Trophy buck donated to Fish &
Wildlife office
II.I..I...I.I..III....ILL,Il
Bessie Wetzell Newspaper Library
University of Oregon
Eugene, OR 97403
B y D a v id S yke s
HEPPNER
imes
VOL. 129
NO. 30
8 Pages
Wednesday, July 28, 2010
Morrow County, Heppner, Oregon
Port of Morrow marches
forward despite recession
B y D a vid Sykes
While business
activity has slowed dur
ing the recession, Port of
Morrow General Manager
Gary Neal says the Port of
Morrow is moving ahead
with major infrastructure
projects that
will position
the port when
business does
pick up.
that Neal has been working
on for some time is a new
agricultural information
center to be built at the port.
“People on the west side (of
the state) do not have any
idea what we do out here,”
Neal said. He
said the ag in
formation cen
ter would show
people how food
is processed by
Neal told
using virtual
the Heppner
tours. “ When
Chamber of
Tillamook
Commerce
Cheese opened
luncheon
up at the port
meeting last
I envisioned a
Thursday
nice tourist in
about rail,
formation center
road and air
like they have
port improve
in Tillamook,”
ments that are Port of Morrow Gen
Neal said. But
all scheduled eral Manager Gary
the company
to be done at Neal gave update to
said it did not
the port.
Heppner Chamber of
want to set up
Commerce last week.
another tour
Neal said
ist center here,
20,000 feet of
they ‘just wanted to make
rail track is scheduled to be cheese’.” So Neal says the
added at a cost of about $ 10 port came up with the idea
million. He said railroad for an information center
improvements will be paid where tourists and other
for with an $8 million grant visitors could get off the
from the state of Oregon freeway and take a “vir
and $2 million in federal tual look around” at what
funds. He also said the port is being done at the port.
will receive $10.7 million "We have so many things
from the state of Oregon going on in here,” Neal
to be used for new roads says. “Food just doesn’t
in the port’s East Beach just come from the gro
area. A bridge will be built cery store. It is regions like
over the Union Pacific rail ours that is providing all
line and connect onto the this food and we want the
freeway at Hwy. 730, which people to be educated about
will provide another Hwy. this,” he said.
84 interchange to access
Mark Patton of
the port.
lone is the project manager
Also coming is on the information center
a possible $1.3 million for and Neal says he hopes to
dock improvements which have it up and running by
will allow larger barges next year. The center is be
to dock. In a related mat ing paid for with State of
ter, Neal said the Colum Oregon funds secured by
bia River shipping system Rep. Greg Smith of Hep
will be shut down for four pner.
months from December
Neal says the
through March for repairs port has seen some de
to locks, and the port is crease in business because
looking for ways to get of the recession. There is
around the shutdown.
less solid waste coming
In other improve through the port’s docs to
ments the port has received Findley Buttes Land Fill.
about $500,000 from the He attributed this to the
state for improvements to slow down in construction.
the airport for new hangers Construction projects gen
and fueling facilities.
erate a large amount of solid
A favorite project waste for the land fill, and
n
fewer trips to the land result
in less money for Morrow
County’s popular tippage
fee funds.
Neal says that wa
ter usage, a good indicator
of how business has been
going, has held up pretty
well over the past year,
with the port providing 2.6
billion gallons of water for
the industries located at the
port, up from 2.5 billion
gallons the previous year.
He said contain
ers at the port’s dock have
dropped from 25,000 per
year five years ago, to about
18,000 containers last year.
He said the number of con
tainers loaded and unloaded
at Boardman had a lot to
do with the activity at the
Port of Portland. So when
Portland traffic is down
then it affects Boardman’s
traffic. Neal said the Port
of Portland has now leased
out its facilities to be run
by a Philippine company
and he expects there to be
increased traffic through
Portland now.
In other business
at the port, Neal said they
have had an “uptick” in the
number of businesses they
are talking to and that usu
ally means things are going
to pick up. He said he ex
pects the big data center that
is under construction at the
port to be up and running
by March of 2011, and that
there may be a new lease
to a $15 million bio-diesel
plant coming along.
Neal did not have
encouraging news to give
about the proposed raceway
that has been in the works
for many years at Board-
man. “They need to bring a
big check if they come and
see me,” he said. He added
that the raceway company
does not have an office open
in Boardman anymore.
As for the South
Morrow Industrial Park
(former Kinzua saw mill
site) Neal said the Port still
has an open purchase op
tion with a farmer-owner
co-op that is considering
operating the co-gen plant
to produce electricity using
sorghum. He did not say
when that option expired.
ALL NEWS AND ADVERTISEMENT DEADLINE:
MONDAYS AT 5:00 P.M.
I
Local Fish and
Wildlife Biologist Steve
Cherry has a new trophy
buck hanging on his wall,
thanks to the family of a
man who took the animal in
1937 in the Potamus Point
area near Heppner.
Joe Thurner was
a long-time hunter in the
area when he harv ested the
animal. He passed away
several years ago and Joe's
wife, Pearl, who lives in
a Portland assisted living
center, and their son David
of LaGrande, asked if they
could donate the head to
the local Fish & Wildlife
office. Cherry agreed and
accepted the gift to hang on
his wall. “We had it scored
and unofficially it scored
204 7*..Cherry said.
In a note about
the hunting trip. Pearl re
lated the following story:
“Four guys helped pack
out the big buck. They cut
two lodge poles and tied
the deer on. They placed
the poles on their shoulders
and started out. However
they didn’t make it very
far when the poles broke.
They then cut two bigger
poles and started again,
finally making it to camp.”
She said that the horns
started out black but have
now bleached out over the
years.
Also given was an
original hunting and fishing
license from 1937. It was
about the size of a business
card and cost $5, which in
today’s dollars would have
been about $75. The license
read “This certifies that Joe
J. Thurner is entitled to hunt
game birds and animals and
to angle in conformity with
law during the calendar
year 1937.” Thurner was 23
years old at the time.
The tag from the
buck was made from wire
at that time. The wire was
wrapped around the horn,
inserted into a small piece
of lead and then the lead
was crimped to complete
the tagging process.
Local wildlife biologist Steve Cherry shows the new trophy
deer hanging on the wall in his office. The head was donated
by the surviving family who harvested the big buck back
in 1937 in the Potamus Point area. The buck scored an
unofficial 204 7/*
B iologist Steve Cherry
shows the old type of tag
used “back in the day”. It
was a piece of wire inserted
into a bit of lead which
was then crimped down.
Cherry said he wasn’t sure
how long that type of tag
was used, (right)
This is the actual Oregon
hunting and fishing license
from 1937 issued to Joe
Thurner. Cost of the tag
was $5, which in today’s
dollars adjusted for infla
tion is about $75.
F
Combination
ST A T E O F O REG O N
’s License
Resident H(
Thl» c ertifie s t h a t ..
Is e n title d to hui
in conformity wit
a n im als a n d to angle
aw du rin g th e c alen d a r y e a r 1937.
A g o ^ 3 yre., height ...«S...ft
color o f .'
Sex:
C v j .
Dated this . . / ’¿ ' d a y of
„ _ „ , _
ST A T E GAM
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1937-S5.00 /
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O.VLMISSION
. *tith®rU*4 Deputy
S»3 Mu*« of LtotniM
Health district board pleased with
administrator’s performance
The Morrow Coun
ty Health District Board
gave administrator Michael
Blauer a vote of confidence
and a two-percent raise at
their regular meeting held
Monday night in lone.
“ We think that
Mike has done a great job
overall and the board is
extremely pleased with his
performance over the past
year,” said board Chair
Larry Mills.
The board opted to
raise Blauer’s salary from
$105,000 to $107,500.
Blauer announced
at the meeting that the
district will receive over
$40,000 in grants from
Pacific Source, Regence
and Providence for com
munity outreach planning
projects.
Blauer also told
the board that he had inter
viewed one applicant for
the Irrigon Clinic physi-
cian’s assistant position and
has arranged to interview
another. He said that both
candidates attended Idaho
State University and have
ties to Oregon. He reiterated
that Dr. Kenneth Wenberg
has been doing a good job
as provider for the Irrigon
Clinic in the interim.
In other business,
the board:
-approved a “Com-
munity Benefit Grant
Guidelines for Columbia
River Community Health
Services” which will spec
ify what CRCHS services
and activities the district
will approve funding for
and how the application
process will proceed. The
district w ill require CRCHS
to file quarterly progress
reports and a final report
after completion. The dis
trict will also require that
CRCHS publicly recognize
MCHD for their support
and interest in Boardman’s
community health improve
ment.
MCHD had previ
ously donated a substan
tial amount, $100,000 in
previous years, to CRCHS
with the requirement that
CRCHS provide its financial
report to MCHD, however
an official financial report
had never been received,
despite frequent requests
from MCHD. Prior to the
financial contributions to
CRCHS, MCHD had pro
vided Dr. Robert Boss,
who formerly operated
the clinic, with substantial
yearly financial contribu
tions, but had not received
financial reports from him
either, despite repeated
requests. CRCHS had also
not publicly acknowledged
that MCHD had contributed
to them financially.
“We want to main-
-Continued on page six
Special Fair & Rodeo section included
in this week’s paper
A special 24-page Fair and Rodeo section is included in this week’s is
sue of the Heppner Gazette-Times. The section has extensive information about
the activities and events at this year's Fair & Rodeo starting next Wednesday at the
Morrow County Fairgrounds in Heppner.
AT MCGG GREEN FEED & SEED IN HEPPNER:
FREE RODEO TICKETS
w ith
Wrangler
PURCHASE OF $ 2 0 OR MORE OF
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W r a n g le r p r o d u c ts
T icket gooo for one entry for performance of your choice !
30% OFF all Nursery Stock!
O regon T rail P ro R odeo or M orrow C ounty R odeo
Sale erufe August 7th
Morrow County Grain Growers Green Feed & Seed
242 W. Linden Way, H«ppn«r » 676-9422 « 989-8221 (MCQG m«in offic»)
i