New veterinarian joins Temple
Vet Clinic in Lexington
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VOL. 137 NO. 26 8 Pages
Wednesday, June 27, 2018
Morrow County, Heppner, Oregon
Ione 4 th of July grand marshals
named
By Bobbi Gordon
Gregg and Shelly Riet-
mann have been named as
the grand marshals for the
Ione 4 th of July celebration
and parade. The Rietmanns
have been involved in the
festivities in Ione for over
18 years.
According to Shelly,
they became involved in the
Ione 4 th of July celebration
by working with the Mor-
row County Arts Council
and writing a grant to build
the stage in Ione. “Enthu-
siasm was dwindling back
then, so we decided to add
music,” Shelly said. “We
started out with blues music
in the beginning because it
was fun and different,” she
added. As the years contin-
ued, they brought in other
types of music.
“We’ve had a wonder-
ful time bringing in the mu-
sicians and meeting them,”
Shelly stated. She also said
they couldn’t have done it
without the Morrow County
Unified Recreation District
paying for the music. Ev-
eryone in the community
helps in some way she said.
Shelly said she has al-
ways been the one with the
big ideas and Gregg has to
do the work or get out his
checkbook. “He’s the one
The Hansen family, Dan and Seren, with their children Mora, Roman and Jubal have set up
residence in Lexington. -Photo by Bobbi Gordon.
Gregg and Shelly Rietmann are the 2018 grand marshals for
the Ione 4 th of July celebration. -Contributed photo.
that stays up late helping
load equipment.” They both
said they are happy to be a
part of it and it has been an
amazing journey.
Gregg Rietmann is a
fourth generation farmer
in the Ione area and Shelly
grew up on a farm in Hep-
pner. They have three chil-
dren, sons, Evan and Tanner
and a daughter, Ola. Evan
and Tanner are also farm-
ers now, making it the fifth
generation.
The Rietmanns turned
over the reins for the music
to Heidi Nelson last year
and say she is doing a great
job. She has some excellent
ideas and is changing the
music up even more now.
According to Shelly, it is
a great way for the locals
to experience the music
for free.
July 4 th events will start
at 7 a.m. with the Fireman’s
Breakfast and a 5K walk/
run. At 9 a.m. there will
be a horseshoe tournament
and 3-on-3 basketball at
10. Festivities in the park
begin at 11 and the parade
featuring the Rietmanns as
grand marshals will begin
at 1 p.m.
The afternoon and eve-
ning will include swim-
ming, vendors in the park,
a pie sale, bingo, a talent
show, music and then fire-
works at dusk.
Karen Wolff retires from
county
By David Sykes
Human Resources Di-
rector Karen Wolff is retir-
ing from Morrow County
this month.
Karen started work for
the county in July of 2000
when she was hired as a
part-time temporary at the
Public Works department
for “only two weeks” she
says. That two weeks turned
into 18 years and included
her moving to the job of
County Court Executive
Secretary/Personnel Direc-
tor in May of 2005 where
she worked for Judge Terry
Tallman and Commission-
ers John Wenholz and Ray
Grace.
When hired at Public
Works, Wolff said she ad-
vised her new boss, Burke
O’Brien that she didn’t
know anything about those
“big yellow things” out in
the yard. “He said that if
I could run the grey thing
(computer) he would run
the yellow things,” Karen
recalls. She said some of the
memorable experiences at
Public Works was when the
airport hangers were sucked
up in a mini-tornado, when
they made improvements at
Cutsforth and Anson Wright
Parks, and when they had
“huge” snow storms and
all the resulting plowing.
She also said one of the
big memorable projects
was the planning, buying
and building the Off High-
way Vehicle Park. “We all
kept each other
going during
those proj-
ects,” Wolff
says of the
Public Works
crew.
Moving to
the adminis-
tration at the
county court Karen Wolff
Wolff says she
learned a different side of
county government, which
always had its new twists.
“When I read back through
the minutes of various
meetings I am amazed at all
of the subjects and projects
that have been addressed
and accomplished.” She
says the Chemical Stockpile
Emergency Preparedness
Program (CSEPP) was in
full swing and was a great
way to learn about state and
federal government pro-
cesses. She also remembers
that money was short then
and the county was “very
creative in stretching every
dollar.”
Wolff says the tides
later changed and “We
found ourselves in a better
position financially. We
were able to make much
needed improvements to
the courthouse clock tower
and restored the original
1902 Seth Thomas tower
clock.” Following that, she
recalls it was decided to
build a new administration
building next door to the
courthouse. “That was a
tremendous
learning ex-
perience,”
she says.
And then on
the heels of
opening the
new Bar-
tholomew
Building it
was decided
to change the
form of government to a
Board of Commissioners
and hire a county admin-
istrator. “So, things were
always changing,” she says.
Now that it’s retire-
ment time Karen will not
be slowing down anytime
soon. She has two wed-
dings coming up to plan
for. Daughter Ashley is
getting married in August
and daughter Kelsey in De-
cember. She says she also
plans on watching after her
94-year-old mother, who
lives at the assisted living
center, supporting her hus-
band Tom in his career as
manager of the Columbia
Basin Electric Co-op and
“playing some golf.”
A retirement celebra-
tion for Wolff is planned
for Wednesday, June 27,
from 3-5 p.m. at the Bar-
tholomew Building (Upper
Conference Room) in Hep-
pner. Everyone is invited to
stop by and wish her well
on her upcoming retire-
ment. Refreshments will
be served.
By Bobbi Gordon
Dan Hansen, DVM,
has joined the Temples at
the Temple Vet Clinic in
Lexington. Although he
is already a licensed vet-
erinarian, Hansen told the
Gazette that by Oregon
law, he is required to do a
mentorship for one year. He
is currently in a partnership
with the Temples at the
clinic.
Hansen and his wife
Seren have moved to Lex-
ington with their three chil-
dren. Their daughter, Mora
is four, son Roman is two
and son Jubal is just four
months old. Dan is from
Boardman and his wife is
from Pilot Rock, so he says,
“We are both used to living
in a small town.”
Dr. Hansen attended
junior high and high school
in Boardman, then received
his bachelor’s degree in
agricultural science with a
focus on beef cattle produc-
tion from Eastern Oregon
University. He then attend-
ed Oregon State University
veterinary school focus-
ing on large animals, beef
cattle and horses. Hansen
said it takes eight years
of schooling to become a
veterinarian.
Dan said, “I feel fortu-
nate to come back close to
home. This is a great com-
munity and a great place
to raise my family. I am
excited to work with Dick.”
Temple will be his mentor
for the first year while he
becomes established and
acquainted with Temple’s
clients. He added, “Dick
has provided excellent care
for the animals in the area,
but there is a need for addi-
tional services.”
His future plan includes
updating the vet practices
while building off of the
great practice Temple has
established. He plans to
bring in ultra-sound preg-
nancy testing for large ani-
mals and plans to do emer-
gency farm calls in the area.
Eventually his wife will be
involved in the practice as
well, but he says, “The kids
take up a lot of her time
right now.”
Against law to live in RV, but
many do
Boardman complaint sparks lengthy debate
in Morrow County doing it.
The matter came to a
head recently when Blake
Philippi of Boardman was
contacted by the Morrow
County Sheriff’s Depart-
ment concerning someone
living in a fifth-wheeler on
his property. Philippi, who
lives on Wilson Road west
of Paul Smith did not deny
there was someone living
in the RV, but in a conver-
sation with Commissioner
Don Russell wondered why
his property was singled
out for enforcement. He
said there were “multiple
locations” with similar RV
living situations in the area,
Jacee Currin, an 11 th world’s largest rodeo. In
grader at Heppner High addition to competing for
School has earned a posi- more than $200,000 in priz-
tion on the Oregon Nation- es, NHSFR contestants will
also be
al High School
compet-
rodeo team and
ing for
will be travel-
more than
ing with fellow
$350,000
teammates to
in college
Rock Springs,
schol-
WY, July 15-
arships
21 to compete
and the
at the 70 th an-
nual National
chance to
High School
be named
Finals Rodeo
an NHS-
(NHSFR) in Jacee Currin
FR World
the goat tying
Champi-
competition.
on. To earn this title, con-
Featuring more than testants must finish in the
1,650 contestants from top 20 - based on their com-
43 states, five Canadian bined times/scores in the
Provinces, Australia and first two rounds to advance
Mexico, the NHSFR is the
to Saturday evening’s final
round. World champions
will then be determined
based on their three-round
combined times/scores.
The Saturday champi-
onship performance will
be televised nationally as
a part of the Cinch High
School Rodeo Tour telecast
series on RFD-TV. Live
broadcasts of each NHSFR
performance will air online
at www.RidePass.com. Per-
formance times are 7 p.m.
on July 15 and 9 a.m. and
7 p.m. each day thereafter.
To follow local favor-
ites at the NHSFR, vis-
it NHSRA.com daily for
complete results. For ticket
information, visit www.
SweetwaterEvents.com.
By David Sykes
A complaint against a
Boardman property owner
with people living in an RV
on his property, spurred a
lengthy debate on enforce-
ment at a recent county
commission meeting. It is
against the law for people to
live in RVs, however there
are apparently many people
-See RV LIVING/PAGE
THREE
Jacee Currin qualifies to
compete at world’s largest rodeo
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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