Heppner lighting contest winners announced
Bessie Wetzell Newspaper Library
University of Oregon
Eugene. OR 97403
Smith home
VOL. 125
NO. 52
8 Pages
Wednesday, December 27,2006 Morrow County, Heppner, Oregon
Heppner TV took
first place in the best use of
lighting category in the 2006
Heppner
m erchants’
decorations contest. The
Victorian Rose was the best
in indoor decorations and
M urrays’ Drug received
honorable mention.
The Larry and Betty
Mills' residence on Chase
Street took first in outdoor
lighting. The Greg and
Sherry Smith home on Rock
Street had the best indoor
decorations (as seen from
outside). The Gary and
Jerene Wight home on Chase
Street was the judge’s all-
around favorite.
Successful OHV Park looks to expand by 2,000 acres
The Morrow
County Off Highway Vehicle
(OHV) Park is considering
purchasing an additional
2.000 acres to add to its
6.000 acres of land on Hwy.
207 east ot Heppner.
Last Thursday
the Morrow County Public
Works Department held a
meeting of the park steering
committee go over the
proposed purchase and
review the improvements
and progress made at the
park since its opening over
four years ago.
“Since we opened
the Morrow County OHV
Park in May of 2002 we have
seen a lot of changes. We
have gone from a facility that
was new' to everyone to a
facility that is known not
only statew ide but
throughout the Pacific
Northwest,” public works
director Burk O’Brien told
the steering committee.
Morrow County
Judge Terry Tallman, who,
along with O'Brien. Karen
Wolff and others, worked
hard to make the park a
reality and huild it up. said
the facility has been a model
of county and state
cooperation and how to “do
these things right”.
The new land
purchase is approximately
2.000 acres that adjoins the
national forest and connects
with the existing park on two
sides. The land is in Grant
County, but O’Brien said the
Grant
County
commissioners have agreed
to support the project and
are encouraging Morrow
County to move forward
with the purchase. Under
the proposed plan Morrow
County will operate all
phases of the park, but
ownership of the property
will be in Grant County’s
name.
The park
currently has 150 miles of
trails for OHV riding, and
the 2,000-acre purchase will
allow the park to expand the
miles of trail available. "We
would like to see more
visitors and more dollars
spent here in our region,”
O ’Brien said of the
economic benefit of the park
to the area.
The purchase
price for the property is $ 1.5
million, and the county is
working on obtaining a 100-
percent no-match state grant
to purchase the property. An
appraiser is currently
working to determine the
value of the property, which
is offered for sale by one
landowner.
Ian Caldwell from
Oregon State Parks was in
attendance at the meeting
and praised Morrow County
for its dedication to making
the OHV park a reality over
the past four years. Caldwell
says the state wants a 20-
percent
match
of
commitment when making a
land acquisition this large,
and he said Morrow County
has already shown
commitment. O'Brien said
the county, through grant
writer April Miller, is
working to get operational
grants to pay for additional
labor costs. He was hopeful
to get the additional land
deal done by spring 2007.
Local rancher
Mark Rietmann. a member
of the steering committee
who also grazes cattle on the
park property, said he has
had a good relationship with
the county over the lease.
Rietmann owns property in
the area and he has worked
with the park to move cattle
around if there is some big
even happening at the park.
O'Brien gave the
following account of
improvement to both to the
infrastructure and operation
of the park:
"We began with
50 miles of trail, most of that
old logging roads, to a total
today of close to 150 miles
of trail. We have gone from
12 very primitive camp sites
to close to 45 usable camp
sites. We have added water
to close to 50 percent of
those sites. We have added
some power hook ups with
more soon to come. We have
a sewer system that should
be operational this summer
that will service any future
development we may have.
We host poker runs and dirt
bike races, senior citizen
tours, tours by forestry and
rangeland people from
Oregon State University,
tours by the Oregon State
Parks Commission as well as
staff of Oregon State Parks.
We support local youth
activities including little
league firewood drives, and
the Morrow County Youth
hunt program. We furnish a
youth track for younger
riders to learn while mom
and dad supervise. We
support club activities and
events. We have crowds in
the hundreds on large
weekends like Memorial
Day. We have developed
springs and ponds and added
fishing to our list of
amenities. We have created
one full time job and two
part-time jobs at the park.
We have added cabins
helping create another
business. We have a park
host as well as a
concessionaire that operated
a small business on site
throughout the season
serving anything from hot
dogs to chicken-fried steaks
to the smoothest smoothie
around. We have a new
wash-down facility that will
open this spring, a 30' X 60'
storage facility for
equipment. The shop is
totally functional. And the
maintenance yard is fenced.
We have a full fleet of
equipment for trail work.
The property fences have
been rebuilt and relocated.
We have a grazing plan that
has worked well for the past
four years and we hope will
continue to work. The sheriff
has two part-time deputies
that work the park and help
to ensure safety throughout
the trail system. They have
been equipped with ATVs,
pickups and other equipment
as well. We have an EMT
program that has treated
numerous accidents in a
timely manner. This program
has also added support with
the acquisition of equipment
and supplies for medical
treatment. Our user numbers
have gone from 4000 to over
11,000 in four years. We
have a weed program in
place as well as a sprayer and
seeder to do projects with.
We have completed one
major thinning project and
are in the process of
beginning another. We have
built two training faculties
for ATV and dirt bike
training. We will be
constructing a building to
serve these sites this summer.
We are in the process of
constructing a building to
house the EMT services as
well as to use for meetings
and office space. We have
upgraded with the
cooperation of Columbia
Basin rural electric seven
miles of primary electrical
service to the park and the
surrounding areas. We have
a web site in place as well as
satellite internet services at
the park including wireless
internet through out the
One of new A frames at OHV park
campground itself. We have committee member, praised
firefighting equipment on the public works team who
site that includes two 1000- made the park possible, and
gallon trucks one 400-gallon on behalf of local businesses
pull-behind pumper, one 80- thanked them for their past
gallon slide-in pumper and efforts and the work they are
one 300-gallon slide-in currently doing for
pumper. These have been expansion.
used to assist ODE on fires
O'Brien pointed
in the past as well as to out the current public works
attack one fire within the employees that have
park boundaries caused by “stepped up to the plate" to
lightning,” he told the work on the park including
steering committee.
April Miller who has worked
Both O'Brien and hard on the grant
Tallman pointed out the writing...Betty Gray has
economic benefit of the park been part of the new group
and the visitors it brings who and has worked hard on our
will spend money in the area. masterplan." he said. Others
David Sykes, vice president are Saudi Putman who
of the Willow Creek Valley handles the budget, and
Economic Development Simon Winters, the park
Group and also a steering maintenance manager.
HHS Softball team to host
alumni game
The 2007 Heppner High softball team will be
hosting an alumni game on March 16. at noon. Anyone
interested in playing who has not received a letter in the
mail may contact Petra Payne at 541-676-9138 ext. 2518
or email her at paynep® morrow.k 12.or.us.
Chamber cancelled this week
There w ill be no Chamber of Commerce meeting
on Thursday, December 28.
ALL NEWS AND ADVERTISEMENT DEADLINE
for J A N U A R Y 2007 issue:
FRIDAY, DEC. 29 at 5:00 P.M.
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