Missing LaGrande man found
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VOL. 137 NO. 18 8 Pages
Wednesday, May 2, 2018
Morrow County, Heppner, Oregon
County wants control of its
transportation
New state tax brings funds to Morrow County
By David Sykes
A new state employee
tax earmarked for trans-
portation projects goes into
effect July 1, and Morrow
County is deciding how it
will receive and spend the
money.
At its April 25 meet-
ing the county commission
heard a report from Trans-
portation Coordinator Anita
Pranger, who said she was
approached by Umatilla
County and the Confeder-
ated Tribes of the Uma-
tilla Indian Reservation,
CTUIR, to join together as
a group, combine all of their
new funds, and administer
transportation programs in
both counties in this man-
ner. After much discussion
the commission decided not
to join the group and instead
administer the new funds on
its own.
Although it was not
disclosed how much money
the new tax will bring to the
county, it was discussed that
the funds will probably be
used to set up a bus system
transporting employees be-
tween Hermiston and their
jobs at the Port of Morrow
in Boardman.
On July 1, 2018, em-
ployers must start withhold-
ing the new tax (one-tenth
of 1 percent or .001) from
all employee paychecks.
This will amount to $1 for
every $1,000 of pay.
The revenue from the
new tax will be used for
public transportation im-
provement projects (except
light rail) as determined by
the Oregon Transportation
Commission. Estimates
show that the tax will raise
more than $125 million
per year in the entire state.
It was not announced how
much of that would be com-
ing to Morrow County.
One reason the com-
mission gave for “going it
alone” rather than joining
with the two other entities,
was that Umatilla County
does not have a transpor-
tation system and Mor-
row County already does.
“Umatilla County wanting
to control the money when
they don’t have any public
transportation just doesn’t
make sense because they
don’t have any experience
but want to control the
purse strings,” said Com-
missioner Don Russell.
Pranger said although
free transportation for jobs
in the Boardman area might
be a high priority, she said
later a transportation line
could be added in other
areas of the county. The
advantages to having its
own advisory board to ad-
minister the program was
the tax money would come
directly to Morrow County
with decisions made here;
the advisory committee
would be able to prioritize
and accomplish projects for
Morrow County; support
staff is already in place,
and if more staff is needed
they would be employees
of Morrow County; Mor-
row County Transportation
would be able to continue to
grow and proceed forward
with the program already
in place without having to
wait in line to proceed with
projects; and it would be
easier to show the state that
Morrow County is getting
good use of the projects.
Although the com-
mission voted not to join
with Umatilla or CTUIR,
Pranger said she would still
attend their region trans-
portation meetings and the
county could join later if it
wanted to.
In other business the
commission voted unani-
mously to purchase 10 A
frame cabins from South
Morrow Enterprises LLC
at a cost of $60,000. South
Morrow, owned by Hep-
pner resident Tom Wolff,
obtained the cabins years
ago after the Bhagwan
Shree Rajneesh commune
near Antelope collapsed.
The cabins had been used as
housing for the residents of
the commune. Wolff moved
eight of them onto the OHV
park, and two to Cutsforth
Park where they had been
used as rental cabins for
visitors at the park. Wolff
had an agreement with the
county until it was decided
recently for the county to
purchase the cabins.
County to purchase cabins at
OHV and Cutsforth parks
In other business, the
commission heard from
Justice of the Peace Ann
Spicer who asked that one
of her employees in the
office be reduced from full-
time to a halftime. Spicer
said she thought the job
could be done in halftime
instead of fulltime and that
the employee in that posi-
tion now only wants to
work halftime and will
retire in August if it is not
changed.
In a letter to the com-
mission, office employee
Anne Alleman said she
wanted to return to 24 hours
a week “because of having
to pay so much social secu-
rity back as I was over the
yearly limit for income.”
She said she was originally
hired for part time and had
“only agreed to go full time
to help the Justice Court
out.” She said if she goes to
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part time she will work until
2020, but if she’s made to
remain full time will retire
in August of this year.
Commissioner Jim
Doherty wanted to know
if the county was tailoring
a job description to a par-
ticular employee’s needs.
“I don’t know whether to
appreciate them (the em-
ployee) for telling us we
are overpaying (the posi-
tion) or be upset because
we have been overpaying
them for the past one and
a half years,” Doherty told
Spicer by speaker phone at
the meeting. Spicer said she
didn’t know if the job could
have previously been done
by a halftime person, and
that she wanted to try the ar-
rangement for 60 days and
continue only if the work
load is being completed. “If
it is not working, Ms. Alle-
man will retire in August of
this year and will help train
her replacement before she
retires,” Spicer said.
The commission voted
to reduce the position to
halftime. “It will be equally
discouraging to find out it
is, and has been a halftime
position,” Doherty said.
In other business the
commission voted to award
a contract to Silver Creek
Contracting for construct-
ing a foundation for a yard
building at the Lexington
public works grounds. Sil-
ver Creek’s low bid was
$229,729.
Jacob Aaron Cart-
wright, the CMV driver
who was missing for four
days, returned home on
Apr. 28 and was taken to
Grande Ronde hospital
in LaGrande for medical
evaluation.
Cartwright informed
an OSP trooper that he had
encountered snow and mud
on the roadway and his ve-
hicle began to slide toward
a steep embankment. After
the vehicle became unsafe
to move, Cartwright de-
parted the area and began
traveling on foot along
Forest Service Road 5125
in a northeast direction.
He continued walking in
what was estimated to be
in excess of 14 miles before
emerging from the forest
at the 270 interchange of
I 84, approximately nine
miles south of LaGrande.
He traveled at elevations
from approximately 5000 to
6500 feet, crossing snowy
mountain peaks back down
to I 84, where he flagged
down a passing motorist
who provided him with a
ride to LaGrande.
Jacob Aaron Cartwright’s (inset) truck was located on Forest
Service Road 5125. -Contributed photos.
The initial investiga-
tion revealed Cartwright
may have encountered a
problem with his naviga-
tional GPS system and was
routed off of State Route
244 onto Forest Service
Road 51 where he traveled
approximately 12.5 miles
before turning onto Forest
Service Road 5125. Mr.
Cartwright traveled an ad-
ditional 9 miles on Forest
Service Road 5125 before
his vehicle spun out and
began to slide toward the
steep embankment along
the shoulder of the road.
Cartwright was unsure
of the name of the road that
he had traveled onto, but
said it began with the let-
ter G. Grande Ronde River
Road is located approxi-
mately 1.5 miles from the
last known GPS location
the night Cartwright went
missing, so with the new
information an OSP aircraft
was deployed to the area
and located the semi-truck
and trailer.
This area is a remote
and mountainous location
that has very limited, if any,
cellular service.
County proposes $37.8
million budget
Up 4.74% over last year
By David Sykes
The Morrow County
budget committee has fin-
ished its work and sent
a proposed $37,857,309
2018-19 budget to a public
hearing and approval by
the county commission-
ers, Wednesday, May 16
in Boardman. The budget
represents an increase of
about $1.7 million or 4.74
percent over last year.
Revenue for the county
comes from various sources
with $8.7 million derived
from local property taxes,
and the remainder from a
combination of fees, grants
and reimbursements. The
tax rate for property owners
will remain the same the
coming year at 4.1347 per
thousand dollars of valua-
tion. The county also enters
the new year with an unex-
pected surplus of almost $2
million, caused when last
year’s expected property
tax revenues were under-
estimated by that amount.
Some other highlights
of the proposed budget
include $375,000 towards
construction of a new
Boardman Public Works
facility and $400,000 for
new county office buildings
in Irrigon. The total cost of
the new 12-thousand-foot
facility in Irrigon has been
estimated to be in the $3.5
to $4.5 million range.
Some other new expen-
ditures are $54,972 for a
new vote counting machine
in the clerk’s office and an
increase of about $55,000
for the grants to cities pro-
gram. Other new items in-
clude $50,000 to the school
district to fund behavioral
classrooms at north end
schools and $40,000 for
installation of new scales
for the north end garbage
transfer station.
In the personnel area,
the sheriff’s department is
set to add two new posi-
tions, a patrol deputy and a
criminal investigation dep-
uty for an additional cost
of $191,758. The county
finance office is adding a
staff accountant for $87,433
per year and the three coun-
ty commissioners are each
receiving a pay raise of
$11,436, raising their year-
ly salaries from $39,564
to $51,000. Other county
elected officials, employees
and staff received an across
the board three percent cost
of living increase with the
Justice of the Peace receiv-
ing a $2,504 per year salary
bump.
In the debt depart-
ment, the county still
owes $1,788,000 on a
construction loan for the
Bartholomew building in
Heppner. The county is
using Strategic Investment
Program funds (money
received from windmills
located in the county) to pay
down that debt.
A public hearing on the
proposed budget will be
held on May 16 at 9 a.m. at
the Port of Morrow River-
front Center, Wells Springs
Room, 2 Marine Drive,
Boardman. A summary of
the 2018-19 proposed bud-
get is also printed in this
week’s newspaper.
Firewood permits available
Personal-use firewood
permits for the Umatilla
National Forest will go
on sale Tuesday, May 1 at
Forest Service offices and
several local vendors.
Firewood permits can
be purchased for $5 per
cord with a minimum pur-
chase of four cords for $20.
The maximum limit for per-
sonal-use firewood on the
Umatilla National Forest
is 12-cords-per-household-
per-year.
Local vendors will sell
firewood permits in four-
cord packets. An additional
vendor fee, up to $2, will
be charged for each four-
cord, $20 firewood permit
purchased at a local vendor.
A list of vendors is avail-
able on the Forest Service
website.
“Our vendors provide a
great service to our wood-
cutters by selling firewood
permits at times more con-
venient to the public,” said
Slater Turner, Acting Forest
Supervisor. Most vendors
are open early mornings,
late evenings and on the
weekends. An additional
fee is not charged if you
purchase a permit at a For-
est Service office.
Firewood cutters are
required to carry an axe,
a shovel, an eight ounce
capacity or larger fire ex-
tinguisher and have their
chainsaw equipped with
an approved spark arrester
when cutting wood.
During early spring
months, many forest roads
are still inaccessible due to
snow. Forest visitors are
asked to use extreme care
to avoid getting stuck or
causing extensive and il-
legal resource damage to
the land and vegetation.
Woodcutters are asked to:
-Contact the local
Ranger District office be-
fore heading out to make
sure the area you’re travel-
ing to is accessible.
-Avoid driving off
roads and onto wet, un-
stable ground or fragile
meadow environments to
load firewood.
-Be prepared. Pack ad-
ditional food, water, cloth-
ing and other emergency
supplies.
-Let someone know
your destination and esti-
mated time of return.
Tribal members exer-
cising their Treaty rights are
reminded that permits are
not required but they must
be in possession of valid
enrollment identification
when cutting or transport-
ing firewood.
As we move into the
hot, dry summer months,
Public Use Restrictions
(PURs) may be imple-
mented. Restrictions will
be announced by 6 p.m.
on the day prior to the
restriction(s) going into ef-
fect. Weekend restrictions
will be announced by 6
p.m. on Friday. An updated
recording at 1-877-958-
9663 will let you know if
firewood cutting is allowed
all day, restricted to specific
hours (i.e. 1 p.m. chainsaw
shutdown), restricted to
specific areas of the forest
or closed completely due
to wildfire danger. Restric-
tions will also be posted
on the website at: www.
fs.usda.gov/umatilla. The
public is responsible to
check if firewood cutting
is allowed.
Firewood season on the
Umatilla National Forest
will end Nov. 30, 2018.
MORROW COUNTY GRAIN GROWER
350 MAIN STREET
LEXINGTON, OR
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