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About Heppner gazette-times. (Heppner, Or.) 1925-current | View Entire Issue (May 3, 2017)
HEPPNER G T 50¢ azette imes VOL. 136 NO. 18 10 Pages Wednesday, May 3, 2017 Ribbon-cutting held for new Workforce Training Center By David Sykes Blue Mountain Com- munity College celebrated the opening of the Work- force Training Center dur- ing an open house and rib- bon-cutting ceremony in Boardman last Thursday. Members of the pub- lic attended the event, which included a ribbon- cutting with the Boardman Chamber of Commerce, comments from BMCC President Cam Preus and board chair Chris Brown, BMCC Industrial Systems Technologies Instructor Jerry Mc- -See BMCC RIBBON Michael (left) discusses some of equipment at the Workforce CUTTING/PAGE FIVE Training Center with a potential student. -Photo by David Sykes Morrow County, Heppner, Oregon Mendoza Merkley touches on variety of issues at offered job Heppner town hall with La Senator says country is ‘very divided’ By David Sykes Merkley about the consti- Grande Democratic U.S. Sena- tutionality of the federal tor Jeff Merkley made a government owning land district swing through Heppner within states. “How did George Mendoza, the assistant superintendent of the Morrow County School District, may be leaving the local district to become superinten- dent of the La Grande School Dis- trict. Men- doza will enter into George contract ne- Mendoza gotiations with La Grande School District’s legal counsel after the La Grande school board decided last Wednesday that Mendoza was its first pick for the position. Mendoza has been the Morrow County School District assistant superin- tendent since 2011. He has 20 years of experience as an educator, 16 as an adminis- trator. He graduated from Eastern Oregon University in 1997 and is a member of EOU’s board of trustees. If a contractual agree- ment is reached, the La Grande school board is ex- pected to make Mendoza’s position formal at its May 10 meeting. Sunday, held a town hall meeting, talked on several issues and answered a va- riety of questions from the public for about an hour and a half. Following are some of the topics and questions covered: Local resident Dave DeMayo said he favored more power being returned to the states. DeMayo said he was pleased with the de- bate on various issues going on in Washington DC, but felt more of the laws should be made on the state level. “Let the people who have to live under the laws make their own laws,” he said. “DC is not all-knowing.” Jim Angel spoke to Merkley and said he was in Burns when the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge occupation was occurring, and was just five minutes away when Arizona rancher LaVoy Finicum was shot to death by the FBI. Angel called it murder, and wanted to know why Merkley and Sen. Jeff Merkley presents an American flag that flew over the capitol to Heppner students Irelynn Kollman and Trevor Nichols. The two talked to the senator about some of the things going on at school. -Photo by David Sykes Wyden called people like Finicum “a virus.” Merkley said he did not call anyone a virus and does not believe it is right to insult people. According to a report by KOIN Channel 6 news it was actually Sen. Ron Wyden who was quoted as saying “the standoff was ‘a situation where the virus was spreading,’ and action needed to be taken.” Angel also questioned the federal government get ownership of all this land?” he asked. Merkley respond- ed that it was settled law that the federal government was allowed to own land. Corey Sweeney of Heppner said he was con- cerned that the government was going to take away tax exemptions for nonprofits. Merkley said President Trump has presented only a description on his tax re- form plan, and “it was the very start of discussion at this time.” Another person said he was concerned about how society was divided and would like to see some leadership and Washington come together and com- promise. Merkley said “the grassroots is very divided, which is driving that (di- vision in DC).” He added that President Trump has stocked his cabinet with bankers and big oil people, which was not helping the -See MERKLEY TOWN HALL/PAGE TWO Cold April weather to Buschke retires from level off for May housing authority Boardman Rainy month pushes man shot Saturday in precipitation above normal There were five days According to the Na- with temperature tional Weather Service in altercation Pendleton, April’s colder- below the 32 low degrees. A Pendleton man was arraigned Tuesday after shooting a Boardman man in an altercation Satur- day night, Morrow County S h e r i f f ’s Office has announced. A c - cording to MCSO Op- erations Of- Cesar ficer Terry Corcuera Harper, on Jimenez April 29 around 8:29 p.m., MCSO responded to a report that a man had arrived at Good Shepherd Hospital in Herm- iston seeking treatment for gunshot wounds received than-normal weather should even out to more normal temperatures for May. Meanwhile, a rainy spring on top of a snowy winter has pushed this year’s pre- cipitation above normal for the first time in several years. The average tempera- ture at Heppner in April was 48 degrees, which was 1.1 degrees below normal. High temperatures aver- aged 58.8 degrees, which was 2.1 degrees below nor- mal. The highest was 65 degrees on the 23 rd . Low temperatures averaged 37.2 degrees, which was normal. The lowest was 29 degrees -See BOARDMAN SHOOT- on the 11. ING/PAGE FOUR While the temperature was down, rainfall was up, and precipitation totaled 2.48 inches during April, 0.97 inches above normal. Measurable precipitation of at least .01 inch was received on 14 days with the heaviest, 0.60 inches, reported on the 14 th . Precipitation this year has reached 6.52 inches, which is 0.90 inches above normal. Since October, the water-year precipitation at Heppner has been 10.84 inches, which is 1.16 inches above normal. The highest wind gust was 65 mph, which oc- Ballots are due Tues- day, May 16, for this year’s Special Election. On the ballot this month are elec- tions for local special dis- tricts. Those who haven’t received ballots but believe they should have should contact the Morrow County Clerk’s office as soon as possible at 541-676-5604. All ballots are due by 8 p.m. Election Day, Tues- day, May 16. Ballots must be received, not simply postmarked, on that day. For voter convenience, 24- hour drop boxes are located throughout the county. Lo- cations are as follows: Heppner: Courthouse parking lot (24 hours) or the Morrow County Clerk’s Office, Room 102 inside the courthouse. Open 8 a.m. to noon and 1-5 p.m., M-F and Election Day (May 16) from 7 a.m. until 8 p.m. Morrow County Sher- iff’s Office assisted in a high-speed chase that ended in the arrest of Irrigon man Chester Brent Paradiso last Wednesday. According to MCSO Undersheriff John Bowles, the pursuit began in Uma- tilla County when Umatilla County Sheriff’s Office be- gan pursuing the driver, later identified as 45-year- old Paradiso, near Umatilla around 1:41 a.m. Wednes- day. Paradiso led officers onto I-82 eastbound be- fore heading west on I-84. The chase reached speeds of more than 100 mph as it crossed into Mor- row Coun- ty. By that time there were mul- tiple UCSO Chester Brent and Oregon Paradiso State Police personnel involved. Morrow County Sher- iff’s Office joined the pur- suit near the Patterson Ferry exit on 1-84. OSP attempted to spike the vehicle near MP 171 without success. As Paradiso neared Boardman, he took the Port of Morrow exit and turned south. He circled around the south side of Boardman, and law enforcement managed to spike the vehicle near Paul Smith Rd. and the canal ac- cess road. Paradiso’s vehi- cle got stuck in some brush after crashing through a gate blocking access to the canal road. Paradiso was taken into custody by UCSO and MCSO deputies. He was found to be driving on -See HIGH SPEED CHASE/ PAGE THREE Judy Buschke of Heppner steps down this week from her posi- tion with the Heppner Housing Authority. Buschke has held the volunteer position, overseeing the management of St. Patrick’s Senior Apartments, since 2003. Prior to that, she had served on the St. Patrick’s Senior Center board since the mid-1990s. -Photo by Andrea Di Salvo ‘Made in Eastern Oregon’ project links students, jobs -See APRIL WEATHER/ Pendleton—A grant to Manufacturing” project PAGE TWO from the Ford Family Foun- is a collaboration between dation is providing oppor- tunities for eastern Oregon manufacturers to introduce local educators and students to careers at their business- es. The “Made in Eastern Lexington: 365 West Oregon: An Introduction Hwy 74 (Public Works Parking lot). Turn off Hwy. 74 onto Tom Street and left into the public works park- ing lot. Open 24 hours. Ione: Spring St. (in front of the turn to 3 rd Street). Open 24 hours. Boardman: NW Boardman Ave. (24 hours). Irrigon: 205 NE 3 rd St. (Irrigon Annex). Open 24 hours. Ballots due May 16 for Special Election MCSO assists in high speed chase the Eastern Oregon Work- force Board and Eastern Oregon Regional Solutions. Other partners providing in-kind support are the -See MADE IN EASTERN OREGON/PAGE THREE Local men run for water control district The Gazette-Times has been informed that Don Bennett and Bob Laughlin are running for re-election on the water control district during this May 16 Special Election. The men request that voters in the district write in their names on ballots so they can continue their service on the board. Morrow County Grain Growers Lexington 989-8221 • 1-800-452-7396 For farm equipment, visit our web site at www.mcgg.net
