TWO - Heppner Gazette-Times, Heppner, Oregon Wednesday, April 14, 2021
The Official Newspaper
of the City of Heppner and the County of Morrow
Births
Send birth announcements to editor@rapidserve.net or upload to Heppner.net.
Heppner
GAZETTE-TIMES
U.S.P.S. 240-420
Morrow County’s Home-Owned Weekly Newspaper
SEARCH OLD COPIES OF THE HEPPNER GAZETTE-TIMES ON-LINE:
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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
at Heppner, Oregon. Office at 188 W. Willow Street. Telephone (541) 676-9228. Fax
(541) 676-9211. E-mail: editor@rapidserve.net or david@rapidserve.net. Web site:
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P.O. Box 337, Heppner, Oregon 97836. Subscriptions: $31 in Morrow County; $25
senior rate (in Morrow County only; 65 years or older); $37 elsewhere; $31 student
subscriptions.
David Sykes ..............................................................................................Publisher
Bobbi Gordon................................................................................................ Editor
Giselle Moses.........................................................................................Advertising
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Rocks thrown onto
tennis courts
Rocks were thrown onto the tennis courts recently by unknown
vandals. Two questions that stumped tennis players on April
12 were, “Who threw rocks onto the tennis courts and why
would anyone throw rocks onto the courts?” -Contributed photo.
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188 W Willow, Heppner • 541-676-9228
Franklin William
Kilkenny
Coen Thomas Robert
Gould
A son, Franklin William Kilkenny, was born to Conor
and Gabi Kilkenny, Tu-
alatin, OR, on March
12, 2021. Frank joins
brothers, Mac, six, and
Bobby, two, at home.
Thomas and Rylee
Gould, Royston, GA,
welcomed a son,
Coen Thomas Rob-
ert Gould, on Febru-
ary 3, 2021 at 10:35
p.m. Coen weighed
7 pounds, 8 ounces.
Thomas and Rylee
are both graduates of
Heppner High School.
Paternal grand-
parents are John
and Ashli Gould of
Coen Thomas Robert Gould
Lexington. Maternal
grandparents are Tim and Staci Hedman, Heppner, and
Robert and Sonja Wagner, La Grande.
Grandparents
are John and Diane
Kilkenny of Heppner,
and Dick and Kathy
McGregor of Wilson-
ville.
Franklin William Kilkenny
Heppner street project going well,
manager tells council
Street work going at about ‘200-ft per day’
By David Sykes
Despite hitting a couple
of utility lines and finding
more rock than originally
anticipated, the Heppner
street renovation project is
going “pretty good,” Hep-
pner City Manager Kraig
Cutsforth told the city coun-
cil Monday night.
“They are very skilled
and it’s going pretty good,”
Cutsforth said of contrac-
tor Premiere Excavation’s
crew, which is doing the
work on the big street rehab
project, that when complet-
ed will see Gale, Church,
Willow, Chase and Center
streets completely redone.
While the streets are torn
up, the sewer lines under
them are all being replaced.
While digging up the
northern part of Gale Street,
the crews did hit two water
lines and two phone lines,
Please don't
post signs,
balloons,
or other
materials to
utility poles!
Hanging items on poles
can be dangerous to
the lineworkers who
maintain the lines that
provide electricity,
internet, and other
services.
Hermiston Office
Boardman Office
750 W. Elm Ave.
Hermiston, OR 97838
(541) 567-6414
400 N.E. Eldrige Drive
Boardman, OR 97818
(541) 481-2220
www.UmatillaElectric.com
Workmen dig deep to replace sewer lines at the corner of Gale
and Willow Streets. They are hitting more rock than originally
anticipated.
Cutsforth told the council.
They were all repaired. The
excavation also hit more
rock than originally antici-
pated, which Cutsforth said
would probably add addi-
tional cost to the project. On
Gale Street near Church the
crews hit some pretty tough
basalt and had to bring
in a special machine to
break it up. Cutsforth said
there was one other area of
Gale where the basalt was
closer to the surface than
expected. Cutsforth added
he hoped they do not run
into extensive hard rock
when they move to Chase
Street to work there.
Once the streets have
their asphalt torn up and the
gravel has been laid down,
then the curb and sidewalk
installers will move in and
do their work on all the
streets. The pavers will be
the last to come in and fin-
ish off the job with a new
layer of asphalt on all the
rehabilitated streets.
Cutsforth says he is
looking into having a couple
of other areas paved when
that crew comes to town.
He put in for a grant to have
the “Thomson” food court
by the post office paved.
The staff, from a sugges-
tion from Cody High, has
given the food court the ad
hoc name “Thomson Food
Court” in recognition of
the former Thomson Gro-
cery store that was located
there for many years. The
store burned down in the
big downtown fire of 1983,
and Cutsforth said the city
needed a name to call the
area when applying for the
grant, so they decided to
use the suggested Thomson
name. He is also looking
into having the city hall
parking lot repaved, he told
the council.
The entire street re-
habilitation project is ex-
pected to be completed by
November. “Please have
patience and feel free to
contact me at city hall, 541-
676-9618, with questions,”
City Manager Kraig Cuts-
forth said earlier.
In other business at
Monday’s council meeting,
members of the Outreach
Council attended the coun-
cil meeting and said they
still want to continue with
community events even
though the official city com-
mittee has been disbanded.
The Outreach has, in the
past, put on city events such
as First Friday, and do so
under the umbrella of the
city liability insurance pol-
icy. Several months ago, the
council voted, because of
the COVID-19 restrictions
on activities, to disband the
city committee. However,
Sharon Miller, Darcy Chick
and Tayllor Brannon came
to the council meeting and
said they still want to con-
tinue having events even
without the city committee.
The city holds about $2,000
in Outreach funds and the
three wanted to get that
money back so they can
plan new events. They said
they wanted to possibly
hold events at either the
fairgrounds or the water
park in Heppner. Cutsforth
said he would be glad to
turn over the funds, he just
needed some organization
“to write the check to.” The
three said they would be
getting back to the council
and let them know when
they will have new activi-
ties scheduled.
In other business, the
council voted unanimously
to approve an intergovern-
mental agreement with the
Columbia River Enterprise
Zone III that will be used
if a new business wishes
to locate here and take
advantage of the zone’s
tax abatement ability. With
the city signing the agree-
ment, it will be able to
send representatives to a
CREZ III meeting when a
business is negotiating with
the zone. Other members of
the CREZ III are Morrow
County and the Port of Mor-
row. As part of the CREZ
board, the city would also
be able to give input and
vote on how the money in
lieu of taxes collected from
the new business, would
be spent. There is a zone
around the city of Heppner
called an “influence zone”
where the city would be
included, however any new
businesses that might take
advantage of the tax breaks
would most likely be locat-
ing at the former Kinzua
Mill site, which is owned by
the Port of Morrow and is
zoned industrial and suited
for new business.
The council reviewed
the minutes of an April 5
planning commission meet-
ing where the commission
held a public hearing on a
variance request from Jim
Roy of 260 W Baltimore to
construct a 30- X 40-foot
garage on a vacant lot next
to his home. The garage
would have no water or
sewer to the building. The
planning commission heard
from Randal Sedwick who
owns property at 290 Balti-
more and has concerns the
shop is too big for the prop-
erty. Sedwick said he thinks
the garage will have a neg-
ative visual impact on the
neighborhood but would
withdraw his opposition if
the structure were changed
to look more residential. He
suggested windows and a
front porch be added. He
said he did not want the
“visual nature” of the street
changed. After the hearing
the planning commission
decided it would like more
information and wanted
to see a street view sketch
including a site drawing
with a detailed description
and landscaping to match
the neighborhood with a
house-like look of the pro-
posed garage. They voted
to postpone their decision
until their May meeting.