Image provided by: Morrow County Museum; Heppner, OR
About Heppner gazette-times. (Heppner, Or.) 1925-current | View Entire Issue (Dec. 21, 2011)
Santa Comes to Heppner II.U ...I.U II II,I,„II Bessie Wetzell Newspaper Library University of Oregon Eugene, OR 97403 HEPPNER 5 0 Santa visited the Celebrate Heppner Christmas event at the fairgrounds last Thursday to hear Christmas wishes and take photos with the kids. Back (L-R): Evan Kollman, Morgan Birch and Madison Comber. Front (L-R): Kaden Combe, Caige Futter, Pastor Dean “Kris Kringle” Antonucci, Faith Futter and Sabashtian Futter. -Photo by David Sykes City hears good news on St. Patrick’s apartments Completely rented out for only 2nd time in 5 years VOL. 130 NO. 48 10 Pages Wednesday, December 21,2011 Morrow County, Heppner, Oregon Crum sentenced to life in prison F orm er M orrow County Sheriff’s reserve deputy Steven Montie Crum was sentenced to life in prison after pleading guilty to murdering a pregnant woman in 2010. Thirty- y e a r - o ld C ru m pleaded guilty to the murder o f Jessica Rae Killian, whose body was discov ered on Oct. 4,2010 on a farm near lone. Crum must serve a minimum of 30 years in prison before he is eligible for parole. The Oregon De partment of Justice prose cuted the case at the request of Morrow County District Attorney Justin W. Nelson to ensure the integrity of the process due to the defendant’s con nection to local law enforcement. “I extend my deepest sympa thy to the Jessica’s family. While noth ing we do can bring back Jessica, I hope that this prison sentence can bring a bit of closure to Jessica’s friends and fam ily. The prosecution of Mr. Crum would not have been possible without the tireless efforts of the Morrow/Uma- tilla County Major Crime Team and the Oregon De partment o f Justice,” said Morrow County District Attorney Justin Nelson. Assistant Attorney General Andrew Campbell prosecuted the case for the O regon D epartm ent o f Justice. The case was investigated by the Oregon State Police with assistance from the U m atilla/M or- row County Major Crime Team. Two more wind farms receive approval 52 turbines near lone, 8 at Sand Hollow The Morrow Coun ty Planning Commission earlier this month approved two new wind farms, one near lone and one near Sand Hollow, which will add 60 more turbines to the grow ing wind energy business in the county. The biggest of the two projects will be located north of lone on Ella Butte, and consists of 52 turbines. 2M orrow Energy, LLC, w hich already operates wind farms in the area, is the developer. The project will be constructed on land owned by Ruby Rohde of Kenne wick, Reitmann Trust and Betty Reitmann o f lone, and Crum Enterprises Lim ited Partnership o f lone. C o n stru ctio n o f the Ella Butte facility is proposed to take about 18 months. The entire proj ect boundary covers 9,247 acres, in which will be located the turbines, access roads, a substation and maintenance facility. The second project approved by the planning commission is called Ma- riah Wind, and will consist of eight towers located on property owned by Bert Mason of Milwaukie, OR, Janet Switzer o f Beulah, CO and Eric and Brandi Orem o f lone. That proj ect is expected to take six Im m igrant Lana By David Sykes The St. Patrick’s Senior Center apartments in downtown Heppner are completely rented out, for only the second time in five years, the Heppner City Council was told Monday night. Having all 16 units rented was good news to the council and the Heppner Housing Authority, which owns the apartments. The Housing Authority has been working to get the rooms rented to improve the fi nances o f the apartment complex. P re v io u sly , the Housing Authority, in con junction with the company that manages the complex, had been working to change some o f the rooms from strictly reserved for lower income to available to all renters. The complex had renters ready to move into three of the previously emp ty rooms, but they were un able to because their income was above the government- mandated limit. The Hous ing Authority had accepted the low-income limits in or der to obtain a low-interest government refinance loan several years ago. In other St. Patrick apartment developments, the council heard from coun- cilmember Judy Buschke, who said the building needs a new heating and-cooling unit; she had received a bid of $22,380 to do the work. The center actually has two heating and cooling units. However, only one of them is in need of replacement. Buschke said the unit only heats some of the common areas and not the individual rooms. Buschke also said that the Housing Author ity has the money in its reserve fund to get the job done, but spending it would completely deplete the fund and leave them with noth ing in case of an emergency. The council has in the past discussed using some of the $18,000 the city received from the sale of a Housing and Urban Development Home in Heppner to do the heating project. No decision has yet been made. In other business, the council heard from Pub lic Works Director Brian Harmon about upgrades that may need to be done to the sewer plant to mitigate the release o f ammonia from the sewer plant. The city will have to come up with $15,000 to further study the prob lem. Earlier it had spent $25,000 with engineering firm Anderson and Perry on a sew er-plant study. The study, however, did not address the possible am monia problem, and the city received notice that the De partment of Environmental Quality (DEQ) would in the future be clamping down on ammonia releases. Harmon said, how ever, that the DEQ did not set specific limits to the amount of ammonia that is going to be allowed, and that was making it difficult for the engineering firm to come up with a solution. Harmon did say that the DEQ’s new, stricter ammo nia-release standards were an effort to protect “fresh water mussels.” The city's waste water is released into Willow Creek after treat- -See SENIOR APART- MENTS/PAGE SIX Decorated soldier returns home following injuries sustained in Afghanistan Location of the new 52-tower Ella Butte Wind Farm north of lone. -Contributed graphic months for construction. A lengthy discus sion was held by the plan ning commission on the issue of possible noise from the facilities, and the im pact o f that noise on sur rounding residents. The planning commission was particularly concerned with noise, as earlier in the year it spent considerable time review ing a request by four county homeowners to cancel a permit held by wind developer Invenergy, LLC of Chicago, which had constructed a wind facility northwest of lone. The landow ners -See WIND FARMS/PAGL' TEN G-T closed for Christmas The Gazette-Times will be closed Monday, December 26 for the Christmas holiday. The news and ad deadline for the December 28 edition will be Friday, December 23 at five O ’clock. Normal business hours will resume Tuesday, December 27. D avid M cC urry returned to H eppner on December 10 after months in the Fort Hood, TX, mil itary hospital w here he was recuperating from a traumatic brain injury and other injuries sustained while serving as a sergeant with the com pany B 1SI Battalion, 168,h Aviation Regiment, a National Guard unit from Oregon attached to Task Force Tigershark, in Afghanistan. McCurry was hit by a rocket in Salerno, A fghanistan, w hich, he says, had been nicknamed “Rocket City.” He received a Purple Heart medal from Major General John Camp bell, Combined Joint Task Force-101 commander, on March 8 at Bagram Airfield for injuries sustained from an indirect fire attack at Forward Operating base in David McCurry (L) with Major General John Campbell (R). - Photo by Staff Sgt Todd Pouliot, TF Falcon Salerno on February 15. short-term memory have McCurry said that been affected, both his long-term and ALL MONTANA SILVER 20% OFF ALL CHRISTMAS DECORATIONS )0 % OFF Green Feed open until Noon Saturday* Closed Sunday & Monday All other locations closed Saturday, Sunday & Monday Morrow County Grain Growers Green Feed & Seed 242 W. Llndon Way, Heppn»r » 676-9422 • 989-8221 (MCGQ main ofUca) I
