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