Nichols takes first at
cross country state
championship
Three runners place in top 10;
boys’ team takes third
50¢
VOL. 141
NO. 45 8 Pages
Wednesday, November 9, 2022
Morrow County, Heppner, Oregon
Gazette-Times changing ownership
Next generation taking over
Trevor Nichols crosses the finish line in first place at the 2A/
1A cross country championship in Eugene last week. -Con-
tributed photo
David and April Sykes (left) hand the keys to the Heppner
Gazette-Times Newspaper over to the new owners Andrew,
Christopher and Rachel Sykes. Christopher is holding son
Waylon and Rachel is holding daughter Sophie.
The Heppner Ga-
zette-Times newspaper will
be changing hands soon,
with Andrew and Chris-
topher Sykes taking over
operation of the business.
They are the sons of current
owners David and April
Sykes, who have owned
and operated the newspaper
since 1980.
The business has ex-
panded since David and
April purchased it 42 years
ago, with the Heppner lo-
cation adding a printing
business and then opening
a second commercial print-
ing business in Pendleton
in 1988.
Christopher has al-
ready assumed duties as
the new publisher of the
newspaper, and Andrew
will continue to operate the
Pendleton business, called
Sykes Brothers Printing.
Christopher and his wife
Rachel along with their
two children, son Waylon
and daughter Sophie, pre-
viously lived in Pendleton,
where he also worked at
Sykes Brothers. However,
they recently moved to
Heppner, where the couple
has bought a home. Andrew
lives in Pendleton, where he
In this photo from the June 28, 1980 issue of the Gazette-Times,
David and April Sykes are shown purchasing the newspaper
and taking keys from previous owner Jerome Sheldon. David
is holding son Christopher while April is holding their son
Andrew, the new owners of the newspaper.
continues to manage Sykes
Brothers Printing.
Both Andrew and
Christopher grew up around
the Gazette-Times, doing a
variety of jobs while grow-
ing up. When young they
both did odd jobs around the
shop and then later learned
all the other skills necessary
to run a small business,
such as sales, printing press
operator, building main-
tenance, bookkeeping and
money management.
The Gazette was found-
ed in 1883 and in 1910
gotiated. The law allows
for a negotiated term up to
20 years and a negotiated
rate of between $5500 and
$7000 per MWac.
Fox told commission-
ers Echo Solar was inter-
ested in a 20-year PILOT
agreement and that the
project was willing to pay
the maximum rate of $7000
per MWac for the solar
farm’s maximum expected
output. That would mean a
payment of $8,750,000 per
year for the life of the PI-
LOT program, after which
normal tax payments would
resume. Projected tax pay-
ments after the PILOT pro-
gram ended were projected
to be nearly $20 million for
the first several years.
Fox said the tax es-
timate assumed a cost
buildup. He also said that
Echo Solar would be billed
at maximum capacity
throughout the program but
that they don’t anticipate
operating at capacity from
the get-go.
“We would not, in all
likelihood, be able to bring
on that much capacity at a
single time, so we anticipat-
ed coming on in phases,”
he said. He also said the
project does not have set
stages planned yet, though
it could be around 400
MW at a time. “But that’s
aggressive.”
“I really appreciate
you coming in at the full
$7000,” Lindsay said. “I
think Morrow County is
worth it. I think we have the
demand, we have the lines,
and we have the corpora-
tions ready and willing to
buy,” she said.
However, she added
that she thought 20 years
was too long a term. “I
don’t think our neighbors
are going a full 20 years.
I think purchase power
agreements are strong, so
I don’t know why we have
to give up that extra forty
million for that five years,”
Lindsay said. “I agree with
enticing, and I agree with
helping these projects get
off the ground, but I think
20 is too long for me.”
Fox said the reduced
tax benefit would be “mean-
ingful” to the project. “The
expectations are that ener-
gy storage is going to be
pretty pricey in the time
frame we’re talking about
building this project be-
cause of competition with
electric vehicles and putting
batteries in those electric
vehicles, because that’s ba-
sically the same technology
we use.
“An additional five
years of tax benefit is very
helpful,” he added.
Logan Stephens, Senior
Director of Project Devel-
opment at Pine Gate Re-
newables in Santa Fe, NM
was present at the meeting
via Zoom. He added that
they were comfortable with
$7000 at the full 20 years
but “if we want to look at
some other alternatives,
we’ll need to do some ad-
ditional modeling at our
side to see what the impacts
are to the economics on our
side.”
Morrow County com-
missioner Don Russell
pointed out that the in-
dustry has changed since
neighboring counties set
up their renewable energy
agreements.
“To compare the pro-
gram today to what our
neighbors in Gilliam and
Sherman got a couple of
years ago—it’s not the same
program,” he said, adding
that it used to take 10 acres
to produce one megawatt,
but now that’s down to six
acres. Gilliam and Sherman
counties use Rural Renew-
able Energy Zones, which
are similar to enterprise
zone agreements.
Fox said they intended
to begin moving dirt in
2024 and have some portion
online by the first quarter of
Condon, who was hot on
Nichols’s heels with a time
of 16:12.9.
The boys’ team as a
whole placed third in the
championship race with a
score of 90 and an average
time of 17:46.
Also running for the
boys’ teams were Jacob
Finch, who placed 21 st with
a time of 18:03; Carson
-Continued to PAGE EIGHT
Heppner slays
Dragons 26-0
merged with the Heppner
Times. The paper has been
in continuous publication
since then and is the 10 th
oldest newspaper in the
State of Oregon.
Andrew and Christo-
pher’s ownership of the
Gazette-Times will contin-
ue a long family tradition
of newspaper proprietor-
ship that dates back to
their grandparents, Earl and
Myrtle Sykes, who owned
and published the Umpqua
Courier in Reedsport, OR
for many years. Earl and
Senior David Cribbs leads the charge in tackling a Monroe
-Continued to PAGE FIVE player during last week’s playoff game in Heppner. -Photo by
County commission reaches tax agreement for solar project
By Andrea Di Salvo
The Morrow County
Board of Commissioners
has reached an agreement
with Echo Solar for a new
solar farm east of Bombing
Range Road. The agree-
ment is for a 17-year PI-
LOT (Payment in Lieu of
Taxes) agreement for a
1,250-megawatt alternating
current (MWac) maximum
capacity solar system. It
would be located on 10,900
acres of mostly dry land
wheat ground about 15
miles northeast of Lexing-
ton.
Jeff Fox of Gallatin
Power, one of the partners
in the project, was pres-
ent at the Nov. 2 board of
commissioners meeting as
a follow-up to an earlier
discussion in May of this
year. At that time, he re-
minded the board, they had
discussed how a tax abate-
ment program would be
“beneficial to the project”
and that it would be helpful
to set up that agreement
before construction began.
Echo Solar had then begun
PILOT program negotia-
tions with Morrow County.
“Hopefully we’re at the
end stages of that,” he said.
Though county com-
missioners have dealt
with similar negotiations
through such entities as the
Columbia River Enterprise
Zone (CREZ) and Strategic
Investment Program (SIP),
this is the first such PILOT
program the board has ne-
H e p p n e r ’s Tr e v o r
Nichols topped the podium
for the men at the Oregon
cross country 2A/1A state
championship Nov. 5 in
Eugene. Nichols took the
top individual spot in the
championship by running
the 5,000-meter course in a
time of 16:10.
Running a close sec-
ond was Heppner team-
mate Grady Greenwood of
2026. Commission chair
Jim Doherty asked if new
transmission towers would
need to be built. Fox said
no. The project will use the
Blue Ridge transmission
line, which was overbuilt
originally, anticipating the
need for more transmission
in the future. Some new
line would need to be hung,
Fox said, but no new towers
would be built.
Doherty asked if Echo
Solar would be comfortable
with a 17-year agreement
if all the other terms of the
proposed contract remained
the same. Fox deferred to
Stephens, who agreed that
17 years was a good com-
promise. Lindsay voiced
her concern that it was a
good compromise, but 17
years was still too long,
but the commission voted
unanimously to accept the
agreement at 17 years rath-
er than 20.
Gallatin Power is a
renewable energy devel-
opment firm headquar-
tered in Bozeman, MT.
The other partner company,
and project owner, is Pine
Gate Renewables, based in
Asheville, NC. Pine Gates
Renewables owns 85 solar
projects across the country,
including Eagle Point Solar
-Continued to PAGE FIVE
Kirsti Cason
The Heppner Mus-
tang football team won their
first-round OSAA 2A State
Football Championship
playoff game last Saturday.
The Mustangs beat the
Monroe Dragons 26-0 to
advance in the playoffs.
They will play a home
quarterfinal game at Les
Payne Field this Saturday
at 1 p.m. against the Regis
Rams. The Rams are the
second-place team from the
Tri-River Conference and
have an overall record of
9-1 for the season.
-Continued to PAGE EIGHT
Recall ballots have
been mailed out
Election deadline November 29
Ballots for the recall
of county commissioners
Melissa Lindsay and Jim
Doherty have been mailed
out county-wide and are
now awaiting the decision
of voters.
Ballots are due by
Tuesday, Nov. 29, in this
special election, which is
separate from the just con-
cluded general election.
Remember, ballots are not
forwarded. Those who have
not received ballots but
believe they should have
should contact the Morrow
County Clerk’s office as
soon as possible at 541-
676-5604.
All ballots are due by 8
p.m. Election Day, Tuesday,
Nov. 29. Ballots must be
postmarked no later than
Nov. 29 to be counted.
For voter convenience, 24-
hour drop boxes are locat-
ed throughout the county.
Drop boxes close at 8 p.m.
on Election Day. Locations
are as follows:
Heppner: In the park-
ing lot behind the Bar-
tholomew Building (24
hours) or the Morrow Coun-
ty Clerk’s Office, Room
102 inside the courthouse.
Open 8 a.m. to noon and
1-5 p.m., M-F and Election
Day (Nov. 29) from 7 a.m.
until 8 p.m.
Lexington: 365 West
Hwy 74 (Public Works
Parking lot). Open 24 hours.
Ione: Spring St. (in
front of the turn to 3 rd
Street). Open 24 hours.
Boardman: NW
Boardman Ave. (24 hours).
-Continued to PAGE SEVEN