Image provided by: Morrow County Museum; Heppner, OR
About Heppner gazette-times. (Heppner, Or.) 1925-current | View Entire Issue (March 20, 2013)
Great Green Parade winner k 7 4M N e w s p a p e r L ib ra ,v d ive rs ity o f O reg o n Eugene. O R 9 7403 £ u t $ li HEPPNER 5<K Brianna Peterson, Heppner, passes out treats (luring the Great Green Parade on Saturday. Peterson, an employee of the Bank of Eastern Oregon, said this is the first year she worked on the bank’s float. The bank took first place in the float division. - Photo by April Sykes Fantastic sheep, local support key to bringing dog trial enthusiasts to Heppner each year By Patty Nance VOL. 132 N O . 12 8 Pages Wednesday, March 20, 2013 Morrow County, Heppner, Oregon Work starting on Barratt Blvd project By David Sykes A Washington con struction company has start ed work on the $1.4 million Bar ratt Blvd project in Heppner, the city council was told last week. To avoid the extra crowds and traffic, Tapani Inc. of Battleground, waited until after St. Patrick’s Day to start the work, but is now prepar ing to start tear ing out old road and re p la c in g with new street, sidewalk, curbs, and in one place a stairway from Barratt past the Nazarene Church on Gilmore, up to the hospital. The project is expected to be completed by July 4, a spokesman for the company told the Gazette. There will be 12 people working on the project and equipment w ill include doz ers, excavators and wheel loaders, he added. In other construction news Heppner City Man a g e r Kim C u ts fo rth t o l d th e council the Sperry Street relo cation proj ect has been pushed back from May to Au gust when it will be put out to bid. "The proj ect will be starting this fall as op posed to this su m m e r,” C u ts fo rth to l d th e council at its monthly meeting last week. T h e Sperry Street proj ect will see the street re lo c a te d a f te r th e bridge over Willow Creek was closed and it was determined to be more feasible to reroute the street than put in a new bridge. Cutsforth also told the council that the sidewalks on Riverside were almost com plete and the curbs were scheduled to be done last week, and that the city received the go-ahead from ODOT (Oregon Dept, of Transportation) to proceed with the easement and put in the Lover’s Lane Bridge. She also announced that John Anderson and Patti Allstott had agreed to serve on the city planning commission. "They will both be a great addition,” she said. The council voted unanimously to appoint the two. In addition Cutsforth pointed out successful prop erty cleanups around town and thanked the Morrow County Sheriff’s Depart ment for its cooperation in working with landowners to clean up their properties. In other council busi ness Judy Buschke o f the Heppner Housing Author ity, which runs the St. Pat rick’s Senior Center and apartments, said they cur rently have two vacancies. -Continued on PAGE EIGHT Over 13,000 CRP acres in Morrow County set to retire in September Oregon Farm Service Agency (FSA) State Ex ecutive Director Lynn Voigt announced recently that the Oregon FSA will conduct a four-week Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) general sign-up beginning May 20 and ending on June 14. “It continues to be our goal to ensure that we use CRP to address our most critical resource issues,” said Voigt. “In 2012, many states experienced the worst drought in 60 years. CRP protected environmentally- sensitive lands from wash ing or blowing away. It gave ranchers extra grazing land when they needed it. I expect there will be strong competition to enroll or re enroll acres into CRP, so I urge Oregon’s producers G-T Trophy Corner Dick Paris, Heppner, caught this 24 1/2 inch lung steelhead on the Wallowa River last week. He was fishing with his grandson, Terry Reynolds, who resides in Milton-Freewater. -Contributed photo I to maximize their environ mental benefits and make sure their offers are cost- effective.” In addition to erosion control, CRP provides sig nificant water-quality bene fits including reduced nutri ents and sediment loadings and adverse consequences associated with floods as well as expanded and en hanced wildlife habitat. Currently, about 543,542 acres are enrolled in CRP in Oregon. In Mor row C ounty, there are 114,672 acres enrolled in CRP and 13,211 are set to expire in September. State wide, contracts on 56,219 acres are set to expire. CRP is a voluntary pro gram available to agricul tural producers to help them safeguard environmentally- sensitive land. Producers enrolled in CRP plant long term, resource-conserving covers to improve the qual ity of water, control soil erosion and enhance wild life habitat. Cold, biting winds and ornery sheep coupled with intense, de term ined dogs and strident com mands like “walk up” and “away to the right” were the norm last w eekend when c h a m p io n sh ip dogs took on the sheep from Ce cil. All part of the action at the United States Bor der Collie Handlers Assn. (USBCA) Sheep Dog Trials held just north of Heppner last weekend. Handlers and owners from throughout the North west and beyond brought their border collies in hopes of adding to point totals that could earn them a berth at the national championships in Virginia later this year. Why H eppner? For owner, handler, trainer Di anne Deal of Greenleaf, ID., the answer is simple: It’s all about the sheep. “It’s the Krebs’ sheep,” she said. “These are year ling range ewes and they have never been run in a group of less than 1,000. They take these sheep and break them into groups of five. They are just wonder ful sheep.” Deal said she has been coming to the Heppner trials for 10 or 12 years. She said they have the from the top of the hill to the gates. “It was fantastic,” she said. Mohney credits Brian Thompson for making the event so special. “He do nates the land, the hay and the setup for the sheep and the All-Around High Point Award,” she said. “That and the Krebs sheep were just fantastic.” Local 4-H group, the Bamyarders, helped at the pen, separating the ewes into lots of five. Mohney said the group helps each year to help raise funds for their club. “You just have the greatest support there in Heppner,” she said. This year’s overall win ner was Scott Glen and his dog “Don” from New Dayton, Alberta, Canada. Glen also won top points on Sunday. Saturday’s top point earner was Lora Withmell and her dog “Bella” from Salem. opportunity to compete at Sonoma, CA. but choose to come to Heppner. Although there were dogs of all ages at the trials. Deal said it takes dogs five or six years to become a top herder. They reach their prime, she explained, be tween ages five and nine. Along with the com petitions, Deal also trains border collies and a few kelpies. “Border collies can go the distance. They move stock with their eyes. They are such control freaks - kind of like us,” she said. Karen Mohney, event organizer, said the event registration is filled quickly for the Heppner event. “We had 82 signed up for each day,” she said. “But we were only able to to run 50 dogs.” Mohney said a lottery is held by registra tion date. A new field was used for this year's competition. The course was 320 yards Churches will provide food baskets Seven area churches have joined efforts to pro vide a gift of food to local families who could use a little help during the long month of March, especially those with children to feed over Spring Break. March 24, from 2-4 pm (or as long as supplies last). Delivery is available for those unable to pick up a box. For delivery, call the Shared Ministry office at 541-676-9970 and leave a detailed message. Anyone in need is wel come, no questions asked. Food boxes will again be distributed outside All Saints Episcopal Church (comer of Church & Gale in Heppner) this Sunday, No charges filed in alleged diaper incident No charges will be filed following an alleged inci dent, concerning the use of diapers in a classroom at Sam Boardman Elementary School in Boardman. According to a press release from the Morrow County School Dist., there have recently been some allegations against a district employee regarding con duct towards students in the classroom. The employee in question was placed on leave when the allegations surfaced, and an investiga tion was completed by law enforcement and district officials. 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