Lexington and county talk about water
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Bessie Wetzell Newspaper Libra
University o f Oregon
'
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Eugene, OR 97403
L ex in g to n
and to the airport. The county
Morrow County last week o p erates the L ex in g to n
discussed how the town and Airport and is in the middle
the County may cooFK™te on o f a large up-grade and
the rehabilitation of a well at expansion project that will
the Lexington airport. The be requiring more water, and
rehab co u ld end up the Town of Lexington has
had a continuing problem
benefiting both.
Burke O'Brien, head with shortages of water, and
of the Morrow County Road the need for a backup water
D ep artm en t, met w ith source.
A 70 gpm well is
L exington M ayor Val
D oherty and the Town located at the airport but at
C ouncil February 28, to this tim e is not usable.
discuss how to get more O' Brien talked to the council
water both to the town and about how to fix it. "The
best-case scenario is if the
city and the county partner
to rehab the well and supply
water to both the airport and
the to the city,” he suggested
to the council and mayor.
O 'B rien said the county
needs more w ater at the
airport for operation of two
ag statio n s w here spray
planes fill up and get ready,
and for water piped to new
hangars that plane owners
could use to wash down their
planes and other uses.
Mayor Val Doherty
said the city has reached its
maximums with the current
w ell and needs to find
another source. “We are not
rationing our water, but we
are g ettin g clo se to our
limit,” she said of the tow n.
She also said the town needs
to find a back up w ater
source by 2008. D oherty
said the town would like to
deal directly with the “end
users” of the water at the
airport instead o f going
through a third party like the
county. "If we supply water
out of town to a separate
com m ercial operation we
need to be able to cut them
off if we get in a problem of
shortage," she told O'Brien
and the council.
At this tim e the
water from the well is not
potable, or drinkable, not
because of the well, Doherty
said, but because o f the
storage tank. She said the
70,000 concrete reservoir
the well pumps into cannot
be sealed on the top and is
not in condition to store
drinking water.
"If the reservoir can
be rehabbed, then w ater
pressure would be better (in
town),” she said.
O 'B rie n said the
county may be willing to
share in the ex p en se o f
m aking the well usable
again. "County could defray
some of the costs to get that
well working properly,” he
said.
"We have to have a
back up to our w ater sy stem
one w ay or another. Whether
it is rehabbing the old well
or drilling another," Doherty
said.
Hospice shows county what tippage buys
VOL. 126
NO. 10
12 Pages
Wednesday, March 7, 2007
Pioneer M em orial
Hospice had potluck lunch
with the M orrow County
Court last week, and showed
the com m issio n ers what
tippage money awarded by
the court had been spent on
in their department.
In 20 0 5 -0 6 the
county awarded $16,500 in
tippage fees that was used to
purchase training material
Morrow County, Heppner, Oregon and office equipm ent for
Hospice which provides in-
home care and counseling
for terminally ill patients and
their fam ilies in Morrow
County.
T ippage fees is
money collected from the
Finley Buttes landfill in
Northern Morrow County
and is distributed to various
groups and agencies in the
county.
The money was used
to buy a DVD and VCR
player and TV for training;
a
Valby installs new pastor
Members ctf Pioneer Memorial Hospice have lunch with
county commissioners. Left to rij>ht former commissioner Ray
Grace, Kathy Skinner and Kohanai Disque both with Home
Health/Hospice, county Judge Terry Tollman, Molly Rhea
director Home Health/ Hospice, Cyde Estes Hospice volunteer.
Sherry Ewing Home Health/Hospice, and Donna Schonhachler
with Home Health/ Hospice.
digital camera and software;
co m p u ter, so ftw are and
printer; office equipment;
training and bereavement
supplies, training videos and
staff and volunteer training.
H ospice relies on both
professionals and volunteers
as staff to help people.
Morrow County Court honors
the late Donald C. McElligott
Pictured left to right are Reverend Janis Johnson, Pastor Ann Schlossnagle, Pastor Wes
Sackman, and Pastor Zane Wilson. Rev. Johnson serves All Saints Episcopal along with
Hope Lutheran Church in Heppner. Pastor Wes Sackman is a retired pastor from Good
Shepherd Lutheran Church in Hermiston. Pastor Zane Wilson is assistant to the Bishop.
ELCA, from Portland.
P astor
Ann
Schlossnagle was recently
installed as pastor of Valby
Lutheran Church. Valby
Lutheran Church is located
17 miles south of lone on
Valby Road.
Pastor Ann is no
stra n g er
to
rural
communities. The parishes
that she served were within
a 125 mile radius on the
plains of South Dakota,
and that serving a single
L utheran C hurch seem s
much more relaxing than
w hat she was used to.
Schlossnagle originally came
from Baltimore. MD where
she received a degree in
psychology. In 1994 she
receiv ed a M asters of
D ivinity at L utheran
T heological Sem inary in
Gettysburg.
Another interesting
talent that Reverend Ann
brings to this area is the
a b ility
to
have
c o n v ersa tio n in the
American Sign Language.
She also had voice lessons
during her college career.
“My life and my training is
to throw out the seeds of
Christ's words to the best
of my ability,” said Rev.
Ann.
Pastor Ann brings
with her a daughter, Jenni,
who is attending Heppner
High School as a freshman.
May election deadlines announced
Don’t Forget!
Daylight Savings
Time Begins
Sunday, March
11 .
Set your clocks
foreword one
hour!
April 24 is the last
day register to voted for the
May 15lh election.
The filing deadline
for the May 15lh election is
March 15.
Filed as of March 5
are: Joe M cElligott, lone
Rural Fire District, at large;
Joe M cE llig o tt, lo n e/
L exington
C em etery
District, at large; Cyde Marie
E stes, zone #5, M orrow
County Unified Recreation
D istrict; M arcus Collier,
lone Rural Fire District, at
large; Marvin Padberg, Port
of Morrow Commissioner
#4; Linda LaRue. Morrow
County Health District #4;
D elton L aR ue, M orrow
County Unified Recreation
D istrict, zone #4; Lynn
H obbs, lone R ural Fire
D istrict #1; Larry M ills,
M orrow C ounty H ealth
District #5; Larry Lindsay,
Port of Morrow #5; Marilyn
C hilders. Ione/Lexington
Cemetery District, at large;
and Alice Y. Ellis, Oregon
Trail Library District #3
Donald C. McElligott
L eague, Farm B ureau,
H eppner
E lks,
lone
A m erican Legion. VFW,
W illow s G ran g e, St.
William's Catholic Church,
and Holy Names Society.
McElligott served as
a Morrow County School
Board member for a total of
10 years and served as Chair
from 1967-1969. He was
also a member of the lone
School Board. He served as
a Morrow County judge for
seven years and as a county
commissioner. McElligott
also helped form and then
served on the board for the
lone Fire District.
O ver the past 50
years, McElligott served his
com m unity on num erous
other boards, councils, and
committees.
The Morrow County
Court extended its heartfelt
appreciation and thanks on
behalf o f the citizens o f
Morrow County.
Methane generator planned at Finley Buttes
A Lake O sw ego
com pany has announced
plans to in stall two
generators at Finley Buttes
L an d fill that w ill use
methane gas to generate 3.2
mega watts of power.
The landfill produces
m ethane gas from the
garbage dumped there and
the com pany plans to
harness that gas and produce
electric energy that will be
sold to PacificCorp through
the Umatilla Electric Co-op
power grid.
The landfill is now
continuously producing 450
to 550 cubic feet per minute
of methane gas from the
400,000 tons of municipal
solid waste that is dumped
at Finley each year. The gas
is currently just burned off.
The landfill has been
in operation since 1991 and
there is currently about 71
acres of waste to a depth of
KM) feet. Finley BioEnergy,
h ead q u artered in Lake
Oswego, plans to drill more
wells to tap the methane, and
p o ssib le
add
m ore
generators in the future to
boost production to 10 mega
watts.
The generating plant
w ill be located next to
Cascade Specialties, Inc. an
onion dehydrator that would
like to purchase heat from
the company. The heat will
be used to dehydrate onions.
The
com pany
estim ates the cost o f the
project to be $6 million and
construction is scheduled to
begin A pril 2007. The
generators will be delivered
in July and it is estimated the
project will be completed in
September, 2(M)7 anil fully
operational by the end of this
year.___________________
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The Morrow County
C ourt honored the late
Donald C. McElligott for his
many acco m p lish m en ts,
years of service to the people
of lone and Morrow County,
and his notable achievements
at their regularly scheduled
m eeting on W ednesday,
February 28, at the Morrow
County Courthouse.
M cE llig o tt was a
ran ch er, h u sb an d , and
parent. He served in the
Army Air Force in Africa
during World War II as a
transport pilot. He was a
m em ber
of
O regon
Cattlemen. Oregon Wheat
1
Th« W a y O u t.
M orrow C o u n ty G ra in G row ers
Lexington 989-8221 • 1-800-452-7396
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