Kilkenny runs for
Port Commissioner
50¢
VOL. 140
NO. 14
8 Pages
Wednesday, April 7, 2021
Morrow County, Heppner, Oregon
Chamber holds annual meeting, Fletcher
re-elected president
After missing last year
because of the COVID-19
pandemic lockdown, the
Heppner Chamber of Com-
merce was back this year
holding its annual meeting
at the Gilliam and Bisbee
Building event room in
Heppner last Thursday.
The Chamber elected
officers for the coming
year including re-electing
Columbia Basin Electric
General Manager Andy
Fletcher for another term
as president. The new offi-
cers were sworn in by Bev
Benson from the Bank of
Eastern Oregon. After a
lunch provided by Heppner
Market Fresh Foods the
group was entertained with
several musical numbers
Jessica Bates provided spe-
cial entertainment and sang
several musical numbers for
the annual meeting held last
Thursday at the Gilliam and
Bisbee Building in Heppner.
from Jessica Bates. Invoca-
tion for the event was given
by Alvin Liu.
John Kilkenny has filed
to run for the Port of Mor-
row Commissioner Position
1.
Kilkenny is a lifetime
resident of Morrow County.
He graduated from the Uni-
versity of Oregon, where he
received a degree in busi-
ness administration. John
and his wife, Diane, farm
wheat and cattle on the fam-
ily’s century farm and have
farmed in both south county
and the northern part of the
county for 40 years. John
has spent his entire life in
Morrow County except for
his time at the University
of Oregon, and two years
working for an agricultural
John Murray is presented with a plaque of appreciation from export company at the Port
Chamber Director Sheryll Bates. John and his wife, Ann, were of Pasco after graduation.
Diane just recently retired
honored for their service on the chamber board.
as interim director of public
health for Morrow County.
They have three grown
children, Conor, Rory and
Katherine.
John understands the
economic importance of the
port for all communities of
Morrow County. He also
understands the role of the
Columbia River Enterprise
Zone and the impact that it
This year’s officers for the Heppner Chamber of Commerce are (L-R): Heppner City Manager Kraig Cutsforth and Bank
of Eastern Oregon Chief Executive Officer Jeff Bailey, Chamber Board of Directors; Columbia Basin Electric Cooperative
General Manager, Andy Fletcher, Chamber president; Heppner Schools Principal Matt Combe, second vice president; Morrow
County Health District Chief Executive Officer Ryan Fowler, Les Schwab Manager John Gould and Nancy Snider, board of
directors. Not pictured are Tawny Miles, treasurer and Kim Cutsforth, first vice president. The officers were sworn in by Bev
Benson. -Photo by David Sykes.
Morrow County ready to vaccinate
its citizens
‘I hope Morrow County takes advantage of this,’ says Commissioner
Lindsay of the multiple county-wide COVID-19 vaccination events
By David Sykes
Morrow County has
the COVID-19 vaccines
and is ready to vaccinate
its citizens, Morrow Coun-
ty Commissioner Melissa
Lindsay says. An event in
Boardman Monday only
attracted 150 and Lindsay
says she is somewhat dis-
appointed in the turnout
since the county has plenty
of the vaccines and they are
the one-shot Johnson and
Johnson variety. Vaccina-
tion events were also held in
Boardman on Tuesday and
Wednesday of this week,
but no turnout statistics
were available for those.
Below are the times and
places of upcoming events
in Irrigon and Heppner.
Free vaccine events
with no appointment
needed:
Irrigon – AC Hough-
ton Elementary
Friday, April 9 – 1 p.m.
– 7 p.m.
Saturday, April 10 – 8
a.m. – 1 p.m.
H e p p n e r – F a i r-
grounds
Monday, April 12 – 1
p.m. – 7 p.m.
Tuesday, April 13 – 7
a.m. – 1 p.m.
The vaccines are free
to anyone over the age of
18 years and all people
must do is show up to get
vaccinated, no appointment
needed. “Morrow County
vaccinated less than 150
Shelley Wight (left) of the Morrow County Health Department,
along with Morrow County Commissioner Melissa Lindsay
and Oregon Emergency Manager Regional Director Chris
Sutton in front of the Federal Emergency Management Agency
vaccine trailer at a Monday vaccination event in Boardman.
The trailer is only one of three FEMA vaccination units out
in the country so far, and Morrow County has the only one on
the west coast, Lindsay says. -Contributed photo
people at the first day of the
event in Boardman. It was
a good turnout of Morrow
County citizens, but we had
400 Johnson and Johnson
vaccines available to give
out and at least 2,000 for
the total of the eight-day
commitment from FEMA,”
Lindsay said of the initial
efforts for free public vac-
cinations in the county.
“It is quick and easy,
and we have had minimal
lines,” Lindsay says of the
events. If you need special
consideration you can call
our public health dept. Ad-
ditionally, those wanting
a different vaccine option
can still reach out to Co-
lumbia River Health, Mur-
ray’s Drug and the Morrow
County Public Health Dept.
Morrow County is hoping
to release the Pfizer vac-
John Kilkenny
cine to those 16 and older
publicly in the very near
future,” Lindsay told the
Heppner Gazette-Times
Tuesday.
Lindsay was especially
appreciative of the oppor-
tunity to have the FEMA
vaccination trailer here in
the county. “There are only
three of these FEMA units
out in the country so far.
Morrow County has the
only one on the west coast
after agreeing to be the pilot
project back in February.
We are extremely fortunate
to have gotten this opportu-
nity in our smaller county.
Emergency manager John
Bowles and public health
director Nazario Rivera
along with their emergency
operations team worked
tirelessly through a lot of
hurdles with OEM (Oregon
Emergency Management),
OHA, (Oregon Health Au-
thority) and FEMA to get
this for the citizens of Mor-
row County,” Lindsay told
the Gazette-Times “Now I
am just really hopeful the
citizens will support our ef-
forts and take advantage of
this amazing resource and
turn out to the events set up
for Boardman, Irrigon and
south county in Heppner.
The first day was a little
disappointing in terms of
numbers but I think that
will go up as we get the
word out. The Johnson and
Johnson one dose is more
convenient, and the side ef-
fects have shown minimal,”
Lindsay said.
-See VACCINATIONS/PAGE
THREE
has had both with encourag-
ing business and financially
supporting the citizens of
our county. John believes
that it is crucial that the Port
of Morrow and the county
of Morrow have a strong
partnership formed through
open communication and
cooperation. He has rela-
tionships with all of the
county commissioners and
several port commissioners.
John is known to be open
minded and an independent
thinker. He served on the
county planning commis-
sion for many years and has
firsthand knowledge of the
different needs and make
up of Morrow County both
north and south.
Kilkenny strongly sup-
ports the diversification
of industry that has been
taking place at the port. He
also believes it is critical
for the port to recruit and
encourage diverse, small to
medium size, locally owned
businesses which can sup-
port the activities at the
port, Main Street and other
businesses in the county.
John is strong proponent
of the county’s economic
future by investing in pro-
grams that provide for a
future workforce. The Port
of Morrow can help facili-
tate and partner with all the
communities to expand the
growing need for housing.
It is very important that
people not only work at
the Port of Morrow but
that they be able to live in
the county to support our
businesses and schools.
John is ready to serve
on the port commission,
saying he will work to do an
informed and equitable job
for all of the county.
New Enterprise
Zone holds first
organizational
meeting
CREZ III starts planning for
future economic growth
By David Sykes
The new Columbia
River Enterprise Zone III
(CREZ III) held its first
organizational meeting last
week, preparing itself to
begin negotiating tax agree-
ments and collecting money
from new businesses want-
ing to locate in Morrow
County.
The new enterprise
zone is the successor to the
previous CREZ II which
proved itself highly suc-
cessful over the past 10
years in attracting new
businesses, mainly at the
Port of Morrow near Board-
man. During Zone II’s time,
it generated millions of
dollars in revenue in lieu of
taxes, and it will continue to
bring in substantial money
for the next 15 years. En-
terprise zones are an espe-
cially important recruitment
tool used by the Port to
offer tax breaks and attract
new businesses into the
area. The tax breaks have
also been used by existing
businesses for expansion at
the Port.
The first order of busi-
ness at its first organiza-
tional meeting March 31
was the election of officers.
These are the people who
will begin laying plans to
guide the new zone through
not only future negotiations
with new business and in-
dustry, but also in how to
disburse the anticipated
millions of dollars to be
generated by the new zone.
As with Zone II, num-
ber III has the authority to
grant substantial property
tax breaks to businesses
providing jobs and econom-
ic growth. Over the past 10
-See CREZIII/PAGE TWO
Going On Now!
30% off Select UTV/ATV Winches
Contact Lexington Parts Department
350 Main Street
Lexington, Oregon 97839
541-989-8221
mcgg.net