Bessie Wetzel I Newspaper Library
I niversitx of Oregon
Eugene. OR 9740.1
Sperry Street Bridge is
no more
HEPPNER
azette
imes
VOL. 133
N O . 17
10 Pages
Wednesday, April 30, 2014
Morrow County, Heppner,
Voters get face time at
candidates’’ forum
The Sperry Street Bridge in Heppner was removed for good on Tuesday, an action that is
seeing an alternate traffic route developed by the Department of Transportation. The bridge
enforcement to the county removal has been in the planning stages for some time because the bridge was getting old
sheriffs and returning local and needed repair. It was determined to be less expensive to remove the bridge and develop
control in land-use planning a new route than repair the old bridge. “Everything went tine,” said Heppner City Manager
Kim Cutsforth. She said on Wednesday ODOT w ill begin the rest of the job by removing the
from the state.
cement abutments and doing bank restoration. Cutsforth said an ODOT biologist will place
G ordon C hallstrom . fish barriers in the creek 40 feet above and below the former bridge area, and then tase or stun
a M edford R epublican any fish in that area of the creek, so they can be removed without harm and relocated above
gubernatorial candidate, or below the barriers. -Contributed Photo
By David Sykes
the local level, and reform
Six candidates showed o f Oregon’s tax code. He
up Sunday for Heppner's advocates cutting back the
c a n d id a te s fo ru m to income and corporate taxes
meet the public, discuss and having local sales tax
the issues and answ er pay for schools and other
questions. Ballots will be services.
in voters’ mailboxes this
“ P u b lic e d u c a tio n sa id g o v e rn m e n t w as
week and are due back by needs com petition. We too big and Oregonians control of education. And
he said it was time to
May 20. The forum
need parents to be in needed more local
was sponsored by
get more economic
control of education control over their
activity in Oregon,
the Willow Creek
d o llars for th eir b u s in e s s e s and
Tea Party Patriots
where he pointed
children," he said.
lives.
and was moderated
out that Democrats
He say s to o
“ R a d i c a l
by Heppner attorney
have controlled the
m uch m oney is environm entalists
governor’s office
Bill Kuhn. About 30
going to the Salem are keeping us from
for the past 28 years.
people attended the Bruce Cuff
through the
logging,
fishing and Karl King
forum, which was
“ Elect
a
income tax,
law y er and you
held at city hall.
only to be sent back
mining," he
R e p u b l i c a n lo c ally w ith too
said. “Government will get more laws, elect
gubernatorial candidate many state controls
and big business a businessm an and you
Bruce C u ff o f Mehama attached. He feels
are well represented will get more jobs," said
was first to speak, and he h o m e s c h o o lin g
in Salem, but not Challstrom, who is himself
said O regon is headed s h o u ld be le ss G o r d o
the individuals and a commercial contractor.
In d e p e n d e n t K a rl
in the w rong direction. r e g u la te d . C u ff Challstrom
small businesses.”
C uff’s main issues were a l s o
favors
C h a l l s t r o m -See CANDIDATE FORUM/
returning control back to returning authority for law also advocated more local
PAGE SEVEN
Farra recognized for 50+ years of
dedication to county museum
Heppner woman Ida Farra sits next to one of her donations, a
high chair in which her husband, “ Bill” Farra, sat as a child.
Farra has contributed more than a thousand items to the
county museum. Photo by Andrea Di Salvo
By Andrea Di Salvo
an open house recently to
The Morrow County honor long-time volunteer
H eritage Museum held and contributor Ida Farra.
The Morrow County
F arm F o u n d a tio n , a
nonprofit that operates
Morrow C o u n t y ’s
museums, honored Farra
with a well-attended open
house at the museum in
Heppner Monday, complete
with punch and cookies and
a plaque recognizing her
“donations, devotion and
dedication" to the museum
“from its beginnings and
beyond.”
Farra was one of five
wom en who “ put th eir
hearts into it” and worked
to get the museum up and
running at its inception
in 1960. Since then she
has “ lo an ed ” hundreds
o f items to the museum,
loans that she recently
made permanent as a gift.
In fact, Farm Foundation
Chairman Cliff Green says
that, if you add up all the
items contributed by Farra,
the number is more than a
thousand.
“That's quite a feat,”
he adds.
Farra shared a few
remembrances of her early
years with the museum,
saying she was good help
back then because she could
climb ladders to reach high
places.
“ I c o u ld n 't do that
now,” says the Heppner
w om an, who is in her
nineties but identifies her
age only as “old enough."
recent disaster drill. He told
the board that the Infection
Control Committee and the
Safety Committee identified
a need for the ability to lock
down the hospital in certain
em erg en cy s itu a tio n s .
C u rren tly som e o f the
external doors are locked
manually and others are on
a timer, “making it virtually
impossible to quickly lock
Dr. Ed Berretta chats with local woman Joyce Ward at his
retirement open house April 24 in Heppner. -Photo by April
Sykes
down the facility when
needed," he said.
G rigg presented the
board a bid for a card lock
system “that would give us
more control over locking
our doors and provide
increased security," he said.
He said that grant funds had
been secured to contribute
toward the expense.
An estimate includes
$14,124 for an access-
c o n tr o l s y s te m w ith
em erg en cy lo ck -d o w n
buttons and $7,500 for
electrical work for a total
o f $ 2 1 ,6 2 4 . A $5 ,2 6 4
Healthcare Preparedness
grant and another $3,000
gr ant woul d r educe
MCHD's costs to $ 13,360.
The bo ard did not
approve the expenditure,
with the majority of board
members indicating that
the proposal included only
one level at the hospital
and did not solve the issue
of security throughout the
entire facility. They asked
that Grigg come back with
I t's o ffic ia l; in all
o f M orrow County, its
cities, town and county
governments have passed
a one-year moratorium on
establishment of medical
marijuana dispensaries.
The cities of Heppner,
lone. Boardman and lrrigon
all voted to enact the ban.
then the town of Lexington.
Lastly, the Morrow County
C ourt passed the ban,
making the ban unanimous
across the county before
the state deadline of May
1. The ban is for one year.
until May 1, 2015.
The Oregon legislature
had passed a law allowing
the facilities, which sell
marijuana to people with
a doctor's approval. Then,
realizing there were flaws
in the law, the legislature
p a s s e d an a d d en d u m
allo w in g com m unities
and counties to place a
o n e -y e a r m o ra to riu m
on establishm ent o f the
facilities. Everyone in
Morrow County took them
-See MARIJUANA BAN/
PAGE SIX
Voters to decide health
district levy
Continuation o f current tax
A levy request from
the Morrow County Health
District will be part of the
ballot voters are to receive
in the mail this week.
The request will be
asking for a continuation
of a previously-approved
levy of 39 cents per $ 1,000
of property valuation over
a five year period.
The anticipated uses
o f the levy funds are to
m aintain and im prove
access to quality care,
-See MUSEUM CELEBR.4TES purchase new ambulances
FARR.4/PAGE EIGHT for Boardman and 1 leppner,
implement electronic health
records in clinics, home
health and hospice, and
upgrade cardiac monitoring
s y s t e m s at P i o n e e r
M emorial H ospital and
a new proposal.
Administration
indicated concern that
grant monies would not
be available because the
deadline for application
Morrow County voters
for monies to help fund the should receive their ballots
project may have passed, this week. Morrow County
but Chief Financial Office Clerk Bobbi Childers says
N ico le M ahoney said all ballots for the May 20
she would look into the primary election will have
possibility o f extending gone out by Wednesday,
the application deadline for Apr i l 30. R em em ber,
grant funding.
ballots are not forwarded.
In other business, the Those who don’t receive
board:
ballots but believe they
-approved the proposed should have should contact
2014-15 district budget. the Morrow County Clerk's
-See HEALTH DISTRICTV office at 541-676-5604.
Health district discusses safety
upgrades, procedures
By April Sykes
Morrow County
Health District CEO Dan
G rigg told the MCHD
Board at th e ir reg u lar
Monday-night meeting in
Lexington that a need for
lock-down procedures in
emergency situations at
Pioneer Memorial Hospital
in H ep p n er had been
determ ined follow ing a
A ll o f county
bans marijuana
dispensaries
emergency room.
In information provided
by the district it was shown
that Morrow County has a
reasonable health district
tax rate: John Day is $2.13
per thousand. Burns has
$1.93, and E n terp rise
$ 1.64 compared to Morrow
County’s current overall
base and levy tax rate ofjust
$.99 per $1.000.
The district also points
to past efficient uses of levy
funds such as expansion of
the lrrigon Medical Clinic,
allowing for an additional
physician; the upgrading
of lab equipment, allowing
fo r mo r e d i a g n o s t i c
testing; the purchase of
-See LEVY ON THE LINE/
PAGE EIGHT
Primary ballots are in
the mail
All ballots are due by 8
p.m. Election Day, Tuesday,
May 20. B allo ts m ust
be received, not simply
postmarked, on that day.
For voter convenience, 24-
hour drop boxes are located
throughout the county.
Locations are as follows:
Heppner: Courthouse
parking lot (24 hours) or
the Morrow County Clerk's
Office, Room 102 inside the
-See BALLOTS/PAGE FIVE
PAGE FIVE
SPRING TIME - GARDEN TIME
IN S T O C K N O W !
BEDDING PLANTS - TREES
SHRUBS - FERTILIZERS
POTTING SOILS
SEED POTATOES - ONION
SETS - GARDEN SEED S
Morrow County Grain Growers Green Feed A Seed
242 W. Linden Way, Heppner » 676-9422 » 989-8221 (MCOO main offle»)