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About Heppner gazette-times. (Heppner, Or.) 1925-current | View Entire Issue (Aug. 2, 2017)
Warm July eases into August scorcher HEPPNER G T 50¢ azette imes VOL. 136 NO. 27 8 Pages Wednesday, August 2, 2017 July was warmer than normal according to the National Weather Service. July temperatures in August according to the Heppner averaged warmer National Weather Service than normal, a trend that is in Pendleton. expected to continue into The average tempera- Morrow County, Heppner, Oregon Heppner Murrays to expand to Boardman Day Care Health district continues to discuss remodel/expansion of Heppner facilities hires multi-site director Heppner Daycare has announced the hiring of Katelyn Adams as its multi- site director and preschool teacher. Adams has taught in early childhood special education for eight years in both Oregon and Idaho. She and her family will be re- locating from Idaho to Or- egon as her husband, Brad Adams, has transferred in his career. Katelyn Adams was raised in Pendleton, OR. She went to high school at Pendleton High School, where she was involved in Rhythmic Mode com- petitive dance. Brad Adams was raised in Heppner, where he was involved in athletics nearly year-round. Together, they have three boys, who will begin their education at Heppner El- ementary School and at the preschool. By April Sykes Boardman Pharmacy.” Murray’s Drug is ex- Murray said that the panding into Board- Mountain Valley man, John Murray Land Co. office will told the Morrow also remain in that County Health building. District Board at MCHD CEO its regular meeting Bob Houser told Monday night in the board that the Ione. John and Ann John Murray district plans to Murray, who reside move the Board- in Heppner, currently have man MCHD Home Health a pharmacy in Heppner and and Hospice office to space one in Condon. within the Moun- Murray told the tain Valley Land board that the Mur- building follow- rays have purchased ing completion of the pharmacy from remodeling to ac- Good Shepherd, commodate home which had been health and hospice, operating out of Ann Murray anticipated around Boardman Select the first of January. Market. He said he plans to Houser said that the dis- relocate the pharmacy to the trict currently has a Home Mountain Valley Land Co. Health and Hospice build- building, which Murray’s ing leased in Boardman, but Drug has also purchased, believes MCHD can break located across the street the lease fairly easily. from the market. Murray Houser said that he said that they plan to have also plans to contact Rocky their son, Sean, operate the Mountain Physical Thera- pharmacy. The pharmacy py, which provides physical will be called “Murray’s therapy for the district at Pioneer Memorial Clinic, to inquire if they would be interested in operating out of the Mountain Valley Land Co. building. Also at the meeting, the board voted in favor of funding a feasibility study in the neighborhood of $50,000 concerning remod- eling/expansion at Pioneer Memorial Hospital and Clinic in Heppner. Dr. Russ Nichols told the board that that crowding at the clinic and hospital has reached a crisis point in terms of be- ing able to provide services to the public, adding that the current cramped condi- tions create an atmosphere of extreme stress for pro- viders. He and administra- tion also said that even in a “slow” month like July, patients have been turned away because of lack of space. The board indicated that the feasibility study may help the district focus on what the district needs in additional space, whether to County forms committee to Solar search for new administrator eclipse Commissioner to take job in interim presentation By David Sykes for the school district be- “I have seen great value The Morrow County fore coming to work for in an administrator,” said tonight Commissioners will ap- the county and she likened Human Resources Man- Are you curious about the solar eclipse? Would you like to learn more about it? Morrow County Un- dersheriff John Bowles will be giving a presentation tonight, Aug. 2, to inform and prepare the commu- nity concerning the historic event that will affect every- one later this month. The total solar eclipse will take place Monday, Aug. 21. The presentation will start at 7 p.m. and is open to the public. The meeting will be held in the Heppner City Hall conference room. Those planning on attend- ing are asked to RSVP to the Heppner Chamber at 541-676-5536; refresh- ments will be served. On the Inside.... Obituaries and Death Notices............................. .........PAGE TWO View from the Green......... .........PAGE TWO Engagements & Anniversaries................... ....PAGE THREE DA & Justice Reports....... ....PAGE THREE Shrine Players................. ......PAGE FOUR Garden Highlights........... ........PAGE FIVE Real Estate........................ ...........PAGE SIX Classifieds & Legals......... ....SEVEN & EIGHT Boardman Quilt Show...... ....PAGE EIGHT Music in the Parks......... ....PAGE EIGHT point a committee to find a replacement for county administrator Jerry Sorte, who recently resigned, it was decided last week. The commission held a special Friday, July 28, meeting to decide what to do about the vacant admin- istrator position. In the his- tory of the county there had never been a paid adminis- trator until Sorte was hired following the last election. At that time county govern- ment was changed, doing away with the full-time elected judge position, and instead going with three equal commissioners and a paid administrator. The commission discussed if they wanted to continue with that structure. “This was an enor- mous historical change in the county government,” commission chair Melissa Lindsay said. “And I want to commend Jerry Sorte for helping the county through that change.” Sorte resigned to take a position in Sweet Home. The commissioners took public comment on the administrative position and whether or not to fill the position, or perhaps go with a model more like Uma- tilla County, which divides oversight and administra- tive duties among the three commissioners. Every per- son who spoke to the com- missioners urged them to continue with the adminis- trator position. Robin Jones said she worked previously the county administrator to a superintendent job. She said as an employee she fa- vored having the full-time administrator for a boss. Heppner Chamber of Com- merce and Willow Creek Valley Economic Develop- ment Group administrator Sheryll Bates said she also favors an administrator over just commissioner oversight. “The main goal of the commissioners should be to be out in the commu- nity meeting and talking to people,” Bates said. She wanted the administrator to run day-to-day operations of the county. Former commissioner LeAnn Rea, who was on the commission when they voted to change from the full-time judge to three equal commissioners, said it was “extremely impor- tant” the county went this way because the judge position actually involved three jobs: juvenile judge, county administrator and an elected commissioner. “That is more than any one person should have,” Rea said. “Commissioners should be policy setters not day-to-day operations. Hir- ing Jerry Sorte was one of the smartest thing we have done,” she said. “Morrow County is a progressive county and as an employee I want an administrator,” said Anita Pranger, head of the county transportation department The Loop. ager Karen Wolff. “There is someone in charge of running the business of the county.” County Planner Carla McLain said, as someone in a remote location (her office is in Irrigon) from the county offices in Heppner, she had had a lot of benefit from having an administra- tor. “I have someone to reach out and talk to and I have seen a growth in com- munication and conversa- tion across departments,” she said. She called having a paid administrator for the past 18 months a “grand experiment.” “I would con- tinue to support this grand experiment,” she said. McLane also said having a full-time human resource person, an outgrowth of the administrator, has been very helpful also. “I have been involved with special districts for some time and we are prob- ably four months away from getting another ad- ministrator,” commissioner Don Russell said. He said remodel or build and how to fund construction. Administration has tar- geted five areas that could have significant growth po- tential, both in services pro- vided and revenue growth: -the lab, which has al- ready outgrown the over- flow space provided a year ago. The department has identified additional tests that could be run there, that are currently being sent out. The lab currently generates a “great deal” of revenue for the district; additional equipment means addi- tional tests, which results in additional revenue, said administration. -outpatient treatment areas. Currently Room 204 in the hospital serves as an Ultrasound and Dexa scan room and has also served as an emergency overflow room. The room is also a patient room that has had to be taken out of service to perform outpatient testing. -See HEALTH DISTRICT/ PAGE THREE ture in July was 72.5 de- grees, which was 2.7 de- grees above normal. High temperatures averaged 89 degrees, which was 3.3 degrees above normal. The highest was 98 degrees on July 7. Low temperatures averaged 56 degrees, which was 2.1 degrees above nor- mal. The lowest was 47 degrees on the 17 th . On 11 days, the temper- ature exceeded 90 degrees. In addition to being hot, it was dry—no precipitation was measured during July, bringing rainfall for the month to 0.33 inches below normal. Despite a strong start, precipitation this year has reached 8.32 inches, which is 0.67 inches below normal. Since October, the water-year precipitation at Heppner has been 12.64 inches, which is 0.41 inches below normal. The highest wind gust at Heppner was 33 mph, which occurred on the 15 th . During the month of July, there were no light- ning flashes detected in the vicinity of Heppner, accord- ing to Earth Networks. With the first week of the month already climbing to triple digits, the outlook for August from NOAA’s Climate Prediction Cen- ter calls for above-normal temperatures and near- to below-normal precipitation. -See WEATHER/PAGE FIVE Library district celebrates 25 th anniversary Morrow County Justice of the Peace Ann Spicer swears in OTLD board members (L-R) Kraig Cutsforth, Mary Jones, Lisa Constantine, Stephanie Loving and William J. Kuhn. -Contributed photo Oregon Trail Library District is celebrating its 25 th anniversary this year. Heppner and Boardman voters approved the special district in 1992. The origi- nal OTLD Board of Direc- tors included Gerry All- dredge, David Youngbluth, Mike Wetherell, William J. Kuhn and Gary Marks. Ir- rigon later voted to join the district in 2000. A n n S p i c e r, M o r- row County Justice of the Peace, swore in the 2017 OTLD elected board of -See COUNTY COMMIS- directors during the July SION/PAGE FIVE 19 board meeting at the Irrigon Branch. Current OTLD Board of Directors are Mary Jones, Stephanie Loving, Lisa Constantine, Kraig Cutsforth and Wil- liam J. Kuhn. Special events have been planned to celebrate the anniversary throughout the year. During October, district-wide Community Reads events will take place at all branches. The Oregon Trail: A New American Journey by Rinker Buck has been selected for this event. November 1-2, Oregon -See OTLD ANNIVERSARY/ PAGE EIGHT ALL NURSERY STOCK TREES - SHRUBS - PERENNIALS Morrow County Grain Growers Green Feed & Seed 242 W. Linden Way, Heppner • 676-9422 • 989-8221 (MCGG main office)
