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.”
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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
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