Heppner Gazette-Times, Heppner, Oregon Wednesday, October 14, 2015
Dodge fundraiser to
raise money for
local FFA chapters
On Oct. 17 between 11
a.m. and 3 p.m., Heppner,
Ione and Hermiston FFA
chapters will hold a test
drive fundraiser at Tom’s
Country Dodge to raise
money for the chapters.
FFA members, alumni,
friends and the general
public are invited to go to
the dealership, located on
Highway 395 in Hermiston,
and take a test drive in a
new Ram truck. For each
test drive completed during
the fundraiser, Ram will
donate $20 to local FFA, up
to $2,000. Anyone age 18 or
over, with a valid driver’s
license, may drive and earn
a donation.
All test drive partici-
pants will also be entered
into the 2015 FCA US LLC
National Giveaway for a
chance to win $45,000 to-
ward any eligible Chrysler,
Jeep ® , Dodge, Ram Truck,
FIAT, or Alfa Romeo ve-
hicle.
Calling all
Cloverbuds
All Cloverbuds and potential Cloverbuds are invited
to a harvest party this Sunday, Oct. 18, at 2:30 p.m. Andrea
Nelson will host the party at Black Acre Farm, 71634
Baseline Ln., Lexington. Anyone interested in being a
part of Cloverbuds 4-H (kindergarten through third grade)
is welcome to come.
Contact Nelson at 541-760-1251 with questions.
~ Letters to the Editor ~
The Heppner Gazette Times will print all letters to the Editor with the following criteria met: letters submitted to the newspaper will need to have the name
of the sender along with a legible signature. We are also requesting that you provide your address and a phone number where you can be reached. The
address and phone number will only be used for verification and will not be printed in the newspaper. Letters may not be libelous. The GT reserves the right
to edit. The GT is not responsible for accuracy of statements made in letters. Any letters expressing thanks will be placed in the classifieds under “Card of
Thanks” at a cost of $10.
New fire hall is
needed
New fire station or
time for a change?
Dear editor:
As president of the Rural Fire Protection District I
understand the important role our volunteer fire fighters
play in our community. Heppner Rural Fire Protection
District and the City of Heppner Fire Department are
working together to build a much-needed fire hall. The
existing fire hall has many problems. It is too small; the
department cannot park all of its emergency vehicles
there. The ones that are parked there do not allow room
to safely enter the large vehicles. There is no area for the
required trainings. The location of the fire hall, downtown
on a narrow street, makes it difficult for the responders to
park and, also, it is difficult to maneuver the emergency
vehicles. These things slow down the response time when
every minute counts.
There is a pamphlet with additional information
available at City Hall. They also have plans, maps and
drawings of the proposed new facility. I invite you to
stop there and visit with the staff to learn more about this
important project.
I urge you to vote in support of the new fire hall.
Sincerely,
(s) Don Bennett, Heppner Rural Fire Protection
District President
To the editor:
The great thing about living in America is that most
of the time we have choices in what we support or don’t.
In making the decision we like to know as many of
the facts and as much of the history about that subject as
possible. I would like to share what I know as fact and a
summation of 25 years of being a volunteer with the fire
department to help you make the choice.
Why do we have both a city fire department and rural
fire district? This was my question to Fire Chief Forrie
Burkenbine 25 years ago when I signed up as a volunteer.
He explained that we were the city fire dept. However,
for a flat $5,000 a year contract agreement, we provided
fire suppression for the then 130 square miles in the fire
district surrounding the city. The fire district had a board of
elected citizens living outside the city that collected taxes
from those being protected. The city had elected council
members, a mayor, a city manager and an appointed fire
chief. The city also had a tax rate for fire protection.
Thanks to Mr. Bill Sizemore, Oregonians voted in
Measure 5 and later Measure 50 in an effort to reduce tax-
es. While these measures may have benefited the residents
of the Willamette Valley, rural Eastern Oregon suffered
from what is called “compression.” Tax rates being fixed
in proportion to the tax base became law. Consequently,
while perhaps savings in taxes being paid, those counties
that had low tax bases due to less population and value
suffered to support essential services—schools, hospitals,
ambulance service and fire service, to name a few. So
in order to support these services, we as residents had a
choice; do without the service or vote in bond measures.
The result of “compression” both the city and rural tax
rates were frozen at a rate of .79 cents per $1,000 of as-
sessed value for fire protection.
Currently the city fire department maintains an annual
signed contract with the Rural Fire Protection Board for
fire response. The fire district pays for about half of the
fire operating budget. The Rural Fire Protection District
has grown by annexation to over 550 square miles. The
emergency responses have steadily increased from an
average of around 30 calls in the l980s to over 230 in
2014. We have Mutual Aide agreements to provide help
and resources to our neighboring fire departments and
districts—Lexington, Ione RFPD, South Gilliam County
RFPD, Boardman RFPD, Echo RFPD, Pilot Rock RFPD
and Oregon Department of Forestry. The relationship with
the Rural Fire District is a good one and is fair. A joint
meeting is held with district board members once a year
to discuss and approve the budget and needs.
We have grown from a handful of volunteers in the
l980s to over 20 trained and certified firefighters, we
have better equipment and newer apparatus, so what is
the need? Why do we need a new fire station? Is it the
growth of the fire district?
The answer is the fire department’s decision to do the
“right thing.” Late in the l990s and early 2000s, OSHA,
Oregon State Fire Marshal’s Office and the Insurance
Services Office established rules and regulations to not
only provide safety for the public but, more importantly,
safety to the emergency responders. The insurance com-
panies also wanted good fire protection for their customers
in order to reduce or maintain insurance costs. In order
to obtain a good fire protection rating, the department
has to comply with higher levels of training, equipment,
apparatus, etc.
We had a choice—not comply and have property own-
ers pay higher insurance premiums to their company. We
chose to comply and commit countless hours in certified
training and wrote countless grants in order to purchase
the necessary equipment.
The City of Heppner supported our decision in 1994
to pass a bond measure to add to existing station and
purchase a new fire engine. The rural district did the best
they could to update the aging fleet of equipment with
newer used apparatus. We evolved to be one of the larg-
est all-volunteer fire departments in the state, even with
the limited resources and funding, in order to meet the
fire protection standards and provide the best insurance
rating for all the citizens in the city and the fire district.
In Bob Kilkenny’s letter to the editor, he mentioned
we do more than show up to fires and accidents. He was
correct. Each volunteer has to maintain 52 hours a year
of certified training; this does not include the hundreds
of hours a year we respond to emergency calls.
Frankly, we no longer have a facility to both house
equipment, apparatus and conduct the required training.
We looked at expanding next to the existing station but
due to being in the flood zone and proximity to other struc-
tures, the cost to do so would have been several millions
of dollars. This is a public building and has to comply
with ADA, Davis Bacon Act, zoning, flood mitigation
and the list goes on.
As I mentioned at the beginning, we do have a choice,
or option, in my opinion. The city can discontinue the
contract with the Rural Fire District. We can give them
back the rural apparatus and equipment for them to house,
heat, maintain, fuel, insure, etc. Let them take over the
Mutual Aide agreements, place the apparatus where they
want. Recruit, equip and train their Firefighters and oper-
ate solely on their budget. They could then deal directly
with OSHA, Oregon State Fire Marshals Office and ISO.
Having eliminated that equipment and apparatus, the city
fire department would have room to conduct the training
and ease the congestion inside the existing building. We
could concentrate solely on structural fire and rescue
training and operate under our own budget. Frankly and
selfishly, I like the idea, and it would make my job much
easier and less time-consuming.
If you have an opinion or questions, please call your
Rural Fire District Board Members.
Sincerely,
(s) Steve Rhea, Heppner Fire and Rescue Assistant
Chief and Training Officer
Attendance up at harvest festival despite
rainy start
Next year’s event slated for Oct. 1, 2016
BOARDMAN—The
second annual Morrow
County Harvest Festival
started as a gloomy day,
but as the sun came out, so
did more than 800 festival
attendees.
The Boardman, Hep-
pner and Irrigon chambers
of commerce and the SAGE
Center present the annual
event, which will return
Oct. 1, 2016.
“We were all thrilled
with the increase in atten-
dance this year. Our hope
is that the Morrow County
Harvest Festival will con-
tinue to grow and bring in
new visitors to the region,”
said SAGE Center Manager
Kalie Davis.
Last year more than
From left, Phoenix Davis, 5, and Ava Davis, 3, pet a miniature
horse at the Morrow County Harvest Festival Oct. 3 at the
SAGE Center. –Photo Courtesy of the SAGE Center
600 people came to the
festival.
Event sponsors in-
cluded Threemile Canyon
Farms, Abengoa, Portland
General Electric, ConAgra
Foods Lamb Weston and
Cascade Specialties, which
all help ensure the event is
free and open to the public.
“We heard great feed-
back from the vendors and
everyone had a great time
enjoying all of the activities
BOARDMAN MARIJUANA BAN
-Continued from PAGE ONE sales.
vides for cities within coun-
ties that voted not less than
55 percent on Measure 91
the option of prohibiting
the establishment of cer-
tain state-registered and
state-licensed marijuana
businesses.
Cities that adopt an or-
dinance banning such busi-
ness would have to opt out
of receiving state revenue
generated by marijuana
Councilors voted 6-0,
with one absent, to read
Ordinance 6-2015 into the
public record.
The ordinance would
ban recreational marijua-
na producers, recreational
marijuana processors, rec-
reational marijuana whole-
salers, and recreational
marijuana retailers within
the city limits.
A public hearing and
the second and final read-
ing of the ordinance will
be considered at the next
Boardman City Council
meeting on Tuesday, Nov.
3, at 7 p.m. at Boardman
City Hall.
In other city business,
councilors met in executive
session for the city man-
ager’s annual review. They
extended City Manager
Karen Pettigrew’s contract
for another year and ap-
INFANT DIES
IN IRRIGON
was assigned to conduct an
the child dead.
-Continued from PAGE ONE
infant to Good Shepherd
Hospital in Hermiston.
Only half an hour after
the initial call, at 11:27
a.m., Good Shepherd emer-
gency room staff declared
MILES &
According to Matlack,
preliminary investigation
uncovered no obvious signs
of foul play in the infant’s
death. However, MCSO
Detective Brian Snyder
MILES OF SMILES
investigation.
Following state and
county protocols, an autop-
sy was conducted Tuesday
at the Oregon State Medi-
provided by our sponsors,”
Davis said.
Heppner Chamber of
Commerce director Sheryll
Bates said she was pleased
to see the vendor area full
of people from Morrow
County.
She added that most
people at the festival pur-
chased unique, hand-craft-
ed products from the local
vendors.
“This was our second
year and I know it will
only get more success-
ful as the word gets out,”
she said. “I am thankful
for the many homemade
and home-grown commu-
nity members in Morrow
County who made this so
successful.”
proved a wage increase to
$77,500.00 annually.
Also, the council was
introduced to Scott Green.
He is the new director for
the Boardman Park and
Recreation’s new recre-
ational center.
He said they hope to
break ground for the recre-
ational center in March of
next year, with a comple-
tion date by April or May
of 2017.
cal Examiner’s Office in
Clackamas, OR.
Detective Snyder trav-
eled to Clackamas to con-
tinue the investigation,
which remains ongoing.
Medicare Part D
Open Enrollment
Free Assistance!
Morrow County Health
District is again offering free
Medicare Part D assistance
during open enrollment.
Heppner
th
Our success... It's All About Kids,
Employees, & Customers!!
Mid Columbia Bus Company provides a
family atmosphere for the employees to
come to work each day and know
they are appreciated.
NOW HIRING SCHOOL BUS DRIVERS
Starting Wage $11.75/Hr.
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Mid Columbia Bus Co.
541-676-5861
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