City waste water study recommends
$719,000 in improvements
HEPPNER
G T
50¢
azette
imes
VOL. 134
NO. 35 10 Pages
Wednesday, September 16, 2015
By David Sykes
A recently completed
study of Heppner’s waste-
water system recommends
improvements at a cost of
$719,000, the city’s engi-
neering firm told the city
council Monday night.
The plan calls for im-
provements to both the col-
lection system and the city
treatment facility. The en-
gineering firm of Anderson
Perry completed the study
in 2012, but experienced
a three-year delay because
of changes made by the De-
partment of Environmental
Quality.
To pay for the improve-
Morrow County, Heppner, Oregon
ments Anderson and Perry
recommended either doing
the improvements over time
using the city’s own funds,
or doing the improvements
all at once using outside
funding such as a loan.
Brad Baird, president of
Anderson and Perry, was at
the meeting and said there
were advantages and disad-
vantages to both methods.
Doing the improve-
ments over time using the
city’s own funds would
require the city raise sewer
rates each year over a 20-
year period. It would re-
quire potentially smaller
rate increases for the first
he landed on the ground
and crawled 200 feet from
the burning tractor. He then
pulled out the cell phone his
wife, Betty, always insisted
he carry.
“I told her the tractor
was on fire and that I’d been
burned,” he said.
According to wife Bet-
ty Carlson, that in itself was
something of a miracle.
“Never are you able to
get cell phone reception, ex-
cept for one or two spots,”
she recalled. “But he was
able to call.”
Carlson said he was
then able to walk the quarter
mile to his pickup, which
he drove back toward the
burning tractor. There, he
found Tim Schmitt, Safety
Coordinator for Michels,
two to four years, but the
total rate increase over 20
years would be consider-
ably higher because of in-
flation, the study said. The
disadvantage to completing
the improvements over time
would be the city would
continue to have to deal
with some of the sewer
problems as time goes on
until they are fixed.
The other option would
be for the city to take out a
loan and do all the repairs
and improvements at once.
The immediate upgrade
would make the system
more efficient and simpler
to operate for the public
works crew, plus overall
costs of would be less be-
cause over a longer period
there would be inflation and
higher construction costs.
The disadvantage to
taking out a loan and do-
ing the whole project at
once is that the rate would
be higher initially but then
less in later years. If you
consider a $750,000 loan at
four percent over 20 years,
the annual payment would
be $48,000, the report said.
Considering the city has
698 connections, this would
require a $5.73 per month
rate increase to cover the
debt payment.
Heppner Mayor Skip
Matthews asked Pub-
lic Works director Chad
Doherty if any of the city’s
sewer systems were in im-
mediate danger of failing.
“Our main concern is
catastrophic failure,” Mat-
thews said. “There is noth-
ing that is going to fail and
drop millions of gallons
down Willow Creek?” he
asked.
Doherty said there are
some really bad sections
of the sewer system and
that the plant is getting old
and in need of replacement,
but stopped short of saying
there was an immediate
threat. He said the sewer
plant is working okay and
the samples coming out are
passing DEQ tests.
City attorney Bill
Kuhn, who has been on
the school board for many
years, said with a dwindling
student population in Hep-
-See TRACTOR FIRE/PAGE
FOUR
-See CITY COUNCIL/PAGE
FOUR
Columbia Basin
Close call proves good neighbors
announces rate increase don’t have to live next door
The directors of Co-
lumbia Basin Electric Co-
Op, at a recent board meet-
ing, took action to increase
retail electric rates 4.3
percent, effective October
2015.
The rate increase is
in response to Bonneville
Power Administration’s an-
nouncement of a 7.10 per-
cent wholesale rate increase
effective Oct. 1, 2015.
Electric kilowatt-hour
(kwh) rates will increase
4.3 percent, fixed monthly
meter fees will be increased
$3 per service, with street
and security light fixed
fees increasing 50 cents per
month.
“CBEC employees and
board of directors continue
to be ever-vigilant in their
efforts to control costs,
provide reliable service
and maintain rate stability”
a spokesperson said. “The
Board of Directors has not
taken this rate increase
action lightly; they know
the additional burden this
increase places on families
and businesses in our ser-
vice territory.
“However, the coopera-
tive cannot absorb the entire
BPA rate increase.”
Budget Pay/Level Pay-
ment Plan consumers have
had their payments adjusted
to reflect this increase.
If you would like more
information or a calculation
of the rate increase on your
individual account, please
contact CBEC at 541-676-
9146 or 541-384-2023.
Sen. Hansell to hold
town hall series
A recap of the 2015 session and
issues important to District 29
Salem—Sen. Bill Han-
sell (R-Athena) will be
in Heppner next Monday,
Sept. 21, as part of a series
of town halls across the
district.
The Heppner town hall
will take place next Mon-
day from 7-8 p.m. in the
Heppner City Hall confer-
ence room, 111 N. Main
Street, Heppner.
Hansell will be joined
during the Eastern portions
of his tour by Rep. Greg
Barreto (R-Cove).
Hansell will provide
his thoughts on the 2015
Legislative Session, discuss
the “Good, Bad, and Ugly”
legislation that was pro-
posed, and field questions
from constituents on issues
that matter to them.
By Andrea Di Salvo
Louis Carlson of Hep-
pner has been a farmer
all his life. It’s what the
85-year-old loves to do,
and why he was out on a
tractor sweeping thistles
one Wednesday in August.
Carlson said he had
been working on that
ground—owned by George
Griffith of Ione and farmed
by Carlson’s son, Clint
Carlson—for several days.
It happened to be a patch
of ground being traversed
by the new natural gas
line being put in from the
Ione pumping station to
a natural gas plant being
planned near the current
coal-fired plant (see related
story, “TransCanada shows
appreciation to Ione com-
munity” PAGE SIX). That
gave Carlson the chance to
get acquainted with the Mi-
chels Pipeline Construction
employees who were laying
the pipeline.
“I’d had quite a bit of
contact with the crew, stop-
ping occasionally to visit
with them,” he recalled.
And there was nothing
unusual about that Wednes-
day. Carlson said he finished
sweeping the field, and “as
luck would have it,” ended
about a half mile from the
pipeline crew and a quarter
mile from his pickup parked
near the road.
As Carlson drove the
tractor toward the edge of
Louis Carlson of Heppner displays the card, envelope of cash,
and a couple of souvenirs from his friends at Michels. –Photo
by Andrea Di Salvo
the field, he heard what he
first thought was an explo-
sion. It turned out later that
a universal joint on the trac-
tor’s driveline had broken.
The broken hydraulic line
spread hydraulic oil over
the tractor, including the
cab in which Carlson was
sitting. That ignited a flame,
which quickly consumed
the tractor.
“I found myself en-
gulfed in flames,” Carlson
said. “I opened the escape
door and saw flames out-
side. I knew I would cer-
tainly be burned to death
if I stayed in the cab, so I
opened the door and es-
caped by jumping off the
tractor.”
Carlson escaped with-
out any broken bones, but
was burned as he jumped
through the flames. He said
Matheny Project on the road and under
the microscope
Sandy Matheny and
Molly Rill of the Matheny
Project recently visited with
the research staff from the
Oregon Health Sciences
University (OHSU) Neu-
rological Research labora-
tories.
The laboratories Ma-
theny and Rill visited have
been the beneficiary of
funds earmarked for spinal
cord injury research and
sent through the Matheny
Project music CD sales
since 2011.
The Matheny Project
was named for local wheat
rancher Dave Matheny,
who was seriously injured
in a horse accident in Sep-
tember 2001. Despite his
injuries, he remained an
active member of the fam-
ily ranch until his passing
in October 2013. In Dave
Matheny’s honor, all pro-
ceeds from the Matheny
Project are donated to the
OHSU Foundation to be
used in their spinal cord
injury research programs.
Drs. Mary Heinricher
and Susan Ingram’s labora-
tories work to study how the
brain controls pain. Pain,
especially pain following
some sort of damage to
the nerves, spinal cord or
brain itself, is incredibly
challenging for both pa-
Pictured L-R: YangMiao Zhang, Ph.D., postdoctoral scholar who recently joined Dr. Hein-
richer’s lab from Washington State University Pullman; QiLiang Chen, M.D./Ph.D. student at
OHSU; Molly Rill of the Matheny Project; Susan Ingram Osborn, Ph.D.; Mary M. Heinricher,
Ph.D.; and Sandy Matheny of the Matheny Project. –Contributed photo
specific nerve cell popula-
tions in the brain. The labs
are using this approach to
figure out how activation
of certain nerve cells leads
to pain.
Rill and Matheny said
they enjoyed a first-hand
look at both current and an-
ticipated research projects
and had an opportunity to
get to personally know the
people actually doing the
work.
“It was inspiring to see
not only what they’ve ac-
complished, but to also get
a glimpse into some of the
exciting research we can
ALL NEWS AND ADVERTISEMENT DEADLINE: anticipate on the horizon,”
said Matheny. “It’s wonder-
tients and their doctors. The
pain is “felt” in the body,
although the body was not
injured. Their laboratories
are working to understand
how changes in the circuits
of the brain can cause or
modify pain, and trying to
figure out how we could
restore those circuits to
normal in chronic pain.
With support from the
Matheny Project, the team
has been able to adopt a
new technique called “op-
togenetics.” This technique
uses pulses of light to pro-
vide exquisite control of
MONDAYS AT 5:00 P.M.
ful to be a part of what these
folks are doing!”
Both Rill and Matheny
also remarked on how good
it is to actually get to know
the people behind the voic-
es they’ve only been talking
with by phone and emailing
until now.
School district
enrollment up slightly
Kindergarten numbers down
By April Sykes
Morrow County School
District Superintendent
Dirk Dirksen told the board
at its Monday night meeting
in Heppner that the district
is up 11 students over its
budgeted number. Dirksen
said the increase was “good
news,” as opposed to five
years ago, when the stu-
dent population had taken
a downturn.
Dirksen said, however,
that kindergarten enroll-
ment was down somewhat.
Enrollment data as of
this month is as follows:
A.C. Houghton Elemen-
tary, Irrigon (kindergarten
through grade three)-266;
Sam Boardman Elementary,
Boardman (K-three)-344;
Heppner Elementary
(K-six)-173; Irrigon El-
ementary (four-six)-192;
Windy River Elementary,
Boardman (four-six)-214:
Heppner Junior/Senior
High (seven-12)-161; Ir-
rigon Junior/Senior High
(seven-12)-387; River-
side Junior/Senior High,
Boardman (seven-12)-395;
Morrow Education Center,
Irrigon-29; total-2,161.
In other business, the
board:
-learned from Dirksen
that the district purchased
750 additional computer
devices, with 600 “pret-
ty much ready to go” at
the beginning of the new
school year. “We have two
more devices than we have
students,” Dirksen said.
“We’re pretty pleased with
getting that close to one-
to-one.” He said that the
majority of the new devices
are Chromebooks, which
are better for word process-
ing, with the remaining
devices being iPads. He
said they were dispersed in
a teacher specific, area spe-
cific manner. He credited
the purchase of the devices
to the education foundation,
-See SCHOOL DISTRICT/
PAGE FOUR
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