City Treasurer Rene Devin to retire June 30
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Bessie Wetzeil Newspaper Library
University o f Oregon
Eugene. OR 97403
VOL. 126
NO. 19
12 Pages
Wednesday, May 9,2007
After working nearly
20 years for the city o f
Heppner. Treasurer Rene
Devin, has set a date for a
little R& R -and a ton of
volunteer work and hobby
activities. Her last day as city
treasurer is planned for June
30. Judy Eckm an, who
started training March 5. will
take over those duties as of
July 1.
D evin
started
w orking for the city in
October of 1987 as a part-
Morrow County, Heppner, Oregon
Sheriff, school superintendent say no cover-up
of accidental school shooting at Irrigon School
An anonymous e-
mail sent to H eppner
Gazette-Times in the wake
of a shooting at Irrigon
Junior/Senior High School,
alleged
p referen tial
treatm en t o f a M orrow
C ounty School District
a d m in is tra to r's
child,
favoritism, abuse of power
by
school
d istrict
ad m in istra tio n
and
discrimination against school
district employees who are
not deemed “team players.”
M orrow County
Sheriff Ken Matlack. who is
also a m em ber o f the
M orrow C ounty School
Board, said the e-mail was
“ full of e rro rs ” . “This
information is totally false,
co m p letely
w ro n g ,”
co n cu rred
M CSD
S u p erin ten d en t
Mark
Burrows. “The incident was
fully in v estig ated , the
student expelled, the sheriff
was aware and it was sent to
the DA who is investigating,
said B urrow s.” Burrows
went on to say that both sets
of parents were cooperative
and “wonderful" in working
with the district and law
enforcement officials and
were ultimately “pleased
with the results.” “I don’t
think we could have done it
any differently,” he added.
According to Sheriff
Matlack. a student at Irrigon
Junior/Senior High School
shot an o th er student
accidentally with a “replica
p is to l” which had been
brought to school as a prop
for a school play.
Matlack said that the
incident, which occurred
several weeks ago. involved
a pistol replica that shoots
bbs. Morrow County School
S u p erin ten d en t
M ark
B urrow s added that the
pistol was spring-loaded and
shoots a plastic pellet.
M atlack said that the
magazine to the pistol had
been rem oved, but a bb
remained in the chamber. He
said that one high school
student was playing with the
pistol in the school parking
lot when it disch arg ed ,
hitting another high school
student in the eye. The
student was injured, but the
injury
involved
no
permanent damage to the
eye, said Matlack. He said
that the students knew each
other, having grow n up
together, and had no
anim osity tow ards each
other. “It seems to be a case
of foolishness,” he said.
Matlack said that
while there may have been
lack o f protocol at the
school, he b elieved the
school dealt appropriately
with a teacher involved and
dealt “pretty significantly”
with the student involved.
“There was no cover-up
because of privilege,” he
added.
*
He said the sheriff’s
d ep artm en t made their
report and sent the case to
the Morrow County Juvenile
D epartm ent.
Juvenile
Director Carolyn Holt was
not available for comment at
press-time. Morrow County
District Attorney Elizabeth
Ballard was also unavailable
as she is out of town until
next week.
While the e-mail was
sent anonymously, officials
believe they know who sent
it and suspect it may have
been politically motivated.
Several school board
positions are up for a vote
in the upcoming May 15
electio n . For d irecto r
Position No. 1, incumbent
Craig Miles, Heppner, is
being challenged by Darrell
Gale, Irrigon, and Kerry
Muniz, Irrigon. Incumbent
Bill Kuhn. Heppner. will face
Ken Hackett, Irrigon. for
Position No.#3. Matlack has
elected not to rerun for
Position No. 4. Three
people. Kent Hansen.
Boardman, Neila Coffman.
Irrigon. and Daniel Daltoso.
Boardman. will vie for that
spot.
Incum bent
Pat
McNamee. Irrigon. will vie
for Position #5 against
E lizabeth
M elendez.
Boardman..
time librarian. In January
1990 she began training as
city treasurer to replace
Mary Jean McCabe. At that
time, the tre a su rer was
ap p o in ted by the city
council. Her stint as
tre a su re r even included
serving as interim city
manager for six months prior
to the city hiring city
manager Jerry Breazeale.
Devin took over the
payroll system when former
city m an ag er M arshall
Lovgren. When she first
started doing payroll, she
said they had a Burrows
posting m achine, which
required sending off tapes
for h o le -p u n c h in g to a
Portland business. Finally,
when the tapes wore out and
she was having to tape them
together, it was finally time
to buy a c o m p u te r and
programs for a utility billing
system. During Gary Marks
stint as city manager, the city
got the second com puter
system for accounting. Prior
to that they used a pegboard
system.
Devin, 60. was bom
in Pendleton but her parents,
Clayton and Rita Robinson
Wright lived in Heppner at
the time. The family moved
to Prairie City w hen she was
five and she attended school
there, except for the third
grade, which she spent at
Heppner. She visited
H eppner alm ost every
sum m er to see
her
g ra n d p a ren ts and o th er
relatives.
After high school she
enrolled at Blue Mountain
Community College where
she took nursing courses.
From there she moved to
Portland where she worked
in the drafting department
for an electronic company. It
was there she met her former
husband. Oliver Devin (now
deceased), and they lived in
Portland for three years
before moving to Irrigon in
1970, the year her oldest
son. Jeff, was born. He and
his wife now live in Mesa.
AZ, where he works with
software for an insurance
company
In Irrigon they
started a retail milk delivery
business and in 1974 they
moved to Hermiston, taking
over the Mayflower Farms
wholesale milk business, and
then running both the
w h o lesale
and
retail
business. They also took
over R en ee’s d a d ’s milk
business with routes in
P endleton,
S tan field .
H erm iston, B oardm an.
Irrigon. Heppner, Lexington,
lone, Spray, Condon and
Fossil. "I # learned to drive
truck and did all the
b o o k w o rk ,” said Renee.
“ T h a t’s w hen I learned
double entry bookkeeping."
They then sold a
portion of the milk business
and in 1980 bought a piece
o f property from Archie
Munkers which was located
betw een H ep p n er and
Lexington and moved to the
area. Their son. Miff was
bom in Heppner in 1981, one
of the last babies born at
Pioneer Memorial Hospital
in Heppner. says Devin. He
w orks for the Port o f
Morrow as a tech n ical
assistant for the port’s public
works department effluent
plant.
While farming Devin
drove wheat truck and raised
b u m m er lam bs before
starting at the library. She
also worked as a volunteer
and as an em p lo y e e at
Heppner Elementary school
for a time.
Besides the long list
of job accom plishm ents,
Devin has an equally long list
o f activ ities. B esides
volunteering at the school,
she volunteered with the
Morrow Soil and Water
Conservation Office and at
the Heppner Library.
She has a “ton of
hobbies” including spinning
and weaving sheep and llama
wool (she raised llamas for
a while), basket weaving,
quilting
and
m aking
miniature furniture for doll
houses with her sister. Teri
Carnes. Perhaps her most
Rene Devin
demanding hobby involves
m o n ito rin g
M o u n tain
B lu eb ird s.
W estern
Bluebirds, tree swallows,
mountain chickadees and
occasionally house wrens for
Cornell Labs in New York.
She
d isco v e re d
the
monitoring program online
through her sister, whose
n e ig h b o rs
were
archaeologists. The intensive
m onitoring
program
includes traveling 120 miles
round trip and riding 30
miles on a four-wheeler once
a week from April to July.
She monitors approximately
100 bird boxes and records
her findings and twice a year
cleans out all the boxes. She
said her father is involved in
the program also, and has
made around 247 birdhouses
for the program. Devin said
she counted 433 fledglings
last year. She says that 12
boxes were recently put at
the OHV Park.
As if that w a s n ’t
enough, after retirement,
Devin plans to extend her
bird monitoring time, spend
more time at the Willow
C reek Valley A ssisted
Living, of which she was one
o f the original board
members and still serves on
the board, spend more time
with her dad. C layton
W right, who lives in
Hermisron. work on quilting
projects, check out all her
storage boxes that have gone
unopened from years ago.
exercise more and travel
with her partner, Tony
Doherty. "I might have a
clea n e r h o u s e .” l aughs
Devin. “In the winter I might
find some place warmer than
Heppner.
Mustang Mop Up held
Don’t forget Election Day
D on’t forget that
Tuesday, May 15, is
Election Day in Morrow
County. Voters have the
choice of mailing in the
ballot or returning it to any
designated drop site in thé
state.
All ballots must be
received by 8 p.m. on
Election Day. Postmarks do
not count!
♦
A list of drop sites
are as follows:
-New Boardm an
City Hall. Monday - Friday
April 27 to May 14. from 8
a.m. to 5 p.m.; May 15,
Election Day, 8 a.m. to 8
p.m.
-Irrigon Annex. April
27 to May 14. from 8 a.m.
to 5 p.m.; May 15. Election
Day, 8 a.m. to 8 p.m.
-Bank o f Eastern
Oregon in lone, April 27 to
May 14, from 9 a.m. to 4
p.m.; May 15. Election Day,
9 a.m. to 8 p.m.
-M orrow C ounty
Road Office in Lexington.
April 27 to May 14,
from 8 a.m. to 5p.m.;
May 15. Election Day,
8 a.m. to 8 p.m.
-Morrow
County C ourthouse.
April 27 to May 14.
from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.;
May 15, Election Day.
7 a.m. to 8 p.m.
For
more
information call 676-
5604. 92 2 -4 1 0 3 , or
481-2112.
ALL NEWS AND ADVERTISEMENT DEADLINE:
MONDAYS AT 5:00 P.M.
This past Thursday, May 3, students and staff from Heppner High School spread out
throughout the community to do some cleanup for what they called the Mustang Mop I p.
More pictures of their work around the community can he found on page three. Photo In
Miilttilev Huddleston
Garbage disposal to run behind schedule
The Heppner Garbage Disposal w ill not be operating on Tuesday. May 15. Please
expect garbage service to be approximately one day behind schedule for the remainder ot
the week.
At th e MCGG GREEN FEED STORE in H e p p n e r:
*
W
&
tA
vi J
/
We have Montana Silver, ’ Candles is . Sunday,
,U y
& Hanging Flower Baskets
M ay n th
Morrow County Crain drawers Creen Feed & Seed
242 W. Linden Way. Heppner • 676-9422 • 989-8221 (MCGG main office)