New dairy will add 150 jobs,
$50 million to local economy
HEPPNER
G T
50¢
azette
imes
VOL. 136
NO. 14
8 Pages
Wednesday, April 5, 2017
Locals support, environmentalists opposed
By David Sykes
A new mega-dairy with
up to 30,000 milk cows
has been approved for op-
eration on what was once a
large tree farm near Board-
man.
Called Lost Valley
Farm, the operation is ex-
pected to add 125 to 150
new jobs and pump $50
million into the local econ-
omy, according to its opera-
tor Greg te Velde. Te Velde
also runs a smaller 8,000-
cow dairy on land leased
from nearby Threemile
Canyon Farms. The new
dairy will be the second
largest in Oregon, the larg-
est being the 70,000-cow
dairy also at Threemile. In
2015 te Velde bought the
7,288-acre former Board-
man Tree Farm located nine
miles from the Columbia
River on which to locate the
dairy. He started the permit
process at that time.
The Oregon Depart-
ment of Agriculture and De-
partment of Environmental
Quality issued the permit
Friday noting that the farm
Morrow County, Heppner, Oregon
Lauritsen retires from Pioneer
Hometown girl
takes over Murray’s Memorial after 32 years
espresso operation
Tayllor Brannon is taking over the espresso counter at Mur-
ray’s Drug in Heppner, opening her own business, Breaking
Grounds Coffee, May 1. -Photo by Andrea Di Salvo
By Andrea Di Salvo
Shoppers who stop at
Murray’s Drug in Heppner
to get their coffee fix will
see a new but familiar face
behind the espresso bar
starting this week. Mur-
ray’s owners John and Ann
Murray have announced
that Heppner native Tayllor
(Gould) Brannon will be
leasing the store’s espresso
bar from them beginning
next month.
Brannon will officially
open her new business,
Breaking Grounds Coffee,
May 1, but will be on the
job during the month of
April as the Murrays pre-
pare to hand over opera-
tions.
“It will allow us to
spend more time focused
on the pharmacy,” says Ann
Murray. “We think it’s go-
ing to be a win-win for both
of us.”
Brannon says she has
about nine years of experi-
ence in coffee shops; she
has managed coffee shops
in Gresham and Klamath
Falls, OR, as well as vol-
unteering at church coffee
bars while living in the Wil-
lamette Valley. However,
her career started behind
this same counter at Mur-
ray’s, where she worked all
four years of high school.
“It’s kind of like being
home, being behind that
bar,” says Brannon.
Brannon says she will
bring a kind of Portland
flair to the espresso bar, and
is planning a new spring
menu with new drinks, food
and pastries; she says the
lunch menu may be “more
streamlined.” Hours will
remain the same, Monday
through Friday, 7 a.m. to 6
p.m. and Saturday, 8 a.m.
to 6 p.m. Breaking Grounds
Coffee will also honor cof-
fee cards already sold, as
well as punch cards that
area already partly filled.
“We want to make it as
smooth a transition for the
public as possible,” Mur-
ray says.
Planning commission
approves land
partition
The Morrow County
Planning Commission last
Tuesday approved a land
partition on a 38-acre parcel
at the Port of Morrow.
The parcel is located in
the East Beach Industrial
Park near the intersection
of Lewis and Clark Drive
and Highway 730. Divid-
ing the larger parcel will
facilitate development on
the property.
Port of Morrow Gen-
eral Manager Gary Neal
said the partitioning would
“finish up loose ends” for
planning in this area. The
planning commission ap-
proved the partition unani-
mously.
In other business the
commission decided to
put off until next meeting
a work session on revising
the Farm and Forest Model
Code.
By Andrea Di Salvo
The halls at Pioneer
Memorial Hospital may be
a little quieter from now on,
after the retirement of long-
time maintenance worker
Carl Lauritsen. Lauritsen
celebrated his last day as
the hospital’s maintenance
supervisor last week, bring-
ing to a close more than 32
years at Morrow County
Health District.
The 67-year-old, who
describes himself as a “Se-
attle transplant,” was born
in Seattle, graduating from
West Seattle High School
in 1968. He joined the U.S.
Army in 1972 and served
for three years, spending
time stationed at Ft. Lewis,
Washington and in Italy. He
moved to Heppner in 1974
after coming down to visit
his sister and deciding to
stay a while.
across as a class clown,
He first “put in his his coworkers say they
time” at Kinzua, working will miss his sly sense of
in the Kinzua Pine Mills humor on the job. It’s a
Company plywood plant role Lauritsen easily ac-
until 1979. He then
cepts—he gave the
went to work for the
Gazette permission
Umatilla Army De-
to publish his quirky
pot as a guard. He
retirement photo
obtained his EMT
( s e e n o n PA G E
(Emergency Medi-
THREE), saying,
c a l Te c h n i c i a n )
“Everyone knows
Basic, or EMT-1, Carl Lauritsen I’m a clown.”
certification in 1982
Despite that,
“for fun.”
though, MCHD Human
“I was bored and it was Resources Director Pat-
something to do,” he says. ti Allstott says Lauritsen
In July of 1983, he went brought many serious con-
to work for Pioneer Memo- tributions to the health dis-
rial’s maintenance depart- trict staff.
ment. Along with his more
“Carl always plays up
official duties, Lauritsen his corny side, but he has
seemingly took on the less had a great career as a para-
official role of office joke- medic and has saved many
cracker. While the soft- -See LAURITSEN RETIRES/
spoken man doesn’t come
PAGE THREE
will be subject to “stringent
water quality regulations.”
The permit was issued after
an extensive public com-
ment period that saw more
than 4,000 comments ac-
cepted.
The two regulatory
agencies said the permit is
“the most protective of sur-
face water and groundwater
of any CAFO (confined
animal feeding operation)
permit issued to date.” Wa-
ter concerns were raised
because the dairy will pro-
duce 187 million gallons
of waste water and manure
annually.
The new dairy is being
located in a region known
for having elevated levels
of nitrate, so the regulations
call for extra monitoring of
groundwater, including 11
monitoring wells, and calls
for the dairy to conduct
soil monitoring as well as
leak detection monitoring
in the animal waste storage
area. The dairy plans on
recycling the animal waste
for use in irrigation on more
than 5,000 acres of nearby
farmland used to grow feed
for the cows.
A large number of envi-
ronmental and other groups
came out in opposition
to the dairy. In a state-
ment posted on the Oregon
Riverkeepers website last
week there was a statement
from the following: Friends
of Family Farmers, Oregon
Chapter of the Sierra Club,
Friends of the Columbia
Gorge, Columbia River-
keepers, Center for Biologi-
cal Diversity, Humane So-
ciety of the United States,
Socially Responsible Ag-
Harlem Ambassadors come to
Heppner April 27
Weather
Free tickets available starting Friday
levels off
after hard
winter
-See DAIRY APPROVED/
PAGE TWO
The Harlem Ambas-
sadors are coming to Hep-
pner to play the “Heppner
Blues” basketball team on
Thursday, April 27, at 6:30
p.m. in the Heppner High
School gymnasium.
In 1997 executive Dale
Moss formed Harlem Am-
bassadors, a small busi-
ness with a big mission:
to provide nonprofit and
community service groups
with comedy basketball
shows they can use as fun,
family-friendly fundraising
events.
Moss assembled a team
of young African-American
men and women who have
played college basketball,
earned college degrees,
are talented comedians and
basketball players, and are
good citizens and positive
role models for kids.
Over the years, the Har-
lem Ambassadors’ tour
schedule has grown to more
than 220 events each season
and includes events in all 50
states and 20 countries.
The 2016-17 roster in-
cludes Brittany “Dorsey
Bee” Dorsey, Nick “Spin”
Simpson, Alexander “Pops”
Wright Jr., Patric “HD”
Massey, Melvin “Mel’O
Matic” Dolberry, Marquette
Brittany Dorsey boogies with the local team and kids in the au-
dience. The Ambassadors play against a team of local all-stars
and community leaders, making every event one-of-a-kind.
-Photo courtesy of Harlem Ambassadors
“Silky Smooth” Knight, Thorson.
Yoshives “Yoshi” Belizaire,
-See HARLEM
Darron Claxton, and an-
AMBASSADORS/PAGE
nouncer Ryne “McRyne”
TWO
Spring weather is ex-
pected to return to normal
after an unusually severe
winter locally.
According to prelimi-
nary data received by NO-
AA’s National Weather
Service in Pendleton, the
upward trend has already
begun, as temperatures at
Heppner averaged slightly
warmer than normal during
the month of March.
The average tempera-
ture in March was 44.9
degrees, which was aaa0.7
degrees above normal. High
-See WEATHER/PAGE
FOUR
Pastors invited to submit Easter
messages to G-T
Area pastors are invited to submit Easter messages to the Heppner Gazette-Times
for publication in the April 12 newspaper. Deadline for submission is Monday, April 10.
Messages may be emailed to editor@rapidserve.net, mailed to Gazette-Times at
P.O. Box 337, Heppner, OR 97836, faxed to 541-676-9211 or brought into the Gazette-
Times office, 188 W. Willow, Heppner, OR 97836.
Easter egg hunts planned for
April 15 in Heppner, Ione
Ione’s annual
The Heppner
Easter egg hunt will
Easter egg hunt,
be held Saturday,
sponsored by the
April 15, at 10 a.m.
Heppner Elks Club,
in Ione City Park.
will be held on Sat-
Children up to the
urday, April 15, be-
fourth grade are in-
ginning at 10 a.m.
vited.
at the Heppner City
Anyone wish-
Park next to the
ing to make a dona-
Heppner library.
tion to help with this
The Easter
Organizers say the con- Bunny will make his ap-
event may do so at the Ione
Branch of Bank of Eastern tinued community support pearance at 9:30 a.m.
for this event is appreciated.
Oregon.
Morrow County Grain Growers
Lexington 989-8221 • 1-800-452-7396
For farm equipment, visit our web site at www.mcgg.net