Heppner Gazette-Times, Heppner, Oregon Wednesday, November 30, 2016
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Master clockmaker recognizes local men for clock tower work
Two Heppner men who
were instrumental in bring-
ing the Morrow County
Courthouse clock and tower
back to life were recently
recognized by their mentor.
Master clockmaker Gary
Kopperud of Pendleton
took time out of his multi-
faceted life to express his
gratitude to Tony Clement
and Rod Wilson for their
work on the project.
Kopperud owns a draft-
ing and design business
in Pendleton, is a third-
generation clockmaker, and
donates countless hours
to Morrow County on the
sometimes-daunting en-
deavor. His interests com-
bined to give him the knowl-
edge needed to perform the
complex calculations so
the clock would function
after the mechanism was
moved from the tower to
the lobby—a four-story
difference. But he couldn’t
do it all himself; that’s
where Wilson and Clement
became indispensable.
Clement is Morrow
County’s General Main-
tenance Supervisor, while
Wilson owns Wilson Con-
struction Services, LLC
and contracted his services
to the county during the
project.
Kopperud made a spe-
cial presentation to the two
local men during a meeting
of Morrow County depart-
ment heads and elected of-
ficials on Nov. 8 at the Bar-
tholomew Building. Judge
Terry Tallman made it clear
the gifts were from Kop-
perud and not the county.
Kopperud presented
Clement with a 1917 E.
Howard Watch Co. pock-
et watch; Kopperud told
Clement it’s his turn to
take care of this watch, just
as he and Wilson are now
caretakers of the courthouse
clock. He then presented
Wilson with an Army Air
Corps Aviator ’s watch.
These watches were only is-
sued to pilots during World
War II, he said.
The clock tower project
was started in 2013 and the
rededication took place on
Sept. 29, 2014. However,
since then, a few problems
have been encountered in
trying to make a mecha-
nism originally intended to
run one clock face now run
three faces.
The most recent set-
back involved a broken
gear, which once again set
Kopperud on the hunt for a
rare replacement part. Not
surprisingly, his diligence
paid off and it is now in the
process of being installed.
“We have more to do,”
Kopperud told his partners.
Wilson responded by
saying, “I’ve been bitten
by the clock bug. I want
to know more about them
when I see one.
“We wouldn’t have
gotten it done without his
(Kopperud’s) help and we’ll
see it through to make this
thing go,” he added.
“The Morrow County
Commissioners are delight-
ed to see such interest and
expertise at such reasonable
costs for this project,” said
judge Tallman.
I yank on it and we both go
in the ditch.”
However, Long-Drew
says the dog isn’t chas-
tised or punished for fall-
ing down on the job, so to
speak. Rather, Guide Dogs
for the Blind believes in
positive reinforcement. So,
he may use the gentle lead-
er—which looks something
like a nose harness—to
redirect the dog’s attention.
Treats are used to reward
good behavior, with special
treats for getting through
special challenges. Long-
Drew also uses clicker
training—a combination
of a clicker and treats to
condition a response—to
develop good habits.
“You try to reward ev-
erything he does,” he says.
Long-Drew says his
family and church com-
munity have been sup-
portive, though it’s been an
adjustment for everyone,
especially his family.
“They’re used to talk-
ing to me when we’re walk-
ing. When he’s in harness,
they can’t interact with me
or him,” he says.
At the same time, it’s
not all work all the time.
Long-Drew gives Earl
plenty of off-leash “dog
moments” when they play
tug-of-war or other games
the dog enjoys.
Guide dogs like Earl
remain in service for nine
years before retiring. Then,
Long-Drew will have the
option to keep him as a pet
or have him return to puppy
raisers to live out his retire-
ment. Even now, it’s easy to
see which way Long-Drew
is leaning.
“He’s becoming my
best friend. I was not a
dog person before, not re-
ally,” he admits. “It’s been
a long time coming—25
years. Now that I have him,
a whole new world has
opened up to me through
the eyes of a dog.”
To help people get to
know Earl better, Long-
Drew and Earl will have a
Q&A at Sweet Productions
Dec. 12 from 7-8 p.m.
Finley Buttes, which
has been in operation since
November of 1990, pays
Morrow County for each
ton of waste dumped at the
large landfill located in the
northern part of the coun-
ty along Bombing Range
Road. Large said the landfill
has a continued life of more
than 200 more years. He
said representatives from
the Portland Metro waste
disposal recently toured
Finley and were impressed
with its operation. He said
Metro, whose current dis-
posal contract runs out in
December of 2019, espe-
cially liked the gas genera-
tion aspect at Finley Buttes.
Finley collects meth-
ane gas produced from the
decaying landfill material
and runs three generators
that produce electricity. In
addition, waste heat from
the generators is piped to
a nearby facility and used
to dry onions and potatoes.
“Metro was very im-
pressed with the state-of-
the-art generating system,”
Large told the court. “Our
facility is not just a tomb
for waste,” he said of the
recycling and sustainability
aspect of the facility.
In other action the court
voted to re-appoint Bob
Mahoney and John Gould
to the Wolf Depredation
Committee. In 2011 the Or-
egon Legislature required
the Oregon Department
of Agriculture (ODA) to
establish and implement
a wolf depredation and
financial assistance grant
program. This program
awards annual funds to Ore-
gon counties to compensate
their ranching communities
when livestock and work-
ing dogs are attacked and
killed by wolves and to
fund preventative measures
to reduce the possibility of
wolf attacks.
Gould is the local busi-
ness representative on the
committee, and Mahoney
is the cattle representative.
Their terms will run until
2020.
GUIDE DOG
-Continued from PAGE ONE the Blind, where they go through a two-week course But they know their job.”
and a half being socialized
with people. They not only
live with the puppy raisers,
but they do everything and
go everywhere with them,
to be exposed to as many
environments and situa-
tions as possible. After that,
Long-Drew says, not every
dog makes the cut. The
dogs can’t display fear or
aggression, and shouldn’t
bark or lick excessively.
“There’s a small per-
centage of dogs who make
it,” he says. “They can go
many places in the city
where most dogs don’t go,
so they have to be well be-
haved.” Long-Drew adds
that the dogs also have
to be clean and healthy.
That means that, as the
owner, it’s his responsibil-
ity to keep Earl groomed,
maintain his dental health
(Earl really likes his doggy
toothpaste), and make sure
he gets regular check-ups.
After their time with
the puppy raisers, the dogs
return to Guide Dogs for
through a series of evalu-
ations, and then through
mobility training. All in all,
$40,000-$50,000 worth of
training and preparation go
into a dog that is then given
for free to a blind person.
That doesn’t mean
Long-Drew didn’t have
to put in some work of
his own, though. After he
submitted his application
to Guide Dogs, a represen-
tative did a home inspec-
tion, including lifestyle and
home and work environ-
ments.
“Then they go back
and match the dog with
me,” he says. “They really
scrutinize what dog is best
for me in my situation.”
In Long-Drew’s case, that
included a tendency to walk
quickly, balanced with the
need to be quiet and calm
for long periods in a church
office setting.
After Guide Dogs for
the Blind determined a
match, Long-Drew went
down to Boring to go
with Earl, which included
work on the Boring cam-
pus and walking courses
in Portland. At the end of
the two weeks, Long-Drew
“graduated”—a concept he
didn’t find as silly after the
fact as he did before.
“After working so hard
with the dog and finding
what a life-changer this is,
it’s a graduation worth hav-
ing,” he says. “I thought it
would be easy, but it’s not!”
In fact, Long-Drew
says Earl has already saved
his life. During training in
Portland, Long-Drew gave
the dog the “hop up” com-
mand to go faster across an
intersection. Instead, Earl
slowed down and stopped.
If he hadn’t, an inattentive
driver would have hit them
in the intersection.
Long-Drew said Earl’s
capability to know when
not to obey is called “intel-
ligent disobedience.”
“Dogs are born pleas-
ers,” he says. “To disobey
you is stressful for the dog.
Now that he’s on the
job in Heppner, Earl’s work
equipment includes a leash,
harness, “gentle leader”
and a pouch full of treats.
When he’s in harness, he’s
on the job, and his job is to
be Long-Drew’s eyes. That
means he needs to work
through distractions that
would send other dogs into
a tail spin, whether those
distractions are other dogs
or friendly pedestrians.
“Because the dog is a
dog, and a people lover, for
our personal safety, he has
to maintain his work eti-
quette,” Long-Drew says.
That includes being a bit
stand-offish to his admir-
ing fans, so Long-Drew
asks that people respect the
dog’s working conditions as
much as possible.
“Petting a dog while
he’s working is like me
being in the passenger seat
while you’re driving, and I
think the steering wheel is
just the prettiest thing I’ve
ever seen,” he explains, “so
COUNTY COURT
-Continued from PAGE ONE court asked if other solu- ticketed properties. These Engineers.
he said.
Justice of the Peace
Ann Spicer, who was on
speaker call to the county
court meeting, said there are
four properties in Heppner
that are the main problem,
with a combined total of
$4,250 in unpaid fines for
nuisance or dirty properties.
Cutsforth added that these
property owners will get
cited numerous times, not
pay the fines, not show up
in court and will ignore the
whole process of trying to
get them to clean up their
properties.
“I told the deputies
(Morrow County deputies
handle citations in Hep-
pner) to quit citing because
it is not going anywhere,”
she said.
Members of the county
tions had been tried, like
having the city come in and
clean up the property and
then bill the homeowner,
or providing Dumpsters
for the property owners to
use and do the clean-up
themselves. Cutsforth said
the city does not have the
money or crew to clean up
the properties, and she tried
the Dumpsters once and
received “blowback” from
other law-abiding property
owners who did not get free
Dumpsters for their trash.
Under the proposed
plan the Justice of the Peace
will continue to handle the
nuisance tickets and fines,
keep the ones who pay,
and turn over to the city
ownership of all those who
do not pay. The city would
then use these unpaid fines
as a basis to put liens on the
NOW
HIRING
DRIVERS
liens could ultimately be
used to foreclose on the
properties and sell them
at auction to recover the
outstanding fines.
“We only want to go to
lien and foreclosure as a last
resort,” Kuhn emphasized.
“We want people to
know that we are not try-
ing to wreck your life,”
Cutsforth said about the
offending property owners.
“We just want you to quit
ruining your neighbor’s
life.”
The court voted to
move forward with writing
IGAs between the county
and all three cities in the
county covering usage of
the Justice Court.
Finley Buttes to continue
payment during river
shutdown
In other business, the
court heard from repre-
sentatives of Finley Buttes
Landfill, who said that the
company plans to continue
paying the county dump-
ing fees, even when it will
not be using the landfill
during a planned 15-week
shut-down of the Columbia
River locks by the Corps of
Finley Buttes Sales
Manager Dean Large who,
along with Assistant Dis-
trict Manager Kevin Green,
was at the county court
meeting, said he knows
the county depends on the
significant dumping fees
from the landfill, and that
the company “has decided
to pay fees to both Wasco
County and Morrow Coun-
ty, as we did in 2016. These
payments reflect our com-
mitment to keep Morrow
County’s budget whole.”
He said that during the
upcoming extended lock
closure, Finley Buttes will
pay Morrow County the
same fees paid to the county
during the same period last
year. Although no dollar
amount was mentioned, he
said it was close to 90,000
tons.
“We appreciate this (the
offer to continue payments
during the shutdown),”
Morrow County Judge Ter-
ry Tallman told Large and
Green, “and we would like
to affirm the long relation-
ship we have with Finley
Buttes Landfill. All we can
say is thank you,” he added.
THE UPCOMING WINTER STORM SEASON IS NEAR
Morrow County Road Dept. would like to
remind all motorists there will be
NO winter maintenance on
Coalmine hill (USFS route 53)
For the rest of the County winter
maintenance practices include applying
deicing agent, plowing and sanding.
The combination of practices used at each site may
vary to accommodate the different climate, traffic, and
storm conditions encountered.
Morrow County's goal is to provide a safe roadway. However,
it is always up to the motorist to drive according to conditions.
Please use extreme caution and common sense.
They will do their best and would appreciate your patience.
For your convenience the road department
would like to direct your attention to a
towing service in the area if needed.
A-1 Martin's Towing 541-571-4260.
Again be prepared and be safe.
Questions or concerns may be addressed 541-989-9500.
Second
annual
music fest
Dec. 11
A Christmas Music
Fest returns to Heppner for
a second year on Sunday,
Dec. 11, at Hope Lutheran
Church (near the dam).
The hour-long con-
cert begins at 3 p.m. and
features the gifts of many
area musicians, conclud-
ing with a carol sing-along.
Admission is free but dona-
tions of canned food for the
Neighborhood Center will
be welcome.
For more information,
or to be added to the pro-
gram, call Pastor Katy An-
derson at 541-676-9970.
Heppner
Gazette-Times
188 W Willow
Heppner OR
541-676-9228
F: 541-676-9211
david@rapidserve.net