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About Heppner gazette-times. (Heppner, Or.) 1925-current | View Entire Issue (June 1, 2016)
Heppner Gazette-Times, Heppner, Oregon Wednesday, June 1, 2016 - THREE PMH Foundation awards scholarships The Pioneer Memorial Hospital Foundation has announced the scholarship recipients for 2016. T h e foundation announced it has awarded the Dr. Wal- lace Wolff Scholar- Eva ship in the McMasters amount of $1,500 to Eva McMasters. This scholarship was es- tablished in memory of Dr. Wolff, who was a long- time physi- cian serv- ing the area and Pioneer M e m o - Stacee rial Hos- Halverson pital. The s c h o l a r s h i p was established by Dr. Wolff’s children to as- sist students wishing to enter the medical ield. Eva is working as a receptionist at Pioneer Memorial Hospital and has completed her prereq- uisites and been accepted in the diagnostic imaging program at Linn Benton Community College. S t a - cee Halv- erson was awarded an Earl and Hazel Wil- Rebecca son Schol- Jepsen arship in the amount of $1,250. Halverson has been accepted in the ra- diologic science program at Oregon Institute of Te c h n o l - ogy with the goal of Ryan obtaining Dougherty bachelor degrees in radiologic science and health care management Rebecca Jepsen also was awarded an Earl and Hazel Wilson Scholar- ship in the amount of $1,250. Jepsen is a gradu- ate of Whitworth University and has en- tered the Doctor of Physical Lillian Therapy Sandford program at Eastern Washington Uni- versity. Ryan Dougherty also received a Wilson Schol- arship in the amount of $1,250. Dougherty will be a ju- nior in the speech and language science program at Arizona State Uni- Ian Murray versity with the goal of becoming a speech and language pathologist. Lillian Sandford was awarded a Wil- son Scholarship in the amount of$1,000. She is attending Colorado North- western Community Col- lege in the dental hygiene program. Ian Murray was also awarded a Wilson Scholar- ship in the amount of$1,000. He is Stephanie attending Stokoe the Uni- versity of Portland in the Bachelor of Science nursing program. The foundation also awarded $500 scholar- ships to seven students who gradu- ate from high school this year. Stepha- nie Stokoe will gradu- ate from Tommy R i v e r s ide Bredield High School this year and will enter college with the goal of be- coming an EMT and work- ing in emergency medical services. Alma Angulo (picture not provided) will graduate from Irrigon High School this year and will en- ter college with the goal of be- coming a registered nurse. Patrick Collins Beatriz Aguilera (picture not provided) will graduate from Irri- gon High School this year and will enter school in the nursing program with her long-term goal of be- coming a traveling nurse. Tom- my Bred- ield will g r a d u - Kaelyn ate from Lindsay Heppner High School and will start his college career in pre-physical therapy with the goal of becoming a physical therapist. Patrick Collins will graduate from Hep- pner High School and will enter Eastern Oregon University this fall with the long-term goal of working in physical therapy. Kaelyn Lindsay will graduate from Hep- pner High School and will en- ter Blue Mountain Community Jessica Kempken College this fall with the goal of becoming a dental hygienist. Jessica Kempken will graduate from Hep- pner High School and will also enter Blue Mountain Community College this fall with the goal of receiving her Associate Degree and transferring to Oregon State University’s dental program. FARM WORKER HOUSING -Continued from PAGE ONE annually to the economies the land is zoned farm use, application for the zone 140,000 total temporary ers’ compensation and that the new project met all the state and local land use laws for seasonal acces- sory farmworker housing, and should therefore be approved by the planning commission. Perkins Coie is representing PROffutt, a Fargo, ND-based LLC, which actually made the application. PROffutt is the development and con- struction arm of Threemile Farms, which operates on 93,000 acres west of Board- man. Threemile currently raises organic crops on 5,200 acres there, includ- ing potatoes, onions, peas, corn, triticale, alfalfa and carrots. It currently has 150 seasonal workers, but as stated in its applica- tion, plans to increase that number with its expanded organic farming plans. The entire farming op- eration presently includes 37,000 acres of irrigated farm ground and a farm payroll of $12 million annu- ally with over 300 full-time employees. Its conventional crops include corn, wheat, peas, alfalfa and mint. It also runs a 24,000-cow dairy operation with 25,000 replacement heifers on its property and, according to the farm’s website, con- tributes over $420 million of Morrow and Gilliam counties. Boardman resident Kelly Doherty, wife of new- ly-elected county commis- sioner Jim Doherty, spoke at the public hearing and was adamantly in opposition to the zone change applica- tion and proposed housing project. The Dohertys lease additional city land located next to the proposed house project and say it will dis- rupt a family cattle business and bull testing area they have there. They also have a homestead on Wilson Lane and additional property on Kunze Lane. Doherty’s main objec- tion to the housing project was that neither the city nor Threemile has demon- strated a need for the hous- ing, thus justifying a zone change from Space Age Industrial (SAI) zone to Exclusive Farm Use, EFU. “I don’t think you have a compelling reason to change this and lose this SAI,” she said. Doherty told the planning commis- sion the land is marginal ag land and would be better left as SAI. She said the only need apparently is that the farm wants to put farm housing on the ground and can do this more easily if Saturday & Sunday Breakfast Buffet A.Y.C.E. ONLY $7.95 PRIME RIB $25.95 or NY STEAK $22.95 every Saturday night Reservations are Required FILLING UP QUICKLY ! GET YOUR RESERVATION THIS SUNDAY'S MEAL WILL BE $6.95 grilled chicken breast dinner Landing Lodge at Morrow County OHV Park Hours: mon-Sat 8am-8pm Sunday 8am-5pm 541-969-3822 find us on facebook under which farm housing is an allowable use. On the subject of trans- portation Doherty says Tower Road, which is the main road out of the project and Threemile Farms, is not big enough to handle the increased trafic from the new farm workers. Rob- inson, however, had said the workers would most likely not be owning and driving cars, and would be given rides by bus not only to work, but also into town to go shopping once per week. Doherty said even if the workers are considered indentured to the farm, their employer is not going to be in a position to keep the workers from going to town more if they want to. “These people are go- ing to ind a way to go to town. I don’t see how you are going to say when they are and aren’t going to go to town,” she said. She also said the hous- ing project would be better suited to be built within the city limits of Boardman, where there is a greater need for housing. She said the housing could then also be used for construction workers in the area, while she says many now are living in travel trailers scat- tered “illegally” on ground around her property. Doherty also said the change was not submit- ted correctly, contained other procedural errors and should have been adver- tised as an application for farm worker housing in- stead of just a zone change application. Doherty said notices to adjacent property owners did not mention farm housing, but only the zone change. She also said she and her husband have retained legal counsel in opposition to the project. Also speaking against the project was Pat Suter of Tom’s Camp Rd., who said the farm has plenty of land on which to put the housing and does not need to rezone this particular piece. “Why change zoning when you have 90,000 of EFU already? They can put the housing on their own property,” he said about Threemile Farms. Under the H-2A Visa program employers are allowed to bring foreign nationals into the US for temporary or seasonal ag- ricultural work. The pro- gram establishes a means for agricultural employers who anticipate a shortage of domestic workers to bring non-immigrant for- eign workers to the U.S. to perform agricultural labor or services of a temporary or seasonal nature. In 2015 there were approximately NOW HIRING DRIVERS agricultural workers in the U.S. under the program. Terms of work can be as short as a month or two or as long as 10 months, although there are some special procedures that al- low workers to stay lon- ger than 10 months. All of these workers are covered by U.S. wage laws, work- other standards. Addition- ally, temporary workers and their employers are subject to the mandates under the Affordable Care Act. Em- ployers are also required to pay inbound and outbound transportation, and provide free housing and meals for the workers. FFA elections are here again FFA says goodbye to 2015 oficers, hello to 2016 oficer team By Taylor Nelson T h e H e p p n e r F FA chapter elected new offi- cers for this upcoming year on April 28 in the Ag room at Heppner High School. The election process was a simple one this year, con- taining an application, a speech and a vote. The new oficer team is Tim Gould as president, Kolby Currin as vice pres- ident, Keegan Gibbs as secretary, Logan Grieb as treasurer, Kane Sweeney as reporter, Emily Cecil as sentinel and Jake Lindsay as historian. The new oficers had their irst oficial duty on May 12 at the Heppner FFA’s 10 th annual banquet at the Morrow County Fair- grounds at 6 p.m., when the retiring officer team oficially handed over their positions to the new oficers at the end of the banquet. “We had an amazing year and have accomplished more this year than any of the other three years I’ve been on the oficer team,” Gould said. “I am glad to have served with the four seniors Rylee Kollman, CJ Kindle, Caitlynn Bailey and Patrick Collins. “My only regret was not going to the officer retreat to bond with my fellow oficers. I am glad to see what’s ahead for the chapter and the new oficer team. I see great potential for the new officer team and I’m glad to be a part of the team.” FFA advisor Beth Dick- enson said, “I appreciate the hard work and dedication of the retiring oficers and look forward to the accomplish- ments of the newly-elected oficers.” GRADUATION THIS WEEKEND! Ione June 3rd Heppner June 4th -CARDS -GIFTS -GIFT CERTIFICATES -PARTY SUPPLIES CLOSEOUT ON CHAMPIONSHIP FOOTBALL SWEATSHIRTS - T-SHIRTS - MAKE SURE YOU HAVE ONE! www.facebook.com/TheLandingLodge ALL NEWS AND ADVERTISEMENT DEADLINE: MONDAYS AT 5:00 P.M. ESPRESSO SPECIAL: Cookie-N-Creme Frappes Med. ONLY 3.75 217 North Main St., Heppner • Phone 676-9158 • Floral 676-9426 Serving Morrow, Wheeler & Gilliam counties Since 1959
