I
I
M.C. school district
receives $150 thousand
from ed foundation
Hft*ie VVetze/l v
97¿¡f
By April Hilton-Sykes
It’s almost Valentine’s
Day, but Santa Claus, in the
guise of Morrow County
Education Foundation
R e p re se n ta tiv e Don
Russell, delighted Morrow
County school officials
with the presentation of a
$150,000 gift to the M.C.
School District.
MCSD Superintendent
Dirk Dirksen said that the
monies would go toward
technology and school
district infrastructure in
Dispute between city and
resident heats up
VOL. 133
NO. 7 8 Pages
Wednesday, February 12, 2014
Dan McBride’s property on Kirk Street in Heppner. -Photo
by David Sykes
By David Sykes
An ongoing dispute
between the city of Heppner
and local resident Dan
McBride came to a head
recently, when McBride
penned an angry letter
to City M anager Kim
Cutsforth which was read
aloud at Monday evening’s
council meeting.
McBride, a long-time
resident of the city, accused
Cutsforth of “being out to
get me.” and of trying to
ruin his life.
M cB ride and the
city have been bumping
heads for several years
now, starting in January
of 2011 when the planning
com m ission and city
council allowed him to live
in a RV at 146 Kirk Street
while McBride worked on
building a house on the
property. One year later
on Jan. 12, 2012, without
any construction started,
the planning commission
and the council agreed
to extend the permit for
another year as long as
McBride started work on
a permanent house there
within one year. Again there
had been no construction
started. It is against city
ordinance for people to live
in recreational vehicles on
a permanent basis, and the
city had also been providing
water and sewer service to
the RV. The permits are now
expired and Cutsforth told
the council she had the city
crew cut off water service to
McBride’s RV because he
was back living in there in
violation of the ordinance.
“He tells us he wants
the water turned on to water
his plants and then he is
back living there,” she told
the council. She said the
last time she had the water
turned off a deputy sheriff
accompanied the city crew.
A deputy was also present
at M onday’s meeting;
however, McBride was
not. He asked Cutsforth to
read his letter out loud at
the meeting, otherwise he
would come in person and
read it.
In addition McBride
was upset because the city
Morrow County, Heppner, Oregon
had sent him a “nuisance
abatement” letter (one of
27 recently sent out around
town) telling him a boat
on his property was not
properly licensed and
therefore was an abandoned
boat and a nuisance and
must be removed. McBride
said the boat was “a work in
progress” and that he would
license it when it is ready
for the water. He said if the
city pushed the issue he
would move the boat.
This latest run-in
with the city prompted
McBride to write a letter
to C utsforth that was
read to the city council at
Monday’s meeting. In the
letter McBride said he was
a life-long city resident who
was “born and raised in
Heppner” and the property
has been in his family over
70 years. He said he did not
have a lawyer to fight city
hall, but cited his history and
service to the city. McBride
said he spent 30 years as a
Heppner volunteer fireman,
was captain of Morrow
County Search and Rescue,
was a Little League coach
for four years and spent
two years with Emergency
Management. McBride
also said he was a Vietnam
veteran and has been a
security guard with the
US Army for 19 years. He
went on to say he raised
five children and was not a
“bum or trailer trash” and
that he wanted to retire in
Heppner. He asked the city
to turn his water back on
so he can water his trees
and plants. He accused the
city manager of looking
for any violation to bring
against him.
Cutsforth said even
though McBride had been
paying his water bill she
had the authority to shut
it off, because “we can
discontinue w ater for
abuse.” She said McBride
had not been truthful when
getting the water service,
and that the situation has
been going on for three
years. McBride’s RV should
never have been allowed to
hook up to city water and
sewer in the first place, she
told the council. She said
every time he came to the
city and asked to have the
water turned on to water
his plants, he would move
back on the property. He is
not living on the property
now, she said.
M ayor Joe Perry
backed up the city manager
saying, “We support what
you are doing.”
27 nuisance
abatement letters sent
out
In a related matter
Cutsforth said she toured
Heppner with two Morrow
County Sheriff’s deputies
recently and found 27
“nuisance” instances,
m ost o f w hich were
abandoned v eh icles.
Letters were sent out to
the property owners about
the vehicles. Apparently
the letters have caused
some consternation in the
community and prompted
Cutsforth to ask the council
to look at changing the
city’s abandoned vehicle
ordinance. At a Jan. 30
P o lic e C o m m issio n
Since December, the group’s
tracks were relocated three
times, including last week
in northern Baker County.
The repeated use of
the area over a period
o f time indicates that
w olves have becom e
established and are not
simply dispersing wolves.
However, ODFW says it
has little data regarding
the specifics of this group
(e.g. origin, reproductive
status, homerange). The
agency report that future
monitoring efforts will
focus on more location data
and radio-collaring.
Also, ODFW reports
that on Feb. 1 they aerially
darted and radio-collared
the breeding male of the
Imnaha pack (OR4). The
wolfs previous GPS collar
quit functioning in late
December and this was the
first time the wolf was in
an area where he could be
safely darted.
The new GPS collar
is the fourth applied to
this particular wolf. While
ODFW would not normally
re-collar an individual wolf
so many times, they say this
particular wolfs collar has
been helpful with managing
depredation in the area.
“ODFW has plenty of
location information about
the Imnaha pack, but this
wolf is important to continue
to track in order to assist
area livestock producers
facing depredation,” said
Russ Morgan, ODFW wolf
coordinator.
preparation for outfitting the
schools and students with
computers such as iPads and
other technological devices.
Other areas emphasized
were scholarships and
additional opportunities
with Eastern Promise.
Education foundations
are normally set up as
depositories for monetary
gifts to schools and school
districts to circumnavigate
the state requirements for
school districts to offset the
financial contributions they
receive with a reduction in
state funds.
Russell, Boardman, who
is also running for Morrow
County Commissioner,
earlier presented the lone
Education Foundation
with $15,000. Russell says
that the donations to the
two education foundations
were based on a percentage
of student populations of
both districts. He said that
MCEF did not specify what
-See MCSD RECEIVES
GIFT/PAGE EIGHT
New EMT joins
Health Dist.
ambulance crew
Devon Pulvino with Morrow County Health District ambulance
in Boardman.
Devon Pulvino, 37, is
the newest member of the
Morrow County Health
District ambulance crew
based in Boardman.
He comes here most
recently from Crooked
River Ranch and has also
worked in the Seattle and
Bend areas, where he taught
at the college and worked in
critical transport.
Pulvino is married; his
wife’s name is Nichole and
he has two children, a three-
year-old named Vanesa and
eight-month-old Dane.
Merkley will hold a Morrow
County town hall meeting
in Boardman next Monday
as part of a series of town
halls throughout Eastern
Oregon.
The Boardman town
hall meeting will take
place Monday, Feb. 17,
at 9 a.m. in the Riverside
Junior/Senior High School
gymnasium, 210 Boardman
Ave., Boardman.
Merkley says he will
update constituents on his
work in Washington, DC,
as well as answer questions
and invite suggestions
-See CITY COUNCIL/PAGE about
how to tackle the
SIX challenges
facing Oregon
M erkley will also
make stops in Umatilla,
Union, Wallowa, Baker and
Malheur counties over two
days next week.
“ A d v o c a tin g for
Oregonians is my number-
one responsibility and
holding a town hall in every
county is a great way to hear
directly from Oregonians,”
said Merkley.
“I invite all residents
of Morrow, U m atilla,
Union, Wallowa, Baker
and Malheur Counties to
come and discuss what we
need to do to strengthen our
state and nation.”
Merkley to hold town
hall
in Boardman
Oregon Senator Jeff and America.
ODFW sees new area of wolf activity, Exciting things
planned at Willow
OR4 collared ‘again’
ODFW wildlife biologists place a new working GPS collar on
OR4, the Imnaha wolf pack’s alpha male, after darting him
from a helicopter March 28,2012 in the Zumwalt Prairie area,
Wallowa County. This month, ODFW placed a fourth collar
on OR4. -Photo courtesy of ODFW
A new area of known
w olf activity has been
designated by Oregon
Department of Fish and
Wildlife (ODFW) in the
southern Catherine Creek
Unit and the northern
Keating Unit, the agency
reported last week.
Tracks of five wolves
were first documented by
ODFW in late December
in the Medical Springs
area, after the department
followed up a track report
from an area landowner.
Creek
Terrace
Willow Creek Terrace doors will provide access to
board reports that the
Terrace will soon be getting
a new room adjacent to the
current dining room.
The dates for beginning
and finishing the project
have not been determined,
but the board approved the
construction to begin as
soon as the contractor has
time available for it.
A solarium /m ulti-
activity room with storage
space will be built under the
existing roof that shades a
portion of the patio. Large
this new room from either
the dining room or the patio,
and activities within the
room can be independent
of the commons area. The
patio sees little use, so the
board agreed that this new
room would be a better use
of space.
Anyone who would like
to contribute financially to
this new chapter on “The
Hill” may do so by sending
a check to Willow Creek
Terrace, 400 Frank Gilliam
Drive, Heppner. OR 97836.
V A L E N T IN E 'S P A Y S P E C I A L !
G-T open next Monday
While some businesses won’t be among them.
5 p.m. Monday for all
will be closed next week
We w ill be open advertisements and news.
for Presidents’ Day, the and hard at work, with
Call 541-676-9228
Heppner Gazette-Times our normal deadline of with questions.
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