Image provided by: Morrow County Museum; Heppner, OR
About Heppner gazette-times. (Heppner, Or.) 1925-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 9, 2013)
\ CREZ continues work on program to attract residents to county Bessie Wetzell Newspaper Libran. University o f Oregon Eugene. OR 97403 also live here. The program would also provide low interest “gap” financing for developers who want to construct rental housing in the county. There is an acknow ledged shortage o f rental housing in all sections of the county, and the CREZ board hopes the program will encourage more market-driven rental housing. There seems to be enough low -incom e housing throughout the county. At its meeting Monday the b o ard review ed a proposed housing program d ra w n up by C R E Z administrator Carla McLane sim ilar to one adopted by the city of Boardman. T h e C R E Z p ro g ra m w ill be a d m in is te re d by G r e a te r E a s te r n O reg o n D ev elo p m en t Corp. (GEODC), which administers other housing programs in Morrow and U m atilla counties, and funded by fees CREZ receives in lieu o f taxes when businesses locate in the enterprise zone at the Port o f M orrow in Morrow County, Heppner, Oregon Boardman. CREZ has so far given the city o f B oardm an By David Sykes The Columbia River Enterprise Zone (CREZ) c o n tin u e s w o rk on a housing program that would encourage people who work in Morrow County to 5(K VOL. 132 N O . 40 8 Pages Wednesday, October 9, 2013 G-T Trophy Corner $100,000 for its housing program, but members said Monday there probably will not be funding for a county-wide program for a year or two. T he b o a rd a ls o talked about encouraging b u sin esses lo catin g in the en terp rise zone to im p le m e n t th e ir ow n housing program. “ We need to s ta rt having a conversation with our business partners,” said CREZ board member Gary Neal. "They know we are trying to promote Morrow County living and they have a tool (to assist in this) that they can use,” he told the board. If e n te rp ris e zone businesses implement a housing assistance program they can partially offset the cost o f that program against the fees they will be p ay in g the CR EZ. T illa m o o k (C o lu m b ia River Processing) already has a pro g ram w here employees who move into Morrow County can receive a $7,500 grant tow ards the purchase o f a home, and Neal suggested the CREZ use that template to approach other businesses such as ConAgra to offer similar incentives. ConAgra is in the midst of a major expansion at the Port of Morrow and plans on hiring up to 100 new employees. The company is holding a job fair in Hermiston on Friday and members of the Willow Creek Economic Development Group plan on attending and handing out in fo rm atio n ab o u t south M orrow C ounty in an attem pt to entice new employees to live in Morrow County. Boardman Chamber of Commerce will also be at the job fair. The CREZ does not currently have any funds for the housing program and will not for a couple of years; however, the board did discuss the expenditure of approximately $300,000 they have collected already from b u s in e s s e s . T he money is paid the CREZ instead o f property taxes and can come in for up to 15 years in some cases. Som e b o ard m em b ers felt the $30 0 ,0 0 0 was already committed to the Morrow County Education Foundation. The foundation -See CREZ TALKS HOUS ING/PAGE FIVE Robinson retires after 32 years in banking By Andrea Di Salvo Florene Robinson will retire from the Bank o f Eastern Oregon this month after 32 years in banking and 10 years with the Bank o f EO’s Heppner branch. Robinson will be 66 on the day she retires, Oct. 18. R obinson was born in Ontario and raised in Adrian, in Malheur County, Oregon. She says she spent all 12 grades in Adrian schools, graduating from A drian High School in 1965. She spent one year pursuing general studies at Treasure Valley Community College in Ontario before m eeting her soon-to-be husband, Heppner native Dean Robinson. She left school when they were married, and the couple m oved to La G rande, where Dean completed his teaching degree. The Robinsons moved to Moro, OR in 1971, where Dean taught and Florene took a job as a part-time te ller at First N ational didn't mean the loss o f a Bank in Moro, now the job, though. M oro branch o f Bank “ Four o f us m oved o f Eastern Oregon. She up here to Bank o f EO worked there until (Heppner branch),” 1975, when Dean she says. took a “sabbatical” She spent her from teaching. The first year with BEO couple m oved to as a teller before A rlington, where b e c o m ing the Dean w orked for assistant to financial Frank Anderson for services. She has Robinson 13 years. spent the last eight years serving as “ Then CRP came into p la y ,” says phone recep tio n ist and Robinson, and the couple assistant to current financial moved to Heppner. Dean advisor Russ Murfitt. took a job teaching in lone, While many people where he stayed until his look forward to retirement, retirement, while Florene Robinson says she isn’t one returned to banking, going of thqm. to work for First Interstate “I want to put on the Bank in Heppner, located brakes. I'm not sure I want where Heppner City Hall is to leave!” she says, though now. She worked there as a she adds that her husband teller and operations officer is ready for her to spend through bank mergers and more time with him in joint buy-outs with Wells Fargo retirement. and Klamath First Federal, “This is my family, too, until the Bank of Eastern my second family. It’s kind Oregon bought out the bank -See ROBINSON RETIRES/ in 2003. The consolidation PAGE FIVE Ballots go out next week for Nov. election B a l l o t s for the upcoming special election will be mailed Wednesday, Oct. 16. Remember, ballots are not forwarded. Those who don't receive ballots but believe they should have should contact the Morrow County C lerk’s office at 541-676-5604. The bal l ot onl y co ntains one issue for Morrow County residents to determine this November, a m easure shared w ith U m a t i l l a C o u n t y to determ ine the future o f a capital im provem ent bond for Blue Mountain Community College. Measure 30-96 “ A u t h o r i z e s Ge n e r a l Obligation Bonds for Blue Mount ai n Co mmu n i t y Co l l e ge D i s t . ” The quest i on as stated on the ballot is whether the college will “issue general obl i g a t i o n bonds not exceeding $28,100,000 fo r c o n s t r u c t i o n , improvements, technology, l and a c q u i s i t i o n and capital assets? If the bonds are approved, they will be payable from taxes on property or property ow nership that are not s u b j e c t to the l i mi t s o f sections 11 and I lb, Article XI of the Oregon Constitution.” E l e c t i o n Da y is Tuesday, Nov. 5. All ballots Drop boxes like this one in the Morrow County Court house parking lot are avail able for 24-hour delivery of completed ballots in the up -See ELECTION BALLOTS/ coming special election, Nov. PAGE FIVE 5. -File photo E N TE R TO W IN Above: Better than homework.... Thirteen-year-old Aaron Smythe of lone had only about an hour of daylight to hunt after football practice on Monday, Sept. 30, when he bagged this 3x4 buck on his family’s property using a .257 Roberts inherited from his grandfather, Tom Huston. Middle: Colton and Josey Evans both bagged their first deer (ever) during their first time hunting (ever) this season. Colton, 13, took down his 3x4 on the Columbia Basin Unit on opening day, while Josey downed hers, a 4x4 with a 24-1/2 inch spread, the day after. Top: Diana Healy, 13, of Heppner shot this 3x4 buck with a .243 Winchester on Oct. 6 on the Healy Ranch on Butter Creek. This was Healy's third successful hunt. -Contributedphotos fo r John Nelson 2 0 1 4 P olaris S p o rtsm a n 5 7 0 R a ffle T ic k e ts $ 1 0 0 / e a c h t ic k e t s w ill be s o ld D ra w in g 1 2 /6 /1 3 Ticket* ca n he purchased at MCOO in Lexington, JfCGG Fertiliser Office in lone and Green Feed in Heppner Morrow County Grain Growers Lexington 989-8221 • 1-800-452-7396 For U m wprt fiat owe«* UM it w«w. * * * ** y
