HEPPNER
G T
50¢
Lions club rifle winner
announced
azette
imes
VOL. 138
NO. 29 8 Pages
Wednesday, July 17, 2019
Morrow County, Heppner, Oregon
Construction begins on new
duplexes
Bryant Foundation donates to
Hospice Program
Builders work on the new duplexes being built on Cowin Street in Heppner. The two three-bed-
room two bath duplexes are a project of the Willow Creek Valley Economic Development Group
(WCVEDG) with funding from the Columbia River Enterprise Zone. Local contractor Dave
Allstott is the builder on the project. So far, the foundations have been laid and the framing is
now going up. A completion date or expected rents for the new units has not been announced
by WCVEDG yet. -Photo by David Sykes.
County asks Navy’s help with
bombing range predator
control
Adjacent cattle operators seeing losses
By David Sykes
Morrow County has
contacted the Navy about
cooperation in more preda-
tor control on the bombing
range near Boardman. The
47,000-acre bombing range
is apparently a prime habi-
tat for coyotes which have
been crossing over onto
private ranches and killing
and harassing livestock.
At a July 10 meeting
the Morrow County Com-
missioners discussed its
current contract with the
United States Department
of Agriculture, Wildlife
Services division for pred-
ator control in Morrow
County. Wildlife Services
uses various means to con-
trol predators in the county
but apparently does not go
onto the Bombing Range.
Commissioners are hoping
the Navy will allow Wild-
life Services access to the
range for predatory control.
In the past the Navy has
been less than cooperative
in helping with the preda-
tory control.
In a m e mor andum
Wildlife Services said this
past winter on properties
close to the Bombing Range
there were 13 calves killed
by coyotes on four differ-
ent ranches. One dog was
also attacked and a small
group of sheep were be-
ing harassed by coyotes.
Most of the losses were
reported north of the range
on the outskirts of Board-
man. Wildlife Services
says it took out 32 coyotes,
stopping further livestock
losses.
The bombing range is
a large unoccupied tract of
land and predators use the
land to escape humans. It is
also used as a denning area
for coyotes raising pups.
The pups will disperse to
adjacent properties once
they come of age and the
The winner of this year’s Heppner Lions Club rifle raffle was Brian Kollman, who took home
a Savage 6.5 Creedmore with a 3x9 Nikon Scope. He is presented here with his prize by Lions
president Alan Scott. The club raffles off a rifle each year with the proceeds used towards
scholarships for local students and the Lions Sight and Hearing fund.
The Howard and Beth
Bryant Foundation recently
donated four wheelchairs to
the Morrow County Health
District Hospice volunteer
program. These wheel-
chairs will support the pro-
gram’s mission to ensure its
patients’ physical, emotion-
al, social and spiritual needs
are met at end of life.
“Our goal as Hos-
pice volunteers is to help
maintain and improve the
quality of life of our com-
munity members along-
side the necessary clinical
care provided by Morrow
County Health District’s
Home Health and Hospice,”
Cyde Estes, Hospice Volun-
teer Coordinator remarks.
“Many Hospice patients
become homebound be-
cause it is not easy or safe
for the family or volunteers
to take them out. Having a
lightweight wheelchair can
make a wonderful differ-
ence in the quality of their
lives and improve their
safety. This donation helps
us achieve this and we are
incredibly grateful.”
The Howard and Beth
Bryant Foundation helps
Pictured with a donated wheelchair: Caroline Jackson, Direc-
tor of MCHD Home Health and Hospice and Kim Cutsforth,
Director of HBB Foundation.
support the Heppner com- Hospice program is one of
munity through purposeful many projects the fund has
giving and active engage- contributed to.
ment. Donations to the local
Hi! Welcome to Morrow
County
coyotes will also travel long
distances to hunt and cross
over to adjacent properties.
Wildlife Services said
livestock producers, land-
owners and sport hunters
can all benefit from them
being granted access to the
bombing range to manage
the coyotes. The service
uses trapping, aerial hunt-
ing, calling, spotlighting
and specially trained dogs
to help locate predators.
The commissioners
sent a letter to the com-
manding officer of the Na-
val Air Station at Whidbey
Island, WA asking for more
cooperation with predator
control “while not interfer-
ing with training missions.”
The bombing range is used
as a training ground for
testing the EA-18G Growl-
er aircraft and for drone
testing.
The county has a con-
tract with Wildlife Ser-
vices for predator control
at $60,000 per year.
JP retiring
In other business at
the meeting Justice of the
Peace Ann Spicer said she
would be retiring before
the end of her elected term.
The commission will then
send suggested names for
her replacement to the gov-
ernor’s office where an
appointment will be made.
The appointed person will
service for one year and
then run in the primary elec-
tion in May. If there is more
than one candidate and one
of them gets 50 percent or
more of the votes, they will
be in the position. If they
get less than that they will
then have to have a run-off
election with the top two
vote getters in the Novem-
-See PREDATORS/PAGE
SEVEN
A local rancher sent in this photo of a wolf to the Heppner Gazette-Times. It was taken with a
trail camera at his Gurdane pasture. Gurdane is about 22 miles east of Heppner and is located
in Umatilla County. However, the photo was taken just inside the Morrow County line. It was
taken in May of this year.
MORROW COUNTY GRAIN GROWERS
350 MAIN STREET, LEXINGTON, OR
CONTACT: JUSTIN BAILEY, 541-989-8221 EXT. 204
ALL NEWS AND ADVERTISEMENT DEADLINE:
MONDAYS AT 5:00 P.M.