Local merchants schedule
customer appreciation day
HEPPNER
G T
50¢
azette
imes
VOL. 137
NO. 48 8 Pages
Wednesday, November 28, 2018
Morrow County, Heppner, Oregon
Mayor reminds residents ‘no
pit bulls’
By David Sykes
During a discussion
about permitting animals
at this month’s city council
meeting, Heppner mayor
Cody High made a point of
reminding residents that pit
bull dogs are “not allowed
within the city limits. The
city does not have a single
pit bull permitted,” he said.
High was responding to a
report that there may be a
pit bull being kept illegally
at a home in Heppner. “You
are not allowed to have a pit
bull in the city limits. That
is against the law. They are
considered dangerous ani-
mals,” he said. He asked the
police department to keep
an eye out for the animal.
There are certain an-
imals that are considered
dangerous and not allowed
in the city, and there are
farm type animals like
hogs, chickens and others
that are only allowed with
a permit. The city has been
tightening up on the number
of farm animals allowed
in the city, mostly keeping
those limited to kids with
4-H projects.
In a related matter the
council turned down a re-
quest for a resident on Jones
Street to have 10 chickens
(no roosters). There had
been reports of chicken
problems in that area. High
said the city would begin
to check on unpermitted
animals and have the own-
ers remove them from the
properties.
In other discussion,
councilmember John
Bowles, who is county Un-
dersheriff, said after initiat-
ing a neighborhood watch
program in Heppner the city
has seen “a dramatic drop
in juvenile complaints,”
he told the council. The
watch program was setup
several months ago after a
large community meeting
expressing concern about
vandalism, drugs and other
problems in the community.
Since then meetings were
held to coordinate the watch
program. Bowles said the
last meeting held there was
a good turnout. “There were
a lot more people there than
I expected. It is going very
well,” he said.
In a related matter
Mayor High asked about
the recently hired deputy
serving as a school resource
officer, SRO, at the high
school. High wanted to
know if the time the offi-
cer spends at the school is
counted against the total
time the city of Heppner
contracts with the sheriff’s
department for police cov-
erage. Bowles said Heppner
has 320 hours of contracted
police coverage per month
and the resource officer’s
time does not count against
that. The Morrow County
School District also pays
for one-half the SRO’s sal-
ary, and the county picks
up the rest. “I think it’s a
great idea to have the officer
in the school,” he said. “I
just didn’t want his hours
counted against our time,”
he said.
In other discussions:
Public works. Pub-
lic works director Chad
Doherty gave his monthly
report, some of which in-
cluded installing a new fire
hydrant on Green St, did
year end maintenance on
the golf course irrigation
system (the course uses
treated city effluent for
irrigation), cleaned and tv
scoped a sewer main line
on Cowins St., did routing
maintenance on the sew-
er plant, raised manholes
on South Court St, which
recently got new asphalt,
swept the town with the
street sweeper, mowed the
park lawns for the last time
of the season and took down
the seasonal hanging bas-
kets around town.
City manager report.
City manager Edie Ball
reported among other ac-
tivities she had met with
the Department of Envi-
ronmental Quality, DEQ,
to review options for waste
water lagoons and where
they may be located. They
toured the Port of Morrow
property at the old mill
Personal-use firewood
cutting on the Umatilla
National Forest will end
Friday, Nov. 30. Firewood
permits will not be avail-
able again until May 2019.
The public is asked to
take additional precautions
when cutting firewood late
in the fall when road and
soil conditions become
slick, soggy and saturated.
Firewood cutters should be
prepared for winter weather
conditions. Mountain travel
will require extreme care to
avoid getting stuck in the
mud or snow and causing
resource damage to the land
and vegetation.
Another concern for
late season firewood cutting
is the misidentification of
live or dead western larch, a
highly prized firewood also
known as tamarack. Larch
needles turn yellow and fall
off at the end of the growing
season, which can cause the
tree to appear dead when in
fact it is only dormant. Tips
on identifying live larch
site to see if that might be
a suitable place for sewer
treatment lagoons. The city
has been ordered by DEQ
to stop dumping its efflu-
ent in Willow Creek. Even
though it is treated from the
city sewer plant, DEQ says
the effluent contains too
much ammonia and must be
removed from creek dump-
ing. The city has been wres-
tling with options on what
to do, including building a
lagoon system to hold the
treated effluent. Ball met
with Cayuse Technologies
and reviewed a hardware
upgrade to the city’s com-
puter system. She also met
with Kyle Robinson who
is considering a possible
housing development proj-
ect above Rock Street in
Heppner. There are water
pressure issues that high on
the hill, which was also dis-
cussed. Ball also attended
a Portland State University
housing forecast workshop
and attended the monthly
housing authority meeting.
Heppner Housing Au-
thority. The council heard
from Board vice-president
Teresa Hughes, who spoke
about the new management
company they have hired to
manage the St. Patrick’s Se-
nior Center. The company,
Viridian Management, Inc,
also manages properties
in Enterprise and Hughes
said the board liked what
they’ve seen so far. She said
the new company is bank-
ing locally which should
speed up payments and
receipts. She mentioned
that Representative Greg
Smith was very helpful in
the boards dealing with
state agencies.
New computer sys-
tem. The city is in need of
a new computer system to
replace the outdated soft-
ware it has now. A bid was
received for $26,800 from
Visson MS out of Spokane
for the software. This will
be paid over a period of
time. A bid was received
from Cayuse Technologies
to purchase the needed
hardware for $16,415.
A float created by Murray’s Drug was a winner in last year’s Parade of Lights. – File photo.
Heppner merchants
will be hosting a customer
appreciation day, along
with extended hours, on
Thursday, Nov. 29 to kick
off the holiday season. The
Parade of Lights, organized
by the city of Heppner, will
begin at 5:30 p.m. Mer-
chants participating in the
event are:
-Angell’s Kitchen will
be holding a soup feed, ba-
zaar and kid’s games from
6-8 p.m.
-Bank of Eastern Ore-
gon will serve refreshments
from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
-Breaking Grounds
Coffee will be serving chur-
ros and Mexican hot choco-
late from 5-7 p.m.
-City of Heppner will
serve refreshments from 10
a.m. to 2 p.m.
-Community Bank will
be serving refreshments
from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
-Heppner Auto Parts
will serve refreshments
from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. and
will have men’s stocking
stuffer specials available.
-Heppner Market Fresh
Foods will be offering free
coffee, hot chocolate and
candy canes. Pictures with
Santa and Mrs. Claus will
be available from 6-7 p.m.
(please bring your own
camera).
-Murray’s Drug will be
holding hourly door prize
drawings, Murray’s Christ-
mas wish list from 9 a.m.
to 7 p.m. and a mini wine
tasting, cookies and punch
from 5-7 p.m.
-Peterson’s Jewelers
will be open late until 7
p.m.
Customers are encour-
aged to shop local this hol-
iday season. For additional
information, contact the
Heppner Chamber of Com-
merce at 541-676-5536 or
by email to heppnercham-
ber@centurytel.net.
Lexington reschedules
December meeting
By Bobbi Gordon
At the Nov. 13 town
council meeting, the Lex-
ington council voted to
postpone the December
meeting from Dec. 11 to
Dec. 18 due to a schedul-
ing conflict. Carla McLane
from the county planning
department will also at-
tend the meeting to discuss
zoning.
Water meters and bill-
ing software were topics of
discussion in the meeting.
The current billing software
is scheduled to be upgraded
at the end of the year, but
is not compatible with the
new meters that are being
installed. The council de-
cided to ask the company
providing the meters to
schedule a demo of the soft-
ware used for those meters
to determine whether or not
it is feasible to purchase
a new system instead of
upgrading.
Ed Dickenson, mainte-
nance, reported that since
several water samples have
reported positive for co-
liform the town will be
required to install a chlori-
nation system by Apr. 10,
2019. Additional research
will be done by the town to
determine if another option
might be available. He also
reported the new fire siren
is installed and he is work-
ing on getting the correct
frequencies input into the
software to allow it to be
turned on and off remotely.
Charlie Sumner report-
ed the difficulty he is having
recruiting volunteers for the
fire department. Training is
an issue as well as the time
commitment involved. A
suggestion was made that
maybe training could be
shared with other towns in
the county to allow more
participation.
Councilor Bobbi Gor-
don reported that the results
of the write-in votes would
not be available until Nov.
21. At that time the per-
son with the most write-in
votes for a position will
be notified and has the
option to accept or decline
the position. Those people
will have until Dec. 17 to
respond, with their term
to begin on Jan. 7, 2019
if they choose to accept.
A total of 119 of the 174
registered voters voted in
the election. There were 50
write-in votes for mayor,
54 for position two and 39
for position three. Bobbi
Gordon, the only candidate
filing, was elected to posi-
tion four. Current council
member Bill Beard’s term
for position one does not
expire until 2021. After Jan.
7, the newly elected and sit-
ting council will be allowed
to appoint someone to any
vacant positions.
The next council meet-
ing is scheduled for Dec. 18
at 6 p.m. at the Lexington
town hall. The public is
always welcome and en-
couraged to attend.
Power outage planned in Ione
substation area
Columbia Basin Elec- substation. Columbia Basin Rd., Lower Rhea Creek,
tric Cooperative, Inc. has Electric would like to apol- Brenner Canyon, Ione
announced Bonneville ogize to its affected mem- Gooseberry Rd., Dry Fork,
Power Administration will bers for any inconvenience Lower Willow Creek, North
have a power outage at the this outage may cause, but Lex and the surrounding
Ione substation on Friday, every measure was taken areas. The communities
Dec. 7, beginning at 6:30 to schedule this outage at of Heppner and Lexington
a.m. Re-energization is the least disruptive time will not be affected by this
outage.
scheduled for noon that possible.
For those unsure
The outage will affect
same day.
BPA personnel will be only the CBEC members whether or not they will
are located in the firewood replacing damaged equip- served by the Ione BPA be affected by this outage,
guide that accompanies ment that aids in the pro- substation. Those areas please call Columbia Basin
tection of CBEC’s distri- include: town of Ione, Ella Electric at 541-676-9146.
each firewood permit.
Firewood permits can bution lines outside of the
be purchased at any Umatil-
la National Forest office or
at several local businesses
in the community. Permits
Lexington Grange will be hosting a holiday craft market at the grange hall on Dec.
cost $5 per cord with a 1 from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Vendors will be offering a variety of handmade, artisan and
minimum purchase of four vintage items. Admission is free.
cords for $20. A maximum
Breaking Grounds Coffee will be onsite serving drinks and lunch. Tickets will
purchase of 12 cords total, be available for a raffle basket filled with items donated by the vendors for $5 each.
per household, is allowed
from National Forest lands
during the calendar year.
Firewood season ends
Correction
In last week’s Gazette-Times in a story about Billy Gentry and Columbia Basin
Electric Co-op it was stated that the first pole placed by CBEC in 1948 is located on
the Qualls Ranch. This is incorrect. The pole is located on the Proudfoot property.
ALL NEWS AND ADVERTISEMENT DEADLINE:
MONDAYS AT 5:00 P.M.
Holiday market scheduled
PURINA HOME GROWN LAYER 50 LB BAG
PELLETS & CRUMBLES ONLY $9.99
Christmas Trees in Stock!
Morrow County Grain Growers Green Feed & Seed
242 W. Linden Way, Heppner • 676-9422 • 989-8221 (MCGG main office)