Image provided by: Morrow County Museum; Heppner, OR
About Heppner gazette-times. (Heppner, Or.) 1925-current | View Entire Issue (Dec. 11, 2013)
I Bessie Wetzell Newspaper l ibrare University of Oregon Eugene. OR 974<n He must have been a very good boy t VOL. 132 N O . 46 8 Pages Wednesday, December 11, 2013 Morrow County, Heppner, Oregon City seeks to expand property lien authority Would now cover unpaid water bills and civil penalties, property cleanup and more By David Sykes A discussion at last month’s H eppner C ity C o u n cil meeting about a proposed ordinance allow ing the city o f Heppner to place liens on properties with delinquent water bills, has now expanded into talk of giving the city authority to place liens for a variety of other charges, including civil penalties, assessments, property cleanup costs and other unnamed charges. Last month the city council passed a motion instructing City Manager Kim Cutsforth “to start the process to lien properties for delinquent water and sewer bills.” Since then Cutsforth began working with City Attorney Phillip Spicerkuhn to come up with an ordinance allowing the city to do this. However, at Monday’s meeting the council was presented with an ordinance which expands the city’s lien pow er beyond ju st water and sewer bills to include, “but not limited to, assessments for local improvements, economic d ev elo p m en t d is tric ts, s y s te m d e v e lo p m e n t charges, facility charges, civil penalties and nuisance abatements.” Last month Cutsforth told the council, if adopted, the new ordinance would give the city a chance to recover unpaid water and sewer bills that sometimes run more than $1,000. Cutsforth said it gives the city a tool to collect bills when owners sometimes leave town with unpaid bills. If the home has a lien on it, the unpaid bills will be paid when the property is sold, she explained. Monday a discussion was held whether the city should also have the authority, not only to place a lien on property, but to actually foreclose on a home for non payment o f not only water bills, but also any o f the above m entioned ch arg es in cu rred by a homeowner. Cutsforth said she had originally struck foreclosure language from the proposed ordinance, however Spicerkuhn argued that the language should be left in because without the foreclosure ability, the ordinance would have no teeth. Under the proposed new law, fees incurred from civil penalties such as failure to obtain permits could now also be grounds for the city to place a lien on a person’s home. Also if cleanup, such as auto body removal, or as -Continued on PAGE EIGHT Creches make beautiful Christmas display Damien Sheoships-Ball must have been a very good boy as he is ail smiles after a confidential talk with Santa during the Customer Appreciation Day December 5 in Heppner. That day also featured the community tree lighting and carolers. Celebrate Heppner Christmas event December 19 The Celebrate Heppner Chamber Christmas Event will be held next Thursday, December 19, at 6 p.m. at the Morrow County Fairgrounds in Heppner. Dinner will be served at 6 p.m. by Sweet Productions. The menu will include spaghetti with marinara or meat sauce, garlic bread, garden salad, Christmas cookies, hot cocoa, coffee and lemonade. The cost is $7 per guest, $3 for children under five or $25 for a family of four. A no host beer and wine catered by Bucknum’s will be printed your name clearly available. on the “rewards cards” and Those attending will receive a $ 10 rewards card drop them in the specific prize container before 7:15 for every meal purchased. p.m. Raffle and penny Attendees may also: -Find “Scrooge” and see board tickets will provide if you can get him to hand for an opportunity to wir over a “reward card” or some “great prizes”. Raffle prizes include a Play two; -Get your picture taken Station 3 and a 7” Nook with Santa on the stage for HD $5 per picture from 6-7 Penny board prizes include a 40” LCD TV, a 7” Kindle p.m.; -Find the penny board and Fire and a 7” Nook HD. The announcemeni raffle basket items in the of “reward card” winners dance hall; drawing winners -Find the reward card and names for the penny and prizes set up in the Annex. Please make sure you have Christmas raffle Items will be announced at 7:30 p.m. Area pastors invited to submit Christmas messages Businesses, individuals also invited to sen d in Christmas greetings Crèches from area re s id e n ts m ade for a beautiful Christmas scene in a storefront window on Main Street in downtown Heppner this season. The nativity scenes w ere disp lay ed in the fro n t w indow s o f the former A rtisan Village/ Q uitter’s Roundup store on Main Street. At last count organizer Andrea Grigg said that they had received around 50 crèches to display. The crèches were on loan from area residents. Grigg said that the display was a “wonderful team effort.” “We were rewarded by the ex p ressio n s on people’s faces,” she added. “Many o f the sets have a special history in the lives o f the owners.” Grigg said that Sheryl! Bates provided input on setting up the display and assisted in providing the display with lights and tables from the Chamber o f C om m erce; B abette W all, B arbara Pruche, Misty Petzoldt and Peggy Fishbum helped prepare the windows; a youth group and some of their leaders from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints Willow Creek Branch washed the w in d o w s; P ru ch e and Natalie Grigg helped check in the nativities; Petzoldt, D o ris B ro sn a n , N ev a DeMayo, Natalie Grigg and Kay Proctor helped set up the display; Ken Wenberg helped in regulating the temperature and setting up fans when the windows got fogged up and he and his wife Bonnie donated use o f the space and allowed use of fabric and shelves for the display. The Heppner Gazette- deadline is Friday, Dec. 13, individuals who w ould Tim es w ill p u b lish a at 5 p.m. like to have a Christmas Christmas edition on Dec. M e s s a g e s c a n be greeting in the Dec. 18 18. dropped off at the Gazette Gazette should call 541- A re a p a s to r s a re office, emailed to editor@ 676-9228 or email megan@ invited to submit Christmas rapidserve.net, or faxed to rapidserve.net by Monday, Grigg said that they used messages to be published Dec. 16, at 5 p.m. 541-676-9211. sh av in g cream on the in the Dec. 18 edition. The A ny b u sin e sse s or windows to de-fog them, but that did not last as long as they had hoped. A couple o f interesting items to note: one of the Because of the Christmas and New Year’s holidays, the Gazette-Times deadline for sets brought in by Doris news and advertisements for the December 25 issue will be Friday, December 20 at and Dan Brosnan (the one 5 p.m. The deadline for the January 1 issue will be Friday, December 27 at 5 p.m. with the yellow sheep) was painted by Dan when he was in the third grade. sale a Alissa Hill’s set was given to her by her son who got it when he was in Chile. The display will end today, December 11, and people who contributed may pick up their nativities betw een 6-8 p.m . that Morrow County Grain Growers Green Feed A Seed day. Some nativities will remain on display and Bates plans to bring in a larger ALL NEWS AND ADVERTISEMENT DEADLINE: one for the window. St. Patrick’s Parish has also agreed to leave their crèche throughout the Christmas season. G-T sets holiday deadlines cuiARANCB 50 % treat for feet! O f f COWBOY KICKERS I MONDAYS AT 5:00 P.M. Heppner Gazette-Times 541-676-9228 ! I «
