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About Heppner gazette-times. (Heppner, Or.) 1925-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 6, 2021)
Morrow County moves from extreme to high-risk status Allowed to resume offering indoor services 50¢ VOL. 140 NO. 1 8 Pages Wednesday, January 6, 2021 Morrow County, Heppner, Oregon Vehicle crashes into dentist office Morrow County, one of five Oregon counties, re- cently moved from extreme risk to high risk based on recent COVID-19 spread. Umatilla County is one of the 24 counties that re- mained in the extreme risk category. Oregon Governor Kate Brown announced the up- dates to the risk levels based on the state’s new public health framework which is supposed to reduce trans- mission of the COVID-19 virus. The framework uses four different risk lev- els for counties based on COVID-19 spread: extreme risk, high risk, moderate risk and lower risk. Health and safety measures are assigned for each level. The five counties, Clat- sop, Coos, Douglas, Lin- coln and Morrow, moved to the high-risk category effective January 1. High- risk is the first level where some businesses and facil- ities can resume offering indoor services. There are still 24 counties considered at extreme risk, seven coun- ties at lower risk and zero at moderate. Matlack receives COVID-19 vaccine A driver who is believed to have had some sort of medical emergency, hit the front of the Advantage Dental office in Heppner last Wednesday. Inset: the vehicle that hit the building suffered some damage. Mark Andrew White, 71, of Heppner has been identified as the driver of the vehicle that rammed into the Heppner Advan- tage Dental Office, twice, before a bystander, who refused to be identified, jumped into the vehicle and stopped it. The employees inside the dental office said it sounded like a bomb went off. The driver appeared to have suffered a medical emergency, according to information provided by the Morrow County Sheriff’s Office. Bowles still sought as person of interest Oregon State Police are still searching for David Bowles, husband of Marlen Bowles who was shot on December 15 in Heppner and later died. Bowles, 43, is a person of interest in the investigation. According to Morrow County Sheriff Ken Matlack, the lead for the investigation was trans- ferred to OSP partly be- cause David Bowles is the brother of Morrow County Undersheriff John Bowles. The victim in the shoot- ing, Marlen Bowles, was Life Flighted to OHSU in critical condition, where she later died. She had one 14-year-old son and two children over the age of 18, but it is unknown if any of them were David Bowles’ children. She was well known in the community and worked at the Gateway Café in Heppner. Morrow County Dis- trict Attorney Justin Nelson is encouraging anyone with David Bowles any information about the location of David Bowles to contact the state police, as any piece of information could help. “I am request- ing that anyone with infor- mation on this case please contact the Oregon State Police. I am concerned that there are members of our community that have information that has not been shared. While they may have received infor- mation from someone else, that is still information that law enforcement may not have at this time. I am worried that people in our Dr. Joseph Sharon, the dentist at the office, who was outside after the ac- cident along with the em- ployees, said that the office will be closed down until further notice. Morrow County Sheriff Ken Matlack is the first to get his COVID-19 vaccination at an outdoor clinic held by the Morrow County Health Department on December 31. Matlack’s shot was administered by Erin Anderson, RN, Morrow County Health Department nurse. People receiving the shots were told to wait for 15 minutes before leaving in case of a reaction. They will need to wait 28 days before receiving the second dose. County officials sworn in community just assume that information they hear is known to law enforcement and many times that is not the case. If you do see Da- vid Bowles please do not approach him and instead call law enforcement right away.” The investigation is being led by OSP Sgt. Sean Beldine, Baker City. Bel- dine is the criminal sergeant who handles Umatilla, Bak- er and Union counties. At this time, a press release with information regarding the investigation has not been released. Bowles was last seen driving a brown Chevrolet Impala with Oregon license plate URG552. He is a 5-foot-6, 180-pound white male with graying hair and blue eyes. Police are urging residents to not confront him, but to call 911 or OSP Dispatch at 800-442-2068 and reference OSP case No. SP200348879. December warmer than normal According to prelim- inary data received by NOAA’s National Weath- er Service in Pendleton, temperatures at Heppner averaged warmer than nor- mal during the month of December. The average tempera- ture was 35.7 degrees which was 2.3 degrees above nor- mal. High temperatures av- eraged 43.9 degrees, which was 2.5 degrees above nor- mal. The highest was 62 degrees on the 22 nd . Low temperatures averaged 27.5 degrees, which was 2.0 degrees above normal. The lowest was 17 degrees, on the 24 th . There were 22 days with the low temperature below 32 degrees. There was one day when the high temperature stayed below County officials, elected in November, were sworn in Tuesday at the Morrow County Court House. L-R: Commissioner Jim Doherty, Clerk Bobbi Childers, Justice of the Peace Glen Diehl, Treasurer Jaylene Papineau and Sheriff Kenneth Matlack. -Photo by David Sykes. 32 degrees. Precipitation totaled 0.75 inches during Decem- ber, which was 0.57 inches below normal. Measurable precipitation, at least .01 inch, was received on nine days with the heaviest, 0.21 inches reported on the 12 th . Precipitation in 2020 totaled 10.43 inches, which is 3.57 inches below nor- mal. Since October, the water year precipitation at Heppner has been 3.48 inches, which is 0.58 inches below normal. Snowfall totaled 0.5 inches. The heaviest snow- fall was 0.5 inches reported on the 13 th . The outlook for Janu- ary from NOAA’s Climate Prediction Center calls for above normal temperatures and above normal precip- itation. Normal highs for Heppner during January are 43.6 degrees and normal lows are 26.7 degrees. The 30-year normal precipita- tion is 1.47 inches. 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