Bessie Wet/ell Newspaper Library
l Diversity of Oregon
Eugene. OR 97403
5(K
FFA L am b O pen
H o u s e h e ld h e r e
Heppner FFA held an open
house Monday evening that
featured baby lambs. The
event was held at the FFA
bam at Heppner High School.
Above, Ashley Hansen (R),
teaches Harley Andersonabout
lambs. Below, Jimmy Adams
gets a good look at a sheep.
VOL. 132
N O . 16
8 Pages
Wednesday, April 17, 2013
Morrow County, Heppner, Oregon
Area farmer, rancher say they will get by
Lack of rainfall begins
to impact local growers
By Patty Nance
A lack of winter snow
and a serious shortage of
rainfall could spell disaster
for area fanners and ranch
ers this year.
Bill Jepsen, a wheat
farmer who lives 18 miles
west of Heppner, says he is
already seeing the affects
o f low m oisture on his
crops. “Our crops are really
starting to suffer,” he said.
“Where the soil is shallow
the leaves are starting to
turn brown”.
Jepsen, who has tracked
the weather every day for
many years, said he looks at
the crop year which is Sept.
1 through Aug. 31 instead
of the calendar year.
If you look from the
beginning of the drop year
through April 15, Jepsen re
corded six inches of rain in
seven and one-half months.
“The average is 8.62 inches
through the middle of this
m onth,” he said. “That
makes it 2.62 inches below
normal for the crop year.”
In a summary of water
conditions in the Umatilla,
Walla Walla and Willow
Basins, the National Re
sources Conservation Ser
vice (NRCS) data supports
Jepsen’s findings.
As of April 1, the basin
snowpack was 75 percent
o f normal which is sig
nificantly lower than last
m onth when snow pack
was 98 percent of normal.
According to the report,
March precipitation was 62
percent of normal.
Jepsen said the pas
ture grasses are beginning
to struggle. “The native
grasses are much shorter,”
he said. “It is heading out
earlier than usual.”
Life-long rancher Joe
McElligott, lone, said the
south slopes o f his graz
ing ground are really dry.
“They’re burned up,” he
said, “but the north slopes
have moisture.”
Both men have seen
bad years before. “2002 and
1999 were horrible years,”
Jepsen said.
He explained that in
1999 there was a total of
7.3 inches of rainfall for the
crop year and in 2002 just
over 9 inches.
Both men have seen the
best and the worst of what
Oregon weather has to of
fer. “We should have more
moisture,” McElligott said.
“But we will get by - we
always do.”
“ We are s p o ile d ,”
Jepsen said. “We haven’t
cut a bad crop in years.”
Former lone student
awarded the Barry
Goldwater Scholarship
A former lone High
School student has re
ceived one of the nation’s
most prestigious honors.
Alex Carlson, a stu
dent at Point Loma Naza-
rene U niversity in San
Diego, was one o f 217
scholars awarded the Barry
Goldwater Scholarship and
Excellence in Education
Foundation scholarship.
Carlson’s high school
physics, chemistry and ad
vanced math teacher Dale
Holland said Carlson was a
very good student. “He was
a really good student,” he
said. “We are so proud of
him. This is one of the top
awards in the nation.”
C arlson is a ju n io r
undergraduate Biology-
Chemistry major and is an
undergraduate researcher in
the Chemistry department.
“Our current project
is developing a small mol
ecule inhibitor of the An
thrax Lethal Factor pro
tein,” he said.
In addition to science,
Carlson plays in the univer
sity’s orchestra as principal
second violin.
Alex Carlson
He will graduate from
Point Loma next spring
and plans to attend gradu
ate school to earn a PhD in
Medicinal Chemistry.
The Goldwater Schol
ars were selected on the
basis o f academic merit
from a field of 1,107 math
ematics, science, and engi
neering students who were
nominated by the faculties
of colleges and universities
nationwide. One hundred
seventy-six of the Scholars
are men, 95 are women, and
virtually all intend to obtain
a Ph.D. as their degree
objective. Twenty-seven
Scholars are mathematics
majors, 159 are science
and related majors, 71 are
majoring in engineering,
and 14 are computer sci
ence majors. Many of the
Scholars have dual majors
in a variety of mathemat
ics, science, engineering,
and computer disciplines.
The one and two year
scholarships will cover the
cost of tuition, fees, books,
and room and board up to
a maximum of $7,500 per
year.
R ece n t G o ld w a te r
Scholars have been award
ed 80 Rhodes Scholarships,
118 Marshall Awards, 110
C hurchill S cholarships
and numerous other distin
guished fellowships.
The Scholarship Pro
gram honoring Senator
Barry Goldwater was de
signed to foster and encour
age outstanding students to
pursue careers in the fields
of mathematics, the natural
sciences, and engineering.
The Goldwater Scholarship
is the premier undergradu
ate award of its type in these
fields.
Photo by: Megan Putter
Rules for enterprise
zone are developing
Boardman, Port and county to
vote on how money to be spent
By David Sykes
A set of rules governing
how the Columbia River
Enterprise Zone board or
directors will collect and
distribute money collected
from businesses in lieu
o f property taxes locat
ing in Morrow County’s
enterprise zone, has been
formulated and sent to the
city council of Boardman,
Port o f Morrow and the
County Court for approval.
If approved the rules
will spell out how poten
tially millions of dollars
collected from companies
locating here will be dis
tributed w ithin Morrow
County in the future. The
Enterprise Zone Commit
tee met at the Port of Mor
row April 8 to finalize its
rules.
Boardman, Port
of Morrow and the county
each appoint two people to
the committee, which will
make the disbursement de
cisions. Boardman and the
Port along with the county
are located within the zone
located in the North end of
the county. Irrigon, lone
and Heppner are not located
in the enterprise zone and
therefore do not have rep
resentation on the board.
So far the enterprise
board has already made an
agreement with Rackspace
for paym ents in lieu o f
property taxes, and will be
receiving those funds short
ly. The Zone is currently
w aiting to sign another
agreement with Columbia
River technologies which
will also bring addition
al funds into its coffers.
Last July Rackspace,
a computer hosting com
pany, signed an agreement
with the Enterprise Board
spelling out how much
money the company will
pay in fees instead of prop
erty taxes over the next 15
years. Because the com
p an y ’s new data center
will be located at the Port
of Morrow in an enterprise
zone, it is exempt from
regular county taxation.
The agreement covers
how much the $6 billion
San Antonio, TX-based
data h o stin g com pany
agrees to pay each year
“as a contribution to local
services or infrastructure
benefiting the F acility”
instead of property taxes.
In the agreement. Rack-
space, which trades on the
New York Stock Exchange
under the symbol RAX,
agreed to pay the enter
prise zone board $100,000
per year for the first three
years o f the agreement;
from years four to 15 it
w ill pay $200,000 per
year in what is described
as a “local service fee.”
Under the new rules
o f the Enterprise Board
the funds will be held and
distributed by a designated
“fiscal agent” to be named
by the board, and answering
to the board. Disburse
ment of those funds will be
governed by the six-person
board, made up of two rep
resentatives from the Port,
the county and the city of
Boardman. Those repre
sentatives will be appointed
by their respective bodies.
U nder the proposed
rules, when giving out
the money the board will
entertain “recom m enda
tions and requests from
affected special districts of
potential impacts involv
ing the service provided
by said districts, including
but not limited to fire pro
tection and public safety.”
Money collected by
the board will be distrib
uted at least biannually,
can change from year to
year, and will be carried
out by the fiscal agent as
instructed by the board.
If an agreement cannot be
reached as to how funds
should be distributed the
funds will be divided up and
given to each of the sponsor
entities (City o f Board-
man, Port of Morrow and
Morrow County) equally.
Current members on
the committee are Mayor
Sandy Toms and City Man
ager Karen Pettigrew from
the City of Boardman, Gen
eral Manager Gary Neal and
board member Don Russell
from the Port of Morrow,
and Commissioner Leann
Rea and A ssessor G reg
Sweek of Morrow County.
Non-voting Chairman of
the Enterprise Zone Com
mittee is Carla McLane
o f the M orrow C ounty
P lan n in g D ep a rtm e n t.
The board was set
up in March of 2009, and
governs the approximately
12-square-mile enterprise
zone in the north end of Mor
row County, which includes
mostly the Port of Morrow
and the city of Boardman.
As part of last year’s
R ackspace ag re e m e n t,
15 percent o f the money
Rackspace pays in lieu of
taxes will go to the recently-
formed Morrow Education
Foundation. The F oun
dation is not part o f any
school district, and was
set up to be similar to the
lone Education Founda
tion. which receives money
outside the regular taxing
system but helps fund edu
cation through a series of
grants to the local schools.
Future enterprise zone
agreements are expected to
carry similar contributions
to the education foundation.
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TIME TO GARDEN
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Morrow County Grain Growers Green Feed & Seed
242 W. Linden Way, Heppnar • 676-9422 • 989-6221 (MCGG main office)
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