FOUR - Heppner Gazette-Times, Heppner, Oregon Wednesday, March 3, 2021
County awards
$371,939 in
COVID grants
Morrow County, last
month, awarded $371,939
in CARES, Coronavirus
Aid, Relief, and Economic
Security and Tillamook
Cheese money grants to
businesses and organiza-
tions throughout the county.
The funds came from
the federal government,
down through the state and
then to the counties. In an
Good News Only
effort to help local busi-
nesses Tillamook Cheese
of Boardman also added
money to the fund. Below is
a list of the businesses and
organizations who received
funding. The county has
announced another round of
funding and is now taking
applications. See related
article this issue.
By Doris Brosnan
Can you smell it?
Springtime seems to al-
most be blowing in the
wind, probably from the
plants emerging from the
ground and leaves forming
on the trees. But while these
changes seem to be occur-
ring down here, more ac-
cumulations of snow were
recently forecasted for the
mountains. Pleasant for us
lowlanders and good omen
of more moisture for later
agricultural operations.
Trees on Main Street
that have reached the end
of their longevity – some
broken, some dying – are
being removed by the City
Maintenance employees,
soon to be replaced with
new trees, which will, hope-
fully, serve to beautify the
street for another 30 years
or so.
City Manager Kraig
Cutsforth views as very
good news the increasing
interest in new building
construction in Heppner.
Some building sites have
merited interest by indi-
viduals planning to make
our community their new
home, another new duplex
is being planned, and some
buildings that previously
housed particular entities
are going to be repurposed
soon.
The fifth- and sixth-
grade teachers at HES,
Mrs. Proudfoot and Mrs.
Coiner, are thrilled to be
able to bring back Time Out
for Reading this year. It’s a
reading program that be-
gan with Mrs. Allen many
years ago… and something
fifth and sixth graders look
forward to every year. Stu-
dents keep track of minutes
read each week for four
weeks (four quarters) and
earn prizes for their partic-
ipation and effort. “We are
so thankful for generous
donors this year (Jannie Al-
len, Karen Smith-Griffith,
Heppner Parent-Teacher
Club, Heppner Oddfellows
Lodge) who allow us to
continue offering this fun
program. This year there
were 14 students who read
over 1,000 minutes in the
first week.”
As reported in the East
Oregonian, Hunter Nichols
was scheduled to travel to
South Dakota on Monday
morning to participate for
Eastern Oregon Universi-
ty (in his second year) in
the NAIA Indoor National
Track and Field Champi-
onships in Yankton, SD,
scheduled for March 3-6.
Ranked nationally 14 th in
the 1000-meter, Hunter will
face the prelims on Thurs-
day. The finals will be on
Saturday. He is ranked 8 th
all-time in the EOU record
book, but according to his
coach, “He could be one of
the best we have ever had.”
On February 23, Pat
Sweeney listened to his
wife, Trish, and went to an
ER in the Tri-Cities. On the
24 th , Pat received a stent in
a heart artery that was 95
percent blocked. On the
25 th , the Sweeneys headed
home but were diverted by a
call from Spray. Fortunate-
ly, Pat says he was feeling
fine then and continues to
feel good. He cautions that
a person should listen to
his/her body before having
to listen to a spouse, and he
expects that he will have
to listen for the next ten
years to Trish’s “I saved
your life.”
Some good news items
come from beyond our
south Morrow County lim-
its, but they prove the truth
of “the ties that bind.”
Hannah Green, daugh-
ter of Dave Green, is a
junior at Wenatchee High
School in Washington.
Hannah spent last week-
end with her dad but first
began her time in Heppner
in a 6:30 a.m. Skype inter-
view on Fox News. The
school is making a hit on
social media and national
news networks with its
green practice pods (small,
one-person-and-instrument
tents) for its bands, and
Hannah was chosen as one
of three golden apple band
members interviewed for
their insights into this inno-
vative approach that allows
students to gather together
but individually in their
pods to practice live instead
of online. Such an honor for
an outstanding student.
Janet White appreciates
being able to catch weekly
glimpses of our area, via
the Heppner Gazette: “I am
one of the many subscribers
who once lived in that area.
I lived in Ione for almost
20 years. I just renewed
my subscription for a year
to the Gazette.” Janet, who
now lives in Redmond,
looks forward especially
to reading more Ione news.
Last week from Verina
(French) Schiller who is a
daughter of Raymond and
Norma French, “I didn’t
think I had any good news,
but now I am happy to say
that we have electric power,
warmth and water again
here in our apartment in
north Austin [Texas] area.
We were melting snow for
water and boiling the water.
Our family in Dallas and
south Austin has electricity
again. Also, we do not have
any burst water pipes…
(but so much fall-out and
damage from this disaster
is still going on in the way
of burst water pipes in both
residential plus commercial
and business buildings,
plumbers here are over-
whelmed with calls and
many are told they won’t
be able to get any help until
sometime in April, if even
then) … or damage from
snapped tree limbs weighed
down by thick, heavy ice
(as some have suffered). We
have been in Texas for over
27 years now and have nev-
er seen anything like this
before. We are more grate-
ful than ever for these ba-
sics that seem like luxuries
now and will not take any
of these for granted again..
Also, I am grateful for my
hometown of Heppner and
the Heppner Gazette-Times
in which I can come home
every week.”
Readers will surely be
happy to see your good
news, so take a few min-
utes, if you wish, to jot it
down as an email or call it
in. (Just a few ideas: new
babies, marriages, anni-
versaries, new jobs, new
businesses, visitors, trav-
els, vacations, adventures,
promotions and successes,
great pets, children’s’ ac-
complishments.) Anyone
who has a tidbit is invited to
email it to dbrosnan123@
gmail.com or to call 541-
233-1490.
Hoping some good
news comes to everyone
reading this.
NEW IRRIGON FACILITY
-Continued from PAGE ONE the Arts and Mathematics
diesel, gasoline, lubricants
and aviation fuel for the
next three years. Under
the agreement Devin Oil
will provide approximately
67,500 gallons of unleaded
gas and 60,000 gallons of
diesel fuel to the Morrow
County Road Department
in Lexington, 1,500 gallons
of unleaded mid-grade fuel,
and 2,000 gallons of diesel
delivered to the OHV park,
7,000 gallons of aviation
fuel to the Lexington airport
and various types of oils,
greases and hydraulic fuels
to operate county vehicles.
$1 million to schools for
STEM
In other business
the county agreed to pay
schools in the county $1
million over the next year
for their STEAM and
STEM programs in the
schools. The programs
promote an “approach to
learning that uses Science,
Technology, Engineering,
K2 Aerial provides agricultural
spraying of pesticides and
broad cast spreading of
dry materials such as
seed or fertilizer.
as access points for guiding
student inquiry, dialogue,
and critical thinking.” Each
school in the county will
receive a $100,000 base
amount and then more per
school depending on their
enrollment.
In each school the mon-
ey will be allotted 60 per-
cent going to the science,
tech, engineering and math,
and 40 percent going to arts
and music. The money for
the program comes from
the new Wheatridge wind
and solar project in Morrow
County, which pays Stra-
tegic Investment Program
money to the county in lieu
of taxes.
Food processor gets tax
refund
The commission-
ers learned RDO/Calbee
Foods, LLC of Boardman
would be getting a tax re-
fund of $94,141. Calbee
had appealed the property
valuation of its potato pro-
cessing plant at the Port of
Morrow to Oregon tax court
and a ruling was made in
their favor.
Under the judgment,
Calbee’s property valuation
will be reduced from its
current $16,345,520 to a
court ordered $14,797,170.
Calbee had appealed its
valuation to the court and
as a result will be refunded
the overpaid taxes from the
past two years.
Last November the
county had created a re-
serve account especially to
repay taxes on valuations
that were appealed and
granted. Commissioners set
aside $380,020 and the re-
fund will be paid from that.
Pacific Ethanol Columbia,
LLC also filed an appeal to
the Oregon Tax Court on
its property tax assessment,
however no judgment has
yet been issued by the court.
Any refund to Pacific Etha-
nol would also be paid out
of the reserve fund.
County to host two
school interns
In other action the
county agreed to host two
high school internship posi-
tions, one through the plan-
ning office in Irrigon and
the other as a “float” posi-
tion in south county. (see
article p. 2 in last week’s
Gazette-Times) Under the
program students are paid
minimum wage through
the Port of Morrow Enter-
prise Zone agreements. The
county would be considered
the host employer, but the
students are technically
employed by Intermountain
Educational Service Dis-
trict, IMESD, in Pendleton.
Under the plan host
employers such as the coun-
ty will provide a position
description which will be
posted on the IMESD em-
ployment page. Students
will apply March through
April and interviews are
held the middle of May.
The program covers
students to work up to 15
hours per week. Students
start their internship the
second week of school
in the fall. Mid-semester
evaluations are done to
determine if the placement
is a good fit. If the host em-
ployer and student would
like to continue, they can
keep working through the
rest of the school year.
541-980-8498
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