Let’s hear it for the red, white and blue
HEPPNER
G T
50¢
azette
imes
VOL. 136
NO. 24 8 Pages
Wednesday, July 12, 2017
The Ione American Legion color guard pauses for the National Anthem, sung by MaLinda
Morter, during the Fourth of July parade on Ione’s Main Street last week. For more photos
from the Independence Day festivities, see PAGE EIGHT -Photo by David Sykes
Morrow County, Heppner, Oregon
Undersheriff gets word out on eclipse Heppner gets $3
million in state funding
crowd effects on Morrow County
Traffic, fire hazard, shortages and trespassing some of the problems to for road improvements
Rep. Smith helped ‘develop and
expect
pass’ the transportation bill
By David Sykes
Ask Undersheriff John
Bowles if he is becoming
an expert on the upcom-
ing total eclipse set to hit
Oregon on Aug. 21, and he
will only say that he has
learned “a lot” about the
rare phenomenon when the
moon passes between the
earth and the sun, totally or
partially blocking the view
of the sun and causing total
darkness in the middle of
the day. But then he adds,
with a smile, “It is pretty
interesting.”
Bowles has become
the go-to guy on all things
eclipse in the county, devel-
oping a PowerPoint presen-
tation and taking it around
to various groups in the
county. He is making an ef-
fort to prepare local people
for what is coming their
way on Aug. 21, and some
of it may not be positive.
Bowles says local res-
idents can expect up to
14,000 cars per day to travel
through Heppner prior to
the event, pointing out that
on an average hunting sea-
son day there are about
2,500 coming through. He
says most of the people,
Morrow County Undersheriff John Bowles last week gave a presentation about the upcoming
eclipse to the Heppner Chamber of Commerce. Bowles has been traveling around the county
giving programs on what residents can expect if thousands of people show up to view the Aug.
21 event, which will look similar to the inset photo. -Photo by David Sykes
some coming from around
the United States and even
the world, will be heading
for spots south of Hep-
pner where the eclipse will
be 100 percent. People in
Heppner who stay put and
watch will see a 98 percent
blockage, he says.
The path of totality will
be approximately 70-90
miles wide and last ap-
proximately 2-3 minutes,
and the county’s Off High-
way Vehicle park (OHV) in
the mountains on highway
207 will be in that total
path. The sheriff’s depart-
ment is setting up a mobile
command post at the park
to monitor activity and
improve communication
around the county.
Last week a meeting
was held in Heppner to
-See ECLIPSE PRESENTA-
TION/PAGE THREE
Smith brings transportation funds
to county
By David Sykes
The Heppner City
Council was delighted to
hear Monday that a ses-
sion-ending transportation
bill passed by the Oregon
legislature included $3 mil-
lion for “pedestrian safety
and road improvements”
for the city of Heppner.
Although there had been
talk the money was coming,
it was not confirmed until
the legislature passed the
final transportation bill at
the recent end of its session.
“This session I helped
develop and pass a $5.3
billion Oregon Transporta-
tion Package. Within the
package I included more
than $32 million of direct
investments for District
57,” Representative Greg
Smith said in a letter to con-
stituents and to the Heppner
city council. (See related
story.)
Heppner Mayor Cody
High was pleased with the
announcement and said
the city is “waiting for the
rules” to see how the money
can be spent. “This is good
news but we are waiting
for the rules. Sounds like
streets and sidewalks to me,
but we are waiting,” he told
the council.
In other business at
Monday’s meeting the
council finalized an agree-
ment with former city man-
ager Kim Cutsforth resolv-
ing a dispute about vacation
pay she claims was owed
during her four years of
employment with the city.
Cutsforth had earlier filed
a claim with the Oregon
Bureau of Labor and In-
dustries (BOLI) saying the
city owed her $1,882 in
unpaid vacation benefits
for the period of Sept. 1,
2013 to Feb. 28, 2017. She
resigned the city manager
job to become executive
director of the Howard &
Beth Bryant Foundation
in Heppner. The city had
disputed the vacation pay
claim, but eventually the
council decided to pay and
-See CITY COUNCIL/PAGE
FOUR
Rental rehabilitation
grants now available
WCVEDG starts $100,000
program to boost South
Heppner, Port of Morrow, Irrigon, and county receive funding
County rental units
By David Sykes
Morrow County Com-
Commissioner Jim into real tangible projects,”
Representative Greg
Smith was successful in se-
curing state funding for sev-
eral county entities in the
final transportation funding
package approved by the
just-concluded state legis-
lature session in Salem.
As an example, both
the cities of Heppner and
Irrigon received $3 million
each in funds for “pedestri-
an safety and road improve-
ments.” The Port of Mor-
row Received $6,550,000
in funding for the East
Beach Industrial Park Rail
Expansion Project, and
Morrow County got an ad-
ditional $550,000 in road
funding this session.
“I was able to achieve
successes that will bring
positive contributions to
our district,” Smith said in a
letter to constituents. “This
session I helped develop
and pass a $5.3 billion Or-
egon Transportation Pack-
age,” he added. “Within the
package I included more
than $32 million of direct
investments for District
57.”
In announcing the
funding to the Heppner
City Council Monday night
mayor Cody High said,
“This is good news.”
mission Chair Melissa
Lindsay called the fund-
ing a “win” for Morrow
County in a statement to
the Gazette-Times Tuesday.
“The hard work of Rep-
resentative Greg Smith in
supporting our district will
bring increased region-
al growth and economic
development to Morrow
County by improving the
infrastructure of our road
systems,” Lindsay said. “I
appreciate the counties road
department managers’ hard
work to balance rural coun-
ties with bigger metropoli-
tan areas and improve the
disbursement of moneys.
The stability of funding to
roads and the local project
ear marks included in this
bill are a real win for Mor-
row County,” she added.
Morrow County Com-
missioner Don Russell re-
leased a statement saying,
“For Morrow County it
gives us additional reli-
able revenue dedicated to
roads. The funding formula
on the first $5 million in
new revenue is a win for
counties small in popula-
tion with large geography.
This means an additional
$550,000 to Morrow Coun-
ty,” Russell said.
Doherty released the fol-
lowing statement about the
state transportation bill:
“I am not one for more
taxation, and we certainly
cannot pave our way out
of the congestion in the
Metro area. The challenge
is that much of rural Or-
egon is facing a backlog of
underfunded, much needed
infrastructure maintenance.
Perhaps less so in Morrow
County where we have, in
recent years, been blessed
with additional Strategic
Investment dollars. In truth
this is a bit unfair to the
constituency of Morrow
County. They are sinking an
inordinate amount (of) their
tax dollars into a network of
roads that are not just for
the benefit of local trans-
portation—as they are used
exceedingly by Oregonians
as a whole.
“With the collective
effort of all the counties
we were able to craft a
formula that is based less
on population and more on
road miles. This will make
it much more equitable for
the rural counties. We must
be vigilant moving forward
and insist that these added
dollars the Legislature is
seeking make their way
ALL NEWS AND ADVERTISEMENT DEADLINE:
MONDAYS AT 5:00 P.M.
Doherty told the Heppner
Gazette-Times.
Other District 57 fund-
ing projects in the trans-
portation bill include: Ar-
lington Pedestrian Safety
Improvements, $1,500,000;
Dufur Pedestrian Safety
Improvement Project,
$400,000; Eastern Oregon
Trade & Event Center (EO-
TEC) Access Road Proj-
ect, $1,097,000; Hermiston
North First Place Project,
$4,500,000; Milton-Free-
water Pedestrian Safety
and Road Improvements,
$3,000,000; Port of Uma-
tilla Road Construction,
$2,000,000; and the Uma-
tilla Army Depot Access
By David Sykes
Those wanting to fix up
a home for a rental unit can
now get some help to pay
for the repairs, the Willow
Creek Valley Economic
Development Group (WC-
VEDG) has announced.
Under a new program,
those wanting to rehabili-
tate a home and turn it into
a rental unit can receive
up to 20 percent of a proj-
ect’s cost, up to $20,000,
to pay for repairs such as
roofing, plumbing, elec-
trical systems, flooring,
heating and cooling, and
more. The grant funds are
being distributed by WC-
VEDG from the Columbia
-See TRANSPORTATION River Enterprise Zone, in
FUNDING/PAGE FOUR an effort by both groups to
help alleviate a shortage of
rental units in South Mor-
row County. The funds are
available only for rentals in
the WCVEDG service area,
which includes Heppner,
Lexington, Ione and the
surrounding unincorporated
areas.
Recognizing there has
been a shortage for some
time, WCVEDG has been
working to help increase
the number of rentals avail-
able in the area. At its June
meeting the group voted
to allocate $100,000 from
its housing budget towards
the rehab program. WC-
VEDG board member Kim
Cutsforth is the person to
-See RENTAL GRANTS/
PAGE TWO
MORROW COUNTY
GRAIN
GROWERS
MORROW COUNTY GRAIN GROWER
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MAIN
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STREET STREET
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