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)