TWO - Heppner Gazette-Times, Heppner, Oregon Wednesday, October 7, 2020
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
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David Sykes ..............................................................................................Publisher
Bobbi Gordon................................................................................................ Editor
Giselle Moses.........................................................................................Advertising
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MILL ZONE
-Continued from PAGE ONE
The mill site, which
has been owned by the
Port of Morrow since the
Kinzua Mill shut down in
1998, is 85-90 percent in
the Willow Creek flood
zone, which prohibits busi-
ness development. “There
are a lot of hoops to jump
through to develop in flood
zones,” said Cutsforth. One
of the hoops is obtaining a
flood plain map amendment
from the Federal Emergen-
cy Management Agency
(FEMA). Cutsforth asserts
that the site mapping done
previously is not correct,
and that “The flood zone
was far too expansive.”
Once a flood plain amend-
ment has been obtained, the
budget for bringing the site
out of the flood zone will
be adjusted down from the
$1,097,000, and that figure
is a “worst case scenario...
and it could be $500,000
- $600,000,” Cutsforth con-
tinues.
There is no electricity,
water or sewer at the mill
site, and these three utilities
must be present before a po-
tential buyer will commit to
the site. And, these utilities
cannot be developed while
the site is in the flood zone.
“Two or three people are
interested in the site,” said
Cutsforth. “This is a Field
of Dreams... If we build it,
they will come.”
The port of Morrow has
sent a conditional letter of
map revision (CLOMR) to
FEMA. FEMA is currently
reviewing the CLOMR and
has 90 days to review the
letter and give a yes or no
answer to the request for
map revisions. The Port
of Morrow has committed
$100,000 to the project. The
Port of Morrow is responsi-
ble for the water and power
infrastructure development
and will require a contractor
to address the water and
septic development. Kim
Cutsforth stated that she
hopes the property will be
usable within the next 18
months.
Alex Lindsay
awarded scholarship
On behalf of the Beth
Slottee Memorial Schol-
arship Fund, the board of
the South Morrow County
Scholarship Trust has an-
nounced that Alex Lind-
say is the recipient of the
2020 scholarship. Alex
will receive $1,000 and
was selected on the basis
of academic achievement,
chosen field of study and
financial need.
Alex Lindsay is the son
of Barney and Kimberly
Lindsay of Lexington. He
is enrolled at Oregon State
University studying history
and education. He plans
to become a secondary
level history teacher. Alex
has maintained high marks
during his college career.
He is an active member
of FFA and received his
American Degree which is
the highest achievement in
that program.
Ms. Beth Slottee was
a teacher at Heppner Jr Sr
High School in 1996 and
passed away during her
time there. Her family cre-
ated the memorial scholar-
Garden highlight awarded to Kilkennys
By Kay Proctor
Continuing operations
of a large family farm that
began in 1914 in Heppner
takes dedication. John
and Diane Kilkenny have
shown that same dedica-
tion used for farming when
they created a home on top
of a solid basalt rock rim
near Lena Highway and
surrounded it with greenery.
Their home was built
in 1997 with views of the
Hinton Creek Valley. It is
the likeness of the original
family farmhouse that once
stood below and sadly was
destroyed by fire while un-
dergoing remodeling.
The surrounding green-
ery is not just for looks.
Wanting to protect their
home and buildings from
fires by establishing a pe-
rimeter for a firebreak,
plans were made for a large
lawn to be kept green with
automatic underground
sprinklers. Needing a base
for the lawn, an existing
livestock pond was cleaned
out and farm trucks hauled
in 200 loads of rich soil to
cover the rock on the home
site.
Once the large lawn
was established, planting
began, using many varieties
such as hostas, boxwood,
roses, spruce and maple
trees with lots of landscape
fabric. Some white-bark
birch trees are doing well.
A row of flowering plum
trees and pines lining the
sloping driveway was a
particular struggle to grow
but are now finally estab-
lished. Terracing, fenc-
ing and curbing have been
done, driplines installed and
part of the driveway paved
to cover the rough basalt.
Over the years, rustic
farm implements and yard
decor have been added,
including a porch light with
the University of Oregon’s
logo, which is John’s alma
mater. Diane likes best the
large Dr. Seuss type bird
which she has named Dora
that is welded entirely out
of old farm tools, bits and
pieces.
John mentions that he
ship to help support college
students pursuing a music
major/minor or education
major/minor in their junior,
senior or graduate years at
an accredited college. with
preference being given to a
music major/minor.
The Board of Directors
include President Adam
McCabe, Vice President
Andrea Nelson, Secretary
Brandi Sweeney, Treasur-
er Tricia Rollins, Martin
Vito, Carri Grieb and Karen
Holland. The Beth Slottee
Scholarship was combined
with The South Morrow
County Scholarship Trust,
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Above: The Kilkenny property received the garden highlight award. Below: John and Diane
Kilkenny. -Photos by Kay Proctor.
tries to do a new project
each year and this sum-
mer’s project has been ex-
panding their patio and per-
gola. A shade cloth allows
just enough sun in for the
huge planters and hanging
baskets of annual flowers
below. Each year Diane
likes to choose a different
color for the annuals and es-
pecially liked the all-white
flowers used last summer.
Her favorite plant, a thriv-
ing dwarf birch tree, is on
the patio’s west side. John’s
favorite is the Norwegian
Weeping evergreen tree,
also by the patio.
Another year’s project
was surrounding eight 10’
x 4’ raised wood beds with
Inc several years ago with
the purpose to expand ac-
cess to higher education
for students of Heppner
and Ione High Schools by
promoting a scholarship
program, developing an
operational structure, rais-
ing funds for student aid
distribution and distribut-
ing awards on a fair and
non-discriminatory basis.
Tax deductible donations
can be sent to SMCS Inc,
PO Box 102, Ione, OR
97843.
DEADLINE:
MONDAYS
AT 5PM
high fencing and using
them for a vegetable gar-
den. A large round stock
trough sits in the middle
filled with colorful flowers.
Everything is irrigated by
dripline. Being at 2800’
in elevation means late
frosts, so John designed
a hoop system with frost
cloth clipped on that can be
removed easily as needed.
Diane says that she “likes
to work in my garden” and
grows a lot of tomatoes and
even artichokes. Gophers
discovered the garden the
first year, so the beds were
emptied of soil, lined with
wire at the bottom, then
refilled.
Their patio is their fa-
vorite outdoor place but
sitting in Diane’s vegetable
garden at day’s end and
visiting is a close second.
Their loyal Lab, Erin, is
usually close by.
Antelope used to visit
but haven’t been seen in
recent years. There are deer,
but there has been a large
increase in elk with some
even coming onto the lawn.
Approximately 200 to 250
head move onto the alfalfa
field behind the house for
a while each fall and this
year consumed an entire
late cutting of hay.
As part of their soil
and conservatory prac-
tice, the Kilkennys have
worked with programs and
planted about 30,000 trees
across their acreage such as
chokecherry, wild currant,
elderberry and pine. Soil
conservation was an im-
portant part of farming for
John’s father, too, the late
Bob Kilkenny.
Fire protection is very
much a priority. Each
spring, controlled burns
are done where needed
around the farm. John pur-
chased two large water
tanker trucks and keeps
them within easy access
and ready to go. The fire-
break that their established
green lawn gives them is
reassuring, but with the
disastrous wildfires in Ore-
gon this year, John is con-
cerned when he sees yards
with dried up grass lawns,
especially when houses
are near others and hopes
consideration will be given
to green fire perimeters for
safety precautions.
Diane grew up in Ken-
newick and Richland, then
graduated from OHSU.
She has been an RN for 33
years, of which 20 years has
been for the Morrow Coun-
ty Health Department. She
began serving as Interim
Public Health Director at
the same time the COVID
crisis and restrictions be-
gan. She and John met in
Tri-Cities where he worked
as a grain buyer, and they
later joined the family farm-
ing business.
Besides cattle, hay and
wheat, the couple raised
three children; Conor, Rory
and Kathrine. Two grand-
sons with one on the way
are a very important part of
their lives now.
The Garden Highlight
award is sponsored by
MCGG/Green Feed and
Seed and the Heppner Vol-
unteers. It is given to those
with exceptional seasonal
features, special outdoor
projects or yards that are
outside city limits. To sug-
gest a recipient, contact
kayproctor@gmail.com.
We proudly endorse Joel Peterson for
Morrow County Commissioner
Representative Greg Smith-
Heppner
Mike Sweek-
Heppner
Planning Commison Jeff Wenholz- Irrigon
City Manager Karen Pettigrew- Boardman
City Manager Aaron Palmquist-
Irrigon
Jeff Bailey-
Heppner
Debbie Radie-
Irrigon
ICABO Chairman Ed Rollins-
Ione
Linda LaRue-
Ione
And Former Morrow County Commissioners:
LeAnn Rea
John Wenholz
Raymond Grace