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.
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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