TWO - Heppner Gazette-Times, Heppner, Oregon Wednesday, April 17, 2019
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
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Published weekly by Sykes Publishing, LLC and entered as periodical matter at the
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paid at Heppner, Oregon. Office at 188 W. Willow Street. Telephone (541) 676-
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$31 student subscriptions.
David Sykes ..............................................................................................Publisher
Bobbi Gordon................................................................................................ Editor
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Lexington struggles
for fire fighters
AARP Tax-Aide
AWANA club hosts
announces tax stats awards
By Bobbi Gordon
The AARP Founda-
tion’s Tax-Aide program
provided free tax assistance
and preparation during the
2019 tax season, beginning
in February and ending in
mid-April. The tax assis-
tance was offered in Hep-
pner, Boardman, Hermiston
and Pendleton.
According to Joan
Heihn, a facilitator for the
program, the volunteer pre-
parers processed 821 e-file
returns, 21 paper returns
and 14 returns for prior
years as well as countless
others that were started and
the client did not need to file
or chose not to file.
The highest number
of returns were processed
in Hermiston with a total
of 534. The volunteers in
Pendleton processed 146
and 136 in Boardman. This
year assistance was offered
in Heppner on three Fridays
in March, where 31 returns
were processed.
“Considering that
we had terrible weather
and volunteers being out
for a variety of reasons, I
think those numbers are
amazing,” Heihn told the
Gazette. “We are a small
workforce of nine prepar-
ers and four facilitators
and we should be proud of
what we accomplished this
year,” she concluded. The
program will be seeking
additional volunteers in the
fall to be trained for the next Medal of Merit winners for Bible Memory Verses (L-R): Jai-
me Cavan, Journey Cavan and Lizzie Finch. -Photo by Andrea
tax season.
DiSalvo.
The assistance provid-
ed through Tax-Aide was
available to those with low
or moderate incomes, not
just adults over 50. AARP
membership is not required.
Volunteers are trained and
IRS-certified each year to
ensure they are aware of the
latest changes to the U.S.
Tax Code.
AWANA Grand Prix trophy winners (L-R): Frank Di Salvo,
third place for speed; Journey Cavan, second place for speed;
Lizzie Finch, winner for the fastest car and most creative
design; Jaime Cavan, second place for design and Moira Di
Salvo, third place design winner. -Photo by Andrea DiSalvo.
Volunteers just not there
By David Sykes
The Town of Lexing-
ton has a shortage of vol-
unteer firemen and at last
Tuesday’s Town Council
meeting it didn’t get any
good news that the situation
would be improving.
“The majority of our
(Lexington’s) population
are older people and the
younger people just don’t
seem to want to deal with
it,” long-time Fire Chief
Charlie Sumner told the
council about the short-
age of volunteer firemen.
Sumner said they are just
not getting the volunteers
like the town used to.
“For a time I was the
only one (fireman)”, says
Sumner, who added that
without mutual aid assis-
tance from the Heppner
Fire Department he doesn’t
know what the town would
do in the event of a fire. He
said the volunteers at one
point went up to 10 regulars
and is now down to six.
Sumner said he talked to
Heppner Fire Chief Rusty
Estes about the town join-
ing the rural fire protection
district, from which it could
then receive protection, but
was turned down. Concern-
ing joining the rural district,
Lexington Mayor Marcia
Kemp said the town also
approached the rural district
in 2010 and asked if they
could join. She says they
were told the town needed
to purchase a tanker to be
eligible.
Kemp also said the
Ribbon cutting of the new Lexington Fire Hall in 2012. The
town has a new fire hall but not enough firemen to use it.
council was also told by
town firemen that if the city
built a new fire hall, which
it did in 2012, that would
attract new volunteers.
“That hasn’t happened,”
she pointed out. It was also
discussed that the town has
a shortage of equipment and
needs a new fire siren.
On volunteerism,
Sumner said younger peo-
Daniel Sharp
Maintenance Manager
Since 2013
“It’s not just what I do,
it’s who I choose to be.”
Knowledgeable, Encouraging, Focused, Thorough
A Healthier Morrow County is Within Me.
Every day I feel a great sense of responsibility to
ensure we provide a safe and healthy environment
for our patients and caregivers. I enjoy teaching
others about safety and supporting my staff in their
professional growth because I know this is how we
keep our promise of excellence.
Read About How We are Working
Together to be a Healthier Community
Today and
HealthyMC.org
ple, from which a fire de-
partment needs draws its
people, “just don’t seem to
understand volunteerism.”
He said in order to get a
fireman trained, certified
and ready to serve, the
department first must pay
$500 for training, and if that
person misses one training
class, “they don’t get certi-
fied,” he said.
The council didn’t
seem to have answers for
the shortage. “We need
to explore the options,”
Kemp said. “We also need
to be prepared when Charlie
Sumner retires,” she added.
In other business at the
monthly meeting Kemp
refused to consider one
candidate who applied for
appointment to a vacant
town council position. Tim
Shulte and Curtis Thomp-
son both turned in letters
of interest to be appointed
to the spot, however Kemp
said she would not allow
Thompson to be considered
or even voted on for the
council. “I cannot do this,”
Kemp said. “If we do ap-
prove him, we will be faced
with a harassment charge,”
she said. Kemp alleges that
Thompson “harassed” a
city employee and that dis-
qualifies him from being on
the council. When asked by
councilmember Bill Beard
what Thompson did, Kemp
would not elaborate saying
there could be “liability” if
it were talked about in open
meeting. She did say there
are recording cameras in the
Lexington city hall.
Kemp did not site her
authority as mayor to block
consideration of the candi-
date. The town charter says
that “in case of one or more
vacancies in the council, the
council members whose
offices are not vacant will
appoint qualified people to
that position.” It also says
that vacancies shall “be
filled by an appointment
by a majority of the entire
council.” Under the qualifi-
cations of elected officials’
section of the charter, it says
“only qualified electors,
within the meaning of the
The local AWANA Bi-
ble Club, a joint ministry
of five local churches, con-
cluded its club year with
an awards program and
Grand Prix car races on
Sunday afternoon, April
14 at Willow Creek Baptist
Church in Heppner. There
were 18 club members and
six leaders who raced a
five-ounce derby car in the
annual races.
The first-place trophy
for speed went to Lizzie
Finch, second was Journey
Cavan and third to Frank Di
Salvo. The top three awards
for the most creatively de-
signed cars were claimed by
Lizzie Finch, Jaime Cavan
and Moira Di Salvo. The
adult winner was Sparks
leader John Collin of Ione.
His “AWANA Ark” car was
the overall speed champion
of the night.
In the Sparks group for
K through third grade, Top
Attendance awards went
Emillia Cavan, Sofia Di
Salvo and Sophia Serrano.
AWANA Game Sportsman-
ship Awards were given to
Emillia Cavan and Mathew
Kline.
In the Truth and Train-
ing Club (fourth through
sixth grade), Medals of
Merit for memorizing all
23 Bible passages from the
weekly lessons were earned
by Journey Cavan, Jaime
Cavan and Lizzie Finch.
Sportsmanship Awards
were given to Brionna and
Fernando Serrano, who also
received Top Attendance
Awards along with Journey
Cavan, Lizzie Finch and
Moira Di Salvo.
state constitution, who are
residents of the city for at
least one year prior to the
election shall be eligible to
hold an elective office. The
council shall be the final
judge of the qualifications
and election of its own
members.” According to
the charter the mayor “shall
have a vote when necessary
to break a tie.”
“One candidate is not
going to be considered,
period,” Kemp said. She ta-
bled the appointment with-
out a vote of the council
until next month’s council
meeting. “But that person
(Thompson) will not be
considered because of the
harassment,” she conclud-
ed.
Apparently, there is
also friction between the
other council appointment
candidate Tim Shulte and
current councilmember Bill
Beard. The two exchanged
harsh words during the
council meeting when dis-
cussing an encounter the
two apparently had over a
dog problem. Beard claims
Shulte threatened to “go get
a gun” during the confron-
tation, with Shulte denying
the claim saying he has
never owned a gun.
In other business at the
meeting Kemp urged the
town to put in for a grant to
get some Welcome to Lex-
ington signs put up. “We
need some signs,” Kemp
said. The council voted to
apply for a Willow Creek
Valley Economic Devel-
opment grant for the signs.
Kemp also urged the
council to consider putting
in a playground park in the
town, saying people want
a park and a place where
kids can play. She said the
town needs to do things to
improve livability.
VOTE
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