PUC grants UEC
petition
50¢
VOL. 140
NO. 10
8 Pages
Wednesday, March 10, 2021
Morrow County, Heppner, Oregon
Dollar General touts economic growth,
opponents gather signatures against
Store pens positive letter to council as opposition presents
153-signature petition against
By David Sykes
The battle over locat-
ing a Dollar General store
in Heppner continued to
play out at the Heppner
city council Monday night,
as opponents of the store
presented a 153-signature
petition against the retailer,
while the council was given
a two-page 832-word letter
from Dollar General offi-
cials in support of the new
retailer.
Saying the store would
be detrimental to existing
local businesses and to
the citizens of Heppner,
opponents John Murray
and Drew Brannon called
on the council to enact a
six month “mor-
atorium” against
the store’s efforts
to locate here. On
the other hand,
Dollar General’s
Steve Brophy, vice
president of gov-
ernment affairs, and
Crystal Luce, senior
director of public
relations, wrote to
councilmembers
saying the store
would have a posi-
tive economic effect
on Heppner. “At Dollar
General, we strive to be
a positive business part-
ner and good community
neighbor,” the letter said.
“We believe the addition
of a new store in Heppner
would represent positive
economic growth within
the community by provid-
ing new jobs, additional
tax revenue for the city
and help keep retail sales
local as many residents
now travel to Hermiston to
purchase everyday essen-
tials, which our store would
aim to provide,” they said.
(See the entire text of the
Dollar General letter in this
week’s Letters to the Editor
section of the Heppner Ga-
zette-Times).
Murray repeated to the
council his previous ar-
guments on the negative
impacts a store would have
on Heppner, mainly causing
the local grocery store to
go out of business leaving
Heppner in a “food desert”
with no place for residents
to buy fresh vegetables,
fruits and meats. He said
this loss of the existing
grocery store would cause
a deterioration in the health
of local residents. As Mur-
ray said at a previous coun-
cil meeting Dollar General
does not sell fresh foods
and would merely skim
the profits from the local
grocery store by undercut-
ting prices on more profit-
able preprocessed, canned
and less healthy prepacked
foods.
He has advocated the
council pass an ordinance
requiring Dollar General,
if it wants to open here, be
required to sell fresh food
which he says would create
a “level playing field” in
competition with the local
existing market. He admit-
ted that passing such a law
would stop the store from
building in Heppner, since
carrying fresh foods is not
in Dollar General’s business
model. Murray has also told
the council the store is not
the kind of business we
should want in Heppner, as
it sells defective and toxic
products, treats its employ-
ees poorly and has been
fined extensively for its
business practices. At a past
meeting Murray presented
the council with numerous
media articles he says backs
up his negative criticisms of
the chain.
Dollar General, on the
other hand, says its stores
provide service and value
to their customers. “We are
a small-box general mer-
chandise store that
provides significant
value on the essential
items that American
households use and
replenish most often
and play an import-
ant role for customers
who are looking for a
convenient option,”
their letter stated.
The letter also quoted
the Mayor of Fargo,
Georgia who said the
store has been a “god-
send” to the commu-
nity. “It is a big boost to
our local economy. That
will help boost sales tax
revenues, which is a big
part of our budget. As an
addition, I can say that I
have had a few residents say
that they no longer even go
out of Fargo to shop, since
they can get pretty much
everything they need right
here. The opening of the
new Dollar General store in
Fargo has been a godsend,”
said Mayor Roy Abbott.
The letter also touted
the store’s employment say-
ing it now employs about
600 people in Oregon and
that 75 percent of their cur-
rent store managers were
promoted from withing the
organization.
At this point the store
has its eye on a piece of
property on Main Street
where a gift shop and RV
park are now located. A
purchase has not yet been
completed on the property,
but company representa-
tives have been negotiating
with the property owner and
working with city officials
to comply with all zoning
and other laws.
Since the store is not
required to seek variances
or conditional uses from
the city to build the store,
and the city does not have
businesses licensees or is-
sue building permits, it
is not clear how the city
government could stop the
store if the council did
decide to make that effort.
Two city councilmembers
were concerned on how the
city could pass an ordinance
blocking one specific busi-
ness without stopping all
new business development
within the city. Murray and
Brannon didn’t give details
on how a moratorium or-
dinance could be worded,
however, they cited efforts
by other cities as evidence
it could be done. After dis-
cussion, the council took
no action on the requested
moratorium.
Gorge Net talks
internet service
Also at Monday’s meet-
ing was a representative of
internet service provider
Gorge Net, which recently
bought out PrineTime for
services in Heppner, Lex-
ington and Ione. Dan Bubb,
President, Gorge Networks
LLC said the company is
moving forward with plans
to put “fiber to the home”
a term used when putting
high speed fiber optic cable
into homes for high-speed
internet access. PrineTime
had started the process
of putting in the service
in south Morrow County
when it sold out.
Bubb said the company
is stringing fiber now in
Ione and would soon be
offering it in Heppner once
planning is done. He said
the company would still
offer internet through its
wi-fi service, which is how
most people were familiar
with PrineTime before the
sale. He said if people sign
up the fiber will be faster
than wi-fi. He also said the
company would probably
offer free wi-fi in the parks
for people to connect, and
also offer some connectiv-
ity for city facilities as part
of its offerings.
He did not give an ex-
act date for when the new
fiber to the home would
be offered in Heppner, but
the company would begin
advertising when it is ready
to start doing hookups. The
company is headquartered
in Hood River.
Heppner Outreach
disbanded
In other action the
council voted to disband
the Heppner Outreach
Committee, which in the
past has put on community
events such as First Fridays.
COVID was the main rea-
son given for disbanding
the group since no activities
have been able to be held
since the pandemic started.
The group can continue
meeting, it was said, it will
just no longer be an official
committee of the city of
Heppner.
By David Sykes
The Oregon Public
Utility Commission, PUC,
has granted Umatilla Elec-
tric Co-op’s, UEC, request
for a certificate of public
convenience which will
allow the co-op to move
forward with a proposed
4.3-mile overhead trans-
mission lined planned near
Boardman. The certificate
will give the co-op the
authority to use property
condemnation if necessary,
to complete the project.
Wi n d i n g i t s w a y
through public hearings,
PUC approval, and a law-
suit the certificate request
has been a hurdle UEC
needed to clear in order
to move forward with the
project, which they say
is necessary to service a
growing demand in the
Boardman area, which has
grown 13.3 percent over the
past seven years. According
to the co-op, at the end of
2019 energy sales were up
approximately 20 percent
over the prior year and
approximately 125 percent
over the last five years.
UEC is now the largest
electric cooperative in the
ten western states in terms
of power sales.
The transmission line
will run from Highway 730
switchyard to a planned
substation near Olson Road
in Boardman. Co-op of-
ficials say the line will
address local area capacity
growth and provide added
system reliability in the
Boardman area. If the co-
op cannot reach agreement
with two landowners in the
area it could require con-
demnation of those prop-
erties on which to place
the line.
During the decision
MS Awareness Week this week
Pictured (L-R) back row: Debbie Sumner, Merilee McDowell and Chris Nix. Front row: Barb
Fairchild Orwick, Crystal Holmes, Jean Wood and Jan Moffit.
This week, March 7 –
15, is MS Awareness Week.
Multiple sclerosis, or MS, is
a disease of the central ner-
vous system that can cause
symptoms throughout the
body. It is believed to be an
autoimmune condition, in
which the immune system
mistakenly attacks normal
tissues — in MS, the im-
mune system attacks the
myelin sheath that normally
protects nerve fibers in the
brain, spinal cord, and optic
nerve. As the myelin sheath
is gradually destroyed, the
Our Newly Updated Web-
site Makes It Easy To:
•Submit news
•Submit birth, engagement
and
wedding announcements
•Send us photos
•Submit letters to the editor
•Place ads
•Start a new subscription
resulting scar tissue (scle-
rosis) disrupts the electrical
impulses between the brain
and other parts of the body.
But it is not clear what caus-
es the onset of this immune
reaction, and most people
diagnosed with MS have no
known risk factors.
“It is MS Awareness
Week and I’m proud to be
a part of this movement,
along with others who have
MS in Morrow, Wheel-
er and Gilliam counties,
changing the world for peo-
ple living with MS,” said
Heppner resident Merilee
McDowell. The National
MS Society has been do-
ing whatever it takes for
75 years — during MS
Awareness Week and ev-
ery day. Inspiring stories
of people living with MS
can be found at ntlms.org/
ThisIsMS, #ThisIsMS
The local MS Support
Group, sponsored by the
MS Foundation and NMSS,
was meeting at The Drive
In in Condon every 2 nd
Thursday of the month but
due to Covid they have
process, the UEC examined
three alternative routes and
found that in terms of cost
benefit and impact, the
chosen route is the best for
cost and minimal impact
on property, environment
and agriculture operations.
Expenses for building the
new line are expected to be
entirely paid for by the in-
creased sales in the Board-
man area.
The PUC also looked
into claims that the line is
being built for the benefit
of one customer, a new
Amazon server facility be-
ing built in the Olson Road
area. UEC says the line is
necessary to add reliability
to their grid and a limited
number of customers is
not a reason to deny the
certificate.
A route north of In-
terstate 84 was pushed by
some as a better route for
the line, however UEC
claimed that path was not
less impactful than the pro-
posed route and other alter-
native routes considered.
It was also found the I-84
route would be “much more
difficult, if not impossible
to site.”
Under the proposed
route plan the UEC will still
have to gain approval from
both the county planning
department and the city of
Boardman. The county will
need to grant road crossing
permits, and the city has ad-
vised UEC’s land use team
about a planned loop road
to enhance traffic safety
in the Laurel Lane Road,
Interstate-84 interchange
area (Port of Morrow In-
terchange). UEC says the
design will accommodate
the city’s road development
plans.
had to put the meetings on
hold, continued McDowell.
This Thursday, March 11
at 10:30 a.m., the group
will begin meeting again
with coffee, sharing and
laughing (lots of laughter)
followed by lunch. People
with MS and their families
are welcome to join them,
with masks and distancing
in place. “The owner of The
Drive In, Vicki, and her
waitress have been really
good to us with our own
special place in the back,”
said a member of the group.
Those with MS, their
friends and families will
have another chance to get
together, have fun and raise
funds to help those with
MS during “Virtual Walk
MS,” sponsored by NMSS,
happening in April. Look
for more information in a
future issue of the Heppner
Gazette-Times.
DEADLINE:
MONDAYS
AT 5PM
Going On Now!
20% off all In Stock Apparel
30% off Select UTV/ATV Winches
Contact Lexington Parts Department
HEPPNER.NET
Weekly deadline for all
news and advertising is
Monday at 5pm.
188 W Willow, Heppner
541-676-9228
350 Main Street
Lexington, Oregon 97839
541-989-8221
mcgg.net