Image provided by: Morrow County Museum; Heppner, OR
About Heppner gazette-times. (Heppner, Or.) 1925-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 22, 2008)
Heppner Gazette-Times, Heppner, Oregon Wednesday, October 22,2008 - SEVEN Three-day closure of U.S. Hwy. 730 begins Oct. 22 The Oregon Depart ment o f T ransportation’s contractor, W eaver C on struction, is repairing two bridges along U.S. Highway 730 between the junction o f In terstate 84 and the small town of Irrigon. The bridges are located in Mor row County near mile point 168.8, about a mile east of the 1-84 junction. To a cc o m m o d a te the c o n stru ctio n o f new concrete bridge decks the route will be closed to all traffic for three days start ing at 5 a.m. on October 22 and ending around 2 p.m. on October 24. During the closure through traffic will be detoured around U.S. 730 via Interstate 84 and Interstate 82. Motorists are advised to plan extra travel time for this detour route. This is the second full closure o f the route needed for repairing the UPRR Clarke and USRS Canal bridges. A sim ilar closure took place in Sep tember. Prior to and after the closure, motorists can expect minor delays at the work site with single lane travel and temporary signals controlling traffic m ove ments. “We understand the closure w ill affect some travelers and ask that motor ists plan ahead,” said ODOT Region 5 Public Information O fficer Tom Strandberg. “We will open the route as soon as possible.” The bridge repair project is scheduled to be com pleted by N ovem ber 15, 2008. M ore inform ation about this project is avail able by contacting ODOT Region 5 Public Information Officer Tom Strandberg at (541) 963-1330 or by email at thom as.m .strandberg@ odot.state.or.us. Valby Lutheran dedicates memorial grove V a lb y L u th e r a n Church dedicated a memo rial grove on Sunday, Oc tober 19, to commemorate infants who did not survive and to honor the grief o f parents who often mourn such losses in silence. T h ree h a w th o rn e trees, three yellow locusts, four red dogwood and two ju nipers were planted in m em ory o f the child ren know n to current Valby members and countless un told losses dating back to 1886 when the church was founded. It is the hope of Val by Lutheran that this new life on the Valby landscape will be a long-lasting source o f beauty and comfort. The com m unity is welcome to come and take a look, and to join us for wor Top Photo: Workers file in procession to the site where the me ship every Sunday at 9 am. morial grove is being planted. Bottom Photo: Volunteer workers from Valby Lutheran Church plant the trees for the memorial grove. - Contributed Photos Volunteers needed at Boardman Grasslands Conservation Area The Nature Conser vancy invites anyone inter ested in maintaining Board- man Grasslands Conserva tion Area, located near the town o f lone, to participate in a volunteer work party on Saturday and Sunday, October 25 and 26. Sandy flood-deposit and loamy lakebed soils at this new conservation area host excellent exam ples o f native Columbia Basin bunchgrass com m unities with their associated wild life, including long-billed curlew s, burrow ing owls and W ashington ground squirrels, an endangered species in Oregon. The goals for the conservations area are to p ro tect C olum bia B asin sagebrush shrub-steppe and grasslands. During this work party, we w ill be p la n t ing native wildflowers in a grassland restoration area and cleaning up around a corral that was burned in a recent wildfire. Participants should bring: sturdy hiking shoes, a long sleeved work shirt and pants, a daypack, ra- ingear, a hat, sunscreen, sunglasses, a towel and any toiletries or personal items you will need, one large or two water bottles (drinking water will be available at the lone house, but not at the preserve), insect repellent and leather work gloves if you have them (if not, some w ill be available to bor row). Bring several layers o f clothing. Be prepared for any type of Oregon weather. Please keep in mind that there is no shade at this preserve. Registration is re quired. For more informa tion or to register, contact Susan Hawes at 503-802- 8100, ex ten sio n 121 or shawes@tnc.org. Free Medicare Part D Prescription Drug Plan Assistance Coming to Your Town Morrow County Health District will be offering Free Medicare Part D consultation appointments during the month of December to help you determine the best prescription plan for your specific needs. Plans change each year so it’s important to review vour coverage each year! Morrow County Health District Staff will be scheduling appointments to meet with local residents in the following towns: • H eppner — D ecember 2 n d , 9 t h , 16 th 8 c 29 th • B o ardm an — D ecember 11 t h & 18 th • I one — D ecember 4 th & 15 th • I rrigon — D ecember 1 s t 8 c 8 th Locations and a phone number for scheduling consultations will be announced soon. Stroeber retires as grooming chairman/ operator for 4-Corners Snowmobile Club D on S tro e b e r re cently retired as the groom ing c h a irm a n /g ro o m in g operator for the 4-Comers Snowmobile Club. Don had been the grooming chairman and volunteer operator for 15 years, and through those years Don had operated and maintained three different groomers. Grooming snowmo bile trails can be a lonely task, with groom ing usu ally being done in the early hours o f the morning when few other people are using the trails. Don spent many cold mornings in the cab of the groomer smoothing out the trails for snowm obile enthusiasts and their fami lies to enjoy for the upcom ing w eekends throughout the winter. The groomers are owned by the Oregon State Snowmobile Associa tion and allocated to clubs around the state. As a to ken o f appreciation for his many years o f volunteering, the 4-Comers Snowmobile Pictured in the top photo is Don with the groomer. Bottom Club m em bers presented Photo: Club President Cliff Dougherty presents Don with a Don with a jack et and a jacket. -Contributed Photo card of appreciation this past summer. BEO Bancorp 3Q earnings increase 5.7% BEO Bancorp, and its subsidiary, Bank of East ern Oregon, continued with its steady and strong earn ings result for 2008 with net income for3Q2008 o f $610, 000, compared to 3Q2007 earnings o f $577,000, an increase o f 5.7%. YTD earn ings were even more im pressive with 2008 YTD net income o f $1,831,000, com p ared to 2007 YTD earnings o f $1,616,000, an improvement o f 13.3% year over year. “We are very pleased with these interim results being posted today,” said E. George Koffler, Presi dent and CEO of the hold ing company. “Despite the significant financial head w inds we see nationally and regionally, our team of dedicated bankers continues to make good decisions that benefit us in the long run.” “Our challenge, like many banks, is to maintain credit quality in these tu multuous times,” said bank President and Chief Credit Officer, Jeff Bailey. “ We have consistently improved our regular monitoring sys tems in the credit area and aggressively built up our loan loss provision.” The bank booked a $500,000 recovery during the quarter from a charged- off loan relationship in 2005, while also adding $300,000 to the reserve from earnings. This was balanced by write downs totaling $268,000 on loans secured by real estate, o f which the bank expects to recover about $115,000 in the fourth quarter. The net effect o f these activi ties was an increase in the loan loss reserve balance from $2,001,000 on June 30, 2008, to $2,536,000 on September 30, 2008. Loan totals increased 33% year over year to $176,101,000, and the loan loss reserv e ra tio to total loans now stands at 1.44%. “ Strong profit ability has allowed us to add appropriately to the reserve while sustaining continued growth,” added Bailey. N on-accrual loans grew from $ 7 6 0 ,8 8 6 to $1,726,303. A bulk sale is expected to pay off the real estate loans noted above during October and the re maining $760,886 is a well- secured agricultural loan in a Chapter 12 bankruptcy. No loss is expected on this credit. Non-performing as sets increased from 0.46% to 1.02% as a result of the non accruals and the classifica tion o f a single construction and land development loan. That loan is well secured and is expected to be performing in the fourth quarter. D e p o sit lia b ility growth continued slow and steady, ending the quarter at $178,293,000, a 4% im provement year over year. “Our branch operations staff continues to attract good quality, reasonable priced deposits,” said Executive Vice President and C hief O p eratin g O fficer, G ary Propheter. “We are also us ing a variety o f strategies to help depositors keep their nest egg safe and sound, in cluding FDIC insurance re structuring and our CDARS product that gives customers access to $50,000,000 worth o f FDIC coverage,” added Propheter. Bank o f Eastern Oregon opened a full-ser vice branch in Enterprise, O regon, on O cto b er 14, building on its very success ful Loan Production Office in Wallowa County. Liquidity issues that have caused a number o f bank p ro b lem s recen tly were aggressively addressed during the quarter according to Executive Vice President and C h ie f Financial O f ficer, Mark Lemmon. “We implemented a multifaceted liquidity plan during the third quarter that assures our ability to meet cash require ments and lending needs of our customers. The plan has been rigorously tested and is sound," said Lemmon. Total assets o f the bank grew to $222,605,000, a 12% increase year over year. Capital growth was also a bright spot w ith total equity at $20,056,000. an improvement o f 12% year over year. The bank contin ues to be well capitalized by FDIC standards. For further infor mation on the company or to access internet banking, please visit our website at http://www.beobank.com. Walden discusses lake level at Heppner campaign swing -Continued from Page ONE asked Walden to work on getting it approved. Kuhn said the origi nal and still main mission of the dam is flood control, but raising the level may be pos sible. “It sounds like a good idea and may be viable,” he told Walden and the crowd o f public. “We will need to study the impact o f flood control and balance flood control against w ater capac ity,” he said. 'We need to do the necessary study.” A fter listen in g to the reports, Walden said his office was behind the effort. “We are fully committed to working with you on this,” he said, but was not sure o f when it would happen. He said the last water ap propriation bill (where the study would be done) was completed four years over due. He also said with the new administration coming in next year it would take some tim e before things settled down. On another subject o f public concern, Walden explained his position on voting in favor of the recent $750 billion bail out bill. Jack Meligan o f Heppner asked Walden why he voted in favor w hen the public was “300 to one against it.” “ I don’t put my fin ger to the wind and decide how I am going to vote,” Walden said. He said he met with the Federal Re i serve and Treasury officials and was convinced it was critical for the country and the economy. “I am a small businessm an and I never asked for a bailout," said Walden. He said he did not want to see eight percent un employment and the freez ing o f the credit markets, and there was a possibility the US economy could de cline by one third. He said they also made sure there w ere p ro tectio n s for the tax payer and not “golden parachutes" for CEOs. ‘It was the most controversial and difficult bill 1 have every voted on." Walden told the crowd, “but I think it was absolutely necessary.” \
