Image provided by: Morrow County Museum; Heppner, OR
About Heppner gazette-times. (Heppner, Or.) 1925-current | View Entire Issue (June 20, 2012)
I l i l i i l i i i l i l i i l l l i l l l l | | l | l l l || Bessie Wetzell Newspaper Library University of Oregon Eugene, OR 97403 Local cattlewoman‘tough by nature By Andrea Di Salvo It’s often said, "Look up ‘tough’ in the diction ary and you’ll find a pic ture o f ...” H eppner has many names to fill in those blanks. One of them is Shir- 5(K VOL. 131 N O . 24 8 Pages Wednesday, June 20, 2012 Morrow County, Heppner, Oregon Willow Creek wind project could mean 35-40 jobs Project developer speaks to Chamber o f Commerce By David Sykes A planned 310-tower wind farm proposed on 60,000 acres near Heppner will create 35 to 40 perma nent jobs, a developer of the project told the Heppner Chamber of Commerce last Thursday. Laura Miner, Project Development Manager for Chicago-based lnvenergy, developer of the Willow Creek wind farm, said the farm will be a benefit to Morrow County in the form of new property taxes and new jobs. “The rule of thumb is usually one technician for every 13 turbines,” Miner said. She said additional jobs will be created for sup port and other staff. When asked by one cham ber m ember if the wind farm’s maintenance facility could be built on the Heppner side of the hill near Jones Hill, and thus attract more workers to make their home in Heppner, Miner said that was a possibility. Jerry Healy said if the maintenance buildings are constructed there, instead o f further to the north end of the wind farm near But ter Creek, it would mean just a 10-mile drive from H eppner for em ployees when they report to work, which could mean more employees choosing Hep pner as the place to live, which would be more of an economic benefit. If the fa cility were built near Butter Creek, it would be 25 miles from Hermiston, and many employees might choose to locate in that city instead. Because o f the size of the Willow Creek wind farm. lnvenergy was re quired to take the project directly to State o f O r egon Energy Facility Sitting Council (EFSC), instead of going through the Morrow County Planning Commis sion. EFSC plans on hold ing two public inform a tional meetings explaining the project, one on July 10 in Stanfield and one on July 11 in Heppner. One large financing piece o f many windmill projects is the use o f the U.S. governm ent’s Pro ley Rugg. Those who have met the cattlewoman and local icon won’t have any trouble understanding why she, of all people, fits the definition well enough to be included in a book called “Tough by Nature.” Bom in 1929, the 83-year-old is the epitome o f what it means to be a ranching woman in the American west. Rugg was born and raised in the Heppner area, daughter of Wavel and Frank W ilkinson. She still has family in the area, including brother Dick Wilkinson and his wife, Virginia. She says she has been working cattle all her life and will continue to do so “ .. .as long as 1 can sit on a horse.” Rugg says she’s never seen herself as especially tough, but admits it might be true. “I’m not weak; I’m a fighter,” she says. “If that makes me tough, then I guess I am.” T hat’s what Eugene, O R -based artist Lynda Lanker thought when she visited Rugg in 1994 to capture her image for Lank- er’s series on cowgirls and ranching women. The result is now a part of “Tough by Nature: Portraits o f Cow girls and Ranch Women o f the American West,” published by the Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art (JSMA) at the University of Oregon and released for Top: Shirley Rugg shows off a copy of Tough by Nature, while one of her faithful and ever-present canine companions looks on. - Photo by Andrea Di Salvo Bottom: Lynda Lanker, Shirley Rugg, 1998, oil pastel, €) Image courtesy of the artist sale this month. In her quiet way, Rugg is thrilled with the book, and with her place in it. “It’s a great book,” she says. “She (Lanker) outdid herself.” The hardcover book of art and profiles features a forward by cowboy author Larry M cM urtry, intro duction by retired United States Supreme Court jus tice Sandra Day O'Connor and an afterword by poet Maya Angelou. Along with this star-studded lineup, the book represents time and travel spanning nearly 20 years and thousands of miles by Lanker. Most telling of all, though, are the images captured by Lanker showing a side of the American west long ignored by artists and media -See TOUGH BY NATURE/ PAGE EIGHT Haguewood to retire after 33 years Above: Laura Miner, Project Manager of Invenergy’s Willow Creek Wind Project, speaks to last week’s Heppner Chamber of Commerce meeting. - Photo by David Sykes Below: A map of the proposed Willow Creek wind farm and the placement of towers. By Andrea Di Salvo School is out for the year at Heppner Elementary School, giving the normally busy halls the feel of a ghost town. A few teachers and other personnel brave the quiet, working at end-of- the-year organizing and tidying. For one of those, sec ond-grade teacher Mary Haguewood, the end-of- year clean-up may be a little bittersweet this time around. Haguewood, who has been w ith M orrow County School District for 33 years, is retiring this month. Haguewood was bom in 1956 and raised in The D alles, OR, where her from there with a Bachelor mother was a teacher and of Arts degree in elemen her father was a cherry tary education in 1979. grow er. She has After earning five sisters, as well her bachelor’s de as a brother who is gree, she took a job now deceased. She teaching fifth grade attended St. Mary’s at A.C. Houghton Academy—where Elementary in Ir- she w ore a u n i Mary rigon in 1979. She Haguewood form—through the added fifth grade eighth grade. She at Sam Boardman then attended The Dalles Elementary to her teaching Junior High and The Dalles credits when that school High School, graduating opened in March of 1980. from high school in 1975. Later that year, she trans After high school she ferred to Heppner Elemen went straight to what is tary School to teach fourth now Eastern Oregon Uni grade and be closer to her versity—then Eastern Or fiancée, local farmer and egon State College— in La -See TEACHER RETIRES/ PAGE FOUR Grande. OR. She graduated Cooking and bookkeeping duction Tax Credit (PTC). Investors, such as insurance companies and banks, who have a tax liability, are able to receive tax credits to lessen their tax bills. The PCT is presently in front o f the U.S. congress for renewal. When asked if the Willow Creek project would still move forward if renewal is denied. Miner said it would. M iner said one fac tor would be the number o f state laws requiring a percentage o f renewable energy use in the coming years. “They are going to have to get that renewable energy from somewhere,” she said on the continued viability o f wind projects with or without the PCT. A timeline for the Wil low Creek Wind Farm has not been established, but it may be two years until it is completed. -See WIND FARM/PAGE FIVE ALL NEWS AND ADVERTISEMENT DEADLINE: MONDAYS AT 5:00 P.M. By Andrea Di Salvo Cooking and books... the owner o f H eppner’s newest business knows a lot about both, but don’t worry, she never combines them. Roxane Kulon, owner of KNM Bookkeeping, has opened up shop in the Wil low Creek Realty office on Main Street in Heppner, offering bookkeeping ser vices to local businesses and individuals. The 48-year-old is a Heppner newcomer, but a veteran bookkeeper. She was bom and spent the first 20 years of her life in Tombstone, AZ. She got her first exposure to book keeping at the age o f nine, looking over the books for her father’s two busi nesses. She attended a trade school briefly after graduat ing from Tombstone High School in 1982, but then she Rosane Kulon has set up shop on Main Street in Heppner. -Photo by Andrea Di Salvo among others. In 2003, she met chef John Kulon; the couple was married in 2005. As a chef, John Kulon moved a lot, and she began moving with him. “We’ve been traveling ever since,” says Kulon. went to work and “fell into bookkeeping.” Kulon then moved to Denver, CO, where she continued to work in book keeping and payroll for several different compa nies. She lived in Denver for 17 years, logging time with companies like Intuit and Robert Half Finance, -See COOKS AND BOOKS/ PAGE EIGHT Qniniim?Kte33(inC9 Includes water heaters D iscount through July 3 1 st 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 M o rro w C o u n ty G rain G ro w e rs Lexington flton >89-6221 * 1-600-482-7396 For firm •qnlpmot. visit oar vtb rtu if www ¡^¡2LïîL i
