Image provided by: Morrow County Museum; Heppner, OR
About Heppner gazette-times. (Heppner, Or.) 1925-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 23, 2011)
Bessie Wetzel I Newspaper Library University o f Oregon Eugene, OR 97403 Nelson holds Heppner town hall meeting Senator says more water from Columbia River his number one priority By David Sykes Eastern Oregon get back on its eet is to get more water out of the Columbia River. “My bill, SB 190, would have authorized 30 million more acre feet of water be drawn out of the Columbia River,” Nelson told a crowd of around 30. “ We need to get Eastern Oregon’s natural resource base back on its feet, and this would help do this.” Nelson lamented, however the political grip Multnomah County, and the environmentalists that live there, has on the state legislature and political agenda. “ It is very hard to get our agenda passed without the support of the cities,” Nelson said. He went on to say that environmental groups control a large section of the legislature. “If we don’t have fam ily farm s, we d on’t Morrow County, Heppner, Oregon have kids in schools,” he said of the need to support the agriculture industry. He also said we need to get back in our forests and start harvesting trees again to get the wood products industry moving but, once again, he said that all those efforts are blocked by legislators from the metro area. On other issues, Nelson, who lives in Pend leton and grew up on a farm, said he was “not a big supporter of wind farms.” “When we get done there will be a billion dollars in subsidies from the state to the wind farms. I know it will be good for individual farmers, but I am not so sure it will be good for the state,” he added, especially regarding education, which needs the tax revenue. N elson did say, however, that in the begin ning he voted in favor of O regon S enator David Nelson told attend ees at a Heppner town hall meeting last week that his number one priority to help HEPPNER VOL. 130 NO. 45 8 Pages Wednesday, November 23, 2011 “Starting to look a lot like Christmas” in Heppner The Heppner Chamber of Commerce got some much-needed assistance as it prepared the downtown area for Christmas last week. CenturyLink employees offered their services and a company boom truck to help remove old lights from the tree by the post office and put up new colored lights. The tree will come alive with the lights on Thursday, December 1, when it will also display homemade ornaments made and hung by the Heppner Day Care and some Heppner Elementary students. - Photo by Megan Futter Cause of plane crash remains uncertain By Andrea Di Salvo In v estig atio n is ongoing in the case of the plane that crashed near the Lexington airport on Octo ber 26. According to the Nov. 9 preliminary report by the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), the pilot, identified as 65-year- old Stephen Lunceford of Driggs, ID, had flown from Lexington to Pasco to pick up his son-in-law, 37-year- old Jeffrey Smock of San Francisco. The pair de parted Pasco for Lexington around 5 p.m. the evening o f October 26. No flight plan had been filed. After leaving Pas co, the NTSB report states that Smock tilted his seat back to rest and then sat up again when Lunceford announced they were ap proaching the airport and were on a five-mile base for landing at Lexington. Smock said they could see the runway lights; he felt a violent reaction as the plane hit the ground. The time of the crash was approximate ly 5:30 p.m. Smock heard no warning comments from Lunceford. L u n c e fo rd s u s tained fatal injuries in the crash, and died before help reached the site. Smock had several serious injuries, in cluding injuries to his feet. He began crawling, and reached the home of Bill and Cindy Greenup— two miles away—nearly four hours later. A friend of the pilot reported that the plane was two hours overdue. Officers verified that Lunceford’s car was still at the airport and began a search. When the emergency call came in after Smock reached the G reenup residence, searchers were able to use his description to locate the crash site. The NTSB investigator-in-charge, a Federal Aviation Adminis tration (FAA) inspector and accident investigators from the airframe and engine (L-R) Andrew Bara, Bryce Fowler and Wayne Rollis talk to Oregon Senator David Nelson about state issues following a town hall meeting last Tuesday in Heppner. -Photo by David Sykes the Business Energy Tax Credit, or BETC as it is commonly called, which granted Oregon state tax credits to the wind farms and other renewable en ergy businesses in the first place. “There is no reason the coal plant (in Boardman) should be shut down,” Nelson said. “You never hear complaints from Eastern Oregon [only from those in Portland]. Oregon is at $1 billion in tax breaks to alternative energy and that is a huge w aste o f money.” Nelson said his district is very dependent on government services for jobs, citing the Umatilla In dian Tribes and the prisons as two examples. “Government jobs are paying good wages and benefits,” he said, but added that government spending is going to have to be cut back because the state just doesn't have the money. He said that the number one job o f the next legislature will be dealing with the budget. “Don’t expect any big laws coming out of the next session,” he said. On the issue of giving in-state college tu ition to illegal immigrants, Nelson defended his “yes” vote on the bill that allowed this, commenting that it would not be used as much as we think. “Illegals are ille gals, and you were support ing illegal activity when you voted for this,” Sam Hombeck of Heppner told Nelson. “ We are paying for those schools through our taxes.” Nelson said that the Oregon universities’ business model relies on out-of-state and out-of country tuition to survive, and that only five percent o f the money to operate comes from taxes; the rest comes from tuition. Nelson also said that illegal aliens going to state universities will have to have attended the same high school for three years in a row and graduated from that high school. “Very few students will qualify for this,” Nel son said as he explained why, in the last legislative session, he voted in favor of the in-state tuition for illegals. Boardman hires new police chief During the Novem ber 15 city council meeting, Boardman City Manager Karen Pettigrew announced she had hired Richard Sto- koe o f Nyssa, OR to be Boardman’s new chief of police. C hief Stokoe has more than 21 years of law enforcem ent experience and is currently the police chief for the city of Nyssa. He moved to Nyssa in 2009 from the Caribou County, ID, Sheriff’s Office, where he served as undersheriff for three years and deputy sheriff for 12 years. Early in his career. Chief Stokoe was also with the city of Wendell, ID, police depart ment; the city of Council, ID, police department and the Adams County, ID, sheriff’s office. In April, the city of Boardman retained Pro- thman, a consulting firm from Seattle, to recruit candidates for the chief of police position. Prothman to prepare for the transition. received 26 applications Stokoe said he feels Board- and, in October, the city man is moving forward and interviewed four of those he is excited to be part of applicants. The interview the Boardman team. “ We as a police panels were made up of community members and department are not going to solve any one prob others who work in lem by ourselves,” law enforcement, as he said. “We have to well as the city man have, as a philoso ager and the city’s phy, the community consultants. as our partner as we The Board- attempt to serve and man community had Richard solve crime.” an opportunity to Stokoe Stokoe meet the four candi said he is looking dates for the chief’s position at a reception held forward to working with in October. Many from the the entire community to community attended and address any problems or they were asked to fill out concerns. “I will be open to comment cards for the city the community. I want to manager to review. Lieutenant Loren find out from the com Dieter has been serving as munity how we can better Interim Police Chief since serve them,” said Stokoe. Stokoe will begin March of this year. He will be working closely with his duties in Boardman on Stokoe in the coming weeks December 1. manufacturer examined the wreckage on site. “The accident site was high on a ridge in the middle o f a wheat field,” states the NTSB report. “The First Identified Point o f C ontact (FIPC ) was a ground scar. The main wreckage consisted of the fuselage, empennage [tail assembly], and wings; the wings had folded onto each other, and the airplane had rolled about 135 degrees onto its left side. The cab in area sustained upward crush damage on the bot tom , and inboard crush damage on the left side. The main wreckage came to rest about 236 feet from the FIPC; the engine separated, and was about 386 feet from the FIPC.” The NTSB w ill The Heppner Gazette-Times will be closed in observance of the Thanksgiving publish a final report on Day holiday Thursday, November 24 and Friday, November 25. Normal business hours the conclusion of the inves will resume Monday, November 28. tigation. The Gazette-Times was unable to get an update on Smock's condition. Closed for Thanksgiving Happy Thanksgiving! MCGG C losed N ovember 24 , 25,26 and 27 • A ll l o c a t io n s Morrow County Grain Growers fx in g to n 989-8221 « 1-800-452-7396 return I flitt «nr w«b «tu tt www met* nu \
