EIGHT - Heppner Gazette-Times, Heppner, Oregon Wednesday, April 8, 2015
Area farmer directs funds
to Morrow County 4-H
Leaders Association
Heppner FFA attends state
convention
Joe and Cheryl Taylor of Ione stand with a group of Morrow County 4-H members during
the check presentation in Ione last week. The Taylors were selected as a winner of Monsanto’s
America’s Farmers Grow Communities and chose to have the $2,500 donated to the local 4-H
leaders association. –Photo by David Sykes
Morrow County 4-H
Leaders Association has
received a $2,500 donation
from Double T Farming and
America’s Farmers Grow
Communities, sponsored
by the Monsanto Fund.
According to 4-H Agent
Ashely Jones, the organiza-
tion will use the donation to
cover the costs of travel to
various events, including
the Tri-County 4-H Camp,
the Oregon State University
Summer Conference and
the Eastern Oregon Leader-
ship Retreat.
“The 4-H program does
a great job of providing
youth in our communi-
ty with leadership skills
as well as experience in
careers that may interest
them. We’re happy to have
the opportunity to support
them,” said winning farmer
Joe Taylor of Double T
Farming.
Taylor and his wife,
Cheryl Taylor, presented
the $2,500 check to the
county 4-H program at a
ceremony on March 31 at
Ione Community School.
For five years, Amer-
ica’s Farmers Grow Com-
munities has collaborated
with farmers to donate over
$16.5 million to over 7,300
community organizations
across rural America. This
year winning farmers will
direct another $3.3 million
to nonprofits to help fight
rural hunger, purchase life-
saving fire and EMS equip-
ment, support ag youth
leadership programs, buy
much needed classroom re-
sources, and so much more.
America’s Farmers
Grow Communities is part
of the America’s Farmers
initiative. Since 2010, the
America’s Farmers cam-
paign and programs have
advocated on behalf of
farmers and their efforts
to meet society’s needs
through agriculture. To-
day, consumers are more
interested than ever in ag-
riculture and how food is
grown. Consider joining the
conversation and helping
to raise awareness about
agriculture. Learn more at
FoodDialogues.com.
A sister program in the
America’s Farmers effort,
Grow Rural Education,
is currently in its farmer
nomination phase. Farm-
ers interested in supporting
math and science education
in their communities should
visit www.GrowRuralE-
ducation.com from now
through April 1 to learn
how.
Why Bother with Recycling?
“Don’t Torch Your Trash!” says county public works
The following article
was submitted by Morrow
County Public Works.
You might ask “What’s
all the fuss about recycling?
Doesn’t it all end up in the
garbage anyway?” Actual-
ly, recycling not only saves
the earth’s resources, but
all those recyclables you
collect, clean sort and take
to your local depot end up
being processed into new
products.
Also, you might not
give a thought to what ends
up in your burn barrel…but
you should. Not just be-
cause it might be illegal to
burn it, but because it fouls
up our air and contributes
to pollution. Recycling
isn’t just for our kids and
grandkids; it’s for everyone.
Did you know that
Oregon’s recycling his-
tory laws go back to 1983?
Back then, it was widely
believed that Oregon was
going to run out of landfill
space. This belief, in part,
led to Oregon’s first “Op-
portunity to Recycle” Act.
This act created strategies
for preventing waste, for
reuse and recycling, and set
up a hierarchy to manage
solid waste:
-First, Reduce the
amount of waste generated;
-Next, Reuse materials
for their original intended
use;
-Next, Recycle what
can’t be reused;
-Compost (organic ma-
terials) that can’t be reused
or recycled
-Recover Energy from
what can’t be reused, re-
cycled or composted
-Finally, Dispose of
residual material safely.
This act also required
wastesheds to establish
recycling depots. (A
wasteshed is the same as a
county, except for the city
of Milton-Freewater and
Metro). It also required cit-
ies in Oregon with popula-
tions of more than 4,000 to
provide curbside recycling
collection to all garbage
service customers.
In 1991, the 1983 Or-
egon Recycling Act broad-
ened recycling require-
ments. It set a statewide
recovery goal of 50 percent
by the year 2000 and short-
term recovery goals for
individual wastesheds by
1995. By the year 2000,
Oregon had not met its re-
covery goal of 50 percent;
so in 2001 a bill was passed
that set a statewide recovery
goal of 45 percent for 2005
and 50 percent for 2009.
In order to help meet this
statewide recovery goal,
each wasteshed set new
voluntary recovery goals
for 2005 and 2009.
So let’s talk about Mor-
row wasteshed. The Mor-
row wasteshed is all of
the area within Morrow
County. The recovery rate
for Morrow wasteshed was
set at 18 percent for cal-
endar years 2005 through
2008 and 20 percent for
calendar year 2009 and
subsequent years.
And how have we
done? Overall, we’ve done
pretty well. We’ve achieved
and surpassed our recovery
goal of 20 percent since
2009 for almost every year.
We fell just a little bit short
in 2013. So what recy-
cling services does Morrow
wasteshed offer? And what
happens when we don’t
meet our goal?
Let’s go with the sec-
ond question first. The regu-
lations stated the following:
“If a wasteshed does
not achieve its 2005 or 2009
waste recovery goal, the
wasteshed shall conduct a
technical review of exist-
ing policies or programs
and determine revisions to
meet the recovery goal. The
department shall, upon the
request of the wasteshed,
assist in the technical re-
view. The wasteshed may
request, and may assist the
department in conducting,
a technical review to deter-
mine whether the wasteshed
goal is valid.”
So, in other words, if
Morrow wasteshed doesn’t
meet its goal, we (as in the
local government) are sup-
posed to conduct a review
of our recycling programs
and see what we need to do
Above: Heppner FFA Chapter members who attend-
ed a recent convention in Silverton, OR. Behind the
tractor: Rian Wizner, Katlyn Harper, Erica Nelson,
Tim Gould, Kenzi Hughes, CJ Kindle, Kolby Currin,
Patrick Collins, Coby Dougherty and Keegan Gibbs.
In front of tractor: Macy Gibbs, Josey Evans, Ethan
Akers, Alex Lindsay and Gibson McCurry.
Right: Patrick Collins receives the Superior Chapter
Award and the 10+10% Award for increase in mem-
bership on behalf of the Heppner FFA Chapter at a
recent convention. –Contributed photos
By Erica Nelson
Over this past spring
break, 18 Heppner FFA
members and three chap-
erones traveled west to
the 87 th annual Oregon
FFA State Convention. This
year, the convention was
conducted at Silverton High
School in Silverton, OR,
and included events such
as the Career Expo and a
complimentary Ben Rue
concert.
The group left on
March 20 and stayed in
the Silverton area for three
days, returning home on
March 23. This trip was
not only filled with fun side
trips, like to the Wooden
Shoe Tulip Farm, the Or-
egon Garden and Silver
Creek Falls State Park, but
the local chapter was able
to bring home some awards
as well.
T h e H e p p n e r F FA
Chapter placed second in
the Ag Youth Awareness
competition, which is an
award given for
involvement in ag-
ricultural literacy.
The chapter was
also recognized as one of
the top 10 chapters in the
state by receiving a rating
of Gold for its National
Chapter award application.
Kenzi Hughes was se-
lected as the Oregon FFA
Star Farmer, which is the
highest award a state as-
sociation can give to its
members. Erica Nelson and
Caitlynn Bailey both won
State Proficiency Awards
for their Supervised Agri-
cultural Experience (SAE)
projects, Diversified Horti-
culture and Ag Processing,
respectively. All of these
awards listed above will be
competing at the national
level later this year.
Some of the officers
also received recognition
for the book competitions.
The Secretary’s Book
(Rylee Kollman), Treasur-
er’s Book (Patrick Collins),
to meet our goal. DEQ can
help us with the review.
What kinds of recy-
cling services are available
in Morrow wasteshed?
Morrow County has
mainly a rural population.
Major commercial recy-
cling is too far away from
our citizens and business-
es—so recycling services
are limited. Most of the
recycling efforts are fo-
cused on providing recy-
cling containers in various
locations in the cities, at
the transfer station in Lex-
ington and near Boardman
and at Finley Buttes Land-
fill. Materials accepted for
recycling are generally:
flattened cardboard boxes,
newspaper, glass, tin and
aluminum. While the coun-
ty does not have any dedi-
cated personnel to develop
and implement county-wide
reuse, composting or recy-
cling programs, we do have
an informational brochure
called “Recycle Today” that
is available to citizens and
businesses.
A collection and com-
posting program for com-
mercial and institutional
food waste, non-recyclable
paper and other composta-
ble waste is not yet avail-
able but Morrow County
is working on making this
available.
Morrow County tries
to keep access to all ave-
nues of recycling available.
Other recycling opportuni-
ties supported by Morrow
County include:
-Morrow County resi-
dents are allowed to dump
televisions, computers and
monitors, and all electronic
waste items free of charge.
-Latex and oil based
paints may be recycled
free of charge to county
residents.
-Morrow County Trans-
fer Stations will waive the
fee for the disposal of large
items such as furniture,
home appliances, washers,
dryers, refrigerators, water
heaters and mattresses for
residents of Morrow, so
large items can be disposed
Chapter Scrapbook (Erica
Nelson) and the Chapter
Digital Scrapbook (Macy
Gibbs) all competed and
won at the district level
and were able to move on
to state competition; each
officer’s hard work earned
them a bronze award.
In addition to the ses-
sions, award ceremonies
and the trips, Heppner’s
FFA chapter was also given
the opportunity to package
food for a state-wide com-
munity service project. Stu-
dents had the opportunity to
host a meal with our Central
Region National Vice Presi-
dent Kristen Schmidt.
The state convention
trip was not only a suc-
cessful one, but exciting,
as well. Everyone said they
enjoyed themselves, and
many great memories were
made.
of free of charge.
Morrow County also
would like to remind ev-
eryone of the County Or-
dinance 5.010, Transpor-
tation of Solid Waste. No
person shall transport or
self-haul, as defined in the
Solid Waste Management
Plan, solid waste on a pub-
lic road unless such waste
or solid waste is covered
and secured. Be aware that
Morrow County will attach
a $10 fine to anyone not
complying with this County
Ordinance.
You will be required
to show proof of residence
in the county with iden-
tification. Containers for
electronics waste and paint
drop off are located at the
North Transfer Station,
69900 Frontage Ln., Board-
man and the South Transfer
Station, 57185 Hwy 74,
Lexington.
Any questions or con-
cerns, call Sandi Putman
at Morrow County Public
Works, 541-989-9500.
Bank of EO announces new smart ATM in
Boardman city council
Said Rebecca Kindle, branches.”
internet banking, visit the
Dayville SVP
Operations, “Custom-
“This is the fourth website at beobank.com.
changes meeting dates
er adoption of our deposit- smart ATM we’ve installed
Heppner—Bank of taking machines has been in small towns where bank-
in April
Eastern Oregon Monday excellent, and now our ing services are needed,”
announced the opening of
a new ATM at the Dayville
Mercantile in Dayville,
OR. The new machine will
handle customer cash with-
drawals, and can also accept
cash and check deposits
from BEO customers. The
new machine is similar to
smart ATMs the bank has
installed in Monument,
Lakeview and Ontario, and
to another scheduled to
open in Wasco, OR in June.
Dayville customers will be
able to reduce the number
of times people have to
travel each week to John
Day or Fossil to do their
banking, or the days they
have to wait for their depos-
its to arrive by mail. When
combined with a custom-
er using online or mobile
banking, these ATMs pro-
vide a tremendous amount
of convenience to our cus-
tomers who live between
said Gary Propheter, the
bank’s COO. “These smart
machines give a community
about 80 percent of what a
branch can do and we have
been very happy with their
performance. We are look-
ing at other locations where
Bank of Eastern Oregon has
concentrations of customers
and hope to announce new
locations soon.”
For further information
on the company or to access
The Boardman City Council has changed its meeting
schedule in April. The city council met on Tuesday, April
7, and will meet on Tuesday, April 21, for its regularly-
scheduled meetings and will hold a special meeting on
Tuesday, April 28. All three meetings begin at 7 p.m. at
Boardman City Hall.
The Bank of Eastern Oregon
just installed this new "smart"
ATM in Dayville as part of
the bank's efforts to make
banking accessible between
branches. -Contributed photo
Deadline for news and
advertising:
Monday at 5:00 p.m.