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
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For fami equipment, visit our web site at www.metf .net
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