Noro virus-like outbreak in Heppner
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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:
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