Image provided by: Morrow County Museum; Heppner, OR
About Heppner gazette-times. (Heppner, Or.) 1925-current | View Entire Issue (July 23, 2014)
I I Messie Wetzell Newspaper I ibrar_\ University of Oregon Eugene. OR 97403 Heppner gets ready for a Ruckus in the Boonies HEPPNER ette imes VOL 133 NO. 25 10 Pages Wednesday, July 23, 2014 Morrow County, Heppner, Oregon By Andrea Di Salvo M usic lovers in the Heppner area will have the chance to raise a ruckus this Saturday, July 26, at the first-ever Ruckus in the Boonies music festival. T h e f e s tiv a l w ill take place at—or rather, b e h in d — B u c k n u m ’s T a v e rn in H e p p n e r. Seventeen acts will take the stage during the event, offering up “a little bit of everything,” from country to heavy metal to bluegrass and rockabilly. The festival, which is intended to be appropriate for all ages. Fire season heats things up for local fire crews will cost $5 at the gate, with gates to open at 2 p.m.; the event is expected to wind down around 1 a.m. the next morning. Ruckus in the Boonies is the brain child of local m u sician A aron "D og Bite” Harris. Harris says that, while he frequently puts on smaller shows at B ucknum ’s, h e ’s never personally tackled anything so large. He does say he’s done a lot of research and is not “walking into this to blindly.” Harris adds th at, w hile many may not see anything special about just another music festival, he believes it’s the preservation of an art form. “Live music is a dying art. E verything can be done on a computer and everything can be seen on YouTube. People d o n ’t want to go out as much as they did 10 years ago. It’s hard on touring bands/ musicians these days,” he says. “As a person who has been through all the hardship of being a touring musician, 1 know how hard it is to find a good venue, and a good show, especially in a secluded area such as Eastern Oregon. “We have actually been drawing in people from Portland, Seattle, Walla Walla and a few other places just to watch the shows we put on here,” he adds. While many may not see Heppner as the logical location for a large event like this, he says there are many reasons to have a music festival here and now. “ For the last three years there’s been a very large music festival for u n d e r g r o u n d m u s ic in M o n ta n a c a l l e d Farmaggedon Fest. Last year 1 had a lot of the bands that toured out to Montana to play Farmageddon Fest get in contact with me about playing Heppner,” Harris ex p lain s. “ H eppner is located in a spot in between Idaho and Portland where it is very hard to get a gig, so Bucknum’s Tavern has actually become a hot spot for touring musicians.” Harris says he started kicking around the idea o f a music festival last year ab o u t th is tim e. Then Farmageddon Fest announced it was moving to W isconsin this year, leaving, Harris says, no m usic fe stiv a l on the western side of the country. “Ryan Miller came up to me after a show I did at B ucknum ’s and said he really wanted to do an -See RUCKUS IN THE BOONIES/PAGE TEN Disque steps down as home health, hospice director Health district clinics granted Tier 2 certification Burned grassland and charred fence posts mark the path of a fire that began south of Heppner in Clark’s Canyon last Wednesday. That fire, which burned thousands of acres in the Clark's Canyon and Khea Creek areas, made the news last week, but local fire chiefs say it-was a busy week overall for fire activity in the region. - Photo by David Sykes By Andrea Di Salvo A fire that began south o f H eppner in C la rk 's C anyon made regional news last week, but local fire officials say it was a busy week overall, with more activity to be expected as the weather maintains good fire conditions. The Clark’s Canyon fire on Wednesday was initially estimated at around 20,000 acres, though Heppper Fire Chief Rusty Estes said it could prove to be smaller than that. Multiple regional agencies,-as well as local farmers, responded to the fire. The flames burned across C lark ’s Canyon, jum ped Hwy. 207 and crossed Upper Rhea Creek Road before crews stopped it near the intersection of U pper Rhea C reek and Sanford Canyon Road, the Morrow County Sheriff’s Office reported. In all, it covered a distance of nearly five miles. Much larger was the fire in Gilliam County, in which local firefighters joined other regional departments in providing mutual aid. Estes and lone Rural Fire Protection District Chief Virgil M organ said the Gilliam County fire burned from Hwy. 19 to Hwy. 74, going across Eightm ile before crews stopped it at Rhea Lane. Both fires, they said, were dangerous in their own right. “It's always dangerous, because the flames are big and they’re moving fast,” said Estes. “Clark’s Canyon (w as m ore d an g ero u s) because it went several different directions up out o f there and in standing wheat.” Morgan had a different opinion, saying the high w inds on the G i 11 iam County fire made it especially dangerous. Estes said winds that day were recorded at a sustained speed of 27 mph with gusts of up to 36 mph. Both fire chiefs say they are concerned about fire c o n d itio n s in the com ing w eeks. Though temperatures have cooled and the area has received m inim al p re c ip ita tio n , the fo recast also calls for thunderstorm s. The National Weather Service out o f Pendleton issued multiple red flag warnings Tuesday morning through late Wednesday evening due to abundant lightning. Estes and Morgan agree that the land is still too dry to take that kind of pressure. “E verything’s pretty dry, and they’re expecting some winds,” said Morgan, “and it could be hectic if we get a lot of lightning and no rain.” The estimated burn area of the Clark’s Canyon fire, which ran for nearly five miles. -Map courtesy o f MCSO By April Sykes MCHD’s clinics, Pioneer Robanai Disque has Memorial Clinic in Heppner announced that she is and Irrigon Medical Clinic, stepping down as director have been granted a Tier 2 of Pioneer Home Health Patient Centered Primary and H ospice, effective Care Home certification. Septem ber 30, M orrow The certification for the County H ealth D istrict program, which is part of the CEO Dan Grigg told the Oregon Health Authority, MCHD Board at w ill provide the th e ir m eeting in clinics with $6 per lone Monday night. month per member He said that she will from the Eastern stay with the Home Oregon Coordinated Health and Hospice Care Organization. He said that as of program as a part- time RN, working Robanai April of this year, Disque 10-20 hours per the district had 749 EOCCO patients, week. Disque has been with which amounts to $53,928 Home Health and Hospice a year for the district. Grigg for over 30 years and the said that if the Morrow director since 2009. County clinics receive the G rigg said that the Tier 3 designation, the district currently plans district would receive $8 to com bine the HH&H per patient per month. director position with the Grigg added that he position of clinic manager. would also like to discover The d is tric t has been how many Morrow County searching for a candidate to EOCCO p atien ts w ere fill the newly-created clinic assigned to the Boardman manager position, but so far clinic, C olum bia River has been unsuccessful. C o m m u n ity H e a l t h Also at the meeting, -See HEALTH DISTRICT/ PAGE FIVE G rigg said that both o f Visitor from Poland gives a view of local life through new eyes Janina Bonita (right) and Neva DelMayo at the St. Patrick’s Senior Center senior meal site during Bonita's visit to Heppner. -Photo by David Sykes By Andrea Di Salvo town did recently get to Heppner isn’t usually view itself through the eyes a to u r s to p fo r th e of a unique visitor. international jet set, but the Polish woman Janina Boruta, 39, came to Heppner on the urging o f Heppner woman Neva DeMayo. The two met during DeMayo’s trip to Poland two years ago as a Oregon representative of Lutheran women at the In tern atio n al W om en’s Forum in Warsaw. Boruta s e rv e d as D e M a y o ’s interpreter during part of her trip, a time of bonding that included an emotional visit to Auschwitz, DeMayo said. Last w eek, though, it was DeMayo’s turn to show hospitality, as well as the local sights, to her visitor from Poland. This is B oruta's first time in ALL NEWS AND ADVERTISEMENT DEADLINE: MONDAYS AT 5:00 P.M. I America. She is in America for two weeks, but spent four days in H eppner before heading to Charlotte, NC fo r th e T rie n n ia l Convention of Women of the Evangelical Lutheran Church o f America. The Polish woman said she is here to visit parishes and share what the work o f the women in the Poland Evangelical Church, or E vangelical-A ugsburg, looks like. She most likely would have spent her time in Oregon touring churches along the 1-5 corridor. However, when Boruta told DeMayo she had been chosen to come to Oregon on a Lutheran w om en’s exchange, DeMayo called the Portland office and requested than she be able to host the Polish woman during her time in Oregon. The request was granted, and DeMayo picked up Boruta in Portland last week. “ It (the visit) w ent really w ell. We had a wonderful time,” DeMayo said. “It was so much fun to see my own community -See VISITOR FRO M PO- LAND/PAGE FOUR LAWN MOWER CLEARAN 10% OFF ALL Mowers tn stock STOP BY AND LOOK OVER OUR SELECTION! M o r r o w C o u n ty G r a in G r o w e r s G r e e n F e e d A S e e d I
