Image provided by: Morrow County Museum; Heppner, OR
About Heppner gazette-times. (Heppner, Or.) 1925-current | View Entire Issue (April 9, 2014)
Bessie Wetzell N e w sp ap er Library University of Oregon Eugene, OR 97403 WCVEDG receives $50,000 for housing program CREZfunds effort to stimulate home ownership VOL. 133 N O . 15 8 Pages Wednesday, April 9, 2014 Morrow County, Heppner, Oregon Public introduced to new county office building Amber Van Ocker of LKV Architects talks about the new county office building her firm is designing to be built in Heppner. -Photo by David Sykes Bv David Sykes A new 11,300-square- foot office building planned for construction next to the present county courthouse was unveiled to the public for the first time at a meeting held last Wednesday at the fairgrounds in Heppner. The project manager, as well as architects working on the project, was on hand with a rtist’s sketches o f the b u ild in g s to answ er questions and discuss the new facility. T he new tw o -sto ry b u ild in g w ill be b u ilt on the north side o f the present courthouse. Three h o u ses w ere p u rch a se d and will be torn down to make way for the new, as- yet-unnamed facility (see name the building contest story “W hat’s in a name?” in this week’s Gazette). It will feature offices for the county health department, administration, accounting, juvenile, veterans and the county court. Some o f those departm ents are located in th e G illia m B isb e e b u ild in g in d o w n to w n Heppner, some are located in the current courthouse b u ild in g , and som e are located in the small county annex located near Rock S treet in H eppner. The new b u ild in g w ill also have public m eeting and conference rooms as well as storage areas for county records. During the design o f the facility the architects were encouraged to try and incorporate a similar “look” in the new building as in the older 114-year-old county courthouse, which was built from basalt quarried on the -See NEW ADMIN BUILD ING/PAGE FOUR By David Sykes In an effort to address a hou sin g sh o rtag e and encourage home ownership in South Morrow County, the Willow Creek Valley E conom ic D evelopm ent G roup (W C V E D G ) last Friday received a $50,000 check from the Columbia R iv e r E n te rp ris e Z one (C R E Z ), to fund a new p r o g ra m e n c o u r a g in g h o m e p u r c h a s in g an d development in the South Morrow County area. The check was p resen ted to W CVEDG president Ed Rollins by CREZ chairman Don Russell at a meeting last Friday in Boardman. R o llin s a n d th e W C V E D G b o a rd a re currently in the process of developing a “sim plified r e s id e n tia l re a l e s ta te investm ent c re d it...w ith the in te n t to g ra n t $6- $7,000 to anyone acquiring re sid e n tially zoned real estate in our service area,” according to a draft proposal o f the program provided by the economic development group. WCVEDG’s service area covers mainly the south part o f Morrow County. Funds for the program are part of a larger $ 150.000 amount committed earlier by C R E Z to im p ro v e housing throughout Morrow County. CREZ at one time had considered contracting with the G reater Eastern O re g o n D e v e lo p m e n t Corporation to administer the entire housing program, but instead decided to work directly with local groups. WCVEDG was the first to step up when it presented an o u tlin e p ro g ra m to th e C R E Z la st m o n th . WCVEDG will now flesh out the plan w hich w ill Fire destroys rural home outside lone A fire d e s tro y e d a two-story house and other property at 65739 Carlson Lane about 15 miles outside o f lone Monday afternoon. The house, rented by Rick and Vicki Dorman, was on property ow ned by John and Kerry Rietmann. The Dorm ans were uninjured but their four dogs were killed in the house fire. Both Heppner and lone fire responded to the fire, which occurred just inside Heppner’s fire district, lone Fire C hief Virgil Morgan said the lone department was paged out at 12:31 and arrived at the property at 1:01 p.m. The Heppner fire department was already on the scene. “ R u sty w as on th e scene first. He said it was totally engulfed already,” said Morgan. By the time responders arrived, there wasn’t much they could do but sit back and watch, Morgan said. “ H e p p n e r ’s rig put water on a propane tank,” said Morgan. “It (the house) was already engulfed, and we just kind o f stayed back in case that tank blew.” T he t a n k d i d n ’t blow, thanks to the fire department's efforts and a wind that blew the fire the other way. However, the inferno destroyed not only the house but also three older-model vehicles and a shed. The fire had apparently been going for some time undetected. M organ said the couple told him they had been to Heppner for an a p p o in tm e n t. W hen they returned, they noticed smoke. “ They said they had four dogs in there, so they opened the door to see if the dogs would come out. They didn’t,” he recounted. T he D o rm a n s th e n said they went around the back to look in through a window, but the smoke was too thick to see anything, so they backed o ff and went to a neighbor’s house to call 911. Morgan said it would be nearly impossible to determine the cause o f the fire. “If we did have anyone out there (to determine the cause) it would be really difficult to find the cause,” Morgan said. “Everything was burned up so totally.” Columbia River Enterprise Zone Chairman Don Russell (left) presents $50,000 check to Willow Creek Economic Development Group President Ed Rollins, funding a new housing incentive program currently being developed by the local economic development group. -Contributedphoto include among other things b u y in g c la s s and th en specific rules for the home purchases a home. owner grants, rules it plans H o ld in g up a th re e to make widely available to ring binder, Parker said the the public when completed. eight-hour course had been “ W C V E D G is very developed to help mainly g ra te fu l for the C R E Z firs t-tim e hom e b u y e rs board’s decision and ability navigate the complexities to fund our residential real o f buying and ow ning a estate investment project home. She said the program from the money they had would offer a $2,000 grant e a rm a r k e d to a d d re s s to anyone completing the housing deficiencies in the course and then buying a county. O ur project was home in Boardman, and she created to help address the tentatively asked the CREZ housing issues identified board to fund the program in the strategic plans o f with $40,000 for the grants. all three cities in South T h e C R E Z , w h ic h Morrow County as well as r e c e i v e s i ts m o n e y the combined Willow Creek from b u sin esses paying Valley Strategic Plan. We fees instead o f property are anxious to finalize the tax e s w hen lo c a tin g in parameters o f our program the enterprise zone, has and begin p utting these a lre a d y g iv e n th e c ity dollars to work,” Rollins o f Boardm an $100,000 told the Gazette-Times. to fund a rental housing In a related matter at the construction program, and same meeting Jill Parker, so far none o f that has been President o f the Boardman used. C hairm an R ussell Community Development asked if some of that money Association (BCDA), spoke c o u ld be used fo r th is to the CREZ board about a new proposed education program her com m unity and hom e buying grant is developing that would program . Boardm an city provide grants o f $2,000 to -See CREZ HOUSING anyone who takes a home PLANS/PAGE FOUR announces retirement from CBEC Co-op seeks new general manager Colum bia Basin G en eral M anager Jerry H e a l y a n n o u n c e s hi s retirem ent to the CBEC m em b ersh ip at the last annual meeting, the co-op announced in a letter to its membership recently. C olum bia Basin also announced that the board had contracted w ith the N ational Rural E lectric Cooperative Association’s Executive Search D epartm ent to help find a replacem ent for Healy, who worked at CBEC for 33 years. The co-op urges all q u a lifie d c a n d id a te s to apply. “ Hi r i n g a G e n e r a l M a n a g e r is t he m o s t im p o rtan t decisio n that a B oard m akes and we take this responsibility as a ch allen g e to build on Colum bia B asin’s strong reputation and enhance its future performance for our members,” stated the letter from the board of directors. Anyone interested in the position should contact Ken Holmes at 785-201- 2148. All other inquiries s h o u l d be d i r e c t e d to CBEC, 541-676-9146. Morrow County has announced that it is turning to county residents to s e le c t the na me for the new Morrow County adm in istrativ e building. To that end, the county is running a contest now through April 30; the person w hose building name is selected will receive $100 from the Morrow County Commissioners. Participants may enter as many times as they like. Deadline for entry is April 30, 2014. A 1 ink to the contest entry form can be found on the county’s homepage, http:// m o r r o w c o u n t y Or e gon, com /, or co n ta c t K aren W o l f f at k w o l f f @ co.morrow.or.us for more information. Health district works to improve heart attack response in communities What’s in a name? November 5,2013 was a significant day for Barry Beyeler, Boardm an City D irector o f C om m unity D evelopm ent. That was the day B arry’s life was saved after having a heart attack in a public meeting at Boardman City Hall. Dur i ng the m eetin g Barry slum ped over and lost co n scio u sn e ss. His colleagues acted quickly by calling 911, beginning CPR, and using an onsite automated external defibrillator (AED) while waiting for the paramedics to a rriv e . He ended up having bypass surgery, but today is back to work and doing well. Two w e e k s later, K athy N e a l, wi t h N eal Deve lopment, shared with Dan Grigg, CEO o f M orrow Count y Heal th Di s t r i c t , t he n e e d fo r additional CPR training and expanded placem ent o f AED's in the Boardman community. Upon further discussion. Morrow County Health District paramedic Delbert Turner developed a proposal to work with local business, government, schools and communi t y leaders to educate residents o f Boardman in the use of MCHD Irrigon paramedic Kelly Shelton stands by one of the district ambulances. Paramedics like Shelton are on the front lines of the fight to save a heart attack victim’s life. -Contributed photo C P R - A E D and im prove -See HEART ATTACK SUR- VIVAUPAGE FOUR access and knowledge o f Area pastors invited to submit Easter messages E a s te r is Ap r i l 20. The Heppner Gazette- Times invites area pastors to submit Easter messages to be published in the April 16 edition. The deadline is « Friday, April 11, at 5 p.m. M essages can be dropped off at the Gazette office, emailed to editor@ rapidserve.net, or faxed to 541-676-9211. \ Heppner, lone to hold proms April 19 Heppner and lone high school students will don their finest for the big dance on April 19. Both schools plan proms for that night; lone at 8 p.m. and Heppner at 9 p.m. Morrow County Grain Growers L e x in g to n 989-4221 * 1 -800-452-7396 I For fami equipment, visit our web site at www.metf .net I
