i
I.M
After 55 years, Heppner TV to flip off the switch
Discounts offered to sign up with satellite
1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 111
Bessie Wetzell Newspaper Library
University of Oregon
Eugene, OR 97403
Heppner TV side o f our
business, the press release
said. Heppner TV is owned
by WindWave Communica
tions which will continue in
business.
“After 55 years of
service to the community
our equipment is old and
failing, replacement parts
have become unavailable.
We felt it was in the best
# 1 gJL
interest of the community
I I I t h a t we provide a controlled
I
shut down instead of wait-
ing until we have a com
plete failure of the system.
This will give the residents
o f H eppner, Lexington
and lone time to make the
change to satellite TV,” the
release said.
Direct TV techni
cian Justin Lim was work
ing in the H eppner TV
office Tuesday morning
and he said people need to
call Heppner TV office to
get a special discount for
new satellite hookups. Lim
said signing up locally will
be good for the commu
nity and he also mentioned
Direct TV is looking for a
local person to train as a
satellite installer.
“To help the com
munity through this transi
Morrow County, Heppner, Oregon
tion Heppner TV has ne
By David Sykes
After 55 years of
continuous cable television
service, Heppner TV will
be closing down Septem
ber 30, General Manager
Pat Lauritsen announced
Tuesday morning.
“With deep regret
we are announcing that
we are closing down the
HEPPNER
imes
VOL. 129
NO. 34 8 Pages
Wednesday, August 2 5,2010
DirectTV technician Justin Lim shows office worker Tammi
Lien how to hook up a monitor at the Heppner TV office
Tuesday. After 55 years Heppner TV is shutting its doors.
Special discounts will be given to those who sign up for
satellite TV by September 10. -Photo by D avid Sykes
gotiated with DirecTV and
Dish TV for a discounted
monthly rate and a dis
counted installation fee for
our customers that sign up
by September 10th 2010. If
you sign up with DirecTV
or Dish TV in any other way
than through our office the
discounted rates will not be
available,” the news release
said.
“Our staff, Sandy
Matthews and Tammi Lien
will be happy to help you
with the transition to your
new TV services. We have
information about the of
fered packages and the
signup sheets at our office
for your convenience. Di
recTV will be looking to
train a local technician. We
would like that person to
live in Heppner area so you
have better support for the
transition. Please contact
them if you would like to
train for this position,” the
news release said.
The first television
membership was sold to
W.C. and Virginia Rose-
wall on February 1, 1955,
Matthews said, for $150.
The second was to Amanda
Duvall and the third to L.E.
Dick. Claude Graham gave
a lifelong easement for $1
on which to place a TV tow
er when the company first
formed, said Matthews.
Dudley’s message: ‘It’s not working’
By David Sykes
Oregon guber
natorial candidate Chris
Dudley made a campaign
stop in Heppner last week.
His message to the voters
was, “What we are doing
now is not working, and
Oregon can do better,” the
6’10” former Trail Blazer
Basketball player told a
group of about 120 gathered
at the Heppner City Park
last Wednesday.
Dudley, a Re
publican running against
Democrat John Kitzhaber,
said his vision of Oregon
is one of economic growth
with strong businesses pro
viding family wage jobs to
its citizens. He wants state
government to live within
its means, and for us to
have a world class educa
tion system.
Dudley pointed
out that the last 20 years of
Democrat rule has seen a
slide in the state’s fortunes
to the point where Oregon
is above the United State’s
average unemployment rate
at 10.4 percent unemploy
ment, and only 66 percent
o f O regon students are
now graduating from high
school on time. There were
700,000 people receiving
food stamps in Oregon last
month, he said. “This is
unacceptable.”
“Oregon is ranked
number 47 in economic
activity among all states,
and it is my opponent that
set the table for our current
problems,” Dudley told the
crowd. Kitzhaber was gov
ernor of Oregon from 1995
to 2003 and Democrats
have controlled the gover
norship since 1987 when
Neil Goldschmidt won the
seat. “A leopard cannot
change its spots,” he said of
his opponent Kitzhaber.
“And to make mat
ters worse the state is facing
a budget shortfall of $2.7
billion over the next eight
years,” Dudley said.
He said, if elected,
his number one priority is
to create jobs. “Jobs in the
private sector are what we
need. We need to reverse
this anti-business attitude
we have in Salem .” He
said one thing he would do
is reduce the capital gains
tax.”
D udley’s second
priority would be to “reset”
the size o f state govern
ment. “ It has gotten too
big,” he said. He said we
cannot afford automatic
increases in the state budget
every year.
Dudley said he is
not against state workers
like teachers. They did not
design the Public Employ
ees Retirement (PERs) sys
tem, he says, pointing out
that his mother and sister
are both teachers. “But we
have to look at what we can
afford for each employee. A
13 to 15 percent increase in
labor is unsustainable,” he
says. “Fifty five percent of
people in the private sector
have lost jobs or taken cuts
in pay. If they (state agen
cies) ask for an 11 percent
increase and they only get
a four percent, that is not a
seven percent cut,” Dudley
said of the way government
budgets are portrayed to the
people. “We simply can
not afford the way we are
going.”
Dudley’s third
priority would be educa
tion. He said we need to
have a “world class” system
that trains our young people
for the jobs of the ftiture.
His fourth goal
would be to restore trust in
government. “Your voices
Boardman says goodbye to councilor
and seeks to fill vacancy
Tuesday night, Au
gust 17, the Boardman City
Council said goodbye to
Councilor Jerry Johnson.
Johnson submitted
a letter of resignation ex
plaining he plans to retire
to the central Oregon area.
In his letter he said it has
been a privilege to serve
the citizens of Boardman
and has been a pleasure to
work with all the council.
He encouraged the council
to work as a team and to
never give up the dream of
seeing Boardman grow and
prosper. Boardman Mayor
Chet Phillips presented Mr.
Johnson with a Certificate
of Appreciation for serving
on the council since January
of 2009.
C ouncilor Jo h n
so n ’s resignation leaves
the City Council with a
vacancy to fill. This term
ends December 31, 2012.
Those wishing to serve on
the Boardman City Council
must currently reside within
the City limits of Boardman
, must have resided within
the city limits for at least
a year, and be a registered
voter. Letters o f interest
should be addressed to City
Manager Karen Pettigrew
at Boardman City Hall, P.
O. Box 229, Boardman,
Oregon 97818.
In other city busi
ness, the council approved
spending up to $4,000 to
widen a driveway to the
Shell station along the new
ly completed South Main
Street project to allow bet
ter access for semi-trucks.
The council also declared
two police cars, a pick up,
and a lawn mower as excess
property for sale.
The n ex t m e e t
ing of the Boardman City
Council will be Tuesday,
September 7, at 7 p.m.
Heppner Gazette-Times closed for Labor Day
The Heppner Gazette-Times will be closed on Monday, September 6, in ob
servance of the Labor Day holiday.
The deadline for news and advertisements for the September 8 edition of the
newspaper is Friday, September 3, at 5 p.m.
ALL NEWS AND ADVERTISEMENT
DEADLINE:
MONDAYS AT 5:00 P.M.
i
Governor candidate Chris Dudley poses for a picture with (l-r) Janet Dezellem, Rhonda Winters
and Shelli Britt during a campaign stop in Heppner last Wednesday. -Photo by David Sykes
have not been heard in Sa
lem,” he said of Eastern Or
egon and other parts of the
state. He said that visiting
all the counties in Oregon
once per year shouldn’t be
unreasonable. The current
governor, Democrat Ted
Kulongoski, has failed at
listening to all the people of
Oregon, Dudley said.
Another thing he
would like to see done is to
remove the conflict of inter
est between those who im
plement and manage PERS,
which, if it continues as is,
will break the state of Or
egon. “The governor, legis
lature andjudges should not
be under the same system
they administer,” he said.
He said there is nothing
that can be done about cur
rent government employee
retirement plans, but the
system has to change or the
state will go broke. He ad
vocated establishing a rainy
day fund to put money aside
while things are going well.
to be used later when the
economy goes in a slump.
Dudley says he is
not a politician, not having
run for public office previ
ously, “But I do care deeply
about this state and we can
turn this thing around. We
must change our direction,”
he says.
Local business
man Joe Miller told Dudley
that it has become harder
and harder to conduct busi
nesses in Oregon. He said
his fees have doubled and
measures 66 and 67 in
creased taxes on business.
“I don’t think we should
litigate measures 66 and
67,” Dudley said o f the
two measures that were
recently passed by voters
which raise taxes on busi
nesses and people making
over $250,000 per year.
He said Oregon needs to
improve its business cli
mate by removing red tape
and regulations that hinder
growth. He also said that in
his travels around the state
talking to small businesses,
the comment he hears most
is not what can government
do for us. “Most of the time
it isn’t what government
can do for small business,
but what can we do to get
them out of our business,”
Dudley said.
On a question
about the many windmills
coming into the state and
to Morrow County, Dudley
said he believes Oregon
needs to develop different
energy sources, but he criti
cized Business Energy Tax
Credit which helps establish
the windmill farms as being
too generous. “We need to
make sure the state is taking
in more money than it is
giving out,” he said.
“We can turn this
around,” he said in closing
about the state of Oregon.
“But we need each of you
to talk to people and get
the word out. Your vote can
count,” he said.