E:
HEPPNER
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azette
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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