u is h e d
Alumni. He re
c eiv e d
the
“cougar-head"
aw ard at a
school aw ards cerem ony
held at the Red Lion in
Pendleton. Koffler graduat
ed from EHS in 1969.
The distinguished
alumni program has been in
recipient. He was honored
for his work with the bank
and for becoming president
o f a local bank that has
grown from $18 million to
$180 million in the last 20
years through branch
growth and expansion. Kof
fler has worked with the
bank for 26 years and has
been president for 14 years.
He also served as board
chairman for the State Bank
Association from ‘95-’05.
He is also active in
many community organiza
tion including Lions, Elks
and regional boards.
Exciting N e w C h a n g e s Com ing To
H e p p n e r D a y C a re / P re sch o o l!
Sign up n o w fo r Fall p re sch o o l.
W e h a v e o p e n in g s fo r
3 a n d 4 y e a r old p re sc h o o le rs.
A lso , call n o w to r e s e rv e y o u r
d a y c a re slots fo r this fall!
___________ ~
Letters to the Editor
~ ____________
The Heppner Ga/etle Times will print all letters to the Editor with the
following criteria met: letters submitted to the newspaper will need to
have the name of the sender along with a legible signature. We are also
requesting that you provide your address and a phone number where you
can be reached. The address and phone number will only be used for
verification and will not be printed in the newspaper. Letters may not be
libelous. The GT reserves the right to edit. The GT is not responsible lor
accuracy of statements made in letters. Any letters expressing thanks will
be placed in the classifieds under “Card of Thanks" at a cost of $10.
Lions Club joins Adopt-A-
Highway program
To the Editor:
I am p leased to
welcome the Heppner Lions
Club as a new cooperator in
the Oregon Department of
Transportation's Adopt-A-
H ighw ay program . The
Lions are adopting Highway
206/207 south from town to
and past the Willow Creek
Road.
One o f H eppner’s
main assets is our neat and
orderly appearance. Many
visitors comment on how
litter free our highw ays,
streets and sidewalks are.
O f c o u rse, this
doesn’t happen by itself.
M ain tain in g
a
good
com m unity ap p earan ce
takes effort by all of us.
To help the litter pick
up effort, small Stop Oregon
L itter and V andalism
(SOLV) litter bags have been
placed on the counter at City
Hall for general use.
So,
H eppner
citizens, on your walks for
exercise and health, take
along a SOLV litter bag and
pick up and dispose of any
trash you see.
(s) John Edmundson
Heppner
Citizen voices concerns regarding
Lexington City Council decisions
To the Editor:
To the citizens of Lexington,
Wake up and smell
your city council. Only one
member was elected by you,
the rest are her personally
selected cronies.
At a recent executive
meeting, advertised for 6
p.m ., to select a new
reco rd er, w ith a public
meeting to follow at 7 p.m.
to d iscu ss and sign the
Windwave contract, several
citizens attempted to enter
the city hall and were
in fo rm ed that the prior
meeting was still in session.
The maintenance man and
the fire chief were both at the
executive m eeting. Why
were they allowed at that
meeting and not the rest of
the community?
When others were
finally allowed in. they were
informed that the council
was already signing the
Windwave contract. There
was no discussion with the
public and only after many
questions did the council
members admit that they had
done no research and say
that there was no value to the
system. However, on the
Morrow County Tax roll, it
is listed at $18,730. If it is
worth that much, the council
or W indw ave should
reimburse everyone with a
stockholder certificate and
not ju st give the system
away.
If they want to give
something away, why not the
fire department? There is
only one certified firpman
and four trucks. Many days
there is no one in town to
shut off the alarm. Thanks to
Heppner and lone, we at
least have some coverage.
We should be paying into a
rural fire department instead
of wasting our tax dollars in
the town of Lexington.
(s) Bob Taylor
Lexington
Surviving slander
To the Editor:
Please read this. I
shared this writing from my
Bible called “Diamonds for
Daily Living” with two of my
Sister’s in Christ Jesus. They
where deeply moved by it.!
read this often with Psalm 7.
From my H eart to your
Heart:
P o rtrait
o f an
accuser (Psalm 7)*
Have you ever had
anyone tell a lie about you?
Some people try to build
their success on the backs of
others by defam ing their
character. David wrote this
psalm as he endured the
vicious slander of Cush the
Benjamite.
W hen Liars A ttack
Some say Cush was
a member of King Saul’s
court. Others say he was a
kinsman of David. Whoever
he w as, he en jo y ed the
company of the inner circle
of the king. Cush told Saul
that David was not loyal.
What a lie. David had spared
King Saul’s life twice in the
cave of Adullam and when
Saul was sleeping in his
cam p. A disloyal David
would have killed Saul and
claimed the throne.
D escrib in g
his
situation with Cush, David
likened his enemies to a lion,
a hungry lion that pounces
upon a baby lamb and rips it
to shreds in its powerful
jaws. Why? Because “there
is none to deliver” (v. 2).
David, though, was
not afraid. He told God to
turn him over to his enemies
if he had done anything
wrong against Cush (v. 3-5).
To m ake certain he had
G o d ’s a tte n tio n , D avid
called, “Arise, O LORD, in
Your anger.” He wanted the
Lord to sit in the ju d g e’s
chair and rule against his.
a cc u ser w ith M\ the
consequences of the mighty
wrath of God.
God W atches All
David recognized
the fact that sometimes the
w icked seem to prosper
w ithout incurring G o d ’s
punishment. As they get by
Public works director explains funding of road projects
I w ould like to
respond to the letter in the
June 21 e d itio n o f the
Gazette Times written by
Barbara Cutsforth-Carter.
I
very
much
appreciate and share your
concern about Sand Hollow
road. I would however like
to clarify what I believe is a
simple lack of information
about our road department
and how decisions are made
as to p rio ritiz a tio n of
projects.
Rest assured we will
be patching that road this
sum m er (ag ain ). The
problem is the dollars to
rebuild and pave that portion
of the road will take over
$1,0()0,()()() to do. what
needs to be done to save that
road. It is beyond any sort
of preservation repair and
has been for the past several
years.
We currently have
three roads in the county that
are in a deplorable state of
re p a ir- K unze road in
Boardman, Depot Lane in
Irrigon and Sand Hollow
road in Heppner. We finally
got funding for Kunze road
through ODOT, using it as a
detour for the freeway for
justification. The amount of
this project is $2.7 million
dollars to rebuild five miles.
It is a high traffic road and
must meet standards that will
accept large traffic volumes.
D epot Lane and Sand
Hollow roads are both on the
list of projects we would like
to get funded th ro u g h
ODOT. We are doing our
best to get these done. But
there are several criteria that
a road must meet to qualify
for funding. One of these is
traffic numbers. Kunze road
has counts of 940 per day,
Depot Lane has 300 and
Sand Hollow has 100. In the
eyes of ODOT, anything
below 100 is hard to justify
funding for special projects.
We receive vehicle
registration dollars from the
state v eh icle (gas tax)
$656,000 per year. We have
been receiving $240,000 per
year from lost forest fee
dollars. These forest fee
dollars were to supplement
the lost revenue from timber
sales due to the inability of
the National Forest to sell
log and timber. The bill that
authorized this at the federal
level ends in 2006. It will
probably not be renewed but
rath er w ill be in a new
version. The new version
will reduce these dollars by
25 percent per year over four
y ears. We receiv e the
remainder from property tax
dollars.
When you consider
that a ton of asphalt cost $44
and that will only do 81
square feet o f paving, it
would take 1564 tons to
pave one mile of road, which
equals $68,000.
Now consider that
Sand Hollow has a full six
m iles that need to be
repaved. The cost would be
$408,000 just to buy the
asp h alt
and
an o th er
$328,000 to haul and lay
down the asphalt, which
brings us to $736,440. We
also have to consider what
it costs to get the road ready
to pave. The old road cannot
be just paved over. The road
needs to be reconstructed for
those six m iles. T his is
another $750,000 for a total
cost o f $1,486,000. Now
consider the other 340 miles
of paved road in the county.
It all needs m aintenance,
som e even a co m p lete
rebuild and some turned
back to gravel. We have
already done away with over
35 m iles of substandard
paved road countywide.
At the MCGG GREEIM FEED STORE in Heppner:
B a c k to re g u la r h o u rs: M o n -F ri 8 a .m .-5 :3 0 p.m . / Sat. 8 a .m .-12 noo n
^~~Jluuih 1J u t Jot' ttu J tiru f otu' J j t ' t o u l O jrte n u u f a ( j t x a l - S t u ic X i.
Contact Brandi S w e e n e y,
676 - 5530 .
Notice: H eppner D a y C a re w ill be
closed until m id-August due to lack
of sum m er attendance.
with their lies, their stealing,
their fraud, their deceit, God
doesn’t seem to be watching.
But He is. God is angry with
the wicked every day, and He
prepares His arrow s into
“fiery shafts” (v. 11, 13).
Remember, His patience is
not weakness. Although His
justice grinds slowly, it also
grinds to powder.
Evil doings will fall
dow n on the heads o f
evildoers. Remember that
Haman, who was building a
scaffold to hang the Jews,
looked like a winner. No one
thought God was watching.
And then God thundered
into the throne room full of
fury, and Haman and his ten
sons were hanged (Esther
7:10; 9:13). R em em ber,
Jezeb el m urdered the
prophets of God in Israel and
looked like a winner until
G od decided to feed her
corpse to the dogs (2 Kings
9:36,37). God does punish
the wicked.
Be Ready, Be Sure
Perhaps you think
you have no enemies, no
accu sers. If God was
slandered in Eden, you’ll be
slan d ered . If Jesus was
slandered in Jerusalem, you
w ill be slandered. W hat
should be your reaction?
“Rejoice and be exceedingly
glad, for great is your reward
in heaven, for so they
persecuted the prophets who
were before you” (M att.
5:12).
Jesu s said , “The
world hated Me. The world
w ill hate y o u ” W hy?
Because you are light in
darkness.
D espite
C u sh ’s
accusations, David says that
he will not fear, for “in You
I put my trust." Do you fear
your accuser, or do you trust
the Lord? Has fear broken
your relationship with Him?
Live your life dedicated to
serving God and trusting
Him. Be like David, who can
say, “My defense is of God,
who saves the upright in
heart” (v. 10).
(s) Teresa M. Gaines
Heppner
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Morrow County G rain C
L e x in g to n 9 8 9 -8 2 2 1 • 1 -8 0 0 -4 5 2 -7 3 9 6
For farm equipment, visit our web site at www mcyj.iwt
Our entire budget is
$2.8 million, half of that goes
to personnel that leaves only
$1.4 million for our entire
road system . O ur road
system is close to 940 miles.
All of the maintenance for
these 940 miles in the total
county comes from these
dollars. This includes gravel
roads to grade and maintain
with the rock we make to do
this. It includes plowing and
sanding in the winter. It
includes all of the washout
repairs after the rain storms
or the roads that our farmers
use to haul their crops to
market that blow out and
have to be repaired to keep
them going. The signs that
everyone depends on that are
knocked down by weather or
are vandalized. We must
stretch those dollars over
that entire road system. We
are trying to keep it all in
decent condition. What is
needed sorely is some sort of
system that gives us the
funding to do the projects
like Sand Hollow without
breaking the bank in the
process. This is not our fault
or the taxpayer’s fault it is
just a poor system with not
enough money available.
Our county only has 14,000
registered vehicles in it and
that is not much when you
look at Umatilla County with
88,000 and only 300 more
miles of road than we have.
Yet they receiv e o v er
$3,000,000 per year in gas
tax dollars.
The Bombing Range
road is funded from Finley
... continued on pane 7
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