School bus driver retires after
34 years
HEPPNER
G T
50¢
azette
imes
VOL. 137 NO. 25 8 Pages
Wednesday, June 20, 2018
Morrow County, Heppner, Oregon
Heppner home is a total loss
after a fire Saturday
By Bobbi Gordon
A fire destroyed the
home belonging to Robert
and Aymee Wilson on Sat-
urday, June 16 according
to Rusty Estes, Heppner
fire chief. Estes told the
Gazette-Times that they
were paged out at 12:58
p.m. on Saturday and were
on scene for approximately
three hours.
Two engines and nine
firefighters from Heppner,
with assistance from one
engine and four firefighters
from Ione battled the blaze.
No other residences were
damaged, but a neighboring
outbuilding was affected.
Estes stated the state
fire marshal will be investi-
gating the cause of the fire
that appears to have been
started by a grass fire out-
side the residence. The mar-
shal will also investigate the
cause of the grass fire.
Michael Rossman, a
neighbor living at 400 E
Akins Rd, told the Gazette
that he had just decided to
lie down to take a nap when
Michael Rossman, a neighbor,
was treated for carbon mon-
oxide poisoning from smoke
inhalation. -Photo by Bobbi
Gordon.
The home was fully engulfed when the fire department arrived
on the scene. -Photo by Michael Rossman.
Ginger O’Brien hangs up her school bus keys for the last time.
-Contributed photo.
Ava and Legend.
During her years of
driving school buses, she
said, “I drove every route
in the county at one time or
another. I drove out of Ione,
the north end and the south
end, but mostly out of Hep-
pner.” She averaged five
to six hours a day most of
the time, but also drove for
sports and activities, which
could make some really
long days sometimes. She
took bus trips all over Or-
egon and some into Idaho
and Washington. She said
she was one of the drivers
who was trained to drive the
84 passenger buses.
When asked what her
favorite things about the
job were she said, “The
kids, seeing the country
and driving. I always had a
smile on my face.” Her least
favorites were winter driv-
ing and putting on chains.
O’Brien attributes
health issues as her reason
for retiring.
Health department employees
participate in workshop
The home of Robert and Aymee Wilson was a total loss after it
was destroyed by fire on Saturday. -Photo by Michael Rossman.
the smoke started rolling
in his windows. He ran out
to try to save a quad that
was in a building nearby
and to make sure his house
didn’t catch fire. He was
later transported to Pioneer
Memorial Hospital by the
Heppner Ambulance and
treated for carbon mon-
oxide poisoning from the
smoke inhalation. Rossman
said, “I was on oxygen for
about three and a half hours,
but still having problems
with breathing.”
Three firefighters were
treated for heat exhaustion
on the scene, but were not
transported. Estes said the
Heppner Fire Department
is manned by all volunteers
and he was very pleased
to have nine firefighters
respond on a Saturday.
According to a report,
the owners of the home
were not at home when the
fire broke out. An account
to help the Wilsons with
expenses has been set up at
the Heppner branch of the
Bank of Eastern Oregon.
Lexington to review zoning in
the town
By Bobbi Gordon
At the council meeting
held June 12, Carla McLane
from the county planning
department provided maps
and a copy of the zoning
guidelines for Lexington,
asking the council members
to review the development
codes and the zoning map to
determine whether or not it
should be updated. She sug-
gested the review to enable
better usage of properties.
After much discussion,
the general consensus was
that some of the property
might need to be changed to
a mixed use. For example,
some of the commercial
areas in the town are now
being used for residential,
so could be changed to a
residential/commercial use.
It was decided that McLane
will attend the meeting in
September to discuss deci-
sions made by the council
after they review the infor-
mation further.
In other business, the
By Bobbi Gordon
Ginger O’Brien, Hep-
pner, recently retired from
her job of driving a school
bus for 34 years. O’Brien
told the Gazette-Times that
she started training as a bus
driver in 1984 and went
to work full time in 1985.
She worked for the school
district as a courier first,
then became a school bus
driver, doing both jobs for
several years. Originally,
she worked for the school
district as a driver and later
worked for Mid-Columbia
Bus Company.
O’Brien lived in Lex-
ington most of her life,
attending school in Lex-
ington for five years before
transferring to the Heppner
schools, graduating from
Heppner High School in
1966. She now lives in
Heppner.
She has three children
that all live nearby. Kristi
lives in Heppner and has
two children, Bryce and
Cassi. Staci, married to
Jess Osmin, also lives in
Heppner. They have three
children, Emma, Shayna
and Kael.
Casey lives in Hermis-
ton with his wife, Heather
and they have three chil-
dren, Dakota, Caden and
Devin. O’Brien also has
two great-grandchildren,
council voted to approve
the 2018-2019 budget as it
was presented by the budget
committee. Purchase of a
new computer for the office
was approved and will be
ordered as soon as possible.
Local resident, Julie
Baker, attended the meeting
to discuss the possibility of
putting in a playground for
the town children. She stat-
ed she had been researching
grants available to pay for
it if there was a location
that could be used. A bas-
ketball court has also been
mentioned.
Discussion regarding
usage of the area behind the
town hall determined that
according to DEQ it could
not be used as it is the septic
and drain field for the town
hall. Grass can’t be planted,
holes can’t be dug and wa-
ter can not be applied. Other
locations were discussed,
but no decision made. A
suggestion was made that
possibly an owner of some
property in town might
consider donating it for the
playground. If any resident
is interested in donating
property, they are asked
to contact the town hall at
541-989-8515.
Town recorder Felicia
Cavan reminded everyone
that positions are still open
for mayor and one town
council member. Interest-
ed parties must be at least
18 years of age and reside
within the city limits. They
must have also lived within
the city limits 12 months
immediately preceding
election day and registered
to vote no less than 20 days
immediately preceding the
election. The deadline for
filing for a council position
or mayor is 5 p.m., August
28, 2018.
For more information
on local filing, voters can
visit https://sos.oregon.gov/
voting-elections.
ALL NEWS AND ADVERTISEMENT DEADLINE:
MONDAYS AT 5:00 P.M.
(L-R): Diane Kilkenny, Sheree Smith, Lillian Shirley and Janet Meyer attended a workshop
in Oakland. -Contributed photo.
Morrow County Health
Director Sheree Smith and
Diane Kilkenny, Morrow
County Health Department
CARE Program RN Man-
ager, traveled to Oakland,
CA to present to the Round-
table on Population Health
Improvement workshop
“School Success: An Op-
portunity for Population
Health Action”.
Diane Kilkenny, Mor-
row County Health De-
partment, Lillian Shirley,
Oregon Health Authority
Public Health Division di-
rector and Janet Meyer,
CEO of HealthShare of
Oregon, presented exam-
ples of the Oregon Health
system changes by using
community partnerships.
The panel presented case
examples of health-edu-
cation collaboration at the
state level and the local
level of system change to
improve specific education-
al outcomes.
Kilkenny presented the
CARE Team as an exam-
ple of an Oregon rural/
frontier county. Her pre-
sentation focus was on
system change in Morrow
County using the Eastern
Oregon Coordinated Care
Organization (EOCCO)
and the Local Community
Advisory Council (LCAC)
to bring together education
including Morrow Coun-
ty School Districts, com-
munity partners, Morrow
County government and
the Morrow County Health
Department by partnering
to bring health and wrap
around services into all
county schools.
The CARE Program’s
mission is “Promoting the
health, safety, education
and general well-being of
Morrow County’s children
and parents where they live,
learn, work and play.”
The Morrow County
Local Advisory Council,
(LCAC), has worked to
develop new health care
partnerships and deliver
transformational health care
access to all county stu-
dents. The Morrow County
Health Department CARE
RNs and the Community
CARE coordinators is one
of these health transforma-
tional concepts called The
Morrow County CARE
Team. The CARE Team’s
focus is on the 0-21 year
olds and has been very
successful connecting these
students to health services,
keeping students in school
and linking families to sta-
bilizing community re-
sources.
These partnerships and
pathways continue to break
new ground by weaving ex-
isting health care and social
services into a county-wide
community health team to
serve students. The CARE
program recognizes health
is a broad idea and includes
-See HEALTH DEPART-
MENT/PAGE THREE
Morrow
County Grain Growers
MORROW COUNTY GRAIN GROWER
350 Main Street
350 MAIN STREET
LEXINGTON, OR
Lexington,
OR
541-989-8221
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