HEPPNER
50¢
Talking rocks dedicated;
individuals honored for their role
in the project
M o n d a y, M a r c h 9
marked the official dedica-
tion of the Talking Rocks
project in Heppner.
Several year ago the
City of Heppner’s Beauti-
fication Committee, headed
by JoAnne Burleson, be-
gan this project. The rocks
themselves were donated
by Frank Osmin and Mark
and Pam Wunderlich, while
funding for the plaques
came from families and
groups of local citizens.
Doris Brosnan and others
wrote the drafts for the text
Morrow County, Heppner, Oregon that appears on the plaques.
Sixteen of the com-
memorative rocks were
placed along the walkways
around town. Each plaque
“speaks” to wanderers as
it tells a brief story about
Heppner’s history.
The rocks are also tech-
nologically savvy; they
have their own Facebook
page created by Kay Proc-
tor. Those who would like
to follow them can search
for the Talking Rocks of
Heppner on Facebook.
Proctor also designed a
brochure that includes a
map and descriptions of
rocks. Brochures are avail-
able at Heppner City Hall
and the Chamber of Com-
G T
azette
imes
VOL. 134
NO. 10
10 Pages
Wednesday, March 11, 2015
KUMA Coffee Hour and Ceili have
another great program planned
A previous year’s Coffee Hour all-star lineup featuring (L-R) Father Gerry Condon, Dominic
Monahan, U.S. Rep. Greg Walden and Tom Melton. The coffee hour will return this Saturday
at 10 a.m., with the annual Ceili beginning at 2 p.m. –Photo by Sandy Matthews
A great lineup has been
scheduled again for the
KUMA Coffee Hour and
Ceili for this year’s St.
Patrick’s event. Both pro-
grams will be held upstairs
at the Elks Lodge as in the
past.
The KUMA Coffee
Hour, scheduled from 10-
11:30 a.m., will be led by
Tom Melton, with jokes and
stories shared by Rep. Greg
Walden and our own Father
Condon (Dom Monahan
can’t make it this year, so
there are sure to be a lot
of “lawyer” jokes in his
absence).
The Irish Singers will
be there to entertain with the
usual Irish songs, and those
who gather for the coffee
hour will get to hear from
this year’s Great Green
Parade Grand Marshal, the
Monagle family. Of course,
Joe Lindsay will be singing
and will bring a couple of
other “Irishmen” to join
him. The Irish Broque Con-
Scott Rose of the DLR
group out of Portland made
an initial presentation on
long range planning before
the Morrow County School
District Board Monday
night at Irrigon Elementary
School.
Primary emphasis
was on upgrading the in-
frastructure of the school
buildings and DLR pro-
vided data on preliminary
estimates for renovations
for each district facility.
Rose, however stressed
that the procedure is a very
lengthy one, requires exten-
sive community input and
ultimately depends on what
each community decides
it wants for their schools,
even before the concept of
a bond issue arises.
The first long range
meeting was to be held on
Tuesday. Selected members
of each community, admin-
istrators and teachers have
been asked to participate in
the initial process.
The preliminary
complete renovation list
includes: A.C. Houghton
Elementary, Irrigon-repairs
to the exterior, interior,
specialty upgrades, plumb-
ing, electrical, equip-
ment, building site equip-
ment and mechanical for
$3,815,000; Sam Board-
man Elementary-repairs to
exterior, interior, specialty
projects, plumbing, electri-
cal, equipment, site, me-
chanical for $2,411,000;
test (Blarney) will give the
audience a chance to tell
the best “blarney” stories
for a chance to win some
gold coins.
The Ceili will run from
2-4 p.m. with the Irish Sing-
ers, Joe Lindsay and the
Irishmen, and our main
entertainment for this year,
the Gothard Sisters, stop-
ping by to sing a few of
their songs. The last button
winner will also be drawn
during this event.
School board hears long range
planning presentation
G-T Trophy Corner
Phegley Padberg of Ione with the 45” sturgeon she caught while
fishing with Jim Benson and Grandma Bev Crum. Phegley is
the daughter of Darrin and Camie Padberg. –Contributed photo
Heppner Elementary-inte-
rior, plumbing, electrical,
mechanical-$5,821,000;
Heppner Junior/Senior
High-exterior, interior, spe-
cialties, plumbing, electri-
cal, equipment, building
site equipment, mechani-
cal,-$16,458,000; Irrigon
Elementary-structure, ex-
terior, interior, electrical,
building site equipment,
mechanical-$1,141,000;
Irrigon Junior/Senior High
School-exterior, interior
plumbing, electrical, build-
ing site equipment, me-
chanical-$6,746,000; Riv-
erside Junior/Senior High
School, Boardman-exterior,
interior, specialties, plumb-
ing , electrical, equipment,
building site equipment,
mechanical-$6,250; Windy
River Elementary, Board-
man-structure, exterior,
interior, specialties, plumb-
ing, electrical, building
site equipment, mechani-
cal-$2,315,000; Morrow
Education Center-structure,
exterior, interior, plumb-
ing, electrical, mechani-
cal-$498,00.
Also at the meeting,
Blue Mountain Commu-
nity College President Cam
Preus made a presentation
on preparing students with
special programs specifi-
cally designed for employ-
ment in local agriculture
and other area businesses in
Morrow and Umatilla coun-
ties. BMCC is preparing
to put another bond issue
before the voters.
In other business the
board:
-learned that the li-
cense for the district’s audi-
-See SCHOOL BOARD
PAGE NINE
David DeMayo, JoAnne Burleson and Kay Proctor (holding
granddaughter Callahan Baker) in front the Jackson Morrow
Talking Rock by Heppner City Hall during the project’s of-
ficial dedication Monday. The Jackson Morrow rock briefly
supported an additional piece of memorabilia—a plaque
mounted on a shard of rock that fell off the larger boulder
during installation. The rock fragment and plaque honor
the contributions of Beautification Committee Chair JoAnne
Burleson to the project; it will be moved to her yard later to
commemorate her role in the creation of the Talking Rocks.
–Photo by Andrea Di Salvo
merce office.
Dave DeMayo with the
Morrow County Historical
Society will be hosting a
Talking Rock bus tour dur-
ing the St. Patrick’s celebra-
tion this weekend. The bus
will meet interested people
in front of the library at 2
p.m. and 3 p.m. Saturday,
March 14.
“We hope that everyone
enjoys this project that was
truly a community-wide
effort,” says Heppner City
Manager Kim Cutsforth.
St. Patrick’s Day Shamrock found
After four weeks of
clues and hunting, the
Heppner St. Patrick’s Day
Shamrock was found. Mike
Lynch of Heppner found
the hidden shamrock last
Wednesday morning at
its hiding place at Gro-
shens Spring across from
the Morrow County Fair-
grounds.
For his efforts, Lynch
won a 2014 Silver Eagle
valued at approximately
$50, donated by the Bank
of Eastern Oregon.
Trisha Rollins of Bank of
Eastern Oregon presents
Mike Lynch of Heppner with
the 2014 Silver Eagle he won
for finding the hidden sham-
rock last week. –Photo by
Megan Futter
City approves medical
marijuana ordinance
By David Sykes
The Heppner City Council
Monday approved a zon-
ing ordinance spelling out
where medical marijuana
facilities may be located in
the city of Heppner. As it
turns out there is only one
small area in the city limits
which complies.
Under the new ordinance,
which early passed by the
city planning commission,
marijuana dispensary fa-
cilities cannot be located
with 1,000 feet from any
school, day care, sports
facility, pool, library, park
or playground. The distance
restrictions along with the
requirement that facilities
be located in a commercial
or industrial zone, left a
very small area in Hep-
pner near Columbia Basin
Electric where a dispensary
could be located.
State law allows the estab-
lishment of medical mari-
juana facilities in Oregon,
so the city was not allowed
to outright ban the dispen-
saries within the city limits,
but was allowed to put zon-
ing restrictions where they
could be located. Other
cities in Morrow County,
as well as the county plan-
ning commission, have all
be wrestling with issues
of how to allow medical
marijuana facilities, but
also how to regulate them.
The ordinance also ap-
plies to a licensed medical
marijuana grow facility or
laboratory, however, these
facilities cannot be located
on the same lot as a dis-
pensary. Grow facilities are
also allowed under Oregon
law.
In other business the coun-
cil agreed that people who
stay longer than 30 days
at the RV park will now
be charged the full rate for
water and sewer hookup. At
the February utility com-
mission meeting members
held a long debate about the
city policy of charging for
multiple users on one water
meter. A local apartment
owner had questioned the
practice, saying one meter
should mean one sewer and
water charge not multiple
depending on how many
people use the hook up.
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The city did not change the
policy but agreed to begin
charging “permanent” resi-
dents, those over 30 days
staying at the RV park, full
water and sewer fees.
The council also heard from
Fire Chief Rusty Estes who
said in the month of Febru-
ary his department handled
five wild land fires, one
chimney fire, secured the
land zone twice, had no
motor vehicle accidents,
no structure fires, three lift
assists, two mutual calls to
Ione, and 21 chief calls.
This map shows the 1,000-ft
buffer zones around various
activities in Heppner where
neither medical marijuana
dispensaries or grow facilities
may be located.
25%
OFF
Morrow County Grain Growers Green Feed & Seed
242 W. Linden Way, Heppner • 676-9422 • 989-8221 (MCGG main office)