SIX - Heppner Gazette-Times, Heppner, Oregon Wednesday, April 13, 2022
~ Letters to the Editor ~
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Sykes, the choice for
county commissioner
To the editor:
My wife and I bought
a ranch on Rhea Creek and
moved there in the Spring
of 2011. As a resident of
Morrow County, I observed
there wasn’t much trans-
parency in the politics of
county government.
David Sykes was the
realtor we dealt with when
we bought the ranch. We
discovered he was also the
owner of the local news-
paper. I had many discus-
sions with him about county
government. David began
going to Morrow County
Commissioner meetings
and over the last 10 or so
years he has learned a lot
about how government
works in Morrow County.
I have moved from
Morrow County, but we
continue to own property
there. We continue to sub-
scribe to the newspaper, and
I have read with great inter-
est how the commissioners
have handled the spending
of monies from sources
other than taxes.
I was a county com-
missioner in Idaho for 25
years. As a commission,
we tried to budget based on
the needs of the county, the
employees and the taxpay-
ers. My observation is these
commissioners don’t seem
to be very concerned about
the taxpayers.
David Sykes would be
my choice for county com-
missioner. He has learned
the job of a commissioner
as well as the workings
of county government in
general. I believe he would
keep the taxpayer in mind.
Sincerely,
Jerry Nance
Weston, OR
No reason to support
Ellis Project
To the editor:
The proposed “Ellis
Integrated Vegetation Proj-
ect” is in actual fact a five
to 13 million board foot
(depending on the plan cho-
sen) timber sale on 110,000
acres in the heart of the
Heppner unit of the Uma-
tilla National Forest. Four
years ago, the project was
presented and ultimately
put on hold because of mul-
tiple concerns addressed
by the public. The same
timber sale has been rein-
vented under the guise of
“restoration” with a public
comment deadline of April
18, 2022. Five to thirteen
million board feet of timber
is equivalent to three fully
loaded log trucks a day for
thirteen months and/or up to
nine fully loaded log trucks
a day for one year. There is
no reason to support this
project.
1) The Ellis Project
timber sale would severely
undermine the headwaters
of Butter Creek, Johnson
Creek, Potamas Creek, Five
Mile Creek, Sugar Bowl
Creek, Ellis Creek, Pole
Creek and unlimited associ-
ated springs that feed these
mountain streams. The
source of our well water,
underground streams, are
these aquifers that originate
in the mountain reservoirs
of the Blue Mountains.
2) The elk and deer are
already leaving the nation-
al forest because there is
mankind activity virtually
every month in the forest,
as well as out of control
cats and wolves, all due
to mismanagement by the
Forest Service and ODFW.
This Ellis timber sale would
remove existing wildlife
thermal and security cover
on 110,000 acres plus add
significantly more unnec-
essary human activity.
3) There were multiple
timber sales in this area in
the late 1990’s. This Ellis
Project commercial timber
sale allows 10 to 90 square
feet of basal area per acre.
That is a disguised defini-
tion for clear cut logging
(40 to 60 sq. ft. equals
shelter wood clear cut)
which will be the predomi-
nate method of commercial
logging on this project. The
Ellis Project has an unde-
fined acreage for clear cuts.
4) On 283 miles of road
and trail corridors, com-
mercial logging would take
place 300 to 500 feet from
either side, hiding logging
impacts. Unlimited new
logging road construction
would further erode forest
riparian areas, aquifers and
wildlife habitat.
The general public has
until April 18, 2022, to
respond to this timber sale.
Only those that respond by
April 18 will have standing
to have a voice in the future
of the Ellis Project on our
local National Forest. You
can write to the Forest Ser-
vice in care of Doug McKay
or Leslie Taylor, PO Box 7,
Heppner, OR 97836 or by
fax 541-676-2105. Elec-
tronic comments can be
made on Umatilla National
Forest webpage on Ellis In-
tegrated Vegetation Project.
Our national forest is a
gift from God. We have a
responsibility to honor that
heritage and pass it on to
our posterity.
Stuart Dick, Irrigon
Beyeler has finished his Impressed with Lindsay
chores in Boardman
and Doherty
To the editor;
Barry Beyeler has fin-
ished the chores he had
in Boardman, OR. I was
shocked and saddened to-
day while visiting a neigh-
bor who brought up his
passing. I truly wished for
several minutes that I could
go back in time and flag him
down for a chat.
Conversations were
fun with Barry because his
love for this community
was on the border of being
comedic. He would get so
excited about all the great
things going on in Board-
man that he could hardly
maneuver a cigarette to his
lips for a light. His excite-
ment was understandable
because he placed a bet on
this town that it would be
something special when he
offered himself up to it so
many decades ago. He was
right to do so. Boardman
is a real place where op-
portunities abound. Where
there is opportunity, there
is success and happiness,
but also failure and tragedy.
Barry got up every morning
and did his best to keep the
positive things outnumber-
ing the negative.
If I were to describe
Barry to someone unfamil-
iar with Boardman; I would
tell them to imagine Santa’s
head elf at the North Pole
whose job was making the
village a wonderful place
for the worker elves to live.
He would be jolly and dear-
ly love the community he
was charged with maintain-
ing but would need plenty
of cough syrup in his cocoa
at dinner time to deal with
the stress of keeping things
perfect. He would not get
the recognition like an elf
tooling the most beautiful
toys, and sometimes he
would have to take heat
when a pothole bounced a
box of candy canes out of
Santa’s sleigh, but he would
be proud knowing that he
played a key role in making
Christmas happen.
Thank you, Barry for
making Boardman happen.
You did the best you could,
and that was a gift to every
one of us who’s chosen to
follow you in making this
our city.
Thank you for your
time,
J. Fletcher Hobbs
Boardman
To the editor;
After reading your ar-
ticle in the Gazette Times
dated March 23, 2022, en-
titled, “Amazon drops 11.5
million surprise on county,”
as well as the discussion on
how to spend the gift pay-
ment. I found myself filled
with admiration for county
commissioners Jim Doherty
and Melissa Lindsay. I feel
that they are truly the voice
for those of us who are in
the county, who ranch and
farm, as well as those who
own and run small busi-
nesses.
Big money businesses
such as B2H and Amazon
will continue to force their
way through the opposition
of small run operations to
complete their agenda. It is
nice to have elected officials
standing up for those of us
who are not always aware
of what goes on at those
levels. In my opinion that
is the very reason we elect
these types of people, peo-
ple we can trust to have our
best interest in mind.
My wife and I were
privileged to attend a com-
missioner meeting in Hep-
pner with three representa-
tives of the B2H line who
answered questions from
farmers and ranchers. We
have also met with local
farmers and ranchers to
measure over the past six hear their opinions on the
years as commissioner. Her project and the EFSC’s lat-
energy, vision and ability to est site proposal. I think we
stand her ground to make
tough and sound decisions
for all of Morrow County is
a real asset for us.
We desperately need to
reelect Melissa Lindsay as a
strong voice to be heard for
the north, middle and south
areas of Morrow County. A
vote for Missy on May 17 is
in our county’s best interest.
Susan and Paul Hisler
Heppner
Melissa Lindsay for
county commissioner
To the editor;
We aren’t ones to seek
the public limelight when
it comes to politics. But
due to great concern over
the direction our state and
local county government
can take us all, we want to
step up and endorse Melissa
Lindsay for reelection as
Morrow County commis-
sioner.
The old saying that “if
it isn’t broken, don’t try to
fix it” is how we feel. Missy
has proven herself beyond
are all in agreement on how
the project would best serve
our needs. Commissioners
Doherty and Lindsay seem
to have heard our concerns
and are actively engaging
within the system to make
our voices heard and ac-
complish the goals we are
working towards.
It is for this reason that
I commend the actions
of commissioners such as
Doherty, who have voiced
concerns so loudly, that
they were removed from
committees for their bois-
terous outbursts. Some-
times you must be loud to
be noticed, especially when
the needs of your communi-
ty are being ignored.
As longtime residents
of the county, both com-
missioners Doherty and
Lindsay come from farming
and ranching families, car-
rying the responsibility of
feeding our state as well as
providing large revenue and
tax money. The suggestion
that this money be used to
support many worthwhile
projects in every taxing
district of the county seems
like the obvious choice.
I salute Jim Doherty
and Melissa Lindsay for
doing the job we elected
them to do.
Sincerely,
Mitchell Hays
Morrow County
landowner
Happy 93 rd Birthday
Shirley
NEW LISTING!
$480,000
There is plenty of room in this 3,680 sq. ft. 4 bedroom 4 bath
home on 5.29 acres located on Dee Cox Rd near Heppner. Has
family/game room, office space and a deck for summer barbe-
cuing. Beautiful bamboo floors with an open kitchen and dining
area. Top of the line induction cook top convection oven with air
frying included. Daylight basement opens out to the backyard,
where there is an outbuilding & chicken coop. These small acre-
age homes are hard to come by, so come and have a look soon.
61476 DEE COX RD Heppner
188 W. Willow
P.O. Box 337
Heppner, OR 97836
david@sykesrealestate.net
Owner/Broker
David Sykes
541-980-6674
Shirley Rugg’s birthday is April 22 nd .
If you would like to extend your well
wishes and greetings,
send to:
PO Box 157, Heppner
That’ll Do
WWW.HEPPNER.NET
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