TWO - Heppner Gazette-Times, Heppner, Oregon Wednesday, October 21, 2020
The Official Newspaper
of the City of Heppner and the County of Morrow
Heppner
GAZETTE-TIMES
U.S.P.S. 240-420
Lexington ‘unincorporated’ comment
sparks town council discussion
Mayor: ‘Have no intention of letting that happen’
By David Sykes
face different challenges,
A comment by incum- and he (Doherty) wants
SEARCH OLD COPIES OF THE HEPPNER GAZETTE-TIMES ON-LINE: bent county commissioner to see communities, such
http://oregonnews.uoregon.edu/
running for reelection, Jim as Lexington — which he
Published weekly by Sykes Publishing and entered as periodical matter at the Post
Doherty, that the town of described as in danger of
Office at Heppner, Oregon under the Act of March 3, 1879. Periodical postage paid
Lexington was “in danger being unincorporated and
at Heppner, Oregon. Office at 188 W. Willow Street. Telephone (541) 676-9228. Fax
of being unincorporated ‘absorbed’ into the county
(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,
and absorbed into the coun- — get the extra attention
P.O. Box 337, Heppner, Oregon 97836. Subscriptions: $31 in Morrow County; $25
ty” caused a lively debate at they need to improve,” the
senior rate (in Morrow County only; 65 years or older); $37 elsewhere; $31 student
subscriptions.
last week’s Lexington town entire East Oregonian quote
David Sykes ..............................................................................................Publisher
council meeting.
read.
Bobbi Gordon................................................................................................ Editor
Near the end of the
The comment, howev-
Giselle Moses.........................................................................................Advertising
meeting, one citizen in er, was enough to get the
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
the audience asked coun- council wondering if some-
column inch. Cost for classified ad is 50¢ per word. Cost for Card of Thanks is $10 up to
cilmembers if any had read thing was happening they
100 words. Cost for a classified display ad is $6.05 per column inch.
an article in that day’s East didn’t know about. “It’s
For Public/Legal Notices: public/legal notices deadline is Monday at 5 p.m. Dates for publi-
cation must be specified. Affidavits must be requested at the time of submission. Affidavits
Oregonian quoting Doherty news to us here,” Coun-
require three weeks to process after last date of publication (a sooner return date must be
as saying the town of Lex- cilmember Bill Beard said
specified if required).
For Obituaries: Obituaries are published in the Heppner GT at no charge and are edited to
ington may be dissolved when he heard the Doherty
meet news guidelines. Families wishing to include information not included in the guidelines
and become part of the quote. Some others in the
or who wish to have the obituary written in a certain way must purchase advertising space
county at large. Doherty audience wondered if his
for the obituary.
For Letters to the Editor: Letters to the Editor MUST be signed by the author. The Heppner
was apparently speaking at comments had been taken
GT will not publish unsigned letters. All letters MUST include the author’s address and phone
a recent candidates’ forum out of context. The citi-
number for use by the GT office. The GT reserves the right to edit letters. The GT is not
when he mentioned the zen audience member who
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.
possibility the town could brought the article to the
become unincorporated.
council’s attention said
His comment, how- she would like answers as
ever, was part of a larger to what Doherty meant. “I
Send birth announcements to editor@rapidserve.net or upload to Heppner.net.
statement about help for would like the council to
Aubrey Joy Rice
certain cities within the ask him to come here and
– David and Dakota
county. “Different commu- explain to the townspeople
Rice, Heppner, wel-
nities in Morrow County what that really meant,”
comed a daughter, Au-
brey Joy, on October
9, 2020. Aubrey was
born at Kadlec weigh-
Send engagement and wedding announcements to editor@rapidserve.net or
ing 7 lbs. 2 oz and
upload to Heppner.net.
measuring 19 ¼ inches
long.
Aubrey joins three
siblings, Tyler, 10, Lo- Aubrey Joy Rice
gan, 6, and Madison,
3.
Grandparents are Jim Rice, Yakima and Marti Ko-
Mayci Garrett, Hep-
erner, Heppner. Great-grandmother is Leslie Moore, pner, and Troy Richman,
Prosser, WA.
Hermiston, were wed Au-
gust 25, 2020 at Bowditch
Point Park, Fort Myers
New Baby in Your Family?
Beach, FL.
Garrett, the daughter of
Engagement?
Doug
and Sariena Garrett,
Wedding?
Heppner, graduated from
We want to share your life events!
Heppner High School and
Stop in the Heppner Gazette office or email us Pioneer Pacific College. Troy and Mayci Richman
with details and photos.
She works as a certified
medical assistant at Mor- uated from Hermiston High
All birth, engagement and wedding
announcements are always free!
row County Health District. School. He is a US Army
Richman is the son of veteran and is currently
188 W Willow Street
Randall and Becky Rich- employed as a salesman at
Heppner, OR
man of Hermiston and grad- United Rentals.
editor@rapidserve.net
Morrow County’s Home-Owned Weekly Newspaper
Births
Weddings/Engagements
Richman, Garrett
wed in Florida
said Dorothy Edwards,
who brought up the quote.
“I want to know before I
decide who to vote for (for
commissioner,), she added.
Mayor Juli Kennedy
said she hadn’t yet read
the article but would con-
tact Doherty for an expla-
nation of the comments.
Following the meeting she
called him and asked for
clarification on “where this
was coming from.” “First
off, I let him know that
community members were
concerned that a comment
like that was put in the pa-
per and it caused them to
wonder what was going on
and if something happened.
I told him that things with
Lexington have been much
better since there have been
a few changes. That we
are doing well, and we are
excited about our future,”
Kennedy said in an email
to councilmembers the next
day.
Kennedy said Doherty
attributed comments about
unincorporating to a pre-
vious county planner, who
had made the comments
that she was concerned
Lexington was going to
be absorbed by the county.
Kennedy said Doherty told
her he thought unincorpo-
rating would be a bad idea.
“I told him that we have
no intention of letting that
happen. I also reminded
him that when the budget
was not passed last year and
the town was shut down,
yes I’m sure there was talk
about that happening within
some circles, but that is not
where we are now,” Kenne-
dy said in her email.
Kennedy said Doherty
told her county govern-
ment needed to assess the
needs of each community
better “when figuring out
assistance and funding. For
example, Lexington may
need more money allocat-
ed to them than Boardman
because of needs,” he said.
Doherty also expressed
that same view to the
Heppner Gazette-Times
later when contacted for
further comments on the
quote. Doherty said some
areas of the county might
need more assistance than
others, pointing out that
although Columbia River
Enterprise Zone (CREZ)
funds are distributed on
a population basis around
the county, maybe the
CREZ board should look
more at a city’s needs, rath-
er than just its population.
In the end Mayor Ken-
nedy was positive about
what she heard from
Doherty. “The conversation
overall was good and ended
well, but I did make it clear
that we had no intention of
letting something like that
happen,” she said.
In other business at
the October 13 meeting
the council talked about a
request from a resident to
change his address to Hum-
phries Street. The council
was not sure if Humphries
was even a legal street in
Lexington, even though
there is a street sign with
that name. “I’m not against
it but we have to make sure
it is even a legal street,”
councilmember Bobbi Gor-
don said. The name change
request was tabled until
more information was re-
ceived. Town Recorder
MacKia Tarvin was in-
structed to contact the coun-
ty for more information.
The council also re-
ceived a letter from Brent
Gunderson, CPA, of the
accounting firm Connected
Professional that the firm
would no longer be doing
the town’s yearly audit.
“We appreciate your busi-
ness and the relationship
our firm has had with you
over the years,” Gunderson
wrote in his letter. “Unfor-
tunately, we have decided
we need to reduce our au-
dit and review services to
maintain the quality of our
product.” He said his com-
pany has grown and, “We
regrettably must ask you
to engage another firm to
provide you with future re-
view services.” Town staff
said they would investigate
a replacement firm to do the
town’s audit.
In other business the
council heard a report from
town maintenance man
Scott Lamb who said the
east side paving project was
done and that he got some
cold patch from the county
to fill some pot holes. He
reported that with the help
of Lexington Pump the
chlorine pump was rebuilt
and tubing changed. “It
seems to be working good
again,” he told the council.
Lamb also said the
town was investigating
getting some reimburse-
ment for COVID related
expenses. There is $25,000
in grant money available
for reimbursement such as
cleaning town hall. He also
said he was investigating
possibly getting a pickup
truck with a plow from
the county for the winter
months. The town does
not have plow at this time.
The option is to buy just
the plow, or the plow and
pickup together.
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