Ida Farra celebrates 103 years
50¢
HEPPNER
G T
azette
imes
VOL. 139
NO. 32 8 Pages
Wednesday, August 5, 2020
Morrow County, Heppner, Oregon
Haystack catches fire near Ione
Friends gather to wish Ida Farra a Happy 103rd Birthday
Ida Farra of Heppner cel-
ebrated her 103 rd birthday
with a party at the Pioneer
Memorial Hospital front
lawn Tuesday, August 4.
Helping her celebrate were
(left to right): Frank Os-
min, Cara Osmin, Peggy
Fishburn, Carley Drake,
Doug Drake, Mary Ann
Elguezabal and Father Jo-
seph Thankachan. Also in
attendance Molly Rhea.
Ida Farra celebrates her 103rd Birthday
New year to begin
with distance
learning
A large haystack burned at the Snow-McElligott ranch behind the Emert shop on Suinday. The fire was
believed to have been started by spontaneous combustion.
County has $500,000 to help local businesses
adversely impacted by the Coronavirus
By David Sykes
During the last coun-
ty budget meetings $500,000
was set aside by the county
to b e used to help small
local businesses adversely
impacted by the Covid-19
virus, and, at its July 22,
meeting commissioners be-
gan laying the groundwork
on how that money would
be disbursed.
Commissioner Don
Russell, himself a business
owner, said he thought
the funds should go out as
probably a combination of
grant and loan money. “I
think I have settled on a
combination of grants and
loans. I know how tough
it is to be a small business
owner,” he said. Russell
said when the pandemic
started and many of the
local retail businesses were
shut down for a time peri-
od, he talked to businesses
owners who were con-
cerned with taking on more
debt during the pandemic.
“They didn’t know how
much they wanted to go
into debt. And I understand
that,” Russell said. “Which
makes me more inclined to
some type of grant – loan
program.”
County Adminis-
trator Darrell Green said
some of the other assistance
programs out there had
“lots of strings attached”
which, he said, makes it
difficult to get. Russell said
another problem was that
some businesses obtained
Payroll Protection Program
(PPP) funds for as little as
$1,000 and that stopped
them from getting other
grants and loans. “Some of
the PPP loans people got
were as low as $1,000 and
that disqualified them from
applying for other pro-
grams,” He pointed out. “A
thousand dollars doesn’t go
very far in business.” Com-
missioner Melissa Lindsay
also pointed out that with
the Federal Disaster loans
people got their assets tied
up as collateral which was
making it difficult for small
businesses to keep their
credit lines open.
Commissioners
decided to set up a sub-
committee of County Fi-
nance Director Kate Knop,
Green, Commissioner Jim
Doherty, and County Eco-
nomic Development officer
Gregg Zody to come up
with guidelines and rules
on how the new fund would
operate and the money dis-
bursed. Input would also be
sought from local Chamber
of Commerces. Russell
said he would like to see the
money go out as fifty-fifty,
half grant and half loan.
County declared a
drought
In other busi-
ness the commissioners
reviewed a letter signed
July 21 by Governor Kate
Brown declaring Morrow
and Wheeler counties a
drought emergency. The
declaration was made after
a request from the county
because of lack of rainfall.
The governor’s declara-
tion says conditions are
not expected to improve,
and drought is likely to
have “significant econom-
ic impacts on the farm,
forest, recreation, tourism,
drinking water, and natural
resources.” It also says that
the drought conditions have
affected local growers, and
increased the potential for
fire, a loss of economic
stability and a shortened
growing season.” Declaring
the drought opens the door
to the county receiving
state and federal drought
assistance.
County, Port to hold joint
CREZIII planning meeting
Morrow County Commission and the Port of Morrow
will hold a joint meeting Thursday August 6, to discuss
formation of the new Columbia River Enterprise Zone
Three. The meeting will be held at the Port of Morrow
Riverfront Center starting at 6 p.m. and will be available
on Zoom for the public to attend.
All the taxing districts that are located within the
proposed CREZIII boundary have been invited to
participate. “ The purpose of the meeting is to answer
questions and hear concerns that the taxing districts
may have. The Port and the County are preparing an
application for the CREZ III. The boundaries are the
same as CREZ II. The County and the Port will be the
Sponsors for CREZ III,” according to information re-
leased by CREZII general manager Greg Sweek. Sweek
is also preparing the application for the new enterprise
zone to be presented later to the state for approval.
Following is the information needed to join the Zoom
meeting: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/86373993202?p-
wd=OHhoNFdTZC9iSkp0T1V1UENPZGlPdz09 Meet-
ing ID: 863 7399 3202 Password: 090107
Mayor, three
council spots
up for Nov. 3
election
The city of Heppner will
have the mayor position and
three council slots up for
election in the November
3, 2020 general election.
Anyone wishing to file for
the positions can obtain the
forms either at city hall, or
online at cityofheppner.
com.
Candidates must be at
least 18 years of age and
have resided in the city
limits of Heppner for 12
months preceding the elec-
tion. The deadline for filing
is August 25, 2020. The
completed signed forms can
either be mailed to Morrow
County Elections, PO Box
338, Heppner, OR 97836,
or brought to Heppner City
Hall at 111 N. Main St (PO
Box 756) Heppner, OR
97836.
DEADLINE:
MONDAYS
AT 5PM
Following a press release
from Governor Brown and
updated guidance from
the Oregon Department
of Education on Tuesday,
July 28, Morrow County
School District is final-
izing plans for a compre-
hensive distance learning
(CDL) instructional mod-
el for reopening school in
fall 2020. With the CDL
model, all students are en-
gaged in learning that oc-
curs remotely from online
platforms such as Google
classroom, Canvas and
Seesaw.
Districts were given
updated guidance that in-
cluded metrics for cases
that schools need to follow
in order to hold in-person
instruction. These met-
rics include case rate per
100,000 and test positivity
rate. These metrics are cal-
culated over a consecutive
three-week period of time.
“With increased restric-
tions and metrics related to
the COVID-19 virus, Mor-
row County School Dis-
trict will begin the school
year with a comprehensive
distance learning model,
with plans of transitioning
to a hybrid model once it is
safe for students to return
to the classrooms,” said
Superintendent Dirk Dirk-
sen. “While we are disap-
pointed that we won’t be
able to invite our students
back into buildings this
fall, we are optimistic that
we will be providing face-
to-face instruction, as soon
as possible.”
“Morrow County
School District is commit-
ted to providing a thorough
distance learning experi-
ence for all students,” said
the release., The Morrow
County School District
Board of Directors will
hold a special board meet-
ing on Tuesday, August 4,
at 7 p.m. At this meeting
they will discuss a poten-
tial change to the 2020-
2021 school calendar that
would allow time to plan
for the comprehensive dis-
tance learning model and
for necessary professional
development for staff to
ensure successful imple-
mentation.
Second COVID-19 death
reported in County
Morrow County Health
Department is saddened
to report that an individ-
ual previously reported
to have COVID-19 has
died. Morrow County’s
The Heppner Ga-
zette-Times wants to see
pictures of your trophy
animals from this hunting
season. Stop
by to have
your picture
taken, drop
off photos,
mail them to
PO Box 337
in Heppner, email them to
editor@rapidserve.net or
text cell phone photos to
541-980-6674.
second COVID-19 death is
an 88-year-old male from
North Morrow county.
He died on August 2 nd at
Good Shepherd Hospital in
Hermiston. This individual
had underlying health con-
ditions.
“This is an incredibly sad
announcement and we en-
courage everyone to be
respectful as a family in
our community grieves. If
you are in need of support
during this difficult time,
please contact Community
Counseling Solutions at
541-676-9161,” A Morrow
County Emeregency Man-
agement spokesperson said
in a prepared news release.
MORROW COUNTY GRAIN GROWERS
350 MAIN STREET LEXINGTON OR 97839
CONTACT JUSTIN BAILEY 541-256-0229, 541-989-8221 EXT.
204
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