Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About Heppner gazette-times. (Heppner, Or.) 1925-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 6, 2016)
E: HEPPNER G T 50¢ azette imes VOL. 135 NO. 1 8 Pages Getting to know your exchange students Gonzalo Rodriguez Age 15, Sophomore, Ione W h e re are you f r o m ? G i h o n , Spain—A port city of about Gonzalo Rodriguez 275,000 on Spain’s north coast. Host Family: Scott, Cindy and Kemmery Bur- right What do you think of Ione and Morrow County? “When you know you’re coming here, you’re scared because it’s so small. But it’s easier to make friends.” How has the experi- ence been for you? “Un- forgettable, because when I was coming here I thought making friends would be difficult. Two weeks be- fore school started, all the people came to me and were really nice. Football was key to me making friends. I tried a new sport and had fun with them.” What was the most dif- icult thing about this ex- perience? “The language. The irst couple of weeks it was so dificult, not to talk, but to understand. The irst few weeks, before you have trust with people…you’re embarrassed to ask them to say something again. Now it’s okay—if I don’t under- stand, I just ask.” What did you like best? “All I did. But the thing I liked most was making friends and going hunting, staying in the mountains for three days, waking up at four and walking all day— that was a new experience for me and I really liked it.” Did you have the Wednesday, January 6, 2016 County court holds hearing on B2H line The Morrow County Court is holding a public hearing and furthering dis- cussion of the controversial Boardman to Hemingway Transmission Line Proj- ect (B2H) today, Jan. 6, in Boardman. The county court’s meeting will begin at 9 a.m., with discussion of B2H planned for 1:30 p.m. Included in the dis- cussion will be Bureau of Land Management (BLM) actions and requests con- cerning preferred routes. The siting of transmission lines like these in Morrow County -See B2H HEARING/PAGE will be discussed at the county court meeting today in Board- SIX man. -Contributed photo Morrow County, Heppner, Oregon Reserve deputy commended for off-duty heroism By Andrea Di Salvo Morrow County Re- serve Deputy Oscar Mad- rigal proved good cops are never off duty when he chased down a gunman on foot last May in Portland. Madrigal, 22, was in Portland for school; he is only a couple of classes away from obtaining a bachelor’s degree in crimi- nal justice from Portland State University. While in Portland, he stopped by the Cinco de Mayo festival held May 5 at the Governor Tom McCall Waterfront Park in Portland. Madrigal was off duty and out of uniform ac- cording to Morrow County Sheriff’s Ofice Sgt. Mark Pratt. He was, however, car- rying his department-issued pistol in a concealed carry holster. According to Pratt, Madrigal left the festival shortly before 5:30 p.m. and was walking northbound along the sea wall north of the Morrison Bridge when he spotted an argument tak- ing place among three men and a woman. Other witnesses said the 19-year-old Robert Beckles was clearly losing the ight with Bruce Jeffrey Holdman, 20, and Zachary Madrigal managed to alert Thomas Sanders, 17, when event staff to the shoot- Beckles turned to ing and call 911. He walk away, accord- pursued Holdman to ing to a probable the Skidmore Foun- cause afidavit. Wit- tain Max station, nesses said Sanders where the suspect handed Holdman boarded the train. a semi-automatic Madrigal, unable to gun. Madrigal then board the train with saw Holdman shoot Oscar him, kept running several times at Madrigal on foot. He chased Beckles and the fe- the train to the North male. Beckles was shot in Steel Bridge, a total dis- the back but survived the tance of about six-tenths of encounter. a mile. He was looking for Pratt said Madrigal irst a way to cross the bridge drew his own pistol, think- safely on foot when he ing to defend himself and managed to flag down a the civilians around him, Portland police oficer. but then recognized that the After Madrigal identi- number of people running ied himself and illed in the from the shooter made it oficer, the oficer invited impossible to engage Hold- Madrigal to get in his pa- man without possibly injur- trol car. They managed to ing someone else. Madrigal catch up with the Max train holstered his pistol. when it stopped at the Moda “Reserve Deputy Mad- Center at the east end of rigal showed great restraint the bridge. There, Portland by not engaging the suspect police arrested Holdman on with his irearm, while in- charges of attempted mur- nocent citizens would have der, assault I and unlawful been placed in the cross- use of a weapon. Hold- ire” wrote Pratt later. man was later arraigned in When Holdman took Multnomah County Circuit off on foot, Madrigal County on the charges. chased after the still-armed Sanders was also ar- suspect. rested on charges of at- During the pursuit, tempted murder, first-de- gree assault and unlawful use of a weapon, Portland Police Sgt. Pete Simpson said. Madrigal, who was hired in September of 2014 for the MCSO Patrol Divi- sion, holds an associate’s degree, as well as having completed the Morrow/ Umatilla Reserve Academy in March of this year. He had no prior law enforce- ment experience. “Reserve Deputy Mad- rigal placed himself in im- mediate harm’s way as he chased the armed suspect on foot, even running after the Max train when the suspect boarded the train,” wrote Pratt when he rec- ommended Madrigal for commendation later that month. “(His) actions were vital in ensuring the suspect was apprehended shortly after the shooting occurred. Reserve Deputy Madrigal’s actions were indicative of his character and high level of training he received dur- ing the Bi-County Reserve Academy.” Madrigal later received a Letter of Commendation for his heroic actions during the event. Health district inalizes CEO contract Search continues for new providers By April Sykes The Morrow County Health District Board, fol- lowing an executive ses- sion, approved a ive-year, $165,000 per year contract with CEO Bob Houser at its regular meeting Monday night in Irrigon. The contract, which will continue through De- cember 2020, also includes the use of the district home, with a fair-market value of -See EXCHANGE STU- $600 per month, rent-free. DENTS/PAGE FIVE G-T Trophy Corner Madison Alldritt displays her irst elk. Madison shot it in the Heppner unit, while accompanied by her father and her fam- ily visiting from Texas. Madison Alldritt is the 14-year-old daughter of Mike and Bridgett Alldritt of Lexington. –Con- tributed photo The CEO will also receive a cost-of-living adjustment of one half the amount of the district’s hourly staff, with a two-percent loor, in addition to family medical insurance, including vi- sion and dental, accidental death and dismemberment insurance and long-term disability insurance. The district also agreed to pay Houser a $5,000 signing bonus, in lieu of paying moving expenses, a ive-six percent salary con- tribution to a 401(a) plan and three weeks of paid vacation per year. Houser, who is recov- ering from surgery, was not in attendance at the meeting, but was present on speaker phone, as were board members Leann Rea and Joe Perry. Chief Financial Oficer Nicole Mahoney presented the CEO report as well as the proit and loss statement for November, showing a $91,379 loss for the month. The district had $675,173 in gross patient revenue, less $8,901 for bad debts and $108,964 for contractual and other adjustments, plus $160,269 in tax revenue and $4,079 in other operat- ing revenue for $721,656 in total operating revenue. The district showed $820,600 in total operating expenses and a $7,565 non-operating gain for the $91,379 loss. Mahoney reported that the actual adjusted assessed value of the county showed an increase over the esti- mated value, which will result in about $336,000 in additional tax revenue for the district. The increase was due to one or more entities being added to the county tax rolls after the es- timated assessed value was released by the assessor. Mahoney also reported that the district will receive a $149,000 lump sum set- tlement for underpayment of claims from Medicare for the irst part of the iscal year from July 1 to Dec. 1. The consensus of the board was to reserve $50,000 of that in contingency for a possible required pay-back to Medicare. The other $99,000 will be reported on the proit loss statement as a contractual adjustment. Mahoney, acting CEO, reported that the district has received no interest as a result of its search for new providers, even after modi- -See HEALTH DISTRICT/ PAGE FOUR Getting to know your exchange students Alessandro Panozzo Age 17, Senior, Ione W h e re are you from? Pio- vene Roc- chette, Ita- ly—a town of about 8,200 in the province of A l e s s a n d r o V i c e n z a , Panozzo Ve n e t o , northern Italy. Host Family: Brian and Peggy Doherty What do you think of Ione and Morrow County? “For sure it is better than I thought (it would be). The people were really friendly with me. When I had a dif- iculty, they helped me.” How has the experience been for you? “Good—my irst goal was the language and I feel better with that now. And I could make new experiences with sports, new friends, new people.” What was the most dif- icult thing about this expe- rience? “The language. It was dificult. The cultural differences. They are not so important, but the small school, I have to drive 40 minutes to go to school every day, the small town. It is not usual for me.” What did you like best? “Sports. The new friends that I made. Things I shared with my family, like trips or holidays.” Did you have the chance to attend any spe- cial events? What did you think of that experience? “I was really happy because during the holidays they made me feel part of the family, so I didn’t miss my family in Italy. We went on a lot of trips; we went -See EXCHANGE STU- DENTS/PAGE FIVE Despite chilly start, ‘normal’ January weather predicted Despite recent chilly weather, the National Weather Service out of Pendleton reports that tem- peratures for Heppner av- eraged warmer than nor- mal during the month of December, with the trend of near- to above-normal temperatures expected to continue into January. The average tempera- ture for December was 36.5 degrees, which was 3.1 degrees above normal. High temperatures averaged 43.1 degrees, which was 1.7 degrees above normal. The highest was 63 degrees on the ninth. Low temperatures averaged 30 degrees, which was 4.5 degrees above nor- mal. The lowest was 16 degrees, on the irst. There were 19 days with the low temperature below 32 degrees. There were seven days when the high temperature stayed below 32 degrees. Precipitation totaled 1.45 inches during Decem- ber, which was 0.13 inches above normal. Measurable precipitation of at least .01 inch was received on 15 days with the heaviest, 0.20 inches, reported on the second. The greatest depth of snow on the ground was two inches on the irst. The highest wind gust -See WEATHER OUTLOOK/ PAGE SIX NEW SELECTION OF SNOWMOBILE APPAREL CHECK US OUT! WE HAVE BIBS, BOOTS, HELMETS AND GOGGLES NEW! Morrow County Grain Growers Lexington 989-8221 • 1-800-452-7396 For farm equipment, visit our web site at www.mcgg.net