Morrow County Rodeo, OTPR results announced HEPPNER G T 50¢ azette imes VOL. 134 NO. 33 8 Pages Wednesday, September 2, 2015 Morrow County, Heppner, Oregon Suspect sought after recovery of stolen motorcycle Above: Jason Minor (center) of Ellensburg, WA won the All-Around title and the saddle do- nated by Bank of Eastern Oregon at the Oregon Trail Pro Rodeo last month. Below: Bo Foster, pictured with Morrow County Fair and OTPR Queen Macy Gibbs, took home the Morrow County Rodeo All-Around title, along with the buckle donated by Les Schwab Tires. –Photos by Lindsey Wylie Two men were arrested of Irrigon on two felony and a third is wanted after warrants out of Benton police recovered a stolen County, Washington, one motorcycle in Mor- for Non Compliance row County over the for Burglary in the weekend. 2 nd Degree and one An Irrigon res- for Non Compliance ident whose mo- for Stolen Property torcycle had been Trafficking. Bail is stolen Aug. 16 con- set at $10,000 for tacted the Morrow Chester Brent each warrant. Para- County Sheriff ’s Paradiso diso also faces pos- Office last Satur- sible charges from day, saying he had received Morrow County. information regarding the Also contacted as part stolen motorcycle and re- of the investigation was questing police assistance Daniel Roy Walchli, 41, in locating it. of Irrigon. Walchli was al- MCSO, with the help of legedly trespassing on the Oregon State Police and of- property of Greenwood ficers from the Blue Moun- Resources, and was arrested tain Enforcement Narcotics and released at the scene for Team, was able to follow Criminal Trespass II. up on the information. As a Morrow County Sher- result of the investigation, iff’s Office did recover the law enforcement arrested stolen 2006 Honda motor- Chester Brent Paradiso, 44, cycle, which has been re- Jason Minor of Ellens- burg, WA won the All- Around title for the $35,000 Oregon Trail Pro Rodeo in Heppner by winning out by half a point over Randy Thompson of Yoncalla, OR in the wild cow milk- ing contest. With the title, Minor also won the OTPR All-Around saddle donated by the Bank of Eastern Oregon. In other events, Cam- eron Craig won the bare- back title with an 83, while Jacob Ramirez won bull riding with a 70, Danny Alires took saddle bronc with an 86 and Justin Quint scored 80 points on ranch bronc. Other champions were: barrel racer Callahan Crossley of Hermiston with 17.22 seconds; tie-down roper Paul Cope with 9.7 seconds; breakaway roper Send trophy shots to the G-T It’s that time of year again! Whether you shot it with an arrow or reeled it in with a hook, the Heppner Gazette-Times wants to see pictures of your trophy animals from this hunting season. Getting your photos to the G-T is easy. Stop by to have your picture taken, drop off photos at our office on Willow St. in Heppner, mail them to PO Box 337 in Heppner, email them to editor@rapidserve.net or text cell phone photos to 541-980-6674. Please be sure to in- clude you name and other details--such as your age and where you’re from, and even what gear you used--so we can show off your hunting skills in our local paper. 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. turned to the owner. MCSO is also seeking information on a third suspect who was able to flee the scene. Morrow County is asking the public’s help with any information on the where- abouts of Wallace Gary Smith, 45, who is wanted for Theft I in connection with this case. Anyone with information regarding Smith is asked to call the Morrow County Sheriff’s Office at 541-676-5317. Smith is wanted for the charge of Theft I and other possible charges that are pending. Smith is also wanted by the U.S. Mar- shal’s Service for a federal felony warrant out of Ar- lington, VA for Probation Violation for Theft of Gov- ernment Property, no bail. No photo of Smith was available at press time. Kayse Winkle with 2.0 seconds; steer wrestler Sean Santucci with 3.9 seconds; team ropers Andy Carlson (Hermiston) and Bryan Reay (Adrian) with 4.9 seconds. On the home front Sun- day, Aug. 23, excitement had a more home-grown feel at the Morrow County Rodeo. Bodeen Foster took home the All-Around buck- Search continues for new health district CEO By April Sykes The Morrow County Health District, at its regu- lar meeting Monday night in Heppner, agreed to au- thorize an electronic vote on a proposed CEO con- tract. The district is seek- ing a new CEO since the resignation of Dan Grigg in June, and Chief Financial Officer and acting CEO Nicole Mahoney and board member Aaron Palmquist are in the process of refin- ing the contract verbiage. The board hopes to get a new contract approved by Sept. 10. Concerning Pioneer Memorial Hospital’s de- teriorating sewer system, Maintenance Supervisor Carl Lauritsen told the board that a cost-saving solution to install liners in the sewer would not work because the sewer system has a “belly,” which is a lower sagging portion where waste and water ac- cumulate. He said that the “belly” would have to be replaced before liners could be installed. The district is planning to let bids again on replacing the sewer system. The district plans to utilize the current system until new lines can be installed and then abandon the old system. Mahoney and Lauritsen say they believe the system could be replaced in the neighborhood of $75-80 thousand; however, board member Aaron Palmquist, who is also the city manager for the city of Irrigon, said he thought it could cost up to a quarter of a million. Mahoney said that she would reprioritize other planned capital improve- ment projects in order to help fund the sewer project. She said that the district would let bids as soon as possible. Mahoney told the board that according to Merritt Hawkins, the physician recruitment firm hired by the district, there are no new developments on any of the previous physician candidates, but a female doctor from Florida has recently responded to their ad. Dr. Betsy Anderson left her positon with the district as of the end of August. Mahoney also told the board that the CEO search committee has conducted preliminary interviews with two candidates, one of whom has been invited to interview in person later in September. That candidate is currently working and residing in Alaska. Mahoney said that con- struction has been complet- ed on the Ione Community Clinic and that staffing is underway. She said that Shelly Rietmann of Ione was hired as a part-time medical assistant for the clinic and that two CNA students, Pam Piper and Ariel Knight, will join the hospital team after they complete their training and certification. An open house for the Ione Clinic is set for open- ing day on Sept. 10 at 6 p.m. Mahoney also pre- sented the profit and loss le donated by Les Schwab Tires. Before that, though, the events started with the stick horse races. In the three and under division, Kam- ryn Dickenson took first, Charlie Mullins second and Maddox McMasters third. For the four- and five- See more rodeo results and photos at RODEO RESULTS/ PAGE FIVE Red Barn 5k planned for Sept. 19 Local walkers and run- ners, as well as anyone who wants to bring the family out for a fun event on a fall day, are asked to mark their calendars for the Red Barn 5k on Saturday, Sept. 19. The event will include a one-mile, two-mile or five kilometer run/walk. Registration will be held that morning from 7:45-8:15 a.m. at the Lat- ter-day Saints church in Lexington, on the corner of Hwy. 74 and Tom St. Cost to participate is $5, or $10 for a t-shirt. Proceeds go to the Mor- row County cross country -See HEALTH DISTRICT/ team. PAGE THREE WCVEDG announces grant recipients Willow Creek Valley Economic Development Group (WCVEDG) has announced the recipients of the Community and Pub- lic Enhancement Grants awarded to local groups last month. In July, WCVEDG an- nounced that it had received funds from the Colum- bia River Enterprise Zone Board (CREZ) to be used for community and public enhancement for South Morrow County. The group has now announced that eight local entities received a total of $34,141.49 in funding. Recipients are as follows: -Morrow County Mu- seum received $5,000 to digitize county newspapers so they are available online and can be accessed by the public. -The Town of Lexing- ton received $5,000 to add a picnic facility at the old fire hall/town hall site, in- cluding planting grass and installation of a pergola picnic table. -City of Heppner re- ceived $5,224 for improve- The Heppner Gazette-Times wants to see pic- tures of your trophy animals from this hunting season. Stop by to have your picture taken, drop off photos, mail them to PO Box 337 in Heppner, email them to editor@rapidserve. net or text cell phone photos to 541-980-6674. ment of playground equip- ment at Heppner City Park. -Morrow SWCD re- ceived $967.50 to remove an old concrete curb and re- place it with recycled plas- tic/rubber parking stops, as well as an additional $699.99 to purchase a DR TreeChopper ATV attach- ment for the control of Western Juniper in South Morrow County, to be used by landowners. -Heppner Jr./Sr. High Booster Club received $5,000 toward refurbishing the high school gym floor and to install three water bottle fill stations for use by community and students. -Ione American Le- gion and Auxiliary received $2,250 to purchase new chairs and lightweight ta- bles and to purchase a stor- age container into which to put existing chairs and tables for use by commu- nity members. - Heppner Day Care re- ceived $10,000 for renova- tion and construction costs for an infant and toddler child care center. Applicant organiza- Morrow County Grain Growers Lexington 989-8221 1-800-452-7396 For farm equipment, visit our web site at www.mcgg.net tions had to have been local organizations, clubs, spe- cial districts or governmen- tal entities who reside in the South Morrow County Service Area (as defined by the WCVEDG Service Area Map). The requestor had to have at least 50 percent of funding, which could in- clude in-kind and cash con- tributions from local and regional sources, for the total project budget com- mitted before application, with exceptions granted at the discretion of the board.