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HEPPNER
G T
azette
imes
VOL. 137
NO. 46 8 Pages
Wednesday, November 14, 2018
Morrow County, Heppner, Oregon
County transfers ownership
of Gilliam-Bisbee to Heppner
Community Foundation
Sets aside $235,000 for improvements
Plans are underway to turn the Gilliam-Bisbee building into a community events center.
By David Sykes
The Morrow County
Commission has approved
transfer of ownership of
the Gilliam-Bisbee build-
ing in downtown Heppner
from the county to the new-
ly-formed Heppner Com-
munity Foundation. At the
same time the Commission-
ers also set aside $235,000
in county money to be used
toward upgrading the build-
ing to code.
The Community Foun-
dation is a non-profit set
up recently by Kim Cuts-
forth, administrator of the
Howard and Beth Bry-
ant Foundation, to accept
ownership of the Bisbee
building. Cutsforth has said
the foundation, which do-
nates funds to worthwhile
community projects, will
donate additional funds to
“renovate the property for
the use of the community
for events and social ser-
vices to include education
and training,” according to
the resolution passed by the
county.
The county purchased
the Gilliam-Bisbee build-
ing in 1997 and has mostly
used the upper floors for the
County Health Department
and rented out additional
offices upstairs to Commu-
nity Counseling Solutions.
Community Counseling
recently moved into its
new offices in Heppner and
the Health Department has
moved to the Bartholomew
building, leaving it mostly
empty. The county had
been using the bottom floor
for storage but has since
cleared out much of their
office equipment and fur-
niture, leaving that space
empty.
County officials have
wrestled with what to do
with the Gilliam-Bisbee
building, not wanting to see
it deteriorate and realizing
there would be costs to ei-
ther demolish the structure,
which is not needed, or pay
for continual upkeep on the
structure. Cutsforth had
earlier proposed that the
building be renovated with
a combination of county
and Bryant Foundation
funds, and turn the facility
into a nice community type
center. In order to carry out
this vision however, it was
necessary to transfer own-
ership from the county to
the new Community Foun-
dation. In voting in favor of
the proposal, Commission-
er Melissa Lindsay said she
had been asked to join the
Heppner Foundation board,
but would have no financial
gain from the project.
In other business at
previous meetings:
At the Sept. 12 meet-
ing:
The commission ap-
proved the purchase of a
new vehicle for the Sher-
iff’s Parole and Probation
department. The vehicle is a
2018 Dodge Durango from
Salem Withnell Dodge for
the amount of $28,897. The
current Dodge Charger will
be rotated out of service the
Sheriff’s Department said.
They voted to approve
a new subdivision located
outside the city of Irrigon
off of Eighth Street. There
will be five lots of about
two acres each. The new
street in the cul-de-sac will
G-T Trophy Corner
be named Bohemia Drive
and is a public access road
that will not be paved. The
landowners agreed to main-
tain the road.
In a report by County
Planner Carla McLane the
commission heard that with
the approval in July of a
14 lot subdivision west of
Boardman and the new Ir-
rigon subdivision this will
-See GILLIAM-BISBEE/
PAGE TWO
Morrow County Clerk Bobbi Childers stands next to the new ballot counting machine. -Photo
by David Sykes.
By Bobbi Gordon
Morrow County was
among 29 counties in the
state that had a majority
of the votes cast for Knute
Buehler for Oregon state
governor. Those counties
did not carry enough weight
to offset the votes in the
seven counties that voted
for Kate Brown. The per-
centage of voters in Mor-
row County who voted for
Buehler was 67.67 percent,
compared to 22.35 percent
for Brown. A reported 69.06
percent of voters turned out
to cast ballots statewide.
In other statewide
elections, Morrow County
voters cast 70.03 percent
of their ballots for Greg
Walden for US Represen-
tative, District 2 compared
to Jamie McLeod-Skin-
ner’s 24.8 percent. Total
votes within District 2 were
56.54 percent for Walden
and 39.17 percent for Mc-
Leod-Skinner, a much clos-
er margin.
Measure 102 was the
only measure that passed
statewide, with Morrow
County voters voting 58.21
percent no. Measure 103
was defeated at the state
level, but Morrow County
voters had a majority of
yes votes. County voters
also had more yes votes on
measures 105 and 106 that
were both defeated at the
state level. Morrow County
agreed with the rest of the
state on measure 104, de-
feating it with 52.30 percent
of their votes.
Measure 102 is de-
scribed as amending the
constitution to allow bonds
for financing affordable
housing with nongovern-
mental entities. Measure
103 would amend the con-
stitution to prohibit taxes
and fees based on trans-
actions for “groceries.”
Measure 104 would amend
the constitution to expand
application of requirement
of three-fifths legislative
majority to approve bills
raising revenue. Measure
105 would repeal the law
limiting use of state/local
law enforcement resources
to enforce federal immi-
gration laws. Measure 106
would amend the constitu-
tion to prohibit spending
“public funds” directly/
indirectly for abortion.
Locally, Heppner may-
or Cody High was defeat-
ed by Jim Kindle. Kindle
had 407 votes compared
to High’s 205. Heppner
council position five was
the only other position with
two candidates. David Gun-
derson’s 403 votes defeated
Sharon Inskeep’s 184.
The town of Lexington
mayor and two council po-
sitions will be determined
by write-in votes that will
be available after Nov. 20.
There were 49 write-in
votes for mayor, 52 for
councilor position 2 and
37 for councilor position
3. Bobbi Gordon ran unop-
posed for councilor position
4, receiving 74 of 82 votes.
According to Bobbi
Childers, Morrow County
clerk, the write-in votes
will be tallied on the 21 st of
November. “I have uncured
ballots that have until 5 p.m.
on Nov. 20 to cure,” she
said. Uncured ballots are
ballots that may be missing
signatures or have other
errors. The county is also
required to do a mandatory
hand recount after the cer-
tification day of Nov. 26.
Neal gets rousing retirement send-off
Gary Neal and his wife Kathy (right) get a standing ovation at Gary’s retirement party last week. -Photo by David Sykes
By David Sykes
A l a rg e c r o w d o f
well-wishers gathered last
Thursday to give Port of
Morrow General Manager
Gary Neil a rousing retire-
ment send-off. Neal is step-
ping down after 29 years
at the helm of the Port,
which has seen tremendous
growth and success during
his tenure.
Speaker after speaker
spoke of Neal’s hard work
and dedication to the job,
including State Represen-
tative Greg Smith, County
Commissioner and former
Port Commissioner Don
Russell, Port Commissioner
Larry Lindsay and several
other Port Commissioners
and elected officials. All
had good things to say
The Heppner Ga-
zette-Times wants to see
pictures of your trophy
animals from this hunting
season. Stop by to have
your picture taken, drop
off photos, mail them to
PO Box 337
in Heppner,
email them
to editor@
rapidserve.
net or text
cell phone
photos to 541-980-6674.
Allen Osmin, son of Derek and Lora Osmin, Hermiston, shot his first bear and his first elk
his year. The bear was taken during deer season on the Osmin Shilling Ranch on Wilson
Creek. He took both with a 300 WinMag. Allen is the grandson of Frank and Cara Osmin
on Balm Fork, Heppner.
about Neal’s time at the
Port. Several local business
leaders who have done
business with the Port also
spoke favorably of their
time working with Neal.
When Neal arrived in
1989, there were a few busi-
nesses and services such as
the potato flake plant, Ore-
gon Potato, Lamb Weston
and a couple of terminal
docks on the river. By com-
parison, a recent economic
impact analysis shows that
port businesses now gener-
ate $2.7 billion of economic
output and have created
approximately 8,500 direct
and indirect jobs.
Neal graduated from
Clarkston Washington High
School in 1971. He attended
Washington State Universi-
ty from 1971-1975, major-
ing in political science. He
was the manager of the Port
of Clarkston from 1984 to
March 1989. Neal was also
a Port of Clarkston commis-
sioner from 1981 to 1984.
From 1975 through 1984,
Neal worked with his father
in the construction devel-
opment business in the
Lewiston-Clarkston valley.
He began his career
at the Port of Morrow in
March 1989 and was named
Economic Development
Leader of the Year in 2000.
He is currently on the board
of the Bank of Eastern Ore-
gon, Pacific Northwest Wa-
terways Association, Ore-
gon Ports Group, Northeast
Oregon Water Association
and is an active committee
member with several other
groups. Gary and his wife
Kathy have been married
over 42 years and they
have two children and four
grandchildren. Their son
Ryan has been named the
new Port Manager.
Now that he is retired
Neal says he and his wife
Kathy will be moving to
Clarkston to be closer to his
mother. They have a winter
home in Arizona and plan
on spending time there and
also doing some traveling.
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