Wee Bit O’ Ireland a
whole lot of fun...
Eugene, OR 97403
and that s no blarney
50 «?
Cloudy skies, wind and even a hailstorm didn't keep people from turning out in force for
Heppner's 3oth annual Wee Bit O ' Ireland Celebration last weekend. -Photo by April Sykes
-See PAGE THREE fo r more pictures.
Heppner council endorses
Boardman coal reload facility
Port project could generate significant
county tax and school funding
By David Sykes
VOL. 131
N 0. 12 8 Pages
Wednesday, March 21,2012
Morrow County, Heppner, Oregon
Fire causes property damage
on Butter Creek
By Andrea Di Salvo
A recent fire on
Little Butter Creek Road
covered thousands of acres
and may have cost multiple
thousands in damage.
According to Hep-
pner’s Assistant Fire Chief,
Steve Rhea, the fire started
on March 9 around noon.
It apparently started on the
Currin property on Butter
Creek, where the Currins
were burning irrigation
ditches. When the wind
picked up, the fire quickly
spread to the neighboring
Peterson property.
“ It can certainly
happen fast, especially
with the way it’s been this
year, so dry,” says Rhea,
adding that this was their
sixth natural grass fire since
January.
When the call came
in, the Heppner Fire Depart­
ment and Morrow County
SherifFs Office responded.
Rhea said they also called
for mutual aid from Fire
departments in Lexington,
lone, Boardman, Irrigon,
Umatilla and Station 7, the
new station near the Butter
Creek junction.
Rhea said a lot of
fencing was lost, which is
to be expected in a fast-
moving range fire. There
was also damage to the
residence on the Peterson
property, and one outbuild­
ing was lost, which Rhea
thought was probably a
pump house.
“We got units in
to protect structures up the
creek in the direction the
fire was traveling," said
Rhea, who added that the
fire was moving south.
The residence had
siding on fire, as well as
fire in the attic, but respond­
ers were able to get in and
put that fire out before the
house burned down.
R h e a s a id he
couldn’t accurately judge
the money damage done
by the fire, but roughly
estimated it in the range
of $45 to $50 thousand on
the house plus loss of the
outbuilding, which would
probably add several thou­
sand more.
“It’s hard to know
because sometimes there’s
heat damage, which is more
extensive than it looks,”
he said.
He also said he had
heard conflicting reports
about how many acres the
fire covered. First estimates
put it close to 5,000 acres
but later reports lowered it
to 2,500 acres. Rhea said his
guess was that it covered an
area of two miles by about
one mile wide. He added
that they had problem s
controlling the spread of the
fire because burning rabbits
ran across the road and set
the other side of the road
on fire. He gave credit to
the landowners for helping
them control the fire as well
as they did.
“Luckily, we had a
really good response from
landowners. That’s critical
for us,” said Rhea. “Even
with a lot of resources, we
still need their help. They
know the area and the ac­
cess points, and they’re
there with their sprayers.
We had several owners
bring dozers to help with
the job. We appreciate them
a lot.”
City approves new contract
with sheriff’s department
By David Sykes
The city o f Hep­
pner last week approved a
new contract with the Mor­
row County SherifFs Office
to provide city-wide police
protection. The contract is
up $3,318 over last year, to
$184,590. Sheriff Matlack
and Undersheriff Myron
were both at the council
meeting to answer ques­
tions about the contract,
and they pointed out that the
city is getting a pretty good
deal for the protection they
receive, and the budget has
only gone up seven percent
over the last six years. The
city did drop the number of
deputies assigned to the city
from three to two between
2008 and 2009.
C o u n cilm em b er
Cody High raised the ques­
tion of why Irrigon’s con­
tract amount was less that
H eppner’s. Irrigon also
contracts with the coun­
ty for police protection.
Boardman is the only com­
munity in the county that
still has its own police de­
partment.
M yron said the
main reason Irrigon’s con­
tract is less is that Irrigon
-See SHERIFF S CON-
TRACT/PAGE SIX
Heppner man arrested
following accident
Oregon State Po­
lice (OSP) arrested Hep­
pner man Jerry Lee Manley
last Thursday night follow­
ing an investigation into a
single-vehicle traffic crash
on Highway 207 near the
Umatilla/Morrow County
line. The accident was de­
termined to be alcohol-
related.
Around 6:50 p.m.
on March 15, 38-year-old
Manley was driving his
1994 D odge Ram 1500
pickup while driving north­
bound on Highway 207 near
Big Butter Creek Road near
milepost 20. The pickup
was traveling at a high rate
o f speed when Man-
ley lost control and
crashed. M anley
and passenger Mau-
na Kay Patterson,
51, from Pendleton,
were transported by
ambulance to Good
Shepherd Medical
Center in Hermis-
ton with non-life threaten­
ing injuries.
Upon his release
from the hospital, OSP ar­
rested Manley on charges
o f DUII - alcohol, assault
The city o f Hep­
pner last week endorsed
a plan to ship millions of
tons o f coal brought in
from Wyoming through the
Port of Morrow and on to
Korea, Japan and Taiwan.
The city council was asked
to write a letter of support
for the project by Greg
Smith, of Gregory Smith
and Company, LLC, which
is working in conjunction
with the Port of Morrow to
implement the project.
U nder the plan,
Ambre Energy, an Austra­
lian-based company with
large coal holdings in the
United States, would ship
3.5 million tons o f low-
sulfur coal each year from
the Powder Basin area of
Wyoming. The coal would
travel first by rail to the
Port of Morrow at Board-
man, then by barge to the
Port of St. Helens, where
it would be transferred to
large ocean-going barges
to be shipped to its final
Greg Smith shows a draw ing of the proposed coal reload facil­
ity for the Fort of Morrow. The project would create jobs and
fund schools. -Photo by David Sykes
destination in the Far East.
Smith pointed out that ship­
ping the coal through Mor­
row County could generate
significant county property
tax and additional funding
for schools.
“1 am asking your
support to show that we
have control o f our own
economy, not outsiders,”
Smith told the city coun­
cil.
He said outside
groups are expected to op­
pose the project “just be­
cause it is coal.” Smith said
environmental groups such
as River Keepers oppose
all use of coal, and would
-See COAL TERMINAL/
PAGE FIVE
Local athletic director
honored by association
By Andrea Di Salvo
H e p p n e r Hi g h
School Athletic Director
Greg Grant has been se­
lected by the Oregon Ath­
letic Directors Association
(OADA) as 2A Classifica­
tion Athletic Director of
the Year, the organization
announced Monday.
Grant, 51, is in his
tenth year as H eppner’s
athletic director. Bom and
raised in Elgin, OR, he
attended Southern Oregon
University in Ashland be­
fore getting his bachelor’s
degree at Eastern Oregon
University in La Grande.
He then went on to get a
m aster’s degree in cur­
riculum and instruction at
Oregon State University in
Corvallis.
Grant moved
Greg Grant urges on pla>ers under the Friday night lights
during his time as HHS athletic director. -Photo by Sandy
Matthews
to Alsea, OR out o f col­
lege. where he taught and
coached at a small school
for five years. After that,
he said, he wanted to get
back to eastern Oregon.
That was when he took the
job as a teacher and coach
in Heppner. in 1990. He
became athletic director of
HHS in 2001.
“I’ve seen no rea­
son to go anywhere else,”
he says.
-See A THLETIC DIREt TOR/
PAGE TWO
Area pastors invited to
submit Easter messages
in the third degree, reck­
lessly endangering another
Easter is April 8. The Heppner Gazette-Times invites area pastors to submit
person and reck­ Easter messages to be published in the April 4 edition. The deadline is Friday. March
less driving. Man- 30, at 5 p.m.
ley was also cited
Messages can be dropped off at the Gazette office, emailed to editor@rapid-
for driving while serve.net, or faxed to 541 -676-9211.______________________________________
suspended. He was
‘A
,'L
lodged in the Uma­
tilla County jail.
Lead inves­
tigator is Trooper W in t e r C lo t h in g S a l e !
Mark Amos. OSP Insulated Coveralls
was assisted at the
scene by local emergency
Bibs • Coats
responders and ODOT. The
Snow Packs
highway was temporarily
closed during the scene in­
Morrow County Grain Growers Green Feed & Seed
vestigation.
i^ 4 ^ 6 fA in d e r^ W a j^ te £ £ n e ^ ^ 6 7 ^ 9 4 2 ^ ^ ^ 8 9 ^ 2 2 ^ M C G ^ n « ir^ fn c « )
NOW IN STOCK!
• Potting Soil «Bark Mulct)
• Soil Amendments
• Garden Seeds
• Seed Potatoes & Onions'
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