An inside look at Haiti
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Bessie . ^ O r e g o n
U niversity
Eugene.
By Regi Seitz
Going into Haiti I
Was prepared for the worst
conditions. I had done my
research and seen enough
pictures that I knew things
Were going to be precari
ous. It was worse than I
expected. As we drove from
the airport to the compound
where w e’d be staying,
I was sure that the area
we were in had to have
been where the earthquake
hit the hardest. Makeshift
shacks and immeasurable
amounts of garbage were
everywhere. Turns out this
area hadn’t even felt so
much as a tremor from the
quake. This was w hat Haiti
had looked like before.
The first night in
Haiti there was a mesmer
izing rain storm. Pure water
poured off the roof and
lightning streaked the sky.
But then the fascination
w ith the storm morphed into
the heavy ache of know ing.
Knowing that the rickety
old tents we passed on the
way in were the only shelter
from the storm for thou
sands of people. It brought
me back to the reality that
these people really need
help.
Growing up in a
small town community so
committed to achievement
and success I’ve always
believed that anything is
possible. Going to Haiti
distorted that ideal a little.
Many of the kids we passed
on the street didn’t have
an ounce of fat on their
body. We passed a mother
cleaning herself and her
baby using water from a
mud puddle. It’s hard to
believe that these people
will ever have a chance to
truly thrive. But the spirit
and determination of the
Haitian people surprised
me. They didn’t seem to
pity themselves; in fact they
had an effervescent vibrant
and lively air about them
S e e HAITl/Page FIVE
Wind farm has six months to lower noise levels
VOL. 129
NO. 44 8 Pages
Wednesday, November 3, 2010
Morrow County, Heppner, Oregon
Spicer wins Justice o f the Peace
Local people gather at the St. Patrick’s Senior Center to watch election returns
on the television. Tuesday night’s vote watching gathering was sponsored by the
■Willow Creek Tea Party Patriots.
While Nation and State wide the Nov. 2 election was a big deal, in Morrow County
the only contested county-wide position, Justice of the Peace, was won by Annetta
Spicer over Earl Woods by a 1,716 to 972 vote margin. Write in votes for various city
council positions had not be tabulated by press time. Unofficial county vote counts
can be found on the internet at morrowcountyoregon.com/clerk.
Big trench digger brought in
for tough CBEC digging job
By David Sykes
C olum bia Basin
Electric has years o f ex
perience digging in tough
ground and rock, but noth
ing like the difficulties
crew s faced when they
started digging trench for a
new 4.5 mile underground
pow er line project near
Condon. That is until they
brought in a big trench dig
ger from Idaho.
“This digger was
designed for difficult types
o f digging,” said Brian
Kollman, project manager
for Columbia Basin Elec
tric. He said crews had
spent some time using com
pany equipment on the job
and not making good head
way in the thick basalt rock
located around Condon. So
he and General Manager
Jerry Healy went looking
for a better way^to do the
job. “ We looked around
and found this trencher in
Idaho,” Kollman said.
He tells how the
machine owner was con
tacted, the equipment was
brought in and it went right
to work. “They brought it in
on a low boy, unloaded it
and I had them start digging
in the rock right away,” he
said the machine worked
as advertised and dug a
30 inch deep trench right
through the rock. He said
they had the trencher do
the whole 4.5 mile project.
“It was pretty impressive,”
he said.
The project near
Condon is to bury electric
lines underground to feed a
new sub station in the area.
The above graphic shows the position of wind towers and the location of three land owners
complaining of adverse effects from excess noise from some of the towers.
The Morrow Coun
ty Planning Commission
last week gave a wind farm
company with 48 towers
near lone six months to
bring noise levels into com
pliance with state rules.
The com mission
has been dealing with ex
cessive noise levels from
the wind towers after four
nearby residents brought
complaints against the com
pany saying noise from
some of the towers is dis
turbing their sleep and dis
rupting their lives.
Chicago based In-
venergy, which owns the
wind towers, has contended
that the planning commis
sion has had “a fundamental
misreading of the standard
under which Oregon law
regulates noise emissions.”
A conditional use permit
was issued to Invenergy in
2005 stating their wind op
eration must remain within
state standards for noise.
In June o f 2010
four separate landowners
David Mingo, Dan Wil
liams, Mike and Sherry
Eaton and Dennis and Lor-
rie Wade, all living near the
towers, filed for an appeal
of the conditional use per
mit, saying the noise levels
exceeded the allow able
levels.
The planning com
mission made a ruling May
2010 that Invenergy was
indeed out of compliance,
and gave the company six
months to fix the problem.
All planning commission
decisions go to the Mor
row County Court for final
approval, and both Inve
nergy and the complain
ants appealed the planning
com mission decision to
the county court. Subse
quently the county court
sent the decision back to
the planning commission
-See NOISE LEV ELS/Page
FIVE
Heppner High School to honor veterans
Ten years ago ju
nior high math teacher,
Karen Beck, decided to in
crease student involvement
in celebrating Veterans Day.
With the help of students
she organized Heppner
High S chool’s Veterans
Day program. When Mrs.
Beck retired at the end of
that year, responsibility for
the program passed to Kyle
Huddleston who organized
and ran it for three years
until he graduated. The
Top Photo: The buxine** end of big trenching machine brought
in by Columbia Basin Electric for tough job near Condon.
Middle Photo: Columbia Basin Linemen Jim Schlaich (right)
and Shaun Ifisler splice wire in a junction box. part of 4.5
mile underground power line project. Bottom Photo: Solid
rock initially provided problems for underground power line
project. -Photos by Bill McDowell
Burying the line under- accumulates on overhead
ground also alleviates much lines in the winter time,
of the problems when ice
i
reins were then passed to
Ginger Bowman who still
runs this event with the help
of Jeannie Collins, Martha
Munkers, Terri Gentry, and
Darcy Robinson.
This year marks
the 10lh anniversary of this
event. All veterans and
m ilitary personnel, past
and present, are invited to
attend a ceremony in their
honor at H eppner High
School’s gymnasium on
November 12 at 10:30 a.m.
Lunch for veterans and their
spouses will follow. If you
are a veteran or are pres
ently serving in the military,
and you have not received
an invitation, please call
Heppner High School at
676-9138. You do not need
an invitation to attend; all
veterans and servicemen
are welcome. The public is
also encouraged to attend
this program to honor our
local heroes.