Plane crash kills one,
sends one to hospital
5(K
It doesn’t look like anyone should have walked away from the wreckage of this Cessna 182R
Skylane that crashed near the Lexington airport around 11 p.m. on October 26. One survivor,
37-year-old Jeffrey Smock of San Francisco, did survive the crash, crawling to the home of
Bill and Cindy Greenup for help. Smock was airlifted to St. Charles Medical Center in Bend
and remained in serious condition at last notice. The pilot, Smock’s father-in-law, 65-year-old
Stephen Lunceford of Driggs, ID, was killed in the crash. Lunceford was a partner in the Fly
ing Buffalo Ranch on Upper Rhea Creek along with his close friend Jim Martin. He was flying
from Pasco to Lexington and was on his final approach to the airport when the plan went down
just a couple miles east of the runway. The FAA and National Transportation Safety Board are
investigating the crash, but have not announced a cause. -Contributedphoto
VOL. 130
NO. 43 8 Pages
Wednesday, November 2, 2011
Morrow County, Heppner, Oregon
Irrigon man gets 19
years for sex abuse
Seventy-year-old
Lonnie Lepper of Irrigon
was sentenced October 27
to nearly 19 years in prison
for sexually molesting two
girls.
Lepper appeared
in circuit court in Hepp
ner and pled guilty to four
counts of first-degree sexual
abuse, according to Morrow
County District Attorney
Justin Nelson. The charges
involved two separate acts
with two separate minor
victims. The state dismissed
64 additional counts of sex
crimes in exchange for Lep-
per’s guilty plea.
The trial wraps up
a case that began on April
6, when an Irrigon woman
called the Morrow County
Sheriff’s Office and report-
ed that her two daughters tences, which would have
had been inappropriately amounted to 12 '/j years.
touched by her mother’s fi Circuit Court Judge Eva
Temple reached a
ance. Sgt. Mark Pratt
compromise when
questioned Lepper
she decided to run
and arrested him on
th re e se n te n c e s
60 counts of sexual
consecutively and
abuse; the DA sub
the fourth concur
sequently charged
rent, for a total of 18
the man with a total Lonnie
years, three months
of 68 counts of sex Lepper
in state prison. Lep
crimes.
per
will
also get credit for
Under Ballot Mea
sure 11, the minimum man the time he spent in the
datory sentence on each of U m atilla County Jail in
the remaining four charges Pendleton.
According to Nel
is six years, three months.
While the Morrow County son, investigators found
DA wanted to give Lepper that relatives had concerns
the maximum sentence, run about Lepper’s behavior for
consecutively—a total of 25 years. The man also had a
years—Lepper’s attorney 1989 sex-crime conviction
asked for concurrent sen- in Washington State.
Special Election Nov. 8
M orrow C ounty
will hold a special election
November 8. Questions will
be on the ballot for both
Lexington and lone.
Lexington will be
voting on Measure 25-29,
the Town of Lexington Fire
Station General Obligation
Bond Authorization. Ques
tion: Shall the Town of Lex
ington issue $200,000 in
general obligation bonds to
provide a new fire station?
If approved, the measure
would help finance a new
fire station and pay costs of
issuing bonds.
lone will vote on
several positions for the
lone Library District. The
positions and candidates are
as follows:
Director at large,
two year term (vote for
three):
Betty Gray
Nancy Lee Ander
son
Margo Sherer
Director a large,
four year term (vote for
two):
Anne C. Morter
Lisa Rietmann
Ballots are due No
vember 8 by 8 p.m. Ballot
drop locations are available
in Heppner, Lexington and
lone.
Heppner drops lo
cations are at the county
clerk’s office in the court
house or in the outside
drop box in the courthouse
parking lot.
The Lexington out
door drop box is in the Lex
ington public works parking
lot on Highway 74.
lone drop locations
are the outdoor box on
Spring Street or at the Bank
o f Eastern Oregon lone
branch. Voters are asked to
note that the bank closes at
4 p.m., so ballots returned
after that time will have to
use the outdoor drop.
HHS volleyball, football
teams head to state
The Heppner High
School volleyball team won
the district championship by
beating Elgin and Weston-
McEwen and now will go
on to state competition.
The Mustang girls
will host a home game
this Saturday, Nov. 5. The
time and opponent were
not available at press time
Tuesday, but should be
posted later on the high
school website.
If the girls win that
game they will play in For
est Grove the following
week. If they do not win,
their season will come to
an end.
The Heppner High
School football team will
play in the first round of
the state playoffs on Sat
urday, November 12, with
the time, date and place to
be announced. The boys
will go into the playoffs in
second or third place.
The boys will play
a home game against Irri
gon this Friday night.
m
i
■r.
The Heppner Gazette-Times wants to see
pictures o f your trophy animals from this
hunting season. Stop by to ha\’e your picture
taken, drop o ff photos, or email them to
editor@rapidserve. net.
ALL NEWS AND ADVERTISEMENT DEADLINE:
MONDAYS AT 5:00 P.M.
Morrow County DA
opens Boardman office
M orrow C ounty
D istrict A ttorney Justin
Nelson has announced the
opening of a north Morrow
County satellite office.
The satellite office
will be used part-time by
the district attorney, deputy
district attorney and vic
tim’s advocate. The office
is located at 101 Boardman
Avenue in Boardman.
The office will be
used as needed, and the
public is encouraged to call
541-676-5626 to make an
appointment to meet with
a representative from the
district attorney office at the
Boardman location.
“I believe it is im
portant to have a strong
presence in north end of the
county. With the addition of
the satellite office, we will
be able to provide an eas
ily accessible location for
residents of Boardman and
Irrigon to meet with a repre
sentative from the Morrow
County district attorney
office,” says Nelson. “The
addition of this office will
also make it easier to work
closely with the Boardman
Police Department and the
Oregon State Police on
criminal investigations. I
appreciate the assistance of
the Morrow County com
missioners in making this
possible.”
Health district ends
September in the black
By A p ril Sykes
The Morrow Coun
ty Health District ended
September $24,600 in the
black, according to figures
released in Septem ber’s
profit/loss statement.
The board did not
hold a regular meeting on
October 31, since they had
held an all-day work ses
sion earlier in the month.
According to the
profit/loss statement, the
district showed $577,822
in gross patient revenue
for September, $80,036 in
revenue deductions, includ
ing $11,397 in bad debts
and $68,639 in contrac
tual and other adjustments
(Medicare and Medicaid
reductions).
M CHD took in
$94,291 in taxes and $4,984
in other operating revenue
for total operating revenue
of $597,061. The district
had $596,817 in total oper
ating expenses and a non
operating gain of $24,355
for the $24,600 profit.
The district showed
a $112,506 loss for the
year, for a $37,502 average
monthly year-to-date loss.
In other business,
the board:
-received the fol
low ing report: Pioneer
Memorial Clinic had 431
patient visits in September,
with 30 new patients, 43
seen by a nurse and 14
no-shows; Irrigon Medical
Clinic had 172 patient vis
its, with 31 new patients, 59
seen by a nurse and 13 no-
shows; Heppner Ambulance
had 20 total page-outs with
16 transports for $ 18,871 in
revenue; Boardman Ambu-
lance had 27 page-outs with
14 transports for $18,511
in revenue; Irrigon Ambu
lance had 19 page-outs with
nine transports for $10,701
in revenue; Pioneer Me
morial Hospital had three
admissions, one swing bed
admission, seven admitted
for observation, 411 outpa
tients, 73 total emergency
room encounters, 1445 lab
tests, 91 x-ray procedures,
27 CT scans, 16 EK.G tests,
one treadmill procedure, six
colonoscopy procedures,
two endoscopy procedures,
one colon/endoscopy pro
cedure, three respiratory
therapy procedures; Home
Health had 104 patient vis
its; Hospice had two admis
sions and 181 patient days;
and pharmacy had 892 drug
doses for $62,191 in drug
revenue.
Cardinal volleyball team in
playoff match Saturday
The lone Cardinal
volleyball team, Big Sky
District Champions, will
host the winner of the Old
Oregon League (Imbler)
vs. the High Desert League
(Jordan Valley) this Sat
urday, Nov. 5. Imbler and
Jordan valley play each
other mid-week.
The Saturday game
is an official state playoff
match.
lone was one o f
only three undefeated teams
in the state in all classifica
tions with a 28-0 record.
The state tourna
ment is set for Nov. 11-12 at
Pacific University at Forest
Grove.
Fall Back Nov. 6
The Gazette-Times would like to remind every
one to set their clocks back for the end of Daylight Savings
Time this Sunday, November 6.
A ffo r d a b le E q u ip m e n t C a m er a S y s t e m s
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