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About Heppner gazette-times. (Heppner, Or.) 1925-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 26, 2020)
HEPPNER G T 50¢ azette imes VOL. 139 NO. 9 8 Pages Wednesday, February 26, 2020 Morrow County, Heppner, Oregon Commissioner upset radio- active waste hauled through Boardman without notice “How did you (railroad) allow this to happen?” By David Sykes Over the past three years an Arlington waste management company brought train carloads of ra- dioactive material through Morrow County, but against all previous protocol didn’t bother to notify anyone. And Morrow County Com- missioner Jim Doherty isn’t happy about it. “We need to ask the rail people ‘how did you allow this to happen?’” Doherty said at a commis- sion meeting last week. News recently came out that Waste Manage- ment, which runs a large chemical dump in Arling- ton, had been in violation of Oregon law over the past three years by taking in over 2.5 million pounds of radio- active waste. And unlike other hazardous material, it came through without notifying any local officials. The sheriff ‘s office is nor- mally told about hazardous materials, so in case of a train accident, emergency personnel will know for their and the townsfolk’s safety what they are up against. However, for the last three years trains have been going through Boardman with no one locally even aware of the potentially dangerous radioactive car- go. Doherty was upset be- cause first responders and others who would go to an accident scene would have no idea the banned material was waiting for them. “How can the rail folks be assured what is going through this town?” he asked at last week’s county commission meeting. “What do we do if there is a radiation chal- lenge (accident)?” Normally the sheriff’s office is given notice that shipments of chlorine gas, for instance, are coming Mike Sweek files for county commissioner position By Bobbi Gordon Mike Sweek, 65, of Heppner, has thrown his hat into the ring for Morrow County Commissioner, po- sition one. The number of candidates for the position is now up to four. When asked why he decided to run for the office, Sweek told the Gazette, “I have been talking about running for an office for years. I’m not getting any younger and when this po- sition came up, I decided since I am now semi-re- tired, it is the best time to do it.” He said if elected he plans to first find out what the problems are as he can’t fix anything until he is in the position. Sweek has been a res- ident of Heppner for most of his life, with his parents moving to the area in 1959. His father worked for the Mike Sweek Morrow County road de- partment and his mother, Evelyn, was a dietician at the hospital. He reported he attend- ed Eastern Oregon State College and was in the US Army. He is a Viet- nam veteran, 1973-76, Iraqi Freedom veteran, 2004-05, earning the Combat Medic Badge and was a member of the Oregon Guard 3-116 from 1998-2006. Cardinals district champs Radioactive material was transported on the rail line running through Boardman. through so the fire depart- ment, sheriff and EMS can all be prepared for an acci- dent. Doherty was particu- larly concerned since just last week the commission had met with two represen- tatives of the Local Emer- gency Planning Committee, LEPC, to talk about acci- dent preparedness and they said nothing about it. At that meeting Undersheriff John Bowles said the railroad normally informs them of what is coming through. He said last year they were told 6,000 rail cars of crude oil, 200 carloads of chlo- rine gas and 139 loads of anhydrous ammonia used in fertilizer were coming through Morrow County. LEPC chairman Ken Kraus and Scott Burn were at the commission meeting and neither mentioned knowing anything about the radioac- tive material. When the undisclosed shipments were discovered by the Oregon Department of Energy (ODOE) to be- ing dumped at Arlington against state law, they is- sued a notice of violation to Waste Management. But even though it’s against the law to dump radioac- tive material in Oregon, it doesn’t appear the company is going to be fined. ODOE has said the incident doesn’t meet the criteria to qualify for a fine. The radioactive mate- rial is a biproduct of frack- ing from oil drilling in North Dakota and ODOE has determined there is no current threat to landfill workers, the public or the environment from dump- ing the waste in Arlington. Commissioner Don Russell said at the meeting that al- though it’s illegal to dump in Oregon and a danger, he didn’t think it was quite as dangerous as other chemi- cals that come through by rail. “Radioactive Radon doesn’t scare me as much as the chlorine gas that comes through,” said Russell who is a long-time board mem- ber of the local rural fire protection district who are the ones having to deal with a potential train accident and chemical release. Doherty chastised the ODOE for saying there was no danger. “What’s rolling through this town on any given day? When that material came through this town it was not covered by 10-feet of material,” he said as it would be once buried at the waste dump in Ar- lington. He asked Bowles to reach out to the railroad and find out what is coming through Boardman. Bowles said he would try to find out why the sheriff’s office wasn’t notified. “I think the public works should bring their grader down, park it on the tracks until we can be assured of what’s coming through here,” Doherty said tongue-in-cheek. The Ione Cardinals varsity boys’ basketball team has been named district champs after the tournament held in Madras last week. Hunter Padberg was named to the Big Sky first team, Jace Troutman and Wesley Goad to second team. Wesley Goad also received the Jason Hal- vorson Memorial award and the Big Sky scholarship award. (Names of people pictured was not available. The editor apologizes for the lack of information.) Ione students donate to area districts The Ione School Dis- trict is reaching out to a couple of area schools re- cently affected by catastro- phes. Ione students recently held a fundraiser entitled “Help the Joseph Eagles Fly Again.” The gym of Joseph Charter School in Joseph, OR, was destroyed by fire in January. At a re- cent basketball game, the Ione School district donat- ed funds from admission tickets, the “gate,” plus students supplied a num- ber of auction items that were auctioned between the games. All told, the efforts raised $2,077.37 for Jo- seph School. Ione Principal Rollie Marshall presented the check to Joseph School District Superintendent Lance Homan, who was humbled by the donation, Joseph School Superintendent Lance Homan (left) receives the donation check from Ione Principal Rollie Marshall. Marshall said. Ione High School stu- dents are not finished with their desire to help. After hearing about the damage to the Umatilla High School Sports-Complex from re- cent area flooding, Ione stu- dents will be volunteering their time, effort, shovels, power washers and more to help clean up the mud and debris left after the flood waters recede. “I am so proud of how our students have stepped up to reach out to area schools. This just reinforces the values and empathy our kids have been raised with,” Marshall said. will be on the general elec- tion ballot in November, with the exception of the commissioner race. Ac- cording to County Clerk, Bobbi Childers, the com- missioners will be on the May ballot and a winner will be selected by majority vote. Filing deadline nears for county candidates Candidates wishing to be considered for positions in Morrow County must file by March 5. Positions available are county clerk, county commissioner, jus- Sweek feels his expe- rience working with the public as a former Heppner police officer, firefighter and EMT in Hermiston and security guard at the Umatilla Chemical Depot will help him in his job as commissioner if he is elect- ed. He has also worked as a CNA at Pioneer Memorial Hospital in Heppner and currently works for Gar Aviation in Lexington. If he wins the elec- tion, he says he plans to do a good job and keep working for the people of Morrow County. He said, “I know a lot of people, have worked community-orient- ed jobs and have common sense.” All are traits he feels are necessary for the job. “Sometimes you need to get new people in the positions to get new ideas,” he continued. tice of the peace, sheriff and treasurer. The following people have already filed: Morrow County Clerk, Bobbi A. Childers; Morrow County Commissioner, Position 1, Joseph B Armato, Jim Doherty, Michael H Sweek and Joel R Peterson; Mor- row County Justice of the Peace, Theresa Crawford Mustangs named to All Stars and Glen G. Diehl; Morrow County Sheriff, Kenneth W Matlack and Mark Pratt and Morrow County Treasurer, Sabrina L Bailey Cave. Most of the candidates MORROW COUNTY GRAIN GROWERS 350 MAIN STREET, LEXINGTON, OR 97839 CONTACT: JUSTIN BAILEY 541-256-0229, 541-989-8221 EXT 204 At the end of the Blue Mountain Conference season five Mustang athletes were named to the All-Stars. Sydney Wilson and Mason Lehman were selected for first team. 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