Image provided by: Morrow County Museum; Heppner, OR
About Heppner gazette-times. (Heppner, Or.) 1925-current | View Entire Issue (April 25, 2007)
Voters to decide on county road fix-up Bessie Wetzell Newspaper University o f Oregon Eugene, OR 97403 Voters will decide the fate of a $ 10 million road levy when ballots are mailed out by the county clerk this Friday. The county is asking for money to repair badly deteriorated roads located throughout the county. A ccording to Oregon law $ 1.635.9676 of the $10 million will go to the five cities in the county for use on city roads. Boardman w ill receive $237,247 per year for five years, Heppner $36,383, I ih r d° HEPPNER lone $8,834, Irrigon $37,692 and Lexington $7, 034. The rem aining $8,364,033 will be used to make repairs to the following roads over a five year period: Ella Road 2.5 m iles, Ione-Boardman 6 miles. Juniper Canyon Rd 3.8 miles, Kunze Rd. 1.3 miles. Miller Road .52 miles Depot Lane 4.9 miles and Sand Hollow Rd. 6.7 miles. The ballots must be returned to the clerk by May 15. and would fall under the Oregon double majority law where a majority o f registered voters (over 50 percent) would have to cast ballots, and a majority of those voters say yes. for the levy to be approved. Drop off locations for ballots are available at the county clerks web site at h t t p : / / imes VOL. 126 NO. 17 10 Pages Wednesday, April 25,2007 Morrow County, Heppner, Oregon Too many players on the field I H T h is p u p p y ca u se d q u ite a hit o f e n te r ta in m e n t a t S a tu rd a y 's M u sta n g so ftb a ll g am e, c irc lin g all th e g irls on th e Held. It to o k a r o u n d five m in u te s fo r th e g irls to c o r n e r th e p u p b efo re th e g am e co u ld c o n tin u e on. -Photo by Sandy M atthew \ A fun way for schools to earn extra money wwwnxxrowcountyoregc xia mV clerk/ballot-dropoff.pdf. and will also be included in the mail out ballots. To further explain the work to be done Public Works Director Burke O’Brien has said in the past: "Over the past several years we have managed to maintain and improve several roads throughout the County by following our Transportation System Plan for road work. We have done this working within our available budget revenues and with guidance from the Morrow Country Road Committee. ■V ? * T-f ' * * m *r* %f. V oters will d e rid e if co u n ty ro ad s like th is on e g et a fix up. This committee is comprised of members from throughout the County. We have managed to do a good job of keeping the majority of our paved road system in good condition. We have accessed dollars through the State for projects such as chip seal work and overlays on several roads. In the Irrigon area we w ill complete the last of the roads there w ith chip seal work this year, with the exception of Depot Lane. Depot Lane is beyond preservation work and is in need of major reconstruction. We see this road as significan t to residents of the Irrigon area. -Continued on page tw it Bill would allow larger race facility at Boardman Without passage of a bill now in the Oregon Sen ate, a proposed speedway for north Morrow County will not be able to attract NASCAR type races, an at torney for the tract develop ers told the Heppner Cham ber of Commerce last week. David Allen, former district attorney for Morrow County who is now working for Pacific NW Speedway, told the chamber that the developers want to expand the project since it was first proposed several years ago to include a marina on the river, a golf course, hotels and condos. Allen said under the original plan the race track would sit vacant most of the time, and developers have realized this is not an eco nomically feasible idea .De velopers now want to put in more “destination” type fa cilities that will keep attract people year round. He said the newly configured facility represents an investment possibility of $500 million and in addition to the marina and golf course would include a four mile road course that would be part private and part public. He said private individuals and companies could rent two miles of the track for private racing. There would also be a lake to accommo date water sports. A bill currently be fore the Oregon Senate in troduced bv Greg Smith and David Nelson would amend the original bill passed for the raceway to allow the change to more of a destina tion type facility. Allen said the state o f W ashington recently turned down a proposal to spend $250 million of tax money to build a NASCAR style track. No tax money is proposed for the Boardman facility, however, Allen said if the amended zoning bill - Continued on page ten MS Walk well attended P ic tu re d a re K U M A ra d io p a r tn e r s , H H S P rin c ip a l D ay e S to n e. Troy M o rg a n . A u tu m n M o rg a n , a n d L eA n n W rig h t a c c e p tin g th e ir w in n in g s ch e ck fro m th e O re g o n L o tte ry . Heppner High School was recently chosen to participate in Scratch-it for Schools, an Oregon Lot tery promotional program. Each year, randomly select ed Oregon public schools gather for Oregon Lottery Scratch-it for Schools events. Teams of eight adults - four from the school, four from TV and radio - spend five fast and furious minutes scratching Oregon Lottery Scratch-its for their schools. When the time is up. the teams keep all the cash priz es they’ve uncovered. This year HHS was paired up with media partner KUMA radio. Together the team won $1,248 for the school. This amount was the second highest amount overall. Scratch-it for Schools program began in 1996 with over $723,000 having been awarded to par ticipating public schools. W ith their winnings, schools have purchased digital cam eras. books, field trips, as sem bly programs, play ground equipment, comput er hardware and software, and many other things. HHS is planning to use the mon ey they won to purchase a document camera and mul timedia projector. For more informa tion about this event visit www.scratchitforschools.oig. ALL NEWS AND ADVERTISEMENT DEADLINE; MONDAYS AT 5:00 P.M. .f The supporters of the MS Walk beat the rain and enjoyed one more year of coming together with a vision to find a cure for MS. On Saturday, April 2 1,75 people walked down Heppner's main street to finish a 3-mile or 6-mile trek. They brought with them not only their pledges but also their love for those who have MS. Teams and individuals from Hermiston, Pendleton. Eugene, Heppner. Lexington and lone turned in pledges equaling $8.(XX) w ith more donations coming in daily. “It was great to see good friends from past walks, make new friends and share in a common goal,” said walk co-chair. Merilee McDowell. “Sharing the chairmanship with Joan Basile and having a wonderful committee was I D anielle an d M erilee M cD ow ell p re se n t TVIer R o b in so n w ith ;i p riz e u fiei H e p p n e r's MS W alk on S a tu rd a y , A p ril 21. one of the reasons the w alk was so successful. I am so proud of everyone who w as involved in making this another successful year. It takes many people to put som ething like this together.” This year Peterson's Jew elers. Cornerstone Gallery & Gift Shop. Bank o f EO, Hair I Am. Les Schwab, Heppner Family Foods. Murray Drugs donated gift certificates, - C ontinued on page three At th e MCGG GREEN FEED STORE In H e p p n e r: TROY-BILT LAWNMOWER 21” -- 6.5 hp -- rear bagging O nly $ 1 9 9 " ! M o r r o w C o u n t y G rain G ro w ers Green Feed & S e e d 242 W. Linden Way. Heppner • 676-9422 • 989-8221 (M C G G main office) I
