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
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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)