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About Heppner gazette-times. (Heppner, Or.) 1925-current | View Entire Issue (July 5, 2017)
Summer heats up with warm, dry June HEPPNER G T 50¢ azette imes VOL. 136 NO. 23 8 Pages Wednesday, July 5, 2017 Moisture drops below normal for the first time this year After a wet spring, June turned on the summer weather with low moisture and high temperatures—a trend that may continue in July, according to the National Weather Service in Pendleton. The average tempera- ture in June was 63.2 de- grees, which was 0.4 de- grees above normal. High temperatures averaged 77.1 degrees, which was 0.5 degrees above normal. On two days, the temperature exceeded 90 degrees; the highest was 97 degrees on the 26 th . Low temperatures av- eraged 49.3 degrees, which was 0.4 degrees above nor- mal. The lowest was 36 degrees on the 12 th . Precipitation totaled 0.83 inches during June, which was 0.55 inches be- low normal. Measurable precipitation of at least .01 inch was received on six Morrow County, Heppner, Oregon Wheatridge sells wind farm Onion Business profiles Stefan Matheny Big energy company buys project Local man Stefan Ma- theny was thrown into the spotlight last month when he was fea- tured in the online publica- tion Onion Business. M a t h e n y, 33, is direc- tor of sales Stefan Matheny at River Point Farms in Hermiston, OR. Onion Business profiled Matheny as a “Millennial Trailblaz- er.” “Stefan, to anyone who knows him, embod- ies not only the youthful optimism and enthusiasm of his generation but is also a remarkably focused and 10-year veteran of the onion industry—all at age 33,” the publication said of Matheny. The Matheny name, of course, is well known in the area. Stefan is the son of Patty and the late Dave Matheny. A 2002 graduate of Heppner high -See ONION BUSINESS/ PAGE FOUR By David Sykes A large wind, solar and nuclear energy com- pany based in Florida has purchased the 292-turbine wind farm project that is ready to be built in Mor- row and parts of Umatilla County. NextEra Energy, based in Juno Beach, FL and billed as the “largest gen- erator in the world of re- newable energy from the wind and sun,” has bought Ione-based Wheatridge, which is headed up by Ione farmer Jerry Rietmann and a group of investors. Riet- mann has been working on the project for the past nine years and says it is finally in a position to be built. Wheatridge recently re- ceived the final certification from the State of Oregon to move forward with con- struction of the 500-mega- watt farm that, when com- pleted, would stretch from Lexington north to the Bombing Range, and then have another section of turbines built on the Uma- tilla–Morrow county line near Buttercreek Junction on Hwy. 207 (see graphic). In a meeting with the Morrow County Court June 7 Rietmann introduced the NextEra Energy project manager, Melissa Hoch- muth, who said she is look- Lexington A string of 292 wind turbines may soon be going up in Morrow and parts of Umatilla County now that the project has a new owner. -Contributed ing forward to getting the project built. Rietmann said he and his partners sold the company feeling NextEra would be the company to “get something built in the 2019-2020 time frame.” “We have purchased the development rights for the Wheatridge wind project and are working to transfer the facility site cer- tificate to…NextEra Energy Resources,” said Bryan Garner, Manager of Com- munications for NextEra Energy Resources, when contacted by the Heppner Gazette-Times last week. “We believe the proposed Wheatridge Wind Project will create tremendous eco- nomic opportunities for the region as well as bring more low-cost, emission-free en- ergy to Oregon,” he added. Also during the an- nouncement of the sale at the commission meet- ing, both Rietmann and Hochmuth addressed the ongoing dispute concern- ing “wheeling,” or sending the generated power out to the grid once the wind farm is in operation. Columbia Basin Electric Cooperative and Umatilla Electric Co- operative are presently in a dispute about who might end up building and owning a transmission line to get the power out. Columbia Basin filed a complaint in January with the Oregon Public Utility Commission accusing Umatilla Electric of encroaching on its exclu- sive service territory during talks with Wheatridge. So far the dispute has not been resolved, and both Riet- -See WHEATRIDGE SALE/ PAGE THREE Irrigon County extends Community Counseling fire burns contract, calling it ‘gold standard’ in three mental health structures, Decides against admin fee but may do own audit Sykes to discuss her county con- to change the relationship. “I don’t think we want sends one By David Calling it “the gold tract, and said up until they They discussed, however, to take funds away from for providing broke away, they did pay doing their own county the great work they are do- to hospital standard” mental health services, the the county an administra- audit of the organization ing,” she said, also using Morrow County Commis- tive fee, but since then have to make sure they were Three structures were burned and one instance of smoke inhalation reported in an Irrigon fire started by a lawn mower Wednes- day afternoon. However, MCSO reports that three homes bordering the fire were saved in the two hours it took to get the blaze under control. At 1:23 p.m. June 28, the Morrow County Sher- iff’s Office communica- tions center received a re- port of a grass fire started by a lawnmower on Snyder Road in Irrigon. With high wind conditions and struc- tures threatened Irrigon Fire immediately requested mutual aid from Boardman Fire Department. During the course of fighting the fire, mutual aid was also requested from Umatilla County Fire District One and Umatilla Rural Fire. MCSO and Irrigon and Boardman ambulances also sion extended Commu- nity Counseling Solutions (CCS) current contract until a new agreement can be worked out. At an earlier meeting, the commission had dis- cussed charging CCS a yearly fee for handling certain administrative ser- vices the county provides; however, at its last meeting it decided not to do that, but may go ahead with its own audit of the organization. Up until 2007 CCS was a complete county program, operated by the county. At that time, however, CCS and the county decided to part ways, with CCS be- coming its own entity and the county contracting for its metal health services. Funding for CCS, however, still comes from the state, and is administered through the county budget. CCS administrator Kimberly Lindsay came -See IRRIGON FIRE/PAGE before the court last week TWO not. She pointed out that the county was providing some “in kind” payments to CCS with the reduced rent it had been charging the organization for use of the county-owned Gilliam Bisbee building in down- town Heppner. The county recently raised the rent from $8,000 per year to $23,000, mostly to just pay for utili- ties in the building. Lindsay said most counties do not charge their mental health providers admin fees. CCS is in the process of build- ing its own new facili- ties in Heppner; however, construction has not been completed yet. Lindsay said she hoped the new facility will be ready in December or early January. Under the CCS contract the county is required by the state to provide “oversight” on the program. All the commissioners agreed that CCS is a very well-run or- ganization, and do not want satisfying that oversight requirement. “We want a contract with you,” commissioner Don Russell told Lind- say “because you are the gold standard that everyone compares to.” He said the county “works hard” not to go out to bid on the CCS services and also cited the positive advantage of hav- ing CCS here with local people employed, living and spending money in the community. Commission Chair Me- lissa Lindsay said she also thinks CCS is doing a great job and does not really see how the county could do any more oversight than the state already provides. the term “gold standard.” CCS has been cited, and given awards, by the state for running a top-notch organization. County council Justin Nelson said he understood CCS was well run, but still advised both parties to pro- tect themselves by having the audit for oversight. “The contract is not looked at until there is a problem,” he told the com- mission. Nelson said the oversight audit should pre- vent someone from coming back and saying the county was not doing its part with oversight, “and we are go- ing to take the program away.” Even though CCS -See COUNTY COMMIS- SION/PAGE THREE days with the heaviest, 0.39 inches, reported on June 9. Precipitation this year has reached 8.32 inches, which is 0.34 inches below normal. Since October, the water-year precipitation at Heppner has been 12.64 inches, which is 0.08 inches below normal. The highest wind gust recorded in Heppner was 40 mph, which occurred on June 8. Wind gusts in other areas of the county reached as high as 50 mph on June 26. The outlook for July from NOAA’s Climate Pre- diction Center calls for near- to above-normal tem- peratures and near-normal precipitation. Normal highs for Heppner during July are 85.7 degrees and normal lows are 53.9 degrees. The 30-year normal precipita- tion is 0.33 inches. The National Weather Service is an office of the National Oceanic and At- mospheric Administration, an agency of the U.S. Com- merce Department. House passes OSP budget Restores funding to keep Eastern Oregon crime lab open SALEM—Last week Representative Greg Smith (GOP-Heppner) joined with members of the Oregon House of Representatives to pass HB 5031-A, the 2017- 2019 budget for the Oregon State Police (OSP). The budget restores funding for the Eastern Oregon Foren- sic Lab in Pendleton, which was slated to be eliminated in the Governor’s Proposed Budget. HB 5031-A allocates $427,865,128 to the Oregon State Police Department, equaling a 4.3 percent in- crease over the agency’s 2015-2016 budget. In addi- tion to current service level funding, the Joint Com- mittee on Ways and Means restored funding for the Eastern Oregon Forensic Laboratory in Pendleton. The committee also fund- ed Policy Option Package (POP) 121, which provides $1,005,000 additional fund- ing to the lab. An additional $370,645 will be on-going funding on top of their current base funding. The remaining POP funding is one-time expenses for mov- ing the Eastern Oregon Fo- rensic Laboratory from its current location into space more suitable for laboratory operations. Funding for this package was taken from marijuana tax revenue. “Restoring funding of the Eastern Oregon Foren- sic Lab was a primary focus for myself and many who testified at the Joint Ways -See OSP FUNDING/PAGE FIVE WEEKS ROSES AND ANNUAL BEDDING PLANTS 20% OFF!! ALL NEWS AND ADVERTISEMENT DEADLINE: ALL LOCATIONS WILL BE CLOSED JULY 4TH MONDAYS AT 5:00 P.M. Morrow County Grain Growers Green Feed & Seed 242 W. Linden Way, Heppner • 676-9422 • 989-8221 (MCGG main office)