FOUR - Heppner Gazette-Times, Heppner, Oregon Wednesday, May 10, 2017
Waltons celebrate anniversaries in life, work Tax Wise & Otherwise
The children of Paul
and Sue Walton invite the
community to join them as
they celebrate their parents’
40 th anniversary and Sue
Walton’s 45 th year of nurs-
ing at Pioneer Memorial
Hospital (PMH).
Sue was born July 14,
1950 at PMH, the daugh-
ter of Don and Colleen
Greenup, one of the first
babies born after the hospi-
tal opened. She was raised
in Heppner, graduating in
1969 from Heppner High
School. She attended
Emanuel Hospital School
of Nursing and graduated
with honors in 1972, return-
ing to Heppner in June of
1972, where she took a job
as a charge nurse on the
night shift.
Paul was born and
raised in Long Creek and
graduated from Pendleton
High School in 1963. He re-
turned to Long Creek to his
family’s third-generation
cattle ranch, established in
1903. He joined joined the
National Guard and served
six years, achieving Staff
Sargent status.
Sue was also raised
on her family’s cattle and
wheat ranch, 10 miles out
of Heppner on the Kilken-
ny ranch, also the third
generation. She worked
there helping with calving,
lambing, haying, and riding
Paul and Sue Walton on their wedding day 40 years ago.
horses to move the cattle. dren. Sue commuted, over
The couple met through the next 40 years, to Hep-
Paul’s cousin Susie French. pner to work. She stayed
As it turned out, the Wal- with family while working
tons were pasturing their her shifts, as it was 174
yearlings at La Grande, OR miles’ round trip.
When asked how she
with Sue’s father. Paul was
could work in one
hauling cattle from
place for 45 years,
La Grande to Hep-
Sue says, “For the
pner; it was Thanks-
community where
giving, and he spent
I grew up, for the
Thanksgiving with
people and com-
Sue’s family—thus
munity that I love.
the beginning of
their courtship.
Sue (Greenup) I would like to take
Paul and Sue Walton as a this opportunity to
were married June young nurse. say thank you to
MCHD (Morrow
18, 1977 and estab-
lished their home on the county Health District)
Walton Ranch, where they and to the community for
raised four children. They allowing me to serve and
now have seven grandchil- give back.”
Sue Walton says nurs-
ing is a rewarding career
with the smiles and appre-
ciation shown by patients
and their families, and the
joy of a newborn baby, but
that it can also be heart-
breaking with the death of
a friend or loved one, and
the traumas of family and
friends that will be forever
in her heart.
She adds that retiring
will be one of the hardest
things she has ever done
but that the transition will
be made easier with the
new young and very eager
nurses. “I feel I will be leav-
ing my community, friends
and co-workers in good
hands.”
Sue looks forward to
spending time with her
family and grandchildren
and doing the things she
loves—riding, hunting,
reading and sewing.
“Who knows, I may
even unpack my suitcase,”
she quips.
Children Shannon, Jim-
my, Katie and Cody and
their families would like to
invite the community to a
potluck dinner with dancing
and fun this Saturday, May
13, at 3 p.m. at the Heppner
Elks Club. No RSVP is re-
quired but those attending
are invited to bring a dish
to share.
VANDALISM
-Continued from PAGE ONE juveniles had been using broke stuff and stole at least extra patrols, focusing on
over the last two and a half
months—and that’s only
the instances that have been
reported.
The city parks have re-
ceived the brunt of the dam-
age; Heppner Public Works
Director Chad Doherty
shared with the Gazette
a long list of damages to
both Hager Park and Hep-
pner City Park. At Hager,
Doherty says the basketball
hoops and volleyball net
were damaged.
“The kids had been
hanging on it (the volleyball
net) and they broke both
the posts and ripped big
holes in the net,” he said.
The basket hoops also were
torn off their stands. “The
basketball hoops took a
long time. We had to take
them all the way down and
have them rewelded and put
them back in,” he added.
Also at Hager, older
the teeter-totter meant for
younger children.
“It’s not broken yet,
but it’s turned in a different
position and the bolts were
loose,” said Doherty.
Heppner City Park also
saw its share of damage,
with broken restroom han-
dles—Doherty estimates
he’s replaced at least half a
dozen door handles—bark
chips scattered through-
out the park, broken gate
handles, and garbage cans
emptied across the park
grounds. A spring toy at the
park received similar treat-
ment to the Hager teeter-
totter. The books from the
Little Libraries started by
Jamie Mullins last year
were removed over the win-
ter and left out in the rain.
Also at city park, “the
little schoolhouse, some
kids broke the window in
the back and got inside and
MOTHER'S DAY
♥ MAY 14TH ♥
one thing,” says Doherty,
though he adds that one if
his greatest concerns is that
somebody is going through
the parks and lifting the lids
off the meter boxes and
water boxes and taking the
insulation out and leaving
them.
“Not only is that an
issue with someone disturb-
ing the water supply, but if
someone were to step in one
of those, break an ankle,
that scares me,” he says.
Bowles says juveniles
turned out to be respon-
sible for at least some of
the criminal mischief—the
youth who scattered bark
chips and took the books
out of the Little Library
were caught on film by
cameras mounted at city
park. The parents were noti-
fied and the juveniles tres-
passed from the city park
for three months, Bowles
told the G-T.
Bowles says the sher-
iff’s office is at work to
reduce the number of com-
plaints.
“Morrow County Sher-
iff’s Office has been doing
the parks and juvenile ac-
tivity,” says Bowles. “Our
patrol deputies have been
making contacts with juve-
niles and parents. These are
positive contacts, giving out
stickers, helmets and build-
ing a rapport.
“Morrow County Sher-
iff’s Office has also in-
creased foot patrols within
the City of Heppner. Our
goal is building relation-
ships and being available
to the public while work-
ing with the community,”
he says.
These efforts have so
far been concentrated on
Heppner. While Bowles
says “there are always a
few calls” in the other South
Morrow communities, the
criminal mischief seems to
be centered on Heppner.
Heppner city staff say
it’s frustrating to put so
much work and money
the city parks only to have
them subjected to van-
dalism. While city staff
say they have not kept a
running tally of the repair
costs over the past several
months, man hours alone
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Heppner Gazette
541-676-9228
Morrow County Road Dept. would like to
remind all motorists that with any road
maintenance project to be aware of the
workers, they are very important to us.
Watch for signs, flags and work-zone employees
and equipment. Morrow County’s goal is to provide
a safe roadway. However, it is always up to the
motorist to drive according to conditions. Be patient
and plan ahead. Leave early if you know you will
be driving through work zones. Please use extreme
caution and common sense. They will do their best
and would appreciate your patience
Temporary closers with
grinding and reclaimation will
be taking place with in the next
few weeks. Some areas to be
aware of with some delays and
partial closers are...
Laurel/Wilson
Intersection in
Boardman.
Ione/Boardman Rd.
(Juniper to Ella)
Blackhorse east of Piper
Canyon.
Again be prepared and be safe.
Questions or concerns may be
addressed to 541-989-9500
Morrow County Road Department.
A periodic column by Daniel Van Schoiack, CPA
This is a follow up on last week’s article, which
discussed the executive order and IRS notice which re-
lieved taxpayers from disclosing on their 2016 tax returns
whether or not they had health care coverage.
The executive order and IRS notice also allowed filing
of 2016 tax returns without paying the Individual Mandate
Penalty. However, some tax preparers have not given
their clients the option to make the health care coverage
discloser, which allows them to avoid paying the penalty
for lack of coverage with their tax returns.
Last week I received an email from an individual who
had prepared a tax return for her adult child. The adult
child did not have health care coverage and was subject
to a penalty of about $900. The mother consulted with
her accountant regarding her child paying the penalty in
light of the executive order and IRS notice, which was
widely broadcast. It appears her accountant informed her
that the child was required to make the discloser and pay
the penalty. The question posed in her email was whether
it would do any good to file an amended return in regards
to the health care penalty.
My answer is yes. Since the disclosure and payment
of penalty were not required with the original return,
then a misinformed tax payer should be allowed to file
an amended tax return, which is “silent” regarding health
care coverage, and request repayment of the penalty paid.
However, since there is no precedence in this matter, it
is unknown if the IRS will accept an amended return
without disclosure when the disclosure was made on the
original return.
The preparation of an amended return in this situation
would be a simple process. On page one of form 1040X is
a summary of income, deductions and taxes as originally
filed versus the corrected amount. The bottom line is the
amount of refund due from the penalty that the taxpayer
was not required to pay.
If the IRS does not refund the penalty in this situa-
tion, the only choice for the taxpayer is to wait and hope
for retroactive appeal of the Individual Mandate Penalty.
The American Health Care Act, which was passed by the
U.S. House of Representatives last week and now goes
to the Senate, contains that relief.
Section 205 of the bill contains language to repeal
the health care coverage penalty retroactive to the tax
year 2016. However, section 133 of the bill brings forth
another form of punishment for those who lack health
insurance. That provision is titled the “Continuous Health
Insurance Coverage Incentive.” It would impose a 30
percent surcharge that would be tacked on to the premium
of policy holders who had a lapse in coverage for 64 days
or more. That provision will be discussed more as the
bill makes its way through the Senate, where it might be
completely rewritten.
Please feel free to contact me if you have any ques-
tions or comments about this article.
Daniel Van Schoiack CPA, can be contacted at 541-
676-9971 or danielrvan@yahoo.com. Recent articles can
viewed at danielcpapro.com.
have started to stack up,
with Doherty estimating at
least 100 man hours to clean
up and repair the parks.
Aside from the parks, other
instances of vandalism have
been reported throughout
the community, including
rocks thrown at cars and
spray-painting on a shed in
Heppner.
“I’d just like people to
report, call the sheriff’s of-
fice if they see something
going on,” says Doherty.
“And make sure everyone
picks up after themselves.
Everything helps.”
Bowles says that com-
munity involvement has
improved the situation,
but more work needs to be
done.
“This has been going
on for a couple of months,
and since it started, the
community has been call-
ing in more activity, which
has really helped,” says the
undersheriff. “If somebody
sees a cop sitting there,
they’re not going to do any-
thing; they’re going to do
things when law enforce-
ment isn’t around. Working
together with more eyes out
there is better. The more
we can work together as a
community the better off
everyone is.”
Bowles says the com-
munity can continue to
assist by contacting the
Morrow County Sheriff’s
Office at 541-676-5317
and reporting suspicious
activity.
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