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About Heppner gazette-times. (Heppner, Or.) 1925-current | View Entire Issue (Aug. 26, 2020)
County still lags behind state in census response HEPPNER G T 50¢ azette imes VOL. 139 NO. 35 8 Pages Wednesday, August 26, 2020 Morrow 44 percent participation, Oregon 67 percent By David Sykes Morrow County still lags behind the state aver- age for census participation, the county commission was told at last week’s meeting. The commissioners heard from Marc Czornij, Part- nership Team Leader for the Oregon US Census Bureau, who said although the coun- ty rate is low, it is still ahead of 23 other counties. Commissioners are concerned with the low par- ticipation rate for citizens of Morrow County, Heppner, Oregon County’s offer of power line easement won’t stop condemnation process Could ease impact on other landowners, however Morrow County’s census rate at 44% County has 5-acre parcel located next to Tallman property offered for power line easement. By David Sykes While the county’s of- fer to grant Umatilla Elec- tric Co-op (UEC) a power line easement across county land at Laurel Lane near Boardman is “generous” it will not stop condemnation proceedings against other property owners in the area, co-op CEO Robert Echen- rode told the Morrow Coun- ty commission last week. The co-op has already filed paperwork with the Oregon Public Utility Com- mission (PUC), that if ap- proved would allow the condemnation of several parcels of private land in the area necessary for construc- tion of a new power line. The 230kV line is needed to service current UEC customers and additional growth expected in that area and would run from a Hwy 730 electric switch- yard near the I-84 freeway, 4.3 miles east to Olson Rd at Boardman. The PUC is moving forward, having already held a hearing and taken public comment on the proposed condemna- tion, but as yet, not made a decision. UEC has been in ongo- ing negotiations with sever- al area landowners to secure the necessary easements for construction of the line. So far deals have been struck with all landowners except two, former county judge Terry Tallman and his wife Cheryl, who own a 10-acrea farm adjacent to the county parcel, and the Hobbs, who own a business on land in the path of the proposed power line. The Morrow County Commissioners became involved in an effort to stop the undesirable condemna- tion process. They offered to allow an easement across a nearby 5-acre parcel of county-owned land, and maybe alter the path of the new line enough so condemnation of private property wasn’t necessary At last week’s meeting the commission met with Echenrode for a second time to talk about the new power line and its pro- posed route. At a July 22 meeting Echenrode gave a presentation to the com- missioners, using Google Earth to show the various -See CONDEMNATION/ PAGE EIGHT Morrow County as it will affect the amount of federal grant dollars received in the future. The census is also used to decide how many US representatives are al- lowed from each state to the congress. Czornij said the cur- rent participation for the county is at 43.6 percent of the population. He said Morrow County lags be- hind the state which is at 67.2 percent. Twenty-three Oregon counties are lower than Morrow, he added. Within the county Ione has the lowest rate while Board- man and Irrigon are highest. Lexington and Heppner’s rates were not given. Commissioner Lind- say, who has been working hard for a higher county participation rate, asked if the state could not do more to make people aware of the importance of partici- pating in the census, and to boost participation. She has been trying to put together funding for a mailing urg- ing people to complete the census. An earlier mailer sent out by the state was not very effective in Heppner as many of the addresses were for people’s physical addresses and not the boxes so they were not delivered by the post office. On a positive note, Czornij said the county’s participation is only slight- ly behind last year’s rate of 43.9. “You are only .3 percent away from break- ing last year’s record,” he pointed out. Anyone want- ing to fill out their census can go to the web site at: oregon2020census.gov/ In other business at last week’s meeting, the com- mission heard a report from county Community De- velopment Director Gregg Zody, who reported he was working on making appli- cation to the state for grant money from the Cultural -See COUNTY CENSUS/ PAGE TWO Governor’s treatment of counties ‘disheartening’ says commissioner ‘Stand atop our money and chastise us’ By David Sykes Oregon Governor Kate Brown’s recent press con- ference chastising counties for not doing more to fight the COVID-19 pandemic came as a surprise and was ‘disheartening’, Morrow County Commissioner and President of the Oregon Association of Counties (AOC), Jim Doherty said this week. Brown made the com- ments during a press con- ference last Friday, where she said counties need to do more leading by ex- ample, education of their citizens and enforcement of her executive orders. She said until counties increase these efforts and reduce COVID-19 rates, Oregon schools will not reopen this fall. “It was extremely dis- appointing to hear the Gov- ernor take that position,” Doherty responded. “The voters in Morrow County have asked the commission- ers to approach the work in a nonpartisan fashion. We have done our level best to set aside our ideologies and address these issues as a team, working in partner- ship with the state. Only to have the Brown adminis- tration intercept the $624 million intended to salvage the lives and livelihoods of our local families and dev- astated businesses. Then to see our, ‘partner,’ stand atop our money and chas- tise us was disheartening,” Doherty said in a statement to the Gazette-Times. The $624 million Doherty was referring to was part of a $1.6 billion federal coronavirus aid package sent to Oregon intended for disbursement down to local governments for use in virus related expenses. Doherty says the money never got to the county level and was instead kept by the Brown administration for use at the state level. Doherty is also pres- ident of the AOC which issued a press release last week saying Brown’s chas- tising of counties came as a surprise for counties as they “have been leading the way,” in the fight against COVID. “We are partners with the state, delivering critical services to Orego- nians on their behalf. Today, we ask the governor and state officials to support counties. These increased expectations the governor announced require addi- tional resources that the state has yet to distribute,” the AOC said. “Morrow County should be celebrated, for the vital role we play and associated COVID-19 chal- lenges we face in ensuring the agricultural sector con- tinues to feed those, both far and near,” Doherty added about the county’s role in producing food for the country. The AOC addressed each of the governor’s three press conference remarks: Lead by Example – Counties are working in their communities to reduce transmission of the virus. Counties are calling on the governor to provide finan- cial and other resources directly to counties to con- tinue to fight the virus. Education – Counties are communicating with their citizens. The gover- nor’s office is many times unclear on how virus statis- tics are being used to make state level Covid decisions. The virus varies from coun- ty to county and more de- cisions should be made at the county level than in Salem. “A one-size-fits-all approach will not work as well as community-based responses,” the AOC said. Enforcement – Coun- ties have limited means of enforcement for state man- dated Covid rules. Enforce- ment is with the sheriffs, independent elected offi- cials. If the state wants the sheriffs to enforce Covid mandates it should provide more funding to the sher- iff’s offices. “The decision of the state to withhold, and ul- timately spend resources intended for counties and local government response efforts makes it even more difficult for counties to effectively respond to the governor’s call for more assistance from counties,” AOC said of the money that was not properly distributed to counties by Brown. The AOC also point- ed out that the governor’s actions are badly hurting small businesses, which are proving not to be the source of virus infections. “The primary source of COVID-19 outbreaks in many Oregon communi- ties has not been a failure of businesses to follow mandates and guidance,” the AOC pointed out. “The primary source is family and other social gatherings that are not capable of being prevented by enforcement. Retail businesses should not be penalized in an al- ready economically devas- tating time, when they are not the source of spread,” it said. “As President of the Association of Oregon Counties, I have helped craft this, and other letters Morrow County Commis- sioner and Association of Oregon Counties President Jim Doherty asking, only that the state recognize their partner and pass through the funds to Oregon’s 36 counties al- lowing them to support and enrich the lives of our brethren as the Local Health Authorities,” Doherty con- cluded. MORROW COUNTY GRAIN GROWERS 350 MAIN STREET LEXINGTON OR 97839 CONTACT JUSTIN BAILEY 541-256-0229, 541-989-8221 EXT. 204 Offers vary by model. Rebate and financing offers valid on select 2016-2020 new and unregistered Polaris ® RZR ® , RANGER ® , Sportsman ® , GENERAL ® , and ACE ® models purchased between 6/1/20–6/30/20. **Rates as low as 3.99% APR for 36 months. 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