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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
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