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About Heppner gazette-times. (Heppner, Or.) 1925-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 11, 2017)
HEPPNER 50¢ G T Ione FFA Greenhand Rituals team takes first place azette imes VOL. 136 NO. 40 8 Pages Wednesday, October 11, 2017 Morrow County, Heppner, Oregon Mustang Booster Club to hold fundraiser Oct. 14 The Ione FFA Greenhand Rituals team took first at the district career development event over the weekend at the Blue Mountain District Leadership Camp. Rituals are the proper opening and closing ceremonies of an FFA meeting. Pictured (L-R) Colt Parker, VP, Seren- ity Rodriguez, Treas., Eva Martin, Pres, Stephine Wendler, Sent, Aundrea Pirtle, Rep. and Grace Ogden, Sec. Eva Martin also earned 1st place over-all Greenhand president during the event. -Contributed Photo Three cities, three sewer problems Heppner, Lexington and Ione wrestle with similar problems, perhaps shared solution By David Sykes All three cities of south Morrow County have the same problem. What to do with outdated sewer treat- ment methods –how to fix it, and how to pay for it. Heppner needs a new sewer treatment solution. Since the Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) put a deadline on how much longer the city can release treated efflu- ent into Willow Creek, the city has been working and discussing what it should do. The DEQ has set a new limit on the amount of am- monia the city can put in the creek. It is currently exceeding that limit. Ione and Lexington need to get out of their overused indi- vidual septic systems and build some kind of central treatment facility. Similar problems, maybe a com- mon solution? At Monday’s meeting the Heppner council voted unanimously to apply to the DEQ for a revamp of its effluent discharge permit deadline, get a compli- ance extension, and then have time for an engineer’s study looking at a shared lagoon system for all three municipalities. If feasible, the shared system could greatly reduce the costs to all three cities. It cost the city $4,968 to apply for the permit revision. The revision will give the city time to work with Ione and Lexington and come up with a feasibil- ity study on the shared lagoon system for all three towns. Both Ione and Lex- ington have to agree to go along, and they had council meetings scheduled for Tuesday night (Oct. 10). Heppner city council mem- bers agreed to attend the meetings and talk about the proposed shared lagoon op- tion. Council members Co- rey Sweeney and Theresa Hughes said they would go to the Ione meeting. Hep- pner was going to ask for a letter of support from both councils in order to move forward. Both meetings are after the Gazette-Times deadline, so no results were available at press time. City Manager Edie Ball said she had received in- formation from the state Department of Land Con- servation and Develop- ment, that there is grant money available to pay engineering costs on the shared lagoon system. The deadline to apply for those grants is Friday, Oct. 13, so it was necessary to find out Ione and Lexington’s response soon. In other business at the meeting, the council agreed to give Tareena Healy another 30 days to finish cleanup of proper- ties on Water Street. At last month’s meeting the coun- cil had threatened to move forward with legal enforce- ment action if the properties were not cleaned up. Jim Healy attended the meeting and asked for the extension, saying he and others had been working to clean up the property. He told the council he had money down to purchase the properties. Photos of the property were passed around showing there had been cleanup ef- forts completed. “I live up there. I drive by it every day and they have been working on it,” Council- member Sweeney said. “If they are continuing to work on it I would rather see this than strong arming them,” Mayor Cody High said. In other business, the council held a public hear- ing, and then voted to ac- cept a $30,844 grant from the Howard and Beth Bry- ant Foundation, for pur- By April Sykes Morrow County School Superintendent Dirk Dirk- sen, at the regular school board meeting at Sam Boardman Elementary Monday night, spoke about the wraparound services the district and other agencies provide for district students to enable them to succeed in school and life. The district and other -See 21 ROAD/PAGE FIVE agencies provide counsel- ing for students, both aca- demic and personal, nursing care and many other servic- es, in addition to education. Dirksen said that the district has increased the number of counselors working within the schools. “We’re work- ing to make school a more positive experience,” said Dirksen, who also credited the school counselors, the Morrow County Health Department, Community Counseling Solutions, the Department of Human Ser- vices, InterMountain ESD, the Boardman Police De- partment and other agen- cies. He said that that he and other administrators plan to meet at individual school buildings to work on student engagement activities to “take it into the classroom,” and will also be concentrating on profes- sional development. Dirksen also spoke on the continuing need for bus drivers. “We’re still short on bus drivers,” he said. “We had one good week during Round Up,” Heppner High School technology students made a corn hole game, a fire pit and Heppner Christmas ornaments for the Mustangs Booster Club dinner and auction that will be held Oct. 14 at the Heppner Elks. Doors open at 5 p.m., with dinner at 6 p.m. and the auction starting at 7 p.m. Computer Graphic students made new signs to advertise the auction. Pictured (L-R) Aimee Turrell, Charles Cason and Zach Bredfield. -Contributed photo County to assume 21 Rd Maint 16-mile section a ‘major connector’, needs more attention PENDL AND LAKE PP ER LN FOR . EST S IC E RV E R OAD 21 SUN FLO WER F L AT R D. TU This section of 21 Road between Tupper Lane and Thompson Corral will be turned over to the county for maintenance. By David Sykes A well-used and impor- tant 16-mile section of the 21 Road between Tupper Lane and Thompson Cor- ral in the Umatilla National Forest, should be kept in better condition soon, as the Forest Service and Morrow County have agreed to turn its maintenance over to the county road department. Morrow County Pub- lic Works Director Burke O’Brien and Heppner Ranger District Road En- gineer Lori Seitz both came to the Oct. 4 county com- mission meeting and asked that the transfer be made, saying the road is important and needs better mainte- nance. Ironically, both Seitz and O’Brien agree that the county will be better able to maintain the road than its owner the federal gov- ernment. “We have lots of people who graze cattle, hunt and recreate in the area and that section gets lots of use,” O’Brien told the commis- sioners. He said the road is a main east-west connec- tion on the Heppner Ranger District. “In the summer this road is used by recre- ation traffic, range permit- ted grazers, loggers, USFS G-T Trophy Corner employees, wildland fire responders and emergency service responders, both county and forest,” O’Brien said. “We get complaints that people’s trailers are getting beat up,” he added. Seitz said the Forest Service will only blade the road once per year. O’Brien said the county tries to blade all of its roads twice per year. He said the wash-boarding and holes in the 21 can get so bad it is a safety hazard with people losing control and swerving all over the road to avoid potholes. -See SEWER/PAGE FOUR Wraparound services help students succeed -See STUDENTS/PAGE FIVE SEND US YOUR PICS! Allen Osmin, 12, Hermiston, with his dad and the deer he took from the Heppner Unit. Grandparents are Frank and Cara Osmin, Hep- pner. -Contributed photo Clare Osmin, 11, with deer from the Heppner Unit. Grandparents are Frank and Cara Osmin. -Contributed photo The Heppner Gazette- Times wants to see pic- tures of your trophy an- imals from this hunting season. Stop by to have your pic- ture taken, drop off pho- tos, mail them to PO Box 337 in Heppner, email them to editor@rap- idserve.net or text cell phone photos to 541- 980-6674. MORROW COUNTY GRAIN GROWERS 2887500 MAIN STREET 350 MAIN STREET 350 LEXINGTON, OR LEXINGTON OR *Monthly payment based on new, unused MY17 Indy 550 with an MSRP of $6,799 with $1,000 down and $200 manufacturer’s rebate. $5,599 financed (6.99% APR) over 84 months on a Polaris/Synchrony Installment Loan Account. Participating Dealers. Offer valid from 7/26/17 to 10/31/17. *Offer is subject to credit approval by Synchrony Bank. APR of 6.99% will be assigned based on credit approval criteria. Monthly payments will be $15.09 per $1,000 financed. Example: A total 84-month term with an Amount Financed of $5,599 and 6.99% APR requires monthly payments of $84.48 for 84 months. Price excludes title, tax, options, accessories, and dealer fees. Program minimum amount financed is $5,000 and minimum 0% – 10% down payment required based on credit approval criteria. A $1,000 down payment is required to obtain advertised monthly payment of $84.48. All rebates are paid to the dealer.
