EIGHT - Heppner Gazette-Times, Heppner, Oregon Wednesday, March 29, 2017
ESTES RETIRES
-Continued from PAGE ONE retirement.
time there, she helped
with the family business
and stayed busy raising her
two sons, Chad and Eric.
After a divorce, in 1985,
she moved back to Hep-
pner to raise her boys in her
hometown.
In fall of that year
she started at the Morrow
County District Attorney’s
office as a support enforce-
ment officer.
When a job opened in
the assessor’s office the
following spring, it seemed
like a good opportunity.
“Raising my two boys,
it was more pay, and it
seemed like a challenging
job, so I started as an as-
sessment clerk,” she says.
Also after returning to
Heppner, she became re-
acquainted with childhood
friend Rusty Estes. The
friendship blossomed and
they were married in 1988.
In fact 1988 was a busy
year for Estes—it was also
the year she applied for an
open appraiser position, and
they year she became certi-
fied as an appraiser.
The certification threw
a wrench in her personal
plans, she recalls.
“All my friends were
going to Hawaii, and I had
a ticket to go, and they
called and told me I had to
sit for my exam at that time.
So I had to stay home and
do that,” she recalls. “But
that’s okay, I was happy to
do that.”
The missed vacation
worked out in the long run;
not only did she become an
appraiser but in 1990, Estes
became the county’s lead
appraiser.
“And here I’ve been,”
she says.
With so much history
with Morrow County, she
says it’s with mixed emo-
tions that she now faces
“I’ll miss a lot of
things. I’ll miss the people.
Being an appraiser, you’re
exposed to all the different
people in the county. I’ll
miss that interaction. I’ll
miss the people I work with,
who have the taxpayers’
best interests at heart.
“I’m going to miss the
challenge of my job,” she
says, adding that her job
includes appraisals of ev-
erything from homes to in-
dustrials and multimillion-
dollar corporate farms. “It
isn’t often in a lifetime that
you get the chance to be
exposed to the challenges
this job provides.”
Despite that, she says
it’s “time.”
“My first priority will
be to be available to my
grandchildren,” she says,
referring to four boys and
one girl, ages nine to two, in
Portland and Caldwell, ID.
“My parents are here,
both in their 80s,” she says.
“I want to be free to spend
time with them. It’s just a
good time to enjoy my life
now, at this age.
“Rusty still has to
work,” she quips.
She has no fear that
there will be a shortage
of good people to fill her
shoes.
“When I look at the
young people ready to
move into the community,
raise their children here,
I’m happy to move on to
something new and open
up a space.”
And Estes has no short-
age of plans to fill her retire-
ment.
“I love my job. I love
being a public servant,” she
says. “But I do look forward
to spending more time with
all the other organizations I
volunteer with, especially
hospice. I will continue to
be a public servant in dif-
CBEC provides options to manage bills
During a particularly
cold winter or hot summer,
do you open your utility bill
with a sense of dread? If so,
Columbia Basin Electric
would like to work with
you.
Coming out of one of
the area’s colder, longer
winters in some time, Co-
lumbia Basin Electric says
the co-op would like to
explore with its members
possible solutions to bet-
ter manage their variable
electric bills.
One option the co-op is
offering is the Average Pay
Plan (previously known
as Budget Pay). This plan
is not a reduced rate plan
for our members. Instead,
CBEC describes it as a plan
to help even out your pay-
ments over a specific period
of time. For many consum-
ers, it adds stability to their
monthly cash flow.
As a precaution, Co-
lumbia Basin asks consum-
ers to note that the Average
Pay Plan can be mislead-
ing. If you agree to a fixed
monthly payment and think
you don’t have to monitor
your energy usage at all,
best think again. Columbia
Basin Electric will still be
reading your meter, and
you might be in for a rude
awakening when your Av-
erage Pay Plan period ends
and you are faced with a
True-Up billing. You might
owe extra money. Read on.
To qualify for the Av-
erage Pay Plan, you need
to have lived at the same
address for over a year,
be current on your electric
account, pay on time every
month, and sign up during
the month of April.
The Average Pay Plan
will average your electri-
cal consumption for the
period May 1 to April 30 of
the previous year, and you
will then be invoiced an
equal amount on each state-
ment. In theory, the account
should build up a credit
during the summer months,
and will deplete during the
winter months when con-
sumption is typically much
higher. No monthly pay-
ment can be skipped, and
the plan is available only
for residential consumers.
Members need to moni-
tor their energy usage on
their monthly statements,
and watch their total bal-
ance that carries over from
month to month. Toward
the end of winter, if the bal-
ance carrying forward is not
a credit or is substantially
more than the average in-
voice amount, the consumer
will be responsible to pay
the difference at the end
of the Average Pay Plan
period, which is the April
billing cycle.
Columbia Basin Elec-
tric also says it has mul-
tiple bill-paying options
available to its members.
Members can sign up for
Auto Pay, which will auto-
matically pay their invoice
directly from their bank
account each month. The
new Smart Hub program
ferent aspects.”
Estes has a history with
the local hospice organiza-
tion that stretches back
more than a decade. She
first became a volunteer in
2002, right at the beginning
of Morrow County hospice,
and became volunteer co-
ordinator and trainer two
years after its founding.
“Hospice is my heart
work,” says Estes. “It’s so
important, and I feel privi-
leged to be a part of it.”
Aside from hospice,
she also serves as chair for
the Morrow County Unified
Recreation District and is
very involved in her church
and in Eastern Oregon Cur-
sillo.
And then there are hob-
bies that she may finally
have time for.
“I have a Native Amer-
ican flute sitting on my
mantle that I intend to learn
to play,” she adds.
Finally, though, she
expresses gratitude for the
people who have surround-
ed her these past decades.
“I have always been
very appreciative of the
county court. I know how
hard the court and the other
elected officials of this
county work to serve the
public.
"It’s because of their
support and commitment
that we have a great retire-
ment plan that allows me to
go now,” she says.
“I’ll miss all the people
here. The county employees
are good people.”
DA’s Report
Morrow County Dis-
trict Attorney Justin Nelson
has released the following
report:
-Steven L. Fox, 51, was
convicted of Escape II, a
Class C Felony, and was
sentenced to three years su-
pervised probation subject
to 180 sanction units with
90 jail units. Probation con-
ditions include substance
abuse evaluation, mental
health evaluation, risk and
needs assessment. If proba-
tion is revoked, defendant is
subject to the 15-18 month
sentence. Felony fine was
waived.
-Jose Javier Ruiz-Go-
mez, 22, was convicted
of Assault IV – Constitut-
allows members the option
of downloading an app onto
their smartphone or other
smart device and paying
their invoice electronically.
The Smart Hub app also has
tools that allow members
see their bill as soon as it
is available, monitor their
daily usage, etc.
Members also can use
the Pay Now feature on
Columbia Basin Electric’s
website, www.cbec.cc. This
feature allows members to
make a credit card payment
towards their residential ac-
count, or to make a payment
for someone in need.
“Regardless which pay-
ment method seems right
for you, please know that
the staff at Columbia Basin
Electric is here to help and
answer any questions you
may have,” the co-op stated
in a release. Consumers
can call the co-op for more
information, in Heppner at
541-676-9146, or Condon
at 541-384-2023.
ing Domestic Violence,
a Class A Misdemeanor.
Sentence of 180 days’ jail
time was suspended and
the defendant sentenced to
36 months’ bench proba-
tion. Probation conditions
include no offensive contact
with the victims, mental
health evaluation and anger
management evaluation.
Additional counts of As-
sault IV and Harassment
were dismissed. Fines, fees
and assessments totaled
$200.
- Julio Reyes-Garcia
Jr, 62, was convicted of
Failure to Report as a Sex
Offender, a Class A Viola-
tion. The defendant was
fined $435.
To Our Providers,
We Thank You & Appreciate all You do!
Commemorating National Doctor’s Day Thursday, March 30th
Dan Hambleton, M.D.
Russ Nichols, M.D.
Amanda Fabian Pa-C
Vicki Kent, ARNP
Matthew Tiemann, Betty Hamill,
PA-C
DNP, APRN, FNP-C
Ken Wenberg, M.D.