Heppner Gazette-Times, Heppner, Oregon Wednesday, May 5, 2021 -- THREE
~ Letters to the Editor ~
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Yes for Ione schools
To the editor,
Please join me in vot-
ing yes for the Ione School
District Bond on May 18,
2021. There is a critical
shortage of space and our
high school education has
changed so much since our
existing high school was
built. We need appropriate
space for individualized
learning. Many improve-
ments are needed for the
shop, pool, and upgrades
for the heating and cooling
systems campus wide.
Electrical service, light-
ning for all existing school
buildings, improvements to
the kitchen, cafeteria, music
program space, along with
new roofs for the elemen-
tary school, both gyms,
and the principal’s house
all need to be upgraded.
Improved handicap access,
improved parking, and sew-
er system improvements
are also needed. A need for
meeting rooms, fitness cen-
ter, and school safety and
security improvements are
some of the other needed
improvements.
We need to build our
future now and make sure
our community and school
continue to excel. Let us do
our part now.
Sincerely,
Betty Gray, Ione
Vote for Kilkenny
I am writing this letter
in support of John Kilkenny
for Port of Morrow com-
missioner. John understands
the importance of operating
the POM with openness,
honesty and transparency.
He would continue to build
strong relationships with
the county and local com-
munities.
John believes that the
Columbia River Enterprise
Zone (CREZ) should re-ex-
amine the formula for dis-
bursement of funds. The
port is a county-wide entity.
While south Morrow Coun-
ty has a small population,
there are also a great deal
of needs and limited ways
to raise funds for these
needs. CREZ funds should
be shared across the county
for the needs of each com-
munity.
CREZ funds are sub-
stantial. As these funds
have increased over the
past years, the distribution
of CREZ funds to south
Morrow County have not.
The port should have
commissioners who rep-
resent all of the local com-
munities and understand
the needs of all county
residents. Please vote for
John Kilkenny.
Sincerely,
Donna Rietmann
A View from the Green
Over the Tee Cup
The Willow Creek
Country Club hosted 16
ladies on April 27, a sunny
and cool day.
Low gross of the field
went to Virginia Grant and
the low net winner was split
between Pat Dougherty and
Sharon Harrison. Least
putts of the field went to
Shirley Martin.
Flight A low gross win-
ner was Karen Thompson.
Flight B low gross win-
ner was Tiffany Clement.
Karen Haguewood had low
net and Judy Harris-Betts
had the least putts.
Karen Smith-Griffith
took low gross on flight
C. Low net went to Betty
Carter. Least putts winner
was Jeanne Creswick.
Shirley Martin got a
chip-in on number nine and
Pat Dougherty got the long
drive on number six.
Golfers play two
man event
There were 22 golfers
participating in men’s play
on Sunday, May 2 at Wil-
low Creek Country Club.
The event played was a
two-man, 27-hole game.
In special events, Kelly
Fox got an eight-foot KP on
#7/16, Greg Greenup got
KP with 8’6” on #4, Charlie
Ferguson got a seven-foot
third round KP on #4 and
Steve Marlatt got a 29’10”
KP on #13.
Taking first place in
net was the team of Tim
Wright and Tim Hedman
with a score of 81. Second
was Delbert Binschus and
Greg Greenup with 82 and
third, with 83, was the team
of Larry Samples and John
Edmundson.
Dallas Harsin and Erin
Mason took first in gross
with 93. Dennis Peck and
Dave Pranger were second
with 97 and third was John
McCabe and Josh Coiner
with 102.
There will be no men’s
play Sunday, May 9 be-
cause of Mother’s Day.
The weekend of May
15-16 is the two-person
Quad Classic. Contact Josh
Coiner for entry informa-
tion. The next regular men’s
play will be held Sunday,
May 23, with Tom Shear
and Roger Ehrmantraut
hosting.
Make a statement with your port
commission vote
To the editor:
The upcoming Port of
Morrow commission elec-
tion has three candidates,
Jonathan Tallman, John
Kilkenny and Rick Weiss,
that have all questioned the
integrity of some current
commissioners regarding
conflict of interest. The
conflict of interest revolves
around port commissioners
that oversee and ratify the
CREZ board that distributes
tax funds “to their business-
es and to their budgets.”
(Tallman 4/28/21) “There
is some sense of distrust
in what the port is doing…
When the commissioners
are also business owners,
the potential for conflicts of
interest are always present.”
(Weiss, 4/28/21) According
to Tallman the current port
commissioners lack trans-
parency and use private ex-
ecutive meetings to finance
their own special interests.
Kilkenny added, “Instead
of doing everything in a
closed shop they could en-
gage the whole community
which could have helped
recruit Painted Hills to
locate in Morrow Coun-
ty.” According to Morrow
County Commissioner Jim
Doherty the port commis-
sion made no effort to work
with the county or the local
Cattleman’s Association to
win Painted Hills and the 45
full time jobs.
Is there a lack of trans-
parency, conflict of interest,
nondisclosures that benefit
port commissioners? The
current port has developed
a troublesome reputation
regarding issues of integ-
rity and if these issues are
not corrected immediately
there will be more ominous
problems for all citizens of
Morrow County, especially
property owners and their
tax rates. John Kilkenny is
calling for a special legal
counsel at every port meet-
ing including executive
session meetings to deal
with these problems. This
is the quality of leadership
John Kilkenny will bring
to the port
Number one. Wind-
wave Fiber Optics is owned
in part by one Morrow
County commissioner, two
port board members, and
the father of Port CEO Ryan
Neal, a board member of
CREZ. Windwave Fiber
Optics has grown from a
startup in 2004 to a $20
million company because
they do all POM optics.
According to ORS 279C
335 “A public improvement
contract shall be based
on competitive bids.” In
addition, ORS 279C 365
(4) “After the contract-
ing agency opens bids the
contracting agency shall
make the bids available for
public inspection.” ORS
279C 300 specifies the con-
tracting agency must use
either Competitive Sealed
Bidding or the Competitive
Sealed Proposal method
(R.F.P.) otherwise known
as Requests for Proposal.
The port needs to produce
evidence of honoring ORS
law regarding its Windwave
Fiber Optics business deals.
Number two. Port con-
tracted businesses receive
up to an 85 percent tax re-
duction which is distributed
by CREZ board members.
This process is open to
conflict of interest, lack of
transparency, special inter-
ests and cronyism where
those that play the game
get the money and even
men and women of integrity
have compromised instead
of standing for what is right.
A good example is Richard
Stokoe, a man highly re-
spected, was enabled to use
his CREZ board position to
favor Boardman police to
the tune of $200,000 while
the rest of Morrow County
police received nothing.
The result of the CREZ
process: Morrow county
taxpayers, especially home-
owners, pay the lion’s share
for schools, infrastructure,
roads, county police while
port businesses get sweet-
heart deals. For instance,
Amazon in Morrow County
uses up to a million gallons
of water per day per campus
(four buildings) at 35 cents
per thousand (Boardman
Candidate forums good
for communities
To the editor,
I have been watching
the candidate forums that
are sponsored by our local
Chambers of Commerce.
First, I would like to thank
them for bringing this to
Mother’s Day Specials
20% off Montana Silversmith
Jewelry
10% off All Hanging Baskets
& Planters
10% off Weeks Roses
Morrow County Grain Growers Green Feed & Seed
Heppner - 242 W Linden Way - 541-676-9422
ALL NEWS AND ADVERTISEMENT DEADLINE:
MONDAYS AT 5:00 P.M.
our communities so we can
become familiar with the
candidates. That being said,
I am appalled at the innu-
endos and lack of facts that
have been expressed there.
I would encourage you
I am voting yes on the
Ione School bond because
our students and commu-
nity need better school fa-
cilities and now is the right
time to make that happen.
The list of reasons why
we need better facilities is
long, but it’s mostly be-
cause we have an aging
high school building that
needs significant repairs,
and it still won’t really meet
our students’ needs after
it’s repaired. The facilities
study the school had done
says it would cost nearly
$6M dollars just to keep the
current high school build-
ing functional for a while
longer. To me it makes
more sense to build a new
high school that can meet
our students’ and commu-
nity’s needs for another 70
years than it does to pour
millions of dollars into an
old building that will still be
inadequate and will prob-
ably need to be replaced
within the next 10-20 years
anyway.
Now is the right time
to make it happen for sev-
eral reasons, but the biggest
ones are: 1) long term in-
terest rates are at a historic
low; 2) ISD’s tax base is at
a historic high and will go
even higher as wind proj-
ects become fully taxed;
3) the state of Oregon will
match up to $4M if we pass
a bond now.
That adds up to a yes
for me and I hope it does
for you too. We have never
had a better opportunity to
build for the future and we
may never again. Please
join me in voting yes for the
Ione School District bond
on May 18.
Sincerely,
Dawn Eynetich, Ione
to vote for Richard Stokoe
for Port of Morrow com-
missioner. He has served
as a port commissioner,
Boardman Police Chief,
and volunteer with the high-
est ethical standards.
Karen Pettigrew,
Morrow County
Citizen
Tell Mom how special she is with a gift from
Death Notices
Doloris M. Barnett –
Doloris M. Barnett, 87, of
Pendleton, died Sunday,
May 2, 2021 at her home.
She was born June 8, 1933
at American Falls, ID. At
her request no service will
be held. Sweeney Mortuary
of Heppner is in care of
arrangements.
businesses pay 84 cents
per thousand) from water
paid for with a 20-mil-
lion-dollar bond financed
by the citizens of Board-
man. Is there any wonder
Amazon intends to double
the number of new build-
ings in Morrow County?
They should pay their fair
share to help overburdened
Morrow County taxpayers.
Amazon needs Morrow
County water and power.
We do not need more Am-
azons and we desperately
need port commissioners
to end sweetheart deals
that favor personal special
financial interests of port
commissioners and CREZ
board members.
Number three. The
POM has done nothing of
consequence for the south
end, particularly the old
Kinzua facility. They made
no effort to work with the
county, south end business,
or cattlemen to win Painted
Hills and 45 jobs which
the Kinzua property would
have been ideal. If there
was any kind of priority for
the Port to lend assistance to
develop the Kinzua proper-
ty it would have happened
by now.
Number four. The POM
provides jobs but close to
three fourths of the employ-
ees live outside of Morrow
County and do not con-
tribute to our tax base. The
current POM has demon-
strated no measurable suc-
cessful program to develop
housing, infrastructure or
healthy incentives for port
workers to live in Morrow
County.
Number five. Make a
statement for our heritage,
professional integrity and
overburdened taxpayers
with your vote for Port of
Morrow commissioners.
Stuart Dick
For Ione
Schools,
vote yes
Sunday, May 9
Murray’s
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We have a large selection of flowers
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Foral Department Hours This week
9am-6pm Sunday 9am-2pm
Deliveries on Thursday, May 6 & Friday, May 7
217 North Main St.,
Heppner, OR
Phone 676-9158 Floral 676-9426
murraysdrug.com
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Pharmacy- Mon-Fri 9am-6pm