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About Heppner gazette-times. (Heppner, Or.) 1925-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 10, 2018)
Ione seniors benefit from grant HEPPNER G T 50¢ azette imes VOL. 137 NO. 2 8 Pages Wednesday, January 10, 2018 Morrow County, Heppner, Oregon Local residents to perform in Cabin Fever show The popular Cabin Fe- ver variety show is prom- ising to help chase away the January blues with a delightful mixture of music and humor. John Wambeke and Friends will stage their 10 th annual family fun event on two consecutive Satur- day nights, Jan. 13 and Jan. 20 at the Hermiston Confer- ence Center. Performers include Joe Lindsay, who creates some of the show’s commercial skits and Ione teacher and violinist Eric Jepsen. Jepsen will be doing a classical piece and playing fiddle with the stage band com- prised of John Wambeke on vocals and guitar, Luke Basile, formerly of Hep- pner, on bass, the Frazer Wambeke Trio, Pat Ward, and Jimmy Creason. In addition, nine-year-old An- drew Lindsey of Lexington will take to the Cabin Fe- ver stage for the first time singing and playing the dummy in a ventriloquist Seniors from Ione High School recently had the op- portunity to tour the Port of Morrow and POM Work- force Development Center, thanks to a grant from the Ione Education Foundation and Wildhorse Resort and Casino. Students from Ione and Nixyaawii Community School were then treated to a fully catered luncheon and etiquette lesson at the Pla- teau Restaurant sponsored by Wildhorse. After the lun- cheon, Ione seniors volun- teered at the Agape House in Hermiston as a lesson in community service. At the Plateau Restaurant at Wildhorse, pictured top to bottom (L-R): Emily Taylor, Austin Morter, Daniel Eu- banks, Jesse Williams, Maggie Flynn, Wyatt McNary, Mor- gan Orem, Sonia Medina and Roman Rodriquez. Andrew Lindsay, Lexington, pictured with his dad, Joe, will perform at the Cabin Fever show in Hermiston. -Contributed photo. act. The humor of spinsters Thelma and Eunice will re- turn again, played by John Wambeke and Pat Ward. The event features a pair of Dutch oven din- ner shows, or guests can choose to attend the show only. Tickets for the din- ner, which are $38 each, are limited and need to be purchased in advance. Show-only tickets are $15 each and will be available at the door. For the dinner event, doors open at 5:30 p.m. Show-only guests are invited to arrive at 6:30 p.m. for the 7 p.m. show. Tickets are available at Cottage Flowers, 1725 N. First Street in Hermiston. For more information call 541-567-4305 or search Facebook for Cabin Fever Concert Hermiston. Pranger appointed to OISC Dave Pranger, Lexington, pictured with equipment used to battle invasive weeds. -Contributed photo. Lexington resident, Dave Pranger, as been no- tified that he was appointed to serve a two-year term on the Oregon Invasive Spe- cies Council (OISC). He will serve from Jan. 2018 through Dec. 2019. This council is made up of a distinguished col- lection of professionals with varying backgrounds brought together to help protect Oregon’s natural resources from the intro- Pictured at the Agape House (L-R): Daniel Eubanks, Jesse Williams, Roman Rodriguez, Wy- att McNary, Austin Morter, Morgan Orem, Sonia Medina, Maggie Flynn and Emily Taylor duction of invasive species. The OISC’s mission is to protect Oregon’s natural resources and economy by planning and leading a co- ordinated and comprehen- sive campaign to prevent the introduction of invasive species and eradicate, con- tain, or manage existing invasive species in Oregon through the Council’s: -Early detection report- ing systems -Educational outreach to diverse stakeholders, decision makers and gen- eral public -Statewide plan to prevent introduction and spread of invasives -Grant/loan program for educational and eradica- tion projects Additional information regarding OISC can be found at www.oregoninva- sivespeciescouncil.org. WINTER CLOTHING SALE KEY BRAND 15 % INSULATED COVERALLS COATS AND JACKTS OFF Morrow County Grain Growers Green Feed & Seed 242 W. Linden Way, Heppner • 676-9422 • 989-8221 (MCGG main office) ALL NEWS AND ADVERTISEMENT DEADLINE: MONDAYS AT 5:00 P.M. County hires engineer firm for north end buildings evaluation Crow Engineering to look at all county facilities By David Sykes The Morrow County Commission plans on hir- ing a Beaverton engineer- ing firm to do a compre- hensive study of all the county’s offices and ser- vices located in Boardman and Irrigon, and then make recommendations on what new construction will be needed to improve these offices and services. The county has for some time been seeking to upgrade the facilities and offices located in the north end, but commissioners and staff have wrestled with how best to do the big job of evaluating the multiple county offices and build- ings, then coming up with a plan for new buildings. It was finally decided to hire a project manager with ex- pertise in this type of wide- ranging planning. Crow Engineering will be hired at a cost of $36,759 to do a complete study of the buildings, services and staff, then will formulate new facility plans along with their costs. The firm plans on visiting each office and facility, talk to staff and meet with county commis- sioners during the process. It also plans on holding public hearings in Board- man, Irrigon and Heppner once plans are formulated. First off, Crow officials will visit the Irrigon Annex, Boardman Clinic, Veterans Services and the Irrigon Boardman Emergency As- sistance Center. During each visit they will be look- ing at things like number of employees, growth po- tential in each department, building condition and site usage and lease and other costs (the county leases some office spaces). They also plan on interviewing county staff and looking at numbers of people served, parking and other public needs. Crow plans on hav- ing the finished analysis for the new facilities to the commissioners by Feb. 1, 2018. The buildings to be looked at include: Irrigon Annex, which houses the Justice Court, Planning and Parole and Probation. Boardman Clinic Building which houses Public Health, Juvenile Department and District Attorney’s Office, Veteran’s Services, which leases one office in Irrigon City Hall, and the Irrigon Boardman Emergency As- sistance Center in Irrigon, which also has an office there leased by the County Clerk. In other business at the Jan. 3 meeting, commis- sion chair Melissa Lindsay turned over the gavel to new chair Don Russell. Since the county changed from a Judge and two commission- ers to a three-commissioner format, the chairmanship will be rotated each year among the three. Previously Lindsay said she had been honored to serve as the first woman judge/chair in Mor- row County. The county has had women commissioners before, but she was the first in the judge position. The commissioners also heard from Fair Sec- retary Ann Jones, who said they are exploring bringing in a bull riding champion- ship event during the St. Patrick’s Day weekend. She said they are currently looking for sponsorships to pay the $18,250 cost of hosting the event. She said that amount covers every- thing, with the company coming in and doing the whole event. The fair would make money by getting the extra sponsorship dollars and proceeds from food and beverage sales. She said it would be planned for outside, but could be moved into the Wilkenson Arena if the weather turns bad. Jones pointed out how the event would be good for the whole weekend since the riders have large followings and these people would be in town. “We’ll see,” she said if the event actually comes together. Gale Street has top priority for repairs in Heppner City’s top 10 street repair list released Gale number one By David Sykes A list of the top ten streets in the worst condi- tion and needing repair in the city of Heppner was released at the city council meeting Monday night. And to no one’s surprise coming out number one was Gale. Rounding out the list of streets to get at- tention was Chase, Center, Church, Summit, Willow View, South Main, Morgan, Willow and Jones Streets. Mike Barry of the Or- egon Department of Trans- portation was at the meeting and said he was going to be working with the city to make sure the $3 million in road repair funds allocated to Heppner by the State of Oregon in the last legisla- ture, gets spent correctly and within the deadline. “The funds have to be spent on roads, and have to be spent by 2020,” Barry said. “The transportation funding bill allocated you $3 million for street main- tenance and it is my job to make sure you get your money,” he told the council. He said the money has to be spent on roads but that could also include side- walks and drainage. He said the money cannot be spent on infrastructure below the streets. Barry also said the citizens of Heppner owe Representative Greg Smith a big “thank you” for se- curing the funds during the legislative process. The money was part of a larger package that Smith had negotiated across his legis- lative district. Even though the city has come out with the top ten list, which was derived after citizen input and in- volvement, it does not mean all the streets will get fixed. -See GALE ST/PAGE FOUR
