TWO - Heppner Gazette-Times, Heppner, Oregon Wednesday, February 17, 2021
The Official Newspaper
of the City of Heppner and the County of Morrow
Heppner
GAZETTE-TIMES
County and Port reach new enterprise
zone rules agreement
By David Sykes
Concluding months of
Morrow County’s Home-Owned Weekly Newspaper
back-and-forth fine tun-
SEARCH OLD COPIES OF THE HEPPNER GAZETTE-TIMES ON-LINE: ing, the Port of Morrow
http://oregonnews.uoregon.edu/
and Morrow County have
finally reached agreement
Published weekly by Sykes Publishing and entered as periodical matter at the Post
Office at Heppner, Oregon under the Act of March 3, 1879. Periodical postage paid
on the nuts and bolts set of
at Heppner, Oregon. Office at 188 W. Willow Street. Telephone (541) 676-9228. Fax
rules that will govern oper-
(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,
ation of the new Columbia
P.O. Box 337, Heppner, Oregon 97836. Subscriptions: $31 in Morrow County; $25
Enterprise Zone III (CREZ
senior rate (in Morrow County only; 65 years or older); $37 elsewhere; $31 student
III) for the next five years.
subscriptions.
David Sykes ..............................................................................................Publisher
The new zone will replace
Bobbi Gordon................................................................................................ Editor
the extraordinarily suc-
Giselle Moses.........................................................................................Advertising
cessful but expired CREZ
All News and Advertising Deadline is Monday at 5 p.m.
II, and the IGA, or inter-
For Advertising: advertising deadline is Monday at 5 p.m. Cost for a display ad is $5.25 per
column inch. Cost for classified ad is 50¢ per word. Cost for Card of Thanks is $10 up to
governmental agreement,
100 words. Cost for a classified display ad is $6.05 per column inch.
will guide the day-to-day
For Public/Legal Notices: public/legal notices deadline is Monday at 5 p.m. Dates for publi-
operations of what could
cation must be specified. Affidavits must be requested at the time of submission. Affidavits
require three weeks to process after last date of publication (a sooner return date must be
be, if it is anything like its
specified if required).
predecessor, a very lucra-
For Obituaries: Obituaries are published in the Heppner GT at no charge and are edited to
meet news guidelines. Families wishing to include information not included in the guidelines
tive organization.
or who wish to have the obituary written in a certain way must purchase advertising space
The new CREZ III
for the obituary.
faced several hurdles even
For Letters to the Editor: Letters to the Editor MUST be signed by the author. The Heppner
GT will not publish unsigned letters. All letters MUST include the author’s address and phone
getting to this point, chief
number for use by the GT office. The GT reserves the right to edit letters. The GT is not
among them the conten-
responsible for accuracy of statements made in letters. Any letters expressing thanks will
tious negotiations between
be placed in the classifieds under “Card of Thanks” at a cost of $10.
the port and county creating
the new zone. The two at
first could not even agree
Send birth announcements to editor@rapidserve.net or upload to Heppner.net. if Boardman should join
the port and county and be
a permanent member. The
port wanted them perma-
nent, as they had been for
past 10 years during the life
Braden and Amber Britt announce the birth of their of CREZ II, but at least two
son, Montgomery
of the county commission-
Reed Britt. Mont-
ers did not want Boardman
gomery (Monte)
included. The disagreement
was born February
at one point even looked to
8, 2021 at 7:09 a.m.
be sinking the new enter-
at Colville Hospi-
prise zone, with the county
tal in Colville, WA.
even having to apply for an
He weighed seven
extension after negotiations
pounds, two ounc-
dragged on past the June
es and measured 19
2020 application deadline.
inches. He is Bra- Montgomery Reed Britt
But the port and county
den and Amber’s first
finally worked things out
child.
and the new zone was born.
Grandparents are Rick and Shelli Britt of Heppner
and Dennis and Lorrie Baunach of Colville WA.
Under the new deal Board-
man will not be a permanent
member of CREZ III but
will join the board if a new
business development has
interest in locating within
its newly defined “influence
zone.” Each of the other
four cities in the county
also now have their own
influence zones, and under
the new rules they too will
be at the table as a CREZ
III board member if a new
business seeks to develop
close to their city.
Under the new rules,
when a project is within a
city’s influence zone, CREZ
III shall be governed by
a board of directors com-
prised of nine directors,
three from the affected
city, three from the county
and three from the port. At
least one of those three must
be an elected official from
that entity. If the business
development does not fall
within any of the five zones
of influence then the coun-
ty and port will alone be
members of a six-member
board, three from the port
and three from the county.
The IGAs between the five
cities and the permanent en-
terprise zone members, the
port and county, still must
go before the city councils
for approval before they
will be fully implemented.
One wrinkle in the vot-
ing procedure in the new
IGA requires that instead
of a simple majority of
five votes to approve an
action, six votes are needed.
Additionally, at least two
‘21 GOALS
The compromise that
the city crew seems to
so far have created be-
tween drivers’ safety and
homeowners’ access and
snow-sledders’ fun is good
news. The giggles, shouts,
and screams as young and
older sledders race down
some of our hills are ex-
hilarating. And unless a
particular street is closed to
vehicles, drivers are watch-
ing carefully for people and
sledders are being super
cautious.
Good news for recip-
ients, “Neither rain nor
snow…” could keep the
St. Patrick’s Altar Society
volunteers from delivering
the so-important beautiful
Valentines’ Day orders for
Country Rose. Extra Mur-
ray’s staff Hannah Palmer,
Shelby Dixon, Stephanie
Rill and Latosha Hedman
created the floral arrange-
ments, and Stefanie and
Mack Sweeney, Kay Proc-
tor and Janet Greenup de-
livered on Friday and Satur-
day to Heppner, Lexington
and Ione. For this effort
and again on Mother’s Day,
the church receives floral
arrangements for its altar.
Good to hear that Merry
Chandler was also able to
help Murray’s crew with
arrangements.
Good news for Morrow
County Chronicles readers
is that Jeanne Creswick is
going to take a walk into the
past, when the circus came
to town. She will be rely-
ing on research, her 1955
memories and the stories
U.S.P.S. 240-420
Births
Montgomery
Reed Britt
-Continued from PAGE ONE
for City Hall maintenance
items, windows, complete
the painting. (short term).
6. Bid out and complete
work on end of Fairview
Way to city limits and Jones
Street. (short term).
7. Look for grants to
reduce/ improve water us-
age and sewage treatment
volumes. (long term).
8. Add sewer/water/
power and pave property
at Chase and May street.
(long term.)
9. Cameras in parks,
update internet at City Hall,
PW. (short term).
10. Meter at well #1
and reservoir #1 (short
term).
11.Crack seal Court
Street
In other business the
city received notice that
Business Oregon had ap-
proved a no-repayment
grant of $20,000 for a feasi-
bility study on building the
new waste system.
The council heard a
report from Public Works
Director Chad Doherty who
said among other things
the crew last month picked
up new downtown trees in
Canby, removed the stumps
and replaced trees in front
of Heppner Family Foods
and Peterson Jewelry on
Main Street. Doherty re-
ported there were four more
trees left to be planted. The
crew also took down the
town Christmas decorations
and received 21 new gar-
bage cans which the crew
placed around downtown
and in the parks.
The council also vot-
ed to renew a lease with
Dickenson Chiropractic for
office space owned by the
city in the back of city hall
on May Street. The renewal
is for one year and the rent
is $450 per month.
Heard a report from
Fire Chief Steve Rhea who
said his department for the
month of January had one
motor vehicle accident,
secured the helicopter land-
ing zone four times, had
one electrical fire, three
lift assists with ambulance
and provided mutual aid to
Boardman.
Rhea also released
year-end figures for all of
2020 which showed in the
Rural Fire District area
there were among other
things, 25 motor vehicle
accidents last year, secured
the Life Flight landing zone
in Heppner 71 times, an-
swered 10 wildland fires,
three structure fires in the
city. He also reported 25
ambulance assists, three
flood alarms, two calls of
power lines arcing, two
electrical fires, four vehicle
fires, five illegal burns, nine
mutual aids to Ione and one
to Lexington. There were
204 total incidents the de-
partment handled last year.
NEW SIGN ON BONUS
$4000 - $6500
$15.50/hour
restrictions and taxes do apply
Safely drive
Morrow County
students to success
with MidCo Bus.
APPLY NOW
(541) 481-7551 MidCoBus.com
230 Boardman Ave. NE
Boardman, OR 97818
By Doris Brosnan
Good to see that good
news continues.
Good news for Main
Street and several neighbor-
hoods had some volunteers
come with snowplows,
shovels and brooms to try
to keep sidewalks walkable.
Obviously, that has contin-
ued to be a challenge as the
persistent snow has yet to
stop. An inclusive “Thank
You” goes out from appre-
ciative individuals able to
leave their homes. Neva
DeMayo may speak for
many Heppner residents,
“After hearing the weather
forecast last week I want-
ed to get downtown for
one last time to empty my
mailbox before the storms
descended upon Heppner.
By mid-day Thursday there
was already too much snow
for me to get out of my hill-
side driveway, so the only
alternative was to walk. But
I gave one last look out my
window and discovered that
someone had shoveled my
driveway. I didn’t have to
walk and risk taking a fall,
after all. The following day
I looked out my window
and discovered that some-
one had shoveled the steps
and sidewalk that led to my
front door. I have no idea
who was so thoughtful, but
it was much appreciated.
An excellent reason for me
to continue to live in Hep-
pner now that David’s gone.
It’s still a community that
looks out for one another.
Such a great feeling to be
living here.”
Heppner (541) 676-9158
Condon (541) 256-1200
Boardman (541) 481-9474
www.MurraysDrug.com
zones are authorized by
the state legislature. All
monies negotiated by the
previous CREZ II are still
being collected by that
organization and the board
convenes at least once a
year deciding how to spend
it. The millions of dollars
coming into the CREZ II,
and county leaders hope
also into the CREZ III, are
generated by giving new
and existing businesses,
mainly at the Port of Mor-
row, tax breaks for locating
or expanding there. Some
of the major payers into
the CREZ II are Lamb
Weston, Tillamook Cheese
and the big one, Amazon
Web Services. With its mul-
tiple server farms located in
north county for example,
Amazon pays the CREZ
II $1 million per year per
server farm (and there are
four) in lieu of, or instead
of, regular full taxes.
Proponents of the en-
terprise zones, especially
directors at the Port of Mor-
row, are adamant a zone is
a needed tool for attracting
new businesses to Mor-
row County, and without
the zone they could locate
somewhere else. Umatilla
County, for instance, also
gives tax breaks in its en-
terprise zone. The Port is
in competition with ports
and industrial sites for new
businesses all around the
state and has been very
successful attracting and
expanding business within
the zone.
Good News Only
New Drug Take Back
Kiosks at All Locations
Safe, Convenient
Prescription Medicine
Disposal
members of each of the
three entities must vote in
favor of the action for it to
pass. If a spending motion
is not approved by at least
two members of each enti-
ty, the board will be at an
impasse on the spending
action. The board members
representing each of the
entities will be appointed by
their governing body. For
instance, the city council
will appoint three members
and an alternate to serve
on the CREZ III board if
needed. Likewise, if the
port and county are also on
the board, two votes from
each entity will be required
to pass any action of the
board.
The new nine-mem-
ber, or six-member board
will then be responsible,
not only for negotiating
tax break deals with the
new businesses, but also
deciding how the money
paid in lieu of taxes into
the zone will be spent. If
the new CREZ III is any-
where near as successful as
CREZ II, that income could
reach into the millions. This
year the CREZ II board
made decisions on how to
spend over $9.5 million in
tax money throughout the
county, and that level of
income and spending will
likely increase over the next
15 years.
The new CREZ III has
a shorter life span than the
previous CREZ II and ex-
pires in five years instead
of the previous 10. The
others also have of that big
top. To share your stories
with Jeanne, contact her
via PO Box 923, Lexington,
541-989-8121 or jeancres-
wick@earthlink.net.
Yes, the Sage Garden
Preschool is opening in
Heppner on March 1. Ob-
viously, good news for the
parents of the first thirty stu-
dents registered, making a
full class (state regulations
because of space and num-
ber of teachers) within just a
half-hour after registrations
were opened. Tayllor Bran-
non and Darcie Chick will
be teaching the four-hour
morning course, located in
a back-area facility of the
Sage Clothing building.
Good to see little peo-
ple at Heppner Elementary
outside, enjoying hopping
like a bunny, as instructed
by their teacher. Fresh air
and exercise. Dieter Waite,
principal, reports that HES
benefitted from a window
of opportunity last October
that allowed the school
to open for half-day in-
struction on site, with each
class isolating with their
co-horts and following the
other safety instructions.
While HES has been able to
continue this method, many
schools throughout the state
continue to be working with
distance-learning only.
For school athletes it
was a long wait for good
news from OSAA, with the
final decisions/recommen-
dations sent to Governor
Brown, who has announced
that high school sports sea-
sons can go forward (within
certain circumstances), and
HHS and Ione Community
School plan to participate.
As of now, the football,
volleyball and cross-coun-
try season is scheduled
for 2/22-4/11; baseball,
softball, track, golf and
tennis 4/5-5/23; basketball
and wrestling 5/10-6/27.
Scheduled games are to
begin in March. Prior to
the start, parents and other
fans expect to learn the fi-
nal mandates dealing with
spectators – allowed or not
Roger Henry of Heppner
shovels snow at the corner
of Chase and May streets in
Heppner. He said he had a
couple more places to shovel
out that day.
allowed, limited or unlim-
ited?
Ray Grace’s good news
is that he came through
surgery at OHSU last week
feeling optimistic, and he
expects to soon be moving
to a rehabilitation facility.
In February 2020, Jim-
my Fichter received a co-
chlear implant at OHSU.
Just before last Thanksgiv-
ing, he received a second
implant. Such good news
for Jimmy, our man-about-
town, and for everyone
he enjoys visiting with,
for he can now hear nor-
mal-ranged voices for the
first time since damage
resulted from being hit by
a car when he was 24 years
old.
Trent Smith, Navy
GSE, is home on leave
until March 4. Trent, son of
Sarah Baker/Smith, grand-
son of Glorene Lesperance,
was among the only 10
percent of original recruits
who graduated from Naval
boot camp at Great Lakes,
Illinois on May 15. Trent
has been looking forward to
an assignment since waiting
for Covid-19 restrictions to
allow that. As a gas turbine
engine electrician and me-
chanic, he will report for a
four-year duty on the USS
Benfold, a destroyer sta-
tioned at Yokosuka, Japan.
Readers are encour-
aged to share their good
news. Anyone who has a
tidbit is invited to email it to
dbrosnan123@gmail.com
or to call 541-676-5382.
Hoping some good
news comes to everyone
reading this.