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About Heppner gazette-times. (Heppner, Or.) 1925-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 23, 2019)
Heppner Gazette-Times, Heppner, Oregon Wednesday, January 23, 2019 -- TWO The Official Newspaper of the City of Heppner and the County of Morrow Heppner GAZETTE-TIMES U.S.P.S. 240-420 Morrow County’s Home-Owned Weekly Newspaper SEARCH OLD COPIES OF THE HEPPNER GAZETTE-TIMES ON-LINE: http://oregonnews.uoregon.edu/ Guest Editorial Oregon cougar manage- ment: Looking back to be more effective looking ahead Published weekly by Sykes Publishing, LLC and entered as periodical matter at the Post Office at Heppner, Oregon under the Act of March 3, 1879. Periodical postage paid at Heppner, Oregon. Office at 188 W. Willow Street. Telephone (541) 676- 9228. Fax (541) 676-9211. E-mail: editor@rapidserve.net or david@rapidserve. net. Web site: www.heppner.net. Postmaster send address changes to the Heppner Gazette-Times, P.O. Box 337, Heppner, Oregon 97836. Subscriptions: $31 in Morrow County; $25 senior rate (in Morrow County only; 65 years or older); $37 elsewhere; $31 student subscriptions. David Sykes ..............................................................................................Publisher Bobbi Gordon................................................................................................ Editor All News and Advertising Deadline is Monday at 5 p.m. For Advertising: advertising deadline is Monday at 5 p.m. Cost for a display ad is $5.25 per column inch. Cost for classified ad is 50¢ per word. Cost for Card of Thanks is $10 up to 100 words. Cost for a classified display ad is $6.05 per column inch. For Public/Legal Notices: public/legal notices deadline is Monday at 5 p.m. Dates for pub- lication must be specified. Affidavits must be required at the time of submission. Affidavits require three weeks to process after last date of publication (a sooner return date must be specified if required). For Obituaries: Obituaries are published in the Heppner GT at no charge and are edited to meet news guidelines. Families wishing to include information not included in the guidelines or who wish to have the obituary written in a certain way must purchase advertising space for the obituary. For Letters to the Editor: Letters to the Editor MUST be signed by the author. The Heppner GT will not publish unsigned letters. All letters MUST include the author’s address and phone number for use by the GT office. The GT reserves the right to edit letters. The GT is not responsible for accuracy of statements made in letters. Any letters expressing thanks will be placed in the classifieds under “Card of Thanks” at a cost of $10. Obituaries George V. Hermann George V. Hermann, married Maxine Kranz in 80, of Baker City, OR Reno, NV and they raised passed away at St. Alphon- three daughters. George sus Medical Center in Bak- was a lifetime member of the Elks and he en- er City on Jan. 16. A joyed hunting, fish- funeral service was ing and fly tying. held on Jan. 22 at the He is survived First Lutheran Church by his wife of 41 in Baker City with years, Maxine Pastor Ian Wolfe offi- George Hermann of Bak- ciating. Interment took Hermann er City, OR; his place at the Hermiston Cemetery in Hermiston, OR daughters, Donna Sherbon- dy of Weiser, ID, Sandra on Jan 23. George was born on Hermann of Dallesport, Nov. 1, 1938, in Chicago, WA and Holly (Randy) IL to Gottlieb Hermann Kinsey of Eielson AFB, and Ottilie Hunt, moving to AK; five grandchildren and Oregon at the age of six. He four great-grandchildren. George is preceded in attended Lexington High School in Lexington, OR death by his parents, Got- tlieb Hermann and Otti- and graduated in 1957. From his high school lie Hunt; brothers, Henry years until 1964 he worked Welke and Al Welke and a as a ranch hand. In 1964 sister, Elsie Welke. Memorial contributions he purchased and operated a gas station. After own- in honor of George may ing the gas station until be made to Meadowood 1969, he decided to train Speech camp through to become an Oregon State Gray’s West and Co. Pio- Police Officer. During his neer Chapel at 1500 Dew- career, he was a Senior ey Ave., Baker City, OR Trooper for OSP and an 97814. To light a candle in OSP Training Officer. He worked for the Oregon honor of George or to leave State Police for 25 years a condolence for his family, please visit www.gray- before retiring in 1994. On Nov. 27, 1977, he swestco.com. School district recognizes board members January is School Board Recognition month and the Morrow County School District plans to for- mally recognize the school board members at the Feb- ruary board meeting.. The members to be rec- ognized are Becky Kindle, Richard Cole, Andy Fletch- er, May Killion, Brian Koll- man, Barney Lindsay and Marcie Rodelo. Superintendent Dirk Dirksen said the MCSD board members are always working hard for the dis- trict’s students. “Being a school board member takes time, energy and patience and sometimes it’s a dif- ficult job, but our board members go the extra mile for students in all three of our communities, Board- man, Heppner and Irrigon. We appreciate all of them,” Dirksen said. FLU VACCINES STILL AVAILABLE. CALL PHARMACY FOR APPOINTMENT 2018 Prescription Profiles Available For Tax Purposes 217 North Main St., Heppner Phone 676-9158 • Floral 676-9426 www.murraysdrug.com ALL NEWS AND ADVERTISEMENT DEADLINE: MONDAYS AT 5:00 P.M. ~ Letters to the Editor ~ The Heppner Gazette Times will print all letters to the Editor with the following criteria met: letters submitted to the newspaper will need to have the name of the sender along with a legible signature. We are also requesting that you provide your address and a phone number where you can be reached. The address and phone number will only be used for verification and will not be printed in the newspaper. Letters may not be libelous. The GT reserves the right to edit. The GT is not responsible for accuracy of statements made in letters. Any letters expressing thanks will be placed in the classifieds under “Card of Thanks” at a cost of $10. Ellis Project opposed ODFW removed this cougar that returned to the scene of a fatal attack on an Oregon hiker in September. (ODFW photo) By Jim Akenson Jim Akenson is a wildlife biologist, book author and Conservation Director for the Oregon Hunters Associa- tion (oregonhunters.org). He invested much of his career in researching the Northwest’s predators. The fatal cougar attack on a hiker in the Mount Hood National Forest last year was a tragic thing. Evidence evaluation indicated the cougar was a female in good health. Is this a surprise? Not really. Cougar numbers are at all-time highs for our state, and the distribution of these cats encompasses the entire state. What has accounted for this cougar population expansion from an estimation of less than 3,000 in the mid-1990s to well over 6,000 today? Some of the answer is biological, some is social and much is connected to management capabilities and practices. We need to find a way to return to this socio-biological balance, and looking to the recent past might just be the best bet – back to a time when hound hunting was a legal and effective management tool in Oregon. What are the consequences of there being double the number of cougars in Oregon? These effects are best described as alarming and pattern changing. One such pattern is for prey animals, specifically deer, relocating to human development areas to avoid a higher predation risk. This relocation is also drawing in cougars that will go where the next meal can be found. Many hunters and state wildlife managers report that deer are now less abundant in the wilder mountain, high desert and canyon regions of our state. Meanwhile, Oregon cities are wrestling with the number of deer inhabiting city limits and cougars are showing up in backyards and schoolyards. As cougars become more comfortable in human-al- tered landscapes, the probability of negative encounters with humans, as well as pets and livestock, increases. So, what is the solution? Biologically, it is plain and simple – more intensive cougar management through var- ious hunting techniques. With an estimated population of 6,400 cougars and roughly 14,000 people hunting cougars and harvesting from 250 to 300 cats per year, this only equals a harvest rate of 4 percent, which is not enough to even flatten the ever-rising cougar population curve. Reducing human threat, increasing deer and elk sur- vival and bringing a cougar population back in balance with other interests in our state will require increased management action and efficiency. According to the 2017 Oregon Cougar Management Plan, the success rate for 2016 cougar hunters was 1.9 percent, with 13,879 peo- ple reporting that they did hunt cougars. Contrast that with 1994 data, the last year that dogs were allowed in conservatively controlled, limited-entry cougar hunting, showing 358 people hunted cougars and harvested 144 for a success rate of 40.2 percent. Bottom line: hunting efficiency with dogs is dramatically higher and provides wildlife managers a reliable tool for maintaining the cou- gar population within its management objectives. Oregon’s cougar management and record keeping are divided into six zones, each of which is assigned a desired harvest quota to keep the population in balance with the varied activities of all Oregonians. Employing the current limited management methods, only one of the six zones has met the harvest quota in recent years. A criterion for quota establishment is complaint frequency. By far the most cougar complaints are recorded on the west side of the Cascades, including the coastal region, in Zones A and B. This is also where the bulk of the human pop- ulation lives. More than 350 cougar complaints per year were received during the last decade in these two zones. Unfortunately, this recording system was not initiated until 2001, so we don’t have data for the time before the dog ban of 1994. We do have records for administrative actions connected to human safety and pet conflicts before and after the dog ban of 1994. For eight years before the ban, they averaged only four per year, and then seven years after the dog ban these complaints increased to 27 per year – nearly a seven-fold increase. Oregon does have a legislatively authorized agent program wherein highly vetted houndsmen are permit- ted to lethally remove cats to reduce human conflict and bolster deer and elk survival. These agents work closely with ODFW district biologists. Even with this program in place, cougars are steadily increasing in Oregon, where hunting them is very impractical without the aid of dogs. At present, the law authorizing the use of agents is up for renewal, and hopefully it will receive legislative support and then be applied more broadly for both reaching zone harvest quotas and to help curb the upward statewide population trajectory. Community lunch menu To the editor: I would like to provide you with my concerns re- garding the Ellis Project. My name is Ladd Dick and I was born and raised in Heppner (class of 1962), a business owner (1967- 1972) and a part owner of a family cabin on Lake Pen- land, where I spend as much of my time as possible. The information I re- ceived indicates that 30 to 100 miles of roads would be closed. This should be an exact number and the roads to be closed listed and shown on a map. I will never be comfortable with allowing an unknown num- ber and miles of roads to be closed. Who makes this decision and why hasn’t it already been made? This is like a blank check with no limit on the amount. This is National Forest, not a National Park. It is publicly owned and road closures limit my access to areas which I have enjoyed since I was a child (born in 1944). I protested new logging roads (1960’s and 1970’s) that were being built with- in yards of existing roads but now the pendulum has moved way too far in the other direction. I am an avid hunter and fisherman but am now limited to a short distance from my vehicle. I am not handicapped but this could be seen as a vi- olation of Americans with disabilities rights. Is this an attempt to make certain areas available only to pri- vate hunting groups on our public land? That is the result of road closures in other areas of the National Forest where I have hunt- ed in the past. These road closures were the result of washouts which were never repaired due to a lack of funds (a convenient way to achieve road closures), not a planned road closure. When I have request- ed projects for the Forest Service to consider the response has always been no funds are available. How do funds for a project which will limit my access to areas which I love become available. Why are funds available to close roads but are not available to re- pair damaged roads? Road closures will only benefit special interest groups. Thank you for this op- portunity to express my concerns with the Ellis Project. Ladd E. Dick Oak Harbor, WA Editor’s Note: Accord- ing to the summary of the project obtained from the US Government Federal Register, “The Heppner and North Fork John Day Ranger Districts propose the Ellis Integrated Vegeta- tion Project (Ellis Project) to reduce overstocking, improve ecosystem health and enhance resilient land- scapes by creating and maintaining heterogeneous vegetative conditions at multiple scales. As a re- sult, this action will reduce the risk of uncharacteris- tic disturbances; enhance vegetative communities; provide well-distributed, high quality wildlife habi- tat for associated species; aid in protecting values at risk; promote the health and safety of the public and firefighters; and contribute to social, cultural, and eco- nomic needs. The project area is approximately 15 miles southeast of Heppner and seven miles west of Ukiah, Oregon, in Mor- row, Umatilla, and Grant Counties. Based on internal and external issues raised early in proposal develop- ment; and the scope, scale, and potentially significant beneficial impacts to dis- tribution of wildlife, forest health, and fuels reduc- tion, the Umatilla National Forest plans to prepare an environmental impact state- ment (EIS).” Chamber meeting rescheduled The annual meeting of the Heppner Chamber of Commerce has been rescheduled for Thursday, Jan. 31 in the senior center dining room. Persons at- tending are asked to enter from the outside door on the Willow Street side of the building. The lunch of a French dip, green salad and a cookie, catered by Heppner Market Fresh, will be served beginning at 11:45 a.m. Lunch will cost $10 per person and RSVPs are required no later than Jan. 28. There will be a tour of the Gilliam-Bisbee building beginning at 12:40 p.m. David Allstott with Allstott Construction will be there to show how it looks now and what it will look like upon completion. No hard hats will be required. Those attending and not eating lunch or those wishing to attend the tour of the Gilliam-Bisbee building should also RSVP by call- ing 541-676-5536. The meeting location is accessible to persons with disabilities. A request for an interpreter for the hearing impaired or for other ac- commodations for persons with disabilities should be made at least 48 hours be- fore the meeting to Sheryll Bates at 541-676-5536. FOR SALE 235 SKYLINE DRIVE, HEPPNER Enjoy a great view of Heppner from this well- Willow Creek Baptist volunteers will serve lunch on kept 3 bedroom 1700 square foot home with Wednesday, January 30 at St. Patrick’s Senior Center. large double garage on a .7 acre lot. Lunch will be clam chowder, coleslaw, cucumber salad, Also available, .7 acre adjacent lot with easy bread sticks and hay stack cookies for dessert. access to Chase Street and all utilities. Milk is served at each meal. Suggested donation is Accepting purchase offers until March 1. $3.50 per meal. Menu is subject to change. Call Bill Jepsen- 541-667-7498
