TWO - Heppner Gazette-Times, Heppner, Oregon Wednesday, August 21, 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
SEARCH OLD COPIES OF THE HEPPNER GAZETTE-TIMES ON-LINE:
http://oregonnews.uoregon.edu/
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
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GT will not publish unsigned letters. All letters MUST include the author’s address and phone
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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.
In Morrow County we eat our vegetables,
live in mobile homes, have healthy babies,
but not many college degrees
New report ranks all Oregon counties by health, economic,
social, and other factors
By David Sykes
If you’ve ever won-
dered who we are, what we
do, even what we eat here in
Morrow County, a new re-
port may give you answers.
Called Oregon By the
Numbers the report ranks
Morrow against the other
35 counties in the state
based on factors such as
diet, education and income.
And yes, we can pat our-
selves on the back for a
healthy diet. We’re ranked
number one - by a long
shot, with 48.8 percent of
adults in the county eating
the recommended amounts
of fruits and vegetables per
day. Not only are we the
highest in the state but the
next highest is Grant county
with a lowly 30.9 percent.
Down in Curry County,
well those folks don’t eat
their veggies, and have
only a 5.9 percent fruit and
vegetables ranking.
Another number one
spot we claim, is the highest
percentage (30.5) of people
living in mobile homes.
In case you are interested,
Multnomah County has
the lowest number at 1.9
percent. In education we
have a mixed bag of num-
bers. Ranked number 15
in high school graduation
Public Use Restrictions move to Phase A
on the Umatilla National Forest
Due to increased dry
weather conditions, Phase
A of the Public Use Restric-
tions (PURS) for smoking,
off-road travel and chain-
saw use went into effect
on the Umatilla National
Forest Wednesday, Aug. 21.
Phase A is the first level
of wildfire-prevention re-
strictions, generally imple-
mented when the fire danger
is moderate to high. PURS
are phased in collectively,
as conditions warrant, and
may differ from Forest to
Forest. Restrictions under
Phase A include:
-Chainsaws may be
operated only between the
hours of 8 p.m. and 1 p.m.
local time. A one-hour fire
watch is required after saw
operations cease. Saw oper-
ators are required to have an
axe (minimum two-pound
head, 26” length), shovel
(8” wide, 26” length) and
fire extinguisher (minimum
ABC 8 oz.) in their posses-
sion. Chainsaw operation
associated with commercial
and personal use firewood
permits are regulated under
the conditions of the permit
and are not impacted by this
public use restriction.
-Smoking is allowed
only in enclosed vehicles,
buildings or cleared areas.
-No off-road/off-trail
vehicle travel or travel on
roads not cleared of stand-
ing grass or other flamma-
ble material; no vehicle
travel on those FS roads
where access has been im-
peded or blocked by earthen
berm, logs, boulders, barri-
er, barricade or gate, or as
otherwise identified in the
Fire Order.
The public is also en-
couraged to practice safe
campfire principles when
recreating in dispersed and
developed campsites. For-
est officials recommend the
following campfire safety
precautions:
-Campfires should be in
fire pits surrounded by dirt,
rock or commercial rings
and in areas not conducive
to rapid fire spread. All
flammable material shall be
cleared within a three-foot
radius from the edge of the
pit and free of overhanging
material. Use existing pits
wherever possible.
-Campfires must be
attended at all times and
completely extinguished
prior to leaving.
-Persons with camp-
fires should carry a tool that
can serve as a shovel and
one gallon of water in their
possession. The intent of
this recommendation is to
ensure individuals with a
campfire to have the tools
necessary to completely
with almost 80 percent
of our kids getting their
diplomas, we then move
on to a number 20 ranking
with only 8.7 percent of
our residents having two-
year college degrees. And a
four-year college education
is pretty sparse, as we’re
ranked in last place with
only 9.8 percent of adults
age 25 or older having a
diploma. If you’re interest-
ed, Benton county has the
highest college rate at 53.8
percent. Another interesting
ranking, and one where we
are last in the state, is in
kindergarten readiness. We
only have a 4.6 percent of
our pre-school kids identi-
fying certain letter sounds
in the English alphabet.
Morrow County ranks
average to pretty good in
the economics. The unem-
ployment rate is 4.4 percent
for number 22 in the state.
Grant is the highest at 6.8
percent and Benton is the
lowest with 3.3. The labor
force participation rate, or
people in the labor force
is number 10 at 59.3 per-
cent. Highest is Washing-
ton County with 68.9. In
job growth we’re ranked
number three, and house-
hold income has us ranked
tenth. The big employers in
the county are animal and
food production, and food
manufacturing.
On crime we’re ranked
number 12. Multnomah
highest and Wheeler lowest
with 0 major crimes such
as murder, rape, robbery,
assault and theft.
We don’t vote in elec-
tions very well, ranking
number 33 in the state with
only 63.1 percent of reg-
istered voters who partic-
ipated in the last general
election. We’re high in
property taxes at number
three. The per-capita prop-
erty tax imposed is calcu-
lated by dividing the total
taxes levied in the county
by the population of the
county, which comes out
to $2,735 per person. Gil-
liam is highest per-capita
in the state at $4,342, and
the lowest is Josephine at
$761. But we do have the
cheapest housing costs in
the state versus the rest of
the 35 counties.
Other numbers of in-
terest: we are number 23
in smoking at 15.7 percent
of the adult population
puffing. Hood River is the
lowest at 8.8 percent and
Lincoln County highest at
31.5 percent.
We have healthy babies
though, with only three per-
cent having low birth rates.
Lake County is the highest
with 16.1 percent of their
babies born with low birth
rates. We’re ranked number
14 for the percentage of
two-year-olds who have
received their required im-
munizations at 71 percent
of the kids. How about the
internet. We have 59.9 per-
cent of our population hav-
ing broadband. On driving
miles we are ranked number
27 by the number of miles
traveled.
Other random facts
about the county: our pop-
ulation is 11,153, and we
are 60.7 percent white and
35.1 percent Latino. Our
highest age group is 10-14
years old.
This is the second year
Oregon by the Numbers has
been published. It is a proj-
ect of the Ford Foundation
and Oregon State Universi-
ty Extension and is meant
to give leaders important
information and statistics
about their communities.
extinguish their campfire.
The public’s awareness
of the increasing fire danger
and cooperation is essen-
tial to a safe fire season.
Recreationists, firewood
cutters, hunters and other
forest users can all help by
closely adhering to restric-
tions, operating safely and
cautiously and keeping up
to date on the latest orders
and regulations.
Please check with your
local Oregon Department
of Forestry (ODF) office
for public use restrictions
on lands protected by ODF.
Visit the Blue Mountain
Interagency Dispatch web-
page at: www.bmidc.org or
contact a local Oregon De-
partment of Forestry office
for more complete infor-
mation. Similar restrictions
may be in effect on State
and private lands protected
by the Washington Depart-
ment of Natural Resources
(WA-DNR). More infor-
mation can be found on the
WA-DNR website at: http://
www.dnr.wa.gov/.
For more information
about the Umatilla National
Forest’s Public Use Restric-
tions, please contact our
Pendleton, Oregon office
at 541-278-3716, call our
The Church of the Nazarene will host special speak-
Forest Information Hotline ers, Jeff and Kelsey, Wednesday, August 21 at 6:30 p.m.
at 1-877-958-9663, or visit Everyone is invited to attend to hear about the exciting
our website at www.fs.usda. things God is doing to reach His people in other lands.
gov/umatilla/.
Church to host
special speakers
“It’s not what we do, it’s
who we choose to be.”
Read About How We are Working Together to be a
Healthier Community Today and
HealthyMC.org
Maximize the value of our
relationships with community
and regional partners through
initiatives that promote health and
bring valuable health services to
Morrow County residents.
Advance the quality of care
provided in each patient
care area while enhancing
your patient and customer
service experience.
Ensure that our facilities, technol-
ogy and infrastructure, as well as
our workforce of employees and
volunteers will continue to meet
the needs of our communities to-
day, and for generations to come.
Strive to be your First Choice for
quality, compassionate, local care
and lead the way in promoting
wellness and improving health in
Morrow County.
Where healthier is happening...
Boardman | Heppner | Ione | Irrigon | Lexington
541-676-9133
Fun with salsa at cooking class
This month at the vegetarian cooking class, students will be having fun with
salsa. A summer go to or a yummy snack of salsa and chips will be featured with
different styles of salsa demonstrated at the class.
The class will be held August 27 at 7 p.m. at the Heppner Seventh-Day Adven-
tist Church gym.