Image provided by: Morrow County Museum; Heppner, OR
About Heppner gazette-times. (Heppner, Or.) 1925-current | View Entire Issue (Aug. 1, 2007)
“Not a good session for rural Oregon, » says Representative Smith 111 11 1111 111 11111 111111111 | i | ! M Bessie Wetzell Newspaper Librar) University o f Oregon Eugene. OR 97403 VOL. 126 NO. 31 10 Pages Wednesday, August 1, 2007 Eastern Oregon got the short end o f the stick during the just concluded state legislature. Represen tative Greg Smith said last week. Speaking to Hepp- ner Chamber o f Commerce Sm ith said even though the state had $2.5 billion more in additional revenue to spend this session, not much o f it reached projects Morrow County, Heppner, Oregon Bicycling the state to hear about land use Two y o u n g m en who recently set out on a 1,000 mile bike trip around Oregon to hear about land use conflicts and the contro versial Measure 37, came to Heppner last Friday. M athew B erk o w and G eorge Z aninovick, who are students working on their master degrees in urban planning from Port land State University, set out from Eugene June 30 on their trek to learn more about how different people in various parts o f the state view the controversial land use law passed by Orego nians. “We w ill cover over 1000 miles through at least 24 counties in 40 days. Our goal is to interview 100 people. We plan to ride four or five days a week to leave plenty o f time to talk with people and hear stories,” the tw o said on their website www.landusestories.org. "In addition to the bike route, from Eugene to Hood River via Medford, Baker City and parts of the Oregon Trail, we will be spending a week or more in Portland and the Willamette Valley, where 68% o f the Measure 37 claims reside,” they said. By the tim e they reached Heppner Berkow and Zaninovick could say measure 37 had put Orego I Mathew Berkow (left) and George Zaninovich hear about land use while in Heppner. nians into two pretty clear categories, yes and no, for and against. “ We came on this trip to find out how people feel and think about measure 37, and how they use the land for their liveli hood,” said Berkow. In Heppner the two met with Morrow County Planning D irector C arla McLane, county planning commission members David Sykes and Pam Schmidt, and Merilee McDowell of the Soil and Water Conser vation. M clane said even though a high percentage of voters in Morrow County approved Measure 37, so far she said there have been only two claims in the coun ty. Most o f the claims in the state have originated in the Willamette Valley. M easure 37 m an dates that if governm ent changes land use laws that affect how private prop erty is used, the government m ust e ith e r co m p en sate landow ners for loss o f value o f the land, or allow the use to move forward. In addition to work ing on their master degrees w ith the bicycle riding, information gathering trip, Oregon Public Broadcasting will air interviews the pair has gathered. "We will speak with a wide variety o f citizens, including ranchers, farmers; Measure 37 claimants, and neighbors of claimants. Our intention is to write a narra tive that captures the diverse perspectives we encounter. This ‘story base,' as opposed to the ever-expanding data base o f Measure 3 1 claims, can serve the public by providing a more accessible avenue for understanding this issue," the two said. important to the Eastern part o f the state. "T h e le g is la tu r e spent a lot more money on K.-12 (kindergarten through high school education) but others areas did not get funding,” he said. Smith particularly pointed out his desire to receive more money for the state police so that there could be 24/7 coverage in the rural areas o f Oregon. "With all that money and we couldn’t even come up with enough money for the state police.” Smith said econom ic development that helps Eastern Oregon also took a hit, with the Baker Mor row Partnership receiving no funding, and there was no money for capital infra structure projects. “ It was not good for rural Oregon," he said. “We got rolled.” With control in the government shifting to the Democrats for the first time in 10 years. Smith said the emphasis in Salem was on the environment and labor. He was moved from ap propriation committees he Greg Smith addressed the Chamber of Commerce last Tuesday, and said Eastern Oregon “got rolled”. has served on in the past to the environment committee. He said he was able to stop tw o pieces of legislation that would have damaged East ern Oregon. ( )ne would hav e required electric co-ops like Columbia Basin Electric to buy a certain percentage of their power from renewable resources. The bill would have increased power rates by 30 percent. Smith said he was able to get co-ops exem pted from the bill. He also lamented the fact the Democrats would not recognize hydro power as renewable. Smith said he was also able to stop a bill that would have required moni- toring and reporting o f all w ater usage. He said he fears a movement afoot in Portland area to eventually put a tax on all water us age. Smith also pointed out that despite the large increase in tax revenue be cause o f O reg o n ’s grow ing econom y; D em ocrats raised $85 million in new fees, some as much as 300 percent. He said the legisla ture did manage to put $300 million into a rainy day fund for downturns in the econ omy, but he felt that would not be enough to do much when hard times arrive. Health district physician staffing stressed M o rro w C o u n ty Health District CEO Victor Vander Does told the MCHD Board Monday night that physician staffing for the district had reached a criti cal point during July. Vander Does said that because of previously scheduled va cation time for physicians and a physician’s assistant and the lapse in coverage between the time one doctor left the district and another will be coming on board, he feared that there would be no doctors in the community one week in July. Vander Does was e v e n tu a lly ab le to hire locums physicians to cover the time period. He also said that several physicians are planning to com e to Heppner for a visitation. He reported that Dr. Betsy Anderson is in the process o f purchasing a home in Heppner and is expected to be on board shortly. D espite the staff ing difficulties, however. V ander D oes and C h ie f Financial O fficer N icole M ahoney said that w hile figures were not complete, July was shaping up to be an o th er " d e c e n t” m onth financially. The district ended June with a $56,417 gain for the month and a $445,550 gain for the year, with a $37,129 average monthly gain year to date. Also at the meeting, the board approved up to -Continued on page two From playing Bonanza to becoming a Fair Princess Jessica Hamilton fell in love with horses at the young age of three w hen her uncle. Jack Meligan, first put her on a horse during a family visit. Visiting her uncle as a child was about the only time she would be able to ride. As a military daughter whose family was stationed in Europe from 1997 to 2005, Hamilton was not able to have a horse. So instead she used to “ride” a suitcase, pretending it was a horse, and played “ Bo nanza”. Hamilton is now 17 and is currently liv ing in Heppner where she can get in all the riding on a real horse that she wants. Hamilton, who was born in California, is the daughter of Michael Hamil ton o f Austin, TX, and Geri- Ann Hamilton o f Heppner. While traveling throughout Europe she traveled to many countries, including Ireland Jessica Hamilton, 2007 Fair Kodco Princess only eight years old. She has one horse, a 24-year-old bay gelding named Mac, one cat, and three dogs. Hamilton’s favorite dog is a black and white McNabc that she has named Sassy. Some o f her favorite activities include going on cattle driv es. buck ing bales, and riding barrels for fun. Hamilton would one day like to be on the rodeo circuit. When Hamilton first moved to Heppner she saw the rodeo court and decided that she wanted to one day be on it. So she applied, participated in an interv iew. i county. The first time she ap plied she w as selected to be a pennant bearer. This year, however, Hamilton was cho sen to be princess. She sees this opportunity as “a job that allows her to represent her community.” Hamilton's previous experience includes p ar ticipating in the Wrangler's Club and being involved in various 4-H activities. She also was a teamster on Happy Canyon and Pendle ton Round Up Wagon train where the participants dress up like pioneers and travel a portion of the Oregon Trail in a wagon and camped out, facing problems just like the pioneers might have faced. H am ilton's favor ite experience so far has been C h ie f Joseph Days in Joseph w here a rodeo clown rode a m otorcycle o ff a ramp and jum ped a horse trailer and a truck.
