Planning Commission approves deer composting facility
Bv David Sykes
The Morrow County
Planning Commission last
week approved an appli
cation from the Oregon
Department of Transporta
tion (ODOT), to locate a
composting facility for the
disposal of road kill deer
carcasses one mile east of
Lexington.
ODOT told the com
mission that it wants to
compost the dead deer for
several reasons, includ
ing the public’s health and
safety. Carcasses can also
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Bessie Wetzell Newspaper Library
University
eon
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Oregon
Eugene. OR 97403
HEPPNER
attract animal scavengers
like coyotes and can cause
traffic hazards.
The facility will be
located on ODOT owned
property and will consist of
a paved surface of asphalt or
concrete with four compost
ing bins constructed on top
of the paved surface.
The bins will be
20 X 20 ft into which the
carcasses will be placed.
Bulking material such as
woodchips, sawdust, straw
or a combination of materi
als will be used to cover the
bodies. The temperature
will be moderated to make
sure decomposition is tak
ing place.
This is ODOT’s first
attempt at setting up a deer
composting facility in the
state of Oregon, and they
assured the commission the
facility would be carefully
monitored. ODOT has also
visited with other transpor
tation departments to see
how they operate their deer
composting facilities and
find out what composting
methods work best. The de
partment has also discussed
its composting plans with
Department of Environ
mental Quality and others
who regulate composting
operations and says it is
working with regulators to
make sure the plans are safe
and legal.
ODOT said if the
composting is done properly
there will be no odor and
therefore no scavengers.
A plan submitted to the
planning commission and
made part of the conditional
use spells out what will be
done if the facility causes
problems.
In other business,
before the meeting the plan
ning commission was given
a tour of the Port of Mor
row' facilities showing the
tremendous grow th there in
the last several years.
Morrow County fairgrounds football
field dedicated to Les Payne
Alumni players and current players honored Les Payne Friday night. -Photo by Sandy Matthews
unes
VOL. 127
NO. 36
8 Pages
Wednesday, September 3, 2008
Morrow County, Heppner, Oregon
Equipment damaged at Agriculture Museum
Two pieces of antique farm equipment was found damaged last week at the Agriculture Museum
in Heppner. “This is a loss to historical pieces of equipment," said Cliff Green.
Items damaged include: 1890 Daisy Reaper which was the one of the first machines from Inter
national Harvester Company; and a Sterling Thresher Machine from International Harvester
Company (Built in the late 1800’s to early 1900’s).
The building that housed the old equipment was built with one side open so that people could go
in and examine at the equipment at will. The Agriculture Museum will now have to revisit the
idea of fencing off the opening. -Photo by Autumn Morgan
The Heppner High
School football field was
dedicated to assistant HHS
football coach Les Payne
on Friday night, August 29,
during the opening game
for the 2008-2009 football
season. This will be Payne’s
33rd year as a coach for
HHS.
Les played four
years of college football,
culminating in a national
cham pionship game for
Eastern Washington Univer
sity in 1967. In September
of 2001, the 1967 Eastern
Washington Savage football
team was inducted into the
Eastern Washington Univer
sity Hall of Fame.
Upon graduating
Les began his coaching ca
reer in Tonasket, WA where
he coached for nine years
before coming to Hepp
ner. While in Heppner he has
coached in nearly 400 varsi
ty games, 260 J V games and
nearly 2,500 practices. He
has logged nearly 125,000
miles commuting to Hep
pner since moving to Uma
Les Payne with his family. -Photo by Sandy Matthews
tilla in 1994.
“Les’s dedication to
Heppner football is immea
surable,” said HHS football
coach Greg Grant. “From
lining to the field to putting
helmet decals on straight,
Les always goes the extra
mile to make the football
experience first class for our
players.” Payne and Grant
have coached together for
19 years.
Coaches that a t
tended on Friday night that
have coached with Les were
(** denotes coaches who
also played for Les): John
Sporseen- head coach from
1976-1981; Dale Conk
lin; Dave Gunderson; Jess
Osmin **; Grant Wright;
Shane Matheny **; Kevin
Payne **; Greg Grant; Josh
Coiner **; Dennis Peck **;
Mike Doherty; Kelly Fox;
Chad Doherty **; Robert
Whalen **; John McCabe;
David Norton **; and Steve
Brownfield.
The sign for the field
was constructed by Dave
Fowler and the HS tech
nology department. Signs
will be posted at the north
and south entrances to Les
Payne Field.
2008-2009 school
year off to a start
Money stolen from Bucknum’s
Thieves broke into
Bucknum’s in Heppner be
tween the hours of 1 a.m.
and 4:30 a.m. on Thurs
day morning and stole a
large, undisclosed amount
of money.
“The thieves knew
what they were looking
for,” said owner Nancy-
Gochnauer. “They did not
take alcohol or cigarettes,
they just took the money.
They knew exactly where it
was, they did not touch the
cash registers.” The thieves
broke in through the back
door which was locked with
a deadbolt lock.
Along with cash, the
thieves took a number of
checks made out to Buck
num’s from customers. If
anyone is asked to cash a
Thieves broke into Bucknum’s through this door that was dead-
bolted. -Photo by Autumn Morgan
check written to Bucknum’s
between August 22-27 they
are asked to notify the po-
lice. Anyone that was in
Bucknum’s and w rote a Students at Heppner F.lementarv School enjoy their recess time during their first day of school
check between these dates for the new year. -Photo by Autumn Morgan
might want to contact their
bank to stop payment.
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