New sheriff speaks to
Measure 114
50¢
VOL. 141
NO. 47 8 Pages
Wednesday, November 23, 2022
Morrow County, Heppner, Oregon
Mustangs end season with loss to Oakers
Members of the Heppner Mustangs take to the field during the semifinal game versus
the Oakland Oakers last Saturday. In the forefront (L-R): Junior Cade Cunningham
(#51), Freshman Landon McMahon (#62), Sophomore Jaime Cavan (#50), Junior
Landon Mitchell (#1), Senior Tucker Ashbeck (#75), Junior Cameron Proudfoot (#34)
and Junior Caden George (#24). -Photo by Kirsti Cason
Senior Saul Lopez (#27) leads the charge up the field with senior Jacob Lentz
(#68) Right: Mustang player dives to stop Oaker player. -Photo by Kirsti Cason
The Heppner Mustang
football season came to an
end last weekend with a
26-0 loss to the Oakland
Oakers in the OSAA 2A
State Championship Semi-
finals. The game was played
in a cool breeze at Hillsboro
Stadium.
The Mustangs strug-
gled to get their game on
track against the num-
ber-one ranked team in the
state. Heppner only trailed
6-0 at the end of the first
quarter and 14-0 at half-
time.
Oakland got 12 points
in the third quarter to put
the game out of reach, and
neither team scored in the
fourth quarter.
For the game, the Mus-
tangs could only manage
142 total yards while giving
up 358 to Oakland. Hep-
pner rushed for 68 yards
and the Oakers 300. The
Mustangs had 74 passing
yards and Oakland 58.
The leading rusher for
the Mustangs was Cameron
Proudfoot with 27 yards
on six carries. Saul Lopez
rushed for 21 yards, and
Caden George and Hayden
McMahon each had eight
yards on the ground.
Landon Mitchell ran the
ball for four yards.
Mitchell was 6-12 pass-
ing the ball for 74 yards.
Proudfoot caught four balls
for 53 yards and George had
two receptions for 21 yards.
The defense was led by
George with 11 tackles, and
Jake Lentz had 10. Finish-
ing with nine tackles each
were Lopez, David Cribbs
and Cade Cunningham.
Jaime Cavan had eight
tackles, and Proudfoot and
Mitchell finished the game
with seven. Tucker Ash-
beck had five tackles and
Mason Orem had one for
the Mustangs.
Junior Landon Mitchell
(#1) takes to the air to
throw a pass. -Photo by Kirsti
Cason
Junior Cameron Proud-
foot (#34) goes up for a
catch. -Photo by Kirsti
Heppner finished the
season with a 9-3 record
and another Blue Mountain
Conference (Special Dis-
trict 4) championship. The
team finished as the fourth
ranked team in the state
when the playoffs started.
They won first round and
quarterfinal games at Les
Payne Field in order to
advance to the semifinal
game.
All-in-all, it was a fan-
tastic season to be a Mus-
tang and a Mustang football
fan.
Morrow County Sheriff
John Bowles has released
the following statement re-
garding ballot measure 114:
“While waiting to see
if Ballot Measure 114 is
going to be certified into
law, I have received several
inquiries regarding where I
stand on the measure.
I did not promote or
advocate for the passing of
Ballot Measure 114. I am
an advocate for people’s
rights, safety, security and
livability. This measure will
not help increase any of
those objectives. This mea-
sure will make it more dif-
ficult and more expensive
for law-abiding citizens
to exercise their second
amendment right. And here
is a news flash: criminals
do not follow the law. Law
abiding citizens will work
to comply with this law and
criminals will not.
So, what is this mea-
sure going to accomplish?
In Morrow County,
measure 114 failed by a
count of 20.14 percent Yes
to a count of 79.86 percent
No. Measure 114 will re-
quire a permit from law
enforcement for citizens
to purchase a firearm. Ap-
plicants will be required
to complete safety train-
ing, pass a criminal back-
ground check and receive
a permit from local law
enforcement, city or coun-
ty, then complete another
background check by the
Oregon State Police prior
to the purchase of a firearm.
This measure also pro-
hibits the manufacturing,
importing, purchasing, sell-
ing, possessing, using or
transferring ammunition
magazines capable of hold-
ing more than 10 rounds
and makes violations a class
A misdemeanor (punish-
able by up to 364 days in
jail, a fine of up to $6,250
or both). This portion of
measure 114 will not be an
enforcement priority and
we will not be knocking on
doors to see if law-abiding
citizens have a magazine
that can hold more than 10
rounds.
Measure 114 will be
another unfunded mandate.
Having to use current staff
to comply with measure
114 requirements will neg-
atively affect other public
services. Yet local law en-
forcement will be tasked
with creating, implement-
ing and staffing the required
permitting process. This
will be a strain on local
budgets, staffing and re-
sources. Moving forward,
sheriffs, chiefs, Oregon
State Sheriffs Association,
Oregon Association Chiefs
of Police and Oregon State
Police will be collaborating
to create an efficient permit-
ting process.
My priority is to pro-
vide safety, security and liv-
ability, while protecting the
rights of all Morrow County
citizens and visitors. I can
see the possibility of mea-
sure 114 being challenged
in court and a stay being
granted while it is worked
out in our court system. If
this measure is enacted into
law, I will work diligently
to put an efficient permit-
ting process in place.
As Morrow County
Sheriff, I swore under oath
to support the Constitution
of the United States of
America and the Constitu-
tion and laws of the State
of Oregon. I take this oath
very seriously and will
work within the law to
protect the Constitutional
rights of all people.”
John A. Bowles,
Morrow County Sheriff
How MCSD decides
about weather
delays and closures
City of Heppner receives land donation
The Heppner City Council accepted the donation
of a small parcel of land along Willow Creek from
Kraig Cutsforth at its regular meeting Monday,
Nov. 14. -Photo by Andrea Di Salvo
By Andrea Di Salvo
The City of Heppner
accepted a donation of land
from Heppner City Man-
ager Kraig Cutsforth at its
regular meeting Monday,
Nov. 14, at Heppner City
Hall.
The parcel is located
along Willow Creek near
the Heppner Dam. It ex-
tends downstream from the
Alfalfa St. right of way.
Also at the meeting, the
council approved a resolu-
tion to amend Cutsforth’s
current city manager agree-
ment to offer up to nine
months additional health
and life insurance premi-
um coverage. Cutsforth’s
current agreement dates
from April of 2019. The
resolution adopts a cost al-
location to extend insurance
coverage to July 1, 2023.
In old business, Cuts-
forth said the sewer project
is still underway but mov-
ing slowly at the moment.
Doherty added that he had
been working on submitting
required management plans
for recycled water, biosolid
and solid waste to the DEQ
for review.
On the street projects,
Cutsforth quipped that Fer-
guson Engineering had
been “eerily silent” about
the Jones St. project the
last couple of weeks, “right
along with anybody who’s
supposed to come finish
all that stuff up,” he add-
ed, saying he would try to
track them down and see if
they’re going to show up
again before spring. He also
said that, although he hadn’t
seen crews from the con-
tractors out working, he and
Heppner City Maintenance
Manager Chad Doherty
had been working to make
sure the city streets at least
meet the minimum safety
standards.
When asked, he also re-
ported that he had requested
a bid from the county for
chip sealing Riverside but
hadn’t yet received one. “I
need to follow up on that,”
he said.
In the city manager’s
report, Cutsforth said that,
with the passage of the
psilocybin prohibition, he
planned to look into wheth-
er the city needed to take
any further action, such as
passing an ordinance. He
congratulated the council
members who had been
re-elected and noted that
they will need to fill council
member Corey Sweeney’s
position when he takes over
as mayor.
Cutsforth also report-
ed having meetings with
the Heppner Chamber of
Commerce, Willow Creek
Valley Economic Develop-
ment Group, Oregon Dept.
of Transportation and the
Morrow County Planning
Commission. He sent sever-
al code compliance letters,
worked on a December
city planning commission
meeting, updated the city’s
Sam’s registration for the
year, set a meeting with
a company offering secu-
rity camera solutions for
the town, worked on a lot
adjustment for a property,
ordered five trees for Main
Street and two for the park,
had Zoom meetings with a
group developing a natural
hazards update study a
housing inventory project
group, reviewed the final
draft of water management
and conservation plan and
looked for a street sweeper
for public works.
Fire chief Steve Rhea
reported that the Hep-
pner fire department had
a “pretty busy October.”
There were six lift assists,
six secure landing zones,
three search and rescue, one
smoke filled house on Dee
Cox, three false alarms at
Heppner Elementary, one
brush fire, one civil dispute
on whether to light a debris
fire on Linden Way, 36 fire
chief calls and 164 calls for
service to date.
He also reported burn-
ing of natural vegetation
-Continued to PAGE SEVEN
School bus travels up a snowy road. -Contributed
photo
With the onset of making “what often seems
winter weather, there are like the most difficult deci-
several things parents and sion administrators have to
students should know about make.”
Morrow County School
Topping that list is stu-
District weather policies. dent safety. Other factors
According to the district are:
website, multiple fac-
-Weather forecast—
tors come into play when when learning of potential
MCSD considers when
-Continued to PAGE SIX