TW O - Heppner Gazette-Times, Heppner, Oregon
Wednesday, February 22,2012
The Official Newspaper
of the City of Heppner and the County of Morrow
Heppner
GAZETTE-TIMES
U.S.P.S. 240-420
M orrow County’s Hom e-Owned Weekly Newspaper
Published weekly by Sykes Publishing, LLC and entered as periodical maner at the
Post Office at Heppner. Oregon under the Act of March 3,1879. Periodical postage
paid at Heppner, Oregon Office at 188 W Willow Street Telephone (541) 676-
9228. Fax (541) 676-9211. t-m ail editor ,i rapidserve net or davidiu rapidserve
net Web site: www heppner net Postmaster send address changes to the Heppner
Gazette-Times, PO. Box 337, Heppner, Oregon 97836 Subscriptions: $27 in
Morrow County; $21 senior rate I in Morrow County only; 65 years or older); $33
elsewhere; $27 student subscriptions
David Sykes............................................................................................... Publisher
Andrea Di Salvo............................................................................................. Editor
All News and Advertising Deadline is Monday at 5 p m
For Advertising advertising deadline is Monday at 5 p m. Cost lor a display ad is S5 per
column inch Cost for classified ad is 50« per word Cost for Card of Thanks is $10 up to
100 words Cost for a classified display ad is $5 75 per column inch.
For Public/legal Notices public/legal notices deadline is Monday at 5 p m Dates for pub
lication must be specified Affidavits must be required at the time of submission Affidavits
require three weeks to process after last date of publication (a sooner return date must be
specified if required)
For Obituanes Obituaries are published in the Heppner GT at no charge and are edited to
meet news guidelines Families wishing to include information not included in the guidelines
or who wish to have the obituary written in a certain way must purchase advertising space
for the obituary
For Letters to the Editor Letters to the Editor M UST be signed by the author The Heppner
GT will not publish unsigned letters All letters M UST include the author s address and phone
number for use by the G T office The G T reserves the right to edit letters The G T is not
responsible for accuracy of statements made in letters Any letters expressing thanks will
be placed in the classifieds under "Card of Thanks' at a cost of S10.
Obituanes
Louanne E. DeSpain
Louanne E. De- pital. Louie always chose
Spain, 58, form erly o f a path of service, always
Heppner, passed away at putting others before her
St. Vincent’s Hospital in self and making the choice
Portland on February 7, to help without ever asking
2012, with family present for anything in return.
after a long battle of cancer.
She was an avid
A Celebration o f
crafter. She enjoyed
Life will take place
c ro c h e tin g and
at the Scappoose
was a seamstress
Adventist Church,
for many years.
54289 C olum bia
She also attended
River Hwy„ Scap
outings to hock
poose, OR on Sat
ey games, soccer
urday, Feb. 25 at L o u a n n e F.. games. Trail Blazer
DeSpain
1:30 p.m.
games, the opera
Louie was
and music concerts
born July 7, 1953, in Agu with her family. She had a
iar, CO to Rose Marie Bro- passion for gardening and
zovich and Edward Pfean- loved to be outside working
ing. Her youth was spent in with flowers and landscap
the Idaho panhandle. She ing the yard.
was a graduate of Wallace,
Lo u i e ma r r i e d
ID high school in 1971.
Chris in 1985. They resid
She then worked ed in Heppner until 1989,
in the food industry from when they moved to the
1971-1983. She went to W illam ette Valley with
work for Pioneer Memorial their family. She lived in
Hospital in Heppner, where Scappoose at the time of
she stayed until 1989. She her passing.
retired from St. Vincent’s
She is survived by:
Hospital in Portland, OR her parents; her sisters,
after 20 years.
Audrey and DeeDee; her
Always reaching brother Eddie; her hus
for her next goal, some of band Chris of Scappoose;
her most proud achieve daughter Mickie (Cameron)
ments were becoming a Parker o f Battleground.
volunteer firefighter, work OR; son Jason Cameron
ing as an EMT on the am o f St. Helens, OR; and
bulance in Heppner, and daughter Randie Cox of
winning the "Pride Award” Scappoose, OR. She had
while working in the cardi five grandchildren.
ac unit at St. Vincent’s Hos
N ew S t . P a t ' s G e a r
• Shirts
J L
• Sweatshirts
• Long sleeve shirts
Y ankee F all
AND
~
Letters to the Editor ~
T he Heppner Gazette l imes will print all letters to the Editor with the following criteria met: letters submitted to the newspaper will need to
have the name of the sender along with a legible signature. We are also requesting that you pros ide your address and a phone number where
you can be reached The address and phone number will only be used for verification and will not be printed in the newspaper. Letters may
not be libelous. The GT reserv es the right to edit. The GT is not responsible for accuracy of statements made in letters. Any letters expressing
thanks will be placed in the classifieds under "Card of Thanks" at a cost o f $10.
More at issue than
private property
An article titled "Wind power protest airs in Mor
row County,” printed in the EO on Saturday, January 28,
contains an item worthy of further discussion.
Specifically, a quote attributed to Jerry Reitmann,
one of the primary organizers in the Ella Butte w ind power
project, "It’s perfectly valid for people to not like the
idea of having wind turbines in their neighborhood. But
it’s still a private property issue.” While I agree whole
heartedly w ith that statement, it is important to note that
private property rights are not unlimited. T his seems to
be a concept which escapes the notice of Mr. Reitmann.
When the activities of Mr. Reitmann on his own property
have a significant negative effect on the private prop
erty rights of his neighbors, well then. Mr Reitmann’s
activities are an infringement on his neighbor’s private
property rights. While wind energy developers continue
to deny it, there is ample experience to confirm there are
real negative effects on property values and quality of
life issues due to close proximity to modem industrial
scale wind turbines. These negative effects are reduced
as distance from the turbines increases—and there are
real, measurable negative effects up to at least two miles
from the turbines.
So the functional meaning of Mr. Reitmann’s
statement seems to be something like— I'll do whatever
I want to do on my property to make money, and if that
means your property value goes down, well, that’s just
too bad.
1 find it extremely frustrating that Wind project
developers (and the attorneys who advise them) seem
to be capable of only claiming to be good neighbors,
rather than actually being good neighbors. Indeed, here
in Umatilla County, wind developers, involved property
owners and their attorneys are doing everything they can
to strike down development codes approved in June of
2011 which would force wind developers to actually be
good neighbors, rather than just claim or pretend to be
good neighbors.
I have heard the Morrow County Planning Direc
tor describe their wind energy siting codes as "robust.” My
own review suggests that in this case, "robust” must mean
something like—codes so loose they are easy to meet,
hard to violate and with few enforcement mechanisms.
Don't let hot button phrases like "private property
rights" cloud your ability to consider all the issues related
to siting commercial wind energy projects.
Ed Chesnut
Milton-Freewater. OR
Nordic group meets
On Feb. 18. the ski conditions were the best the Arbuckle
Nordic Ski Club had seen this year. I’here was a good inch of
fresh powder oil top of the base, and the group followed Ditch
Creek south of where it Hows under the 53 road...a great
route for skiers who want to practice gentle tips and downs.
(L-R): Sherry Ewing; Dan, Sandy and Sam Van Liew; Bill
Ewing, Jonathan and Doreen F.n/.; and John Edinundson.
- Contributed photo
Wind farm ‘red flags’
in Morrow County
The East Oregonian article of January 28, 2012
regarding the wind power situation in Morrow County
contains more "red flags” for the people of Morrow Coun
ty, recognizing the problems the previous Willow Creek
Wind Project caused for adjacent landowners and the
county’s refusal to accept their responsibilities that went
with issuing the permit is cause for serious concern.
The statement by Mr. Reitmann raised a huge
"red flag” for the people of Morrow County. The state
ment regarding their future plans for w ind development
and its potential impact on affected landowners highlights
several issues.
Morrow County Siting Standards and Require
ments for future wind projects are dysfunctional and
outdated. The total disregard for affected landowner rights
needs to be corrected before proceeding with future wind
project applications.
Umatilla County made a stellar effort to deal
with these issues. Unfortunately, implementation of the
“Umatilla County New Rules” is on hold due to legal
blocks being attempted by the Wind Energy attorneys.
The Umatilla County intent with the
New Rules was to bring a bafance to the property
rights for affected as well as participating landowners; it is
to provide a tool that would allow the flexibility of com
promise. This is certainly lacking in Morrow County.
Respectfully,
Dave Price
Athena. OR
‘Birth to college’ bad
news for kids, parents
To the Editor:
Congratulations on a superb job of reporting the
education goals of our governor, his panel of “experts,”
and fellow travelers. (See February' 1,2012 State educa
tion to stress "birth to college” says superintendent.) It is
true that when they enter public school, children whose
social interaction primarily consists of day care and tele
vision are both socially and scholastically behind those
children who interact with loving parents. It is also true
that most of them never catch up.
The governor’s solution is to deprive all students
of a wholesome family life. The “disadvantaged” children
will no longer be behind, because there will be no one
for them to be behind. In the last century, every time the
age for compulsory education was lowered, the student’s
performance was lowered.
When the liberals took over Russia in 1917. they
took the young children away from their parents and put
them in nurseries run by trained and accredited teachers
and nurses. The death rate was so high that the Russians
closed down the nurseries and let the parents raise their
children. The governor’s plan may be closer to Hitler’s
than Lenin's, but the results will be the same in all three
cases.
Stupidity is doing the same thing over and over
again and expecting a different result.
I think parents would do well to read your article
again and consider the implications of what the "experts”
had to say.
Dick Temple, DVM
Lexington
A special kind of
Valentine
lone youth baseball
holds registration
lone Youth Baseball is holding registrations on Thurs
day. Feb. 23 from 5-6:30 p.m. at Wheatland Insurance Center.
The cost is $35 per player with a $70 cap per family.
Registration forms were sent home with students on
Tuesday. Proof of residency and birth certificates are required
to register. Please call Karen Padberg with any questions.
C hristaaas
C andles
40% OFF
V ietri I r r esistib ly I talian
DINNERWARE 20 % OFF
D rink S pecials
W erthers L atte $ 3 .2 5
T oasted M arshmallow
H ot C hocolate $ 2 .5 0
W edding Table
Travis Winters <&
Laura Brown
,
Saturday March 3rd
Muftoy'i thug
217 North M an St H o p p na • Phone 676-915* • Floral 676-9426
Serving Morrow, Wheeler & Gilliam counties Since 1959
f
lone Library
District to meet
The lone Library District will hold their monthly
meeting on Thursday. Feb. 23 at 2 p.m. at the lone Public
Library, 255 W. Main Street in lone.
Agenda topics include agreement for representa
tion. interim financing, consideration of establishing a
permanent tax rate and follow-up items from the January
meeting. The public is invited to attend.
Manuel Cegueda (left) and Adan Guerra (right) wanted to
show1 their principal, Mr. Matt Combe (center), their very
special Valentine's Day cards. The hoys made the cards using
sign language. Manuel's first language is sign language, his
second language is Spanish and his third language is English.
Manuel and Adan are in Mrs. F.lguezabal's English Language
Learner class at Heppner Elementary School. Both boys were
very excited to take home their huge Valentine wishes. -C on
tributed photo
Chamber lunch meeting
The next meeting of the Heppner Chamber of
Commerce will be Thursday, Feb. 23. at 11:30 a m. at All
Saints Episcopal Church in I leppner. The Port of Morrow
commissioners will be the guest speakers. The commis
sioners will report on what is going on at the port and will
allow time for questions and discussion.
Cost of the lunch is $9; Sweet Productions will
cater. Those planning on attending are asked to RSVP by
the Tuesday before.
t
I
i