Image provided by: Morrow County Museum; Heppner, OR
About Heppner gazette-times. (Heppner, Or.) 1925-current | View Entire Issue (June 13, 2012)
Bear shot outside Heppner By Andrea Di Salvo Anyone who thought they saw a bear in the out skirts of Heppner on Sun day doesn't need to have their eyes checked. A young black bear did wander close to the city limits over the weekend. Steve Cherry o f the e\\ ne^sÇ>aper <* ° ' e9° '' o* ,..'\V ,\\>*\vv %>** 5(K HEPPNER unes VOL. 131 N 0. 24 10 Pages Wednesday, June 13, 2012 Morrow County, Heppner, Oregon Council leaves pit bulls on dangerous animal list Wants owners to register with city By David Sykes said there are pit bulls in his The H ep p n er C ity neighborhood that worry Council Monday decided him. “I came home one day to leave pit bulls on the list and the dog made a run at of dangerous animals in the my wife.” city, and urged the dog own He said one o f dogs ers to come in and register has killed another dog in with the city. the neighborhood, and that To own a pit bull in he is concerned about the Heppner, owners are re safety of young people, say quired to post a $100 fee ing “There are kids going and prove they have at least by my place on their way to $100,000 in liability insur school all the time.” ance in order to keep the “Their instinct is to be dogs. Normal dog fees are a killer or a fighter and it $7 for each neutered pet and only takes one time to kill $ 15 for unneutered, with no or hurt a child,” said Jackie insurance requirement. Allstott in urging the coun At last month’s meet cil to keep the dogs on the ing, the council discussed dangerous list. removing the dog breed “If you watch the Port from the dangerous animal land news, you know there list; however, at Monday’s have been problems (with June meeting, the council pit b u lls),” M ayor Les heard testimony from citi Paustian said. “ We have zens and talked more about been lucky.” the proposal, then decided Sheryll and Dale Bates, to leave the dangerous ani who live on Cannon St., mal ordinance unchanged. repeated a story that She “ We are concerned ryll had told the council about pit bulls,” Heppner last month about a pit bull resident Clyde Allstott told in their neighborhood. A the council. Allstott, who pit bull owned by people lives on North Court St., across the street from their G-T Trophy Corner Local men hook humdinger o f a halibut Local men Bill Boyd and M a rk Wunderlich with the 112-pound halibut they landed off Hippa Island during a trip to the Queen Charlotte Islands in Canada. The men were staying on a sea going lodge built on a barge. They caught the fish, the biggest for their group, on Wednesday, June 1, west of Vancouver. W underlich said he felt something tug on his line, and then heard that Boyd also had hooked something; it turned out they had both hooked the same halibut. When the fish clime out of the water, it had three hooks and two lines in it; the fish afe both of the men's hooks. Boyd also caught a 36-pound ling cod during the trip. -Contributedphoto house (who have since moved away) had chased a young person down the street in front of their house until the person had to jump their fence to get away from the dog. “ If that had been a younger child that could not get over the fence it is no telling what could have happened,” Sheryll said. “That dog had no rea son to attack," added Dale. Sheriff’s deputy John Bowles, who is a member of the city council, said his department had to shoot two pit bulls that had been killing sheep last year. “Once they got a taste o f that blood, they went from animal to animal,” he said. One councilmember, Cody High, said he did not believe that pit bulls are naturally vicious, saying it is the owners, and the dog’s training, that causes the bad behavior and violence. Councilmember Judy B u sch k e, w ho at last month’s meeting told how her relatives owned five o f the dogs and had no problems, said since last month there was an incident with the pit bulls involving children, and her relatives have since gotten rid of all the dogs. High also said the high er registration fee of $100 is causing owners not to come in and register their dogs, so the city does not really know how many, or where, pit bulls are located in Heppner. He suggested lowering the fee so more people will come in and register. If they cannot afford to pay the fees and buy the insurance, then they should not be allowed to own the dogs, one audience member said. In other business at the meeting the council; -reviewed a list of sev en candidates for the soon- to-be-vacated city manager position. Dave DeMayo has announced his retirement and plans on leaving in Au gust. DeMayo reported to the council that he has been doing background and other checks on the narrowed- down list o f candidates. There were originally 30 -See CITY COUNCIUPAGE EIGHT Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife (ODFW) got a call from a local citizen, who spotted the bear in a tree. The bear was on the hill just past the turnoff to Willow Creek Reservoir at that point, but had ap parently been wandering around residences and dis playing no fear of humans or human activity. One of residents who spotted the bear was Tonya Jones. Jones said her hus band, Lowell, and their son were in their garage when they happened to glance out the window. The bear was directly behind their house but on other side of highway. “Who would ever guess we’d see a black bear al most in our back yard?” said Jones, who added that grandkids visiting from out of town were also thrilled to see the bear. “It was really quite exciting.” Jones said a truck com ing down the road from the direction of the reservoir also spotted the bear and stopped. That apparently startled the bear, which took off in the direction of the Gibbs residence, where that family had a chance to see it as it wandered through their pasture. “It was exciting to see a bear down here,” said Sue Gibbs. The truck belonged to the Bennett family, who were the ones who called Steve Cherry. Above; A black bear (circled) was spotted near the outskirts of Heppner, on the hill just past the turnoff to Willow Creek Reservoir. -Photo by Kate Day Below: At one point, the bear on the outskirts of Heppner took to a tree before coming down and continuing to wander around residences. -Photo by Misty Bennett “It was shocking, for sure,” Misty Bennett said. Cherry was out of town at the time, but said he in structed them to try to keep the bear in the tree while he made calls and gathered the appropriate people to take care of it. Rather than staying in the tree, Cherry said, the bear came down. “Instead of doing what a bear would normally do (run away), it continued to wander around the resi dences and didn’t seem scared of anybody.” -See BEAR SHOT IN HEP- PNER/PAGE SEVEN Local man gives advice on workplace stress Effective leadership can help By David Sykes Stress in the workplace costs businesses more $200 billion a year, as well as one million people absent from work on any given day, a local man who teaches classes on the subject told the Heppner Chamber of Commerce. Carmelo Di Salvo, Hep pner, who teaches business communications classes for the University of Phoenix, said management can have a big effect in causing or alleviating stress in the workplace. Di Salvo said aggres sive m anagement style, lack of support, aversive behavior and poor rela tionships at work are all sources of job stress, and that 80 percent of workers report feeling stressed on the job. He added that some employees believe that their opinions at work do not matter, their feelings have not been heard and that their Business management expert Carmelo Di Salvo addressed the Heppner Chamber of Commerce about workplace stress. -Photo by David Sykes heart attack and stroke. Di Salvo said. Fourteen per cent o f workers say they have felt like striking a coworker in the past year, with nine percent actually committing an assault or -See WORK STRESS/PAGE THREE ideas are discounted, all leading to increased stress levels. Increased stress levels can cause physical prob lems such as high blood pressure, clogging of arter ies, increased cholesterol and an increased risk of School board honors state softball champs Bv April Sykes The Morrow County School Board and admin istration recognized the Heppner Mustangs’ state softball championship with a reception at the board meeting at the district office Monday. The board also recog nized administrators John Sebastian, who is retiring as A.C. Houghton Elemen tary principal, and Heppner High School Principal Daye Stone, who is leaving the sistant; Eric Lougee, Mor row Education Center ed assistant; retirement-Gary Hunt, Irrigon Junior-Senior High School; extra duty- Madison Rosenbalm, Hep pner Junior High School assistant volleyball coach; Breena Tolar. Irrigon Junior High School assistant girls' and boys’ basketball coach; Rick Drake, transfer from Riverside High School mu- -See SCHOOL BOARD HONORS TEAM/PAGE FIVE district for another position in southern Oregon. Stone visibly choked up when speaking about his experi ence in Heppner. Also at the meeting the board took care of numer ous housekeeping tasks as follows: -approved em p lo y ment action as follows: resignations-Joe Lindsay, half-time music teacher at Heppner High School; Jer emy LaFramboise. Windy River Elementary ed as Summer Discount! 10% off on PROPANE HEATER INSTALLATIONS Includes water heaters Discount through July 31st Factory & Tax Rebates may apply First year tank rent free on new tank installations ________ Offer good only on items purchased from MCGG restrictions may apply Morrow County Grain Growers JLO X Ìngfor^989^822V M -800-452^73^^^oM tniM jqulpin«C»tej^u^e^a^M vw »nncg!^ \
