HEPPNER
G T
50¢
azette
imes
VOL. 134
NO. 32
8 Pages
Fall sports
are just
around the
corner
Wednesday, August 26, 2015
Morrow County, Heppner, Oregon
Lightning sparks multiple
blazes across county
By Andrea Di Salvo
A lightning storm that
moved through the area
Monday night sparked sev-
eral grass fires through-
out the area, including at
least eight separate fires to
which volunteer firefighters
and civilians responded in
South Morrow County.
Calls started coming
in to the Morrow County
emergency dispatch as the
lightning storm moved
across the region around 9
p.m. Monday. While some This fire caused by a lightning strike on Kenny Jones’ property
locations reported rain, west of Lexington was one of several fires caused by a storm
that moved through the area Monday night. –Photo by Andrea
-See LIGHTNING FIRES/ Di Salvo
PAGE TWO
Kickin’ back at the fair
Columbia Basin
Electric warns
consumers of scam
With the hint of fall in
the air comes a reminder
that school is about to begin
and fall sports season is
almost upon us.
School will begin in
both Heppner and Ione
schools next Monday, Aug.
31. Heppner High School
has posted a start time of
7:50 a.m. Monday, while
Ione’s start time 8 a.m.
Friday night lights will
begin for Heppner High
School on Friday, Sept. 4, Carson Eynetich of Ione takes a break from tending to his fair pigs last week during the
at 7 p.m. with a non-league Morrow County Fair. See more fair and rodeo photos PAGE EIGHT -Photo by Mallorie Jones
game versus Imbler at East-
ern Oregon University.
Ione High School’s
football kickoff will take
place Saturday, Sept. 5, at
4 p.m. when they take on
Triad at the non-league
Dufur Classic.
Before football,
though, volleyball action
approximately seven miles
will already be underway,
northwest of Heppner. It
as volleyball players from
is bisected by Hwy. 207.
Heppner take on Umatilla at
Wheatridge East is located
the Umatilla Jamboree this
approximately 16 miles
Friday, Aug. 28, at noon.
northeast of Heppner and
Ione girls will travel to
encompasses land in both
Irrigon on Sept. 3 for their
Morrow and Umatilla coun-
first game; game time is 5
ties.
p.m.
The maximum generat-
Look for full sports
ing capacity of the facility
schedules on PAGE FOUR
will be up to 500 megawatts
in this issue of the Gazette-
of power. Although an exact
Times.
timeline for construction
Columbia Basin Elec-
tric Co-op has issued a
scam alert to its members,
warning consumers of a
telephone scam that has
been going through its ser-
vice territory.
CBEC issued a release
stating that some electric
utility members recently
received telephone calls
from an 888 number.
The callers identified
themselves as someone
from Columbia Basin Elec-
tric and claimed that the
member’s electric bill was
past due and that if they
didn’t go to the local Safe-
way or 7-Eleven and de-
posit funds, a local service
technician would be by
to turn off the power. The
scam artists even went into
detail, providing seemingly
legitimate details like cut-
off order numbers.
Anyone who receives a
phone call like this and has
questions is asked to give
Columbia Basin’s office
a call at 541-676-9146 in
Heppner or 541-384-2023
in Condon.
No one who receives
one of these calls should
ever give out any personal
information over the phone.
Public gets look at proposed
292-tower wind farm
Private
plane
crashes
Wheatridge Wind Facility spans Morrow and
Umatilla counties
G-T closed
for Labor
Day
The Heppner Gazette-
Times will be closed for the
Labor Day holiday on Mon-
day, Sept. 7. The deadline
for all news and advertising
for the Sept. 9 issue will be
Friday, Sept. 4, at 5 p.m.
The G-T wishes every-
one a happy and safe Labor
Day weekend.
Wheatridge Wind Energy LLC President Andrew O’Connell
speaks with Cindy Greenup about the project at an informa-
tional meeting held in Boardman August 11. –Photo by David
Sykes
By David Sykes
A new Morrow County
wind farm moved one step
closer to reality recently,
when the Oregon Depart-
ment of Energy held an
informational meeting in
Boardman Aug. 11.
The Wheatridge Wind
Facility will have up to 292
towers and be located both
in Morrow and Umatilla
counties, with a corridor
containing overhead trans-
mission lines connecting
the two. Andrew O’Connell
along with Jerry Rietmann
of Ione are two of the ma-
jor owners of the project,
which has been in develop-
ment since 2008.
Wheatridge West is the
portion located in Morrow
County, with the edge of the
facility located five miles
northeast of Lexington and
near Jepsen ranch
This private plane crashed near the Jepsen property Aug. 16,
but the pilot walked away with only minor injuries. –Contrib-
has not been set, the compa- uted photo
ny does have up to six years
to complete the project and
the informational meeting
was one more step required
for construction.
The informational
meeting was not a public
hearing, and Department
of Energy officials in atten-
dance were not taking testi-
mony, saying that a public
hearing for public input on
the project will be held at a
later date. Members of the
public did ask questions,
A pilot walked away
with only minor injuries af-
ter his private plane flipped
over while landing near the
Jepsen ranch in South Mor-
row County last week, Mor-
row County Undersheriff
Steven Myren reported in
a news release.
Myren said the crash
occurred Aug. 16 next to
Liberty School Road. After
MCSO was advised of the
crash on Tuesday, prelimi-
nary investigation revealed
-See WIND FARM/PAGE that the plane landed on a
FOUR
small, private runway be-
tween 3 and 4 p.m. Sunday
afternoon. The pilot, Steven
Huggins of Beavercreek,
OR, apparently lost control
of the Cessna 180H during
the landing, and the plane
flipped onto its top.
Huggins received mi-
nor injuries but walked
away from the hard land-
ing, Myren reported. Hug-
gins notified the NTSB
(National Transportation
Safety Board) right after
the incident.
Local banker beefs up his fitness to support Ag awareness
By Andrea Di Salvo
A local banker is put-
ting his money where his
mouth is, so to speak, by
going the distance in the
cause of beef awareness.
Ed Rollins of Ione, who
works at Bank of Eastern
Oregon in Heppner as Se-
nior Vice President of Cred-
it Administration, donned
a red jersey and cowboy
hat last month to join the
Montana Running Ranchers
relay team that took part in
the Ragnar Relay Series
Northwest Passage race.
The overnight event,
which took place July 17
and 18, began in Blaine,
WA and covered about
200 miles, wrapping up
in Langley, WA. Because
it was an overnight relay,
team members were run-
ning around the clock.
“You’re running clear
through,” says Rollins.
Rollins ran three legs of
the relay—the first, at 9:25
a.m., ran from Blaine, WA
six miles south. His second
leg, the race’s 13 th , began
at 6:02 p.m. and went from
Burlington, WA four and a
half miles south. His final
leg, the 25 th leg of the race,
went 3.1 miles from Oak
Harbor High School to the
Oak Harbor beach park.
That leg began at 4:13 a.m.
Rollins, who turns 40
next month, wouldn’t bill
himself as a running fanat-
ic; far from it. When asked
if he’d ever done anything
like this relay, “Not even
close,” was the immediate
response. He says he’s only
been running since 2012,
and mostly keeps to local
races.
“I run a few 5Ks. What-
ever run happens in Hep-
pner, whatever run happens
in Ione,” he says, adding
that he has also branched
out to a few short races in
the larger Eastern Oregon
area. He says the experi-
ence of the larger relay race
was “phenomenal.”
“The couple of days
leading up to it, I was think-
-See RUNNING FOR BEEF/
PAGE THREE
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NOW IS THE TIME TO SAVE!
Ed Rollins (back right) and the rest of the Montana Running Ranchers drew a lot of attention
for beef awareness with their red shirts and cowboy hats. -Contributed photo
Morrow County Grain Growers
Lexington 989-8221 • 1-800-452-7396
For farm equipment, visit our web site at www.mcgg.net