HEPPNER G T 50¢ azette imes VOL. 134 NO. 2 8 Pages Wednesday, January 14, 2015 Morrow County, Heppner, Oregon Chamber holds annual meeting, officer installation Gould named 2015 president The Heppner Chamber of Commerce installed new officers at its annual meeting last week. Tricia Rollins (far left out of photo), Branch Manager Bank of Eastern Oregon, swears in (left to right) Heppner Schools Principal Matt Combe, Director; City Manager Kim Cutsforth, First Vice President; Morrow County Health District CEO Dan Grigg, Second VP; Bank of Eastern Oregon CEO Jeff Bailey, Director; Heppner Les Schwab Manager John Gould, Presi- dent; Wheatland Insurance Heppner Owner Nancy Snider, Director; Morrow County Grain Growers Human Resources Tawny Miles, Treasurer/Director; and Murray’s Drug Heppner Owner Ann Murray, Director. -Photo by David Sykes By David Sykes The Heppner Chamber of Commerce started its new year off last week with the installation of new offi- cers. Heppner Les Schwab Manager John Gould will assume the president’s po- sition, replacing outgoing president Nancy Snider of Wheatland Insurance. Snider listed some of the chamber’s work and accomplishments the past year, including the Town and Country event, work on Wee Bit O’ Ireland cel- ebration, Christmas activi- ties and working with the Willow Creek Economic Development Group on the popular housing grant pro- gram. She said the chamber currently has 125 members. After being named presi- dent, Gould praised Snider for her work the past year and said he looks forward to leading the chamber in 2015. Also at the meeting Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Sheryll Bates honored Barbara Pru- cha of Wheatland Insurance and Brianna Peterson of the Bank of Eastern Oregon for their exceptional volunteer work during the past year. “I don’t know how many of you have met Bar- bara but she has been such an asset to me and a great volunteer. She stepped up Heppner Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Sheryll Bates (right) presents volunteer Brianna Peterson of the Bank of Eastern Oregon with an award for outstanding volunteerism during the past year. Not pictured is volunteer Barbara Prucha, who was also recognized at the meeting. -Photo by David Sykes and helped with the com- munity Christmas and St. Patrick’s events and had the new, refreshed energy that was so needed. When she took something on, she was great with follow-through and the time commitment for success. On behalf of the Heppner Chamber, I would like to recognize Barbara for being such a great volunteer and step- ping out and getting in- volved in our community,” Bates said. “Brianna Peterson is also a relatively new vol- unteer that has stepped up and gotten involved in several of the St. Patrick’s activities. A couple of years ago, I needed to find a volunteer who would be in charge of the road bowl- ing event and she pulled in friends and took the lead. She also took over help- ing with the organization of the St. Patrick’s and Morrow County Fair and Rodeo parades. Heppner Chamber is always look- ing for volunteers, and I certainly lucked out with this one,” Bates said. Anyone who would like to be a member of the Heppner Chamber of Commerce should contact Bates at 541-676-5536, or stop by her office in the back of Heppner City Hall. Heppner welcomes new mayor and councilmember Will be taking applications for vacated council seat By David Sykes The Heppner city coun- cil welcomed a new mayor and councilmember when the newly-elected officials were sworn into office at the regular monthly council meeting Monday night. New to the council is Adam Doherty, with JoAnne Burleson being reelected to her position, and Skip Matthews moving from the council into the mayor’s position. With Matthews’ move comes a vacancy that will be filled later this month by council appointment. The city will accept appli- cations from citizens, and then choose one later to fill the empty council posi- tion. Interested persons are encouraged to apply. Following are the rules to apply for the position as stated in a public notice from the city: “The City Council for the City of Heppner has a vacancy in Council Posi- tion number one. The cur- rent term for this position expires on December 31, 2016. This position will be filled by Council ap- pointment. To be eligible to serve in this office a person must be a qualified elector within the meaning of the State Constitution and must have resided in the city limits of the City of Heppner for one year prior to appointment. Interested parties must complete and application for appoint- ment to the City Council by Thursday January 22, 2015 at 5:00 PM. Applications are available At Heppner City Hall, 111 N. Main St, Heppner.” Also at the council meeting, outgoing Mayor Joe Perry was presented with the prestigious Golden Shamrock Award, given to those who donate their time and effort in community service to the city. In other business, the council appointed the fol- lowing people to various positions within the city: Planning Commission Dave Fowler, John An- derson, Nancy Gochnauer, Jeff Bailey, Vi Wilgers, Don Stroeber and Patti Allstott. Budget Committee Al Scott, Gail Gutier- rez, Steve Rhea, Tawny Miles, Tom Wolff, Joe Per- ry and Ralph Walker. Beautification Committee Vi Wilgers, JoAnne Burleson, and Merle Cowett. One position va- cant. Fire Dept. Advisory Committee Mike Jones, Dean Rob- inson, Jay Keithley, Steve Rhea, Hal Bergstrom and Corey Sweeney. St. Patrick’s Celebration Chairperson JoAnne Burleson Christmas Parade of Top: Newly installed Mayor Skip Matthews (left) gives the oath of office to new Heppner City councilmembers Adam Doherty and JoAnne Burleson. Middle: New Heppner Mayor Skip Matthews (right) gives the Golden Shamrock Award to outgoing Mayor Joe Perry. The award is given for volunteer service to the City of Heppner. Bottom: Outgoing Mayor Joe Perry gives the oath of office to incoming Mayor Skip Matthews. - Photos by David Sykes Lights Chairperson Sheryll Bates Police Commission John Bowles, Chad Doherty and Merle Cowett. Utilities Commission Dale Bates, Tom Wolff and Jay Keithley. Personnel Committee Skip Matthews, Dale Bates, John Bowles and Keith Lewis. Council Commission Appointments Police commissioner John Bowles, Fire Dept. Commissioner Corey Sweeney, Beautification/ Parks and Lands Commis- sioner JoAnne Burleson, Utility Commissioner Dale Bates, and Personnel Com- missioner John Bowles. Heppner Housing Authority Board Les Paustian, Judy Buschke, Kim Cutsforth, JoyceKay Hollomon and Peggy Fishburn. In other business the council heard from Fire Chief Rusty Estes, who gave the following 2014 totals report for the fire department: Responded to 26 motor vehicle accidents in 2014; secured helicopter landing zone 36 times; wildland fires, 29; flue fires, three; structure fires, nine; ambu- lance assistance, 20; false alarms, 10; smoke smell reports, seven; gas smells, one; and chief calls, 367. The fire department also assisted the Ione fire department five times in 2014, Gilliam County three times and Hermiston, Lex- ington and ODF one time each. Estes said 2014 showed quite an increase, with calls and activities “double” the normal yearly amount. There’s a new office at the courthouse IMESD staff quickly resolved regional network disruption PENDLETON – Re- gional Internet networks and devices were disrupted Tuesday during a Distrib- uted Denial of Service (DDoS) attack, but thanks to the swift response from staff in the InterMountain Education Service District’s (IMESD) technology de- partment, the interruption in service was resolved in just 30 minutes. Among the agencies served by the IMESD tech- nology services network were Morrow County of- fices, including those at the Morrow County Court- house. Morrow County Personnel Director/Execu- tive Secretary Karen Wolff says the county offices did experience a brief outage Tuesday morning but that the IMESD does “an excel- lent job” maintaining the services. The DDoS attack, which has been reported to authorities, used such a large amount of bandwidth that users throughout the re- gion weren’t able to access the Internet. The disruption The Morrow County Courthouse in Heppner has added one first impacted the Uma- when legitimate callers more office to its roster. The clockworks connected to the tilla School District before try to get through, they’re renovated tower clock were given their own sturdy enclosure this past weekend. The works are still visible through large spreading throughout the denied access. region. - See IMESD INTERNET panes of glass to anyone entering the courthouse foyer. –Photo by Andrea Di Salvo IMESD states that OUTAGE/PAGE THREE DDoS attacks are fairly common and are targeted at disabling networks and devices through a disrup- Formula tion of service. They are not designed to access data, so no data was breached in the incident. A DDoS attack can be likened to 40lb Bag 1,000 people all trying to call 9-1-1 at the same time Morrow County Grain Growers Green Feed & Seed for a non-emergency, and 242 W. 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