Boardman Fire seeks repeal of ambulance ordinance By Andrea Di Salvo It was standing room only at the Morrow County Board of Commissioners meeting last week when the now three-member board heard from both sides in the Boardman ambulance debate. Newly-appointed com- missioner Roy Drago, Jr. of Boardman was sworn in at the start of the Feb. 22 meeting in Heppner. The commission then jumped into scheduled presenta- tions by those on both sides of the ambulance issue.. rently provides ambulance services throughout the county, but Boardman Fire says it should be licensed to provide ambulance re- sponse in the Boardman area. The fire district has three ambulances stationed at the fire house in Board- man along with trained personnel. The Morrow County Health District has two ambulances and trained personnel stationed in Boardman, which are licensed and regularly an- swer calls there. The entire county is included in the The debate over who will provide ambulance ser- vices in Boardman has been dragging on for months and includes an aborted attempt at mediation between Mor- row County Health District and Boardman Fire Rescue District with mediator Eliz- A wheel with a broken spoke, abeth Heckathorn. the restaurant’s namesake. The health district cur- Montana and made it too expensive for them to afford to live there, so they moved back to Oregon. When they gave up on Montana, a friend ap- proached Carol and said she was buying a bar. She asked Carol to manage it. Though she had no expe- rience managing bars, she health district’s boundaries. Boardman Fire Rescue Chief Mike Hughes has been attending meetings and requesting a spot on the commissioners’ agenda since last year, but last week was the first time he was put on the agenda to pres- ent his requests. Previous 50¢ VOL. 143 NO. 9 8 Pages Wednesday, March 1, 2023 Morrow County, Heppner, Oregon Despite challenges, Lexington restaurant is a ‘labor of love’ Sean and Dianna “Carol” Dougherty in front of the newly renovated and stocked bar in the Broken Spoke. -Photo by Andrea Di Salvo ilies who come in.” Dianna, who goes by her middle name, Carol, was born in Fort Worth, TX. Her mom moved them to Salem when she was 10. She has also lived in Eugene, Molalla, OR and Montana. She has a degree in business management ad- ministration and has spent around 25 years in man- agement. She says she has managed everything from gas stations and conve- nience stores to truck stops and casinos. “She was the one they’d call in if things were failing,” adds Sean. Sean, 55, was born in Molalla and raised in Co- lumbia Falls, MT. An artist Intricate patterns appear on several of the tabletops made by Sean. by nature, he has owned By Andrea Di Salvo The Broken Spoke restaurant and bar in Lex- ington is a labor of love for new owners Sean and Dianna Dougherty. The couple moved here from Salem last year. Di- anna, 42, says they didn’t start out to own a business in Lexington but were quick to respond when given the opportunity. “I have always worked for corporations or small businesses,” says Carol. “Restaurant and bar was re- ally not on my bucket list.” “We like the area,” she adds, saying that the small town and community were a big draw for them. “I definitely like the smaller community. I like the fam- Morrow County schools secured after ‘swatting’ calls Morrow County schools were among multi- ple schools around the area that were placed in secure status last week after sev- eral “swatting” calls were placed to schools across the state Feb. 21. Swatting refers to a prank call made to emergency services in order to draw armed police officers to an address. While none of the Morrow County schools received a swatting call, Hermiston High School was among those that re- ceived what turned out to be a prank call about an active shooter at the school. Hermiston High School and neighboring West Park Elementary were placed on lockdown. Other area schools, in- cluding those in Morrow County, were secured as a precaution. Secure is not the same a full lockdown; in secure status, the outer doors of the school are locked. Morrow County Sher- iff’s Office was among the many emergency and law enforcement agencies that responded to Hermiston High School, along with Hermiston Police Depart- ment, Oregon State Police, Umatilla County Sheriff’s Office, Stanfield Police De- partment, Umatilla Police Department, Pendleton Po- lice Department, Umatilla Fire District #1, LifeFlight and Oregon Department of Transportation. Law enforcement found no credible threat to students or staff at any of the schools, and the all- clear was given at all of the area schools around 12:30 p.m. County parks committee to meet March 7 Morrow County Parks Committee will hold a regu- lar meeting Tuesday, March 7, from 1:30-2:30 p.m. at the Morrow County Public Works Department, 365 West Highway 74, Lex- ington. Agenda items will in- clude committee member seats, park host applica- tions, and park projects and updates. The meeting is open to the public. tattoo parlors in Florida, Georgia, Colorado, Mon- tana and Oregon. He also does woodworking, sad- dle making, and custom cars and motorcycles. He creates metal sculptures, which are shipped through- out the country. “Once we get our feet under us, I’ll be looking for a shop where I can do my metal art,” he adds. The couple has been married about 20 years. They were living in Salem, and had actually planned to move back to Mon- tana, where they had lived before. However, Sean says an influx of outsiders has changed the state of Cavan-Harris places fourth at state wrestling -Continued to PAGE EIGHT Health district looks into Boardman adult care By Andrea Di Salvo The Morrow County Health District (MCHD) took another step toward a new adult care home in Boardman at its regular meeting Monday night in Irrigon. The project is still in the early investigation stag- es, but is one that has been on the health district’s hori- zon for some time. CEO Emily Roberts told the board Monday that they are looking at a five-bed home similar to an assisted living facility like Willow Creek Terrace. It would not be a tech- nical “long-term care” fa- cility, she said, but would be a facility where residents would receive care for a long time. It would serve a maximum of five senior or disabled residents. It would differ from facilities like WCT in that it would have a more home-like atmosphere with a live-in primary caregiver. The budget and cost projection currently shows an expected income of $193,290 with expenses of $230,276, for a loss of $36,986. “This is a very tight budget,” said Roberts. “It’s not a profitable service. Places that are doing very well barely break even.” Board member Aaron Palmquist of Irrigon moved to direct staff to proceed with investigations into budget and planning, as well as engaging with other stakeholders, whoever that might be. Board member John Murray said he thought the health district would have -Continued to PAGE EIGHT no trouble finding partners in the project. “I know this is a topic of interest to people in Boardman for quite a few years,” he said. The health district also voted to accept a roofing bid from C & C Construction in Hermiston for a new shin- gle roof for the Boardman Immediate Care building. The bid is for $25,950 plus up to $9,550 if the whole roof has to be replaced, for a maximum of $35,500. The board had previ- ously asked staff to look into other options, includ- ing metal roofing, due to concern about the durabil- ity of the proposed shin- gle roof. Chief Operations Officer Nicole Mahoney told the board there were no shingle options that met their request. The bids for a new metal roof were sig- nificantly higher, ranging from $69,900 to more than $100,000. After some discussion, the board decided the shin- Jaime Cavan-Harris Jaime Cavan-Harris (29-15) wrestled his way to fourth place at the 2A/1A OSAA/OnPoint State Championships, one of four Heppner wrestlers to make it to the state championship this year. Also representing Heppner on the mat were Zach Brown (34-15), Saul Lopez (28-16) and Cade Cunningham (36-11). “The boys did great, even with events that nev- er happened before,” said Heppner wrestling coach Zac Brown. “Having the tournament canceled eight hours prior to when it was supposed to start, and then having to do the whole tournament in one day—we were there for 16 hours on Friday. “(We were) literally pushing cars out of the way on roads in Portland so we could continue on,” Brown -Continued to PAGE SEVEN Port staff, equipment help out Ione The Port of Morrow staff were back in the south end of the county, this time to help the City of Ione. Ione is conducting a pre-construction evaluation as they prepare to upgrade their water system and add a municipal sewer system. Port staff lent a helping hand with the vacuum truck to assist with the process. -Contributed photo -Continued to PAGE TWO CALL 541-989-8221 ext 204 for more information