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About Heppner gazette-times. (Heppner, Or.) 1925-current | View Entire Issue (May 4, 2016)
HEPPNER G T 50¢ azette imes VOL. 135 NO. 18 10 Pages Wednesday, May 4, 2016 Rep. Smith appointed to committee for 2017 Transportation Package SALEM, OR—Last Rep. Smith. “If done right, week it was announced a strategic transportation that Rep. Greg Smith (R- package can invest in our Heppner) has been appoint- state’s aging and crumbling infrastructure while ed as a member of driving economic the long-awaited growth and job cre- Joint Committee on ation in our ports, Transportation Pres- counties and com- ervation and Mod- munities.” ernization, which Smith also stat- is tasked with the ed he will be work- development of a ing with House major transporta- Rep. Greg leadership to help tion package for the Smith include Eastern Ore- 2017 Legislative gon communities on the list Session. On Wednesday, both of public hearing locations. “I applaud legislative the Speaker of the House Tina Kotek (D-N/NE Port- leadership for their will- land) and Senate President ingness to travel outside of Peter Courtney (D-Salem) Salem and Portland to have announced the creation of this important conversa- the 14-member committee. tion,” said Smith. “This The committee’s anticipat- package has the potential ed transportation package, to have a positive effect which is declared by both for all Oregonians, so all Republican and Democrat regions of the state should legislators as a top priority, be invested and engaged.” Rep. Smith also serves is expected to make sig- niicant investments in Or- on the Joint Ways and egon’s highways, bridges, Means Committee, Co- ports and rail system. The Vice Chair; Joint Ways goal of the investments will and Means Subcommittee be to repair, modernize and on Capital Construction; expand Oregon’s transpor- Emergency Board; Small Business Growth Com- tation infrastructure. “I am thankful to have mittee, Co-Chair; and the the ability to serve on this Governor’s Small Business critical committee,” stated Cabinet. Morrow County, Heppner, Oregon April second warmest on record According to the Na- tional Weather Service in Pendleton, temperatures at Heppner averaged much warmer than normal during the month of April, making this the second-warmest April on record locally. The warmest was 55.6 degrees in 1934. The average tempera- ture for April was 54.4 degrees, which was 5.4 degrees above normal. The warmest April averaged 55.6 degrees in 1934. High -See WARM WEATHER/PAGE THREE WCVEDG launches push for more rental development The Willow Creek Val- ley Economic Development Group met last week with two potential developers to discuss rental property development in the Hep- pner area. WCVEDG has been working for some time to develop more rental units to ease a chronic shortage, which some say hinder lo- cal businesses and employ- ers from hiring qualified people. “We have seen it hap- pen quite a few times. A new person comes here to apply for a job, and then they can’t ind appropriate housing,” said WCVEDG President David Sykes. Sykes, who is also a local realtor, says he has wit- nessed firsthand people applying for jobs at the hospital, bank and grain co- op, and then having trouble inding a place to live. “Not everyone wants to buy a home right away,” he points out. “They want to rent for a while, ind out if things work out, and then buy. We need more rental units,” he states latly. The major economic engines and employers in this area are the Morrow County Health District, Bank of Eastern Oregon, which has its headquar- ters in Heppner, Morrow County Grain Growers in Lexington and Ione, Mor- row County government, the school district, and the Forest Service, which has its Umatilla National For- est headquarters located in Heppner. “If we want to retain and help these employ- ers hire good people, we need to make sure housing is available,” Sykes says. “It’s an economic develop- ment issue. Which is why WCVEDG has become involved.” Earlier the group fund- ed a rental study covering the three communities in south county; now it is moving forward to see if actual new rental units can be built. “We met with possible investors and developers to see what it will take to get something actually built,” says Sykes. He said the group is looking at several sites in town for a duplex, and while there is government money available for low- income housing, making the economics work for regular, or market, housing is a little more challenging. At its monthly meet- ing last week WCVEDG formed a committee to look at possible building sites, explore construction costs and look at various funding options. Matteson retires after 21 years at HES By Andrea Di Salvo Heppner Elementary School will bid farewell to veteran irst-grade teacher Sherry Matteson when she leaves her HES classroom for the last time next month. Matteson, 62, is ac- tually already “retired,” with an official retire- ment date of July 1, 2015. However, when Morrow County School District requested that she stay on for one more school year, she agreed. Her last day at HES will be June 10. Matteson was born in Heppner and spent her irst four years of life in Condon, but spent the rest of her childhood in Redmond. She graduated from Redmond High School in 1971. She then attended Eastern Or- egon State College (now Eastern Oregon University) and obtained a Bachelor of Science degree in elemen- tary education in 1975. After college she began a teaching career that fo- cused almost exclusively on the irst grade; she started Twenty-four hour drop locations like this are available in out in Milton-Freewater, where she taught irst grade Morrow County for voter convenience. -File photo Ballots for the primary and Election Day (May 17) for 12 years before spend- ing eight years teaching irst election are due by 8 p.m. from 7 a.m. until 8 p.m. Lexington: 365 West Election Day, Tuesday, May 17. Ballots must be Hwy 74 (Public Works received, not simply post- Parking lot). Turn off Hwy. marked, on that day. For 74 onto Tom Street and left voter convenience, 24-hour into the public works park- drop boxes are located ing lot. Open 24 hours. throughout the county. Lo- Ione: Spring St. (in cations are as follows: front of the turn to 3 rd The City of Irrigon is Heppner: Courthouse Street). Open 24 hours. B o a r d m a n : N W offering a program that parking lot (24 hours) or the Morrow County Clerk’s Boardman Ave. (24 hours). the city hopes will allow Irrigon: 205 NE 3 rd customers to better man- Ofice, Room 102 inside the courthouse. Open 8 a.m. St. (Irrigon Annex). Open age their monthly budgets. Through the program, cus- to noon and 1-5 p.m., M-F 24 hours. tomers will pay the same every month with average, or lat, billing. The average billing plan allows members to pay a monthly charge of the av- erage of the past 12 months Heppner High School will hold its annual Mustang of usage on city bills—an Mop-Up next Thursday, May 12. Anyone who has a proj- estimated annual bill is ect request should contact Greg Grant at Heppner High divided by 12 months to School, 541-676-9138. calculate the initial monthly Ballots due May 17 Retiring teacher Sherry Matteson in the irst-grade classroom at Heppner Elementary where she has spent much of the last 21 years. -Photo by Andrea Di Salvo grade in Redmond. Some of that time was spent as a substituted teacher as she also focused on raising four young children with her husband, Chuck. In 1993 the family moved to Heppner. Mat- teson said they intended to move because of a job prospect for her husband. When it didn’t pan out, they decided to move anyway. “We just liked it here and decided to stay,” she says. Matteson started sub- bing with Heppner Elemen- tary that same year, and move to a full-time teaching position in 1995, where she has remained ever since. She says there were a few years when she was split between first and second grade, and she taught kin- dergarten and first grade last year. However, most of her 21-year career was spent exclusively in the irst grade classroom. “I like the irst grade,” she says. She says she’s retir- ing now because she and husband Chuck have no family left locally and they would like to be closer to their children and seven grandchildren; they plan to move to Jordan Valley, OR where most of their grand- kids are. She adds that they also have grandchildren in Pendleton, so the Mattesons will be traveling back and forth quite a bit. “We’ll get to start watching our grandkids do things,” Matteson says. “We’ll be able to help where we’re needed and not have to worry about missing stuff.” It won’t all be babysit- ting and ball games, though. Matteson says she intends to keep subbing in Jordan Valley, and the couple has other plans to keep busy. “We have a house we’re remodeling in Jordan Valley with two acres,” she says. “My husband does wood- working and I’ll help him with that.” For Matteson, the move away from her long-time home and her students will be bittersweet. “It’ll be sad to move. It’ll be hard to leave all of our friends, the kids,” she says. “The (school) kids just seem like they’re your own kids. But we’re ready.” City of Irrigon offers lat billing Irrigon also developing incentive program for ‘nuisance’ properties Mustang Mop-Up planned for next week ALL NEWS AND ADVERTISEMENT DEADLINE: MONDAYS AT 5:00 P.M. budget bill amount, which is subject to adjustment. According to a press release from the city, this option is “perfect for people who don’t want to guess what their monthly pay- ment will be” and elimi- nates large fluctuations between winter and sum- mer bills. Any Irrigon residents interested in seeing if they qualify, or for more infor- mation, contact Irrigon City Hall at 541-922-3047 or manager@ci.irrigon.or.us. In other city news, Ir- rigon has been awarded a $20,000 planning grant as part of a $150,000 Waste- water Facility Plan. The remaining amount is funded through a City Inter Fund- Loan. Internal funds were -See CITY OF IRRIGON/ PAGE THREE MOTHER'S DAY SPECIALS 10 % OFF - H anging B askets C OlOr B Owls - P lanters MONTANA SILVER 20% OFF WEEKS ROSES 20% OFF Morrow County Grain Growers Green Feed & Seed 242 W. Linden Way, Heppner • 676-9422 • 989-8221 (MCGG main ofice)
