Petal it forward
event held
50¢
VOL. 140
NO. 43
8 Pages
Wednesday, October 27, 2021
Morrow County, Heppner, Oregon
Morrow County plans new tourism
promotion effort
Umatilla coordinator Karie Walchli would head up project
By David Sykes
Morrow County could
soon have a new tourism
person, after commission-
ers voted last week to seek a
contract with Karie Walchli
to head up the new proj-
ect. Walchli has been the
Umatilla County Tourism
Coordinator for the past 13
years and would, under the
proposed Morrow County
agreement, create an over-
all plan for the county’s
tourism promotion, devel-
op social media and other
advertising and marketing
material and work with the
local chambers of com-
merce promoting tourism.
If an agreement is reached
Walchli will not be an em-
ployee of the county, but an
independent contractor with
a budget expected to be in
the $50,000 per year range.
In a proposal letter Wal-
chli said her tourism expe-
rience in Umatilla County
would help her “contribute
to the development and
growth of tourism in the
Morrow County area.” She
said during her 13 years in a
similar position in Umatilla
County, she has developed
skills and “worked to assist
communities, events, at-
tractions and producers in
promoting and developing
tourism, and contributing
to the economic impact of
the area.” Walchli said her
being a “long-time eastern
Oregon resident” is a plus
for the job. She said tourism
can have a great impact on
the economy of local com-
munities.
Hiring Walchli also
came with strong recom-
mendations from those
who know her. “Hiring
Karie for Morrow County
tourism development will
allow you to have some-
one literally hit the ground
running. Because of her
experience with Umatilla
County, doing similar work
for Morrow County makes
sense,” said Susan Bower,
president of Eastern Oregon
Business Source. “Tourism
is a regional effort and
having one person with a
multi-county focus is an
excellent idea that will
undoubtedly yield posi-
tive results,” Bower added.
Walchli also received praise
from Janet Dodson, an ag-
ritourism specialist from
North Powder.
The commissioner’s
action last week was only
“an intent to award” and
a finalized contract with
Walchli, who lives in Stan-
field, has yet to be signed.
She told the Gazette-Times
Tuesday she was looking
forward to helping Mor-
row County with its tour-
ism projects and moving
forward with community
insights.
Youth elk hunt
In other business at
their October 20 meeting
the commissioners voted to
award youth spike elk hunts
to seven young people. The
hunt is an annual event held
at the county-owned Off
Highway Vehicle (OHV)
park during the second sea-
son in the mountains south
of Heppner.
This year’s recipients
of the hunt are Preslie
Bowles of Irrigon, Riley
Gregg of John Day, Radley
Griggs of Boardman, Jacob
and Ryan Haugen of Hep-
pner and Katie Spivey and
Jasper Hardy of Ione. The
hunt is reserved for Morrow
and Grant County youth as
the OHV park straddles the
two counties.
In other action the
commissioners voted to
purchase a Bobcat mini
excavator for use at the
parks at a price of $48,423.
Money for the purchase
came from a $60,000 grant
from Oregon state parks,
so there was no cost to the
Karie Walchli
Tourism expert
county.
Compensation board
appointments
The commission voted
to appoint two people to
the county compensation
board. The compensation
board is made up of volun-
teers from around the coun-
ty who make recommenda-
tions yearly to the budget
committee and commis-
sioners on pay and salary
rates for county employees
and elected officials.
Two people applied
for the vacant positions.
Eileen Hendricks submit-
ted interest in serving for
another four-year term.
She is currently the chief
financial officer for the Port
of Morrow and has been for
almost 24 years. She is also
a licensed certified public
accountant and municipal
auditor with 12 years in
public practice. Hendricks
stated she wanted to contin-
ue to serve on the compen-
sation board because “she
has an interest in helping to
maintain fair and equitable
pay in Morrow County.”
Also applying was Kalie
Davis. Davis is the director
of Workforce Development
at the Port of Morrow. She
also serves as the board
treasurer for Umatilla Mor-
row County Head Start and
is a member of the Eastern
Oregon Workforce Board
Grant Committee. Davis
Broadband town hall scheduled
the area. There will also be
a question and answer pe-
riod to address community
concerns and comments
about internet and the work
of the Broadband Action
Team. Everyone is wel-
come to attend and partic-
ipate in the discussion and
a diversity of backgrounds,
viewpoints and perspec-
tives are encouraged.
“While having inter-
net access can be a dou-
ble-edged sword, it is in-
creasingly important that
people are equipped with
the tools they need to be
successful in the modern
world. Resources that may
assist community members
will be made available,
The Country Rose
flower shop in Heppner par-
ticipated in an event called
Petal it Forward last week.
The nationwide event was
started six years ago by the
Society of American Flo-
rists and has since become
an annual event to show
others joy and love and
bring smiles to their faces.
Cynthia Wenberg, flo-
rist for the Country Rose,
organized the event by
putting together over 200
bundles of flowers. “The
idea is to give a person two
bundles and they keep one
for themselves and share
the other one with someone
else. They are then asked
to share online with the
hashtag #petalitforward,”
she told the Gazette.
Beth Dickenson’s lead-
ership group, Murray’s staff
and other community mem-
bers volunteered to share
the flowers on the streets
of Heppner.
Country Rose and volunteers
participated in the Petal it
Forward event last week.
-Contributed photos.
Deer and cat get
acquainted
This photo of a deer and cat visiting each other was submitted
-See COUNTY TOURISM/ by one of our readers. Photos may be submitted to the Gazette
by emailing to editor@rapidserve.net or uploading to the
PAGE SIX
website Heppner.net. -Contributed photo.
including information on
existing programs to help
pay for internet, improve
online security, access tele-
health services, pursue vir-
tual education and build
professional skills,” Moss
reported.
M o r r o w C o u n t y ’s
Broadband Action Team
is composed of internet
~ G-T Trophy Corner ~
service providers, com-
munity stakeholders and
local government officials.
The main purposes of the
group include expanding
internet infrastructure to
those who are unserved or
underserved throughout the
county, connecting commu-
nity members with existing
financial resources to help
with the cost of internet
service, improving digital
skills among citizens and
helping provide the digital
tools that Morrow County
residents need to be suc-
cessful in a modern world.
For additional informa-
tion, contact Aaron Moss at
541-676-5664 or amoss@
co.morrow.or.us.
E L E VAT E YO U R A DV E N T U R E
The Heppner Gazette Times would like to see pictures of your trophy animals
from this hunting season. Please send a photo along with your name, age, town
you live in, location of the hunt and a description of the animal to editor@
rapidserve.net, upload to Heppner.net or text to 541-980-6674.
CALL
541-989-8221
ext 204
NEW
2022
FOR
The Morrow Coun-
ty broadband action team
will host their second of
three broadband communi-
ty town halls at the Gilliam
Bisbee Building on Novem-
ber 10 at the Gilliam and
Bisbee Building in Heppner
from 5:30 to 6:30 p.m.
The meeting will in-
clude a brief presentation
from Aaron Moss, an Amer-
ican Connection Project
fellow serving in the county
to support the Broadband
Action Team, and informa-
tion about internet service
providers and their work in
said she would like to serve
on the compensation board
to help “ensure Morrow
County elected officials
are compensated fairly for
the work that they do.”
The commissioners voted
unanimously to appoint
both people.
Vaccine mandates and
exemptions
In other business the
commissioners heard a re-
port from County Emer-
gency Manager Paul Gray
who said the discussion the
past week has mostly been
around vaccine mandates
and how the county will
deal with them.
One area of concern
discussed was the possible
use of the religious ex-
emption that can be used
by employees to not get
the mandated COVID-19
vaccination and still keep
their employment with
the county. Commissioner
Don Russell said he want-
ed to see a defined set of
rules about the religious
exemption be used instead
of opinions from county
officials. “It needs to be
an independent team and
can’t be left to opinion on
who gets the exemption,”
Russell said. His concern
was to insulate the county
from possible legal action
from people claiming the
exemption and then being
denied and fired from their
job. “We need to insulate
Morrow County, because
there will be lawsuits,”
Russell said, and didn’t
want the commissioners
or the county department
heads making the call on
the exemption. He point-
ed to the recent firing of
the Washington State head
football coach and four
of his staff who claimed
religious exemptions but
were denied, and then fired
The Heppner High School Ag leadership group (pictured left
to right): Beth Dickenson, Daralynn Teeman, Caden George
and Hailey Cunningham passed out the flowers to people on
the street. -Contributed photos.
Paisley Cutsforth, 9, took this
Morgan Cutsforth shot this buck with her first shot.
buck at 40 yards.
Parents of both girls are Stanley and Pamela Cutsforth, and
grandparents are Curtis and Kathy Cutsforth.
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