CBEC to conduct internet
feasibility phone survey
HEPPNER
G T
50¢
Columbia Basin Elec-
tric Cooperative will be
conducting a phone survey
during the first few weeks
of April to aid in the de-
velopment of an internet
fiber feasibility study. The
electric co-op has partnered
with a professional phone
survey company, the Glen-
gariff Group, to conduct the
survey.
Members of CBEC are
asked to accept phone calls
from the group and an-
swer questions to determine
Fiber-To-The-Rural-Home
internet connectivity (FT-
TRH) interest.
The callers will ask
about your current internet
service, your satisfaction
with your current speed
of internet connectivity,
affordable pricing levels
and other internet service
related questions. Accord-
ing to a spokesperson, high-
speed, fiber-based internet
connections have become
the national standard for to-
day’s farming and ranching
business decisions, as well
as business, education and
household communication
needs.
CBEC is very interest-
ed in facilitating the ability
for all their consumers to
have access to high-speed,
affordable internet con-
nectivity. Any questions or
concerns about the callers,
or the survey itself, can be
answered by calling either
the Heppner or Condon
CBEC offices.
azette
imes Austin Morter and Emily
VOL. 137 NO. 14 8 Pages
Wednesday, April 4, 2018
Morrow County, Heppner, Oregon
Three candidates file for
county positions
Raymond Akers
Don Russell
Mike Gorman
Three candidates have
announced they will run for
county positions in the May
15 primary election.
Raymond Akers has an-
nounced he has filed for the
Morrow County Commis-
sioner Position 2; he will
run against incumbent Don
Russell. Also filing before
the deadline was current
Morrow County Assessor
Mike Gorman, who will
again run for the assessor
position. Gorman is running
unopposed.
Raymond Akers was
born in 1972, son of Ralph
and Alberta Akers of Board-
man. His father was born on
the Creek Ranch, two miles
down the creek from Ione
and his mother was origi-
nally from Wichita, KS.
Akers has been mar-
ried to his wife, Tanya, for
20 years and are parents
to three children, Ethan,
Tiffany and Haley, who all
attend Heppner Junior Se-
nior High school. Raymond
attended school in Morrow
County, where he has been
a resident since 1978.
In 1995, Akers joined
the Operating Engineers
Local 701, which covers all
of Oregon and five coun-
ties in southwest Wash-
ington. In 2007, he was
appointed to the executive
board representing District
4, serving members in 14
eastern Oregon counties
and two counties in south-
west Washington, serving
for nine years.
From 2008 to 2016,
Akers was employed with
West Extension Irrigation
District as the operations
manager. His duties includ-
ed operating and maintain-
ing the canal systems, plan-
ning, budgeting, scheduling
projects and overseeing
district operations.
“Be it Boardman,
where I was raised, Hep-
pner where I have family,
-See COUNTY CANDI-
DATES/PAGE THREE
Taylor rewarded at State FFA
Convention
Two members of the
Ione FFA Chapter earned
their State FFA degree dur-
ing the 90 th State FFA Con-
vention held last week in
Redmond. Austin Morter
and Emily Taylor rose to
the top ranks amongst FFA
members and were reward-
ed with the highest level of
membership.
The Oregon FFA State
degree requires FFA mem-
bers to have: received the
chapter FFA degree; been
an active member of FFA
for at least two years; com-
pleted the equivalent of at
least two years of system-
atic school instruction in
agricultural education; have
earned and productively
invested at least $1,500 or
unpaid placement hours;
demonstrated leadership
ability; have a satisfactory
scholarship record; have
participated in the plan-
ning and completion of the
Austin Morter and Emily Taylor rose to the top ranks
amongst FFA members. -Contributed photo.
chapter’s program of activi-
ties; have participated in a
total of 30 activities with
at least five FFA activities
above the chapter level;
have participated in a mini-
mum of 10 school and/or
community activities and
completed at least 25 hours
of community service in a
minimum of two different
activities.
“I’m very proud of
these two. The application
and presentation isn’t easy
and they persevered,” said
advisor, Erin Heideman. “I
look forward to them ap-
plying for their American
Degree in a year or so.”
Community Counseling Solutions opens
new Heppner offices
Ribbon Cutting held Monday
Easter Bunny makes
appearance
Ribbon Cutting at the new Community Counseling Solutions facility in Heppner. L to R: Dave
Roberson - project engineer with Kirby Nagelhout , Dan Brinton - project superintendent
with Kirby Nagelhout, Pete Baer - architect and principal owner of Pinnacle Architecture,
Jason Terry- senior project manager with Kirby Nagelhout, Mark Lemmon -Community
Counseling Solutions (CCS) board chair, MaryAnn Elguezabal - CCS board member, Tiah
Devin -CCS board member, Kimberly Lindsay – CCS Director and Sheridan Tarnasky- CCS
board member. -Photo by David Sykes
she wanted to keep the new
headquarters for the multi-
service, four-county mental
health organization right
here in Heppner. CCS had
been renting office space
from Morrow County on
the second floor of the Gil-
liam Bisbee Building.
When introducing ev-
eryone for the ribbon cut-
ting ceremony Lindsay
praised the work of staff,
board members and con-
tractors for their hard work
and dedication on the proj-
ect, and said this “beauti-
The big bunny was quite the popular rabbit Saturday during the annual Elks Easter Egg ful new building” was the
Hunt held at the city park in Heppner Saturday morning. Above is Jace, 2, and Jaden, 1, of result of all their efforts.
By David Sykes
On a crisp spring day
Community Counseling So-
lutions Monday dedicated
its new offices in Heppner
with a ribbon cutting cer-
emony, special flag raising,
tours of the building and
snacks and refreshments for
the public.
Located on Sperry
Street, the building is the
culmination of efforts by
many people, but most of
all CCS head Kimberly
Lindsay, who always said
Lexington with their chance to visit. Below: A large crowd of parents and kids turned out to
gather the eggs spread around the park. Many had the chance to sit on the bunny’s lap too.
-Photo by David Sykes
Also, during the dedi-
cation was a special flag
raising ceremony. Navy
veteran, Louis Bisson, do-
nated the flag he had re-
ceived upon retirement
from the service. Bisson
said the flag had flown over
the USS Arizona Memo-
rial at Pearl Harbor and
was given to him when he
retired as a Chief Petty Offi-
cer. He wanted Community
Counseling Solutions to
have the flag, so it would
have a place to be flown.
CCS has grown in re-
sponsibility and coverage
area over the years, and
Flag raising at the new facil-
ity. Project Superintendent
Dan Brinton (left) and Navy
veteran Louis Bisson raise the
flag at the new Community
Counseling Solutions facility
in Heppner. -Photo by David
Sykes
now offers a wide variety of
behavioral health services
to Morrow, Wheeler, Gil-
liam and Grant counties,
including individual, fam-
ily, and group therapy, gam-
bling counseling, alcohol
and drug treatment, 24/7
crisis intervention services,
psychiatric consultation
and medication manage-
ment. It also cooperates
with other organizations
including residential and
acute psychiatric services
and school programs and
offers case management for
developmental disabilities
in five counties.
MORROW COUNTY GRAIN GROWER
350 MAIN STREET
LEXINGTON, OR
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