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About Heppner gazette-times. (Heppner, Or.) 1925-current | View Entire Issue (April 21, 2010)
Boardman bio refinery set to break ground in May "'""'"■'vWeUeU BesSie^ o t Oregon University 9 7 403 Eu9e"e 0R VOL. 129 NO. 15 10 Pages Wednesday, April 21, 2010 By David Sykes A Colorado company constructing a bio fuel plant at the Port of Morrow says everything is going well and it plans to break ground next month. Carrie Atiyeh, pub lic affairs director o f the ZeaChem Inc.of Lakewood, CO, told the Heppner Ga- Morrow County, Heppner, Oregon lone to contract with ESD for superintendent's job added. “One could compare The lone School this model with a large Board on Monday night district, which features an approved a contract active building prin with the Umatilla- cipal supported by a Morrow Education central office.” S erv ice D istric t “ It is the (UMESD) to pro consensus o f the vide superintendent lone School Board and central office that this arrange services beginning ment will benefit July 1. Current lone the s ta ff at lone S u p e r in te n d e n t Mark Community School, Karl Ostheller an Mulvihill thereby improving nounced earlier this the education of our year he will resign students,” said lone his position, effective June Board Chairman Joe McEl- 30. lone will then hire a ligott. “We look forward to new on-site principal for working with the UMESD the school. in this new capacity.” The The contract will board voted unanimously include superintendent ser Monday to accept the con vices such as governance, tract. school improvement, hu Mulvihill told the man resources, and busi board that there is talk in ness services, UMESD Salem there will be a $3 Superintendent Dr. Mark billion shortfall in the next Mulvihill said. state budget and that many UMESD already districts are looking for provide^Ione with central ways to cut costs w ith office support for business out impacting classrooms. and human resource ser “School districts are go vices. The move is a cost- ing to have to make tough effective one during these decisions on things outside rough economic times, said the classroom,” he told the Mulvihill. board. “Things such as cus “The UMESD is todial and administrative. very excited for this new From the ESD prospective service delivery in lone,” he this is the model for the fu said. “This is an example of ture having a central office. capacity, leadership and ef We are going to make this ficiencies during turbulent successful,” he added. economic times. In a small In a related matter district like lone, it’s a win- Monday the board started win situation.” the search for a new prin While M ulvihill cipal at lone schools. ESD will assume the official began advertising for the role of lone superintendent, position Tuesday and there he’ll receive support from is a cutoff of applications other UMESD administra May 28. The board named tors in providing central a review committee of a office services. Deputy teacher from each the high Superintendent Michael school and grade school Lasher will handle day- along with the administra to-day operations such as tive secretary and the entire human resources and busi school board. The commit ness services, and Assistant tee will review the applica Superintendent Mary Apple tions after the cutoff and will organize special educa decide which applicants to tion and school improve interview. ment services. • In other business Mulvihill stressed at Monday’s meeting the the importance of having an board heard a request to re on-site principal who can be instate the music program. directly involved w ithin the Alex Carlson has community, and he plans to been independently tutoring collaborate with whomever students on the violin and that person ends up being. several of the students put While the UMESD may not on a demonstration for the always have an administra school board. Carlson said tor in the district, there will he received a grant from the still be a presence, Mulvihill By David Sykes Morrow County Cultural Trust to give lessons the past school year to seven local students. He gave each student a 30 minute lesson each week. In asking the board to reinstate music full time into the schools, he said he had 50 signatures on a petition requesting this. Citizen M aureen McElligott also asked the board to put music back into the schools. “If there is any money in the budget I am asking you to hire a music teacher,” she said. “It is sad we have to go to a community band instead of a high school pep band,” she said. B o ard m e m b er Lisa Rietmann said there may be a possibility of a $7,000 grant that can be used along with an Ameri- corp person to staff a music program at the school. She said the district is exploring different options. Board m ember Joe M cElligott said the board would take it under consideration. “But you have to understand we don’t have much to work with,” he said. In other business the board discussed a new cell phone policy for the school district. lone has been without cell service but will be getting service sometime in June, so the new policy would be for the next school year. The sent a draft policy back to com mittee for changes before adoption. In the superinten dent report Ostheller said for the third quartering ending in April in grades six through eight there were 23 students with a GPA of 3.0 or better (68 percent of students) and four of those earned a 4.0 GPA. In the high school 52 (81 percent) of students had a GPA of 3.0 or better with 17 of those earning a 4.0 GPA. A new 2010-11 school calendar was also handed out at the meeting. Some of the highlights are: School will start on August 31 of 2010 and end on June 7 of 2011; winter break will be from Dec. 22 to 31; and spring break will be from March 21 to 25. Heppner to host track meet H e p p n e r H ig h School will host the Mus- tang Invitational track meet on Friday, April 30. This is the first large meet that will be held on the HHS track since the renovations were made. As o f M onday, April 19, 13 schools from around the area have com- mitted to attending. Field events will start at noon and running events at I p.m. Anyone interested in helping can contact Me- "lissa Coiner at 541-676- 9128. Lakewood, Colo. - A ZeaChem Inc. engineer stands in front of a 5,000 liter fer mentation tank at Hazen Research, Inc.. ZeaChem is a developer of biorefineries for the conversion of renewable biomass into fuels and chemicals. zette-Times that the com production,” Atiyeh said. 75 people will be employed pany plans a ground break “But now we are expanding in construction of the plant, ing in May with completion into other areas. It’s not just and when completed there of the facility planned by ethanol anymore,” she said will be 25 full time jobs the end o f the year. She o f the ZeaChem process. operating the plant. She said when completed, the She said the chemicals will said the plant will eventu plant will produce 250,000 compete w ith petroleum in ally produce an estimated 200 indirect jobs. gallons of ethanol per year many of its end uses. The plant was “This is a new way using fast growing poplar of producing ethanol,” she funded in part with a $25 trees harvested from the said. ‘We are using proven million grant from the De 35.000 acres of tree farms technology,” she said. partment of Energy, and up owned by GreenWood Re Atiyeh said about to $40 million in two rounds sources near Boardman. of venture capital. The plant is a test facility gearing up for larger scale production. Atiyeh said the company is using a technique of not Part o f this article are reprinted from Consumer En cutting the trees completely ergy Report web site at www.consumerenergyreport. down to obtain the raw com and from www.solveclimate.com The Federal Aviation Administration has issued a poplar material. She said "notice of presumed hazard” halting Caithness Ener they are cutting the trees gy’s development of what would be the world’s largest above the soil and not re wind farm in Shepherds Flat in Morrow County that moving the roots, the trees was scheduled to break ground on May 1. then grow back, are har The FAA’s order resulted from increasing concerns vested every five years and from the Air Force that the three hundred and thirty only have to be replanted eight turbines would interfere w ith transmissions from every 15 years. She said a radar station in Fossil. “We’re just sitting here in no man’s land,” said Les it will take 10 tons of tree Gelber, a Caithness Energy partner. and other material per day Oregon stands to lose 706 jobs and millions of dol to produce the required lars in royalties for Oregon farmers if the venture is 250.000 gallons per year. Atiyeh said the continued page eight company is making good progress getting ready for operation at the Port. She said the modules for the plant are being built in Den ver and shipped to Board- man where they will be assembled for operation. The Boardman plant is a test production facility, and if it is successful a full scale production facility will be built somewhere that pro duces 25 to 50 million gal lons of end material. Some of the end products coming out o f the plant will be chemicals for plastic prod ucts, car paint material and an additive that makes cof fee decaffeinated. Earlier Atiyeh had said the plant could, in the future, also use wheat straw or waste from the national forest in its Opening day of Little League season saw Madison Combe production. “Com was the pitching for the Bank of Eastern Oregon team. Photo by first generation of ethanol Sandy Matthews FAA puts hold on big Shepherds Flat wind farm Little League season opens in Heppner Irrigon Medical Clinic announces new provider Darryl D enison, PA-C, has taken over the reins at Irrigon Medical Clinic effective Thursday, April 15. Denison, a physi cian assistant, has assumed both provider and manage rial duties at the clinic, an nounced Morrow County Health District Administra tor Mike Blauer. Darryl has most recently been working in Hermiston and he brings to Irrigon a broad base of knowledge and experience that he has gained during his medical career, having worked in pain manage ment. neurology, orthope dics and urgent care medi cine. Denison began his medical career as a reg istered nurse, serving as an instructor flight nurse in the US Air Force. He later returned to school and graduated w ith honors from the University o f Wash ington physician assistant program. Denison and his wife, Kathy, have three adult children and five grandchildren. His hobbies include spending time on his computer and reading. Denison relieves Ken Wenberg, M.D., who has been prov iding patient serv ices at the clinic since January. “ Dr. W enberg was a great support to us," Blauer said. "Because of his help we were able to keep the clinic operating without interruption." , Dr. Russ Nichols will provide oversight of patient care at the clinic. At th e MCGG GREEN FEED STORE in H eppner: 4-H & FFA M embers 10% O ff M ark et A n im a l F ee d a n d S u p p lie s N ow T h r u F a ir ! Morrow County Grain Growers Green Feed & Seed 242 W. Linden Way, Heppner • 676-9422 » 989-8221 (MCGG main office)
