Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About Heppner gazette-times. (Heppner, Or.) 1925-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 25, 2015)
- Happy Thanksgiving - Strong winds knock out power to CBEC members HEPPNER G T 50¢ azette imes VOL. 134 NO. 45 8 Pages Wednesday, November 25, 2015 A windstorm blew into the area last Tuesday, knocking out power to con- sumers all over the Paciic Northwest. Locally, Colum- bia Basin Electric Coopera- tive experienced two major outage events that knocked out power to approximately 2,500 members. The first outage call was reported at 4:30 p.m. Tuesday in the Olex area. CBEC crews dispatched to the area were met with winds in the 60-75 mph range and zero visibility. While patrolling the line, CBEC crews found a stretch of eight transmission/distri- bution poles on the ground near Baseline Rd. The crews would even- tually ind 13 more broken transmission/distribution poles near Weatherford Rd. and one distribution pole on Lower Rock Creek that a wind-blown tree had taken out. After switching feeds, power was eventu- ally restored to most mem- bers served out of CBEC’s Alkali and Olex Substation at 2:30 a.m. Wednesday morning. The remaining ive or six houses on Base- line Rd. were re-energized Morrow County, Heppner, Oregon New facility planned Mustangs slaughter Rams in at Port of Morrow semiinals, aim for state title Organix, Incorporated of Walla Walla, WA an- nounced last week that it is planning to construct and operate an in-vessel, organic residuals process- ing facility near Boardman. This project is pro- posed on a 26-acre portion of property owned by the Port of Morrow, on the west side of Tower Road about a mile off Interstate 84. Organix is an organic residuals management com- pany specializing in the management, production, utilization, marketing and sales of organic-based soil amendments—primarily those generated by conined animal feeding operations (CAFOs) and municipali- ties. The purpose of the Boardman site will be to re- cycle by-products from an- aerobically digested dairy residuals into soil amend- ments. Organix partners with 22 dairies in Oregon and Washington to assist in upscaling residuals into marketable products for horticultural, agricultural and landscape supply cus- tomers. The company expects to annually create about 40,000 yards of organi- cally certiied, high end soil amendments for the north- west horticultural mar- kets at this location. Soil amendments are products designed to improve either the soil structure, nutrients or pH of soil. “We have been mak- ing dairy-based products since 2001 and have found the market is strong for re- cycled dairy products—par- ticularly those coming from renewable energy projects,” says Russ Davis, Organix -See NEW BUILDING AT PORT/PAGE SEVEN Gazette closed for Thanksgiving Nominations open for Town & Country Have you filled out your community award nomination for Heppner chamber’s annual Town and Country community awards dinner on Thursday, Jan. 14? Nominations are open until Friday, Dec. 11. Any- one who hasn’t done so still has time to nominate a community member for Woman of the Year, Man of the Year, Business of the Year, Citizen-Educa- tor of the Year, Lifetime Achievement and Youth Award. Nomination forms are available at the Bank of Eastern Oregon, Heppner Chamber of Commerce ofice, Community Bank, Kuhn Law Ofice and the post ofice. The forms need to be completed and turned into the Kuhn Law or chamber ofices no later than close of business on Friday, Dec. 11. To get a form sent elec- tronically, please contact the chamber ofice at 676- 5536 and leave your email address or email the cham- ber at heppnerchamber@ centurytel.net. The theme for this year will be “An Evening with the Stars,” and the event will be held at the Morrow County Fairgrounds. Ca- tering will be provided by Pudding on the Ritz. The Town and Country tickets can be purchased for $20 starting Monday, Jan. 4, at Bank of Eastern Oregon, Community Bank, Hep- pner chamber and Murray’s Drug. Tickets are limited. Parade of Lights, merchant activities kick off Christmas season On Thursday, Dec. 3, several Heppner merchants will have special activities and will offer extended hours to kick off the Christ- mas holiday season and help people “shop local” for Christmas. Bank of Eastern Ore- gon will serve refreshments from 10 a.m.-4 p.m.; Com- munity Bank will also be serving refreshments. Heppner Family Foods will offer free Home Town coffee for customers all day and will have Santa set up in the store for pictures from 6-7 p.m. with hot chocolate and candy canes; make sure you bring your camera to take pictures. Murray’s will be hav- ing hourly door prizes, cookies and punch, and the wish list treasure hunt. From 5-7 p.m. there will be a mini wine tasting. Peterson’s Jewelers will be open until 7 p.m., so stop by and check out some- thing “shiny” for someone special on your Christmas list. The Parade of Lights will begin from Green Feed about 5:30 p.m., so ind a spot on Main Street (be- tween Center and May) to enjoy the lighted en- tries; the entries will come through twice. Finally, Home Health and Hospice will hold a Lights of Hope ceremony at St. Patrick’s Senior Center in memory of loved ones who have passed away. Lights of Hope will begin around 6 p.m., following the Parade of Lights. later Wednesday night after enduring a 29-hour outage, during which CBEC crews diligently rebuilt the eight- pole stretch near Baseline Rd. Meanwhile, CBEC was again flooded with calls shortly after 7 p.m. Tues- day night from consumers throughout the east side of the service territory. Bonneville Power had a fault approximately nine miles from their Boardman substation on Bombing Range Road. The Bonnev- ille Power outage knocked out power to 2,279 CBEC members for nearly six hours. Brian Kollman, Man- ager of Operations at CBEC, said, “If we didn’t have the 20 transmission/ distribution poles on the ground around Olex, CBEC would have been able to loop the transmission feed, making the BPA outage much shorter in duration.” Coupled with that was the fact that Bonn- eville Power crews were shorthanded because of the widespread outages, which forced CBEC and its members to wait for a crew from BPA to respond. Koll- man praised CBEC crews for their hard work and diligence while maintaining safe work practices in poor working conditions. Tom Wolff, CEO and General Manager at CBEC, praised all CBEC employ- ees for their efforts and teamwork, and thanked Co- lumbia Basin members for their patience and under- standing during the outages. Mustang CJ Kindle stops a Regis player in his tracks during last Saturday’s 2A semiinal game in Hillsboro. After a commanding 26-3 victory over the rival team, the Mustangs are now set to take on the Kennedy Trojans this Saturday in Hermiston. -Photo by Sandra Putman -See full story PAGE EIGHT The Heppner Gazette- Times will be closed in ob- servance of the Thanksgiv- ing Day holiday Thursday, Nov. 26, and Friday, Nov. 27. Normal business hours will resume Monday, Nov. 30. We wish everyone a safe and happy Thanksgiving weekend. Citizenship class offers students timely wisdom for online safety By Andrea Di Salvo teach the students about Eighth-graders at Hep- their civic duty. pner High School are ind- “We want them to be ing out what it takes to be civic minded and make good citizens, both at home good decisions,” she says. and in the virtual world of To that end, Payne says technology. she brings in speakers such HHS teacher Petra as State Rep. Greg Smith, as Payne teaches the nine- well as other speakers who week elective, “Junior High are involved in the commu- Citizenship.” The class is nity. The class also covers one of a rotation of elec- the right and responsibility tives designed to introduce to vote, as well as current the students to all events—Payne says the high school has the students are re- to offer. quired to bring in a Payne says current news article State Rep. Greg Smith was one recent speaker in Heppner High the idea irst came every other week, School’s Junior High Citizenship class. –Photo by David Sykes across HHS Head which they class opportunities for students uses a curriculum from Te a c h e r G r e g to engage in community commonsensemedia.org. then discusses. Grant’s desk last Petra Payne “It teaches them to be “It might spark service and, hopefully, a year, but the school discussion or it trip to a Heppner Chamber smart online,” she says. didn’t implement it While the topics of citi- might not,” she says, of Commerce meeting. as a complete class until adding that it keeps students While the need for zenship and online safety this year. Payne adds that involved and aware of cur- good citizenship is an en- might not seem to be con- the class isn’t being taught rent events and issues. during topic, five of the nected at irst glance, Payne in response to an existing The class also learns nine weeks covers issues says the overarching theme problem; rather, it’s a pro- what might be considered of a more modern nature, is good citizenship wher- active effort to arm students basic life skills, such as speciically the need to be ever you are. with the information they learning to write thank-you smart and safe in today’s “We want to show them need to stay safe. notes. On the docket for internet-dominated world. -See ONLINE CITIZEN- “There’s no major the future, Payne says, are To do that, Payne says she SHIP/PAGE EIGHT problem here,” says Payne, “but kids need to learn to be safe online. It’s a scary world out there. CLOSED: “Like it or not, they’re using media,” she adds. NOVEMBER 26TH, 27, “We thought, an eighth AND 28TH grader, as they’re becoming OPEN: MONDAY high school students, they need to be aware.” NOVEMBER 30 That awareness covers Morrow County Grain Growers Green Feed & Seed a variety of facets. First, 242 W. Linden Way, Heppner • 676-9422 • 989-8221 (MCGG main ofice) Payne says, she tries to MCGG THANKSGIVING HOURS: