County declares
Steve Myren Day
50¢
VOL. 140
NO. 6
8 Pages
Wednesday, February 10, 2021
Morrow County, Heppner, Oregon
Council hears Dollar General arguments
Let’s get the discussion started,” urges opponent John Murray
By David Sykes
If a Dollar General
Store is allowed to locate
in Heppner it could drive
the local grocery store out
of business and create a
“food desert” that would
lower the livability and
health standards of Hep-
pner, local businessman and
pharmacist John Murray Nationwide discount chain Dollar General is looking to establish a store in Heppner and is
told the Heppner city coun- currently negotiating to purchase the Cornerstone Gallery and RV Park property on Main
Street. -Photo by David Sykes.
cil Monday.
Heppner businessman John Murray (right) makes his case to city council on why Dollar General should not be allowed to
locate in Heppner. Left to right are councilmembers JoAnna Lamb and Dave Gunderson, City Manager Kraig Cutsforth and
City Clerk Tarina Foster. Above them is the large TV screen with the Zoom meeting projected. Thirty-nine people attended
the meeting by Zoom.
In making his case
against the store Murray,
who along with his wife
Ann own the local phar-
macy, said the company
has a reputation for poor
employment and business
practices, including $56
million in fines, and for sell-
ing outdated and defective
merchandise with excessive
amounts of toxic chemicals.
He handed out media and
other reports to the council
to back up his claims.
Murray’s attendance
at the council meeting was
prompted by Dollar Gener-
al’s earlier announcement it
is considering purchasing
a lot on Main Street and
building a new store. A
final decision is expected
by the company sometime
this year, but Murray and
several other businesses
and individuals are being
proactive to block the store.
The lot they are looking at
currently has an RV park
and the Cornerstone Gal-
lery store owned by local
businessman Alvin Liu.
Liu says he is currently in
negotiations with Dollar
General for the sale, but it
has not been closed yet.
Opposition to the store
was mounted first by local
businesspeople Drew and
Tayllor Brannon, owners
of Breaking Grounds Cof-
fee Shop and Breaking
Bread distributorship in
Heppner. Other businesses
and individuals have joined
the effort, and the Bran-
nons urged people to attend
Monday’s council meeting
to let their opposition be
known. Murray was the
main opposition spokesper-
son at Monday’s monthly
city council meeting.
Murray says the pur-
pose of his coming to the
city council was to start a
discussion now on whether
the store is good for Hep-
pner and should be allowed
here. Dollar General has
16,278 stores in 46 states
across the country, includ-
ing 57 locations in Oregon.
Because of COVID restric-
tions, a limited number of
people were inside city hall
for the meeting, however 39
people attended the meeting
by Zoom.
In additional to the poor
working conditions and
substandard merchandise
he says the company offers,
Murray said the biggest
reason he doesn’t want
the store here is a fear it
will skim off the profits
from the existing Heppner
Family Foods grocery store
causing it to close, leaving
the town without a place to
buy fresh fruits, vegetables
and meats. Murray says a
store like Dollar General
only sells food items “from
the middle of the grocery
store” meaning processed
and packaged foods, which
are the highest profit. He
said the Dollar stores do not
carry the perishable and less
profitable foods sold around
the edges of grocery stores
that are healthier and more
nutritious. When this hap-
pens, Murrays says in other
communities the grocery
store closes down creating
what he called a “food des-
ert” with no nutritious foods
available.
A representative from
the local grocery store did
not speak at the council
meeting and has publicly
joined a group of businesses
that have come out against
Dollar General, but Murray
said even if the local gro-
cery store does “weather
the storm” and survive the
competition of a new Dollar
General, “Why should we
take a chance?” he told the
council. Murray said he is
not against fair competition,
but he urged the council to
consider an ordinance that
would require any Dollar
type store locating here to
be required to offer fresh
foods. Although looking at
their businesses model he
admitted that stipulation
would probably preclude
them from locating here.
“Why should the leadership
of this city in this room take
a chance that their business
practices are good enough
to withstand a $27 billion
business?” I don’t think we
should. I don’t want to have
anything that dangerous to
the one grocery store that
covers 500 square miles,”
he said about the local Fam-
ily Foods Store.
Murray made a case
to the council against the
store, urging the start of a
discussion including pass-
ing out packets of informa-
tion to councilmembers de-
tailing the Dollar General’s
poor business practices and
a sample ordinance from
a Texas city that might be
used to stop them. Howev-
er, some thought Heppner
needs new businesses in
town and that many people
are leaving town to shop
for many of the items the
store would offer. “They
are bringing in six to 10
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jobs. Where are we going
to find six to 10 new jobs
in Heppner?” Mayor Jim
Kindle asked. Murray said
the Dollar General would
only take employees from
other stores and not add
to the employment base in
Heppner. “If their wages
are so horrible, why would
an employee go there when
they can go to your business
and make more money?”
Kindle asked Murray. Mur-
ray said he did not have an
answer to that. Maybe with
us having people here that
don’t work because they
can sit here and collect
welfare and not have to
drive more than 45 miles
to work, so they choose not
to work. Maybe bringing in
more jobs will force these
guys to get a job where
they don’t collect benefits,”
Kindle said of the economic
opportunity he thought the
new store would offer.
Kindle also brought up
the subject of competition,
saying what if, for instance,
someone wanted to open a
coffee shop, tire store or
another pharmacy in town,
all of which are already
located here, would that
be allowed? Murray said
he did not have a prob-
lem with competition and
would “go head-to-head”
if another pharmacy were
to open in Heppner and
does have competition in
Steve Myren
In honor of Steve
Myren, who recently passed
away, Morrow County
Commissioners passed a
resolution declaring Febru-
ary 4, 2021 as Steve Myren
Day. The resolution was
signed by commissioners
Jim Doherty, Don Russell
and Melissa Lindsay.
The resolution ad-
dressed Myren’s accom-
plishments during his life
which included being a
Morrow County Sheriff
Deputy, D.A.R.E. teacher,
Morrow County Emergen-
cy Manager, FEMA Emer-
gency Operations Section
Chief for the Incident Re-
sponse Coordination Team
with the US Dept. of Health
and Human Services and
providing emergency op-
erations at the World Trade
Center during the Septem-
ber 11 terrorist attack and
worldwide emergencies for
earthquakes and hurricanes.
Boardman where he recent-
ly opened a pharmacy. He
also owns a pharmacy in
Condon. “Conflict is good.
Competition is good,” said
Kindle. Murray said he did
not have a problem with
competition, he just wanted
a level playing field and see
it required that a new store
offer the same perishable
products as the existing
grocery store.
John Sargent attend-
ed the meeting by Zoom
and asked why Heppner is
not having any economic
growth. “I lived in Hep-
pner a long time. What are
we doing for economic
growth? It’s been 20 years
since Heppner lost the mill
and I have seen nothing,”
he said. He said Heppner
has lost 350 people over the
past 10 years and many peo-
ple now drive to Hermiston
to do their grocery shop-
ping. “Heppner is already
hurting from that. What are
you doing to change?” he
asked. Sargent’s questions
opened a wider discussion
at the meeting about Hep-
pner’s economic future.
Murray said work is
now being done at the for-
mer mill site to get the
property out of the flood
plain and make it avail-
able and buildable for new
businesses to locate there.
“We are working on the
Kinzua mill site to get de-
velopment there,” he said.
Murray added that the Port
of Morrow, for which he is
a board member, is putting
in a $100,000 water sys-
tem at the industrial park
and is also trying to get
rid of the old co-gen plant
located there. The Port is
the owner of the site. He
also pointed out the county
planning commission is
working on establishing
new small 10 acre building
sites that would allow peo-
ple to build on the “scab”
hillsides around Heppner.
Murray was optimistic for
Heppner’s future, saying,
“I’d say we are doing a
heck of a lot for econom-
ic development in south
Morrow County,” adding
that he would not like to
see Heppner remove a ba-
sic service like a grocery
store by allowing a Dollar
General to come in and put
it out of business. Murray
said he thinks Heppner is
on the cusp of some good
things happening and its
future looks bright. “Let’s
not ruin it by allowing this
dollar box store to come
here,” he urged the council.
The options for actual-
ly stopping the store seem
limited however, as the
store will be locating in a
commercial zone under an
allowed use, which means
there shouldn’t be any need
for the city to grant either a
variance or conditional use.
Heppner also does not have
business license require-
ments and does not regulate
what businesses operate
within the city limits. Any
building licenses sought by
the store would be obtained
not at Heppner City Hall but
from the building inspec-
tor’s office in Boardman.
Murray did hand out a
sample ordinance from the
city of Mesquite, Texas he
says if adopted may be able
to stop the store by forcing
Dollar General to carry
perishable items. Carrying
low margin perishables is
not part of Dollar General’s
business plan and could,
opponents hope, make the
company abandon plans to
locate here.
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