Image provided by: Morrow County Museum; Heppner, OR
About Heppner gazette-times. (Heppner, Or.) 1925-current | View Entire Issue (May 14, 2008)
Don’t ride ATVs in town, city warns Ordinance allowing it unclear after citation By David Sykes “ Hold o ff until we get the ordinance straight ened o u t,” was the word from the Heppner city coun cil Monday night on w heth er citizens can legally ride ATVs (all terrain vehicles) on city streets. Most people on the council and in the Sheriff’s Department, which handles patrol duties for the city o f Heppner, believed it was le- lliliiliiililiillliiiiillilmll Bessie W et/ell New spaper Library University o f Oregon Eugene, OR 97403 HEPPNER imes VOL. 127 NO. 20 12 Pages Wednesday, May 14, 2008 Morrow County, Heppner, Oregon Morrow County Parks holds Fishing Derby T he th ird an n u al Fishing Derby was held on Saturday, May 10, at Anson Wright Park Pond. The free Fishing Derby was for chil dren up to 14 years o f age. O reg o n Fish and Wildlife Department from John Day stocked the pond, Pettyjohns Builders Supply furnished fishing lures, and N orthw est Steel H eaders for the John Day Chapter, W ayne H am s, G ary and N ancy Propheter, R oger Mortimore and Doug Fer guson from Ferguson En g ineering in Mt. Vernon furnished assistance with fishing poles, bait and valu able time. The Heppner Elks along with Morrow County Parks prepared lunch for everyone. Betty Gray or ganized and scheduled the event. The goal o f the day was to provide a fun day o f fishing for kids, and en courage their interest in the sport o f fishing. Mark your calendar for May, 2009 for the fourth annual Fishing Logan Angell shows off the fish he caught at the third annual Derby. Fishing Derby on Saturday, -Contributed Photo School board cuts back north end elementary gal to ride the popular 4X4s around the city, that is until H eppner resident Kenny Stookey and his wife Lor- rene got a S242 ticket from the state police. She got the ticket on Church Street. Stookey came to the council m eeting Monday arjd said they bought the 4X4 three days ago to run around town because he uses their car to drive out of town to work. “ 1 wanted my wife to have something to get around on,” he told the council. '“You know, go to the post office and such.” He said like most people he thought it was le gal until a state police officer informed him otherw ise and gave him the ticket. Stookey said he checked the city ordinances and found out the city does in fact have an ordinance that allows ATVs to be driven on city streets. M ost p e o p le are fam iliar with volunteers w ho plow the snow o ff the sidew alks and p a rk ing lots around town with 4X4s during the w inter, and also another volunteer who would tow a trailer behind his ATV around town doing various community service projects. Further discussion on the city ordinance re vealed that to be in effect, signs must be posted around town and at the entrance City is researching validity of ordinance which allows 4 \4 s and ATVs to drive on city streets. Photo by Sandy Matthews to the city stating the ve hicles are allowed. The city has never had these signs posted. The city attorney w ill look into the ordinance, but until it is straightened out county sheri ff’s deputy Randy Rayburn said “You can be cited. Hold off un til we get the ordinance straightened out. Ride at your own risk," he warned residents. In other business at Monday meeting the coun cil denied a permit to keep ch ick en s in tow n. Budd Richards of 365 SE Gilmore asked to keep five bantam roosters in his yard. Animals are allowed in the city limits of Heppner, but only with a permit. Council members denied the permit saying in part that the chickens would be allowed to run loose in the yard. Richards said he had talked to his neighbors and found no objections. Later the council ap proved a permit to Judy and Kaid Peck o f 585 Hager to keep two sheep. The council said the permit would be al lowed because they would be for 4H projects. The co u n cil also briefly discussed the future of Willow Street. Willow is the steep street which con nects G ilm ore and Court Streets. The upcoming State H ighw ay p ro ject w hich will completely re-do Court Street out to the fair grounds, may alter Willow Street. Some ideas include turning Willow into a dead end w ith a cul-de-sac, or making it even steeper that it is now. An earlier ODOT public hearing in Hepp- -Continued on page Two Corps approves request for irrigation water from lake By David Sykes T h e U .S . A rm y C o rp s o f E n g in eers has announced it approved the long-term withdrawal o f ir rigation water from Willow Creek Reservoir, opening the door for annual w ith drawals o f 2,500 acre feet for use in irrigation down stream. The Corps had been considering the irrigator's request for some time and because o f heightened pub lic interest had even held a public hearing on the pro posal in Heppner. Some people were concerned the draw down would harm recreation uses at the lake, while irrigators said the water would add economic benefit to the area with increased crop produc tions. “ Irrig a to rs in the Heppner area presented the proposal to the Corps, ask ing the agency to provide up to 2,500 acre-feet o f stored water from Willow Creek Reservoir each year, instead o f having to make annual requests based on draught declarations. The ir rigation proposal was based on the irrigators’ need for a reliable, supplemental water source throughout the grow ing season, which would help provide farm -based economic stability, and al low for the conservation of groundw ater,” according to a news release from the Corps. In a separate docu ment the Corps said o f lake recreation: “ W ater-based recreation would be affected as the earlier, lower draw down would reduce the lake area available for recreation al boating use. However, the use o f the boat ramp should not be affected because it was designed to be usable to minimum pool. In ad d i tion to the decreased surface area, the drawdown would expose muddy slopes and banks that are aesthetically unappealing and restrict ac cess to the shoreline of the lake. Some economic losses in the local area may occur because of the reduction in -Continued on page Two Two arrested on theft and trespass charges On Friday morning, May 9, at 7:05 a.m. Oregon State Police officer Brian Jew ett stopped a vehicle pulling a trailer on High way 74 for several traffic that were being hauled. The driver stated that his step father had bought the tanks from the Nickel Ads and the trailer had been borrowed without permission from a theft and trespass charges. It was later deter mined that the fuel tanks and trailer belonged to Bob Warden and they were alleg edly stolen off his property
