Image provided by: Morrow County Museum; Heppner, OR
About Heppner gazette-times. (Heppner, Or.) 1925-current | View Entire Issue (Aug. 3, 2011)
Heppner Gazette-Times, Heppner, Oregon Wednesday, August 3,2011 - THREE Murray plays in Shrine All Star Game Heppner’s Ian Murray (top) played on the East team of the 2011 East-West Shrine All Star Game. Despite the team’s best attempts, the East ended up short on the scoreboard in the second half, losing to the West team in Baker City last Saturday. -Photo by Sandy Matthews M lan M urray was one of the high-school star football players who par ticipated in the 59th annual East-West Shrine All Star Game at Bulldog Memo rial Stadium in Baker City, OR on July 30. Murray represents Heppner on the Shriner’s East team. It was a disappoint ing game for the East team, which led the game 6-0 at halftime. The West then converted three second-half interceptions into touch downs to turn the game into a 20-6 victory for West. Struggling in tem peratures that hovered in the upper 80s all afternoon, the East mostly controlled the first half, but was only able to build a one-score lead. The turn in the game came with three West interceptions in the sec ond half. Brycen Stutzman scored off-left tackle for a 7-6 West lead 1:32 into the third quarter. Kenna Cum berland then intercepted an East pass and returned it 14 yards for a touchdown and a 13-6 West lead. The E a st’s next drive reached the West 35, but used up two o f their second-half timeouts in the process. East then turned the ball over on downs. In the fourth quar ter, West’s Brock Ingram co n n e c te d w ith B ren t Whipple on a lob pass over the middle for a 35-yard touchdown and a 20-6 West victory. It was the West’s second win in a row. The East still leads the overall series 29-27-3. Even Plane to compete in Battle of the Bands By Regi Seitz Even Plane fans enjoyed a rocking night o f music on Saturday as the band introduced their newest members at the first annual Hanger-Fest. The performance also gave the band a chance to rehearse for their upcoming gigs, including Murray’s Wine and Beer tasting on August 18 and the Battle o f the Bands in H erm iston on August 11. “We were excited just to be selected to play at Battle of the Bands,” said Wayne Seitz, Even Plane’s lead singer and guitarist. “We can’t wait to compete with some other really tal ented bands.” The newest mem bers, vocalist Taranna Pat ton and drummer Justin Even Plane rocks out at the recent Hanger-Fest, a prelude to upcoming performances that include the Battle of the Bands at the Hermiston Fair. -Contributedphoto Henderson will join the band in playing both new songs and tunes off their album, A Level o f Con sciousness. “We hope our fans will be able to come out and cheer us on,” said Dustin Padberg, vocalist and bass player. Even Plane will play at the Hermiston Fair on the main stage at a time to be determined. For more inform ation, follow the band on Facebook. Puncturevine problematic in south Morrow County Puncturevine, or goathead, is a weed that requires constant control efforts. Whether landown ers pull, spray or bum it, it will re-emerge after rain fall because of seed in the ground. Once the yellow flowers show, seed will set in two weeks, beginning the control process over again. Persistence is the name of the game. Many people in the Heppner area are puncture vine police, pulling plants they see—even on other’s properties—trying to con trol the spread. In order to control this weed, the community needs all land- owners to control this pest. Everyone should watch where they park; seeds stick to tires and spread from place to place. This year’s cool, wet spring delayed the ar rival of puncturevine, catch ing most off guard. Anyone who has an area where this weed has been before should check again; it’s probably already flowered and gone to seed. Control at this stage is impossible, but residents are encouraged to pull and bag anyway, get ting as much of the seed as possible. M orrow County Weed Control transplanted puncturevine weevils from Irrigon to several sites in the Heppner area to help with control efforts. The county also sprays roads for puncturevine. With only one staff person, all county roads can’t be monitored, so phone calls with location information are appreciated. Weed staff can be contacted at 541-989-9502. If everyone works together, south Morrow can have an effect on this pain ful intruder. Every person is encouraged to pull, bag, bum and spray each punc turevine plant they see and to encourage their neigh bors to do the same. Those who choose to spray should use the correct chemical and follow the label. WIND FARMS Public works, DEQ say burning house -Continuedfrom PAGE property will be passed ONE on to the next generation. newly installed wind tur bines will stabilize the fam ily farm, and that all farm ing activity will remain the same. According to the North Dakota Extension website, reports indicate most companies are paying $4,000 to $6,000 annually per megawatt of power ca pacity for fixed-compensa tion packages. For royalty- com pensation packages, three percent to five percent o f gross revenue from elec tricity sales is common. The new Shepherds Flat wind project, located near lone and stretching into Gilliam County, is putting up 303 towers at three megawatts from each tower. Sorte was asked if this wind income might change the farming prac tices o f the family farm, and possibly how that farm He said he was currently working on a new study that would try to address some of those questions. In the 2006 study, Sorte mostly talked about jobs created in Umatilla County communities from wind projects. He came to the conclusion at that time that each 50-megawatt proj ect would produce 77 to 120 jobs during construction and 14 to 21 permanent jobs after construction during operations. The study also es timated the impact on local property tax base and the money generated for local governm ents. However, Morrow County has opted to negotiate payments in lieu of taxes from existing wind farms instead of the standard assessed property taxes. hold waste is unhealthy Burning household waste is unhealthy, accord ing to Morrow County Pub lic Works and the Oregon Departm ent o f Environ mental Quality (DEQ). A DEQ fact sheet states that bum barrels are inefficient and pollute be cause they create low tem perature fires, receive little oxygen and produce a lot of smoke. “Smoke from burn ing household w aste is unhealthy to breathe, par ticularly for small ch il dren, pregnant w om en, older adults and people with asthma or other respiratory ailments,” states the DEQ. Many household products contain chlorine, which creates dioxin when burned. Exposure to dioxin is associated with cancer and birth defects. Other products may release heavy metals, also associated with cancer and birth defects. Finally, many household products contain chemicals that are known to irritate the skin and eyes. The prob lems are magnified by the fact that most of the pollut ants are released close to ground level, where they are easily inhaled. Health effects after exposure to these pollutants can include cancer, deformed offspring, and reproductive and im mune system failure, says the department. The sam e DEQ fact sheet also states that the burning of household w aste— such as in burn barrels— is an environmen tal pollutant. “ P o llu ta n ts r e leased when household waste is burned eventually end up back on the ground and in the water and can build up to dangerously* high levels in plants, ani mals, and people,” the DEQ sheet states. The DEQ recom mends the three environ mental Rs as alternatives... reduce disposable items, reuse items when possible and recycle appropriate items. The department also recommends having house- hold waste picked up by a licensed waste removal company or taking it to a licensed waste dump when available. State o f Oregon regulations do prohibit the open burning of any mate rial that creates noxious odors, including Styro foam-like plastics, garbage and food waste. In addition, burning household waste is prohibited altogether in certain areas by DEQ rules or local city and county ordinances. For more informa tion on Oregon state laws and open burning rules in Morrow County, call 541 - 633-2016. NOAA issues monthly climate summary for Heppner Wheat League prepares Farm Bill draft position statement The Oregon Wheat Growers League (OWGL) has prepared a draft position statement on the 2012 Farm Bill for review and com ment by members. Accord ing to an OWGL release, the statement “reflects the comments received at the June 12,h meeting o f the Farm Policy and Transpor tation Committee and the June 16th Board of Directors meeting.” The statement rec ognizes the current eco nomic climate, saying in its body, “Although the current costs of farm programs in the federal budget are run ning well below historic highs, we recognize that agriculture may be asked to contribute its fair share to the essential effort to reduce federal spending and get our deficits and debt under I control.” With that in mind, OWGL made policy recom mendations for the 2012 Farm Bill that included crop insurance, MAP/FMD, commodity loans/counter- cyclical payments, conser vation, and balance with other programs and among states. OW GL’s plan is to collect comments from members and prepare a final draft for consideration by the board in late August so the organization can begin active discussions with its delegation, other Oregon farm groups, other states and NAWG. A nyone looking for more information, or with comments or sugges tions, should email Blake at browe@oregonwheat.org. According to pre liminary data received by NOAA’s National Weather Service in Pendleton, tem peratures in Heppner aver aged colder than normal during the month of July. The average tem perature was 66.2 degrees, which was 3.2 degrees be low normal. High tempera tures averaged 81.0 degrees, which was 4.7 degrees be low normal. The highest was 93 degrees on July 7. Low temperatures averaged 51.5 degrees, which was 1.6 degrees below normal. The lowest was 43 degrees, on July 8. On two days, the temperature exceeded 90 degrees. Precipitation to taled 0.24 inches during July, which was 0.11 inches below normal. Measurable precipitation of at least .01 inch was received on two days, with the heaviest, 0.22 inches, reported on \ 93 1 1 1 2 3 4 1 » F « 5 0 F a r . -.-n 7 0 _ « « 10 11 12 13 14 13 18 17 1« 18 20 71 2 « 10 11 12 13 14 15 10 17 1» 18 30 21 2 m o. 23 34 23 30 77 * !B D 31 C 23 34 23 30 77 » 2B 30 31 Q- » Mo»-n «■< 7»P"(1 * >4071-u n T.^pC Iim ate D ata fr o v id s d B y N O A A -N atio ra l WoatOer S ervice July 17. Precipitation this year has reached 12.07 inches, which is 3.49 inches above normal. Since Octo ber, the water year precipi tation in Heppner has been 17.99 inches, which is 5.62 inches above normal. The outlook for August from NOAA's cli mate prediction center calls for near normal tempera tures and near normal pre cipitation. Normal highs for Heppner during August are 85.2 degrees and normal lows are 52.9 degrees. The 30-year normal precipita tion is 0.54 inches. The N a t i o n a l Weather Service is an office of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administra tion, an agency of the U.S. Commerce Department. ALL NEWS AND ADVERTISEMENT DEADLINE: MONDAYS AT 5:00 RM.
