Harris family hosts five
generations
HEPPNER
50¢
Five Harris generations
were in attendance on Labor
Day weekend at the home of
Creth Harris. Brad Harris,
Nampa, ID, and his family
visited for the weekend to in-
troduce the newest member
of the family to her great-
great-grandmother, Creth,
and her great-grandfather,
Bob Harris.
Pictured top (L-R): Brad
Harris, son of Bob Harris,
pictured next to Brad. Sec-
ond row (L-R): Creth Harris,
Bob’s mother and Brooke
Harris, Brad’s daughter and
mother of three-week old
Bayley Maie, in her lap. Bot-
tom row (L-R): Anthony Pe-
rez, husband to Brooke and
father to Bayley, along with
Morrow County, Heppner, Oregon Anthony’s son, Nathan and
G T
azette
imes
VOL. 137
NO. 37 6 Pages
Wednesday, September 12, 2018
High speed crash damages home
daughter, Anastasya, both half-siblings to Bayley.
The five generations are Creth Harris (age 101), Bob Harris,
Brad Harris, Brooke Harris and baby Bayley. The picture
was taken on Creth’s front porch at her home on Upper Rhea
Creek Rd. -Contributed photo.
The vehicle pictured above hit the house at excessive speed,
causing damage to rooms on both the lower and the upper
floors. -Contributed photos.
A vehicle traveling at a
high rate of speed crashed
into the home at Cutsforth
Corner on Highway 207
and Marquardt Rd. near
Lexington in the early
morning hours of Septem-
ber 7, causing severe dam-
age to the home.
According to the report
from the Morrow County
Sheriff’s Office, a call was
received at approximately
2:30 a.m. reporting the
crash. Upon arrival at the
scene, MCSO reported that
the driver of the vehicle
involved, Jesus Garcia, 23,
of Echo, OR was transport-
ed to Pioneer Memorial
Hospital.
Apparently, the suspect
had previously crashed
through the gates and hit
a parked car at Morrow
County Grain Growers in
Lexington, leaving the plate
from his vehicle. The plate
matched the vehicle of the
one involved in the accident
on Marquardt Rd.
It was also reported
that just prior to 2:30 a.m.,
a vehicle had driven up and
through a residence on Clay
Street in Lexington and
then left headed towards
Hermiston on Highway
207.
Although the investiga-
tion is continuing, the sher-
iff’s office has determined
that all of the incidents
involved the same vehicle
and driver.
City may provide space for alternative
school
Former Public Works office considered for classroom
By David Sykes
The city of Heppner
is considering making the
former public works office
on Gale Street available
for use as an alternative
school. The school could
see around a half dozen
students go to classes there
instead of with the regular
student body at the high
school. These students have
been identified as having is-
sues with learning and dis-
rupting other students. The
Morrow County School
District has been working
with Community Counsel-
ing Solutions on alternative
schools in other communi-
ties and currently has one
in Irrigon.
Leasing the public
works office to the school
district was discussed at
the monthly city council
meeting Monday night. The
council seemed receptive
to the idea, but said there
needed to be some work
done on the office before
it could be ready for use.
It was said that the school
would last about six hours
per day. “This is a school
for kids who don’t fit in at
regular school,” Heppner
Mayor Cody High said.
“Irrigon is the nearest al-
ternative school, but we
need to help the kids around
here,” he said in urging the
city’s participation. “If we
can come to an agreement
with the school district and
they want it, does the coun-
cil want to talk to them?”
he asked the council. The
council agreed to proceed.
The community is be-
coming more concerned
about bad behavior, drug
use and vandalism in Hep-
pner, and recently held a
meeting attended by 200
people to find solutions to
the problems. A Neighbor-
hood Watch workshop is
scheduled for Sept. 19 at 6
p.m. at city hall for a pre-
sentation and question and
answer session with sheriff
deputies. The public is in-
vited to attend and become
more active in facing the
problems.
At an August police
commission meeting, Un-
dersheriff John Bowles pro-
vided a report that totaled
all of the criminal mischief
and juvenile calls for each
year 2015 through 2018. It
shows that there has been an
increase of people reporting
issues to the police. It was
pointed out that a couple of
families moved into town
that have teenage boys that
seem to be the cause of
most of the juvenile issues
in town. The parents have
been cited for failure to
supervise and the juveniles
were temporarily lodged at
Northern Oregon Regional
Correctional Facility, which
has a juvenile facility in The
Dalles.
At the police commis-
sion meeting, it was pointed
out that of the problem is
typically with juvenile is-
sues and they are cited and
released. Law enforcement
is working on making par-
ents more accountable. It
was also mentioned that
the Resource Officer (a
Morrow County deputy
stationed at the schools)
has been very helpful for
issuing truancy citations.
Following is the statistics
Bowles provided to the
commission.
In 2005 the City of
Heppner went from 480
patrol hours to 320 hours
per month to save on costs.
The city contracts with the
Neighborhood
Watch meeting
planned
Public invited to attend
The City of Heppner,
in partnership with the
Morrow County Sheriff’s
Office, is holding a Neigh-
borhood Watch workshop
Wednesday, Sept. 19 at 6
p.m. at Heppner City Hall.
The public is invited to
attend.
The workshop is the
result of a community meet-
ing held last month to ad-
dress vandalism, drug use
and other problems within
the community.
There will be a power
point presentation about
Neighborhood Watch, how
it works and how to form
one, led by Undersheriff
John Bowles. There will
be an opportunity for ques-
tions and discussion.
City officials urged in-
terested citizens to attend.
“This will take someone
on each block to get it or-
ganized,” Heppner Mayor
Cody High said at the coun-
cil meeting Monday night.
Morrow County Sheriff’s
In other business at the
Department to provide po- meeting Monday, the coun-
lice protection. The city cil denied a request from
went from three deputies Tareena Healy to allow
her renter Jered Wicklund
to keep two cows on the
property on Water Street
within the city limits. Wick-
lund said he had one Jersey
steer and one Holstein milk
cow on the property, how-
ever the council cited noise
to two assigned to Hep- and other issues for not
pner. The department says allowing the cows. A goat
it routinely provides more already on the property and
than the contracted hours previously permitted will
be allowed to remain.
to the city.
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