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About Heppner gazette-times. (Heppner, Or.) 1925-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 12, 2022)
Clerk receives recall petitions 50¢ VOL. 141 NO. 41 8 Pages Wednesday, October 12, 2022 Morrow County, Heppner, Oregon Sheriff Matlack announces retirement Morrow County Sheriff Ken Matlack Recommends Undersheriff John Bowles replace him Morrow County Sheriff Ken Matlack Morrow County Sheriff Ken Matlack announced his retirement last week after 18 years on the job. “My time as Sheriff has been some of the most ex- citing and rewarding times in my long law enforcement career,” Matlack said in a letter to the board of com- missioners. “It has been a wonderful experience and I know I will miss it very much.” His retirement will take effect Nov. 1. The sheriff is an elect- ed position, and upon his resignation the Morrow County Board of Com- missioners will make an appointment to fill out the remainder of his term. Mat- lack recommended they choose Undersheriff John Bowles. “Over his years as Un- dersheriff John has been trained and exposed to all the various duties of Sheriff and it is without doubt or reservation that I recom- mend him as my replace- ment,” Matlack said. Bowles has been em- ployed with the sheriff’s office for 21 years. After receiving the letter, at last week’s meet- ing, Commissioner Don Russell said he had received an email from Boardman Police Officer Mark Pratt, who also wished to be con- sidered for the job. At the same time, Russel brought up a concern about nepo- tism in the sheriff’s office, where Bowles’s wife is also employed. “I appreciate ev- erything sheriff Matlack has done for the county over the last 18 years, but I do have a concern that I would like our HR (human resource) director to look into,” Russell said. “We are in the middle of a $750,000 lawsuit over a nepotism agreement. And it’s not lost on me that both the sugges- tion for the replacement of the sheriff and their spouse work for the county and it will create potential nepo- tism,” he concluded. The county currently has a lawsuit against it from former administrator Darrell Green over a nepo- tism dispute when both he and his wife worked for the county. Both were fired and Green subsequently filed a $750,000 lawsuit over what he said was an unjust firing. Before the commis- sion made its decision on a replacement and possibly naming Bowles, Russell Morrow County Undersher- iff John Bowles asked Human Resource Director Lindsay Grogan to “look into that and talk with our legal counsel and see how we work around this. I don’t want to set us up for the same thing,” he added. Commissioner Melissa Lindsay commented that is not the only instance in the county. “We have the same situation in the assessor’s office,” she pointed out. Radie gives optimistic nitrate water report Debbie Radie, Vice President of Oper- ations at Boardman Foods, and the person heading up a business Debbie Radie c o a l i t i o n formed to address nitrate contamination in north county water wells, gave an optimistic report on these efforts at the county com- mission meeting last week. Concern over the ni- trate contaminated water in the Boardman- and Ir- rigon-area private water wells came to a head sev- eral months ago after a large state fine was levied against the Port of Morrow for excessive nitrate dump- ing. Following the fine and subsequent media attention over unsafe drinking water, concern over the health of those effected heightened. Radie was instrumen- tal in putting together the coalition of businesses, including food processors and agricultural interests in north county. The group put up money and supplied volunteers to provide well testing and purchase and install well filters at effected homes. “Boardman foods helped set up four sites for water testing and we did 300 people in a two- to-three-week period,” she told commissioners. Radie said this effort along with other testing by the county resulted in 500 well-water tests being done. She said 200 homes in Mor- row County that needed clean drinking water and had wells that tested higher than the government danger limit of 10 ppm (parts per million) were identified in that testing. Radie stated the coali- tion has been successful in putting up money for the testing and installation of filters even when the state did not come through with funding. “We did not want to wait for state funding be- cause the state had deter- mined that this was not their issue,” she said. Although she acknowledged the state has since begun putting up funds, it was the coalition that earlier stepped up to help. “There is $121,000 in an account with the BCDA (Boardman Community Development Association) for water filters for every- one,” she reported. “Of the 200 people (identified) everyone that needs a filter should have one. Every- one that needs help with installation should have that,” she said, adding that it should now be a “quick turnaround” getting those with contaminated wells filtered water “at their sink with clean drinking water.” Radie believes with the short-term problems getting under control the coalition Di Salvo returns as G-T Editor Andrea Di Salvo The Heppner Ga- zette-Times has hired An- drea Di Salvo as its news editor, replacing former editor Bobbi Gordon, who retired earlier this year. Di Salvo, a homes- chool graduate, was born and raised in the Heppner area. She attended college in the Seattle area and then graduate school in Virginia. She obtained her master’s degree in journalism from Regent University in 2002. It was in Virginia that she met and married her husband, Carmelo. After living in Virginia for sev- eral years, the Di Salvos returned to Morrow County in 2008. They now live in Lexington with their three children, Moira, 14, Frank, 11, and Sofia, 9. Di Salvo, 44, is no stranger to the Gazette; she previously worked for the newspaper from 2011 until 2017. She says she loved interacting with the community during those six years and is eager to be back in the mix. “Working for the Ga- zette feels like being back with family,” Di Salvo said. “I’m excited to jump back in.” WWW.HEPPNER.NET Submit News, Advertising & Announcements Letters To The Editor Send Us Photos Start A New Subscription will continue to work on the nitrate problem. “On the long-term is- sues the coalition will con- tinue to support and get people to voluntarily work together, which was what the LUBGWMA (Lower Umatilla Basin Ground- water Management Area) was originally set up for,” she stated. The LUBGW- MA was formed in 1990 to address high nitrates in the North Morrow and Umatil- la County areas. “We are not going away,” Radie said emphat- ically. “The business com- munity is continuing the work and looking at what has already been done and what needs to be done to make improvements. A lot of people have been work- ing very hard. With our state and local partners and the business coalition, we will continue to support the needs of Morrow County residents who do not have safe drinking water. “We do care about our community, and we are the ones that have stepped up with funding and volun- teers and we are going to continue to support Mor- row County. There are very positive things happening in Morrow County,” Radie concluded. Signature petitions seeking a recall vote on two Morrow County com- missioners were filed with the county clerk Monday, and petition sponsors be- lieve they have enough valid signatures to force a county-wide vote. Turned into the clerk on the deadline day were 729 signatures for the recall vote of Commissioner Jim Doherty, and 692 for a re- call of Commissioner Me- lissa Lindsay. To proceed with the county-wide vote the clerk will now examine the petitions for the re- quired 564 valid signatures needed to proceed with the election. If the required signatures are validated, then each candidate will be given five days to decide if they want to move forward with the vote or resign. The clerk will then have 30 days to hold the election. The recall effort was started in July by two Hep- per residents. Corol Mitchel initiated the recall petition against Lindsay. Reasons given were that Lindsay had violated the public trust of the people who elected her. “Commissioner Lind- say has violated that trust in many ways, one be- ing by intimidating county employees, resulting in either their firing or leav- ing their jobs under duress. Commissioner Lindsay has repeatedly exhibited unprofessional behavior in her role as a public official. Commissioner Lindsay’s actions have created county wide disapproval with other government and charitable organizations refusing to listen to them,” the peti- tion said. “The action of the firing of the Morrow County Administrator, with no transparency, refusing to let the public speak, or answer the administrators’ questions about why he was sitting there, made it clear that in the remaining time of her tenure, this behavior would continue and could cause added financial bur- dens to our county. To pre- vent irreversible damage, an immediate recall is the only answer,” the petition stated. Annetta Spicer filed the recall petition against Doherty. That petition stated “Commissioner Doherty’s decisions are not in the best interest of the Morrow County citi- zens. He is not open and transparent in his actions as commissioner, making decisions in secret and out- side of public purview and without the inclusion of the third county commission- er. Commission meetings are not held in accordance with public open meeting law requirements. Doherty does not cooperate with other public and private agencies to the detriment of Morrow County citizens. His decisions regarding Morrow County employees have demoralized county employees and has been detrimental to a functional county government. De- cisions are not made in the best interest of county taxpayers resulting in fiscal detriment to the county,” the petition read. Muddy start to Home- coming Week Ione High School kicked off its Homecoming Week with Mud Wars on Monday, Oct. 10. The Ione senior class reigned supreme in the evening’s muddy conflict. -Contributed photo Print & Mailing Services *Design *Print Sykes Publishing *Mail 541-676-9228 CALL 541-989-8221 ext 204 for more information