Curtis Cutsforth
gets hole in one
50¢
VOL. 141
NO. 26
8 Pages
Wednesday, June 29, 2022
Morrow County, Heppner, Oregon
County administrator terminated in front
of packed conference room
‘I’m struggling to understand why I’m sitting here,’ said county
administrator Darrell Green
falsifying incidents and, in
fact, the county began to re-
taliate against her for being
a whistle blower. She sub-
sequently filed a complaint
with the state Bureau of
Labor and Industries about
the supposed harassment.
In response the county
brought in an investigative
attorney to supposedly get
to the facts, mainly by in-
terviewing everyone at the
health department.
Commissioner
Don
Russell, who did speak at
Tuesday’s hearing, said
after the attorney’s investi-
gation he was approached
by a county employee who
told him he should listen to
the interview recordings as
they were veering off sub-
ject of the falsified docu-
ment investigation. “I was
approached by one of our
employees that was inter-
viewed, and it was strongly
suggested I listen to the au-
dio tapes of the interview,”
Russell told the crowd at
Tuesday’s hearing. “I was
told the questions were
leading, and it seemed
there was already an an-
swer looking for a narra-
tive to support it. I did not
seek this employee out, but
I did ask for those record-
ings and have asked mul-
tiple times, both in writing
and verbally, and I have
been denied.” Russell said
he was never told about the
complaints against Green
and was under the impres-
sion the investigation was
to determine if the health
department, as it was ac-
cused, had been violating
state COVID regulations,
not investigating Green for
nepotism violations.
Russell says the inter-
views with Health Depart-
ment employees by the in-
vestigative lawyer could be
very important to his mak-
ing a decision on Green’s
future employment with
the county. “But you have
to have the information to
make a decision and that
information has not been
provided to me,” Russell
pointed out.
Green said the process
to arrive at his termination,
such as the long time lapse
between the alleged vio-
lation and his being made
aware of it, was wrong.
Green said it was Rive-
ra who filed a nepotism
complaint against him
with human resources in
August of 2021 and then,
it was not until seven or
eight months later that he
even heard about it. Green
contends if a nepotism
complain had indeed been
instigated, why didn’t the
board of commissioners
bring him into executive
session immediately to
discuss it. “My questions
is ‘Wouldn’t a complaint
against me trigger an ex-
ecutive session to discuss
my performance?’,” Both
Doherty and Lindsay re-
fused to answer his ques-
tion. Green said in all his
previous employments he
had never received any
verbal or written warnings
for poor job performance
or policy violations.
The meeting Tuesday
lasted about 15 minutes
with no members of the
audience being allowed to
speak. The original agen-
da put out for the meeting
allowed for a public com-
ment time, but that item
was stricken from a subse-
quent agenda published by
chairman Doherty.
In addition to the 62
people online for the zoom
meeting about the same
number of people were
in the conference room
for the hearing at the Bar-
tholomew Building in
Heppner. Most seemed
in support of Green. Fol-
lowing the meeting many
members of the audience
were upset, one even get-
ting into a loud verbal
argument with Commis-
sioner Lindsay as she left
the meeting room. Former
Commissioner John Wen-
holz said he was upset and
commented, “In 12 years
as a commissioner I have
never seen anything like
this.” Others called it a
“witch hunt”, and that the
process was “ridiculous.”
G-T closed July 4
The Heppner Gazette-Times will be closed for the Independence Day holiday on
Monday, July 4. The deadline for all news and advertising for the July 6 issue will be
Friday, July 1, at 5 p.m. Normal business hours will resume Tuesday, July 5.
The G-T wishes everyone a happy and safe 4th of July weekend.
It’s in there.
Darrell Green
Dawn and Jeff Eynetich
selected Ione Fourth of July
Grand Marshals
Dawn
and
Jeff
Eynetich were selected
as the 2022 Ione Fourth
of July Celebration grand
marshals.
Dawn, 42, the daugh-
ter of Jim and Marie Boor,
is a life-long Ione resident,
graduating from Ione High
School.
Jeff, 49, the son of Jim
and Gayle Eynetich, grad-
uated from Arlington High
School and moved from
there to Ione around 2002.
The couple met each oth-
er in Heppner. They have
two children, Carson, 17, a
senior at Ione High School
this year, and Carter, 14, a
freshman at IHS.
Jeff operates IRT, a
trucking business, and also
has rental units. Dawn is
Jeff and Dawn Eynetich
on the Morrow County
Fair Board, is a 4-H lead-
er, the Ione High School
Booster Club president, on
the school bond commit-
tee and also coaches high
school volleyball.
“We love Ione,” said
Dawn. “We raised our kids
here and wouldn’t want to
live anywhere else.”
Ione’s 4th of July Celebration
Sunday, July 3, 2022
Golf Tournament
Willow Creek Country Club, Heppner
July 3rd, 9 am
Monday, July 4, 2022
Fireman’s Breakfast
Ione Fire Hall
Creative Care PreSchool 5k Walk/Run
($10 Registration)
Ione City Park
7:00 - 10:00 am
7 am
Registration,
Walk starts at 7:30 am
Ken Turner Memorial
Horseshoe Tournament
Horseshoe Pits
Cruz-In Car Show
Ione City Park
Vendors & Booths
Ione City Park
Fish Pond, Bike Raffle
Fire Hall/Park
Parade Grand Marshal: Jeff & Dawn Eynetich
Main Street
Duck Races
Main Street
Free Swimming
Ione Swimming Pool
BINGO
Legion Hall, 2nd Street
Bag of Hammers
Amphitheater Stage
Cory Peterson Band
Amphitheater Stage
Talent Show
Amphitheater Stage
9:00 am
10:00 am
11:00 am
11:00 am
1:00 pm
After Parade
1:00 - 5:00 pm
2:00 - 4:00 pm
2:00 - 3:00 pm
3:30 - 4:30 pm
4:00 pm
Registration,
Show at 4:30 pm
Featured Entertainment
Amphitheater Stage
6:30 pm
James Dean Kindle 6:30 pm
Blue Tattoo 8:30 pm
Fireworks Display
Visible throughout Ione
Dusk
All event times and locations are subject to change.
Ione’s 4th of July Celebration is Sponsored in Part by Morrow County Unified Recreation District
E L E VAT E YO U R A DV E N T U R E
CALL
541-989-8221
ext 204
NEW
2022
FOR
Before a large crowd,
both online and in person,
the Morrow County Com-
missioners, by a 2-1 vote
Tuesday, terminated Ad-
ministrator Darrell Green.
The vote was Jim Doherty
and Melissa Lindsay in
favor and Don Russell op-
posed.
Although
neither
Doherty nor Lindsay spoke
during the termination
hearing, saying they were
told by attorneys not to,
Green said he understood
his firing was for violat-
ing the county’s nepotism
rules even though he was
never formally told that a
complaint had been filed
against him.
Tuesday’s hearing was
held so Green could give
evidence in defense of the
charges against him, but
since no one in the county
would talk to him, Green
says he was at a loss to
defend himself. “I am
struggling to understand-
ing why I am sitting here,”
Green told commissioners.
He also asked county Hu-
man Resource Directory
Lindsay Grogan if a nep-
otism complaint had been
filed against him. “Was
there a complaint lodged
against me or not?” he
asked. “Nobody wants to
tell me.” Grogan refused to
say, replying she was not at
the meeting to discuss it.
The nepotism charges
date back to April of 2021
when Green’s wife, Debra,
who works for the county
health department, said she
discovered the department
was alledgedly falsifying
documents relating to the
COVID-19 vaccines. Deb-
ra said Health Department
Director Nazario Rivera,
who is no longer with the
county, had alledgedly fal-
sified medical documents.
When she discovered this,
Green said she reported it
to her supervisor, who was
also Rivera, and then up
the ladder to next in com-
mand, her husband, Dar-
rell.
Debra Green said she
never received a response
after reporting the alleged
At the Men’s Invi-
tational Golf Tourna-
ment this past week-
end at Willow Creek
Country Club, Curtis
Cutsforth got a hole
in one on hole five.
Curtis was playing
in a group with Jeff
Cutsforth, Cliff Har-
ris, Mark Schlicting
and Mike Gorman.
Hole five’s green is
elevated from the tee
box and only the top
portion of the flagpole Cutsforth being recognized and re-
is visible. Curtis’ tee ceiving his prize for the hole in one
shot went straight for
the flag and though no one
saw it actually go in the
hole, everyone in the
group was sure it was
close. After driving to
the green and not see-
ing Curtis’ ball on or
around the green, the
group was sure of it.
Curtis however, was
reluctant to believe his
shot was a hole in one.
Mike Gorman went
to the cup and sure
enough, Curtis’ ball
was in the hole.
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information
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