FOUR - Heppner Gazette-Times, Heppner, Oregon Wednesday, May 23, 2018
Commission hears Lost Valley Morrow County students join
woes
efforts to reduce tobacco use
State officials say non-compliance rampant at
troubled dairy farm
By David Sykes
Morrow County Com-
missioners were treated
to a long list of problems
last week encountered by
state officials attempting
to enforce environmental
and other compliance rules
violated in the short operat-
ing life of the now bankrupt
Lost Valley Farms Dairy at
Boardman. Four state of-
ficials were at the May 16
commission meeting to talk
about the problems they’ve
had trying to bring the 8,000
cow dairy into compliance
with regulations required
for its continued operation.
William “Wym” Mat-
thews, the Confined Animal
Feeding Program manager
with the Agriculture De-
partment in Salem told
commissioners the permit-
ting of the dairy was sound,
and the construction rules
were followed. But he said
problems started immedi-
ately after the dairy began
operation last year. Notices
of non-compliance for vari-
ous infractions were issued
starting only one month af-
ter the facility started opera-
tion. “They were issued a
large number of notices for
a new facility,” Matthews
said, adding that state agen-
cies in charge of enforce-
ment haven’t seen much co-
operation from the dairy to
resolve the problems. “We
did not see them coming
into compliance after the
notices,” Matthews told the
commissioners. The dairy
was permitted March 30 of
2017 and started operation
one month after that.
Matthews said in re-
sponse to the dairy’s ignor-
ing the notices, the state
took them to court, and
reduced the number of cows
they could have to around
8,000. He said many of the
issues were with the filter-
ing system for waste water.
“But none of the discharges
ever entered the surface
water,” he emphasized.
Matthews said the protec-
tion of ground water was
extremely good at the dairy,
pointing out that the dairy
was well built to confine
animal waste and said “his
barns would have had to
be 12-foot under water to
contaminate the ground wa-
ter. The area is surrounded
by monitoring wells and
all the lagoons are double
lined with leak detectors,”
Matthews pointed out. He
said the dairy operation has
been inspected on average
“every week over the past
year,” adding they were still
inspecting and were in fact
on their way to the dairy to
inspect following the com-
mission meeting.
It was also pointed
out what an “enormous
amount” of bad press the
whole dairy permitting
process received, mainly
because of its extreme op-
position to construction
and operation from envi-
ronmental groups. But offi-
cials insisted the permitting
process was done right, and
that after opening the dairy
just did not comply with its
operating rules. Officials
added that they did not
know in advance there was
going to be this amount of
non-compliance, and had
no way of knowing this was
going to happen at the dairy.
The dairy, which is
owned by California man
Greg te Velde, is also hav-
ing financial troubles and
is currently in Chapter 11
bankruptcy and may be
looking for a buyer. He has
two other dairies in Cali-
fornia that are not in bank-
ruptcy. At an earlier Com-
mission meeting, County
Assessor Mike Gorman
reported that Lost Valley
Farms owes the county
$360,000 in back property
taxes.
In reviewing what
could have been done dif-
ferently during the permit-
ting process, commissioner
Don Russell wondered if
it may be a good idea for
the state to require a bond
from companies building
an operation of such size, in
case it does go broke. Com-
missioner Jim Doherty said
he reviewed the county’s
earlier two letters, one writ-
ten about environmental
concerns the other urging
permit approval, prior to
the construction, but did not
indicate he felt the county
could have done anything
different during the permit
process. “We are ag based
(here in Morrow County),”
he said. “I am a cow guy. I
have 700 plus cows, that’s
what I do. I am not against
ag, but I am against bad ag,”
he said.
County planner Carla
McLane said the state has
said that at the county level,
“We don’t have the right
to limit agriculture. And I
don’t want to limit farms
from farming, but it feels
like we have had our hands
tied, where is the balance?”
she said of the dairy permit-
ting process.
“We, as a county are
not opposed to large scale
dairies,” Russell said. “We
have large scale dairies
already here that are some
of the best managed in the
world.” Russell asked the
state regulators if there
was a chance someone else
with the financial resources
could purchase the dairy
with its 40,000-cow permit
and operate it? Matthews
said that was possible, but
it would have to be under a
new permit. When the dairy
was originally permitted
it was projected that there
would be 150 new jobs and
$50 million a year injected
into the local economy.
To emphasize how
much public interest, most-
ly from outside the local
area, the dairy received dur-
ing the permitting process,
officials said they received
a total of 4,280 public com-
ments, the most on any
project in history. Of those
comments 1,041 came from
outside the state of Oregon,
2,300 from Oregon but
outside the immediate local
area, and 813 comments
even came from outside the
United States. There were
85 comments from the lo-
cal area, and of those the
majority were overwhelm-
ingly positive, officials
said. Most of the comments
coming from outside the
area were negative. Don
Butcher the Department of
Environmental Quality Wa-
ter Quality Permit Manager
was also at the commission
meeting and he said many
of the negative comments
were concerns about air
quality, “which we did not
deal with,” he pointed out.
The four state regula-
tors from the Water Re-
sources, DEQ, and De-
partment of Agriculture
who attended last week’s
commission meeting, said
they were scheduled to an-
swer questions at a legisla-
tive subcommittee meeting
Monday in Salem. That
committee is headed up by
Portland Democrat Senator
Michael Dembrow, who is
chair of the Senate Envi-
ronment and Natural Re-
sources Committee.
Morrow County Cul-
tural Coalition is seeking
board members to help
review and approve grant
requests for cultural ac-
tivities throughout Morrow
County. The board meets
once a year, in October, to
determine projects to be
funded from the Oregon
Cultural Coalition.
Projects supported
in the past include art in-
struction, historical library
books, improvements to
historical/cultural build-
ings, kids’ activities in
parks and drama and musi-
cal workshops throughout
Morrow County.
Anyone interested in
helping to determine proj-
ects to be supported should
contact grant administrator,
Gayle Gutierrez at 541-
676-5630 or email ggutier-
rez@co.morrow.or.us.
Cultural Coalition seeking
board members
WE WILL BE CLOSED
According to a press
release from Robin Warren,
OHA TPEP Coordinator for
the Morrow County Health
Department, students are
asking residents to partici-
pate in a social campaign
to reduce tobacco use and
vaping. Warren stated a stu-
dent leader in a discussion
group suggested a social
campaign using a popular
hashtag #NoTobacco dur-
ing a discussion group at the
Morrow education center.
Morrow County will
be participating in World
Health Organization
(WHO) on May 31, in an
effort to reduce tobacco use
and vaping. In an effort to
raise awareness, students
are asking Morrow County
residents to update their
social media on this day to
#NoTobacco.
Morrow County School
District administrators and
teachers are supporting
these students’ efforts and
have stated, “It is a great
step in the right direction.”
Staff members at Morrow
County Health Department
are applauding the students
for their ideas and efforts.
Public Health nurses will
be providing education
in the schools throughout
Morrow County. Several
local businesses are join-
ing to support by having
Oregon Quit line brochures
available and updating their
Facebook pages for the day.
Published research
studies have found that
kids are twice as sensitive
to tobacco advertising as
adults and are more likely to
be influenced to smoke by
cigarette marketing than by
peer pressure. One-third of
underage experimentation
with smoking is attributable
to tobacco company adver-
tising. One student leader
from Heppner reported,
“It’s difficult to see other
people smoking and they
don’t want us to.” Research
shows students who view
a parent or trusted adult
smoking increased their
chance of smoking by more
than 20 percent.
“It is difficult to quit
smoking once a person has
started. We are here to sup-
port anyone who wants to
make that choice for the stu-
dents in their home or their
community,” said Warren.
For questions or infor-
mation about the support
campaign contact Public
health at 541-676-5421,
call the Oregon Quit Line at
1-800-QUIT-NOW (1-800-
784-8669) or visit www.
quitnow.net/oregon.
Heppner Track team competes
at state
The Heppner High School track team back row: Coach Russ Nichols, Madelyn Nichols, Trevor
Antonucci, Hunter Nichols, Alex Lindsay, Derek Howard, Makayla Silvia, Jayden Wilson,
Jacob Wallace and Coach Laura Winters. Front row: Mason Lehman and Jackson Lehman.
-Contributed photo.
Heppner track athletes
competed in the state cham-
pionship meet on May 17
and 18 at Hayward field in
Eugene. Nine athletes qual-
ified at the district meet,
most in multiple events.
After the highs and lows
that come with any sport-
ing event, the men’s team
walked away with a second
place finish. Every athlete
who competed stood on the
podium, several with top
standing.
Madelyn Nichols start-
ed the Heppner competition
on Thursday, competing in
the 3000m run and earning
eighth place with a personal
record time of 11:58.71.
Nichols took eighth place
again in a tough field in the
1500m run on Friday, again
running a personal record
time of 5:23.73.
Makalya Silvia high
jumped 4’6” for eighth
place, starting the field
events off in the right di-
rection. Jayden Wilson and
Alex Lindsay competed
in the long jump; Lindsay
jumping 19’1” for sixth
place and Wilson jumping
18’7” for eighth place.
Derek Howard threw
the shot put 48’4.75” for
a third place finish and
competed in the javelin and
discus, earning 12 th place
in both.
Hunter Nichols ran a
fast 3000m race on Thurs-
day, earning second place
with a personal record time
of 9:05.20, followed in
fourth place by teammate
Trevor Antonucci, with
a personal record time of
9:18.2. The two athletes
again stood on the podium
together in the 1500m run,
with Nichols running for
third with a time of 4:14.8
and Antonucci running for
fifth with a time of 4:17.9.
Jacob Wallace made finals
in the 110m hurdles with a
personal best time of 17.82
and ran a similar time in the
finals to place eighth.
Alex Lindsay compet-
ed in two more jumping
events on Friday. In the
high jump, Lindsay cleared
a height of 6’0”, a personal
record height and an effort
that earned him third place.
In triple jump, Alex took the
lead early with a jump of
41’4”, but no one was able
to catch up. With a 41’11”
jump in the finals, Lindsay
secured his first place lead
and won the competition.
Lindsay topped the podium
and accepted his first place
medal.
The final race of the
day was the 4x400m re-
lay. Alex Lindsay, Jayden
Wilson, Mason Lehman
and Hunter Nichols made
up the strong team. Each
leg ran their best and came
into the last stretch in sec-
ond place. Unfortunately,
controversial contact with
another team caused a fall,
and Nichols diligently got
up and finished the race.
The team that caused the
fall was not disqualified and
Heppner took the podium
in seventh place. Despite
the tragic results of the
race, the team celebrated a
second place standing as a
men’s team and took home
the trophy.
According to a news
release, head coaches Russ
Nichols and Laura Winters
expressed their pride in
the team after a successful
season, and look forward
to another strong team next
year.
For full results of the
state championship meet,
visit athletic.net.
MONDAY MAY 28TH
HAVE A SAFE & HAPPY WEEKEND!
to THE GRAD !
-HALLMARK
- GIFT WARE
- FLORAL
ARRANGEMENTS
Organized by the City of Heppner
FREE DUMPSTER for garbage collection available
at the City yard on Riverside Ave.
Thursday May 17th through Monday May 28th.
There will also be a spot to leave yard debris and
burnable material.
Please Join Us for a
Meet & Greet Open House welcoming
Caroline Jackson, New Director of Pioneer
Memorial Home Health & Hospice
Thursday, May 24 th , 4 to 6 p.m.
Main St. Office, Heppner
The City will not accept tires, hazardous waste or
household chemicals.
City of Heppner residents only
Please contact the City of Heppner for more
information 541-676-9618.
Heppner Gazette-Times
P.O. Box 337
Heppner, Oregon 97836.