HEPPNER
G T
50¢
azette
imes
VOL. 136
NO. 29 6 Pages
School
begins
Aug. 28
Wednesday, August 16, 2017
Morrow County, Heppner, Oregon
Morrow County Sheriff’s staff
graduate from public safety
academy
Two local Morrow County
Sheriff’s Office staff recently
graduated from the Oregon
Public Safety Academy.
Deputy Lance Bose grad-
uated Friday, Aug. 11 from
the basic police class. Bose
has been with MCSO since
February of this year, and
completed the training in order
to become a patrol deputy with
Lance Bose
the MCSO. Dispatcher Andrea
Acosta-Garcia graduated the
Members of the acad-
same day, having completed emy’s 369 th graduating class
training as a telecommunica- covered dozens of subjects,
tor. She has been with the from survival skills to emer-
department since May.
Fires on Heppner district contained
All-‘80s
class reunion
planned in
Heppner
It’s the Heppner High
School Class of ‘87’s 30 th
anniversary, and the class is
inviting all classes from the
1980s to join in a reunion.
The celebration will happen
at the Heppner Elks Lodge on
Saturday, Aug. 19, at 5 p.m.
The Elks will provide a taco
bar for purchase, and family
members are invited for the
dinner. Those attending are
asked to RSVP on the All-80s
Class Reunion Facebook page
or to Missy Cutsforth at 541-
989-8104 to provide a head
count for dinner.
A table will be available
PENDLETON, Ore. –
for people who would like to Friday and Saturday night
bring pictures to share.
brought thunder/lightning
storms to our region, which
were accompanied by rain.
Significant lightning activity
occurred across the southern
end of the forest, with multiple
Local hair stylists are new incidents reported to the
offering free haircuts for all Blue Mountain Interagency
students Aug. 24 from 3-8 Dispatch Center (BMIDC)
p.m. at Heppner Elementary. and John Day Interagency
For more information, contact Dispatch Center (JDIDC).
Michelle McCurry, 541-256- The Heppner Ranger District
Free haircuts
for students
next week
Aftermath of fire at Tupper Corral
reported three new ignitions.
The largest of these fires, the
Corn Cob Creek Fire, is lo-
cated near Wheeler Point and
burning in grass and timber.
The fire, reported on Aug. 11,
was approximately four acres
in size and is 100 percent
contained.
Another fire on the Hep-
pner district is Tupper Corral
Fire, located one mile west of
Tupper Guard Station and 20
miles southeast of Heppner.
0721.
Gordon takes over as
Gazette-Times editor
By Andrea Di Salvo
Bobbi Gordon of Lex-
ington, most recently from
Kellogg, ID, will be assuming
the position of news editor at
the Heppner Gazette-Times at
the end of the month. She will
be replacing Andrea Di Salvo,
the editor for the past six years.
“Andrea knows the job
inside and out and I hope I can
do half the job she has done,”
said Gordon.
Gordon, 64, has lived
in Oregon most of her life.
She was born in Portland but
moved to Redmond at the age
of 10. She attended Redmond
elementary schools and gradu-
ated from Redmond High
Andrea Acosta-Garcia
Council
considers new
Extension tax
Formation would
reduce city’s
yearly income
Time to polish up those
apples, school will begin
Aug. 28 for both Heppner
and Ione schools.
Bobbi Gordon will be the news
editor at the Heppner Gazette
beginning in September, re-
placing outgoing editor An-
drea Di Salvo. She is already
in the office learning the ropes,
and invites people to stop by
and introduce themselves.
-Photo by April Sykes
gency vehicle operations to
ethics and drug recognition,
according to a written state-
ment from the Oregon De-
partment of Public Safety
Standards and Training.
School in 1971. She attended
Central Oregon Community
College where she obtained an
associate’s degree in business
information systems in 1996.
“It took me a while to
make up my mind to go back
to school after the kids were
almost grown. It was difficult
to work 40-plus hours a week
and find time for college, but
when I set myself a goal I see
it through. I guess you could
say it took me 25 years after
high school to get my college
degree,” said Gordon. She said
she doesn’t do everything that
slow, though.
She was employed at
destination resorts owned by
JELD-WEN, inc. since 1988
and recently retired.
“I worked my way up
from a front desk clerk to
software design, IT (informa-
tion technology) support and
database management at Eagle
Crest Resort in Redmond and
ended up as IT support, mar-
keting assistant, webmaster,
real estate sales operations
manager and assistant to the
sales and marketing director
at Silver Mountain Resort in
Kellogg,” she said.
She is still licensed and
active in real estate in Ida-
ho, mainly focusing on sell-
ing condominiums at Silver
Mountain.
“It’s been a wild ride and
lots of fun, but I am ready for
a more laid-back life now,” she
said, adding that working two
days a week at the Gazette is
just what she was looking for.
She has two grown chil-
dren still living in Redmond,
10 grandchildren and four
great-grandchildren. She en-
joys being closer to all of
the kids who live in Central
Oregon and enjoys spending
time with her brother and sister
who live in Morrow County.
“It’s nice to be able to
spend time with my siblings
and get to know my brother’s
family a bit better,” Gordon
said. She has been married
to her husband Wayne for 29
years and is looking forward
to many more. Wayne is em-
ployed by Morrow County
Grain Growers in the parts
department in Lexington.
Gordon says she enjoys
the outdoors and loves the
area around Heppner. She goes
to black powder rendezvous
whenever possible, shoot-
ing muzzle loader rifles and
throwing her tomahawk and
knife, although she says she
is not very good at any of it.
“It’s more just the camp-
ing and socializing with
friends that is the most fun,”
said Gordon. “I am looking
forward to getting to know
everyone in the community.
Small towns are the best,”
she added.
Anyone interested in sub-
mitting a story to the Gazette-
Times may contact Gordon at
editor@rapidserve.net.
The 167-acre fire, which is
burning in grass and timber,
was 65 percent contained as
of last Thursday. Resources on
the fire included six engines,
one crew, one water tender
and one dozer. Approximately
45 personnel were assigned to
the fire.
The fire danger rating is
extreme and Public Use Re-
strictions involving campfires
and chainsaw use are in effect.
For more information about
the Umatilla National Forest’s
Public Use Restrictions, please
contact any forest office, call
our Forest Information hotline
at 1-877-958-9663, or visit
our website at www.fs.usda.
gov/umatilla/. The latest fire
information will be posted
on the Blue Mountains Fire
Information Blog. If you are
interested in receiving updates
on fires in the Blue Mountains,
follow our blog at http://blue-
mountainfireinfo.blogspot.
com/.
Campfires and chainsaw
use prohibited across
Umatilla National Forest
PENDLETON and BAK-
ER CITY, Ore. – Due to con-
tinued hot temperatures, lack
of moisture and extreme fire
danger, National Forest of-
ficials have announced that
effective Aug. 11, the Umatilla
National Forest will move to
Phase C of public use restric-
tions (PURs).
With concern for pub-
lic safety and the increased
potential for human caused
wildfires, officials remind for-
est visitors to use extreme cau-
tion when visiting the forest;
under current conditions, even
a spark can rapidly become a
large wildfire.
Phase C PURs is the third
level of restrictions and in-
cludes:
Campfires are prohibited
on the Forest. Use liquid and
bottle (propane) gas stoves
only.
No internal combustion
engine operation (including
chainsaws), except for motor-
ized vehicles.
Electrical generators op-
erated under the following
conditions are allowed: in the
center of an area at least 10
feet in diameter that is barren
or cleared of all flammable
-See FOREST/PAGE 2
By David Sykes
The Heppner City Coun-
cil will decide next month
whether to put its stamp of
approval on a proposed new
OSU Extension tax district
covering Umatilla and Mor-
row Counties. To form the new
district the Extension must
first receive approval of voters,
with plans to go for a vote in
May of
2018.
Exten-
sion of-
ficials
first
need to
receive
approv-
al from
b o t h
Mary Corp
Umatil-
la and Morrow county com-
missions, and they then try and
get approval from all 17 city
councils in the two counties.
Monday was Heppner’s turn
to be asked.
Local farmer Clint Carl-
son, along with Mary Corp,
Oregon State University Ex-
tension Regional Adminis-
trator asked the council to
support the new tax district,
saying it would add stability
to the funding of an important
service for farmers and the
general public within Morrow
County. “Everyone knows
how important agriculture is to
our economy,” Corp said. She
pointed out that agriculture
provides $1 billion or more in
economic value annually to
the two-county area, and pro-
vides many family and youth
services and activities, as
well as support for agriculture
research centers in Pendleton
and Hermiston.
The local Extension cur-
rently receives funding from
the state to pay for employee
salaries, and then relies on
local money from Umatilla
and Morrow Counties for
programs and services. Mor-
row County currently gives
$177,000 per year, and Uma-
tilla $321,000. Corp said if the
new district is formed county
funding would go away, and
Extension would then rely on
its own tax base. However,
city attorney Bill Kuhn said he
would hope the county would
-See CITY COUNCILPAGE 2
Morrow County Grain Growers
Lexington 989-8221 • 1-800-452-7396
For farm equipment, visit our web site at www.mcgg.net