TWO - Heppner Gazette-Times, Heppner, Oregon Wednesday, March 18, 2020
The Official Newspaper
of the City of Heppner and the County of Morrow
Heppner
GAZETTE-TIMES
St. Patrick’s fan
visits Heppner
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 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
Giselle Moses.........................................................................................Advertising
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.
ZONING
not possible. The sheriff
will enforce county laws
within the town limits of
Lexington, but it will not
enforce town ordinances
such as animal restrictions.
In other action at last
Tuesday’s monthly meet-
ing, the council was in-
formed by maintenance
man Scott Lamb that the
new chlorination system
was up and working well.
He also reported he has
been getting gravel in some
of the pot holes around
DOE explains
radioactive material
transport
Dr. DesJardin, a dentist from John Day and Condon and fan
Community lunch menu
Hopeful Saints volunteers will serve lunch on
Wednesday, March 25 at St. Patrick’s Senior Center.
Lunch will be turkey sloppy joes, roasted Brussel sprouts,
mixed vegies and molasses cookie.
Milk, coffee and tea is served at each meal. Suggested
donation is $3.50 per meal. Menu is subject to change.
Addilyn Marie Stevens – A daughter, Addilyn Marie,
was born to Harold and Tara Stevens, Tillamook, OR, on
September 4, 2019, at
OHSU, Portland, OR.
She weighed 5 lbs.
12 oz. Grandparents
are John Stevens of
Waldport, OR, Ma-
rie Mallory of Fossil,
OR, and John and Lisa
Seymore of Beaver-
ton, OR.
Great-grandpar-
ents are Bob and Judy Addilyn Marie Stevens
Stevens of Hardman,
Donald and Barbara Seymore, and Helaine Phioiphi.
Guest Editorial
-Continued from PAGE ONE of everything St. Patrick’s, attends the non-existent St. Pat’s
town. He thought maybe
he could get some cold
patch from the county to
do some pot hole work
also. Lamb says he had
also been working on the
parks getting them ready
for spring. He was also
considering getting some
firemen volunteers together
to do some burning around
the city well.
It was also noted that
the first budget meeting
will be held April 13 at 6:30
p.m. at the Town Hall.
Births
celebration in Heppner Saturday, waving his family’s Irish
flag. DesJardin is pictured with Ann Murray (right) in front
of Murray’s Drug. -Contributed photo.
WCVEDG grant
funds available
The Willow Creek Val-
ley Economic Develop-
ment Group (WCVEDG)
has funds available to be
used for community and
public enhancement grants
for south Morrow County
communities. Applicant or-
ganizations must be a local
organization, club, special
district or a governmental
entity who resides in the
south Morrow County ser-
vice area (as defined by the
WCVEDG Service Area
Map). The requestor must
have at least 50 percent of
the funding, which may
Stephanie
Derowitsch, RN
Home Health & Hospice
Since 2018
“It’s not just what I do,
it’s who I choose to be.”
Calming, Compassionate, Creative
A Healthier Morrow County is Within Me.
To me, understanding what each patient needs
is my priority, and sometimes that may mean just
being at their side to listen. As someone who has
experienced loss in my life, I have great empathy for
those I have the honor to care for and if it’s possible,
I grow more passionate about my work every day.
HealthyMC.org
Boardman | Heppner | Ione | Irrigon | Lexington
LCAC
meetings
cancelled
All LCAC meetings
scheduled between March
16 and April 8 are can-
celled, including the April
2 Morrow County meeting.
The next LCAC meet-
ing will be held in Heppner
on May 7 at 9 a.m. at the
Bartholomew Building.
The March 31 Region-
al Community Advisory
Meeting (RCAC) meeting
will take place electroni-
cally.
Ione
Library
board to
meet
Read About How We are Working
Together to be a Healthier Community
Today and
Where healthier is happening...
include in-kind and cash
contributions from local
and regional sources, for
the total project budget
committed before applying.
Exceptions may apply at the
discretion of the board.
Completed grant re-
quests will be accepted
Friday, March 20 through
Friday, April 24. The re-
view and decision of grants
awarded will be decided by
the WCVEDG board.
To receive a grant ap-
plication form and an eligi-
bility and exclusions infor-
mation sheet, contact She-
ryll Bates at 541-676-5536
or email heppnerchamber@
centurytel.net. Forms can
also be picked up at Hep-
pner, Ione and Lexington
city hall offices or printed
from the Economic Devel-
opment tab on the Heppner
Chamber website at www.
heppnerchamber.com.
All completed grant ap-
plications must be forward-
ed to Sheryll at the chamber
office to be eligible for
consideration of funding.
Grants can be emailed,
mailed, hand delivered or
faxed to 541-676-5656,
but must be received in the
chamber office no later than
Friday, April 24 to be eligi-
ble for consideration in the
grant review and decision
process.
541-676-9133
The monthly meeting
of the Ione Library Dis-
trict’s board of directors
will be held Monday, March
23 at 6 p.m. at the Ione
Public Library, 385 W Sec-
ond Street. The public is
welcome and encouraged
to attend.
By Don Russell, Commis-
sioner
On February 13 a notice
of violation was issued by
the Oregon Department of
Energy to Chemical Waste
Management in Arlington
for disposing of radioactive
material. This resulted in
several news stories that
sensationalized the story
trying to sell papers rather
than just reporting the news.
A couple of weeks ago the
Heppner Gazette-Times
quoted Commissioner Jim
Doherty in a tirade about
the Union Pacific Rail-
road violating the trust of
the people and demanding
answers on how this could
have happened. In his ex-
citement he went so far as to
offer we should park county
equipment across the tracks
until we got answers.
On March 4 the Gilliam
County Court held two open
houses with representatives
of the Oregon Department
of Energy and Waste Man-
agement in attendance to
explain what happened,
how it happened and what
next steps were being con-
templated. I attended the
meeting in Condon and
Commissioner Lindsay
attended the meeting in
Arlington.
At the Condon meeting,
the Oregon Department of
Energy (ODOE) explained
that an individual from
North Dakota had called
and made the claim that
Waste Management was
illegally taking radioactive
material in violation of
Oregon Law. In the 1970’s
Oregon passed a law that
banned any radioactive
material from being dis-
posed of at any landfill in
Oregon. ODOE pointed
out that there was naturally
occurring radioactive ma-
terial all around us, and the
Oregon law would make it
impossible to have a landfill
in Oregon. They admitted
that the rules were confus-
ing and need to be clarified.
The first thing that ODOE
assured us was that there
was no imminent threat to
human health. There was no
threat to the employees of
Waste Management or the
residents of Gilliam Coun-
ty. The material that Waste
Management had been tak-
ing was largely water filters
used in the fracking process
in the North Dakota oil
fields. They held one up
for the crowd to look at,
and to me it looked like an
oversized tube sock. The
material was shipped by
truck and not rail.
I will say, at the meet-
ing, there were about 25
citizens including myself
in attendance. About half of
them were initially irritated.
They had read the stories in
print or reposted on social
media and wanted their
pound of flesh.
The material filtered
out of the process of re-
claiming the water so it
could be used again does
in fact contain traces of
naturally occurring radium
found in the earth’s crust.
They said that the average
load contained 90 picocu-
ries per gram of radioactive
material. When asked if this
would have required the
load to be labeled as radio-
active with the appropriate
radioactive warning label,
the answer was no. The
minimum requirement for
a substance to be labeled
radioactive material per the
US Department of Trans-
portation is 2000 picocuries
per gram. They went on to
explain that the average
person who lives in the
United States absorbs radia-
tion just by walking around
and breathing. The amount
of radiation absorbed is
calculated in millirems.
The amount of millirems
absorbed fluctuates based
on several factors such as
elevation, diet and natural
surroundings. They used
average radiation absorp-
tion per person per year
of 360 millirems. They
estimated that if one indi-
vidual was responsible for
unloading all of the material
that was disposed of at Ar-
lington that he would have
absorbed an additional 4
millirems of radiation. To
give perspective, if you get
a chest X-ray you would
absorb 10 millirems of
radiation.
Waste Management,
when notified by ODOE, of
the violation immediately
stopped taking the material.
They notified the Gilliam
County emergency manag-
er and the Gilliam County
Court of the situation. They
also notified all employ-
ees involved. According to
ODOE Waste Management
has been very transparent
and cooperative. They will
be required to do a risk as-
sessment to determine next
steps. The risk assessment
will look at thousands of
years from now, not just
today. The ODOE stated
that unless something not
expected was uncovered
in the risk assessment, the
material would stay where
it was. They went on to ex-
plain that this was a chem-
ical waste site and already
had additional safeguards
over a traditional landfill.
My takeaway for us as
county government is as
follows: We should look for
the facts before we go on a
tirade especially in a public
meeting with or without
the press present. Gilliam
County is a neighbor and
Waste Management is their
largest private employer,
and an important part of
their economy. It would
have been easy to pick up
the phone and give anyone
of our counterparts at Gil-
liam County a call to get
the facts.