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