Image provided by: Morrow County Museum; Heppner, OR
About Heppner gazette-times. (Heppner, Or.) 1925-current | View Entire Issue (Aug. 15, 2007)
Noro virus-like outbreak in Heppner IM iifiuliliiiii I l j ,,,K Ifcssic Welzell Newspaper Library ni versi tv of ( )regon i agone. OR 97403 The Morrow County Public Health Department has announced that a small outbreak o f a Noro virus like disease in the Heppner area. This type o f illness is characterized by gastro intestinal symptoms, typi cally, nausea, vomiting and diarrhea. T he d e p a r tm e n t urges people who currently have symptoms or have had symptoms within the past three days to avoid social gatherings and to not work as patient care prov iders or food handlers during that time. They say that the vi ruses are highly contagious, but their spread can be halt ed by thoroughly washing hands and washing hands often, especially after using the toilet, changing diapers and before eating or prepar ing food. They adv ise wash ing fruits and vegetables carefully, minimizing bare hand contact with ready-to- eat food or food that w ill not be cooked before serving; cooking oysters thoroughly before eating; cleaning and disinfecting contam inated surfaces w ith a bleach-based household cleaner imme diately after an episode of illness; immediately remove and wash clothing or linens that may be contaminated after an episode o f illness using hot water and soap. Dehydration is gen erally the most serious com plication o f this illness, so they stress the importance o f drinking water, juice or oral re-hydration tluids, es pecially for the elderly. There is no effective antiv iral medication and no vaccine against Norovirus. M ore inform ation may be found on the Centers for Disease Control and Pre- vention website or call the health department. City to borrow $300,000 for sewer plant upgrade and debt refinance VOL. 126 NO. 33 8 Pages Wednesday, August 15, 2007 Morrow County, Heppner, Oregon Sam Boardman Elementary dedication planned for August 27 M o rro w C o u n ty School D istrict S uperin tendent Mark Burrows told the board at their regular meeting Monday night that the Sam Boardman Elemen tary School fire restoration project will be completed in time for the start o f school September 4. B urrow s cred ited new SBE Principal Jacque Johnson, the insurance, con struction and refurbishing companies for the “marvel ous job" they did in repairing and refurbishing the school after the fire. Burrows said that refurbishing the build ing cost in the neighborhood of S3.3 million. Orders are still being placed for sup plies and other materials. Burrow s said that each teacher at the school will be compensated for an additional 40 hours o f work through the district's insur ance. The teachers still have work ahead replacing the teacher-made materials that were lost in the fire. A rib b o n -c u ttin g ceremony has been sched- uled for August 27 at 10 a.m. at the school. In other business, the board: -approved a propos al for Heppner High School and lrrigon High School students to go the FFA na tional convention at India napolis, Indiana. Thirteen students from HHS plan to attend, with possibly two more who want to go, and five students from Condon, along with three chaperones. Six students from lrrigon -Continued on page three Friendly encouragement for a princess A little friendly en couragem ent is what fu eled Becky Schiller’s desire to become a princess for the Morrow C ounty Fair and Rodeo. A friend trying out for the Umatilla Rodeo Court wanted Schiller to try out with her. But Schiller, a Morrow County resident and one time pennant bear er, decided that she would rather try out for the Morrow County Rodeo Court. Schiller, 19, lives on the Vey Ranch on Butter Creek and attended Pilot Rock High School. She is the daughter o f John and Shari Schiller. She has two brothers, Jeff and Patrick. Schiller has many pets but among her favorites are her horse Ringo, her parade horse Blaze, and a Boston Terrier. Her favorite outfit is a parade outfit that consists o f a tan shirt and black pants w ith chaps. S ch iller has a lot of family that has been in volved in the Morrow Coun ty Fair and Rodeo. Her Aunt Verina was a princess and a queen, her Aunt Bonnie w as a princess, and Aunt Bobbi was a pennant bearer. Also, her cousin Maci Childers was a princess and queen, and her cousin Cienia Cirant was a princess as well. Her and dad and Aunt Bonnie both served on the rodeo board. Even though she did not try out for the Umatilla Rodeo Court with her friend, they still see each other at various rodeo events. Schil le r's favorite experience so far this year has been watching the rawhide racing events. “1 would like to have a rawhide race for fun after the rodeo." said Schiller. Schiller is attending Blue Mountain Community College and is in the Dental H ygienist A ssistant p ro Becky Schiller, 2007 Morrow gram. She plans to finish her County Fair anil Oregon Trail Pro Rodeo Princess degree at Boise Tech. The Heppner city coun Street and are part o f the ci I voted Monday to borrow in the future being required Department o f Transporta $300,000 to finance sewer to bring their cans to the tion's project to straighten plant repairs and refinance curb on the day o f pick the street and take out the current debt. The move will up. Green said that would sharp turn near the grade keep the city from raising cut down on the amount of school. sewer fees, but will extend time it takes to pick up the The city public works the city's debt for a longer garbage. might have to enter homes to In other business the coun period of time. do the locates, and if they do Concerned citizen Jerry cil heard from public works not have any way to access Healy attended the m eet director Brian Harmon, who the sewer lines may have to ing and told the council he said the city could save up pull off toilets. The reinstall thought it made more sense to $13,500 per year by not ing o f the toilets will be at to "bite the bullet" and pay hav ing to chlorinate its wa the city expense. off old $165,000 debt with ter supply anymore. He said The council took some out refinancing. “Don't get the governm ent monitors time discussing the poor me wrong, 1 am in favor water quality on a regular operation o f the elevator at o f the repairs to the sewer basis and found the city’s the Senior Housing Center plant," he said. “But let this w ater to be improv ing to the point o f no longer needing in Heppner. It was reported debt retire." that the elevator company The council voted in favor the chlorination. Harmon also discussed the cannot seem to figure out o f the new loan however, why it keeps breaking down. not w anting to raise city city's "fuzzy water" w ith the People in the Sr. Center have sewer rates by the needed council. "It's nothing but apprehensive about using $4.50 per month required if air in the water,” he said. “ I the elevator. Apparently in the prev ious debt were not am making it my goal in life to get rid o f fuzzy water," the past couple o f months retired. there have been 16 instances The $300,000 will be Harmon jokingly told the o f the elevator breaking borrowed at 5.75 percent council. down. Mayor Les Paustian It was also announced that interest for seven years. has co n tacted S ch in d ler Slated to be repaired or the city will be conducting Elevator Com pany about replaced at the sewer plant sewer locates starting the fixing the elev ator. w eek of August 20. The lo are; 1. G rinder - $60,000 cates will be done on Court plus installation 2. Electrical generator - $42,000 3. T rick lin g filte r - Proponents o f a plan to into the county general fund. $ 8,000 take “tippage" money from The cities say this is not 4. Chlorination system Morrow C ounty G overn what was originally prom - $7,500 5. S a f e t y w a lk - ment, and redistribute the ised when the landfill was fees to the five cities in the constructed back in the 1992 $4,500 6. Seal pipe under Wil county, fulfilled their prom and that they should get the low Creek - $3,000 ise last Thursday and filed majority o f the money. In February the Mor 7. TV in sp ectio n o f a ballot measure to take the row County court said no issue to the voters. sewer - $ 10,000 Heppner. lone, Lexing to a demand by the cities In other action at Mon ton, lrrigon and Boardman that the money allocation day’s meeting, the council discussed recent problems joined together in January be changed. “This money with garbage service with to demand that the county goes to the county fund and David Green owner of Hep turn over the majority o f the the county is going to keep tippage money generated by control o f those fu n d s,” pner Garbage Disposal. The council admonished the Finley Buttes landfill. Commissioner John Wen- G reen for not notifying The funds, w hich come from holtz said at the time. The cities had threatened people both his trucks were fees lev ied on each ton o f to take the issue to the voters broke down and garbage garbage dumped, average pick up was going to be about $78,000 per month if the county declined their and currently go directly continued page 2 late. G reen has a franchise agreem ent with the city A little whiff of home goodness which requires notification »iff if pick up is going to be late. The city eventually paid to have H erm iston Sanitary Serv ice come in and pick up certain dumpsters in the city. Apparently because of sanitary concerns dumpsters at the grocery store are required to be picked up every day. Green pointed out that this is the only city he knows of where the garbage cans do not have to be brought to the Bebe Munkers, Patty Ward, and Joyce Hughes take on the curb on the day o f pick up. job of judging canned foods at the 2007 Morrow County “I do a lot o f extras,” Green Fair and Rodeo. said about his service. The council discussed hav ing all residents of Heppner Who gets ‘Tippage Fees” to be on May ballot W c V c b a c k to o u r r e g u la r h o u rs Princess Becky Schiller enjoys spending time with her niece, Serenity. ALL NEWS AND ADVERTISEMENT DEADLINE: MONDAYS AT 5:00 P.M. iS0<? w ill fie closed S a tu rd a y, ûugust i8tfi MnJiSÿ tfie Ììflo rro w (bounty ‘¡Fair and F^&deof Morrow County Grain Growers L e x in g to n 9 8 9 -8 2 2 1 • 1 -8 0 0 -4 5 2 -7 3 9 6 For farm tqulpm«nfcftilt car web »It* at www meet net t
