Housing grant program receives more funds HEPPNER G T 50¢ azette imes VOL. 135 NO. 27 8 Pages Wednesday, July 20, 2016 Morrow County, Heppner, Oregon By David Sykes The popular Morrow County housing program, which gives up to $5,000 to home buyers, will receive additional funding from the Columbia River Enterprise Zone (CREZ), it was an- nounced last week. The program gives up to $5,000 grants to people purchasing homes in Mor- row County. Money for the program comes from businesses and industry locating in the enterprise zone around Boardman. The money, which is paid instead of property taxes and is less than the new businesses would pay in taxes, is used as an incen- tive for new businesses to locate here. The enterprise zone has been very success- ful and also provides grant money for education, pub- lic safety and community enhancement in the county. Last Thursday CREZ awarded $100,000 each to Boardman and Willow Creek Valley Economic Development Group (WC- VEDG), and $70,000 to the City of Irrigon. WCVEDG administers the program for the South County area including Heppner, Lexing- ton and Ione. Anyone considering purchase a home, or prop- erty on which to build a home, or wanting more details about the grant pro- gram, should contact either WCVEDG Director Sheryll Bates at 541-676-5536, or President David Sykes at 541-676-9228. Since the program’s inception two years ago WCVEDG has disbursed a total of 83 grants, with 47 going to local residents of South Morrow County, 28 to out of South Morrow County buyers and eight to out-of-state buyers. No harmful lead Rainy days slow down harvest found in MCSD water, school district reports In June, the Morrow County School District tested drinking water sites at all of its schools for the potential presence of lead. Results from Box R Water Analysis Laboratory in Prineville indicate that all sites tested showed “no lead OHA to provide drinking water expertise to schools for support as they test. Many schools receive their water from commu- nity or city water systems. These public water systems regularly test the water and many already treat the wa- Morrow County School District recently conducted lead test- Harvest is underway outside of Ione Tuesday while, at right, the Mor- ing in all schools and determined that all sites had either no or row County Grain Growers’ Ione grain elevator receives a belly dump acceptable lead levels. -Photo by FreeImages.com/Emily Austin from a grain truck. Unseasonably rainy weather has slowed progress for this year’s harvest, though cutting is slowly moving south through detected” or were below the ter to help reduce corrosion the county. Morrow County Grain Growers reports that it is difficult to get an average because yields are “all over the place,” but so far both EPA limit of 0.020. of plumbing. However, lead quantity and quality look better than last year. -Photos by David Sykes The Morrow County that is present in pipes and and Bronwyn Fichtenberg district joined school dis- tricts across eastern Oregon that are testing their drink- ing water this summer. Currently, there are no state or federal requirements for schools to test drinking wa- ter for lead, and it has not been a practice in the past. In mid-May, the Oregon Department of Education (ODE) and the Oregon Health Authority (OHA) created a plan regarding lead in school water. The plan requests all school dis- tricts that get drinking wa- ter from public water sys- tems test for lead in school buildings; requires districts to use certified drinking water testing labs to process the water samples; asks ODE and OHA to develop a method for schools to re- port results to OHA; and for fixtures in building plumb- ing can enter the water at the tap and expose those who drink it—which is why sampling and testing for lead at each tap is im- portant. “The Morrow County School District is pleased to report that water at our schools is safe for drinking. We will continue to monitor this and will keep com- municating to parents and our community,” said Dirk Dirksen, superintendent. Some state funds may be available in fall 2016 to reimburse school districts who test their drinking wa- ter this summer. For more information, visit the Oregon Health Authority website at http:// w w w. o r e g o n . g o v / o h a / news/. Hermiston woman wins gun raffle Maria Olea (center) of Hermiston, OR was the winner of the Lions Club rifle raffle held recently. Olea is pictured holding the .257 Weatherby Magnum that Lions Club Secretary/Treasurer Steve Rhea (left) presented to her, with husband Thomas Olea beside her. -Photo by Megan Futter Modern knights teach youth the truth behind medieval fighting methods By Andrea Di Salvo A knight in armor pauses during combat in Heppner City Park, his opponent’s sword inches from his face after his failed attempt to block the thrust. “How did that (move) go for him?” “Good!” cries the crowd of children and adults. “How did that go for me?” he asks wryly. “Bad!” comes the re- sponse. The knights in ques- tion were from Knights of Veritas (knights of truth), an educational program that specializes in present- ing interactive educational demonstrations of medieval arms, armor, combat and chivalry throughout the northwest. Director Eric Slyter and presentation assistant Michael Jones donned medieval cloth- ing and armor for a large crowd gathered in the park last Friday, using humor and historical fact to dispel some of the Hollywood myths about knights and fighting in the Middle Ages. Central to the presenta- Knights of Veritas Director Eric Slyter takes a few moments tion was the longsword, re- to explain the medieval longsword before donning his armor, -See KNIGHTS/PAGE while Michael Jones waits to assist and stage manager Rebekka Van Der Does oversees the table full of armor and artifacts in EIGHT the back. -Photo by Andrea Di Salvo Heppner grad helps students’ dreams take flight Heppner graduate Ben Ewing is helping a group of students make their own way to success, as a STEM/ science teacher at Toledo High School in Toledo, OR. Ewing, the son of Hep- pner resident Bill Ewing and wife Sherry, graduated from Heppner High School in 1996. Ewing and co-teacher Peter Lohonyay coached Toledo High School students watch Ben Ewing get ready to two Toledo student teams measure the output of their wind turbine. -Contributed photo to first and second places at the Renewable Energy Challenge in Newport, OR this year. Nearly 200 stu- dents competed, bringing 59 devices for judging at ALL NEWS AND ADVERTISEMENT DEADLINE: MONDAYS AT 5:00 P.M. the challenge; the Toledo students designed and built wind turbines that, in a manner of speaking, blew away the competition. Last month the young designers also traveled to New Orleans, LA to compete as one of 30 elite teams in the National Kid- Wind Challenge. While they didn’t finish first at -See WIND CHALLENGE/ PAGE FOUR HARVEST HOURS Mon-Fri 7am-6pm Saturday 7am-5pm After Hours Phone 541-256-0447 or 541-256-0330 Morrow County Grain Growers Lexington 989-8221 • 1-800-452-7396 For farm equipment, visit our web site at www.mcgg.net