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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
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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
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